Sitting in Eden with the Eagles

Sitting in Eden with the Eagles

Digital technology today makes it easy to have your favorite music at your fingertips, but when I grew up, that technology did not exist. In those analog days nothing was better than going to a live performance to see your favorite band. Today, you can watch any performer over the Internet via YouTube, but that experience is not as spectacular as seeing your favorite band perform live in concert. I will never forget the first time I heard the song, "Hotel California," sung on the radio by the seminal rock group, The Eagles. It was during our nation's bicentennial year and my family and I were heading to Philadelphia for summer vacation to see our nation's historic sights. During that drive up to Philly from Tampa, that song resonated in my head as it played over the family station wagon's FM radio.

The Eagles quickly became one of my favorite groups during the Spirit of ‘76, and when they re-released their Hotel California album four years later in 1980, I jumped on my Yamaha motorcycle, and cruised down to the local record store to buy it. During that summer, I practically wore out that thinly grooved, ebony vinyl platter, and ultimately decided that I must see these musicians perform live. Unfortunately, that dream would never materialize, because the band broke up within months, swearing that they would never play together again, "unless hell freezes over." That was such a huge disappointment for myself.

As the years slowly ticked away, I began exploring alternative music, such as new wave, and punk during the 1980s. I hit all of the major shows that came to town: Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Suicidal Tendencies, Eurythmics, New Order, The B-52s, Berlin, Iggy Pop, U2, INXS, Living Color, Simple Minds, Tears for Fears, the Psychedelic Furs and many more. During this time period, compact discs were gaining popularity, and these wafer thin, silvery discs were poised to make my records and tapes obsolete. Despite that fact, I scoured my favorite record store, "Vinyl Fever," for those rare imports, almost forgetting about the earlier Eagles' music.

However, my musical tastes were always evolving, from the sounds of New York across the Atlantic, to London – ranging from the Kinks "Lola," to Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane." I was lucky enough to attend a rare Pink Floyd show and experience David Bowie as well at the Rolling Stones. But, seeing these musicians up close, aging before my eyes, just like Dorian Grey, was very distressing. Sure, these rockers played all of the hit songs from their past and strutted on stage like it was yesterday. But, talk about old geezer rockers; I thought they were decrepit, yet they were only in their early forties at that time. It was difficult to imagine that some of these guys had been performing since the 1960s.

I got hooked on the blues, after