Canadian Coffee Break: Here Come The Eagles!

The Canadian Coffee Break brings together some of the finest Canadian minds in Southern California every week for a topical, lively round-tablesque discussion over very dark coffee. Won’t you join us.

Your topic this week is The Eagles. They’re coming to the Nokia Theatre downtown, dogs and ponies intact, and they’re slated to release a new album which will be sold exclusively through WAL-MART the first year. More info, should you need it, can be found here (LA Times).

Tickets to the big show go on sale next monday via Ticketmaster. Eagles, Walmart, Ticketmaster…getting all this?

• What are your personal thoughts/memories/loves/hates about the Eagles?
• Are they the definitive “Southern California” band?
• Why or why not?
• Will you be going to the show?

No wrong answers here. Ask me at different times of different days and I may give you a hundred different responses. I’m funny that way. However don’t ask Victor. Very opinionated on the Eagles, that one.

Jamie (website)
I happen to be a fan of music by The Eagles. I am not, however, a fan of the people who are in The Eagles.

Back in the 90’s you might recall that they froze hell over. After considerable use of my thinker, I realized the only reason they must have done that was because they knew they were going there. That having been said, I’m sure The Eagles have murdered, commited adultry, and used the Lord’s name in vain (and probably broke a few other Commandments as well). How can you respect someone like that??

You want proof?? Look at all of the lethal injections that have been problematic since then. That’s not the drugs, that’s the Devil saying, “No, no, I’m still trying to melt this stuff. Go to purgetory or something. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Of course, The Eagles MIGHT have frozen over hell so all of the Canadians down there have a place to skate. Ha!! Like there are any Canadians in hell.

Marc
I just wanna know if the skeezy motel Hotel California in Santa Monica that also looks to be hanging on from it’s heyday the early 70’s is the same one form the song. I hope not. And as far as one band that could be said to have pioneered _the_ ultimate sound of Southern California, in the era of the Warped Tour, I’d say it’d have to be Black Flag dude.

Sean Chrétien
Besides obligatory Big Lebowski references and ruminations on drunken middle-aged crankings of ’Hotel California’ in the suburbs of our preeminent continent, there’s not much I can say about The Eagles – besides this:

The last time The Eagles came to Staples, I had a slight case of manic food poisoning and had to run out into the concessions area whilst Joe Walsh & Co. were veritably “ripping” into ’Life’s Been Good.’ So as my family (it’s way rad to go to Eagles shows with your family) was enjoying the remainder of the show, I was hanging back in the shady corridors and usurious parking lots of our office supply-sponsored stadium. I must say, I would have much preferred to be seated in or standing directly in front of my springy seat drinking my springy Bud Light and watching hell freeze over.

As easy as it is to hate on all the indulgence and pseudo-pristine demeanor of The Eagles, tracks like ’Take It Easy,’ ’Desperado,’ and ’New York Minute’ remain unassailable. At the same time, shit like ’Get Over It’ makes me want to “get over it” right out of the window of a skyscraper. Still, Joe Walsh remains the maw’fuckin’ man and the rest of ’em have more credibility than most other over the hill rawkers (see this, this, or this). For the record, I would like to have it be known that Henley totally jacked my idea to make an album about “the war in Iraq and the evolution of man” and then exclusively sell it through Wal-Mart for it’s debut year.

in an ill advised minute
ooooo – eeee – ooooo
everything can change

Sarah (website)
The Eagles. I didn’t know who they were when Ryan posed this topic. Well the name sounded familiar, and after talking to my mother for a while I figured out who they were. So, like so many elementary school science projects, I got her to do my work for me. Via interview.

Mary is a 50-something Nova Scotia resident, aging hippie and organic soup maker. She has one child, two cats and three college degrees.

Sarah (me): What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “The Eagles?”
Mary (Mum): Hotel California. Actually…”welcome to the hotel california….” with the song in my head.

S: Do you have any memories you associate with The Eagles?
M: I remember being at a dance when Take It To The Limit was playing – I was out on the porch – hot summer night – and it kind of inspired me to do great things….I used to sing along with that song – loud – in the car on my own.

S: And would you say the Eagles are the definitive Southern California band?
M: Honestly I didn’t even know where they were from….I hafta say I am mixed on their songs – some of them I find kinda too country for me – like “Heartache Tonight” and “Lyin’ Eyes” and “New Kid in Town”…I used to make fun of those… Maybe that is So-Cal – kinda hip, then turnin’ country on me…. (Sarah’s note: Mary spent years of her life in Oakland. Thus the LA-hatin’)

S: If you got the chance to hang out with the Eagles, for just one night, where would you take them?
M: To some little private club with a bunch of my friends and their friends and lots of musical instruments – like maybe mix in celtic like the Rankins (The Rankin Family are a prominent Nova Scotian Celtic Rock band from the ’90s) – Halifax (the capital of Nova Scotia) or Chester somewhere – like a big ceilidh (Nova Scotian word for a big party. Pronounced “KAY-lee”)

S: Who’s the hottest guy in the band?
M: Don Felder….I guess

S: How do you think The Eagles fit into the history of rock music?
M: I think the Eagles brought us outa the serious music era into kind of a pop genre – as trivial as that was, some of it was good pop…but some of it was not…some was crapola…..yet, overall – they contributed.

There you have it!