[ad_1]
A curious criminal case involving handwritten lyrics to the classic rock megahit “Hotel California” and other Eagles favorites will go to trial in a New York court, with opening statements scheduled for Wednesday.
The three defendants, all well established in the collectibles world, are accused of conspiring to thwart Eagles co-founder Don Henley’s efforts to recover documents allegedly obtained illicitly.
The lawsuit concerns more than 80 pages of draft lyrics for songs from the album “Hotel California,” the 1976 release that is now the third best-selling album in history in the United States.
Rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and memorabilia dealer Edward Kosinski pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and several other charges. His lawyers have said the case “alleges criminality where none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of highly respected professionals.”
The documents include the developing lyrics for “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” and, of course, “Hotel California,” the six-plus-minute-long, somewhat mysterious musical story of the events. in a cozy, decadent but ultimately dark place where “you can leave whenever you want, but you can never leave.”
Although dismissed by some as an overexposed ’70s artifact, the Grammy-winning song remains a touchstone on classic rock radio and many personal playlists. Entertainment data company Luminate counted more than 220 million streams and 136,000 radio plays of “Hotel California” in the United States last year.
The case was brought in 2022, a decade after some of the pages began appearing at auction and Henley took notice and was offended. He purchased some of the material for $8,500, but also reported the documents stolen, according to court documents.
At the time, the sheet music for the lyrics was in the hands of Kosinski and Inciardi, who had purchased them from Horowitz. He had purchased them in 2005 from Ed Sanders, a writer and 1960s counterculture figure who worked with the Eagles on a biography of the band that was shelved in the early 1980s.
Sanders, who also co-founded the avant-garde rock group The Fugs, is not charged in the case and has not responded to a message seeking comment.
Sanders told Horowitz in 2005 that Henley’s assistant had mailed him all the documents he wanted for the biography, although the writer worried that Henley “might be upset” if they were sold, according to emails recounted in the indictment.
But once Henley’s lawyers began asking questions, Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski began maneuvering to obtain and disseminate a legally viable ownership history of the manuscripts, Manhattan prosecutors say.
According to the indictment, Inciardi and Horowitz presented changing accounts of how Sanders obtained the documents. Explanations varied over the next five years, from Sanders finding them abandoned in a backstage dressing room to the writer receiving them from Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, who died in 2016.
The emails show some input and consent from Sanders, but he also apparently objected to at least the behind-the-scenes salvage story. In messages that did not include him, Horowitz wrote about turning Sanders’ “‘explanation’ into a communication” and giving him “gentle treatment” and assurances “that he will not go to jail,” the indictment says.
Lawyers for the defendants have said Sanders had legal possession of the documents, as did the men who bought them from him. Defense attorneys have indicated they plan to question the clarity with which Henley remembers her dealings with Sanders and the lyrics at a time when the rock star was living life at full speed.
The defendants decided last week to waive a jury, so Judge Curtis Farber will decide the verdict.