Eagles’ Don Henley gets peeved as he’s forced to deny being ‘drug-filled zombie’ at NYC trial over stolen ‘Hotel California’ lyrics
A peeved Don Henley — co-founder of the legendary rock band Eagles — denied being a “drug-filled zombie” as he was grilled about his cocaine use during the Manhattan criminal trial surrounding handwritten lyric pages he claims were stolen from him.
Henley, 76, grew frustrated as he resumed his testimony in Manhattan Supreme Court — with defense attorney Scott Edelman asking the rocker whether it was true he used a “significant” amount of cocaine in the late 1970s.
“Significant? It’s not – ‘Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll’ is not revelatory. We used cocaine throughout the 70s intermittently,” Henley shot back, delivering an unusual lengthy answer.
“I was always lucid when I did business; I always performed in a lucid state,” he continued. “If I was some sort of a drug-filled zombie, I couldn’t have accomplished everything I accomplished before 1980 and after 1980.”
Henley, the band’s drummer and one of its lead singers, accused the attorney of creating a “sideshow” by continuing to probe him about his arrest in 1980, when he was busted with a naked 16-year-old prostitute suffering from an overdose at his Los Angeles home.
It came after Edelman, who represents Ed Kosinki, a rare memorabilia dealer charged in the ongoing trial, repeatedly asked Henley whether he had attempted to “make love” with the underage girl.
Henley denied trying to have sex with the girl, reiterating his testimony from Monday, when he also told the court he did not know that she was underage until after his arrest.
“We fell asleep. I don’t remember the anatomical details, but I know there was no sex. There were no sexual charges against me,” Henley said then.
The rocker also testified that he was charged with possession of quaaludes – which he said were “pharmaceutical at the time” – and marijuana — which he said later he stopped smoking in 1973 — in addition to the cocaine rap.
He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 1981 — for which he received a sentence of probation and a $2,500 fine.
Henley on Tuesday was also asked by Kosinki to go through several old notepads and identify which songs — some written with Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey — were on the yellowed pages.
Henley has accused writer Ed Sanders — who was working on a never-published biography about the band — of stealing loaned-out lyric pads that were loaned to be used for the book.
“Again, I believed that my property was stolen,” Henley said, adding that Sanders was only supposed to view them for his book.
“Mr. Sanders kept it in his residence, or garage, for 30 years, and then it was up for sale on the internet. I believed that was a crime.”
Sanders then allegedly sold the Eagles’ lyrics — including those to the hit “Hotel California” to Glenn Horowitz, a rare books dealer.
Horowitz, one of the defendants in the case, allegedly later shuffled them off to ex-Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and Kosinki — and the lyric pages then began popping up at auction beginning in May 2012, according to prosecutors.
The three face charges of conspiracy to possess stolen property and various other offenses at the non-jury trial.
Henley was briefly reunited with his alleged stolen notepads during his Tuesday testimony as he identified his handwriting on the pages, which included the rough sketches for songs like “The Long Run” and “The Sad Café.”
“There’s a little bit of Mr. Frey’s handwriting on it but most of it is mine,” Henley said when asked if he recognized the notepads.
He then spent time leafing through decades-old legal pads that contained the skeleton of songs such as “The Long Run” and “The Sad Cafe.”
At one point, Henley was asked about writing “Hotel California” — where he broke down the roles he, Eagles’ co-founder Glenn Frey, and guitarist Don Felder had in making the song together.
Henley’s brief musicology lesson was cut short by prosecutors, who objected to the question’s relevance.
“I’m not sure it’s relevant, but it’s interesting,” Judge Curtis Farber said, drawing laughs from the courtroom.
Under cross-examination from another collectibles lawyer Stacey Richman, Inciardi’s attorney, she asked Henley whether it was true that the items that were stolen from his barn were an “overstatement,” which Henley said he didn’t know.
Henley has testified that he stored his Eagles’ related documents in a barn at his Malibu, California organic farm.
Henley can’t check-out off the witness stand just yet — he’ll return Wednesday where he will face questions from prosecutors on re-direct examination, before heading back to tour with the Eagles over the weekend.
