NEW YORK (AP) — In the mid-1970s, the Eagles were working on a spooky, cryptic new song.
On a lined yellow pad, Don Henley, assisted by band co-founder Glenn Frey, jotted down thoughts about “a dark desert highway” and “a beautiful place” with a luxurious surface and menacing undertones. And something on ice, maybe caviar or Taittinger – or pink champagne?
The song “Hotel California” became one of rock’s most unforgettable singles. And nearly half a century later, those handwritten pages of texts in the making have become the focus of an unusual criminal trial set to open Wednesday.
Rare bookseller Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski are accused of conspiring to possess and sell manuscripts of “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits without doing so to have the right.
From left: Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski appear in criminal court after being charged with conspiracy in connection with handwritten notes from the famous Eagles album “Hotel California” on July 12, 2022 in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
The three pleaded not guilty and their lawyers said the men did not commit a crime with the papers, which they obtained through a writer who worked with the Eagles. But Manhattan prosecutors say the defendants tried to conceal the disputed ownership of the documents even though they knew Henley said the pages had been stolen.
There are many disputes over valuable collectibles, but criminal cases like these are rare. Many disputes are resolved privately, through litigation, or with agreements to return the items.
“If you can avoid prosecution by turning it over, most people will just turn it over,” said Travis McDade, a law professor at the University of Illinois who deals with rare document disputes.
Of course, the case of the Eagles manuscripts is unique in other ways as well.
The prosecution's star witness is indeed: Henley is expected to testify between the Eagles' tour stops. The non-jury trial could offer a glimpse into the band's creative process and life on the fast track to '70s stardom.
It's over 80 pages of draft lyrics from the 1976 blockbuster album “Hotel California”, including lyrics to the chart-topper and Grammy-winning title song. It contains one of classic rock's most iconic riffs, its most iconic solos, and its most quoted – arguably overquoted – lines: “You can check out any time, but you can never leave.”
Glenn Horowitz (left) arrives in criminal court after being charged with conspiracy in connection with handwritten notes for the Eagles album “Hotel California” on July 12, 2022 in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Henley said the song was about “the dark underbelly of the American dream.”
It was still streamed over 220 million times and reached 136,000 radio views in the US alone last year, according to entertainment data firm Luminate. The album “Hotel California” has sold 26 million copies nationwide over the years, surpassed only by an Eagles greatest hits CD and Michael Jackson's “Thriller.”
The pages also contain lyrics to songs like “Life in the Fast Lane” and “New Kid in Town.” Eagles manager Irving Azoff called the documents “irreplaceable pieces of music history.”
Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinki are charged with conspiracy to commit stolen property and various other crimes.
They are not accused of actually stealing documents. Neither does anyone else, but the prosecution still has to prove that the documents were stolen. The defense claims this is not true.
Much revolves around the Eagles' interactions with Ed Sanders, a writer who also co-founded the 1960s counterculture rock band The Fugs. He worked on an authorized Eagles biography in the late '70s and early '80s that was never published.
Sanders is not charged in the case. A telephone message was left seeking comment.
He sold the pages to Horowitz, who then sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski.
Horowitz has handled large deals in rare books and archives and has previously been involved in some ownership disputes. One of these involved articles related to “Gone With the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell. It was done.
Inciardi worked on notable exhibitions for the Cleveland-based Rock Hall of Fame. Kosinski starred in Gotta Have It! Collectibles, known for auctioning off celebrities' personal possessions – so personal that Madonna unsuccessfully sued to stop a sale that included her latex panties.
According to court documents from Kosinski's lawyers, Henley told a grand jury that he never gave the biographer the texts. But defense attorneys have signaled they want to examine Henley's memory of the time.
“We believe that Mr. Henley voluntarily provided the lyrics to Mr. Sanders,” attorney Scott Edelman said in court last week.
Sanders told Horowitz in 2005 that while he was working on the Eagles book, he was sent all the papers he wanted from Henley's home in Malibu, California, the indictment says.
Then in 2012, Kosinski's company offered some sites at auction. Henley's lawyers knocked on the door. And Horowitz, Inciardi and Sanders, in various combinations, began arguing about alternative versions of the manuscripts' origins, the indictment says.
Edward Kosinski (left) leaves criminal court after being charged with conspiracy in connection with handwritten notes for the Eagles album “Hotel California” on July 12, 2022 in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
In one story, Sanders found the discarded pages in a dressing room backstage. In other cases, he got it from a stage assistant or by “gathering a lot of material about the Eagles from different people.” In another case, he received it from Frey — a report that would “make this go away once and for all,” Horowitz suggested in 2017. Frey had died the year before.
“All he needs is gentle treatment and reassurance that he is not going astray,” Horowitz wrote in a 2012 email to Inciardi about Sanders' “'statement' in a memo.” To turn auctioneers, the indictment says.
According to the indictment, Sanders delivered or signed some of the different statements, and it is unclear what he may have expressed verbally. But he apparently rejected at least the locker room story.
Kosinki forwarded a statement approved by Sanders to Henley's attorney. Kosinski also assured Sotheby's auction house that the musician had “no claim” to the documents and asked that potential bidders be kept in the dark about Henley's complaints, the indictment says.
Sotheby's had put the lyrics to “Hotel California” up for sale at auction in 2016, but withdrew them after it was revealed that ownership was in question. Sotheby's is not facing charges in the case and declined to comment.
Henley privately purchased some drafts of Gotta Have It! for $8,500 in 2012, when he also began filing police reports, according to court records.
Defense attorneys say Henley found enthusiastic prosecutors to take on his case rather than pursue a civil lawsuit himself.
The prosecutor's office worked closely with Henley's legal team, and one investigator even sought backstage passes to an Eagles show — until a prosecutor said the idea was “totally inappropriate,” Kosinki's lawyers said in court papers.
Prosecutors have dismissed questions about her motives as “more of a conspiracy theory than a legal defense.”
Last year they wrote in court papers: “It is the defendants, not the prosecutors, who are on trial.”