Transcript of CNN Showbiz Today December 7

Transcript of CNN Showbiz Today
December 7, 1999

Showbiz Today

The Eagles Honored For Best-Selling Album of Century; Hollywood Takes Indie Approach to Films; New York Photographer is Turning Heads

Aired December 7, 1999 - 4:30 p.m. ET

JIM MORET, HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Jim Moret with The Eagles on an incredible day for this group. They were just honored here at The Complex in Los Angeles for the best-selling album of the century.

You are looking at The Eagles: Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Joe Walsh. The Recording Industry of America certified their "Greatest Hits 1971-1975" as the biggest hit of the past 100 years, selling more than 26 million units. That beats out Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album.

Congratulations to all of you. Let's first go to the strong, silent type, Joe Walsh over there, always with a pearl of wisdom. What's your reaction to this honor?

JOE WALSH, THE EAGLES: I am speechless.

MORET: And that's basically all we'll get from Joe for the half an hour. Don?

DON FELDER, THE EAGLES: Well, I think it's just an amazing award, and the thing that has taken place that none of us really expected would ever happen. And it's kind of a testament to the songwriting of these two guys over here, Don Henley and Glenn Frey. The songs on that record really kind of withstood the test of time.

MORET: Many people think that your biggest record might be "Hotel California." "Hotel California" was actually made after this record was released, so some of the hits that many people consider their favorites aren't even on that record.

DON HENLEY, THE EAGLES: That's true.

GLEN FREY, THE EAGLES: They can get them on our second greatest hits album, though.

HENLEY: Yes, the one with the really good cover.

MORET: The chairman of your record label, when he introduced you --the former chairman of the label was joking about each of you as he brought you out here to receive the award, and he talked about the much-publicized friction. But when we're with you today, it just doesn't seem to be apparent at all. Is it because you haven't seen each other in so long. FREY: We're putting up a front for you -- you know, we're on TV.

Well, you know, I think any worthwhile relationship has peaks and valleys, and so this band has had some valleys, and -- but that's just the way it is in any relationship. But we probably in pretty good shape right now.

HENLEY: Actually, there was a sixth Eagle, named Rick Kaplan, but we kicked him out of the group.

MORET: The president of CNN and "USA Today."

And Timothy, you are still considered the younger member of the group, the most recent member. You joined, what, in '78?

TIMOTHY B. SCHMIT, THE EAGLES: Yes, I think my first tour was '78.

MORET: And you are the person that holds the group together?

SCHMIT: I'm the glue.

MORET: The glue.

Now, you guys have been busy, so you were not able to make the premiere of "The Green Mile" last night. Have you heard about this Steven King movie?

FREY: No.

MORET: Another boy band was there, 'N Sync. They joined the stars in Hollywood to see the Tom Hanks film, and we have a tape of it.

MORET: Eagles' music has been featured in a number of films, perhaps none more memorable than "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." I think that that is probably the pinnacle of your musical career, no? See this works both ways, actually.

It's been an interesting year in movies with some breakout films shocking Hollywood.

Sherri Sylvester has details.

ANNOUNCER: Don't fly away, we'll have more with our special guests The Eagles, and a photographer whose sexy work is making him on of our "20 to Watch in 2000."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: We're back here live with The Eagles, who will apparently misbehave for the entire half hour. Let's focus on the millennium. A lot of folks are talking about celebrations for the new year, and you have some concerts planned. Timothy, why don't you chime in, December 28 and 29? SCHMIT: In Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay, and New Year's Eve at the Staples Center, downtown Los Angeles.

MORET: Don, what can folks expect to see that they haven't seen before? You got a new set?

HENLEY: Yes, we do. We have a new set. We're playing some songs that we've never played before, that should be interesting. We're also playing some songs that we haven't played in 20 years, maybe.

MORET: Well, it's special for you as well, your kids will see you perform for the first time.

HENLEY: That's right.

MORET: Which is either very good or very bad.

HENLEY: I don't know yet which one it is. I'll let you know. But there are seats available, by the way.

MORET: For both -- for the concerts?

HENLEY: For both shows. Yes. We've cleared some -- we just got our production design for the L.A. show and for the Vegas show, so that cleared up a few seats.

MORET: Similar production for both?

HENLEY: Yes. And the premiere seats are being made available to the public for the first time today.

MORET: Glenn, why the two venues? You are close enough so that you could conceivably go to both.

FREY: Well, we can't get -- we can only into Staples for New Year's Eve. They have hockey and basketball, a lot of activities there. And we didn't want to come into the show cold, so we were looking for a place close to Los Angeles that we could go to. Vegas is perfect for us. We are allowed to go in the venue at Mandalay Bay a day early. So we really get to play this show three days in a row before it comes to Los Angeles, so that's why we chose Vegas.

MORET: Do you think there is a difference between a studio band and a live band, and what's the advantage, for you, of playing live?

FELDER: The audience really is the key to playing live. You know, you get immediate reaction to what's going on. The energy from the audience back into the performance really kind of just makes the music a lot different than just playing the tape.

MORET: Are there advantages, though, to both? I mean, you can probably do certain things in a studio, Joe, that you can't do live?

WALSH: Well, you can do anything in the studio with digital technology. And more and more records are being made that way, you know? There are very few bands that can go out and still do it live, of which we are one.

MORET: And you enjoy it obviously?

WALSH: Very much.

MORET: When you write a song, do you get a certain amount of satisfaction when people, as they often do at a concert, scream play out such and such a song, play "Hotel California," play "Tequila Sunrise?" I know you all claim that you wrote "Hotel California" and I heard that...

SCHMIT: I did, I wrote it, it was my idea.

(LAUGHTER)

FREY: Well, you know, I think it is exciting, it's exciting because people identify with the songs so much.

HENLEY: You can do without the screaming out the titles, you know, we're going to get around to them, you know, but people like to do that. You learn to ignore it after a while.

MORET: But two years -- 20 years later, there are certain songs that are obviously people's favorites, and doesn't get old for you to play them over and over?

FREY: No, not really, because it's so new for them, you know. They've been waiting for years for us to do this. You know, I think our millennium shows, I think the nostalgia and the feelings that are associated with a band like The Eagles are going to be amplified to a degree that we've never experienced. To stand in southern California on New Year's Eve and play all these songs which are so much about California, so many of them written in California, where we lived, I think I'm looking forward to a pretty emotional evening myself. I'm going to cry.

(LAUGHTER)

MORET: You're close now, I see.

FREY: I am right now, yes.

MORET: When Don talks about his kids seeing him for the first time, do you get the sense when you look at the audience that there are some folks -- it's obviously a new generation for you and you are reaching a new generation and the music is still touching them.

WALSH: There is a lot of people that didn't -- that weren't even born first time around, you know, the little smart-ass grandchildren out there, too. My grandfather turned me on to you guys. Na-na-na!

(LAUGHTER)

MORET: Which is not necessarily what you want to hear.

WALSH: Not from -- no. (LAUGHTER)

MORET: Is this making you feel old, Timothy?

SCHMIT: Somewhat, yes. I mean, we do -- we have a whole age range out there of people, and it is funny when -- funny -- I don't know if funny is the word, but when it used to be, my father turned me on to you, now it's my grandfather. It's a little strange.

MORET: OK. Now I told you you're all are part of the show, so we have to segue into another topic. This is how we do it. The Eagles obviously gave us "Hotel California."

Now get ready for the eye-popping -- how do you say this? -- "Hotel Lachapelle." Have you ever heard of that? It's a book from one of the hottest photographers in the business, David Lachapelle. You're still trying to figure this out? He's number two in our "20 to Watch in the Year 2000," because as Michael Okwu tells us, his artistic vision is spreading to all kinds of media.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: For those lucky enough to go to the concerts that The Eagles are performing in Las Vegas on the 28th and 29th at Mandalay Bay and also at Staples Center for New Year's Eve -- those are free plugs, again, for you -- you'll be treated to a special film, a retrospective.

Glenn, why don't you tell us a little about it?

FREY: Well, we decided for our millennium shows that we wanted to do something a little different, so during our intermission -- or actually coming out of intermission, in the second part of the show, we're going to show about a 15 or 20 minute film that's sort of a musical and pictorial view of the last century. We'll start in the 1900's and go through to the '90s.

MORET: And you folks are all part of the turbulent, what, '70s and '80s?

FREY: Yes. We've included The Eagles in the decade of the '70s and have a very interesting and truthful look how we actually came together, wrote all the songs and, ultimately, disbanded.

MORET: And you have a great sense of humor, all of you, about your trials and tribulations, and mostly your successes. That's what makes it easy to joke about the trials and tribulations, right?

WALSH: Uh-huh.

MORET: They're very musical. They're not big on speaking, just "uh-huh."

OK, Joe, you want to help out here?

WALSH: Well, no.

MORET: Timothy said he was the glue that held the group together. You say it was you?

WALSH: I'm brains of the outfit.

MORET: The strong, silent type.

And, Don, you are the?

WALSH: He's the brains and the outfit, too.

MORET: You're the brains of the outfit.

Talk about the concert that you said people will be hearing songs for the first time that they've never heard live before; one of them "Please Come Home for Christmas."

HENLEY: Yes.

MORET: Anything else?

HENLEY: Well, there was a flip side. We recorded "Please Come Home for Christmas" kind of on a whim when we were down in Miami trying to come up with songs for "The Long Run" album?

FREY: That's right.

HENLEY: Thank you.

It's millennium madness, Jim.

(LAUGHTER)

HENLEY: We were looking for something to do, but because we couldn't -- we weren't writing too well at the moment, so we always loved to

(AUDIO GAP)

HENLEY: ... no relation to James Brown -- Charles Brown, and I used to hear it when I was growing up on a station in New Orleans, so we recorded it, and then we wrote -- Glenn decided we should write a flip side for the single called "Funky New Year."

MORET: So folks will hear both of those songs.

HENLEY: Yes they will.

MORET: And we're going to hear "Tequila Sunrise" performed live by The Eagles, coming up right after this.

Don't go away.

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow, Tom Hanks teams with Stephen King in the highly anticipated movie "The Green Mile," and teen popster Jessica Simpson, one of our 20 to watch in 2000.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: Our special thanks to The Eagles for joining us. And congratulations to them for the biggest selling record of the 20th century -- twenty-six million copies.

And now, a cut off of their "Greatest Hits 1971-75 album," "Tequila Sunrise."

(MUSIC)

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