Skip to content
July 15, 2025
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

Bridging The Community’s World Wide

  • Home
  • IP TV LIVE
  • PODCAST
  • U.S.News
  • LOCAL ELECTION
  • State News
    • Alabama
    • Alaska
    • Arizona
    • Arkansas
    • California
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Hawaii
    • Idaho
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Kentucky
    • Louisiana
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Maine
    • Minnesota
    • Mississippi
    • Missouri
    • Montana
    • Nebraska
    • Nevada
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • North Carolina
    • North Dakota
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania
    • Rhode Island
    • South Carolina
    • South Dakota
    • Tennessee
    • Texas
    • Virginia
    • Washington
    • West Virginia
    • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Politics
  • World News
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Weather
  • Business
  • Advisement
  • Health News
  • About Us
  • Contact us
Live TV

Welcome to the ‘Hotel California’ case: The trial over handwritten lyrics to an Eagles classic

NEW YORK — In the mid-1970s, the Eagles were working on a spooky, cryptic new song.

On a lined yellow pad, Don Henley, with input from band co-founder Glenn Frey, jotted thoughts about “a dark desert highway” and “a lovely place” with a luxurious surface and ominous undertones. And something on ice, perhaps caviar or Taittinger — or pink Champagne?

The song, “Hotel California,” became one of rock’s most indelible singles. And nearly a half-century later, those handwritten pages of lyrics-in-the-making have become the center of an unusual criminal trial set to open Wednesday.

Rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski are charged with conspiring to own and try to sell manuscripts of “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits without the right to do so.

The three have pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers have said the men committed no crime with the papers, which they acquired via a writer who’d worked with the Eagles. But the Manhattan district attorney’s office says the defendants connived to obscure the documents’ disputed ownership, despite knowing that Henley said the pages were stolen.

Clashes over valuable collectibles abound, but criminal trials like this are rare. Many fights are resolved in private, in lawsuits or with agreements to return the items.

“If you can avoid a prosecution by handing over the thing, most people just hand it over,” said Travis McDade, a University of Illinois law professor who studies rare document disputes.

Of course, the case of the Eagles manuscripts is distinctive in other ways, too.

The prosecutors’ star witness is indeed that: Henley is expected to testify between Eagles tour stops. The non-jury trial could offer a peek into the band’s creative process and life in the fast lane of ‘70s stardom.

At issue are over 80 pages of draft lyrics from the blockbuster 1976 “Hotel California” album, including words to the chart-topping, Grammy-winning title cut. It features one of classic rock’s most recognizable riffs, best-known solos and most oft-quoted — arguably overquoted — lines: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Henley has said the song is about “the dark underbelly of the American dream.”

It still was streamed over 220 million times and got 136,000 radio spins last year in the U.S. alone, according to the entertainment data company Luminate. The “Hotel California” album has sold 26 million copies nationwide over the years, bested only by an Eages’ greatest hits disc and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

The pages also include lyrics from songs including “Life in the Fast Lane” and “New Kid in Town.” Eagles manager Irving Azoff has called the documents “irreplaceable pieces of musical history.”

Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinki are charged with conspiracy to possess stolen property and various other offenses.

About Author

Habib Habib

See author's posts

Continue Reading

Previous: William Byron launches Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary season with win in Daytona 500
Next: Minnesota man who shot 2 officers and a firefighter wasn’t allowed to have guns

Related Stories

Trump marks one-year anniversary of assassination attempt at the FIFA Club World Cup final

Trump marks one-year anniversary of assassination attempt at the FIFA Club World Cup final

Trump to meet NATO secretary general as plan takes shape for Ukraine weapons sales

Trump to meet NATO secretary general as plan takes shape for Ukraine weapons sales

Trump to make unprecedented second state visit to UK in September

Trump to make unprecedented second state visit to UK in September

Entertainment

Tyler Perry sued by actor on ‘The Oval’ for sexual assault and harassment 1

Tyler Perry sued by actor on ‘The Oval’ for sexual assault and harassment

Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82 2

Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82

Tom Cruise brings ‘Final Reckoning’ to Cannes, but won’t bid ‘Mission: Impossible’ adieu yet 3

Tom Cruise brings ‘Final Reckoning’ to Cannes, but won’t bid ‘Mission: Impossible’ adieu yet

‘SNL’ to close out its 50th season with Scarlett Johansson and Bad Bunny 4

‘SNL’ to close out its 50th season with Scarlett Johansson and Bad Bunny

Jen Psaki stepping up for MSNBC as Rachel Maddow returns to once-a-week schedule 5

Jen Psaki stepping up for MSNBC as Rachel Maddow returns to once-a-week schedule

Book publishers see surging interest in the US Constitution and print new editions 6

Book publishers see surging interest in the US Constitution and print new editions

What to know about Harvey Weinstein’s #MeToo retrial with jury selection set to get underway 7

What to know about Harvey Weinstein’s #MeToo retrial with jury selection set to get underway

Top News

Two women killed in Kentucky church shooting after trooper shot; suspect killed, police say

Two women killed in Kentucky church shooting after trooper shot; suspect killed, police say

Heavy rains in Texas pause search efforts for flood victims and damage homes elsewhere

Heavy rains in Texas pause search efforts for flood victims and damage homes elsewhere

Trump marks one-year anniversary of assassination attempt at the FIFA Club World Cup final

Trump marks one-year anniversary of assassination attempt at the FIFA Club World Cup final

Trump to meet NATO secretary general as plan takes shape for Ukraine weapons sales

Trump to meet NATO secretary general as plan takes shape for Ukraine weapons sales

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
Editor: Nur M Tofader, Head Office: 544 Taylor Avenue Bronx New York USA 10473, Tell: 7186396600, 7186396800, 7188441300, Email: Info@millenniuamnews24.com, Copyright © Millennium News 24/7 | DarkNews by AF themes.