Welcome To The Hotel California Case: The Trial Over Handwritten Lyrics To Eagles Classic
February 20, 2024 9:04AM AKST
FILE - Members of The Eagles, from left, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh pose with an autographed guitar after a news conference at the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 19, 2013, in Park City, Utah. On Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, an unusual criminal trial is set to open over the handwritten lyrics to the band's classic rock blockbuster' “Hotel California.” (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — An unusual criminal trial is set to open over the handwritten lyrics to a classic rock blockbuster: the Eagles’ “Hotel California.”
A noted rare-book dealer, a former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator and a collectibles seller are charged with conspiring to own and try to sell manuscripts of that song’s lyrics and other Eagles hits without the right to do so.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Disputes over memorabilia abound, but criminal trials over them don’t.
And in this one, the prosecutors’ star witness is indeed that.
Eagles co-founder Don Henley is expected to testify.
