June 14 – Don Henley – Building the Perfect Beast

As one of my opinions of The Eagles was that they capitalized on tasty topics, songs like “Dirty Laundry” from Don Henley’s first venture as a solo artist left me unimpressed. And perhaps I was a little overly saturated with Stevie Nicks at the time, but their collaboration on “Leather and Lace” was somewhat ho-hum. The first album seemed to be a practice run for his second solo album some years later, Building the Perfect Beast. I was still not a Henley fan, but I will admit that “Boys of Summer,” both song and video are most appealing and made me sit up and take notice. Still, it wouldn’t be an easy transition from my dislike of The Eagles to my eventual appreciation of Henley. Even though my days as a baseball fan were over, I did think “Boys of Summer” was a bit of a masterpiece, but for me he still seemed to project The Eagles arrogance that I perceived. Then there was this song “Sunset Grill” during which Henley screeches the words “don’t worry girl. I’ll stand by you,” that I realized I wanted to hear again and often. I think we all know by now I have a fondness for a good rasp – Springsteen, Stewart, Etheridge and Joplin. Wouldn’t it be inevitable that Henley would break through that Eagles wall I erected? And so he would. Big time.

Fitness report: I am now exercising in shorts. It looks okay actually. I’m not saying I’m going out in public in shorts, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen.