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The Eagles Hotel California court case lifts lid on ‘pampered rock stars’

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The Eagles Hotel California court case lifts lid on ‘pampered rock stars’


The Eagles’ manager once told their biographer that his book wasn’t getting published because of friction from “a pampered rock star,” a court heard on Thursday.

“It’s gonna come out when God Henley says it can,” Irving Azoff said in the same years-old phone call, apparently referring to band co-founder Don Henley. “Now it’s up to God.”

The recording emerged at the criminal trial of three collectibles experts charged with conspiring to hang onto and sell sheets of handwritten, draft lyrics to the megahit “Hotel California” and other Eagles favorites.

The biographer, Ed Sanders, isn’t charged in the case, but he factors in it because he sold the roughly 100 pages to one of the defendants. Henley and prosecutors contend that the documents were stolen, saying Sanders obtained them from Henley’s home to research the book and was obligated to return them to the Eagles.

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Defendants Edward Kosinski, Craig Inciardi and Glenn Horowitz have pleaded not guilty.

The never-published book is a side player in the legal case. But testimony about the book has shed light on the Eagles’ interpersonal dynamics and reputational aims around the time of the group’s 1980 breakup.

And Thursday offered a behind-the-scenes look at music-business wheeling and dealing, and at the longtime manager whom Henley once called — affectionately — “our Satan.”

Azoff has been the personal manager of the Eagles, one of the most successful bands in rock history, since about 1973. He’s managed many other big-name musicians, produced the classic 1982 teen comedy “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and was CEO of Ticketmaster for a time.

In 1979, as the Eagles were closing out the decade that brought them superstardom, they hired Sanders to pen a biography. The writer, who also co-founded the ’60s counterculture rock band the Fugs, had authored a noted book about murderous cult leader Charles Manson.

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Azoff testified Wednesday that when Sanders turned in the Eagles manuscript in the early 1980s, Henley and Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey were “very disappointed.” Azoff said he found the draft’s discussion of the Eagles’ breakup “unacceptable” and the band never authorized publication because the book “wasn’t very good.”

“It didn’t, to me, capture the essence of the joy of the story,” Azoff added on the witness stand Thursday, elaborating about the Eagles “chasing the American dream and how important they were to establishing Southern California as a mecca of music.”

“Somebody else might have thought it was very good,” he said, but “we didn’t think it was good for the Eagles.”

Defendant memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski arrives at supreme court

(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

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Then one of Kosinski’s lawyers played a recording of Azoff proclaiming he was “phenomenally, absolutely happy” with the book.

The recording, of a call between Azoff and Sanders, was undated but apparently from the 1980s. The defense said the writer taped it.

At other points in the call, Azoff indicated that Frey didn’t have a problem with the manuscript and that “deals are done,” but there still was an obstacle.

“Ed, you’ve been wonderful. The book is gonna come out — it’s just that I have a pampered rock star here,” Azoff said.

Asked on the witness stand who the “pampered rock star” was, Azoff said: “Probably all of them.”

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“You’d agree that you told Mr. Sanders that the book was going to come out when ‘God Henley’ says it can?” attorney Scott Edelman asked at another point.

“It was either me or Satan that told him that,” Azoff quipped.

Henley said in the Eagles’ 1998 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction speech that Azoff “may be Satan, but he’s our Satan.″ Asked during testimony Wednesday about the remark, Azoff shot back: ”Have you ever heard of humor, sir?”

Notwithstanding the taped phone call, Azoff said Thursday that he didn’t remember any publishing deal for the Eagles biography, and he said years of rewriting never produced a book the band was willing to approve.

Eagles manager Irving Azoff, center, arrives at supreme court to testify

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(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

“There were a lot of changing positions, but at the end of the day, I believe it was Mr. Frey who pulled the plug,” the manager said. Frey died in 2016.

Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski are accused of deceiving auction houses, and trying to fend off Henley, by crafting bogus explanations of how Sanders got the documents.

Horowitz, a rare-book seller who has brokered deals to place major archives at institutions, bought the Eagles lyrics drafts from Sanders for $50,000 in 2005.

Horowitz later sold them for $65,000 to Inciardi, who was then a rock Hall of Fame curator, and Kosinski, who owns a rock memorabilia auction site.

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After Kosinski’s site offered four pages of the “Hotel California” lyrics in 2012, Henley reported them stolen but ultimately bought them for $8,500. After more sheets from that song and “Life in the Fast Lane” went up for auction in 2014 and 2016, Henley refused to negotiate more buybacks and turned to authorities again, according to prosecutors and Azoff.

Defense lawyers say Henley gave Sanders the documents. The defense argues that the writer was the rightful owner when he sold them, and so were the defendants once they bought the pages.

Sanders hasn’t testified, and it appears unlikely he will. He hasn’t responded to a message seeking comment on the case, and emails sent to him bounced back.



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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years

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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years


While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.

It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.

It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.

“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.

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The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.

“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”

The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.

“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”

You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.

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What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.

“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”

That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.

“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”

While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.

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“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”



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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter

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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter


It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!

The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”

The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.

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“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”

We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.

“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.

If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.


Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’

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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’


We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.

In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”

Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.

“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.

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Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies

Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.

When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”

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“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”

When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”

Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.

Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.

The primary election is June 2.

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No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows

A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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