Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski face allegations of engaging in a scheme to unlawfully sell pages from the yellow-lined pad and other Eagles lyrics. On Wednesday, a criminal trial will feature handwritten pages bearing the earliest known renditions of the iconic rock song Hotel California. 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 centre of an unusual criminal trial.
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 Mr Henley said the pages were stolen.
More than 80 pages of draft lyrics from the blockbuster 1976 Hotel California album, including words to the chart-topping, Grammy-winning title cut are at issue in the case.
Read more