The trial of a criminal case involving handwritten lyrics to a classic rock song is set to begin in a New York courtroom. The three defendants, all well-established in the collectibles world, are accused of scheming to foil the efforts of the Eagles co- founder to get back the ill-gotten documents. The trial concerns more than 80 pages of drafts of the words to songs from the Hotel California album, the 1976 release that stands today as the third-biggest selling disc ever in the U.S. Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski have pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers said the case "alleges where none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of well-respected professionals."
The documents include the lyrics for a song called "Life in the Fast Lane," a song called "New Kid in Town" and a song called "Hotel California."
The song is still a favorite on classic rock radio and can be found on many personal playlists. The entertainment data company counted over 220 million streams and 136,000 radio plays of Hotel California in the US last year. After some of the pages began popping up for auction, he bought a small amount of the material for $8,500 and reported the stolen documents. The members of The Eagles pose for a picture with their guitars after a news conference at the festival. Kosinski and Inciardi bought the lyrics sheets from Horowitz. He bought them in 2005 from a counterculture figure who worked with the Eagles on a biography. The co-founding member of the avant-garde rock group the Fugs isn't charged in the case and hasn't responded to a message. According to the indictment, the writer worried that Henley might be upset if they were sold, despite the fact that the assistant had mailed along any documents he wanted for the biography. The Manhattan prosecutors said that Inciardi and Kosinski were involved in trying to get a legal ownership history for the manuscripts. Over the next five years, they ranged from being abandoned in a backstage dressing room to the writer getting them from Glenn Frey. Emails show some input and assent from Sanders, but he also objected to the backstage-salvage story. The indictment says that in messages that didn't include him, he was given "gentle handling" and assurances that he wasn't going to the can. The men who bought the documents from him were said to have legal possession of them. The defendants decided last week to forgo a jury, so the judge will decide the verdict.