July 31st, 1980, The Eagles call it quits. This is a night that’s come to be known as the “Long Night in Wrong Beach.” The Eagles are playing a sold-out benefit show in Long Beach, California for a Senate re-election campaign. Glenn Frey set this whole thing up. And the Senator’s walking through saying thank you to all the band members. He thanks Don Felder, to which Felder responds, “You’re welcome, I guess.” And that sets off Glenn Frey. Now look, truth be told, The Eagles have been out on the road for years. They’ve been abusing all kinds of substances. The fact that there’s tensions between band members really shouldn’t be a surprise. Tonight’s just the night that they boil over. And these two guys start hurling obscenities at each other, all kind of four-letter words. And you would think that professionals like this, that would stop by the time they hit the stage. That’s not the case on this night. They get on stage and it gets so bad that the sound men have to turn off Glenn Frey’s mic when he’s not singing so they don’t pick up anything that he’s saying to Felder. Felder’s not innocent in any of this either because he has some choice responses as well. At one point, Glenn Frey walks over to Felder on the stage and tells him three more songs and I’m going to kick your ass pal. When they finally walk off the stage, Don Felder takes his guitar, smashes it against a cement wall, to which Glenn Frey says, “Leave it to you to smash one of your cheapest guitars.” Felder jumps into a limousine and splits. The next day, bassist for the band, Timothy B. Schmidt, he gives Glenn Frey a call just to see where the band’s at and he’s told the band is over. And they stayed that way for 14 years until funny enough, they with an album and a tour called Hell Freezes Over.
Then as we look at today’s calendar, we find a rock birthday on it, so we have to say happy birthday to drummer from REM, Bill Berry.
