A curious criminal case involving handwritten lyrics to the classic rock megahit “Hotel California” and other Eagles favorites is going to trial in a New York courtroom, with opening statements set for Wednesday.
The three defendants, all well-established in the collectibles world, are accused of scheming to thwart Eagles co-founder Don Henley’s efforts to reclaim the allegedly 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.
Rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and various other charges. Their lawyers have said the case “alleges criminality where none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of well-respected professionals.”
The documents include lyrics-in-development for “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” and, of course, “Hotel California,” the more than six-minute-long, somewhat mysterious musical tale of the goings-on at an inviting, decadent but ultimately dark place where “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
If scorned by some as an overexposed artifact of the ‘70s, the Grammy-winning song is still a touchstone on classic rock radio and many personal playlists. The entertainment data company Luminate counted over 220 million streams and 136,000 radio plays of “Hotel California” in the U.S. last year.
The case was brought in 2022, a decade after some of the pages began popping up for auction and Henley took notice — and took umbrage. He bought back a bit of the material for $8,500 but also reported the documents stolen, according to court filings.
At the time, the lyrics sheets were in the hands of Kosinski and Inciardi, who had bought them from Horowitz. He had purchased them in 2005 from Ed…
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