My pal Derek is off to see the Eagles tonight in Vancouver. I had the chance to see them in 2007 at the Nokia Centre in Los Angeles with the Dixie Chicks as the opening act but wasn't willing to part with $350.
It's tough to pick one great Eagles song because there are so many, especially when you factor in the solo work, particularly by Don Henley and Joe Walsh. So I'll go with the song that takes me back to my first daily newspaper job at the Penticton Herald.
I was 23, fresh out of journalism school and pretty lonely in a town where I knew no one. Glenn Frey's mournful vocal on New Kid In Town kept me company, as did those soaring harmonies at the end of the song. Perhaps even better than Hotel California, New Kid In Town seems to just sum up the 1970s so well - the transparency, the insecurity and the here-today-gone-tomorrow attitude of the time.
To hear a great live version of New Kid In Town from their 1995 tour, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ceQ-cg7Ubw.
