All language subtitles for Laurel.Canyon.S01E02.WEBRip.x264-ION10

- For four years,

American boys have been
fighting and dying in Vietnam.

For 12 months,
our negotiators have been...

["Take It Easy" playing]

♪

- ♪ Well I'm a-runnin'
down the road ♪

♪ Trying to loosen my load

♪ I got seven women
on my mind ♪

♪ Four that want to own me,
two that want to stone me ♪

♪ One said
she's a friend of mine ♪

♪ Take it easy

♪ Take it easy

♪ Don't let the sound
of your own wheels ♪

♪ Drive you crazy

♪ Lighten up
while you still can ♪

♪ Don't even try
to understand ♪

♪ Just find a place
to make your stand ♪

♪ Take it easy

♪

- ♪ Take it easy

♪ Take it easy

♪ Don't let the sound
of your own wheels ♪

♪ Drive you crazy

♪ Come on, baby

♪ Don't say maybe

♪ I got to know
if your sweet love ♪

♪ Is gonna save me

♪

- I'm Jim Ladd,
and you have the good taste,

the grace, and the luck

to be listening
to 95.5 KLOS.

Good for you, man.

I worked
at a radio station in LA.

I had hair down
to the middle of my back.

Here we are
in our early 20s,

the entire social order
of the country

was in upheaval.

["The Star-Spangled Banner"
playing on electric guitar]

♪

But then something
very special happened.

- That's one small step for man,

one giant leap
for mankind.

Houston...

- That day in front
of a black-and-white TV set,

it reached into me,

this young hippie radical,

just as it reached
into everybody

that was alive...

- There you go.
- Yeah.

- Beautiful.

- That's what humanity
coming together looks like.

And that's what would
start it in a smaller way.

- The great rock festival
is now history.

The last of the nearly
half million young people

have now departed.

- And while the music is over,
the aftertaste lingers on.

- Woodstock was the event

that drew
our generation together

and put a face
and numbers to it.

- ...virtually a city.

- The fact that you would pull
that many people together,

and it would be peaceful...

- ...a place of no violence.

- ...it made a big impression

on those in a society
that hated us.

And let's remember, there were those that hated us.

They didn't like hippies.

- Hippie eventually was a name

that people
didn't want to be called

because it was a way
of packaging them up

and dismissing them.

But hippie was,
like, a young person,

just burgeoning
or just opening,

just blossoming.

Somebody who's getting hip.

I mean, it was a way of living
your life out in the open.

Being a freak
and being unapologetic

about who you were.

It was going on
in Woodstock

and immediately was echoed
in Laurel Canyon.

[piano music]

♪

- Joni Mitchell, she didn't
come out to Woodstock,

but she wrote the song about it

from what she gleaned
from other people.

And yet, to her credit,

it was the song.

- ♪ By the time
we got to Woodstock ♪

♪ We were half a million
strong ♪

♪ And everywhere

♪ There was song

♪ And celebration

♪ And I dreamed
I saw the bombers ♪

♪ Riding shotgun
in the sky ♪

♪ And they were turning
into butterflies ♪

♪ Above our nation

♪ Ooh

I was just trying to understand myself and my world.

I used the writing process

as a method
of understanding,

getting closer and closer
to the essence.

♪ Ooh

My 20s were full of intense
painful self-discovery.

Some truths that I discovered
along the way,

wherever I could take it
from my own personal travail

to the universal.

Anything good that helped me,

I would try to slot
into the song

to give it some nutrition,

so it would transcend
self-pity.

♪ Ooh

- I was always very cautious

about giving Joan
enough room to write.

There was no schedule.

It was just me
trying to recognize

when Joni was going
into that void,

when I say something
and she wasn't listening.

And she wrote many,
many, many songs

while we were together.

She wrote half of "Blue,"
"Ladies of the Canyon."

It was a shitty morning.

Late winter, chilly,

rainy, miserable, foggy.

I'd taken Joni to breakfast

at Art's Deli
on Ventura Boulevard,

quite close to Laurel Canyon.

We were walking
after breakfast,

and we passed an antique store,

and we're looking
in the window.

Joan saw this small vase
that she wanted to buy.

It was about eight
or nine inches high.

Some hand-painted flowers
around one edge.

So she bought it.

We drive to her house,
go through the front door,

and I said, "Hey, Joan,

"why don't I light a fire

"and you put some flowers
in that vase

that you bought today?"

[chuckles]
It's that simple.

Joni went out to find
some winter flowers

to put in this vase
that she just bought.

That means
she wasn't at her piano,

but that means that I was.

- ♪ I'll light the fire

♪ You place the flowers
in the vase ♪

♪ That you bought today

- ♪ Staring at the fire

♪ For hours and hours

♪ While I listen to you

♪ Play your love songs

♪ All night long

♪ For me

- People would say when me
and Joan walked into a room,

it lit up the room.

We brought out the best
in each other.

- ♪ Come to me now

♪ To rest your head
for just... ♪

- In the Laurel Canyon scene,

we were at the very center

of this beautiful bubble
of creativity

and friendship and sunshine

and sex and drugs
and music.

- ♪ Our house

♪ Is a very, very,
very fine house ♪

♪ With two cats in the yard

♪ Life used to be so hard

♪ Now everything is easy

♪ 'Cause of you

- Joan, I don't think
ever has really had

another relationship
like Graham.

Graham was as close as
it ever came to her

actually loving somebody
on an ongoing basis.

She probably nearly stuck
with him forever.

And I don't think
she ever even considered it

with any of the rest of us.

- It was a telegram,
and it only said,

"If you hold sand too tightly
in your hand,

it will run through
your fingers."

And that was a shame,

but that's the way things are.

[birds chirping]

- ♪ Boys and girls

♪ Have a good time together

all:
♪ Be my friend

♪ Or be my lover

♪ Girls

- That's the way
we've been doing it.

We changed it.
This time we sing--

- Yeah, but the rhythm
has changed, Cass.

- Mamas & Papas--

we were only together
for two and a half years.

Then that all changed.

- Being successful,
we've all developed

our own ways of life
here in Los Angeles,

and we don't affect one another

as creatively as we did

when we were all dependent
upon one another,

emotionally and whatnot.

- After a while,
you don't want to see

those same three people

day in and day out
all of your life.

It starts to wear on you.

We decided that

we didn't want to continue
working together.

Everybody had ambitions
to do other things.

Cass wanted to be a soloist
more than anything.

She saw herself as a hip
Barbra Streisand.

- The music that my mom
chose for herself

that she did as a solo artist,

she felt passionately about

really positive subject matter.

My mom was loving and warm

and inviting, big hugs.

She loved to be around
her friends.

She loved to have a full house,

and people would make music.

Gram called her
The Queen of the Canyon.

- In Laurel Canyon,
her house was, like,

at the center of everything.

Open 24 hours a day.

A very wide circle
of friends.

But John and I
left Laurel Canyon,

moved to Bel Air.

Three Rolls-Royces
in the garage.

We were hippies,
but we were rich hippies.

There was no question
about that.

We'd been so innovative.

But we had become
the establishment.

[laughs]

[dramatic music]

♪

- I was continuing The Byrds
as a franchise.

Kind of like Coca-Cola
or something.

David Crosby showed up
at my house and said,

"You know, some of the songs
you guys are doing are okay,

but some of them aren't."

And I had to agree with him.

There was a mediocre element
in what The Byrds had become.

We'd gone out on the road
as a three-piece band.

It just wasn't good,
wasn't happening.

We were looking for somebody
to fill in for David

because there was no
rhythm player.

Chris Hillman met
Gram Parsons

and invited him over
to our rehearsals.

Gram came in and played
a little country music.

I thought,
"The guy's got talent.

We can work with him."

I didn't know it,
but he was about to morph

into George Jones
in a rhinestone suit.

[country music]

♪

- I convinced The Byrds

that they should be doing
country music

instead of trying to write
their own Bob Dylan material.

Chris had been trying to say
something like that all along

but wasn't sure The Byrds
would be out of a job.

- Gram Parsons came along,

and he really understood
the real music.

All this wonderful stuff
out of California

along with the Nashville
'50s and '60s country music.

- Gram Parsons' love of
country music was infectious.

He loved it so much
that he sold us on it.

I went to Nudie's,
a rodeo tailor,

and got some cowboy clothes.

And we recorded
an entire county album,

the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo."

It was the first time
a commercially successful

rock band had done
country music.

Other people
had dabbled in it.

- We all had trouble
getting anybody to believe

that you could make
good country music.

- Gram was a nice guy.
He was a lot of fun.

We'd drink beer and play pool,
and he's like a good old boy.

It was a good time.

He got to know
The Rolling Stones.

He and Keith Richards
became really tight.

And he always wanted
to hang out with Keith.

- He was around
for six months.

He left The Byrds.
And I got a little antsy then.

I wanted to do something else,
as David had the year before.

So I left The Byrds,
and Gram and I started

The Flying Burrito Brothers
in 1969.

[country rock music]

♪

- ♪ You may be

♪ Sweet and nice

♪ But that you won't
keep you warm at night ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm the one

♪ Who showed you how

♪ To do the things

♪ You're doing now

♪ He may feel

♪ All your charms

- We want to do this
young, hip country band

and base it around
a Bakersfield-type sound

with a little R&B.

Now, this is where Gram
taught me a lot of music.

- ♪ At the dark end

♪ Of the street

- I thought
I was pretty well up

on most of my R&B and blues,

but he started picking up
these records

and turning me on to people
I've never heard of.

- ♪ Where we don't belong

- ♪ Living in darkness
to hide our wrong ♪

♪ You and me

♪ At the dark end

♪ Of the street

♪ You and me

♪ I know that time's
gonna take its toll ♪

- This is now 1969.

I'd been in two groups
already in LA.

And The Flying Burrito Brothers were on the same label,

so we would see each other
on the A&M studio lot,

and they invited me to join,
to play guitar.

And I happily did that
because I thought that

The Burritos
could do something.

- ♪ You and me

♪ At the dark end

♪ Of the street

♪ You and me

♪

- Back then
I would go on tour,

and I would leave
the door open

'cause our friends
would come in

and stay there.

They cleaned the house
and stocked the refrigerator.

I'd leave money
in the drawer.

There was no thievery
or anything.

We came back
from touring once,

and there's Bobby Beausoleil

sitting on my floor
playing a guitar.

And I'm glad to see him.

Bobby Beausoleil
was in the Grass Roots,

which was our group
just before we became Love.

He was just
the sweetest kid.

We sit down and chat.

And I noticed the door
to my bedroom is closed.

So I said,
"Is there somebody in there?"

He said,
"Yeah. My girlfriend, Sadie.

She's asleep."

A few minutes later, this thing comes out of my bedroom.

This horrible
cadaverous-looking thing

that smelled awful.

She had been in my bed.

Now I'm upset.

And I said,
"Man, who the hell is this?"

And he said,
"Oh, this is Sadie.

"She's with me.

"We lived together
at the Spahn Ranch.

"These people are friends.

And they have
this utopian lifestyle."

So he starts telling me,
and he's romanticizing it,

and I said,
"Cool. That sounds good.

Maybe one day I'll come up
and visit you guys."

And he says,
"I don't think that's good.

Charlie, you know,
is kind of racist."

I said, "So why are you hanging out with a bigot?"

And he says,
"Well, I better go

"because Charlie
is gonna be upset

if he knows that I came by
to visit you."

Well, I said, "Dude,
if this guy is gonna be upset

"that you came by
and visited somebody

"that you've known for years,

maybe you ought to get away
from him."

He kind of laughed.

- They call themselves
The Family.

Young girls supposedly
under the spell

of a bearded Svengali.

The mystical hippie clan
despise

the straight affluent society.

[rain falling]

[thunder rumbles]

[The Doors'
"Riders on the Storm"]

- Friday night in Los Angeles,
a movie actress

and four of her friends
were murdered.

And the circumstances
were lurid.

- This was at the home
of movie director

Roman Polanski.

And it was his wife,
Sharon Tate,

who was one of the victims.

- Do you have any kind of an idea

who might have done it?

Do you have any kind
of APBs out?

Any suspects at all?
- No.

♪

- The first two suspects

after the murders
at the Sharon Tate house

were these two guys I knew.

In the paper, the police
were looking for them.

They went and turned
themselves in immediately

and said,
"Wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa."

It was frightening
in LA then.

- A short time later,
not far away,

a middle-aged couple
was found murdered

in similar circumstances.

- Leno LaBianca,
a supermarket owner,

and his wife have both been
stabbed to death.

Hoods have been placed over
the heads of both victims.

- ♪ There's a killer
on the road ♪

♪ His brain is squirming
like a toad ♪

♪

- We were in this
beautiful bubble,

and those murderers put a pin

right in that bubble,
and it exploded.

♪

Eight people butchered
in the night.

It was too close, too real.

- It's a quarter mile
from my house.

I went out
and bought a shotgun...

my only gun until then.

- Prior to Manson,

in Laurel Canyon
if I saw a hitchhiker,

I would always stop and say,
"Hey, man, get in the car.

Sure, I'll take you up
the Canyon."

But then after the murders,

you had to stop and think,
"Well, wait a minute,

he looks like a cool guy,
but how do I know

"he's not gonna reach around
and slit my throat

while we're driving up
the Canyon? "

I mean, I actually have
those thoughts, you know?

- I had been to that house

several times
with David Crosby,

'cause just before
Sharon Tate lived there,

Terry Melcher,
who had produced The Byrds,

lived at that house,

and everybody was familiar
with the house.

He'd have parties
occasionally.

- Terry Melcher
subleased that house

to Roman and Sharon.

- So people thought the target
could be Melcher.

- I answered
the front doorbell.

There were two detectives.

"Do you know anybody
who would want to kill you?"

And I said, "Well, no."

He said, "Well, did you ever

meet a fellow named
Charles Manson?"

I said, "Charles Manson?

"The guy who plays a guitar

and all the girls sing
in the background?"

[dark music]

♪

- Manson was one of many
disgruntled young people

who tried to get his music
recorded,

and he happened
to be a crazy guy

who took a lot of drugs
and had a following.

♪

- Two of the girls
who worked on that scene

who were there,
I went to high school with.

The Manson murders were close
to everybody.

- We found out later
that Bobby Beausoleil,

he had killed somebody.

Nobody could imagine that
he would be involved in that.

♪

- Suddenly hippies
were not harmless anymore.

Hippies became dangerous.

When Manson happened,

all of a sudden,
every hippie was looked at

as possibly psycho killer.

Who knows what drugs
have done to these kids.

[dramatic music]

♪

- ♪ Doo doo doo
doo doo doo doo ♪

- Because of Gram Parsons'
friendship with The Stones,

The Burritos were invited
to play at this huge concert--

The Stones answer
to Woodstock.

All these young people
were coming

from all over the country
to go to this free thing.

- Our day started out bad.

It was cold...

way out in that
Altamont Raceway.

- We played it because Garcia
had called Crosby

and said, "You want to join
The Grateful Dead?

We're gonna do this thing
down at the Raceway here?"

We said,
"Sounds like a good idea.

We'll go."

- I was against Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young

being on the bill.

I said,
"I don't think you should go.

If you want to go against me,
I'm not going."

The Hells Angels were gonna be
doing all the security.

And people applauded
like that was a cool thing.

The Rolling Stones
had no clue.

They didn't live
in California.

They were visitors.

They romanticized
the Angels.

They were tattooed
and rode bikes

and were outlaws.

The Rolling Stones didn't know
what came with that reputation

and how it was built.

That was the only Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young show

I ever missed.

- Red Cross truck.

- Excuse me.
Which way is the stage?

- I'm wading through
the crowd.

Good Lord, the Hells Angels
were just crazy.

They were like Vikings,
ready to raid the monastery.

- We're partying like you.

Hey!

- CSNY's coming offstage,

and David says,
"Be careful. Pay attention.

I'm getting out of here."
I said, "Really?"

He says,
"It's not a good deal."

The Burritos,
to our credit,

got up and calmed
everybody down.

It's a different
kind of music.

- ♪ Well,
I pulled out of Pittsburgh ♪

♪ Rollin' down
the Eastern Seaboard ♪

♪ Got my diesel wound up

♪ And she's a-runnin'
like never before ♪

♪ There's a speed trap ahead,
all right ♪

♪ But I don't see cop
in sight ♪

♪ Six days on the road

♪ And I'm gonna make it home
tonight ♪

♪ Six days on the road

♪ And I'm gonna make it home
tonight ♪

- But I could feel it,
the tension, the darkness.

Something wasn't right.

Before that last note
on the bass stopped ringing,

I unplugged,
put that thing in the case,

and I got out of there.

[crowd chatter]

- You can call them people
flower children

and this and that.

Some of them people
was loaded on some drugs

that it's just too bad
we wasn't loaded on

because they come running off
the hill yelling, "Aah."

But when they jumped
on an Angel, they got hurt.

- This is Stefan Ponek,
KSAN Radio, San Francisco.

- You know what?
They got got.

- Someone was stabbed to death
in front of the stage

by a member
of the Hells Angels.

Nothing is confirmed on that...

- In the end, it was
the antithesis of Woodstock.

People got run over.

Four people died.

- That was the end
of the '60s.

The assassinations, Vietnam,

it had finally come full circle
into this dark, dark abyss.

♪

- The President
of the United States

has just announced that
a new attack into Cambodia

was launched this evening

by United States Armed Force.

- Kent State University in Ohio

has had campus violence
for three nights.

The students were protesting

the American invasion
of Cambodia.

The National Guard
was called in.

[gunshots]

[crowd chatter]

- The guardsmen have fired
61 shots.

Four students,

two of them bystanders,
are dead.

- Kent State and more
than 400 other institutions

go on strike.

The President says Americans
face a crisis

that could threatened the very
survival of the nation.

[Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young's "Ohio"]

♪

- Neil saw the news
about the girl laying there.

Her friend bending over her.

♪

That night, he wrote the song.

The next night,
they recorded it.

- ♪ Tin soldiers,
and Nixon coming ♪

♪ We're finally on our own

♪ This summer
I hear the drumming ♪

♪ Four dead in Ohio

- I drove the record
over to B. Mitchel Reed,

the big DJ on FM radio
in Los Angeles.

And he played it that night.

♪

Neil was so moved,
he couldn't help himself.

And the rest of the guys
were right there.

- ♪ And found her dead
on the ground ♪

♪ How can you run
when you know? ♪

♪

- Our job is to take you
on little emotional voyages.

Make you boogie sometimes.

Make you sad sometimes.

Happy sometimes.

Every once in a while,
it's our job to be a witness.

If your country starts
shooting its own children

while they're protesting,

exercising their
constitutional right,

unarmed and on their own
college campus...

- ♪ Soldiers
are cutting us down ♪

- That would be
one of those times

when you have
to be a witness.

And we were.

- There was a very large shift.

People were up in arms
about the Vietnam War.

They didn't like Nixon,
Kent State, killing our kids

because they have
the God-given right

to protest
what their government

was doing in their name.

It shifted tremendously.

♪

- When I was in college,
there was no separation

between the issues of the day
and the music

that galvanized souls
and brought people

to not just march,
but to change their minds.

And singing songs
about peace and love,

it sounds corny,
but that's what needed

to happen
in a war-torn era.

["Find the Cost of Freedom"
playing]

- The only outlets
that we had for information

were the press,
television, radio,

and concerts.

Musicians felt
that they could get the word

out of a different opinion.

♪

- ♪ Find the cost of freedom

♪ Buried in the ground

♪ Mother Earth...

- The Southern California sound

was gentle yet rocking.

- ♪ Lay your body...

- It was acoustic
yet electrified.

["Peace Frog" playing]

- And then
there was The Doors.

The Doors gave us

the Southern California
sound after dark.

- ♪ Blood in the streets
in the town of New Haven ♪

♪ Blood stains the roofs
and the palm trees of Venice ♪

♪ Blood in my love
in the terrible summer ♪

♪ Bloody red sun
of fantastic LA ♪

The music can't help
but reflecting things

that are happening
around you.

The mood I get for most of it

is kind of a heavy,
gloomy feeling.

♪ Blood is the rose
of mysterious union ♪

I like to do a song
or a piece of music

that's just
a pure expression of joy.

["Love Street" playing]

- "Love Street," that's one
where I had the music,

and he just came up
with those words.

- ♪ She lives
on Love Street ♪

- His girlfriend,
Pam, had just moved

into that place up above
the country store there.

- ♪ She has a house
and garden ♪

- She has a house and garden.

I would like
to see what happens.

- ♪ I would like
to see what happens ♪

- There's this store
where the creatures meet.

That is the Canyon
Country Store.

The heart
of Laurel Canyon.

- ♪ I see you
live on Love Street ♪

♪ There's this store
where the creatures meet ♪

♪ I wonder
what they do in there ♪

♪ Summer Sunday

- The first time
I saw Laurel Canyon,

there was a full-scale
hippie infestation

taking place
at the Canyon Store.

It was exciting
to see that many people,

that profusion of different
styles of freakdom.

I would come into Hollywood,
and Laurel Canyon

every chance
I got after that.

♪

Laurel Canyon was a place
that gave you the permission

to ask who you were,
to find out

what this life held for you,
and not be scrambling

for some regimented job
in a regimented society.

- ♪ I would like to see
what happens... ♪

- That was
the creative lightning

that was going on
between people.

- Jackson and I,
we used to hang out a lot,

not doing anything special.

I always had
my camera with me.

In those days,
it wasn't competitive.

It wasn't like, you know,
we got a single and you didn't.

People were really
encouraging each other.

"Go for it.
Do the best you can.

Can't wait to hear
your new song."

It was great.

- You'd go play in a bunch
of different people's houses.

David Crosby
would show up.

- A kid came in.
He was way too pretty.

And I said, "Hi, kid.
What's your name? "

He said, "Jackson."
I said, "Sing me a song."

And he sang me "Adam."

And I said, "Oh, shit.

Here comes
the next wave."

["A Song For Adam" playing]

- ♪ Though Adam
was a friend of mine ♪

♪ I did not know him well

I was writing songs
and playing open-mic night

at the Troubadour.

That was a fun hang, too,
because you wind up

waiting around
for about four hours

with a bunch of songwriters
on the street, you know,

just like waiting
for this window to open.

I met a lot of friends there.

♪ Now the story's told
that Adam jumped ♪

♪ But I'm thinking
that he fell ♪

- Eventually they told me, like, "Kid, you don't have to--

"don't have to sign up
anymore.

If you're gonna come,
just come."

- Jackson's music
just really touched something.

It was very emotional

but in a quiet, calm way.

- There were all these greats
second-wave songwriters

all hanging out together
at the Troubadour bar.

But no one
had recorded yet.

Everyone was on
an equal footing.

- I was in this duo
Longbranch Pennywhistle

with this guy
name JD Souther.

We started going
to the Troubadour

all the time,
five nights a week.

Out there in the bar,
I would sit with people,

and I would ask questions.

Gene Clark would come in,

and I'd talk with him
about songwriting.

And I ask him
why'd The Byrds break up.

The next day, the guys
from Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Who writes the songs?

Where do they rehearse?

I was trying to collect as much information as possible

that could help me
get to where I wanted to be.

We had heard about this guy
Jackson Browne.

He'd been playing
the same clubs we had,

and we struck up
a friendship.

I learned so much from Jackson about songwriting.

It was the beginning.

- I met Jackson in 1970 before my first album came out.

I loved his music.

The thing about Jackson
is that he's been

a real established
songwriter

since the time
he was about 17 or 18.

I mean,
I heard about his legend.

- Since the time we ran
into each other a year ago.

- Oh, we played before either
one of us had had an album.

He found out about me
and loved what I did,

and we've been like brother
and sister ever since.

It was a fantastic time
to be young

and free.

Able to party.

Able to sleep around
if you wanted to.

Everybody lived within
ten minutes of each other,

and everybody
was up late at night.

We all could go down
to the Troubadour

and just run into a set
of people that were there.

["These Days" playing]

- ♪ Well,
I've been out walking ♪

♪

♪ I don't do
that much talking ♪

♪ These days

♪ These days

Crosby told me about this
really hip young agent,

who, unlike most of the agents
and managers,

was one of us.

The guy that can do business
with the best of them.

He's really smart,
and he's honest.

- It was incredible
to be at the nexus

of all that was happening.

Very fertile period
of time for songwriters

and singers and musicians.

- Geffen was only 24
or something.

I was about 18.

So I sent Geffen a demo.

I didn't get a reply.

♪ And I had a lover

♪

- David calls me,
and he says, "Elliot,

"I'm gonna play you
something that's one

of the most moving things
I've ever heard."

- ♪ These days

- You could hear him sobbing
on the other end of the phone.

- ♪ Now, if I seem
to be afraid ♪

♪ To live the life
that I have made in song ♪

- Eventually got a call back
from Geffen

asking me to come in
and meet.

And when I met him,
within about 20 minutes,

he said, "Okay,
I'll manage you."

"You will?"

It was like a dream.

- Elliot Roberts and I,
we were coming across a lot

of new artists
that big record companies

weren't interested in.

- We knew.

We knew songs,
and we knew artist,

but we couldn't get a deal
for Jackson.

No one wanted it,
so we decided we better start

our own company for artists
that we think are great.

Between Joni
and Crosby, Stills & Nash,

we felt we were dealing
with the cream of the crop.

Let's do it ourselves.

And we ended up
forming Asylum.

["Doctor My Eyes" playing]

♪

- ♪ Doctor,
my eyes have seen the years ♪

♪ And the slow parade of fears
without crying ♪

♪ Now I want to understand

♪ I have done
all that I could ♪

♪ To see the evil
and the good ♪

♪ Without hiding

♪ You must help me
if you can ♪

♪ Doctor, my eyes...

- Jackson got a lot
of airplay

because of "Doctor My Eyes,"

and his records
were hit records.

- ♪ To leave them open
for so long ♪

♪

- Geffen-Roberts Management,

they were brilliant
at selecting acts,

and they had their pick
of all these young acts

that were coming
of age then.

They were really good
at promoting them

and really good
at making it all work.

But it was hard to make
a living as a musician

if you didn't have hits.

And the bands I was in
weren't paying enough

really to make it.

- Please welcome
The Flying Burrito Brothers.

[crowd cheering]

- ♪ It's a lazy day

♪

♪ I'm down
with nothing else to do ♪

♪ It's a crazy day

♪

♪ I got a thing
that I want to try with you ♪

♪

♪ Now, baby, don't go away

♪ Please don't spoil
my lazy day ♪

- I did the third album
with The Burritos,

but I was then thinking
of leaving that band.

I had to work.

- ♪ Yee-haw

- Our A&R guy
produced The Stone Poneys

with Linda Ronstadt,
and he started hiring me

to work on sessions.

I met Linda.

I later was in her band.

["Walkin' Down The Line"
playing]

- ♪ Got my traveling shoes

♪ Got on my traveling shoes

♪ I got my traveling shoes

♪ That I ain't gonna lose

♪ I believe
I got the walking blues ♪

♪ I am walking down
the line ♪

♪ Well, I'm walking
down the line ♪

♪ Well, I'm walking
down the line ♪

♪ My feet will be flying to
tell about my troubled mind ♪

♪

- Linda, you really--you play
country music with a difference.

That's--that's wild.
- Thank you.

- How did you get
into country music originally?

- Well, I'm a country girl
originally.

- I would not have
guessed that.

- I grew up
in Tucson, Arizona.

- I see.
I wonder if you'd introduce

the guys in the back...

- I loved the Southwest.

I thought
it was the greatest.

But I knew that I couldn't work in Tucson

like I could work
in Los Angeles.

I was into folk music
in those days.

The Ash Grove
and The Troubadour

being the two main places.

To me, that was like
artistic Shangri-La.

Laurel Canyon...

I lived up there for a while.
We lived up Kirkwood.

A lot of people lived together
in the same house.

It was just the people
you knew from the Troubadour--

gigging musicians
trying to pay the rent.

We would play music,
and you'd take a guitar,

put on a harmony.

It was just going on,

and it was just a part
of what you did.

Nobody was famous then.

We're just people
that hung out there.

[birds chirping]

- It had this air about it
that it was exclusive

but not exclusive to wealth.

It was exclusive
to spirit.

And you'd think,

"God, if I could only live
in Laurel Canyon.

It'd be so great to live
in Laurel Canyon."

Then you find out, "Oh, I can." [chuckles]

["New Hard Times" playing]

- ♪ There's too much time
to sun yourself ♪

- First time I saw Linda
is when she played

the Troubadour
with The Stone Poneys.

- ♪ You wonder
about your old friends ♪

♪ You think
how hard you try ♪

♪ You hunger for...

- It was like
you were seeing a goddess.

The voice
was so beautiful.

- ♪ And the new hard times

♪ Are here

- We dated for two weeks,
and then she said "Steve,

do you often date women and not try to sleep with them?"

[laughs]

[applause]

- After Linda
was in The Stone Poneys,

Steve Martin would open
for Linda at the Troubadour.

- Ready to roll?
My name is Steve Martin.

I'll be out here
in just a moment,

and we're gonna start.

We're starting
in just a few moments,

just waiting for the drugs
to take effect,

and then we'll get going.
Okay.

- He was a huge hit.

- You know, when I...
[laughter]

Is this on?
Is this mic on?

- We watched every set
he did.

We were just huge fans.

He did
some very crazy stuff there.

- It's a perfect instrument
for a comedian

'cause it's real dumb.

When you're playing
the banjo, everything is okay.

It's like, "Hey, Steve,
your house is burning down."

[upbeat banjo music playing

Well, sing along.

[laughter]

- We loved having him
as an opener

'cause he could kill
the audience

but without getting in the way
of your music thing.

- ♪ I fall

♪ To pieces

♪ Each time I see you again

- Linda was a singer,
technically,

a song stylist, emotionally.

- ♪ To pieces...

- A storyteller
with her voice.

One of the most iconic voices
of our generation.

- Frank Sinatra
never wrote any songs.

Elvis Presley
never wrote any songs.

Neither did Linda Ronstadt,

but she had the knack

for picking out instinctively

what songs were gonna be
good for her.

- ♪ But I tried,
and I tried, but I... ♪

- It was all about what
she could do with the song.

Every songwriter
wanted to get something to her

and were very lucky
when she did,

because she brought so much
to the party.

She took over those songs.

- ♪ You walk on by

♪ And I fall to pieces

♪

[applause]

- Linda just walked past me
in the Troubadour one night,

and I said,
"Hi. I'm John David.

I think
you should cook me dinner."

And she said "Okay,"
gave me her phone number,

and I called her.

- We lived together
about a year and a half.

We used to have a really
good time singing together.

We used to have
a really good time

listening to music together.

I'd hear him writing something
down the hall,

and I'd go down
and listen, and I'd say,

"I really like that.
Teach it to me."

- I had a little piano room
in the back of the house.

I kept getting halfway
through "Faithless Love."

She came padding down
the hall and said,

"I think it's really beautiful
and I'd love to record it."

- ♪ Faithless love

- When Linda said
she wants to record something,

it's very encouraging.

- ♪ Raindrops falling

♪ On a broken rose

It was like having a tailor-made
songwriter, you know?

♪

We'd go
through some horrible row,

and he'd write a song about it, and I'd sing it.

It was great.

♪ And the night blows in

♪ Like the cold dark wind

♪ Faithless love

♪ Like a river flow

- Longbranch Pennywhistle here.

I suppose you're wondering
what that name meant.

- The first
Longbranch Pennywhistle album

didn't exactly
set the world on fire.

They wouldn't make
a second record

with our material.

The point
is we're songwriters.

We're trying
to learn to write songs.

So we just said
we're not gonna record.

And we sat around,
played a few gigs,

and just waited to see
what would happen.

- JD and I, we got up there,

and we did our little
Longbranch Pennywhistle/

Everly Brothers thing.

- Jackson Browne took me over

to David Geffen's house
one day.

I played him a couple songs.

- I told JD and Glenn
that they needed to split up,

that Longbranch Pennywhistle
wasn't gonna work.

And I told Glenn
that he wasn't good enough

to be a solo artist.

He needed
to put together a band.

- I thought Glenn
was so good, you know?

I mean, I just thought
he was great.

And I told him
that he was a hotshot.

I said, "You're gonna do
something someday,

"but in the meantime
you're starving to death.

"Why don't you come
and play music with me?

We'll have a great time."

And then, of course,

I was walking
through the Troubadour

during the Hootenanny,
and this band Shiloh got up

and did my exact version

of "Silver Threads
and Golden Needles,"

note for note off the record,

and I just went, "What?"

I heard the drummer, and
I thought he was really good.

- I was lucky enough
to be in the right place

at the right time.

Linda and her manager,
John Boylan,

they thought it might be cool
to have a singing drummer.

But I had to audition.

And I auditioned at a house
in Laurel Canyon,

just off Kirkwood.

And he said, "Look,
do you want to go on the road

with Linda Ronstadt
for 200 bucks a week?

And I said, "Sure."
And that was that.

- ♪ I got a feeling
called the blues, oh, Lord ♪

♪ Since my baby say good-bye

♪ And I don't know
what I'd do ♪

♪ All I do is sit and cry

- Even though they were
a backup band for Linda,

everyone knew that Don and Glenn were writing great songs.

That second wave--
people who came here

to be successful--

started to move up.

[cheers and applause]

By this time
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

was the biggest
American band.

They were at their height.

- We got so big so fast.

There were thoughts of people
wanting to be Elvis

or something.

♪

- We were all dealing
with the first mad rush

of real big-time success.

It made for some
interesting perspectives,

let's put it that way.

- We scripted our shows
that we would do solo sets.

I did two, David would do two,
Stephen would do two,

and Neil would do two.

One night,
Dylan came to see us.

["Black Queen" playing]

- ♪ Black queen

- This time,
because Dylan was there,

Stephen did five songs.

And that pissed me off
righteously,

'cause I knew
why he was doing it,

but we could have
all have done that.

We all had more than five songs to be able to play.

We all wanted
to impress Dylan.

But he did it.

- ♪ Oh

♪ Black queen

- In the intermission, we were
so infuriated with each other

that as I'm talking to him
and telling him exactly

what I think about him,
he's holding a Budweiser,

and he's slowly gripping it
and crushing the can.

It was frothing
all over the cup,

all down his hand
with this maniacal energy.

And we went out

and played the greatest set
we ever played.

It's hard to get mad
at someone

who's just played one of the best songs you've heard.

It's always been the music
that kept us together.

♪

- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
rehearsed at Steven's house

in Laurel Canyon
a whole lot.

And they were outside
talking one day,

and I kind of walked out
there, thinking, "Oh,

they're all in one group,
I'll get a group shot."

So I walked up
to take this picture.

[camera shutter clicks]

Well, I didn't realize
that their little meeting

was to have
a little bumper dust,

what they call Peruvian
marching powder,

which had reared
its ugly head

in our beautiful God's
herb community.

- We smoked a lot of pot
because we liked getting high.

It made us feel creative.

But cocaine would keep
that feeling for hours

instead of just fleetingly.

- Everybody was doing it.

People were wearing little gold spoons around their necks.

I mean, they weren't
ashamed of the fact

they were doing drugs.

- Cocaine,
methamphetamine, speed,

all the fake-energy stuff.

You think it's gonna
help you ride into night

or stay with an idea,
and maybe for a while it does.

The physical consequences
of doing those drugs

eventually just compounds,
and you don't know it

because you're high.

- Drug use is like
a windy little road,

quite pretty
at the onset.

Trees and flowers
and birds singing.

And you can't see
where the road goes

over the cliff.

The only thing is...
it does.

The first people
who gave me cocaine said,

"It's not addictive.
Don't worry."

It was a pretty disorganized time in our lives.

Success had already had some adverse effects on us.

We were all
feeling very separate.

- After a while,
it became edgy,

colder, less truthful.

- You know,
we can't it blended that way.

And not only that,
but we can't--

- That's a jack.
- We can't rehearse it

so that it all
makes sense together.

- I can't do it, man.

- I'm not gonna cop out
an inch to fear.

And you've walked out
two fucking days in a row,

you fucking hypocrite.

You piss me off.

- Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young soon ended.

Success breeds change

for everybody, for anybody.

["Love Me Like A Man" playing]

- ♪ I need someone to love me

♪ I want someone
to understand ♪

I was on the road
nine or ten months.

I couldn't wait
to get back to California.

♪ Won't have to put himself
above me ♪

♪ When he loves me

♪ Like a man

♪

I sailed into Laurel Canyon,
rented a place,

and I was gonna make my third
album with Little Feat.

And that's pretty much
who I hung out with.

- When I finally moved up
into the Canyon,

I was already a member
of Little Feat.

That was the '70s.

People like Bonnie Raitt
were living there.

More and more people
had discovered Laurel Canyon,

which is kind of funny
because Laurel Canyon

way back when was home
to Tom Mix,

and Houdini
had a house up there.

[whimsical music]

[water splashes]

♪

And then Zappa and all
the different variations

of The Mothers.

♪

Lowell George was a member
of The Mothers

until he started
Little Feat.

The one thing Lowell told me
when I joined the band,

he says, "Rule number one,
there is no rules."

[rock music]

- Oh, give me a break,
Lowell.

Lowell George plays in a band
called Little Feat,

and he sings--
he's the singer

and guitar player
and the writer.

And for those of you
who can't see, he's cute, too.

♪

Coming out to LA and starting
out in the early '70s,

it really was
a cross-"pollinization."

It was the greatest gift
to that era.

♪ When you get home, baby

♪ Write me
a few of your lines ♪

Country music, blues,
R&B, all intermingled,

and it became
just part and parcel

of the music
that we loved.

We didn't have
to put it in a box.

♪ Write me a few
of your lines ♪

♪

♪ That'll be consolation

♪ Lord Honey,
oh, my worried mind ♪

♪

Little Feat was like me--
more roots-oriented.

The kind of music
that they did was R&B-ish,

blues rock.

We straddled genres.

- One, two, testing, one.

♪ Say hello

♪ Yeah, yeah

Okay.

["Long Distance Love" playing]

♪

- Little Feat, they were
extraordinary musicians.

Incorporated rhythm and blues
and Delta blues,

boogie-woogie
into rock and roll.

Some of it was radio friendly,
and some of it wasn't.

- ♪ Hello,
give me missing persons ♪

♪ They said,
"What is it that you need?" ♪

♪ I said, "Whoa

♪ I need her so"

♪ They said, "You got
to stop your pleading" ♪

- How do you
identify yourselves

in terms
of the American musical scene?

- It's hard to say.

You know, we all write songs
in the group,

and every song takes
a different direction.

So it's really hard
to pigeonhole

the kind of music we play.

♪ Long distance love

[humming]

♪

- We were pushing boundaries,
but from the press standpoint,

it was difficult
for them to explain

just who the hell we were.

♪

- We played how we felt,
you know.

If they come up
with a certain lyric

and everybody contributed
their part to it,

then the music
just came out like that.

It's sophisti-funk.

That was my name for it.

- ♪ Long distance love

♪

- Why didn't
Little Feat catch fire?

They are some of the best
musicians on the planet.

- I really can't get up
in the morning

and think about the goals
of being successful,

'cause what is success?

I mean,
it certainly isn't money.

Doing something
that you really like doing

as a profession is
really success to me.

I guess I'm doing it.

So I feel good about that.

- This was a time
when music and art

was everything.

You lived for it.
It was your life.

And the prosperity
that it brought came second.

It was more important
to make good music

than it was to make it

as a celebrity.

- You know,
it's hard to draw a line

between aspiring to success
and aspiring to artistry.

For example, Glenn Frey,
who achieved artistry--

I remember sitting with him.
and he said,

"Oh, I want to be
a rock-and-roll star so bad."

- Glenn had always
had a plan for a band.

His gig with Linda
was only temporary

as far as he was concerned.

He had this very detailed plan

about the band
he wanted to start

and what kind
of music we would do.

He recruited me,
and, you know,

I became partners
in that endeavor.

And after we got done
with Linda's tour,

we went back
to Los Angeles and started

the recruitment process
for the Eagles.

- Glenn and Don both wrote
at that time.

So they started talking
about putting a band together,

and we told them they should
get Randy Meisner to play bass

and Bernie Leadon,
guitar player,

and they thought
that was a good idea.

- I had a bluegrass background.

I had a folk background,

pop music background,
rock and roll, top 40,

but I had never
put it all together

in one thing
until I enjoyed the Eagles.

- It was like people in love.

It was the greatest thing
to see that band

when they first formed.

- We were very into
the country-rock sound,

groups like Poco and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,

Buffalo Springfield,
The Byrds.

- We were doing the same kind
of cross-pollination

that those other bands
had been doing

but with tougher rock.

["Witchy Woman" playing]

One of the first songs
we wrote was "Witchy Woman".

I wrote the music,
and Don wrote the lyrics.

- ♪ Raven hair

♪ And ruby lips

♪ Sparks fly
from her fingertips ♪

- Our Texas artist friend
Boyd Elder

had a big art gallery opening
in Venice.

All of his friends came.

Most of the people lived
in Laurel Canyon.

Everybody was there--

Joni and Cass
and most of the Turtles,

Jackson Browne
and David Geffen.

The Eagles,
they only had a few songs,

so they kept singing
"Witchy Woman" over and over,

and everybody was dancing.

- We weren't really fit
for public presentation

at that point.
[chuckles]

But we were just happy
to be hanging out

with that crowd.

It was a great scene
because all the people trying

to write songs
and trying to make records

were very supportive
of one another.

Jackson Browne was
a mentor to all of us

because
he had broken through first.

And we all aspired
to be what he was,

to write like that
and have that kind of insight.

- ♪ Well, I'm a-running down
the road ♪

♪ Trying to loosen my load

♪ Got a world of trouble
on my mind ♪

♪ Looking for a lover
who won't blow my cover ♪

♪ She's so hard to find

♪ Take it easy

♪ Take it easy

- Jackson had started
"Take It Easy"

and then abandoned it.

But he had played it
for Glenn at some point.

When we were about
to record our first album,

Glenn went to Jackson and said, "I'd like to try to finish it."

Jackson said,
"Sure, have at it."

- ♪ Well, I'm a-standing on
a corner in Winslow, Arizona ♪

♪ Such a fine sight to see

♪ It's a girl, my Lord,
in a flatbed Ford ♪

♪ Slowin' down to take
a look at me ♪

♪ Well, come on, baby
- ♪ Baby

- ♪ Don't say "maybe"
- ♪ Maybe

- ♪ I got to know
if your sweet love ♪

♪ Is gonna save me

♪ Well, come on, baby
- ♪ Baby

- ♪ Don't say "maybe"
- ♪ Maybe

- ♪ I got to know
if your sweet love ♪

♪ Is gonna save me
- ♪ Is gonna save me

- ♪ Yeah

- ♪ Hoo, hoo, hoo,
hoo, hoo, hoo ♪

♪ Hoo, hoo, hoo,
hoo, hoo, hoo, ♪

- Geffen pushed
"Take It Easy" pretty hard

because Asylum Records
was his new label.

Got in the top 20.

We had a lot of exposure
with our first album--

three hit singles.

♪

- Oh, I think they were
very ambitious,

particularly Glenn.

Glenn wanted to have
a hit band.

- I wanted limousines

and adoring fans and girls.

There's no university
that could've ever prepared me

for any of the things
I needed to learn.

- Hi.
- Hey.

- Hi.
- How are you doing?

- Hi.
- Hi, Jim.

- Oh, not again.
- Hey, we get...

Oh, Jim.
- We got to go now.

- When we first started
The Doors,

each person
was equally important.

As it progressed, Jim became
the center of attention.

Morrison, Morrison, Morrison.

- Wait a while.
Don't get out yet.

- We won't hurt him.
[indistinct chatter]

- So he was the one
who had to live with it.

It was extremely difficult
for him.

That's why he really started
to drink as much as he did.

- Come on, girl.
- What are you doing? Hey.

[rock music playing,
crowd cheering]

- Morrison always
had a wild streak,

always a little crazy.

A few too many drinks, and he was right over the edge.

- ♪ Get together

[Jim shouts]

- He touched
the authorities in a way

that I've never seen
anyone touch the authorities.

- ♪ Some outlaws lived
by the side of a lake ♪

♪ The minister's daughter's
in love with the snake ♪

♪ Who lives in a well
by the side of the road ♪

♪ Wake up, girl

- It's a little nerve-racking
sometimes,

but I thought he'd be
one of those drunks

who lives to be 85 years old.

♪

- We had an incident,
perhaps was a turning point

in The Doors' career.

- I ain't talking
about no revolution.

I'm talking
about having a good time.

I'm talking about love.

- It was a horrible show,
I have to say it.

Jim was so drunk.
He couldn't sing right.

[indistinct chatter]

You're all a bunch of slaves.

- And Jim said,
"What do you want from me?"

- People telling you
what you're gonna do?

- "How about if I show you
my cock?"

- He probably
would've pulled it out

had Ray not told
our equipment guy, Vince,

"Don't let him do it.
Don't let him do it."

[dramatic music]

- We have taken out
two warrants for Jim Morrison

for indecent exposure,

for the use
of obscene languages

during his performance.

- Jim, do you have
anything to say?

- I'm admitting the charge
of the public profanity,

but I'm denying
the exposure charge.

I told the audience,

"I realize
that you're not really here

"to listen to some
fairly good musicians.

"You know, you're here
for something else,

and why not admit it?"

- "Is a trial date set?"

"Hey, man.
You're putting me on a bummer.

Let's get on to another
subject, all right?"

It's a rainy day in LA,

talking about
this horrible nonsense.

[thunder rumbling]

- We were supposed to go
on the rest of the tour.

We hear, "Oh, shit.
The tour's canceled."

["Crawling King Snake"
playing]

- What do you plan
to do in the future

as far as the band goes
and everything else?

- Well, we have
another album to do,

and we'll start cutting
in a couple weeks.

- ♪ Well, I'm the Crawlin'
King Snake ♪

♪ And I rule my den

♪

♪ Well, I'm the Crawlin'
King Snake ♪

♪ And I rule my den

♪

♪ Come on,
give me what I want ♪

♪ Ain't gonna crawl no more

♪

- We were finishing up
the album "L.A. Woman".

He said,
"I'm going to Paris."

I said,
"Whoa. What a good idea, man.

"Get away from all of this
rock-and-roll thing

and become a poet again."

[somber music]

- The death of another rock
musician was disclosed today,

Jim Morrison,
lead singer of The Doors.

His manager said Morrison died
six days ago in Paris

either of a heart attack
or pneumonia,

but the death was kept secret
to avoid a sensation.

He was buried in Paris
in the same cemetery

where Balzac and other
French immortals lie.

- I got a phone call
from our manager

telling me Jim Morrison
is dead.

Last thing I was going
to believe

is Jim Morrison's dead
in Paris.

He went there to clean up,
to dry out.

He died 27 and a half,
July 3, 1971,

outlaw, renegade,
wild Dionysian poet.

And I miss him.

[soft music]

♪

- Most people who make it
in the music industry

are not prepared.

Success can be
just as scary as failure,

if not scarier.

And some people don't actually
live through it.

♪ Desperado

♪

♪ Why don't you
come to your senses? ♪

♪ You been out ridin' fences

♪ For so long now

I moved to Laurel Canyon
in early 1973

into a little house
that was on stilts.

When the wind would blow,
the house would sway.

Made me nervous.
[laughs]

It was formally occupied
by Roger McGuinn,

the co-founder of The Byrds,
so I took that as a good omen.

And I somehow got an old
upright piano in there.

I don't know
where it came from.

That was the year
that Glenn and I

really started
writing songs together.

He came to that house.

I showed him the little pieces
that I had of "Desperado."

- We started writing
"Desperado,"

and we started
writing "Tequila Sunrise."

And the more we started
thinking about it,

the more this seemed like,

"Well, maybe this is kind
of a country-rock opera.

"Write it all about
the Old West.

"Why guys became outlaws,

"the romance of it,

the tragedy of it, the fame."

- I, like most of the guys
of my generation,

felt like The Eagles
had written Desperado for us.

Rock musicians
and guitar players

were like gunslingers
in the Old West.

- In our youthful exuberance
and cockiness,

we tried to make
that analogy, yeah.

We didn't exactly rob banks,

but we did have
a similar lifestyle in that

we would go from city to city,
and we had a life on the road.

There was drinking,
and there was gambling.

There were women.

So we liked to think
of ourselves as being outside

the norms of society.

And we were in a sense.

♪

- The "Desperado" album
is one of the finest pieces

of music ever written,

but the album wasn't making it.

- We made a concept album,
which didn't make

the record company happy
at all.

The song "Desperado"
was not a hit for us

until Linda Ronstadt
recorded it.

She gave it wings.

- We'd like
to introduce someone

who was very instrumental
in putting our band,

The Eagles, together.

Would you welcome
Linda Ronstadt?

[cheers and applause]

♪

- ♪ Desperado

♪ Why don't you come
to your senses? ♪

♪ You been out
ridin' fences ♪

♪ For so long now

♪ Oh, you're a hard one

♪ But I know
that you got your reasons ♪

♪ These things
that are pleasin' you ♪

♪ Can hurt you somehow

♪

- ♪ Don't your feet get cold
in the wintertime? ♪

♪ The sky won't snow,
and the sun won't shine ♪

- There's no question
she resurrected that song

and helped keep The Eagles away from the sophomore slump.

♪

- ♪ You're losin' all
your highs and lows ♪

- The Eagles,
they kept their circle.

That's what I always liked
about them most,

the loyalty to each other

in those early
Laurel Canyon years.

- ♪ Desperado

- The best band
in the United States of America,

The Eagles.

["Already Gone" playing]

♪

- ♪ Well,
I heard some people talkin' ♪

♪ Just the other day

♪ And they said you were gonna
put me on a shelf ♪

- The Eagles
were not pioneers.

The Eagles were settlers.

But I do believe
that we did a pretty good job

of cultivating the land
that we settled.

We put ourselves into it
and made it uniquely our own.

♪

- ♪ 'Cause I'm already gone

- The whole California
country-rock thing exploded

with Crosby, Stills & Nash,
Poco,

Linda, Jackson,
and the Burrito Brothers,

but The Eagles
kicked that to the next level.

It was the dominant
musical form of the '70s

in this country.

- ♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo

♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo

[crowd cheering]

- I don't think
any of us had any idea

how big the tsunami
of sales that was coming,

was gonna be.

["Take It To The Limit" playing]

- When we got to The Eagles
and the later generations

of great bands,
the entire business changed.

- ♪ All alone at the end
of the evening ♪

- Things got so big so fast

that places like the Troubadour
became too small.

- What changed was the people
went to coliseums to play.

We didn't see each other
as much.

As soon as we went into arenas,

we didn't go
and see each other.

- ♪ And I never knew

♪

♪ You know I've always
been a dreamer ♪

- You feed the machine
that is the record business,

and the monster wants more.

Every artist has a peak,
a creative peak, a sales peak,

and then comes the pressure
of trying to repeat that.

You get caught up in this
swirling vortex of success

and money and fame
and pressure.

♪

- As people became very,
very successful,

the camaraderie changed.

People started guarding
their songs.

You didn't want to give up
one of your melodies

to somebody else.

Over time, people started
moving out of Laurel Canyon,

getting a better place
in a better neighborhood.

- ♪ You got to take it

♪ To the limit one more time

Thank you.
[crowd cheering]

- The business
started burning people out,

and you were overworked
on the road so much

and played more than
you should play.

- You managed
to keep pretty busy.

I know, 'cause we've been
trying for two years

to get you on the show.
- [laughs]

- I wanted to ask you,
when you do have any time

in that busy schedule of yours,

how do you like
to spend it best?

- Besides playing with my child,
which is obvious, I think,

for any mother, you know,
especially a mother who works.

You know, when you have
to spend a little time away,

you really relish
that time at home.

My mom
was a very loving person,

but she also traveled a lot.

- Cass, now that you're such
a giant star in the firmament,

is this your life?

Is it ever going to change?

- Well, I wouldn't like
to have to work

as much as I'm working now.

Nobody wants to work
that hard.

I'd like to go back
to school...

- She closed a two-week
sold-out engagement

at the London Palladium.

She had stayed up
for 40 hours.

She went to sleep and had
a heart attack in her sleep.

- "Mama" Cass Elliot,

a pop star who won fame
with the group called

The Mamas and Papas,
died today in London.

She was 33.

Ms. Elliot was in England

for concert
and nightclub appearances.

- It was a big shock.
That, to me, was a big shock.

She was a Los Angeleno.

She was one of us,
you know, one of ours.

It had a big impact.

It just wasn't
the same anymore.

[somber music]

- Out of that loss,
for me, personally,

came a blessing.

My wife, Leah, and I
raised Owen

after Cass passed away.

But the loss of Cass
was traumatic,

not only for us.

It was a huge loss
for the music community

and the brother
and sisterhood

that had developed
in Laurel Canyon.

- Mama Cass,

she put a lot
of social things into motion

and changed people's lives.

♪

She was sent by the angels.

A teacher to all of us.

As we all are to each other.

♪

When I first picked up
a camera,

it was as a folk musician,

quietly taking pictures,
documenting, to learn.

[projector clicks]

Not consciously.

But when I saw that first
picture on the wall,

glowing in color
like it was alive,

that's when I became
a photographer.

[dramatic music]

♪

There's a reason that these
people became so well-known.

They had amazing talent
for life, really...

for singing, writing songs,

thinking poetically.

What is it really about?

Why are we here?

What is this
wonderful experience?

What's the best way to live it?

And that's Laurel Canyon.

♪

- If you believe in God,

it's like God said,

"Okay, kids,
I'm gonna show you

"what the Garden of Eden
was like.

And you get to live
and play and love."

We embraced it all,

and it was wonderful.

- Laurel Canyon's become
a name for a thing,

and it's really just a myth.

[chuckles]
Places become focal points

for breaking out of convention.

What was happening
in Laurel Canyon

was the universe cracking open
and revealing secrets.

It was just about a time,
the creative awakening.

♪

- There are periods in history
when there are peaks.

And nobody really knows why--

Paris in the '30s,

the Renaissance in Italy,

Los Angeles in around '65, '75.

Very hard to define it.

But the proof's in the pudding.

The music's there.

["Turn! Turn! Turn!" playing]

♪

- ♪ To everything,
turn, turn, turn ♪

♪ There is a season,
turn, turn, turn ♪

♪ And a time
to every purpose ♪

♪ Under Heaven

♪ A time to be born,
a time to die ♪

♪ A time to plant,
a time to reap ♪

♪ A time to kill,
a time to heal ♪

♪ A time to laugh

♪ A time to weep

♪ To everything,
turn, turn, turn ♪

♪ There is a season,
turn, turn, turn ♪

♪ And a time
to every purpose ♪

♪ Under Heaven

♪ A time to build up,
a time to break down ♪

♪ A time to dance,
a time to mourn ♪

♪ A time to cast away stones

♪ A time to gather

♪ Stones together

♪