Cameron Crowe interviews the Eagles 1972 - Randy Meisner Hearts On Fire

1972:

Cameron Crowe interviews the Eagles for the first time backstage after a San Diego concert opening for Procol Harum. The interview was for an underground newspaper called the ‘San Diego Door’. The ‘Door’ ran from January 1968 to August 1974. Cameron was just 15 years old at the time of meeting the Eagles for the interview, but he was determined to become a regular contributor for the newspaper. He brought his tape recorder to get it all on tape. Below is his article and the photo used in the article. Cameron’s high school friend and photographer, Gary Elam, came along with Cameron and took the black & white group photo used in the 1972 article.

1975:

In 1975 Cameron interviewed the Eagles for an issue of ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine that would feature them on the cover of the September 25, 1975 issue. The cover photo was of the Eagles on a boat on Lake Michigan. By that time, Cameron had been regularly traveling with and covering the Eagles for articles in ‘Rolling Stone’. He even lived with Frey and Henley for a short time. He also interviewed Glenn about the Desperado album for a short-lived publication called ‘Zoo World’ in 1973. The title of the ‘Zoo World’ article was ‘Eagles Flying High Fueled by Tequila’. You can read it on the Desperado post page.

The 6-page ‘Rolling Stone’ article in the September 1975 issue is below. There are also some of the other Lake Michigan boat photos from that photo shoot by Neal Preston (photographer) featured underneath the ‘Rolling Stone’ article.

2015:

Cameron Crowe did a follow-up on the ‘Rolling Stone’ September 1975 article. That 3-page August 17, 2015 follow-up is below.

At the bottom of this page is a Rolling Stone video of Cameron Crowe reminiscing about his “Almost Famous” movie and how different bands, including the Eagles, played a part in the overall story. He also mentions Neal Preston, photographer for the boat pics below, a few times. A couple of the photos on this page (1975 cover of Rolling Stone and Eagles at WCFL radio station) are shown in Cameron’s video.

Cameron Crowe interviews the Eagles in 1972 for The Door
“Movin’ Up With Eagles”

“Meisner kept silent through the following conversation, choosing to remain quietly attentive. Later he responded with a ‘I like to listen.’ Hopefully, it was sincere.”

San Diego Door (San Diego, CA) – Nov. 3-17, 1972

In the 2015 Rolling Stone article Cameron Crowe said:

“They posed for a photo by the amps, arms around each other, and we exchanged phone numbers. I stayed in touch with them. (Little did I know, that fuzzy group shot would be one of the only known photos of all four original members hugging each other. Looking at it today, it has the same slightly surreal quality of one of those photos of the Loch Ness monster.)”

Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Don Henley, and Bernie Leadon

Gary Elam, photographer

Rolling Stone September 25, 1975
“Eagles: Chips Off the Old Buffalo”

pdf version of Cameron Crowe’s Rolling Stone interview pgs. 90-98

Cover of the September 25, 1975 issue of Rolling Stone
with 6 full pages (see below) of Eagles content inside

“The Eagles return from a record crowd at the Chicago Stadium* to find their Holiday Inn’s front desk covered with phone messages, telegrams and flowers. With One of These Nights in its fifth week at the top of Billboard’s LP chart, the group has just won in Best Song (‘Best of My Love’) and Best Group (over Led Zeppelin, Elton John and the Rolling Stones) categories of the nationally televised Rock Awards. On the phone upstairs with Glenn Frey is Joe Walsh, who accepted the awards for them, and, in the process, kissed presenter Raquel Welch.”

*An article in the LA Times about the Rock Awards Show held Aug. 9, 1975 is below these six pages from Rolling Stone. There is also one from the Tinley Park Star-Tribune. The Eagles would have been returning from their show at Washington Park on Aug. 9; not Chicago Stadium as stated in the quote above.

Pgs. 90-91

Pg. 92

Pg. 94

Pg. 96

Pg. 98

LA Times (Los Angeles, CA) – Aug. 16, 1975

“The extent of their appeal was enthusiastically demonstrated by their concert last Saturday night at Washington Park. They drew the largest (about 20,000 persons) and most enthusiastic crowd to date in the so-called ‘Summer of Stars’.”