“I haven’t done a backyard [concert] in a while — two nights ago I was at Dodger Stadium. Careers go so fast in Hollywood,” joked Don Henley. The classic-rock legend served as the entertainment at the annual Los Angeles benefit for Oceana, the ocean conservation organization.
The event — the second benefit for the nonprofit in just three days — was held at the home of veteran manager Keith Addis, who moonlights as president of the eco-charity’s board of directors.
Needless to say, it was anything but a typical house party (the opening act was Bill Murray singing show tunes), and nostalgia was in the air.
“I can’t tell you what a thrill it is to be here,” gushed one of Addis’ clients, actor Dean Norris. “Oh, man. The Eagles to me are the greatest band. Hotel California came out when I was in high school, so I had that poster on the wall in my bedroom,” he said.
The evening served not only as a love fest for Henley but also as a romantic date night for Hollywood couples such as Kelly Lynch and Mitch Glazer, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, and June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer.
“Don Henley’s End of the Innocence was the first CD that I ever bought,” Scheer told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve never seen him perform live — it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” added his wife, Raphael. (Indeed. Henley performed an array of hits “spanning 42 years,” he said from the stage.)
Other stars in attendance had a more personal connection to the artist. “He’s an old, dear friend,” Lynch told THR. “I met him when my husband and I first started dating almost 30 years ago. We had dinner at Ivy at the Shore, and Mitch had all of his best guy friends there and Don was one of them,” she recalled. “I just thought my husband was the coolest person in the world.”
Added Angelica Houston: “I first met Don in 1976 in Aspen, Colorado, and I’ve been a fan ever since,” she told THR.
Sam Waterston best summed up the sentiments of this classic rock-inclined crowd: “I love Don Henley — he’s been making music for me since I was much younger than I am now. It’s like the soundtrack to my life.”
Naturally the environmental cause proved to be a substantial draw as well. “[Danson’s] the one who got me involved. He started this whole thing,” Waterston said of his friend, who co-founded in the 1980s the organization American Oceans Campaign, which later merged with Oceana.
The actors both happen to be 30-year clients of Addis, who presumably finds the time to guide A-list careers when he’s not busy saving the oceans. “He doesn’t. Our careers are in the toilet,” Waterston and Danson joked simultaneously.
