Taking It Easy

One of These Nights honors the Eagles’ legacy while putting a slightly personal spin on the songs. (Photo courtesy of One of These Nights)

Retiree honors the Eagles with One of These Nights

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

John Waxman is a fan of the Eagles for two primary reasons: harmonies and guitar work.

Waxman has the rare opportunity to pay tribute to his heroes with the act One of These Nights, who plays IronOaks at Sun Lakes on Wednesday, December 15.

“The Eagles are a band that we’ve all followed for years,” says Waxman, who performs guitarist Joe Walsh’s parts. “I’m older than some of my bandmates. I’m from the Bay Area. I saw them in the early ’70s and Billy Joel was opening for them.

“I’ve seen the transformations of the diff erent members of the band.”

At One of These Nights’ shows, the tribute act focuses on the Eagles’ hits, although the musicians do enjoy the legendary band’s deep cuts.

“We only play 90 minutes,” says Waxman, of Mesa. “We want to play the songs that people are most familiar with. It’s so exciting. Nine out of 10 people like the Eagles — except Jeff Bridges in ‘The Big Lebowski.’

“Most people know the words and are singing along. Fans are so happy, and every show is a fun show for us.”

Besides Eagles songs, One of These Nights performs solo Don Henley tracks like “Boys of Summer” and three solo Joe Walsh tunes.

“We put a little bit of our own spin on the music,” says Waxman, who uses a Talk Box like Walsh. “We modeled this show after the ‘Live from Melbourne’ tour, the fi rst one they did. We do stick pretty close, but we’ll throw some lead solos in that aren’t quite the studio version.”

Waxman has been a fan of the Eagles since he fi rst saw them in 1975 in Berkeley, California.

“They had just come out with their fi rst album with ‘Take It Easy’ and ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling,’” he says.

“My brother was a musician. After that, I loved them. I was a fan from that day on. I saw them again at Day on the Green (festival in Oakland, California) when Joe Walsh had joined, and one more time on ‘Hell Freezes Over.’”

One of These Nights was founded about seven years ago but lead singer/ guitarist JD Madrid of Phoenix has been performing Eagles songs for nearly 15 years. The band also includes bassist/vocalist Justin Brotman of Mesa; drummer Ross Brotman of Gilbert; keyboardist/vocalist Steve Shostak of Gilbert and guitarist/vocalist Clayton Bircher of Tempe. In January, Waxman retired from Honeywell and now plays music full time.

“It’s fun for us and the people enjoy it,” he says. “Some of them come up after the show and say, ‘You’re better than the Eagles.’ I say, ‘Well, thank you very much, but we’re not better than the Eagles. They wrote the music. We’re just copycats.’”

MORE INFO

What: One of These Nights When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, December 1 Where: IronOaks at Sun Lakes, 24218 S. Oakwood Boulevard, Sun Lakes Cost: Call for ticket information Info: 480-317-3600

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 17 Where: Pub Rock, 8005 E. Roosevelt Street, Scottsdale Cost: Tickets start at $40 Info: pubrocklive.com

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King Crossword

1 Up to 4 Platter 8 Scoop holder 12 Olympics chant 13 Sicilian resort 14 Dryer fuzz 15 Sandal type 17 Pub potables 18 Computer whiz 19 Dog tags, e.g. 21 PC key 22 Excellent 26 Expire 29 Present location? 30 Med. plan option 31 Perry’s creator 32 -- Aviv 33 Hotel worker 34 From -- Z 35 “Science Guy” Bill 36 Segments 37 Kanye West’s music 39 Moonshine vessel 40 Japanese sash 41 Narcotic 45 Volition 48 Sound of hoofbeats 50 Tom Joad, for one 51 First-rate 52 Onassis nickname 53 Marries 54 A deadly sin 55 Moment

DOWN

1 Clump of grass 2 Capri, e.g. 3 Secular 4 Sully 5 Cove 6 -- -Cat 7 Domed building in

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Hill 36 Thing on a string 38 Bagel features 39 Unites 42 Regrettably 43 Rent 44 Grand tale 45 Dazzle 46 White House nickname 47 Cover 49 Baseball’s Gehrig

The idea of Go Figure is to arrive at the figures given at the bottom and right-hand columns of the diagram by following the arithmetic signs in the order they are given (that is, from left to right and top to bottom). Use only the numbers below the diagram to complete its blank squares and use each of the nine numbers only once.

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK H H H

H Moderate HH Challenging HHH HOO BOY!

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK H

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EVEN EXCHANGE

by Donna Pettman

Each numbered row contains two clues and two answers. The two answers differ from each other by only one letter, which has already been inserted. For example, if you exchange the A from MASTER for an I, you get MISTER. Do not change the order of the letters.

SCRAMBLERS

Unscramble the letters within each rectangle to form four ordinary words. Then rearrange the boxed letters to form the mystery word, which will complete the gag!