Hell Has Frozen (地獄已結冰)

For a few moments, hell has frozen for me yesterday. Glen Frey, the singer, guitarist, pianist and keyboardist, songwriter co-founder of the Eagles just died, aged 67.

I read in the news that he died of a combination of pneumonia and colitis. The Eagles have given me endless pleasures.

I don't know how many times I have heard "Hotel California", their 1976 hit which they replayed in their 1994 come-back album "Hell Freezes Over" after they regrouped. It was a "must" in the homes of my fi fi friends as they proudly showed off their latest CD transports, digital processing units, pre-amps, power amps, weight, angle and distance adjusted tone arms, diamond needle heads for the tone arms, vinyl record players, newly acquired vintage tubes from GE or other military grade tubes, gold or pure copper crystal connectors, speakers, analogue signal cables, digital interconnects, speaker cables, power cords, power filters, static remover, transport stabilizers, laser filters, support cones, equipment stands and other" unwanted vibration" or electro-magnetic interference removal devices.

"Hey, did you notice those fading harmonics of the steel strings of guitar, that extra springiness in the sound of drum-strokes as they bounce off the skin of the drum or bongo, that exquisite huskiness in the sound of the singers, that special smoothness in the vibration of the sound as the guitarist finger wobbles over the guitar string ", they'd say. Then followed heated discussions in which we dissected the quality of sound of their latest acquisition or did A, B comparisons using old and new cables, power cords or power filters, bigger equipments etc. sometimes with and sometimes without a glass of wine or beer.

That number would also figure as one of the standards we listened to as we snooped around various hi fi shops in Central, Causeway Bay, Chai Wan or Mongkok as they paraded their newest offers and tried their best to persuade us to take out the credit cards from our wallets.

Glen Frey sang the lead in "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Tequila Sunrise", "Already Gone", "Lyin' Eyes", "New Kid in Town" and "Heartache Tonight" and many others.

It feels really bad to hear the sound of the scythe of the  Grim Reaper, as he gathers in one rock musician after another within a fortnight of each other.

Another star has fallen. The sky looks that much darker from now on.

In his memory and in honor of his unbeatable band the Eagles, we played and sang "Hotel California" and "Desparado" together with our Spanish teacher in our slightly delayed Spanish class "Feliz Año Nuevo, 2016 " party last night.