The Route 66 town of Winslow, Arizona, soon will erect a life-size bronze of The Eagles founder and “Take It Easy” co-songwriter Glenn Frey at Standin’ on a Corner Park in time for the annual Standin’ on a Corner Festival.
Tom McCauley, a member of the Standin’ on a Corner Foundation board of directors, shared a Facebook post this week on the Winslow AZ News about the Glenn Frey statue.
McCauley wrote he became inspired to put up a Frey statue after the outpouring of sympathy at the Standin’ on a Corner statue in Winslow following Frey’s death at age 67 in January.
After the event was over and we were still reeling from the shock of Glenn’s unexpected death I kept in contact with KSLX 100.7 Mark in the morning. He asked if we had any other plans to memorialize Glenn Frey, I stated we would love to capture his image in bronze but don’t have the funding so for this year we will dedicate the event to the memory of Glenn Frey.
A couple days later I spoke to Mark again and this time he was asking if I knew any bronze artists. I gave him the names of four or five local artists and a couple from out of state. He called me back in a week or so and stated the best price he had on a life-size likeness was 22K. I told Mark we would love to do this but we are a 501 C 3 and don’t have that kind of money.
Mark called me back about a week later and stated his boss Trip Reeb was very interested in seeing this come to life and he would give us the seed money of $15,000.00 to get this project off the ground. I then spoke to Steve Pauken at the city to ask for some help and of course the Standin’ on the Corner Foundation was agreeable. So with the incredible generosity of KSLX 100.7 FM, the City of Winslow and the Standin’ on the Corner Foundation we will have the dedication of a new life-size likeness of Glenn Frey in the park on Friday Sept 23, 2016 at 12:00. KSLX 100.7 FM will be in attendance and will host a live remote from the park. Invitations will be sent to the media to cover this dedication.
KSLX-FM is a classic-rock station in Phoenix. So it undoubtedly keeps The Eagles on heavy rotation.
Bob Hall, director of the Winslow Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center, during a phone interview Friday made it clear the Glenn Frey statue won’t supplant the much-photographed Standin’ on a Corner statue.
“It’s too iconic,” he said of the current statue.
Visitors often misidentify the Standin’ on a Corner Park statue as Frey or “Take It Easy” co-writer Jackson Browne, but it actually is a typical 1960s hippie musician/troubadour.
Hall said the Frey statue won’t stand next to the Standin’ on a Corner statue, but will be nearby.
Hall said the foundation received clearance from Frey’s estate before having the artist start the statue.
The city also will install a live video camera at Standin’ on a Corner Park so visitors can alert friends on the internet when they’re there, he said.
Frey and Browne collaborated on “Take It Easy” in 1972, which contained this memorable line:
“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 slowing down to take a look at me.”
The song reached No. 12 on the pop charts as The Eagles’ first hit. It wasn’t the band’s biggest single. But the tune grew to be iconic over the years. It became a mainstay of Eagles concerts and road-trip playlists.
Hall said he hasn’t seen a mockup of the bronze. I suspect the likeness will be of Frey during the 1970s heyday, when he sported long hair, a mustache and some sort of T-shirt of a major university out west.
(Image capture of Glenn Frey of The Eagles, circa 1977)
Awesome! back to Winslow we will go… Will have to take some friends that have never been and stay at the incredible La Posada again.
What is Glenn Frey’s connection with Winslow? Who do people mistake “Standing on the Corner” for Frey?
They mistake him for the statue because it does look quite a bit like a very young version of him, and Frey is the one most associated with the song.