Tour Dates Added

See you in Columbus?

Panama!

ERUPTION

Rich's Faves/Musings

FavewithDave: "Unchained"/"Everybody Wants Some!!"

FavewithSam: "Best of Both Worlds"

Other Guy?: Pleeeaaase...

All-time Fave...drumroll..."Runnin' with the Devil" (Radio staple, movie favorite, primal intro.)

Fave LP: Has to be Numero Uno. You know the tale of the cover, my love affair even before I listened to it. Actually, I think, I know I had this on 8-track, maybe cassette. Hard to believe it was almost thirty yrs. ago. World, meet Eddie fucking Van Halen!

Best Concert Memory: In Cruces with woman who took my virginity. We were about ten people from stage right. Eddie, cigarette burning, hands smoking, sitting on large amps. I fell to my knees, like in prayer, and scrambled to score guitar pick. Only Hendrix could have fucked with me more, I think.

Best Personal Memory: Has to be seeing that LP at the Safeway on North Loop and Carolina. While mom shopped for groceries, this is early eighties, I wanderd toward small bin of records. Shuffling through top 40, I stopped at the glossy black cover. The smeared colors of each square are as vivid as anything holy I learned in church, really, no fucking around.

Best Behind the Scenes: I remember being happy for Eddie when he married Valerie. He seemed so happy. And having a son who could pick up the throne, well, I'm sure he is as proud of a papa as you are.

Worst: Which one? Eddie cutting hair. Eddie talking shit about Dave, Sammy, Michael. He doesn't do well with words. Stick to the shredding!

Todd's VH Musings

Fave with Dave: Hard to pick and I have had to revise to "Mean Streets."
Fave with Sammy: "5150," without a doubt.
(Hey, what about that other guy?)
All-time Fave Song: "Eruption"--it was life changing, as I've already written here.
Fave LP/Tape: Van Halen I. The tape changed everything for me, overnight. I went from listening to Richie Valens and Buddy Holly and Bill Haley & the Comets to listening to Van Halen, Van Halen, Van Halen. I couldn't stop listening to the tape. I bought their other albums on cassette as soon as I could save the money.
Best Concert Memory: going to the West End in Dallas to see the Free Show Van Hagar put on there in 1992; I told my French professor that I wouldn't be there because Van Halen was putting on a free concert, and I had to leave immediately. He looked at me with awe, awe that I had the nerve to tell him and awe that I was being so honest. But his nod was full of disdain. There were throngs and throngs of people. It felt good to be among so many Van Halen fans. I had never been a part of something like that, which felt to me like a revolution, but what did I know of revolutions.
Best Personal Memory: From the moment I heard "Eruption," I dreamed of seeing EVH live and in person. So I was ecstatic when it came time for his guitar solo during the Houston show on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour, where I was fourth row. When he played the opening to "Mean Streets," my knees wobbled, the universe spun quickly, sweat dropped from his forehead. I couldn't believe he could make the guitar do all those things during that solo.
Best Behind the Scenes Moment: Eddie's playing the guitar solo for "Beat It," and his behind the scenes work on Sammy's solo album I Never Said Goodbye.
Worst Behind the Scenes Moment: the Hall of Fame Induction broke my heart, but I don't know if that counts. But Eddie's trash talk about Dave and Sammy is more disappointing. Over the years, it's been hard to acknowledge that he may be the one to blame for all the break-ups, and now I have to say (from what I've read) I think it's true.
I Can't Figure Out Where to Put This One: I once heard from a very good and reliable source (someone in the music industry) that she saw, in a backstage hallway, after a show, people in line talking to Diamond Dave. While he was talking, a woman was blowing him.

VH Musings (short answers)

Fave Song (Dave Era)

Fave Song (Sammy Era)

All-timeFave Song!

Fave LP/Tape

Best Concert Memory

Best Personal Memory

Best Behind the Scenes Moment

Worst Behind the Scenes Moment

My Own Private 80s

Styx: Paradise Theater (LP)

Joan Jett: I Love Rock N' Roll (LP)

Jefferson Starship: Knee Deep in the Hoopla (LP)

Hall & Oates: H2O (Cassette)

Van Halen: 1984 (Cassette)

Prince: 1999 (Cassette)

Michael Jackson: Thriller (Cassette)

Run D.M.C.: Raisin' Hell (Cassette)

Dire Straits: Brothers to Arms (First CD)

Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill (CD)

Guns N Roses: Appetite for Destruction (Cassette)

Aerosmith: Permanent Vacation (First Concert) (Cassette)

1967-2007 (Songs from 40 yrs. of L-i-v-i-n’)

“You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC

“Surrender” by Cheap Trick

“Don’t Dream It's Over” by Crowded House

“Imagine” by John Lennon

“Purple Haze” by Jimi

“Kashmir” by Led Zep

“All Apologies” by Nirvana

“I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

“Renegade” by Styx

“Rock of Ages” by Def Leppard


(Saw DF live at County Coliseum during "Pyromania" Tour in 83 or 84, shortly before they referred to El Paso as the place with the “greasy Mexicans.” Many irate fans wore “DF Sucks” shirts. DF offered a bribe to a scholarship fund, which was denied, and they were subsequently banned from EP for a decade.)



Rock should not be Polite. Rockers can be assholes. PYROMANIA lit that fuse in me as a young (pre-"Chicano") man, got me worked up, drew in my libido with its campy/sexist videos. Long hair, half-naked video vamps, pyrotechnics, sweat, adrenalin…Rock from the Crotch!

The Other Five

I like that selection. I listened to that Cash album (on the iPod) while shopping for groceries today. Good pick. Nevermind seems essential too. Pyromania, though, is a real surprise. Why that one?

So here's my other five in no particular order:

5. Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch.
4. Murmur by REM
3. Washing Machine by Sonic Youth
2. Miles Davis's Kind of Blue.
1. The Bone Machine by Tom Waits ties Bob Dylan's Love & Theft. Those deep voices, like gravel roads.

Maybe the more interesting question, is what would be the next ten, to dig deeper into the vaults?

LPs for Life*

* Johnny Cash – At San Quentin

* Def Leppard – Pyromania

* Los Lobos – How Will the Wolf Survive

* Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

* Nirvana – Nevermind

* Peter Gabriel – So

* Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here

* Rage Against the Machine (1st)

* U2 – Joshua Tree


* Van Halen I


* These artists and selections from these albums are part of a new play list called "Forty"--XXXX songs from 1967-2007, representing each decade.

Gotta List?

Rich, I'm listening to Fair Warning, one of my favorite VH albums. So I'm thinking about essentials. What are your essential albums? Essential either because of their place in your life or because you just can't do without its sweet sounds. I'm thinking of the number ten. You can explain your reasoning if you want. I don't know if this album makes my list or not. You could definitely put something by VH on there, probably their first album. So, in no particular order...

10. Van Halen by Van Halen
9. Next, Bexk's Odelay, which of course samples a few bars from "Eruption."
8. Appetite for Destruction turns 20 this year, but that doesn't mean jack except I'm getting older and wiser. So I'll put Axis: Bold as Love by Jimi Hendrix on the list.
7. Since we're already in the sixties, I don't think I could go without Dylan's Blonde on Blonde.
6. I'm trying to surprise myself here, push the titles, and here's one: either Los Lobos's Just Another Band From East L.A. or their brilliant By the Light of the Moon.

Okay, commercial break. I'll give you the other five when you post something up here.