What is Wrong With These Guys?

[z28luvr01]

from melodicrock.com

VAN HALEN TOUR POSTPONED:

Yes, it is 100% true that the Van Halen 2007 tour has been indefinitely postponed. Details are a little thin on the ground and no one is talking on the record, but I did manage to talk to my contact who originally told me of the re-union plans in October last year.

Despite what little has been said publicly so far, it seems there are issues beyond paperwork and contracts that need to be ironed out. Van Halen has always been a volatile mix of personalities and 2007 is no different. Basically those involved in this tour won't commit until all issues are dealt with, hence the postponement of current plans.

I am told though, that this postponement should be just that - a temporary situation that can be sorted so that the dates that had been arranged can be re-booked and announced down the track somewhat.

The line-up for this tour remains Eddie, Wofgang & Alex Van Halen and frontman David Lee Roth.

This is ridiculous - they can't just go into the studio together and jam. Everything has to involve lawyers, contracts, and paperwork. They're a joke that's been running for 11 years....remember when they used to be such a tight, yet carefree party band (with both Dave and Sammy)? You have to feel sorry for their fans, they've been teased way too many times.

[Olds Guy]

[FAPTurbo]

Holy F*ckin Sh*t...

[deftonesfan867]

Why do the biggest bands always gotta be the biggest bull$h!ters? Ego's...........blah!

[NDL]

Yeah, it's probably true, although to me, it doesn't matter, because I wasn't going to see them.

MA loyalties aside, Wolfie's a kid for crying out loud. Would you pay $60 to see a kid play? The new cover of Rolling Stone looks beyond stupid. Who could take them seriously?

[FAPTurbo]

I should check that Rolling Stone cover out. I'd have to wash my hands afterwards because I happen to think Rolling Stone is full of pompous grab-asses.

There's no doubt that Wolfgang will be a great player. He'll easily be better than Michael Anthony, but that is beside the point. Anthony not only brought up the supporting vocals, but just added to the image and intensity of the band.

He's been hammered by the brothers before, starting back in the mid 90's when he wasn't around to play for 'The Best Of: Volume 1' and in '03-'04 when he actually agreed to take royalty cuts just in order to record and tour.

I'm seriously wondering if I should even be spending any money on anything Van Halen anymore.

Edited February 21, 2007 by Captainbooyah

[NDL]

Rolling Stone

[NDL]

There's no doubt that Wolfgang will be a great player. He'll easily be better than Michael Anthony, but that is beside the point.

I don't play bass, but we don't know that to be true. It's said that Michael Anthony is one of the most underrated bass players out there.

Either way, his stage presence, and background vocals, cannot be duplicated. I can see Wolfie running around with a Jack Daniel's bass, on this 'reunion' tour...

[FAPTurbo]

http://www.stereogum.com/img/vanhalen_reunion.jpg

What happened to these guys?!

[daves87rs]

Van Halen has sucked for years...doesn't hurt my feelings one bit.

Any band that cares more about themselves than the band itself doesn't deserve out time of day anyways...

Just sad.

Just don't buy those GNR tickets yet.

[regfootball]

dave looks great. i know he has continual plastic surgery.

eddie looks like complete hell though and wolfie looks pre pre pubescent.

i wonder if the Rock and Roll Hall fo Fame bit has something to do with this.

I truly think Michael Anthony needs to be a part of this.

[z28luvr01]

Van Halen has sucked for years...doesn't hurt my feelings one bit.

Any band that cares more about themselves than the band itself doesn't deserve out time of day anyways...

That's the thing that gets me the most. They're not getting into the HOF individually, they're getting in together, as the band Van Halen. Each one needs to realize that, without the other three guys, they have nothing. Sammy probably gets in on his own, since he had a pretty long solo career anyway, but his most famous work is with VH. But for the other guys, VH is all they have.

Hey NDL, is that you I see posting on VHLinks about accepting another round of Gary Cherone? Not saying that I don't agree with you, but you're fighting an uphill battle over there. They want what they want, and that's all what they want

[Sixty8panther]

They all suck... Van Halen to Van Hagar.

I've never been that big of a fan but the constant B.S. completely turns me off.

What's needed is an EGO check, Van Halen should hook up with Axl Rose.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I hate to hear that.

I've never been a Van Halen fan, but being an avid MetallicA lifer I DEFINITELY know what it's like.

This band member turns into a pussy and gets offended by this other dude who is in the band. One band member says "screw you guys" and walks out and then another band member tries to play mama and put the pieces back together.

It's sad... And I think it has a lot to do with commercialism... It's like "What happened to the days when you guys were just 4 or 5 cool guys that LOVED to play kick ass music? Since when did you all turn in to panty wearing, lawyer toting yuppies that have to have everything in black and white?"

The music is about EMOTION and PASSION, it isn't about who gets what or who pissed who off and it never was.

[regfootball]

eddie looks like one of the olsen twins in that picture.

[FAPTurbo]

Thank God 'RUSH' is still around, or I'd go crazy.

[Z-06]

Nothng but a sales ploy

[regfootball]

Thank God 'RUSH' is still around, or I'd go crazy.

there is a new Rush album coming out soon.

[z28luvr01]

Stick a fork in it - it's done: clicky

I'm sure it's pretty obvious to anyone that follows the band that Eddie's been the catalyst of all the chaos surrounding the band, what with all the heavy drinking, smoking (despite overcoming tongue cancer), and meth. I only hope that he's finally getting the help he needs. Forget the music at this point.

[regfootball]

a little longer version of the same story

latimes

it really is pretty much safe to say that eddie is pretty much loonie and gone.

[regfootball]

by the way, in a snippet that has gone virtually undetected by radar......

CHINESE DEMOCRACY OFF THE RADAR AGAIN:

This just in from a long time bud/source - I am told that his contact at Universal Music confirmed to him that Guns N Roses Chinese Democracy album is "no longer on any release schedule."

Guitarist Bumblefoot recently commented that the album release is getting closer, but just how close is anyone's guess (including the record label).

[regfootball]

Eddie Van Halen checks into rehab

i wonder if this means he will miss the induction ceremony.

maybe he has a date with britney?

anyways, i hope this helps him. he looks and sounds terrible and is quite a waste at this point.

[regfootball]

from melodicrock.com

BREAKING VAN HALEN UPDATES:

It is a morning of breaking Van Halen news! This letter from Edward Van Halen has been sent out this afternoon LA time to a number of media outlets, including myself. It reads:

"I would like Van Halen fans to know how much I truly appreciate each and every one of you. Without you there is no Van Halen.

I have always and will always feel a responsibility to give you my best. At the moment I do not feel that I can give you my best. That's why I have decided to enter a rehabilitation facility to work on myself, so that in the future I can deliver the 110% that I feel I owe you and want to give you.

Some of the issues surrounding the 2007 Van Halen tour are within my ability to change and some are not. As far as my rehab is concerned, it is within my ability to change and change for the better. I want you to know that is exactly what I'm doing, so that I may continue to give you the very best I am capable of.

I look forward to seeing you in the future better than ever and I thank you with all my heart.

Love,

Ed."

Let me stand up and say - well done Edward Van Halen. Thank you for having the personal fortitude and courage to face your issues head on, accept the fact that you need help and deal with everything that goes with making such an admission.

I dare say that the entire Van Halen fan base is behind you in your desire to get clean and healthy and I cannot say strongly enough - we all wish you the very best and look forward to what will now without doubt, be a brighter future.

If you have been following the recent Van Halen updates here and especially the news of the 2007 tour being postponed, you might have already read between the lines as far as the turmoil within the Van Halen camp. No, there hasn't been any sparring between David Lee Roth and any of the members and no, there were no issues about Wolfgang Van Halen filling the bassist position.

The main issues revolved around Eddie's health and the reluctance of people involved in putting on and promoting the 2007 to commit to it without Edward first seeing help. It is fantastic to see Eddie comment on that. It reached a point where nothing had happened and the tour was pulled.

But, Ed has found the strength needed to deal with this and has checked himself into rehab. Not only is this the best possible option for Ed on a personal level, but it also gives renewed hope that those behind the tour will now have the confidence to get the ball rolling again.

Obviously Eddie needs time to deal with this and no one will be rushing him back onto the tour circuit. Time frames and schedules are not something that will be looked at for a while yet, but safe to say that the tour with David Lee Roth looks more likely to happen today, than it did yesterday.

At the same time as this has been going down - David Lee Roth has spat the dummy with Hall Of Fame officials and has pulled the plug on appearing at the ceremony!

LA Times writer Geoff Boucher states in an article today that Michael Anthony will be the only original member of the band to appear at the ceremony, appearing along with second vocalist and friend Sammy Hagar.

The LA Time article is as follows:

Roth not allowed to perform at gala honoring the band

Of the original band, only deposed bassist Michael Anthony will appear at the induction ceremony.

By Geoff Boucher, Times Staff Writer

March 9, 2007

- Van Halen's road plans have taken a rocky turn

How did that old Van Halen song go? "I found the simple life ain't so simple ... " The iconic Los Angeles metal band is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a lavish New York banquet Monday night, but now it appears that only one original member, bassist Michael Anthony, will even show up.

David Lee Roth, the band's frontman for its first decade, said Thursday he will not attend the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel ceremony because event officials have turned down his repeated overtures to perform.

"I don't make speeches for a living; I sing and dance for my dinner," Roth said, adding that the decision to skip the event "rips my heart out."

The hall of fame's event organizers plan for Velvet Revolver to perform some Van Halen classics, much as Metallica stood in last year to play Black Sabbath songs while that band's members watched from the audience. "So it appears this is a television producer's decision," Roth said.

The choice of Velvet Revolver was in response to a sticky situation as far as what lineup of Van Halen could take the stage to perform with Roth. Van Halen's revered guitar hero, Eddie Van Halen, and his brother, drummer Alex, had already sent signals that they would not be in New York. The Van Halen's have been in lock-down mode since their plans for a summer reunion tour with Roth collapsed last month. Roth said he last spoke to Eddie Van Halen's camp a week ago, and he said he could not determine the truth about reports that the guitarist is seeking help for alcohol problems.

"Ed is indisposed and working toward a better future here," Roth said. "If Ed ever dries up, this is going to be a stadium act, man.... What's happening here with this [New York event]is part and parcel of the same spiral that screwed up the tour."

Without the Brothers Van Halen, the Hall faced the prospect of putting Roth on stage with bass player Michael Anthony, who is the lone founding member expected to attend, and Sammy Hagar, Roth's replacement in the band and longtime foil, who logged more than a decade as the band's frontman. Hagar confirmed Thursday he is attending.

Roth said Thursday he had been preparing since December for the chance to perform for the industry elite, the media and a television audience that will be watching the ceremony live on VH1 Classics.

"It's just not an option for me to go and watch some other band — who are only performing because they have some new record coming out — do our music," Roth said. "I have nothing against Velvet Revolver — I'm not familiar with their music — but that was my 3 minutes and 22 seconds up there."

The other inductees this year are R.E.M., Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and the Ronettes. The 2007 inductees were chosen by the 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Artists are eligible for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after their first recording was released. The ceremony will also be streamed live on AOL at spinner.aol.com/rockhall.

Journalist and commentator Bob Lefsetz weighs in with this article just released:

"This business went in the crapper when the executives started believing they were bigger than the acts, that the audience was interested in THEM, not the performers.

And why be interested in the acts, they were just tools of the machine. Picked on their looks, singing the songs of hacks, the music lost its soul, its religion, its sense of theatre, its VAUDEVILLE HISTORY!

Van Halen was no James Cameron production, no slick artifice, it was just four guys from Pasadena working their way up from beer parties to the TOP, testing limits, getting better every step of the way.

We all agree Eddie Van Halen is a genius, but without David Lee Roth Van Halen never would have broken through. Sammy may have a better voice, I love "Best Of Both Worlds", but without DLR there IS NO Van Halen, no notice. A band without a frontman is...the NICE?

You need a singer, someone who can enrapture the audience, someone who can make the audience pay attention. That person in Van Halen's case was David Lee Roth. Better David Lee Roth with ANYBODY behind him than ANYBODY in Velvet Revolver or Audioslave (is there a difference, aren't both made up of has-beens who can't work on their own?)

Stunningly, David Lee Roth can still work on his own. Granted, to an ever-dwindling audience. But people still want to be touched. Want to remember when they were in high school, and DIDN'T GIVE A f@#k! Van Halen was music for people enmeshed in the system who wanted a WAY OUT! That's what music used to provide. Back when it was a culture of notes, not pricks with $5,000 suits and multiple assistants.

This is the last nail in the coffin for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This is the final joke. When you don't even let the INDUCTEES perform.

Why not? Because it's on TELEVISION? Doesn't that prove the point? That when you start worrying about the audience rather than the music you've lost the thread?

Back when Van Halen reigned, the ultimate goal was to get backstage. To hang with the band, whether male or female. It not only made your night, but maybe your life. To get that close. To the talented who played by their own rules.

That's what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was. A private party. That the public LONGED to attend. Back when there was no question the inductees were legends.

An edited show for VH1 was bad enough. A live broadcast? Why? Is this any different from the Paris Hilton sex tape? A staged event, distributed for publicity?

The R&RHOF needs cash. It needs to perpetuate itself. When it's the MUSIC that's important, that will outlive this lame organization run by men and women who never had the adoration of tens of thousands of fans, who never held them in the palm of their hands, who never knew the POWER of being a star.

You can be rich, but that doesn't make you a star.

And the biggest star amongst this year's inductees has now been refused the right to perform at his own party. Isn't that like not allowing the President to attend his own inauguration?

Let every table at the Waldorf-Astoria be adorned with a bowl of brown M&M's. And when it comes time for Van Halen to be inducted, let everybody THROW THEM AT THE DAIS!

That's the rock and roll spirit. Throwing out decorum, knowing that a big star plays by his OWN RULES!

If only the pricks who made this decision had one iota of David Lee Roth's star power. If only they realized they're what's killing not only the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the record business too.

If Michael Stipe had any balls he'd refuse to attend unless DLR could come and perform too. What, Paul Shaffer gets to play all these years but David Lee Roth CAN'T?

[z28luvr01]

I guess this confirns what most of us read between the lines. Get well soon, Eddie. You can beat this.

As for the not letting Dave perform at the ceremony, that is just stupid yet totally typical. The recording industry is just a joke, a self-serving machine whose only interest is generating revenue for itself. Could it be that VR got tabbed to play for V H because they have an album and tour coming out this year and need to get the hype machine rolling? I like VR, but do not see any connection between them and VH whatsoever. Dream Theater or Motley Crue, two bands who were heavily influenced by VH, would have been much better choices. I would have loved to see Dave, Sam, and Mike borrow someone's drummer, play together, blow the roof off the place, and dedicate the performance to Eddie (I think all three are mature enough to pull that off).

[regfootball]

yes, the music industry moguls all deserve to go down. they make money for being asses.

i would love to see the other guys play as you said. why not have wolfie, alex, dave, and sammy and mike? and get VR off the stage.

[z28luvr01]

I wouldn't expect Alex or Wolfie. They're probably going to have their hands full with Eddie. I'm sure he's going to need all the support from his family that he can get. Valerie may even be there, for Wolfie's sake.