Uncovering the Next Generation's Hall of Fame
Eddie Van Halen out of rehab
Eddie Van Halen is fresh out of rehab and made his first public appearance as a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer at a NASCAR race last weekend.
"The guitar legend 'jumped' into a fire suit and took some hot laps around the track with Kurt Busch." Get it? Jumped!
Rock Hall denies snubbing David Lee Roth
"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is sorry that David Lee Roth will not attend this year's induction of Van Halen. We offered him opportunities to play and sing a Van Halen song of his choice with our House band, including his own guitar player or a song with Velvet Revolver and he refused those opportunities."That obviously differs from David Lee Roth's version of the story.Peresman concluded the e-mail with a curt denial that the Hall is somehow the bad guy in all this: "We made every effort and the decision not to come was solely his, not ours."
The Roth camp says that the only offer they had received before Friday was an invitation to perform "You Really Got Me" with Velvet Revolver. Roth balked in part because that song, off Van Halen's first album, was originally recorded by the Kinks and is not a "true" Van Halen song.It's hard to imagine a scenario where David Lee Roth will pass up a chance to be the center of attention, but sadly it looks like this could be one of those times.Roth wanted to do his trademark tune, "Jump," but that was a curveball for Velvet Revolver, apparently, with rehearsal time limitations. On Friday, according to sources close to the show, event producer Joel Gallen offered Roth a chance to do "Jump" with Paul Schaffer and some players of Roth's picking but, for Roth, that came too late, apparently, to allow travel and needed rehearsal time.
Hall officials, privately, were surprised and wondered if Roth really wanted to perform at all. They also said if he had traveled east to New York to work with the producers on site, everything would have worked out.
Eddie Van Halen to rehab; David Lee Roth boycotting ceremony
In a note addressed to fans he stated: "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."Alcohol has been cited as Eddie's addiction.
Meanwhile, David Lee Roth has decided to boycott the event because he is not being allowed to perform. After Eddie and Alex Van Halen chose not to attend, the Rock Hall didn't want David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar to be the only ones performing VH songs, so they brought in Velvet Revolver to do the honors. Roth isn't happy about the situation:
"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."Music industry critic, Bob Lefsetz believes this is the last nail in the coffin for the Rock Hall, "When you don't even let the INDUCTEES perform." He continues, "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!"Roth said he had been preparing since December for the chance to perform for the industry elite and the audience watching 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."
A reunited Van Halen was going to be the highlight of the 2007 ceremony. It's too bad that it probably won't happen now, but who knows -- things could change over the weekend.
Sammy Hagar: "riding high on his own tequila"
"That's one thing I like about the Hall of Fame. I never expected to be inducted. I really didn't. I knew Van Halen would eventually somehow, someway, but it was still hard for me to imagine Sammy Hagar being part of it. But it is. I'm so honored....And as suspected, Velvet Revolver were not the first choice to induct Van Halen at the ceremony. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were asked to do it, but weren't available because they are playing a show in Oklahoma City on Monday night."This is something that is so etched in stone that when you say I'm a Hall of Famer," Hagar says, "you have to live up to it. I think that every time I step up to a microphone from that day on, I have to live up to it. I think I'm going to have to be a f -- Hall of Famer."
Van Halen will not perform at Rock Hall Ceremony
Scott Weiland and Slash from Velvet Revolver have been selected to induct Van Halen. Velvet Revolver will then perform a selection of Van Halen songs during the ceremony, similar to how Metallica performed in place of Black Sabbath in 2006. Sammy Hagar had openly lobbied for his friends in the Red Hot Chili Peppers to be the ones to induct Van Halen, but apparently his voice doesn't carry much weight with Eddie and Alex Van Halen these days.
Van Halen reunion off?
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone familiar with the various reunion attempts over the years, because they all end the same way -- a Van Halen without David Lee Roth.
Eddie Van Halen wins again
Wolfgang joins Van Halen
"Wolfie" has already been jamming in the studio with his father and uncle (drummer, Alex Van Halen), rehearsing for the tour. Wolfgang certainly has the musical genes to make a great bassist, but will he be able to fill-in for Michael Anthony's key harmonies? Maybe if he hasn't hit puberty yet.
This has all the makings for a fantastic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on March 12th, if Van Halen gets inducted. Imagine the tension in the room when an estranged Michael Anthony (and also Sammy Hagar?) make their acceptance speeches, then have to sit in the audience to watch a teenager perform with their old bandmates. All of this -- plus -- David Lee Roth's ego. Amazing.
Will there be a Van Halen reunion tour?
I have information from a highly placed source that Van Halen will likely tour in 2007 with David Lee Roth as frontman.Next year would be an ideal time for Van Halen to reunite for a tour to take advantage of the publicity surrounding their likely induction into the Rock Hall. As Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe have shown with their tour this year, there is a lot of money to be made by appealing to 80's hard rock fans.
Negotiations are currently underway to re-unite Van Halen with their original frontman for a tour in 2007 that will take in Amercia and possibly other territories. While nothing in the world of Van Halen is set until the band walk out on stage, I can confirm that negotiations between all parties have been underway for some time, trying to put together a big 2007 re-union tour.
One would presume the tour will feature classic VH era songs only. What I do not yet know is whether this plan includes exiled bass player Michael Anthony.
Eddie Van Halen scores porn
Is this the career move that's going to put Van Halen over the top and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Although rock stars have (perhaps inadvertently) appeared in adult films -- Tommy Lee, Fred Durst, Bret Michaels -- there isn't precedent in the Rock Hall for an established artist composing music for a porn. Maybe Eddie has been listening to Sex-O-Rama, and wants to get in on that action.
Check out a trailer for the movie below featuring Eddie and his legendary guitar (only PG-13 content):
David Lee Roth predicts Van Halen reunion
One of the more glaring omissions in the Rock Hall inductions in recent years has been Van Halen. After the album 1984 was released, there was no bigger band on the planet. The breakup with David Lee Roth shortly thereafter only put a small dent in their popularity, and they continued to be one of the biggest bands in hard rock / heavy metal with Sammy Hagar at the helm. In 1988, Van Halen even headlined the Monsters of Rock stadium tour with the Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica and Kingdom Come.
The stars are beginning to align for a triumphant Van Halen reunion on stage at the 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Count on it.
Eddie Van Halen on the edge
Eddie Van Halen influenced a generation of guitarists, though by the looks of this photo, it looks like he's influenced 5 or 6 generations. With Eddie's descent into Mr. Burns territory, combined with the David Lee Roth radio horror show, it doesn't look good for a Van Halen induction anytime soon.