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Show a DAILY Van Halen HERALD Sunday, March 11, 2007 When all the different factions in Van Halen could not agree to perform together at the Continued from CI was named 'Eruption." The plan was to pop the tape out and continue listening inside the house, but the second song had just started and neither one of us could even remotely fathom reaching for the eject button. To be quite honest, we weren't exactly sure what we were hearing during that initial listen. A torrent of notes exploded out of the left speaker at a dizzying rate as we looked at each other in amazement and wondered aloud whether what we heard was accomplished on synthesizer or guitar. And while we didnt know exactly what we were hearing, we recognized that the music landscape as we knew it was changing before our very ears. As it turned out, what we were experiencing was a 1 ' slack-jawe- CHRIS RICHARDS Arizona Daily Star Eddie Van Halen, of the rock and roll band Van Halen, leaps during the song "Jump" in 2004. During his tenure, Hagar presumably for moonlightwas fond of saying, "What is ing on tour last summer with understood need not be disHagar when they played VJi cussed." But what Van Halen songs while billing themselves fans have learned since Hagar as The Other Half. was first ousted in 1996 is this: Anthony's replacement? Ed"What isn't understood will be die's exploson, Wolfgang sion of jam that changed guitar discussed (and discussed and Van Halen. discussed ... ) on fan message Heir guitar at its finest. playing forever and signaled the arrival of a new boards, mailing lists, radio star: Eddie Van Halen. "And the Cradle Will programs and myriad media outlets." It's been nearly 29 years Rock" since that magical moment and Consider this: In the 11 years Still not enough drama for since Hagar first left our initial reaction certainly or was has been validated over time. fired, depending on who you you? Van Halen's debut record went ask On Feb. 2, Van Halen anthe band has released on to sell over 12 million copone tepidly received studio nounced it had reunited with album ("Van Halen III," with ies on its own and is widely Roth for a summer concert e hailed as one of the groundvocalist Gary tour. The statement proved at the mike), two greatest premature when almost three breaking guitar records of all weeks later the tour's protime, just as Eddie is on nearly hits compilations (featuring a total of five new songs) and moter, Live Nation, pulled the everybody's short list of e plug on the plans in the face of great guitarists. (Well, ev- mounted two tours. That's it. supposed chaos. erybody except Rolling Stone If that were not enough to Even Tom Scholtz from the magazine, that is, which, a few rock group Boston (Motto: One test the faith of even the band's years back, laughably ranked him at No. 70 new studio album every eight staunchest fans, rumors have two spots ahead of noted shredder Joni been circulating for weeks as years!) considers that a painto whether certain group prinMitchell.) fully slow production pace. The band has sold over 55 Van Halen reunited with cipals would perform or even million albums in a career show up for their induction into Hagar for a lucrative tour in 2004. That, however, ended in that has been nearly as conthe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame additional acrimony. The broth- on Monday. troversial due mostly to a In a Los Angeles Times story tragicomedy of revolving lead ers Van Halen (Eddie plays Thursday, Roth said he will not singers as it has been specguitar, Alex the drums) not tacular. attend because event organizonly parted ways with Hagar ers refuse to let him perform. Despite all the drama, or per- after that tour, they also jettisoned bassist Michael Anthony haps aided by it, all eyes will be on Van Halen as the band heads this year's induction class into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with ceremonies taking place Monday in New York City. The event will be televised live on VH1 Classic starting at 6:30 p.m. Joining Van Halen in this year's class is R.EM., Patti Smith, The Ronettes, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. g Che-ron- concerned, it is within my ability to change and change for the better. I want you to know induction ceremonies, Velvet that is exactly what I'm doing, Revolver (featuring former so that I may continue to give members of Guns "N Roses you the very best I am capable of." and Stone Temple Pilots) was The guitarist's statements recruited to induct the band took me back to an interview I and also play two VJi songs did with him in 1998, during a in tribute. In addition, it is reported that period of reported sobriety for him. I asked him to evaluate the brothers Van Halen also his alcohol problems through will not attend. In the greatest of ironies, that leaves Anthony the experience of hindsight. and Hagar the two members Recognizing his alcoholism who are not in the current line- then and the difficulty in coping with it, would he still take up as the only ones slated to appear at their own Hall of that first drink which was Fame induction. given to him by his father in an effort to calm his nerves before a show? "Take Me Back (DejaVll)" It would appear these are the best and worst of times for Van Halen fans. Outsiders could rightly question how any fans remain at all But, at least in my case, I can tell you exactly why. Van Halen isnt just a band. It's an attitude. It's a way of life. And sometimes that way of life takes a toll on its principals. In a statement directed to the band's fans, posted on Van Halen's official Web site Thursday evening, Eddie said he was checking into rehab. "I have always and will always feel a responsibility to give you my best," his statement said. "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 percent that I feel I owe you and want to give you." He also addressed the postponement of the reunion tour with Roth. "Some of the issues surrounding the 2007 Van Halen tour are within my ability to change and some are not," he said. "As far as my rehab is Interestingly, he didnt think he would change anything because it was the sum of those experiences which helped him arrive at his then-curre- nt mindset. "I think I caught it just in time," he said of the alcohol problems. "I think when you hit around 40 and you dont cut the crap, you know, you either kick the bucket or just lose it in the turn." For the past several years, I've wondered where the talented guitarist was in relation to his life's rhetorical turn and whether he was past the point of redirection. Here's hoping for long straightaways ahead. For better or worse, Van Halen remains my band even if it is at times a somewhat dysfunctional relationbecause every time I ship hear one of Eddie's incendiary guitar riffs rip through my speakers, it is the summer of '78 all over again. And life is good. Come Monday night, I'll be celebrating Van Halen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even if most of the band's members are not in attendance themselves. I am, after all, a Van Halen fan. What is understood need not be discussed (further). . i Continued from CI situations call for an and which call for an even if we dont meeting always follow it. According to the online poll of 2,395 U.S. adults 18 and older, a majority of people prefer talking in person when it comes to giving and getting bad news, expressing anger or admitting a mistake. The reason? Etiquette, for one thing. But most said conversation is the most direct. And the hardest to mess up. On the other hand, 80 percent described as easy to misinterpret. (Who among us hasn't erroneously used the CAPS LOCK function? Or gone a little heavy on the face-to-fa- ce exclamation points!!!!) "People are social beings," said Alex Algard, CEO of WhitePages.com, which sponsored the January poll with Harris, a market research firm "The more significant the communication, the more they interaction, prefer especially for events." So despite all the chatter about celebrity splits that have most gone down over of all ages polled said they'd prefer the deed be done 88 percent would do the breaking up in person, with 87 percent wanting to receive the news that way. Six percent said they'd prefer breaking up over the phone. And that holds true for all age groups, the study shows. This includes twentysome-thing- s face-to-fa- practically raised with a mouse in their hands. The only difference? When it comes to apologizing or delivering bad news, 18- - to were less likely than their older counterparts to do it in person, though a majority still would. But respondents were divided on the question of how best to reconnect with a long-lolove. was the preferred method of 32 percent, with an meeting and a phone conversation each favored by 23 percent. An st handwritten letter was the choice of 19 percent. In this case, said Tiffany West, a spokeswoman for WhitePages.com, "email is just sort of a safe solution, versus calling a person up on the phone and potentially getting silence on the other end. "With you're giving yourself a little buffer." "House of Pain" Almost everybody has a favorite band, or individual artist, and it's not every day you get to see yours inducted into the Hall of Fame. Sometime shortly after that fateful summer day in 1978, when "Erup- E-m- ail ' ' I ; ; I Poll respondents were asked, "How would you want each of the following situations to be ;w ; (I . tion" unexpectedly assaulted my senses like a sledgehammer, Van Halen became mine. Being a Van Halen fan used to be easy. From 1978 to 1996, the band could seemingly do no wrong. In 1984, Van Halen I handled": Lj Giving negative news: Discussion: 79 ft percent I Phone Conversation: 12 percent I Exchange: 4 percent I Letter 3 percent I Other. 2 percent was arguably the biggest band in the world, riding its party-alle image and concerts to the peak of -t high-energ- y Letting someone know I am angry: commercial success. Even a controversial switch in lead vocalists from David Lee Roth to Sammy Hagar in 1985 couldn't derail the Van Halen express. In fact, the Van Hagar era made even greater inroads into the mainstream with a succession of No. 1 albums, and Grammy and MTV Video Music awards. I Discussion: 71 percent I Phone Conversation: 14 percent I Exchange: 9 percent ft ft IT TAKES V ' Letter 5 percent Other 2 percent |