***** Eddie Van Halen Repository Thread *****

[TLO]

Have some Eddie Van Halen news? Don't feel like positing in the dudes death thread for the 500th time? Well this thread is for you!

[eDave]

I always wonder what is going through their minds when having to do this cheesy stuff. I would feel ridiculous. But I'd do it because I had to to be a raging popular rock star ****ing all that puss.

You take the good with the bad.

[alpha_omega]

At least this guy is straight up about why he is selling it....

Eddie Van Halen-signed Kramer, gifted to his guitar tech, Tom Weber, goes up for sale



Eddie Van Halen’s former guitar tech Tom Weber has put up his EVH-signed Kramer Paul Dean signature guitar for sale, which was gifted to him by the late electric guitar god himself in 1988.

Weber worked with Van Halen as his principle guitar technician between 2007 and 2020, and, like most live industry workers, has struggled over the past year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With the sale of his “prized possession”, which is being listed by online retailer Five Star Guitars, Weber hopes to financially support himself while the live music scene gets up and running again.

Though there have been an abundance of sales concerning themselves with EVH-owned guitars, Weber’s account of how he came into possession of such a rare piece of rock history is borderline sensational.

Before the onset of their professional relationship, the pair crossed paths on October 4, 1988, in the run up to an Eddie Van Halen concert at Starwood Amphitheater in Nashville, where Weber worked as house audio engineer.



Upon learning that EVH’s acoustic guitar – suspected to be the one gifted to him by Nancy Wilson – had been damaged, Weber arranged a meeting with Eddie through the venue’s Promotions Director Robert Eva, and found something in his own collection of six-strings that the guitar legend could play.

“Introductions were made, and I told Ed that I had a guitar that I wanted him to have,” Weber recalled. “He seemed a bit surprised that this was my personal instrument, and concerned as to my motivation for giving it to him.”

After discussing their mutual interest in Kramers – Weber also worked as a salesman for the brand – the pair spent “the next several hours playing guitar, talking and having a drink or two”, with Weber revealing the only Kramer missing from his 17-strong collection was a Paul Dean signature model.



As the pair parted ways, Weber recalled, "[He] gave me a big hug and he said, ‘There’s not very many people like you in the world anymore. Everybody wants something from me. You’re the first person I’ve run into that doesn’t want anything.’

“I said, ‘Well, the only thing I want is that hopefully at some point we get to be good friends.’”

Well, you can probably guess what happened next. A few weeks later, Weber received a yellow Kramer Paul Dean signature electric guitar that had been signed by Eddie Van Halen himself, carrying the inscription, “Thanks Tom – a lot! I owe you one!”

19 years and a few trial-by-fire guitar setup challenges later, Weber was reunited with EVH, and became his main guitar tech following an impressive audition performance that left Eddie's right-hand man Matt Bruck reeling.

"[After the setup] Matt came through the door, guitar over his shoulder, and said, 'Dude! Big smiles right out of the gate!' I've been with Ed for 18 years, and he's always said that nobody on the planet could tune a guitar for him, but you're the closest one so far!'" recalled Weber.



As for the Kramer in question, Weber says it “represents the very beginning of my relationship with Ed,” adding, “I was lucky enough to develop a friendship with him, eventually winning my dream job – becoming his guitar tech from 2007 right up until 2020.

“He was a true original, and so was this gift he gave me. I’ve treasured this guitar for many years and now it is time for it to become the prized possession of another collector.

“The only reason it is up for sale is the COVID-19 pandemic. We haven’t worked in over a year. I’m trying to make sure I have a house when this is over with, and this is the best way to do it. That’s why she’s [up for sale].”

Weber had previously discussed the stresses live industry workers have faced as a result of the pandemic, stating, "The music industry, we're not just out of work. We're washed off the face of the planet at this point."

Tom Weber's Kramer Paul Dean signature guitar is available now over at Five Star Guitars for $60,000

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/tom...n-halen-kramer

[alpha_omega]

SAMMY HAGAR: 'I Apologize From The Bottom Of My Heart For Exposing EDDIE VAN HALEN's Dark Side' In My Book

In a new interview with Brazil's "Inside With Paulo Baron" Internet show, Sammy Hagar was asked if there were any things that he left out of his 2011 autobiography "Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock", that he thinks he should have put it or any stories that he included that he later wished he hadn't. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, yeah. I forgot so many really fun little things, and every now and then I'll wake up in the morning and have a dream and I'll wake up and it makes me remember something in the childhood, and I think, 'Oh, I should have put that in the book. But the ****ing book would have been this big. [Holds hands wide apart.]'"

He continued: "But more than anything, because of the untimely and tragic death of Eddie Van Halen, I apologize from the bottom of my heart for exposing his dark side to where I don't think anyone wants to hear that now, and, unfortunately, it's in the book. And it's true — it's all true. It's not like I have to say, 'Oh, I was lying' — no, no, no. If I wrote the book today, I would only put the good of Eddie Van Halen, because he was such a brilliant, genius guitar player and such a great friend and a great partner — until everything went wrong, like everything else. Anybody's that's been divorced or broke up with your girlfriend or your boyfriend, you know how it goes. Happy endings aren't always the case in a relationship. [Eddie and I] had a happy ending — thank God — but before that, it wasn't a happy ending of the band. But thank God we got it back together."

When journalist Regis Tadeu pointed out that it's important to expose the dark side sometimes because it's "reality," Sammy said: "No one knew a lot of that about Eddie, but they'd see him on stage and they would think, 'Why is he acting like that?' And I would say, 'Well, you should have seen what happened backstage. Holy ****!' If we'd have known he was sick then, then I would have understood and I would have been a little more, 'Hey, Ed, come on,' try to reel him in. But he was impossible. He was on a track of just wild. It was tough."

Hagar added: "He was the sweetest guy in the world when I met him. When Eddie Van Halen walked into my dressing room in that show in Anaheim Stadium with BOSTON and BLACK SABBATH, that was one of the sweetest people, most humble human beings I've ever met in my life. I thought, 'How can this guy play so badass and be that humble?' I thought, 'It's impossible. He must have a fire inside of him that he's not showing.' And when that fire came out, it was quite the fire — a freakin' volcano."

The rest @ Blabbermouth....

[Deberg_1990]

Hmmm. What’s this about? Eddie and Valerie have some bad history with Clapton?

Once a dick, always a dick. https://t.co/WdlN90tgi1 pic.twitter.com/BQs97vYGia

— Valerie Bertinelli (@Wolfiesmom) July 21, 2021

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Hmmm. What’s this about? Eddie and Valerie have some bad history with Clapton?....

No idea, but i'd like to know more.

[Halfcan]

Valerie is still pretty hot. Hi, Wolfie, I am your new daddy. Can I join your band?

[R Clark]

Don’t dis agree butt she’s a bit porky .I know I know more cushion and all that ….I’d bet you could work a little of that extra off with some effort.

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

Valerie is still pretty hot….

Originally Posted by R Clark

Don’t dis agree…...

Uhhhhh, no.

[alpha_omega]

The story of Van Halen's nightly destruction of Black Sabbath

An excerpt from Paul Brannigan's new book Eruption: The Eddie Van Halen Story, featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Lynott and more



Paul Brannigan's new book Eruption: The Eddie Van Halen Story is out next month.

Published to mark the first anniversary of the guitarist's death, it tells the story of Eddie Van Halen's life, from his earliest days in Amsterdam, through the band's formative years as Van Halen learned their trade in Hollywood clubs, to the release of the debut album that revolutionised rock and the decades of success that followed.

"With unique insights," say publishers Faber, "Paul Brannigan's Eruption reaches beyond the headlines to explore the cultural and social contexts that shaped this iconic guitarist, while also turning up the dial on a life lived at volume eleven."

In this excerpt it's 1978. Van Halen has been out for six months, and the band have been on the road since the beginning of March. They've supported Journey, and Montrose, and The Rolling Stones, and they've completed a run of UK dates with Black Sabbath. Precision-tuned after so many shows, Van Halen are on fire. And now they're ready to head back home.

On 22 August, the quartet re-joined their friends in Black Sabbath for their US tour. The promoters should also have hired a crime-scene investigator to document the tour and draw chalk outlines around Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill onstage, for it was clear to all in attendance that Sabbath were being murdered, night after night.

"The record company was all over Van Halen," recalls Geezer Butler. "They already thought we were old-hat and over the hill, so Van Halen were getting all the star treatment from the record company, and we were getting nothing. When the Never Say Die! album came out, we went to a reception for it at Warner Brothers, and they were playing Bob Marley’s album and they didn’t know who we were! Our sales had dipped, and I guess they were on the verge of dropping us."

"I remember being in a hotel room in San Diego with Geezer and one of the reps from the record company," says Osbourne, "and we’d had a few drinks, and one of us said to this guy, 'Be honest, you’re only using us on this tour to promote Van Halen, aren’t you?' And he said, 'You’re right.' And if you’re with a record company that won’t back you...

"When a band goes on stage before you and goes down better than you, you either say, 'Right, we’re going to go out there and ****ing show them how to do it,' or you just fold up. And they had years on us, and we’d been fighting this lawsuit with our old manager for ****ing years, and I was just ****ing tired of fighting. We never joined a band to become lawyers or ****ing accountants, and that’s how it ended up. We didn’t have a clue."

With a few days off during a short Midwest club run with AC/DC, Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham and Gary Moore went along to the 14 September show at Detroit’s Cobo Hall to check out the Pasadena band.

"We were on the same label in America, Warners, and whenever we hooked up with anyone from the label, you always heard, 'Wow, man, I was just out with Van Halen – what a ****ing band!’" California-born guitarist Gorham recalls. "It got to the point where Phil would tell them, 'Look, if you get into this ****ing car, you’re not going to talk about Van Halen, all right?'

"So we were interested in this band we’d heard so much about. And these boys came on and just shredded everybody a brand-new asshole. They were amazing. When Eddie started doing his tapping thing, I turned around to Gary and said, 'What the **** is that? What is he doing there?' Gary was just staring at him, and he said, 'I don’t know.'

"Ten minutes later, I went to ask Gary another question, and he was gone. The next day, I was standing in his hotel room, and he said, 'Hey, check this out...' and he started tapping away. He’d gone back to the hotel the night before to teach himself how to do it."

UK music journalist Sylvie Simmons caught up with the tour in Fresno, California, on 22 September and was equally smitten by the energetic young Californians.

"For sheer crowd-pleasing, Sabbath are hard to beat," Simmons wrote in Sounds, "or they would be if it weren’t for a band like Van Halen. In some respects, they’re like a young version of Sabbath, fresher, without that embalmed-from-ten-years-ago look.

"Dave Lee Roth must be the most energetic front man on the rock circuit today, but louder, bigger. Even the flares on his pants are bigger. His jack-knife leaps from the drum kit have to be seen to be believed. His singing is peppered with wows and pings and squeals. His between-song spiels are shameless – “Fresno, the rock'n'roll capital of the world?” C’mon!

"Women just flock to him. All the girls in this mostly-male crowd seem to have made their way to the front of the stage and are grabbing his legs. The rest of the band are rock heroes of the old mould and they really know how to play."

Songs Simmons picked out as highlights included Runnin’ with the Devil, Jamie’s Cryin’, Feel Your Love, Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love and the quartet’s set-closing cover, You Really Got Me – "a really macho, suggestive version of the Kinks’ classic that has the audience going wild".

"Any other band but the confident Sabs", she concluded, "would refuse to follow this group. They’re that good live."

Later that night, in a hotel bar in the city, to the soundtrack of a jazz trio playing Barry Manilow hits, Ozzy Osbourne told Simmons, "Van Halen are one of the most high-energy trips I’ve seen in America for years. They’re ****ing great. It’s like watching an early me when I see that David up there. When I was 21, you know? I only hope that they last as long as we’ve lasted."

Paul Brannigan's Eruption: The Eddie Van Halen Story is published on September 23. Paul is also the author of This Is A Call: The Life And Times Of Dave Grohl and the co-author of two Metallica books: Birth School Metallica Death: Vol I and Into the Black: The Inside Story of Metallica, 1991–2014 (Birth School Metallica Death Book 2).

https://www.loudersound.com/features...-black-sabbath

[alpha_omega]

Used Gulfstream G200 Jet Looks Like Eddie Van Halen’s Guitar, Costs Less Than a New Chiron

[Mennonite]

Sabbath > VH

[alpha_omega]

Van Halen's Old Chevy Nova Looks Like Runnin' With the Devil

Having a project car can be, at first, a curse and a blessing at the same time. Some people say that work on a project car never ends, but that may not be true. If you've got a solid plan from the get-go, and the finances to back it up, then you're all set. And I've found the perfect project car if you just want the glory with no sweat.





If you haven't been living under a rock for the past 12 months, you probably know that Eddie Van Halen passed away in October of last year. He left behind a solid collection of hits, the likes of which will still be praised over the next few decades. But did you know that he used to own a few very interesting cars as well? He used to drive a 1970 Lamborghini Miura, a 2000 Ferrari 550, and a 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS to name just a few.

While he did a few changes to the Lamborghini, he went all-in with his 1970 Chevrolet Nova. This car was built by Bones Fab in California, and it ended up in his possession a short while after. The car was repainted metallic orange, and while it does have some minor imperfections, it still looks fairly impressive. This restomod is running on KWC forged wheels, 18" in the front and 19" in the back.

One look at the rear tires will have you understand that this is a serious machine. If you'll decode the car's VIN it's easy to see that it came with a V8 from the factory. But that was since replaced with a massive 454 cubic inches (7.4-liters) LSX unit.

That means you should have about 650 horsepower at your disposal, which is more than enough for everyday use. The auction will be coming to an end in four days' time. Right now, the highest bid stands at $60,000. What's the first Van Halen song you'd listen to if you'd get to ride in it?

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/v...l-168837.html#

[SuperBowl4]

Would rather listen to Weird AL over any Van Halen song.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by SuperBowl4

Would rather listen to Weird AL over any Van Halen song.

Ok?

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by SuperBowl4

Would rather listen to Weird AL over any Van Halen song.

I bet Al doesn’t drive a cool Nova.