The ritualistic scrubbing of the stage floor

[Jetstream]

Dave has mentioned in the past how he would always scrub the floor of the stage before each concert to attain an inner peace or confidence before each show. So, does he still do it and if he does...does he just scrub the hardwood now haha? I'm waiting for that video in fast motion of the stage scrubbing

[Seshmeister]

It's in his book but I didn't believe him.

He's maybe done it once or twice but I really doubt he did it regularly.

[ELVIS]

He did it on YFLM tour but it didn't help much...

[twonabomber]

It's in his book but I didn't believe him.

i don't either.

maybe before opening night, but every show?

[guwapo_rocker]

I don't think he even goes to sound check, never mind scrubbing the stage.

[Seshmeister]

Exactly.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

The topics of these threads lately have been, um, perplexing....

[ELVIS]

How 'bout a killer Dave's hair thread ??

[Zing!]

I took that part of his book to mean he still goes down to the venue after most everyone is gone just to inspect the stage and make sure all looks right, not literally scrubbing every square inch of the stage with a bucket of suds and a toothbrush.

[Nitro Express]

I don't think he even goes to sound check, never mind scrubbing the stage.

I helped set up and worked the barricade in 1984. We were at the venue at sunup until everything was loaded back on the trucks. Sound check was around 4 in the afternoon. Eddie, Mike, and Alex were there but Roth was nowhere to be seen. During dinner after everything was ready to go for the show we could hear Eddie playing (Even warming up he plays loud as hell). Alex came out to get some pasta from the catering table. Seemed like a down to earth guy. No rock star ego or anything and just seemed to want to be one of the guys. Roth was nowhere to be seen. I didn't see Dave until the show started.

I sure as hell didn't see him out scrubbing the stage. LOL!

Dave is a master bullshit artist. It's part of his appeal. A story teller if you will.

All I know is those lighting trusses for that stage were heavy as hell. The lighting rig was the bottle neck to the setup and frankly a scary pain in the ass. It was on winches so it could tilt and move and of course you have to safety wire all the lights. A lot up there to fall on you if someone fucks up. We actually sat around waiting for the light crew to get everything out of the way so we could start building the stage.

I notice now KISS builds the stage in front of the lights while the lights go up and then they push the stage back under the lights. Whoever came up with that was brilliant.

[Nitro Express]

I took that part of his book to mean he still goes down to the venue after most everyone is gone just to inspect the stage and make sure all looks right, not literally scrubbing every square inch of the stage with a bucket of suds and a toothbrush.

I would be looking at the lighting rig making sure all the safety cables were there. A dirty stage isn't going to kill you when it falls on your head. The stage is mopped and cleaned before it's taken down and packed up. There is some tidying up before putting the stuff on it as well but Dave didn't come out with a scrub brush and bucket. LOL!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

How 'bout a killer Dave's hair thread ??

Already got a recent one of those....

[clarathecarrot]

Just because you didn't see him do it doesn't mean he didn't do it.

ttt't and a few more contractions's the mathematics of the radius of the curvature becomes apparent.

[Jagermeister]

The topics of these threads lately have been, um, perplexing....

Yes they have been.

[ELVIS]

Just because you didn't see him do it doesn't mean he didn't do it.

ttt't and a few more contractions's the mathematics of the radius of the curvature becomes apparent.

You should check out this new language called english...

[sadaist]

How 'bout a killer Dave's hair thread ??

Actually, Eddies hair has been much more interesting the last decade. Who da thunk it?

[moose]

I don't think he even goes to sound check, never mind scrubbing the stage.

Oh I'm sure Dave has scrubbed many a stage with some women's ass

[Nitro Express]

Just because you didn't see him do it doesn't mean he didn't do it.

ttt't and a few more contractions's the mathematics of the radius of the curvature becomes apparent.

He could have come out and blessed it with holy water when I was taking a piss.

[Nitro Express]

Oh I'm sure Dave has scrubbed many a stage with some women's ass

LOL! He did have a room backstage setup with palm trees, a big ass stereo which was more like a PA and that's where Rudy's infamous wet bar was. You had to have special passes to get in so I wasn't drinking laters with the big guy. I think that is where the ass scrubbin might have took place. Dave had so much shit, it probably took half a trailer just to haul his backstage paraphernalia.

[mohican]

LOL! He did have a room backstage setup with palm trees, a big ass stereo which was more like a PA and that's where Rudy's infamous wet bar was. You had to have special passes to get in so I wasn't drinking laters with the big guy. I think that is where the ass scrubbin might have took place. Dave had so much shit, it probably took half a trailer just to haul his backstage paraphernalia.

That's funny. He still has those palm trees. His basement must look like Party City.

[Nitro Express]

You could tell Dave was the party and the barricade did have numbers on it. My job wasn't to get hot chicks for Dave it was to keep an eye on the crowd and pull people out who were in trouble. There was a little step up in the barricade to where you could get over the crowd to see what was going on and it allowed you some leverage to put people out of there. Thankfully it was mostly girls I had to pull out and not any fat sweaty dudes. It could be a really gross job and the biggest thing you worried about was getting puked on. We were told if things were getting out of control we could signal to Dave and he was the man with the microphone and the power over the audience. He could stop the music and tell everyone to get the hell back. It was Ed Anderson in charge of all that and he was the guy we had our orientation with on how to work the barricade. VH was a fine oiled machine in everything. They really were a great organization. What's cool is when I got my paycheck in the mail it came from Warner Brothers.

A lot of planning went on behind the scenes to make sure the audience had a good safe show. Especially when there was no seating on the floor and the crowd tends to push people up against the stage. With a bunch of drunk and stoned rowdy motherfuckers someone has to life guard the pit. LOL! I tell you, the audience was the rowdiest bunch of motherfuckers I ever saw ever. It was fun.

[mohican]

You could tell Dave was the party and the barricade did have numbers on it. My job wasn't to get hot chicks for Dave it was to keep an eye on the crowd and pull people out who were in trouble. There was a little step up in the barricade to where you could get over the crowd to see what was going on and it allowed you some leverage to put people out of there. Thankfully it was mostly girls I had to pull out and not any fat sweaty dudes. It could be a really gross job and the biggest thing you worried about was getting puked on. We were told if things were getting out of control we could signal to Dave and he was the man with the microphone and the power over the audience. He could stop the music and tell everyone to get the hell back. It was Ed Anderson in charge of all that and he was the guy we had our orientation with on how to work the barricade. VH was a fine oiled machine in everything. They really were a great organization. What's cool is when I got my paycheck in the mail it came from Warner Brothers.

A lot of planning went on behind the scenes to make sure the audience had a good safe show. Especially when there was no seating on the floor and the crowd tends to push people up against the stage. With a bunch of drunk and stoned rowdy motherfuckers someone has to life guard the pit. LOL! I tell you, the audience was the rowdiest bunch of motherfuckers I ever saw ever. It was fun.

Great story. Keep it coming. It's ironic that your job was not to pull the girls in but to keep them out. Now if only Ed Anderson would write a book on the vh and dave solo years.

[TJMKID]

Great story. Keep it coming. It's ironic that your job was not to pull the girls in but to keep them out. Now if only Ed Anderson would write a book on the vh and dave solo years.

I wish someone would write the XXX-version of Van Halen that we all know existed but no one has the balls to put into the printed word. Neil Zlozower has given us hints that Roth-era VH was the raunchiest, lewdest rock band of the last 35 years (even topping obvious choices like Motley Crue) but he's afraid to spill details on those backstage shenanigans. Howard Stern even mentioned in a early 90's interview that he was staying in the same hotel as VH during a 1980 gig in Detroit where he saw 7 or 8 girls standing attentively around Dave when he was wearing just a skimpy bath towel.

Ed Anderson needs to come out seclusion and write the Unrated Version of Van Halen History....

[mohican]

Ed Anderson must have signed some ironclad confidentiality agreement that probably excluded even his grandkids from writing a book or he's a bigger class act than MA He was everywhere Dave was for over 2 decades. He's got enough materials for a series.

[Nitro Express]

Ed Anderson must have signed some ironclad confidentiality agreement that probably excluded even his grandkids from writing a book or he's a bigger class act than MA He was everywhere Dave was for over 2 decades. He's got enough materials for a series.

I had no idea Ed Anderson was Dave's body guard. He was really professional and knew his shit when it came to security and handling crowds. Scotty Ross the road manager was cool as well. We were day hires (temps) and he said today you guys are part of the VH crew today and make sure you get something to eat at catering because you have a long day. It was a long day. 7:00AM to like 2:00AM the next morning. They start hanging points early in the morning while we unload the trucks. The light trusses were so huge they were hauled on two or three flat bed trailers.

[Nitro Express]

The only thing was the band and the show was up and behind me and I had to keep my eye on the crowd and push people back off the barricade. I was right in front of Eddie's microphone. What was cool was during the guitar solo the crowd actually calmed down and I saw it up close. Ed for part of it was sitting right on the edge of the stage right smack behind me and he went into this trance like state while ripping away on his guitar and he was wiggling his tongue back and forth in his mouth in time with what he was playing. Major smokers mouth too up close. Yuk! Ed kind of looked hammered. He was wearing those patched up jeans and a leather biker type vest when they came out. Not too many pictures of him in that vest. I've only seen one or two.

[TJMKID]

Ed Anderson must have signed some ironclad confidentiality agreement that probably excluded even his grandkids from writing a book or he's a bigger class act than MA He was everywhere Dave was for over 2 decades. He's got enough materials for a series.

Anderson is indebted to Dave for life ---- for all that great pussy Diamond sent his way after he got his fill

[Nitro Express]

Anderson is indebted to Dave for life ---- for all that great pussy Diamond sent his way after he got his fill

Ed was a busy guy juggling lots of things at once. He was working the door of Club Dave after the show. If you wanted to get to Rudy's Libation Station, the palm trees and I'm sure the pussy, you had to get past Ed.

[Nitro Express]

This cracks me up. Ed had big hair and a porn star mustache in 1984. As you can see he was the sentry to the inner sanctum. Let's Al in to get a piece of pussy and leave. I forgot about the badass black VH jumpsuits the regulars got to wear.

Frankly this scene looks boring compared the the backstage of the show I worked at. Maybe it was a special room calmed down for Vallerie. LOL!

[Yount]

This cracks me up.
LOL!

That chick got shot down! Ignored! ha ha