The more I hear of the latest news with Eddie (and see of him), the more the situation between him and DLR makes sense...and the saddest thing about it is, there ain't a dang thing neither one of them can do about it - at least not in the short term.
Think about this now:
Even after fighting alcoholism for years, even after fighting (and losing, to a degree) a battle with cancer brought on by smoking, what is Ed doing today? Drinking and smoking. Almost hellbent on self-destruction.
He's mastered an instrument, says he doesn't want to be a retread, but all anyone wants to hear from him is his "old" stuff. His drinking and lack of self-discipline has cost him a marriage to what is obviously a very pretty and talented woman. You've got a guy here who, at his core, is just unhappy - the classic tortured artist, as it were.
Then you have Dave. Bopping along, happy as a pig in slop with any situation that comes along. It doesn't matter what pile of chicken crap is slung his way, he smiles all the while making chicken salad.
Think back to '96. What all was happening then? Obviously, Eddie was fighting health problems we didn't know about at the time. Probably in the sauce, or fighting it - he's been rehabbed how many times now? Add to it the marriage problems none of us knew about...and the fact that he and David Lee had locked horns innumerable times about Valerie in the past (she hated DLR, for what its worth).
DLR represents everything Eddie isn't. Eddie might have the musical goods, sure, but DLR just finds a way to keep a smile on and be happy. I can see where every time Ed sees DLR, he is reminded of the fact that regardless of what he does, how many records he sells, how many tours he does without him, he'll never be able to find that inner lucidity Dave has had all along - and continues to have. That fact has to eat away at him, piss him off each and every time. It truly has become a case of the tortured and the alleged "torturer," fair or not.
And that, my friends, is why we'll never see the two of them on stage together - unless something major league changes in EVH's heart and/or soul.
Right or wrong? You tell me.