EDDIE VAN HALEN's son, WOLFGANG, slams rumours he's replacing late dad in new lineup

[Rikk]

Wasn't there a rumor that VH had filmed a complete 1984 show and was planning to release it during the next tour before the whole shithouse burned up in 85'? And LWAN replaced it?

If this is true, I'd fucking love to see it. It must be something more than the Largo show we know was recorded. The in-house feed shows are fun and watchable...but certainly not the kind of show the band would prepare for release. Imagine if there IS a filmed 1984 show in the vault (although, yes, Donnington was recorded and POSSIBLY filmed as well).

[Rikk]

Having trouble with quotes, little baby?

Panama is not about cars. The references to driving a car are analogies to bagging a chick.

The song PANAMA has the usual chick analogy, smart-o, but it's actually about a car called the "Panama express" that Roth saw race in Vegas. He wrote the lyrics in the backseat of his car while Ed Anderson raced around, the music blasting from a cassette in his car stereo. He even wrote the lyrics because a reporter accused him of writing songs only about "women, partying and fast cars." He realized he'd never actually written a song about fast cars and, voila, PANAMA.

Next time you take the time to correct someone, make sure you actually know what you're talking about.

Right over Trunk's head and straight into yours huh?

Well, let's say they might go over yours too.

[Rikk]

From what I know - gleaned many years ago from sources not clearly remembered now - the 1984 Donnington clip was filmed from the press pit in front of the stage, and only during the first couple of numbers. Usually the general press who don't have stage access are allowed in to shoot for a limited time. I think that the BBC crew who reported on the event was only allowed to film briefly from there. Somebody from the BBC might have told me this after I made inquiries about it more than ten years ago. I can't quite remember and probably no longer have the evidence.

This wouldn't surprise me. It sure looks (and sounds) like news footage. The BBC is very economical. If they had bothered filming an entire concert on film, they would have aired it. They were not in the habit of doing things like filming a whole show and then letting it just sit there for eternity so it could be discovered by people like us decades later.

This is the same government institution that wanted to erase the entire MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS series from their videotapes (the only known copies of every episode) so they could re-use the tapes. If Terry Jones had not heard about this, stepped in and begged them to sell him the tapes, the series could have been lost forever!!

I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan. There's a series they shot with Hammer horror star Peter Cushing in 1968. The BBC, in their incredible wisdom, erased all episodes of his series except for six (which were accidentally spared). To this day, other copies of the lost episodes (13 or 14 entire color episodes, I think) have not been found and most consider them lost forever.

If the BBC had filmed Donnington, we would have known about it by now. That one clip is I'm sure all that exists...but it's pretty fucking awesome.

[Rikk]

It would be a BBC vault not at 5150 though.

Yup.

Which would also probably mean that it got thrown out at some point...

[Baby's On Fire]

Having trouble with quotes, little baby?



The song PANAMA has the usual chick analogy, smart-o, but it's actually about a car called the "Panama express" that Roth saw race in Vegas. He wrote the lyrics in the backseat of his car while Ed Anderson raced around, the music blasting from a cassette in his car stereo. He even wrote the lyrics because a reporter accused him of writing songs only about "women, partying and fast cars." He realized he'd never actually written a song about fast cars and, voila, PANAMA.

Next time you take the time to correct someone, make sure you actually know what you're talking about.



Well, let's say they might go over yours too.

The song title may have been inspired by the name of a car. That doesn't make the song about a car, because it's not about a car, dumb-o.

And it was Larry his roadie driving Dave around, not Big Ed.

[VHscraps]

This wouldn't surprise me. It sure looks (and sounds) like news footage. The BBC is very economical. If they had bothered filming an entire concert on film, they would have aired it. They were not in the habit of doing things like filming a whole show and then letting it just sit there for eternity so it could be discovered by people like us decades later.

This is the same government institution that wanted to erase the entire MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS series from their videotapes (the only known copies of every episode) so they could re-use the tapes. If Terry Jones had not heard about this, stepped in and begged them to sell him the tapes, the series could have been lost forever!!

I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan. There's a series they shot with Hammer horror star Peter Cushing in 1968. The BBC, in their incredible wisdom, erased all episodes of his series except for six (which were accidentally spared). To this day, other copies of the lost episodes (13 or 14 entire color episodes, I think) have not been found and most consider them lost forever.

If the BBC had filmed Donnington, we would have known about it by now. That one clip is I'm sure all that exists...but it's pretty fucking awesome.

yep, they erased stuff regularly - to reuse tapes, and probably due to idiots not knowing what they had in their possession just throwing stuff out to clear shelf space. From what I remember of the original broadcast, I suspect the presenter of the Donnington report was on site at the festival with maybe just someone doing the camerawork and someone else doing sound. I think it was shot on film, so the original footage - which might be more than the one song that was broadcast - might still be lying around somewhere.

[Terry]

There are bands out there that are still touring under the original name, with zero original members. Hell, I think Molly Hatchet has had the replacements replacements dying off. The differences are, EVH is irreplaceable and the band is his last name.

I could see that piece of shit Clichegar doing a tour playing all Van Hagar material, and calling it Van Hagar. I wouldn't put anything past that scumbag, at this point.

And that's the essence of it.

I mean, no disrespect to Molly Hatchet, but 99.9% of rock fans couldn't name a single player in that band if they had to.

I tend to doubt Hagar would attempt a tour consisting of all Van Hagar material as some kind of tribute to Eddie or whatever...

I could see Hagar maybe trying to organize a one-off tribute with some guest guitarists, but unless the Van Halens and Roth were willing to participate it would just come off like another The Circle show with a bunch of guest appearances. And if Hagar tried to do it without the participation of the Van Halens and Roth - or at the very least the public blessing of Wolfie and Alex - the response would probably be along the lines of the one Hagar and Mike got at the RnRHoF when they futzed around with the house band because neither of the Van Halens nor Roth showed up.

[Rikk]

The song title may have been inspired by the name of a car. That doesn't make the song about a car, because it's not about a car, dumb-o.

And it was Larry his roadie driving Dave around, not Big Ed.

Jesus Christ. Now I can see why you have a picture of a BABY in your avatar.

I'll cite Dave directly here and not bother to re-write someone else's description of exactly what Dave said in his interview on Howard Stern, one of many times he described just what PANAMA is about:

"In an interview with Howard Stern, lead singer David Lee Roth explained the meaning behind the trademark song. Dave literally said out loud that although the song features some suggestive lyrics, it is about a car that Roth saw race in Las Vegas; its name was "Panama Express", hence the title of the song. In the Stern interview, Roth did not explain why the song was about a car rather than the usual Van Halen material.

Panama was the name of Roth's car. He had the hood and bumper mounted in his hallway, which can be seen in his video for 'SHOOBop'. He has a stuffed deer's behind crashing through the front windshield. A plaque underneath reads, 'Your First deer, courtesy of PANAMA.'

During the bridge of the song where Roth says 'I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off it,' guitarist Eddie Van Halen can be heard revving his 1972 Lamborghini Miura S in the background. The car was backed up to the studio and microphones were attached to the exhaust pipe to record the sound for the song."

Dave also said in a different interview that PANAMA started as a song about a car and ended up being about a stripper he once knew, but in most interviews he has ever given about PANAMA, Dave has gone back to his description of PANAMA being a song about a car.

THIS article describes PANAMA as being a great example of mixed metaphors, concluding (from Dave's penchant for telling different stories to describe the meaning of the song) that the song is about a car, but also a girl:

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-halen-panama/

I was once having an argument on the Van Halen Mailing List about PANAMA and talking about the song's sexual references, and the band's road manager jumped into the conversation to state that while all these are true, the song is still primarily about a car and he knew this because HE ASKED THE FUCKING BAND!!! And the road manager said the band knew this because DAVE FUCKING TOLD THEM IT REALLY WAS ABOUT A MOTHER-FUCKING CAR!!!

If there's a girl/car duality in the lyrics, well, yeah...no fucking shit. Brilliant, douchebag. PANAMA is by no means the first or last fucking song that will be about a car and a girl.

But YOU were the one trying to correct ME by trying to claim I was fucking wrong for quickly commenting in the middle of my bitching about Eddie Trunk that PANAMA is a song about a car. I mean, seriously, I've argued about some dumb shit on this-here website. But I've never had to spend this much time having to prove to some dumb cunt something so obvious and decided-upon for decades now.

It's not my fault that Johnny got fired and now you won't be getting laid anymore (like Kristy, at 3,189 days since having sex) and will have to spend all your time with Jerry Orbach.

I've known your ilk before...you're that guy that sits angrily and drunk by yourself in the bar when you overhear other people talking about some pop-culture shit and you just know that you know the real story behind something they're arguing...and you're just so smart and they are just so stupid.

But you're on a Diamond David Lee Roth website, trying to argue with someone that PANAMA is not about a car...except its writer has said multiple times that it is. FOR GOD'S SAKE, YOU FUCKING IDIOT, THEY EVEN ROLLED ED'S FUCKING LAMBORGHINI BACK TO THE STUDIO SO THEY COULD RECORD THE FUCKING SOUND OF IT!!! OR DID YOU THINK THAT REALLY WAS A HAIR-DRYER??? LOL.

Your only victory here might be to claim it's about both, except, as I said, NO FUCKING SHIT. I DIDN'T CORRECT YOU. :LMFAO:

Dave has said that PANAMA is about:

. a car (this is the story he's told most frequently, but I'm presuming you're actually Dave, the only person on Earth who could possibly justify correcting me on this story)
. a girl (again, it's called a "mixed-metaphor"...look it up some time)
. an enema (I did not make this shit up...maybe it's something you practice at home with your mom)
. a flavor/form of weed (though I indulge occasionally, I don't know much shit about this, though I will say I doubt Dave would say this is right because Sam sang this 10 years later in AMSTERDAM)
. the distinct taste of your mom's nipples (though Dave only stated this in one interview and he said the song is about something really awesome, thus it couldn't be about your mom's nipples)



Now are we really going to continue this, or are you finished now, little baby? We could argue 'til your mom's nipples dry up, little baby, that PANAMA is or is not about a car. But the fucking guy who wrote the lyrics has said multiple times that it is...or that it partly is. You saw the need to turn this into a debate, not me.

Oh, and if Dave wrote the lyrics to PANAMA with the roadie and not the road manager, well excuse fucking me. I guess you finally managed to be right about something...except we BOTH might be wrong on that front, actually. Wikipedia (we know that they never make mistakes...that's called sarcasm, by the way, which I'll be happy to define for you if you're having trouble understanding) claims that I was wrong and that Dave actually was driven around while coming up with the lyrics/melodies for JUMP, not PANAMA. I'm surprised YOU didn't catch that! But, I'm kidding, really. I've read in a couple of different books that it was PANAMA, not JUMP...so I'm basically kidding here. And at the end of the day, I don't give a shit. It's a great story. And if it's Larry the Roadie driving instead of Ed Anderson, director of security, then I am so proud of you for knowing that. Good job, little buddy!! That's awesome!! You're a little fountain-well of knowledge, huh? I bet little tidbit of information had gotten you into the sack with mom and her hard, lonely nipples, huh?

Go have another drink and stare angrily at the mirror.



That felt good. I'm gonna have an Alka-Seltzer and try and go back to bed.

[Hardrock69]

Perhaps the entire show at the 1984 Donnington Festival is sitting in a vault somewhere?

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?75118-Castle-Donnington-8-18-84-AUD-Video-DVD

[Rikk]

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showt...-AUD-Video-DVD

Curious, HARDROCK...(question not related to Donnington)...
Are there other soundboard recordings from the three newer Dave tours (2007-08, 2012-13, 2015) available to us fans besides the final Hollywood Bowl '15 show (and obviously the multi-track TOKYO DOME live LP)? I'd certainly be interested in hooking up others.

Also, since you seem to have some strong knowledge on the subject, what (from the newer Dave tours) do you think is the highest-quality home video (fan-made...or otherwise, though I know of nothing else except for Jimmy Kimmel/Ellen 2015) besides Hollywood Bowl? I'm talking strong sound, multi-angle stuff? I've downloaded quite a few, but if you have any other really strong recommendations, that would be awesome.

[ZahZoo]

Wolfgang seems to be getting quite vocal on social media over buzzards and vermin trying to make a buck off the death of his dad. Gotta be tough for a young man in his shoes...

I hope he could channel that anger into motivating him to go dive into the vaults and let his dad's body of unreleased music by the healing he needs and to silence the assholes trying to capitalize on the loss.

[Hardrock69]

Firstly, who can blame him?

Secondly, Rikk, to be honest, I might have a few VH shows on DVD from the first 2 tours. But what I have is available on youtube.

As far as what is available, pretty much youtube is it anymore. There is an underground still, but most people who do multi-cam stuff just upload it to youtube for distribution.

I can honestly say I think this video below is superior to some others I have seen. There is at least one other multicam besides mine from this very show below, and it is probably as good as mine, just edited differently, and I was not impressed by the audio. We both used the same video clips from the same source.

But then, I am biased. This vid below is the FIRST Van Halen live concert video I put together (hopeless shill here). I had not switched to doing HD only yet on my concert vids, so it is just 480p DVD quality.

[Jetstream]

Sort of like when narrow minded people want something to be one thing or the other. The pyramids in Egypt where astronomical structures, tombs and imposing visuals to show the power of the kingdom while never being built to serve one purpose. "Panama" is art, and art asks more questions than give answers, well at least good art does. "Panama" is about a car, it's also about a girl and it's also about expressive freedom to throw in phrases which just sound stylistically appropriate to the music and words which came before them in a phrase

[Rikk]

It will be fun to watch how the Red Retread proceeds since his main source for getting into the news is gone. This has to leave a huge void.

This was a very good question. I guess we can prove now that he's proceeded by putting out news stories on a regular basis talking about dealing with Eddie's death.

It's classless.