Ed on Piers Morgan

[Northern Girl]

Tune in to @piersmorganlive on CNN as he interviews @eddievanhalen and @llcoolj, Friday, May 3rd at 6pm, 9pm and 12am PST.— Eddie Van Halen (@eddievanhalen) May 2, 2013

[GreenBayLA]

Finally somebody to straighten out Piers on gun control.

[sadaist]

I currently don't have cable.. I just use Internet. Will have to wait for you guys to post it here.

[Seshmeister]

Van Halen `Gun Thing' Behind Him

DAVE LARSEN, Cox News Service
Published 4:00 am, Monday, April 24, 1995



1995-04-24 04:00:00 PDT Chicago -- Eddie Van Halen refers to the incident as "the gun thing." The gun, a loaded .25-caliber Beretta, was found inside the rock guitarist's carry-on luggage on April 7 before he boarded a United Airlines flight in Burbank, Calif., for a performance in Oakland. Van Halen was briefly detained and later charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, a misdemeanor. On Friday, he pleaded no contest to the charge and entered a plea agreement with the Burbank city attorney's office.

"We'd been traveling for a month on our own plane, and I carry a gun with me for protection," Van Halen said from Chicago. "I forgot to take it out of my bag on a commercial flight. It wasn't like I was trying to sneak it on the plane. I just totally spaced and forgot to take it out of my bag."

The guitarist remembered the gun as he sent his bag through the airport security X-ray machine and alerted airport police, "but it was too late, because it was already on the conveyor belt," he said. "If I would have caught it two seconds earlier, I could've have just sent it home and not gotten in trouble for it."

CANCELED CONCERTS
Ironically, when Van Halen arrived in Oakland, he learned singer Sammy Hagar was ill, forcing the band to cancel its three concerts scheduled for that weekend. (The concerts have been rescheduled for May 13 at the Oakland Coliseum, May 14 at the San Jose Arena and May 14 at the Arco Arena.) "So I get arrested for the gun and didn't really even have to go. If Sammy had told me an hour earlier, I wouldn't have had to fly up there."

Van Halen was fined $1,000 and sentenced to one year of probation on April 13. His gun, seized at the airport, was destroyed.

"I don't condone it," Van Halen said. "It was a stupid . . . mistake." However, he makes no apologies for carrying a handgun.

"Just two weeks ago at our house -- there's a van out in front of my house for a week, with people stalking us. It happens all the time. The cops come up, they chase 'em away, they come back in the middle of the night.

"I don't know if they're just nice fans or if they're freaks. I have no idea, and I have to protect my family. So I carry a gun."

Otherwise, Van Halen's life couldn't be better. He's married to actress Valerie Bertinelli, and they have a 4-year-old son, Wolfgang.

"Balance," the latest release by the band that bears his surname, debuted in February at No. 1 on Billboard's album chart and has sold more than 2 million copies.

Perhaps best of all, the guitarist has been sober for nearly seven months.

LEGENDARY PARTYING
Van Halen's reputation for party-hearty excess is the stuff of rock legend. The band's 1978 self- titled debut catapulted the quartet's original lineup -- Holland- born brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen, bassist Michael Anthony and singer David Lee Roth -- into the limelight, where the young performers reveled in rock's hedonistic lifestyle.

Van Halen's lineup changed in 1985, with Hagar replacing Roth, but the hard drinking did not. "My body started retaliating," said Van Halen, who turned 40 in January. "I'd wake up every morning with the shakes and throwing up, and I would need a six-pack of beer just to feel nor mal. I was a true alcoholic."

Van Halen, who revolutionized the rock guitar with an entirely new language of screeching tremolo dive-bombs and lightning-fast hammer-ons, is the most influential guitarist of his generation. In spite of his heavy intake -- "a couple of shots of vodka and a lot of beer in order to calm my nerves" before getting on stage -- he claims drinking never affected his playing.

"In a positive way, it broke down my inhibitions writing- wise, so things came easy," he said. "Whereas now, I'd say the last six months, I've actually written a few tunes, and I'm starting to get in the groove of learning how to do it without alcohol."

Having emerged from an 18- year fog, as he describes it, Van Halen is playing better than ever. "There's an actual, genuine enthusiasm and excitement about my playing now. For me, myself, anyway."

Still, there's an ingrained association between playing and drinking. "As soon as I walk into the studio or to soundcheck today at the gig, the first thing I do is light up a cigarette and grab a nonalcoholic beer," he said. "But when I'm not in that environment, I don't. It's very strange."

NO THOUGHT OF A DRINK
Yet, when he performed his first show sober in Pensacola, Fla., before MTV cameras and 9,154 fans, the thought of a drink didn't enter his mind. "I know that I just cannot drink anymore," Van Halen said. "I'd either kill myself or my wife would leave me or something would happen. It's just not an option anymore for me.

"After I made it through that show, I said, boom, I'm done with drinking. I know I can do it now without it."

Van Halen has succeeded alone against his drinking where Alcoholics Anonymous and two previous trips to rehabilitation centers failed, but he's yet to overcome his shyness.

"That's why I drank for all those years," he said. "But now I'm just starting to realize that I'm actually not such a bad guy, and I can handle it."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/...#ixzz2S7gdLSb4

[Seshmeister]

Ironically, when Van Halen arrived in Oakland, he learned singer Sammy Hagar was ill, forcing the band to cancel its three concerts scheduled for that weekend.

It's nice that the story has a happy ending.


I'm guessing that trying to get a handgun onto a plane in the US is no longer a $1000 fine misdemeanor?

[flappo]

i wonder what they'll talk about ?

what do they have in common ??

[ELVIS]

I thought this thread was gonna be Edwad discussing Sesh...

Fuck Piers Morgan...

[ELVIS]

Why did Va have to fuck with my smilies...


:fupunk:

[Vinnie Velvet]

Fuck u, ELVIS, fuuuuuuuuuck u.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Why did Va have to fuck with my smilies...


:fupunk:

What's wrong with it, not moving?

[fryingdutchman]

I can't wait to see this interview.

Ed has a thing for CNN. They also profiled him and Wolfie during the tour showing the holy grail...the infamous "tape room" at 5150.

[fryingdutchman]

[fryingdutchman]

Sorry...had to try E's smiley. Moves for me!

[private parts]

It's nice that the story has a happy ending.


I'm guessing that trying to get a handgun onto a plane in the US is no longer a $1000 fine misdemeanor?

Yeah its a little worse now, but you do get an all expense paid trip to an undisclosed location.
And its really not a good idea if your a raging alcoholic.

[ELVIS]

What's wrong with it, not moving?

No, I always used which was a dupe of :fudude: