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As awesome as the whole experience was, the funniest, most rock'n'roll moment actually happened 3 years later, and the laugh was at Sheriff Tidwells expense.
After the Us Fest, Tidwell made no secret of the fact that he hated Van Halen, and was very adamant about never allowing Van Halen to set foot in San Bernardino County ever again! If you brought up the name Van Halen in front of him, he'd go off on an angry rant.
It's hard to watch Jackie Gleasons character in Smokey And The Bandit and not think of Floyd......he was that guy! Just barely smart enough to be corrupt, but overall, a bumbling jackass. A one-bullet-Barney who always had to pull his pants up every three steps, and if you asked him who Van Halen was, he'd say "that blonde loudmouth punk".
One Saturday morning in late-May of '86, we hear the local DJ announcing that "David Lee Roth is shooting a music video today at the Orange Pavillion, it's free, so if you're not doing anything today, you might want to swing by there and check it out". Me and my friends were in shock.
It's Roth, it's free, we're there!
On the way there, my friend says "I guess that idiot Floyd had a change of heart". I said "Not quite. That idiot Floyd doesn't know who Dave is".
Turns out that Floyd made the same mistake the club owners made when Van Halen was starting out, thinking Dave was 'Mr. Halen'.
The whole thing was total Rock'N'Roll. Not only was it pure genius to make your first move as a solo artist by shooting a video dead-smack in the middle of Sammy Hagars hometown (Fontana being 10 miles away), but in doing this, Roth also managed to give a rasberry and the finger to hapless Sheriff Tidwell, who unwittingly allowed the one person he hated to set up shop right there under his nose. When he finally found out a week later, he was livid. It was fucking beautiful!!
For months afterward, we all carried magic markers in our back pockets, and whenever we saw Floyds picture hanging up somewhere, we drew a VH logo right over his face.
THAT was an awesome moment in time.
ROTH'N'ROLL MUTHAFUCKAS!!!!
After the Us Fest, Tidwell made no secret of the fact that he hated Van Halen, and was very adamant about never allowing Van Halen to set foot in San Bernardino County ever again! If you brought up the name Van Halen in front of him, he'd go off on an angry rant.
It's hard to watch Jackie Gleasons character in Smokey And The Bandit and not think of Floyd......he was that guy! Just barely smart enough to be corrupt, but overall, a bumbling jackass. A one-bullet-Barney who always had to pull his pants up every three steps, and if you asked him who Van Halen was, he'd say "that blonde loudmouth punk".
One Saturday morning in late-May of '86, we hear the local DJ announcing that "David Lee Roth is shooting a music video today at the Orange Pavillion, it's free, so if you're not doing anything today, you might want to swing by there and check it out". Me and my friends were in shock.
It's Roth, it's free, we're there!
On the way there, my friend says "I guess that idiot Floyd had a change of heart". I said "Not quite. That idiot Floyd doesn't know who Dave is".
Turns out that Floyd made the same mistake the club owners made when Van Halen was starting out, thinking Dave was 'Mr. Halen'.
The whole thing was total Rock'N'Roll. Not only was it pure genius to make your first move as a solo artist by shooting a video dead-smack in the middle of Sammy Hagars hometown (Fontana being 10 miles away), but in doing this, Roth also managed to give a rasberry and the finger to hapless Sheriff Tidwell, who unwittingly allowed the one person he hated to set up shop right there under his nose. When he finally found out a week later, he was livid. It was fucking beautiful!!
For months afterward, we all carried magic markers in our back pockets, and whenever we saw Floyds picture hanging up somewhere, we drew a VH logo right over his face.
THAT was an awesome moment in time.
ROTH'N'ROLL MUTHAFUCKAS!!!!