Sammy wants to open the Van Halen vaults.

[Vinnie Velvet]

i don’t think there will be any dirt in Al’s book. I think Al is taking the high road. I respect him for that. He’s saying Ed is gone and I’m retired. This is our story.

The press release for the book did say Al will touch on "...musical politics, infighting..."

So it will be pretty hard to ignore Sam - especially the time period and the state Ed was in during the last Van Hagar tour in '04.

[Nitro Express]

I hope Al rips Sam a new one in his book.

i don’t think there will be any dirt in Al’s book. I think Al is taking the high road. I respect him for that. He’s saying Ed is gone and I’m retired. This is our story.

[Terry]

Reminiscent of what Alan Douglas did after Hendrix passed with the Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning releases...

Thankful Alex doesn't want to engage in such bullshit nor gives Hagar the time of day.

That's exactly what I thought, in terms of Hagar wanting to pilfer whatever unused recordings there are and record new parts on top of them.

Like I said, seemingly anything Hendrix recorded for his private use - from rough demos to home recordings - has been put out there posthumously...in many cases with musicians laying down parts in order to complete tracks that weren't finished.

Fucking ghoulish. But lucrative, since Hendrix fans were and continue to be desperate for material and enough of them will shell out money for bottom-of-the-barrel scrapings completed after Hendrix died.

Now, if there are a bunch of tunes that Hagar recorded with the band that weren't released but all the instrumentation was laid down on tape, yeah, THAT kind of stuff I could see where Hagar would have some claim to wanting to have that stuff released, if only because he participated in the recording of the tracks.

But, yeah, Sammy doesn't give a shit. He'd gladly take whatever studio demo scrapings Alex and/or Wolfgang gave him, run off and write new lyrics and record new vocals and slap the stuff out there.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Reminiscent of what Alan Douglas did after Hendrix passed with the Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning releases...

Thankful Alex doesn't want to engage in such bullshit nor gives Hagar the time of day.

I hope Al rips Sam a new one in his book.

[ZahZoo]

Reminiscent of what Alan Douglas did after Hendrix passed with the Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning releases...

Thankful Alex doesn't want to engage in such bullshit nor gives Hagar the time of day.

[Terry]

That could be ONE of the many reasons the tribute shows with him along with Dave and Al and (insert bass player) never happened.

I saw a clip (here, I think) several days ago of the opening tune at the Hagar Summer Tour (or whatever it is called)...what was it?

Oh, it was Good Enough. Only watched it until the first verse. In terms of the guitar, wasn't the worst I'd ever heard re: somebody playing Eddie's stuff.

Thing of it is, Eddie's stuff is far from impossible, especially these days. Or to put it another way, it doesn't take a Joe Satriani to play those parts.

Then again, it's not just the technical aspect of it all. It's along the same lines as when either Hagar or Cherone were singing CVH tunes...anybody else onstage playing Van Halen stuff other than Eddie, it obviously ain't Van Halen.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Um...Joe Satriani sucks balls at playing Van Halen tunes!

That could be ONE of the many reasons the tribute shows with him along with Dave and Al and (insert bass player) never happened.

[Terry]

I hardly remember high school. I was on the ski team so I had to be on the ski hill after my last class. I remember that. I remember riding a ski lift more times than I can count and being bruised from the gates hitting me. Then coming home tired and having to do homework. The jocks were the hockey players and they were still jocks like you said.

I'd say had it not been for the advent of social media it's doubtful I'd even remember high school as much as I do now.

Our class graduated in 1988. I had several gap years when I worked fulltime between senior year of high school and college, so I started college in the year most of the kids in my high school graduating class were actually finishing college. By the time I finished college in my mid-20's, I wasn't even hanging around with anybody from my high school on a regular basis. Most of them I'm assuming by then had graduated college, were getting married or were already married with young children, were starting careers. From what I heard, a LOT of kids from my high school graduating class had moved out of state after college. Not a surprise, because our state is one of those states where you are either a lifer or you get the fuck out. I ended up moving out of state for good by the time my 20's ended, and by the time I moved I think I had one friend in my orbit then who was someone I knew from high school.

By the time the various social media sites rolled around and everybody was jumping on them circa 2010 or so, I hadn't seen most of the kids from my high school in slightly over 20 years at that point. It was kinda fun reconnecting with some of them via facebook or whatever initially, but even that connect via internet hasn't proved to be meaningful or anything. Like I say, were it not for social media, I would have easily gone the rest of my life not knowing what happened to any of them and not really THAT interested, truth be told.

Um...Joe Satriani sucks balls at playing Van Halen tunes!

[Vinnie Velvet]

Explain the politics on this one. F.U.C.K. was just remastered and expanded with Dallas concert footage and extras like The Dream Is Over instrumental version.

How is it something like this gets released but nothing from the Classic Era has had the same treatment? Who’s pulling the strings?

By the way, I would dig most all Van Hagar remastered without Sam’s vocals.

I'm thinking its simply a record company thing as an extension of the Van Hagar remasters campaign. They come up with the idea, then send it to Alex for approval and he gives it the OK.

FUCK is like Van Hagar's third least selling album so not sure why the expanded edition for that album anyway.

I did hear somewhere that future expanded editions from CVH are also planned.

[Nitro Express]

I hardly remember high school. I was on the ski team so I had to be on the ski hill after my last class. I remember that. I remember riding a ski lift more times than I can count and being bruised from the gates hitting me. Then coming home tired and having to do homework. The jocks were the hockey players and they were still jocks like you said.

[Terry]

Thing is Hagar never truly was able to end his tenure with the band on a high note. The 2004 debacle of a tour is a black mark on the band's history. But serves as the epitaph for Van Hagar. That simply infuriates Spammy.
So now he's out there with this tour playing all sorts of Van Hagar songs sprinkled with the few CVH songs - ironically the ones he sang the most which was very little.

And his next move is to somehow get his hands into some unreleased music from Ed, get Alex back on and make another Van hagar album. Its really disgusting and shows what a POS he really is and always has been.

You know, I get that Hagar wanted another crack at another tour with Van Halen after that 2004 stint. From everything Hagar had to say about it, what little Mike Anthony has said about it, Ed's general appearance on that tour and the clips I saw of it online, it looked like an unpleasant experience for both the artists and the audience. Truth be told, it looked even more unpleasant than the Van Halen III tour and sounded worse from what I heard of both: at least on the Van Halen III tour, Eddie was still playing well.

And I could even understand why Sammy would have to keep saying in interview after interview during 2009-2015 and beyond that he'd be willing to do another tour with the band, since seemingly he had zero communication with the Van Halens during the Mach 4 period thus making comments in interviews may well have been the only way he could let the Van Halens know he'd still be game. In a way, it also made sense that should things with Roth have collapsed during the 2007-2015 period, the Van Halens would know Hagar was interested.

I'm not saying any of that constitutes class or demonstrates a strong sense of character on Hagar's part, but in terms of laying down a contingency plan it made sense. Hey, as long as the Van Halens, Hagar and Mike Anthony were still alive, anything could potentially happen.

I would have thought with Ed...you know, DYING, that all that stuff would have been put to rest on Hagar's part.

I mean, shit, it's not 1985 anymore. I'm in my mid-50's, far too old to still get emotionally whipped up over The GREAT ROTH VS. HAGAR DEBATE in terms of WHO WAS THE BEST VAN HALEN SINGER?!? Really, I'm too old to get angry at Hagar...it was kind of foolish for me to have gotten angry at the guy in 1986 over his interview comments back when I was in my mid-teens, truth be told. Having said that, what Hagar has been doing since Eddie passed away...it's just so cheesily pathetic.

But I have to remember what I once read somewhere that these famous celebs - musicians, athletes, actors - in general terms they can tend to get emotionally stinted at whatever age they became famous. Because they can afford to be. I suppose I shouldn't even single out celebrities, because I know more than a few non-famous people approaching middle age who still act with all the sense of an impulsive teenager.

[Terry]

My dad once told me people don’t change that much past age 18. I went to my 40th class reunion and found the people I didn’t like in high school were still unlikeable. People were fatter and older looking but amazingly the same. Sammy once said he was a bad person. He stole a Les Paul from a music store. He was cheating on his wife. Years ago a coworker of mine was cheating on his wife. He ended up divorcing her and marrying his mistress. He soon found out she was cheating on him. He was devastated. I’m like dude. Cheaters cheat. What did you expect? Sammy is a liar. He’s got poor character. Now look at Dave. He’s wierd. He’s eccentric. Did he ever lie about his success? This is a guy who volunteered to be an EMT and stays relatively quiet about it. Probably the biggest thing Dave ever stole were flood lights from apartment lawns so the band could have some lights on stage. Now Sam is trying to steal what’s left of Van Halen and make it his. Oh so you aren’t going to play with me Alex. The guy lost his brother and hasn’t gotten over it and Sammy publicly slags Alex. Now I’m getting those vault tapes. Yeah. I’m sure Wolfgang will remember all the bad shit you said about his dad when he was down. Go fuck off Sam. Anyways Dave still lives rent free in Sam’s head and it drives Sam nuts.

Funny about class reunions, in that my 35th passed by not too many years ago. One of my FB friends, who is someone I knew from high school, said she was going and asked if I was. I said no but said to give my regards to whoever she felt appropriate. Keeping in mind that ours was the Class of 1988, and most of us didn't get on FB until 2008 or so. So, you know, 20 years of no contact with these people even before FB, never mind 35 years for some.

Anyway, after the reunion I asked my FB friend how it was. She said out of our graduating class of 400 or so, maybe 50 people turned up. The exact same 50 people who turned up to the 20th reunion. And it was the same 50 people who if you breezed through the 1988 yearbook were in all the school clubs and in the majority of all the yearbook pictures. My friend said even though only the 50 or so turned up, even that small group still ended up segregating at the reunion into the same cliques they were in back in 1988. She said the douchebro jocks were still douchebros but just older and fatter, and the stuck-up cunt cheerleaders were now stuck-up cunts in their early 50s with facelifts and boob jobs. The band kids ended up hanging together...it all broke down into the same groups it had been 35 years ago, except for at the end of the reunion when everybody ended up taking a picture together.

My old state is 1,500 miles away, so I wasn't going to bother travelling specifically for the reunion anyway and in retrospect I'm glad I didn't.

Oh, and Sammy Hagar sucks...just to stay on thread topic.

[Nitro Express]

What Sam is trying to do is so sick it really irks me. I’ve been hard on Wolfgang but man, he doesn’t need that crap from Sam. A lot of people who knew Ed Van Halen said Ed had a big heart. He had an addiction problem and that messed him up and took him early but Eddie wasn’t a shark. He had problems that the pressures of fame only amplified and being married to a Hollywood actress didn’t help.

[Nitro Express]

Explain the politics on this one. F.U.C.K. was just remastered and expanded with Dallas concert footage and extras like The Dream Is Over instrumental version.

How is it something like this gets released but nothing from the Classic Era has had the same treatment? Who’s pulling the strings?

By the way, I would dig most all Van Hagar remastered without Sam’s vocals.

That’s it in a nutshell.

[Nitro Express]

I had to relearn that lesson recently regarding someone who I thought I had had a meaningful friendship of 15 years with, finding out all the while that the person I thought I knew was someone I really didn't know well at all. And despite telling myself, well, a person such as that exiting your life is a blessing rather than a curse, shit still stings a bit.

My dad once told me people don’t change that much past age 18. I went to my 40th class reunion and found the people I didn’t like in high school were still unlikeable. People were fatter and older looking but amazingly the same. Sammy once said he was a bad person. He stole a Les Paul from a music store. He was cheating on his wife. Years ago a coworker of mine was cheating on his wife. He ended up divorcing her and marrying his mistress. He soon found out she was cheating on him. He was devastated. I’m like dude. Cheaters cheat. What did you expect? Sammy is a liar. He’s got poor character. Now look at Dave. He’s wierd. He’s eccentric. Did he ever lie about his success? This is a guy who volunteered to be an EMT and stays relatively quiet about it. Probably the biggest thing Dave ever stole were flood lights from apartment lawns so the band could have some lights on stage. Now Sam is trying to steal what’s left of Van Halen and make it his. Oh so you aren’t going to play with me Alex. The guy lost his brother and hasn’t gotten over it and Sammy publicly slags Alex. Now I’m getting those vault tapes. Yeah. I’m sure Wolfgang will remember all the bad shit you said about his dad when he was down. Go fuck off Sam. Anyways Dave still lives rent free in Sam’s head and it drives Sam nuts.