Three excellent VH articles from Greensboro

[Va Beach VH Fan]

http://www.yesweekly.com/main.asp?SectionID=18&subsectionID=44&articleID=2866

Van Halen: My night with Alex

Brian Clarey
Editor


As told to Brian Clarey

It was in 1980, at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Miami. Don't ask me how to spell it. There was a show that night. I don't remember how I got those tickets - that was a long time ago. I do know I got in a real big car accident on the way there. It didn't stop me from going.

We went to the show, and it was really great I don't know how to explain that part - I just remember it being a concert. We were high. Real high.

After the show my friend said, "Let's go backstage." And we just went around and walked backstage. There were all sorts of people back there, there were people everywhere

I remember David Lee Roth standing there, talking to a reporter. He was wearing a white and gold jumpsuit. He just had this awesome presence, almost like a superhero. It really sticks out in my head. He was standing very, very still, and he really did have a kooky look in his eye. He had an arrogance - really, really a lot of arrogance, that's the word. He wasn't rude or anything, he just had this arrogance about his presence. He was very flamboyant.

So then this guy came over to me and he started to talk to me.

We were standing around and it was this party atmosphere. We struck up a conversation and he said, "Do you want to go to a party?" And he took my hand and we got in a limo and it was the band in there. Alex was sitting to my right and Ed was sitting in front of me in the limousine

And Alex was very, very polite and friendly. Eddie seemed to have a really shy quality and Alex was way more outgoing. We rode to the hotel and talked, and I wasn't really aware they were rock stars, and we were having a really good time.

We got to the hotel and when we got out of the limo there was all this press. It was like paparazzi. And it got real hectic - you know how it is.

We went up to the hotel suite, and Alex, he was really sweet, and he just put his arm around me and hustled me up there.

It was real smoky and there was people everywhere and people were doing a whole bunch of drugs. Coke. Quaaludes. Pot.

So we stood and talked just like regular people at a party for a while. And then we went into a room and had our own little private party.

He was very, very sweet, very nice. He never acted like an asshole. Not once.

And then we kind of sat around for a while and went back to the party. He wanted me to go with him to Orlando and I was like, yeah right. And then I left.

I had things to do. I was young; I wasn't interested in him. My friends were like, "Are you crazy?"

I was like, "That's not the first rock star I ever met." And it sure wasn't the last.

To comment on this story, e-mail Brian Clarey at editor@yesweekly.com.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

http://www.yesweekly.com/main.asp?SectionID=18&subsectionID=44&articleID=2865

Van Halen: Remembering when... sort of

Brian Clarey
Editor


In between the late-'70s inception of Van Halen in a California basement and their falling out in 1985, the original quartet of Eddie and Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth played the Greensboro Coliseum three times - Aug. 25, 1981; June 16, 1982; and Feb. 3, 1984. (There were three more concerts under the name Van Halen in the ensuing years, but the days with Sammy Hagar don't count for our purposes here.)

The '80s were a long time ago. It's been 26 years since Van Halen's first Greensboro show, and to put it in context, 26 years before that it was 1955.

Memories can get pretty hazy in 26 years, as I discovered when I was searching for people who had been to these shows. A lot of folks, when I asked them if they had seen Van Halen in the '80s, shrugged their shoulders and said, "Probably."

I hit the Whiskey District on a Wednesday night. Surely someone slumped over one of these bars remembers something about the appearance of the world's most famous band in that decadent decade.

Len Rush remembers.

"I saw the Fair Warning and Diver Down shows," he tells me at a booth in the Wahoo. "And then I saw them in 1984."

The memories bleed together a bit.

"Oh man," he recalls, "David Lee Roth was hanging from the rafters during 'Talkin' Bout Love.' I mean, he was in the catwalk above the coliseum. It was incredible. They only did two sets, and one of the encores was 'Ice Cream Man.'"

Rush will not be attending the show on Saturday night.

"Because it's bullshit," he says, citing the absence of bassist Michael Anthony who was replaced for the tour by Eddie Van Halen's 16-year-old son Wolfgang.

"Michael Anthony has been the only consistent thing in that band," Rush says. "And they fired him to get Eddie's teenage son a foot in the business.

"Michael Anthony sang the high vocals," he continues. "Can Wolfgang sing the high parts?"

Next door at Walker's Bar. Nick Kontoulas is sorting through memories of his own.

"Yeah, I seen 'em at the Greensboro Coliseum," he says. "What year was it?"

1984?

"Yeah," he says, "that's when they kicked ass. David Lee Roth was the perfect singer for that group. To me, Van Halen aren't Van Halen without David Lee Roth. They came up with so much damn tunes."

Much of the evening has been lost in the ether, but Kontoulas remembers when they did "Jump."

"They did that rope thing," he says. After he takes a sip of his drink, "Hot For Teacher" comes on the jukebox. Seriously.

Greensboro drummer Eddie Walker has the clearest memories of the shows, all three of which he attended with guitarist Evan Olson.

"The thing I remember most," he says to me on the back patio at the Blind Tiger, "is that someone threw a bra onstage and David Lee Roth picked it up and said, 'No, it's too small to be Valerie's.' Then he pulled [Eddie Van Halen's wife] Valerie Bertinelli onstage."

Walker is still an unrepentant Van Halen fan.

"I think Eddie was so keyed on his lead guitar that his rhythm work was overlooked," he says. "Eddie was a great rhythm guitarist. And you know, Michael Anthony was such a bare-bones, workingman's bass player. Plus those high harmonies were all him."

Like everybody else in town, none of these guys know what to expect when Van Halen takes the stage Saturday night.

"God, I don't know," Walker says. "I hope they do well. I'm a fan of David Lee Roth. I'm always impressed with the fact that he comes out with a quick sound byte - he can still do that - but as for those jumps and stuff, I wouldn't bet the bank on it."

Rush agrees.

"I mean, he's what, 54?" he says. "He used to do splits in mid-air. I mean, splits with his leg up beside his head. He can't do that anymore. No way."

"If they're anything like Ozzy [Osbourne] they can do it," Kontoulas says. "You think Ozzy's brain dead, but that sumbitch can still get out there and he can still sing. He's still coming up with songs. If Ozzy can do it, they can do it."

To comment on this story, e-mail Brian Clarey at editor@yesweekly.com.

[Hyman Roth]

I know that guy - Brian Clarey. Had a beer with him on a few occassions. He used to work for Triad-Style Magazine and he is really a great writer. He has done a column reviewing different bars / night clubs in the area for some years now. I wish the guy had bigger ambitions than to work at some rinky-dink free-at-the-restaurant-door-weekly but he seems content doing what he does.

[vhwithroth]

good reads! 2 more nights!!!

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
...

Greensboro drummer Eddie Walker has the clearest memories of the shows, all three of which he attended with guitarist Evan Olson.

"The thing I remember most," he says to me on the back patio at the Blind Tiger, "is that someone threw a bra onstage and David Lee Roth picked it up and said, 'No, it's too small to be Valerie's.' Then he pulled [Eddie Van Halen's wife] Valerie Bertinelli onstage."

That's bullshit - that did not happen. I know those two guys as well (they play in 3 pretty cool local bands called "Snuzz", "Bus Stop" and "Walrus")....solid people but probably a bit drunk and in "joking around"-mode.

I was at that show in Greensboro on Feb 3, 1984 sitting 5th row center orchestra. The bra and comment story is accurate; it can even be heard on the bootleg recording. But Dave never "pulled Valerie Bertinelli" on stage. That is either the story-teller's or writer's embellishment.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by Hyman Roth
I know that guy - Brian Clarey. Had a beer with him on a few occassions. He used to work for Triad-Style Magazine and he is really a great writer. He has done a column reviewing different bars / night clubs in the area for some years now. I wish the guy had bigger ambitions than to work at some rinky-dink free-at-the-restaurant-door-weekly but he seems content doing what he does.

Send him an email Hyman, invite him for a brew at the Puppies....

[Hyman Roth]

lol....I will - I'll link this thread!!

Too bad I can't get him to join and post with the new-hiring freeze still in effect.

On the other hand, think how many b.s. threads that policy has saved us in the last month!! :D

[Va Beach VH Fan]

And maybe get some publicity for the one and only Roth Army !!

[Hyman Roth]

I sent a letter and attached a link. I also explained a bit about the site and invited him for beers on Saturday. My exact words regarding the invitation were: "[Fat Dogs]...[Saturday]...I don't know if there is a story in it or not, but we'll sure get you drunk before the show.". I expect to see him, assuming his schedule allows.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Fat Dogs, that's right....

I swear I'm gonna fuck that up on Saturday.... :D

[Hyman Roth]

Nahh...we'll getcha there.

Even if we have to send an expidition of designated drivers to the Red Roof Inn...