Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / Rock & Reflection: One Van Halen Fan's Journey [Episode 344]

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Rock & Reflection: One Van Halen Fan's Journey [Episode 344] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's a Van Helen fans journey through four decades of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: highs lows, epic songs, epic concerts, and the loss of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a guitar hero. That's up next.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: We're totally booming rock and roll. I mean, I'll leave you.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: You're reading.
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  Speaker 1: Little Hands says it's time to rock and roll. Roll up,
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  Speaker 1: I totally booked. Welcome back to book Don rock the
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  Speaker 1: podcast for those about to read and rock. My guest
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  Speaker 1: is a fellow van Halen fan. It's been a while
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  Speaker 1: since I've had a van Halen fan on the show.
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  Speaker 1: This is so nice here Michael Pastor, author of the
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  Speaker 1: Mighty Van Halen One Fans Journey. Michael, Welcome to the podcast. Man,
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  Speaker 1: good to see you again.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I'm really excited to be here.
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  Speaker 2: This is great.
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  Speaker 1: I say again because we've been on a few panels
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  Speaker 1: on some other van Halen podcast in the podcast Rock
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  Speaker 1: and Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're frequenters on some of those van Halen or
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  Speaker 2: van Halen ad Jason and podcast so absolutely yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and now this is go small world. Let's start
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  Speaker 1: where you're from. We are both Connecticut natives. Tell us
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  Speaker 1: where you're from and where you grew up.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I grew up in New Fairfield, Connecticut. It's right
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  Speaker 2: outside of Danbury, so I'm, you know, familiar with that
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  Speaker 2: whole area. I mentioned I ninety five in the book,
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  Speaker 2: which was my local radio station, my rock station WRK
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  Speaker 2: I Brookfield. So I basically grew up there until I
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  Speaker 2: went to Central Connecticut State in New Britain to get
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  Speaker 2: my undergraduate degree. So after that, I ended up meeting
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  Speaker 2: my wife in Long Island, and in my early twenties,
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  Speaker 2: I moved to Long Island. I've been there ever since.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, what inspired you to write this book?
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's an interesting question. I've been asked that,
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  Speaker 2: and I think what I wanted to do. I didn't
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  Speaker 2: really begin with the idea of writing a book. My
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  Speaker 2: son published a book last year, a horror story compilation
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  Speaker 2: that he's building, this world of horror and monsters, and
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  Speaker 2: he self published it, and he wrote everything in a journal.
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  Speaker 2: And what I realized was, you know what, I could
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  Speaker 2: grab a journal and start making notes of a lot
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  Speaker 2: of my stories, you know, about growing up and about
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  Speaker 2: rock and roll, you know, being a rock and roll
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  Speaker 2: fan back in you know, let's say the mid early
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  Speaker 2: to mid eighties. I realized because I'm a retired teacher.
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  Speaker 2: I realized with a lot of my students that they'd
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  Speaker 2: be wearing to class in high school. They'd be wearing
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  Speaker 2: a lot of those bands that I used to attend concerts,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and Motley Crue for example, def Leppard, Van Halen,
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  Speaker 2: Sammy Hagar, and you know, I would strike up you know,
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  Speaker 2: casual conversations every once in a while, and I realized,
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  Speaker 2: you know what, there might be a story to be told.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it would sort of be like somebody telling
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  Speaker 2: me that they saw the Beatles or saw Elvis or
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  Speaker 2: saw the Rolling Stones back in the day. I tell,
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  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of those bands from the Sunset
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  Speaker 2: Strip and a lot of those bands we grew up
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  Speaker 2: with back in you know, the early mid late eighties,
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  Speaker 2: early nineties, they're becoming very historic now. So it was
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  Speaker 2: really for my children that I decided to start writing
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  Speaker 2: down in this journal that I purchased these stories. And
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  Speaker 2: those stories ended up developing into short chapters, and I
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  Speaker 2: eventually said, you know what, let me see what it
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  Speaker 2: looks like if I type it up. So I came
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  Speaker 2: up with a formula. I typed it all up and
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  Speaker 2: the next thing, you know, I had Michael my Son
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  Speaker 2: explain how to have it published, and I did just that.
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  Speaker 2: So now everybody's talking about it.
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  Speaker 1: Would is that's amazing. Yeah, And it puts you in
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  Speaker 1: the It puts you in the point of view of
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  Speaker 1: a Van Halen fan back in those those early days,
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  Speaker 1: the early eighties, eight tracks collecting, collecting eight tracks and cassettes,
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  Speaker 1: and it just takes you back to that great time
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  Speaker 1: when it's rock and roll radio and when the band
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  Speaker 1: came around to your area, it was an event, especially
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  Speaker 1: Van Halen Cotzer, it was a big deal. And then
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  Speaker 1: when MTV comes along, you're right at that age where
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  Speaker 1: you're starting to get exposed to MTV and the videos,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Diamond, Dave Jump, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So nowadays, I guess what the young people do
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  Speaker 2: if they want to see a music video, is they
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  Speaker 2: look at vivo on YouTube or something. But it again,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think we realize how much we actually lived
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  Speaker 2: through history at this point, you know, And that's what's
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  Speaker 2: resonating with people, is the nostalgia. I was talking to
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  Speaker 2: someone today from Tennessee who read the book, and he said,
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  Speaker 2: I could have written that book, you know. I saw
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  Speaker 2: Van Hallen back in the eighties, and I remember those
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  Speaker 2: days of recording albums onto cassettes and playing them on
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  Speaker 2: a radio that you walk around the neighborhood with. And
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  Speaker 2: as I was writing these stories, I thought, you know what,
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  Speaker 2: there's something to be told here, not just to my children,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, to my students, or to any young
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  Speaker 2: person or even someone our age, whether you're a young
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  Speaker 2: person who wants to learn about what it was like
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  Speaker 2: to live back then, or whether you're an older person,
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  Speaker 2: like not older, but you know what I'm saying. You know,
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  Speaker 2: generation X, let's say, who lived through that time and
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  Speaker 2: want to relive it a bit. It really seems to
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  Speaker 2: be resonating with people. And like I said, I couldn't
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  Speaker 2: be happier.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd represent that era of Van Halen fans where
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  Speaker 1: there's a part of it. It's mythical to me, the
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  Speaker 1: early era with Dave. I became a fan in the
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  Speaker 1: late eighties when Sammy was there, so I can share
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  Speaker 1: stories about what it was like as oh, you eight, one,
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  Speaker 1: two is happening in real time four and nowful carnal
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  Speaker 1: knowledge and things like that. But there's this, there's always
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  Speaker 1: this this view of the Diamond Dave era that David
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  Speaker 1: Lee era of those first six albums, that was just
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  Speaker 1: like untouchable, larger than life, and man, what would have
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  Speaker 1: been have been like to be like sixteen, seventeen years old,
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  Speaker 1: because you know, I was like twelve in nineteen eighty four.
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  Speaker 1: So I just wondered about that. And that's that's what
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  Speaker 1: I love about this book too. And you talk about
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  Speaker 1: that Mikey p who who was wearing a T shirt,
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  Speaker 1: a Van Halen T shirt. I guess let's start there.
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  Speaker 1: I would go back to what eight one, nineteen eighty two,
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  Speaker 1: when you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was so I had just entered junior high school,
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  Speaker 2: seventh grade. We didn't have middle school back then, and
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  Speaker 2: you know, I reached out to him. He didn't get
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  Speaker 2: back to me. And I'm hoping that if he hears
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  Speaker 2: as he would because I do want to get him
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  Speaker 2: a copy of the book because I haven't seen him
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  Speaker 2: since high school. And in high school I even mentioned
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  Speaker 2: that in high school we really really didn't hang around
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  Speaker 2: that much. It was more in maybe seventh grade and
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  Speaker 2: a little bit in eighth grade. But yeah, I think
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  Speaker 2: it was science class in seventh grade. And he's, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he's sitting in the classroom. I described him as like
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  Speaker 2: the coolest looking kid, you know. And I know you
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  Speaker 2: read the book and it's it's a quick read, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I should say that, but there's a lot of information
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  Speaker 2: in it. And one of the things I described with
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  Speaker 2: this particular scene is, you know, he looked like a
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  Speaker 2: high school student because as a seventh grade student in
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  Speaker 2: this particular school, I was with the high school kids.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm walking around the hallways as like an eleven
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  Speaker 2: twelve year old with these seventeen year olds, and they
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  Speaker 2: look so heroic to me. You know that the hair,
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  Speaker 2: the bin dan who's hanging out, the cones hanging out
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  Speaker 2: of the back of their pockets, you know, the jeans,
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  Speaker 2: and and I thought, wow that you know, this kid
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  Speaker 2: looks like a miniature version of one of those kids,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and he had this It must have been
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  Speaker 2: women and children first, because it was the iconic picture
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  Speaker 2: of Dave with the reaching his arm out and Michael Anthony,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I described it as was it a cigarette?
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  Speaker 2: Was it marijuana? You know that he's holding between his fingers.
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  Speaker 2: It was I believe that T shirt and Dave is
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  Speaker 2: doing a split in mid air on the back of
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  Speaker 2: the T shirt, you know, and I was like, wow,
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  Speaker 2: what is this? You know, it looks so cool van
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  Speaker 2: Halen And I think the name of the title of
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: the chapter is basically the quote that he gave me.
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  Speaker 2: And I asked him, you know who's van Halen said,
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  Speaker 2: the greatest band that ever lived? And I never forgot it,
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  Speaker 2: just the way he said it with such confidence.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeh, the greatest.
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  Speaker 2: Band that ever lived. I said, Oh, okay, I got
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  Speaker 2: to check this out right, Yeah, but what fun.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: The Book Down Rock podcast is part of the Boneless
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: podcasting network. If you're a fan of classic rock and
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: classic film like I am, go to Boneless dot lovable
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: dot app to find over twenty great shows there. That's
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Boneless dot lovable dot app. Or just go to book
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: down Rock dot com. Click on the logo. It'll take
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: you right to the Boneless podcasting network. It is what
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: you want to be listen with confidence. Diver Downs. That's
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the one album from the rotharea that takes some hits.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: But you loved the album when it came out. Now,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: all these years later, what do you think of it.
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  Speaker 1: It's gotta have sentimental value to you.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah, I still love the album. It was my
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  Speaker 2: first Van Allen Contra. And that's another thing. You know,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: when when I was a guest on in the podcast
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Will Rock and You were there a couple of times
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: when I told some of these stories before I even
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: started writing it down in the journal, I noticed a
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: lot of you guys. He's sort of lighting up, like, man,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: you saw them back then? You saw that show, right, Yeah,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: like I did. I was actually there, and that's when
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: I began to realize, you know, this needs to be told.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: And yeah, that concert that hyde your Sheep Tour, right, man,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: it's basically the US festival, the Largo Show, right, It's
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: the same show back then. And man, I'll tell you
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: when that album came out, I brought it on eight track,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: and I described in the book hearing where of all
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: the good Time's Gone for the first time and it
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: was played remember those old record players, you know, like
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: and what was the TV show What's Happening? I think
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: where rerun was sneaking the tape recorder into the Doobie
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Brothers concert, right, And it was one of those tape recorders,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: and he played the cassette on that tape recorder and
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I remember hearing that. You know, I'm waiting for it,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: like when is it going to start? And it was
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: a fade into where of all the good time's gone,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: and I said, wow, this is really cool. And at
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: the time I had heard Van Halen one I tell
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: that story as well. But hearing that, I said, you
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  Speaker 2: know what, this is my band. I'm gonna I'm going
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: to be the guy who likes Van Halen, you know,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: im possum rage right. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Man, it's just so much just being a Van Helen fan,
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  Speaker 1: doing this podcast and writing for the Vanillen News desk.
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  Speaker 1: I've I've come across many people who just it's the
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: same experience that I had. It's it's hard to explain,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: but there's just that magic to it when you discover
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  Speaker 1: Van Halen. And and the thing is, as I went
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: back and I got all of the cassettes at the time,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and I would I had a part time job and
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I have just enough money to maybe get two cassettes,
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  Speaker 1: and so I would buy one and two, and then
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: I would buy Women and Children first Fair Warning, and
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  Speaker 1: then get Daver Down and then get you know, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty four. And there's only one time that you could
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: listen to a Van Halen album for the first time,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: and you wish that you could just go back in
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  Speaker 1: time and relive that moment because it's it just like
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: you're saying, you're hearing the first three five seconds of
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a song you've never heard it before, right, Well, that
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  Speaker 1: means just amazing. It's a great it's just a great feeling.
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  Speaker 2: That was my experience with nineteen eighty four where my
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: father came home with the album and I listened to
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: it more than once, obviously on vinyl, and I remember
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: hearing House of Pain and thinking, wow, what is this?
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: You know it was it was so much different than
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Jump and even Patama, you know, to some extent, But
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: in the guitar on Hutford Teacher, I said, whoa, let's
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: open up that site too of the album. Yeah, you're right,
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  Speaker 2: Like hearing those songs and hearing those albums for the
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  Speaker 2: first time is really Uh, it's something that is to
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: be appreciated, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, lost on this generation in the Spotify era, it's
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  Speaker 1: a different thing. When you purchase an album and it's yours,
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  Speaker 1: there's a connection to make to it for the rest
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: of your life. That's why I assume diver Down has
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  Speaker 1: that connecttion with you. Every time you hear it takes
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you right back.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah. I'll go to that album more than
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: I go to maybe even Van Helen two because of
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: the memories attached to it. And it isn't so much
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  Speaker 2: the cover songs, because I know that a lot of
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: people give it, you know, some criticism because it's basically
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: half covers. But I would argue that David Lee Roth
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: is probably the best cover man in rock and roll history.
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  Speaker 2: He can make these songs better than the original in
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: my opinion, you know, and he even did it in
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: a solo career on Eataman Smile, for example. But with
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: that particular album, full bug I mean, come on, hang
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: them High. And probably my favorite Van Halen song of
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: all time is Little Guitars. I can listen to that
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  Speaker 2: song every day for the rest of my life and
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: never get.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Tired of it, which is why I was a bummer
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: when they had the first Best of the Volume one.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Eddie excluded everything from that album. Yeah, you don't hear anything.
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  Speaker 1: You could have easily put Dancing in the Street or
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: a Pretty Woman because they were hits, but the original
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: is You're So Right. Secrets to Me is one of
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the most underrated Van Halen songs and that comes from
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Diver Down. That's an original. Let let's talk about your
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: first Van Halen concert. You hear on the local radio
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: station that the band is coming to Connecticut, and this
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  Speaker 1: is on inety five, And I'm very curious because I
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: worked it on ninety five many years. Do you remember
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: the DJ? I no, I do, Okay, I'm curious.
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  Speaker 2: Un the DJ. I would have not only named the
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: DJ in the book, but I would have contacted them
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: to give them a copy.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I could figure it out, though, I could. Probably was
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon, I could eat.
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  Speaker 2: It was definitely in the afternoon because my rain Joey
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: were at the house. We're in the garage as I
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: describe it, and my father was working on the tractor.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: So it was in the afternoon. And it was probably
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: in the summer because that was in October concert, so
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: we were hanging out and it was probably it wasn't
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: a DJ that announced it. I don't think it may
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: have been. I don't remember how we described it in
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: the book, but it may have actually been just an advertising.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Right one of the spots they ran, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I said, oh man. We were like, oh man,
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: can you imagine. And my father, just like I described it,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: he was like, you want me to take you guys?
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: It was like what really? And listen, my fat he
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: worked in a factory all his life, you know, and
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: for him to do that, looking back on it, I mean,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: he would wake up at four o'clock in the morning
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: to drive to Newer Shelle, you know, and that's a
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: pretty long trip, you know, early in the morning to
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: get there, and he's working a lot of overtime. For
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: him to do something like that, knowing that he had
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: to go to bed late, knowing that he had to
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: wake up early, it's just a great testament to know
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: the father he was.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, great dad. Was he a fan of those bands?
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: No, but he so ironically because.
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  Speaker 1: He was probably born on the same time my parents
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: were born, which would have been like they were more
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: infective Glenn Miller in the yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Early forties. I know that he had told me he
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: saw I think James Brown at the Apollo. I think
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: he mentioned that once. But he wasn't a big concert
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: goer when he was younger. He did enjoy the covers though.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: My mother liked dancing in the street and my father
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: liked Pretty Woman a lot. Because they were familiar with
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Roy Orbison and Martha and the Vandellas. So it was
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: much easier for me to, you know, to play the
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: cassette in the car on a long trip to you know,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: Wildwood or something, because they could relate to some of
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: that music, particularly the covers on Diver Down. It was great.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Now here's here's a throwback word. Ticket tron, right right, ticketron?
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Did your mom get the tickets?
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: My my mother stood online both times. Yeah. She worked
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: in Bethel, Connecticut as a secretary, and there was a
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: ticket tron right around the corner there. So, like I described,
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  Speaker 2: she would hang out. She would get up early and
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: go the two times and wait on line with the
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: teenagers to get us our tickets.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, so you you had the coolest mom and dad. Yeah,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: let's just let's get that out there.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I think the way I described it, it was the
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: chagrin of my poor mother. Yeah, you know my obsession
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: with rock and roll back at that time.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: All right, so tell us about that show. Those lights
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: go up, Dave does that split, and Eddie rips into
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Romeo Delight, I think, right.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, But I don't think Dave jumped off the vine.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: I think that was nineteen eighty four. I don't remember
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: if he did that with Diver Down, he might, okay,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: But what I do remember is him hitting that stage
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: and I mean he was dressed. I don't know what
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: he was wearing. It was just glitter, you know. And
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: at the time, so I described the way I got
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: my record collection was in Wildwood, New Jersey, on the boardwalk.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: They had these games like wheels that would spin, and
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: that's how I built my record collection. So I did
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: not yet have women and children first. So when he
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: hit the stage, I didn't even know what the song was.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: I just was like whoa. And then he's like, I
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: forgot the words. You're like whoa. But it's not until now,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: like with YouTube, that you realize, oh yeah, he forgot
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: the words every time he saying the song. You know,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: like even in twenty twelve at Madison Square Garden, he
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: keeps getting the words, you know. So he was you know,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: that's just part of his shtick, you know.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: But that experience, man, you're just in awe, right, I mean, yeah,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: you're you're watching the band in its prime.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Right, and Eddie, I mean he was just I think
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: at one point he pulled Valel on the stage with him,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: and everybody was cheering, and he was you know, he
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: was kicking those amplifiers and they're rocking back and forth,
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: back and forth, and we're like, oh, no, he's going
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to get hurt, you know, but we didn't realize it's
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: all part of the show, you know. And then at
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: the end, So at the end, I describe it Dave
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: coming out in his assless chaps. You know. Now we
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: knew what was coming, you know, we knew what was
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: going to happen, but my father didn't, you know. So
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, I don't want to spoil the book,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: but you I would hope that you got to chuckle
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: out of the way that all development.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah. That was that New Haven, wasn't it?
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: That? The New Haven Coliseum? And then in nineteen eighty
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: four they played I saw them in Hartford. But what
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: ended up happening was they added a show after the
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: tickets for Hartford went on sale, and that second show
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: was before the Hartford show in New Haven. So my
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: one friend Joey, he got to see them in New
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Haven before I didn't I remember him, you know, I
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: saw him. He came right to the house you know.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Of course he comes right to the house wearing his
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: contract teaser, and I was like, don't tell me anything
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: about it. I don't want to know. You know. This
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: wasn't the days where you would text your friend and
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: be like, I'll be right over. This was like the
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: doorbell rings, your mother answers the door and there he
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: is standing there. You can't say, get out of here.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: I don't want to know anything about.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: It, right, yeah. Yeah. And also this is a period
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: where it was much easier to keep secret what the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: show is all about, what it looks like, what's the setlist?
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: You now, Internet, you have to really make an effort,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: a concerted effort, to not look up the show online,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: because you're going to see the playlist, and unless it's
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: like a jam band, it changes the set us every
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: night you're going to be.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: You actually have to be like, we just my wife
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: and I just want to see Stevie Nicks a little
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: while ago cool and I didn't want to look at
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the set list, you know, because I mentioned Stevie in
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: the book, you know, she was like I discovered her
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: around the same time, so I would say that I'm
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: more of a solo Stevie Nicks fan than I am
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: a Fleetwood Mac Stevie Knicks fan. So seeing that concert
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: and finally seeing her for the first time was like
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: a dream because all of those solo songs and all
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: of my favorite Fleetwood Max songs were part of that
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: set list that night, which you're not going to get
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: to see if you see you know, Fleetwood Mac for example.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: So and my point is that with setlist, you know, FM.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: My wife went on to see what the setlist was,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: and again it was like, Joey, I'm like, I don't
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: want to know, don't tell me anything about it. You know,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: it's it's you're right, it's it's just a different form
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: of you know, having to keep that surprise, you know,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: just in a different way.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: And Summer of eighty three are exposed to MTV.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I'm TV. So yeah, we didn't get
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: cable on Possum Ridge until a little bit later than
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: you know, most people, but you know, i'm TV hit
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: the you know, the hit the ground running in the
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: early eighties and we were hanging out with at Romo's
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: house and you know, all summer that's all we would
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: do is just it sounds odd, but we would just
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: watch MTV and we'd go out and do whatever and
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: play football and whiffootball and all that. But we spent
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: a lot of time watching MTV. And what I would
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: try to remind people of and what I would like
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: to explain to the young people is the VJ And
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: you can hear them on serious a lot of them now,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: like Mark Goodman, Allen Hunter, Nina Blackwood. They what they
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: would do is they would announce at the top of
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: the hour the bands that are going to come on.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: So I would just sit there. We'd all sit there
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: and wait for our favorite band to be announced. And
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: if they said Van Helen, you know, I knew, oh yeah,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be It's not gonna be anything. But the
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Oakland shows those three videos and man, those are again.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: You watch those videos now, it's like little guitars to me.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: I don't care how many times I watch those videos,
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: how many times times I hear those live versions. You
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: can't hear them enough.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: You know, hear about it later. So this is love
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and unchained from fair warning.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and like you know, there's only a Van Halen
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: fan would pick up on. I got myself a brand
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: new Oakland scar, you know, what that is. Oh yeah,
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: and that's how you would know what the video is,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: you know. And I think here about it later was
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: my favorite. But I didn't mind if if the video
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: came on and Dave goes I got a brand new
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: Oakland scar.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: And the girls screaming for days. It's Alice the gong
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: set that on fire and Eddie's got those the candy
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: cane stripe pants, the socks.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: We refer to it as his hit, like his jail breakout,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: but the convict, you know, outfit that he was wearing
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: a drum set and everything.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Right, Mikey with a you know, the jumpsuit or wherever
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: he's wearing.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he had that Jack Daniels guitar. You know,
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: I think before he had that.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, was the show in Hartford and eighty four? Was
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: that the one where there was a blizzard?
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Yes? And I and again I described the story in
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: the book. I was home and we didn't have school
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: that day, and my father was going to drive me.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: He had station Wagon brand station Wagon that he just
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: got at the time. And it was me, my mother,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: my sister, and my two buddies. And the phone rang
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: and my mother said, it's your father. And the first
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: thing I said was are we going? And kind of paused.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: He said, yeah, we're going. I said, okay, good. So
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: I called this kid Mark, who I mentioned in the book,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: and I said we're going. He goes, we're going. I said, yeah,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: we're going, We're going to the show. He goes, all right.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: And to this day, I'm convinced that he was calling
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: to tell me that it was too dangerous, that he
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: didn't want to drive. But he did it, and he
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: got us there, and he took my mother out to
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: eat with my sister, and so, as the story goes,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: towards the end of the contract, they were going to
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: meet us in the Hertford Civic Center at a predestinated,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: you know location, and they were waiting outside and he
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: could hear Dave, he could hear Eddie, he could hear
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: all of the noise inside the civic center. And he
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: asked the security guard if my sister could get a peek,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: and the security guard was about to let her, and
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: then somebody stopped it and she never got a chance
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: to see it. Yeah, but she she came that close
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: to catching a glimpse of David Lee Roth in nineteen
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: eighty four, can you imagine.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Well what a story too, Just that's dedication there, going
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: through a blizzard to get to that show and surprising
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: that they didn't reschedule it, you know, because from what
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: it sounds like, it's pretty pretty bad.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Well, you know what they I don't know if they.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: I think they may have left New Haven and then
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: went somewhere else and then came back to Hartford that night,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: so they may have been hanging around anyway. But yeah,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: and when I gave my father a copy of his book,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I gave my parents copies a couple of weeks ago,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: and I did write it, and I said, you know,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: you never complained. You know, you made a lot of
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: sacrifices and you never complained. You know. That's one thing
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: I wanted him to know.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Hey, guys, we'll get back to the show, but first
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I want to tell you about an exclusive deal for
• 24:21
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• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Booked on Rock also find a link in this episode
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: show notes, or just go to booked on Rock dot
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  Speaker 1: com and click on my deals. Michael Passtory, author of
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the Mighty Van Halen One Fans Journey and look, it's
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: not too late Christmas is I don't know, what about
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: a week away? Less than a week away? You can
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: get this on Amazon, Man, get it, get get it. Tier.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: You're the Van Halen fan and your family or friends. Uh,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: it's a great gift. So this gets us into a
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: real interesting area when it comes to Van Halen fandom.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Most of the old school fans who had grown up
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: on the first five albums did not receive nineteen eighty
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: four positively. There were some who hated the keyboards. First,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: what did your friend Mikey P think of it? And
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: then second, what was your response to nineteen eighty four?
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: You did talk about a little bit. I did yehs
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: of pain and.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so in ninth grade. So I hadn't seen Mikey P.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: You know too often we sort of won separate ways,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: you know, for whatever reason. And I did catch them
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: I couldn't wait to see him in the hallway and
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: I said, what'd you think of the new album? He said, sucks, so,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: you know, so he was definitely he did not discover
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Van Hallen with Diver Down obviously, you know so. And
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: I can understand, you know, because I sort of felt
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: the same way about Sammy. You know, when fifty one
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: to fifty came out. I liked it, but it wasn't Dave,
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: you know, it was different, and I think that's how
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Genesis fans who grew up with Peter Gabriel sort of
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: feel about Phil Collins.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: It's that type of thing, you know. But yeah, he
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: didn't like it, which sort of surprised me because everybody
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: was talking about it, you know, at that time, and
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: it's probably their most popular album, you know, as far
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: as I think it didn't hit number one. They never
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: hit number one for an album, but the song Jump
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: did come to number one, and I talk about that
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: a bit that Michael Jackson and Adele both kept Van
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Allen from hitting the number one spot, you know twice
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: in their their illustrious you know.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Right right, Adele with twenty twelve is a different kind
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: of truth, do you refer to that. Yes, yeah, right, right, yeah,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: and now the story and you know this, I'm sure
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: with nineteen eighty four was Thriller was number one, and
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Alex was always always talking about how you know Eddie
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: didn't do the solo and beat it? You know, we
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: would have, we would have had enough. But I don't know.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Do you think I don't know? Do you think that's true?
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Do you think I don't know how many people went
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: out and but Thriller because they might have. I mean
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: maybe No.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I think that you're talking about Thriller is just a
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: one in a million type of thing. Where it there was,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: that album was so huge, nobody could compete with it
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: until you get to the point where it ran its
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: course and you know, they it's had been out for
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: over a year. But uh I I don't think it
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: would have made any difference. I don't And uh in fact,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think that it exposed a
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: lot of Michael's fans to to Eddie and brought brought
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: in some more Van Halen fans. I think if you
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: look at it that way, you know, but you know,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: the Sami era, now that's it. It's it's an interesting
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: discussion and I'm not looking to get into the whole.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: You know, everybody gets so fired up over you and
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I know this city right absolutely? Good Lord, you mentioned
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: just that just you know, I think Sammy's better. What
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: how dare you why I think Dave's better? Oh, Dave sucks.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: But you know you're in that age group. It's interesting.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, you had, like Mikey p was following them
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: from the early days on up. So I can understand
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: why that age group would not like the Sami era.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: But what did you think of it being a fan
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: of Van Halen just for a few years there before
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Sammy joins.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so there are there are three regrets that I
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: have as a Van Halen fan. I don't want to
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: mention them now, but you know what they are. And
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: the first one is because I didn't really accept Sammy
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: when he came out. I did buy the album. I
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: ran out and I purchased a cassette. It was actually
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: out in Brookfield, I think it was Record Town in
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Brookfield at the time, and I walked in and it
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: was there early, so I said, oh, grab it. It was
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: that night, I think it was a Sunday night, and
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: I put it on and I heard that Hello Baby,
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: you know, and I said, wow, that's an interesting way
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: to open up an album, right, And you know, I
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: can remember it like it was yesterday. I'm trying to
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: convince myself that he sounds like David Lee Roth because
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: it still sounds like Eddie, you know, and I'm thinking,
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: you know what, I think this is going to work.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: It sounds like Dave. But when it came to the concert,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: it was a little bit different because I didn't really
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: want to hear Sammy sing Dave's songs, you know, right,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: And you know, in nineteen eighty six, the album was
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: only out for a few months, So what am I
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: going to go hear them sing at that time? You know?
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Get up? I mean, I wasn't that interested in it's
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: the way that I was hearing diver down. So did
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: I accept him as much as I should have? No,
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: And that's part of a regret when I saw them
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: in you know, I guess ninety five with the Balanced tour.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: I was really disappointed at the time because it was
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: the Ambulance tour. But again I'm looking back on it
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: now thinking why didn't I appreciate it? Then you know
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: that that's a great album, and I love that album.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: And I think that's really the theme of the book
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: is you know, don't take for granted what's right in
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: front of you, because you don't know what it's going
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: to be ten years down the road, twenty years down
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: the road. You're not going to know in life. I'm
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: not even talking about rock and roll, just in life.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: You know, if something is there in front of you,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: if you have an opportunity, take it, because you don't
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: know if you're going to regret it down the road.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: And as a Van Halen fan, I do have three regrets,
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: and one of them has to do with Sammy in
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: eighty six.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely so, did you go back and listen to all
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: of the same era stuff and gain an appreciation for
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: it more in these recent years?
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: No, No, I still listen to it. I listened to
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: all the albums. Yeah, I listened to I listened to
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: fifty one to fifty A lot I listened to I
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: listened to OU eight one two a lot. I was
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: in college at the time. I was constantly listening to
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: that CD. I love the songs on it. I think, ironically,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: one of the favorites of Sammy's era is for Unlawful
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Carnal Knowledge. And that's when I started to lose a
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: little interest. And I explained in the book. You know, somebody, uh,
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: somebody arrived, a new band arrived that took interest away
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: from you know, this third Sammy era Van Allen album,
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: and yeah, I don't mind saying who it was. It
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: was Guns and Roses. You know, when Axel and Guns
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: and Roses, you know, hit the scene, that changed a
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: lot of things.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, yeah, And in ninety one when Foreign
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Off for Cardinal Knowledge was out, they had that was
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: around the time usually Lousion one and two were out
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: and Guns and Roses were huge. But still, I was
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: surprised to read that that you were not a fan
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: of for and Lawful because it's it's on the top
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: of the list. When you ask Van Halen fans, particularly
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Sami era fans, what's their favorite album, A lot of
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: times you'll you'll see that album at the top of
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: the list. It's interesting, So what do you think of it? Now?
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: What I think? All right? So now what I've appreciated
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: is a drums Oh yeah, Alex's drums on that album.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: I've realized that there's a big John Bonham influence.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Andy John's produced it.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm really appreciative of that, and a lot
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: of the songs blended together. For me, it was hard
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: for me to separate them for some reason. I'm able
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: to do that a little bit better now. But the
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: thing that really turned me off, to be honest with you,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: and again I mentioned it, is the right Now video.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: To me, Van Allen were a party band, you know,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: and all of a sudden it seemed like they were
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: becoming a little political, which you know, I just didn't
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: have an interest in. You know, at that time, I
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: didn't really want to be told that you know anything
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: about oil companies, you know, in a in a video
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: and a Van Allen video. I wanted to see, you know,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Dave with his scarf on stage in Oakland. That was
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: my Van Hallen. But looking again, looking back on it now,
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: it's a great video. It's a great music video, and
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: it deserved to win a Video of the Year at MTV.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I absolutely agree that. You know, maybe I'm
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: more mature now, but I do appreciate the album much
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: more now. I love the Dallas show that was released
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: with the expanded edition about a year or so ago.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: Absolutely loved the raw sound of that and everything about it.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and Balance, I'm going to say Balance is
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: probably my second favorite Sammy era album, right behind fifty one.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: To fifty Oh interesting.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I do like it that much. It really
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: grew on me over the years.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and just to explain, you mentioned the Ambulance Tour.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: For those who may not be in the know, those
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: who aren't huge Van Allen fans, the Ambulance Tour was
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: you had Alex were in a net brace, and then
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: you had ed who's his hip was really messed up. Yes,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: so that was a band who is in pretty rough
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: shape at that point, and as we now know in retrospect,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: they were not getting along.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I guess in fairness to me right, I
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: saw them in nineteen eighty four with Dave, And the
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: only reason I saw them in ninety five is because
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: my buddy Vinnie gave my wife Debbie and I first
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: year winning anniversary tickets to go see the band, and
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: we went to see them at Jones Beach and Eddie
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: can't do it. He can't do his jumps because of
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: his hip. Alex is wearing a neck brace. Now again,
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: I didn't have YouTube back then, so I had no
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: idea any of this was going on. I show up
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: the open with Right Now, which at the time was
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: the song that you know, I wasn't really appreciative of.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: And Eddie with a hip that's bad he can't jump,
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Alex with the neck brace. I'm saying, what is this?
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: You know, Sammy singing Panama? I don't know it just
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: it's not the type of thing that that I appreciated
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: at the time, but I absolutely do now. And again
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: that gets back to that theme I was telling me about.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: I will defend the Sami era. I'm a huge fan,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: and a lot of it is the sentimental value, like
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: you would diver down. It's when I became a fan,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: so I have that attachment there. However, I'm gonna be
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: transparent here, one hundred percent honesty that entire time from
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight up through nineteen ninety five, I'm a
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: huge fan. Anything they put out on buying. All my
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: friends know this is my band. I'm a huge fan. However,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: there was always that part thought in my head, like
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: what if Dave came back? It was so cool because
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: of what you said that fun era. And also again
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: there was that it was a mystical era. I hadn't
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: experienced it. So when ninety six comes around and Dave
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: walks up on that stage at the MTV Video Music Awards,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, man, goosebumps. I'll I remember it to
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: this day watching and I knew it was coming. There
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: was rumors you're kind of getting getting around, like I
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: think I think Dave's going to be showing up at
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: this award ceremony. And I can't remember where I heard it,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: but I was working at the radio station in Hartford
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: at the time, and so I think people may have
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: been talking about it there. I mean, that was huge.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: So absolutely tell us what was going through your mind
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: that night in September of ninety six.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the same as everyone else, like is
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: this actually happening? Like, am I actually seeing this on stage?
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Is that David Lee Roth with Eddie like standing side by.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Side and the crowd went nuts.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: They went crazy, and I was going crazy, and I
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: was like it was a Debbie and I in our
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: in our apartment at the time. I said, oh, well,
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: you know, you have no idea what's what's about to
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: happen here? You know? But yeah, it was short lived.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Right, did you since something was off?
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: I didn't.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: I didn't either. I just thought, you know, Dave's being Dave.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: He's acting, is acting like Dave being on a goofy
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: on stage, and that's what he does and people were
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: eating it up. You know.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, looking back at it, though, like when you watch
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: that video now, you could see his body languages like
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: get this guy away from me, you.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Know now as you look pretty clear? Yeah, all right.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: So Van Heleen three. You didn't buy Vanhillen three, that's
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: the album with Gary Sharon until fifteen years after it
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: came out. Was it that you had lost interest in
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Van Halen? Was it that you were not happy with
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: the choice of lead singer. What was going through your
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: mind in nineteen nine.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: I didn't really have any interest at that point in
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: a third lead singer, you know, and you know, like
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: listen like I was saying, I barely accepted Sammy at
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: that point. I wasn't where I am now where I
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: listened to him constantly. I was just kind of moving
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: on and away from Van Haleen and this idea of
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: them having an album with a new lead singer from
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: extreme I thought, I don't think I've been interest in this.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: I didn't even know that it was basically an Eddie
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: van Halen, you know, solo project, and that he was
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: taking a progressive route a bit that wasn't even an issue.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: I had no idea what it was about. But again
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: another regret. It has to do with that album, and
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: you know it's it's pretty clear in the book.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: The Dark Times, late nineties into the early two thousands,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: no activity from the band. Then you hear Eddie has cancered.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: We had the Dave In Samy tour and O two
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: Dave Tordin O three Sammy returned to Van Halen O
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: four disastrous tour. Eddie was not in a good place.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: It's not until seven that we finally get that reunion
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: tour with Dave back. But Wolfgang was playing bass instead
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: of Michael Anthony. So where did you stand on that?
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Did you have a problem with Mike not being there?
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I had so much a problem
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: with Michael Anthony not being there as I did with
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: the fact that basically a teenager was going to be
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: on stage, right.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, don't forget sixteen years old.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: Great, I was teaching, you know, middle school at the time,
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: and I say in the book, I thought that my
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: friend was playing a joke on me, like that he
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: super imposed one of the students in this picture, you know,
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: and I said, what is this and he said, no,
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: that's Eddie's son. Now again, looking back on it and
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: now Wolf I'm a huge fan of wolf We saw
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: him in New York City a few years ago at
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: a very small venue. But no, back then, it was
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, how did you feel about it? To me,
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: it was just an odd thing.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know, Yeah, conflicted, very excited to see Dave
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: back with Ed and there was there was that nostalgic
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: feel to it, the excitement of that. But then you're
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: looking at at Wolfgang at sixteen years old and she's like,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: why is it like there?
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, so it was.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: It was hard, but it was one of those like, alright,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: but listen, we haven't had anything from my favorite band
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: in so long. I'll I'm open to it. I'll take it,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: you know. But it was it was just like almost,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: you know a little bit, we're right there to like
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: the actual real thing. That would have been a huge
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: deal if it was the original four and I think,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: you know, we would have gotten that apparently from what
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Wolf Kang was saying, and Eddie wanted to do the
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Kitchen Sink tour and get everybody back.
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: But well, looking back at that moment, they didn't release
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: an album, you know, and it was it was basically
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: a Greatest Hits concert without Michael Anthony and with Eddie's
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: sun and I guess, looking back, should I have gone?
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I regret not going to that
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: tour as much as other regrets because we did get
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: twenty twelve. If we didn't get twenty twelve, then absolutely
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: I would regret it much more. But we got an
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: album in twenty twelve, of which you know, was much
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: different to me, you know, I and I don't know.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Even when Dave and Sammy toured together, I had really
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: no interest in seeing them either. Now I'll see them
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: all the time. I'll see Dave if he's playing in
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: Long Island. I'll see Sammy. We're going to see Sammy
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: in Las Vegas in March.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: So ah, nice.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll get I'll get everything I can get. I'll
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: take anything I can get now, and again that plays
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: into those regrets, you know.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Hey, guys, thanks so much for checking out the Booked
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: on Rock podcast. If you've just found the podcast, welcome.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: If you've been listening, thank you so much for your support,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: and make sure you tell a friend, a family member,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: share on social media and let people know about Booked
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: on Rock. And if you do like the podcast, make
• 41:45
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• 41:48
  Speaker 1: listen to the Booked on Rock podcast, We're on Amazon, Apple, iHeart, Spotify, Spreaker,
• 41:53
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• 41:56
  Speaker 1: the full episodes on video along with video highlights from
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: episodes the Booked on Rock YouTube channel. Find it at
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back to
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: the show. The one thing about the O seven tour,
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: I was pleasantly surprised by Dave his voice, the way
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: he sang, the way look he gotten himself back together,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: because I tell you if you and I've been a
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: hardcore Dave fan, so I see him over the years
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: and he was in pretty rough shape. And there was
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: some shows that he was playing there with his voice
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: was not good and he just it just what he didn't.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: He didn't have that swagger of the of the Dave
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: of old, and uh, I just I remember thinking, man,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: this is I don't know, I mean, is this is
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: he going to be able to do it? Because it
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: had been a long time since since he had been
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: with the band, but also a long time since he
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: really sounded good. I mean he sounded he sounded good
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: as he got to the late nineties. I think he
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: knew he was he was working on trying to get
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: back in the band, so he was going out and
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: tour and playing van Hill in heavy sets, and he
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: was really it seemed like he was working hard at it.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: So it was a great tour. It really was. That
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: O seven tour was pretty damn cool. When the show
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: opens and he's waving the red flag and.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well earlier you mentioned you know, what would it
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: have been like if we got you know, Dave to
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: come back like around the time of Van Halen three,
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: And I think we know what we would have gotten
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: because we did get it. We got me wise magic,
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: you know. And that song is one of my favorite
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: Van Halen songs.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: It's such a great song.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: And Can't get the Stuff No More? I love too.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean they sounded great, Like I don't.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: It's so upsetting and I think in a previous podcast
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: that we shared. I think I described it as it
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: was a betrayal, you know.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Back then it was a massive it was a hangover,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: like a really bad hangover. When when all of a
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: sudden hit now Gary Sharon's there, It's like, wait a minute,
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: we just saw a Dave up on the stage with them,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: and now we're getting these two songs and we're it
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: made up much hard to embrace Gary Cheron. Yeah, I
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: think from a from a from a public relations aspect,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: it was just I mean, it was just like a
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: dumpster fire. What are you doing? You know?
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: And and again that's probably one of the reasons why
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: I didn't accept Van Allen three, because it's supposed to
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: be Dave on that album, So don't tell us Dave
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: is coming back, and then just pull the plug on
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: that and and grab somebody from extreme who listens a
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: talented singer, you know. And looking back, like I said,
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: I have regrets, but it was it was not something
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: in real time, it was not something that a lot
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: of us were willing to accept.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what's shocking to me, Mike, is that they
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: didn't even see that, they didn't understand that auto at all.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: That you go up there on stage with Dave that
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: the longtime fans are going to go crazy over this.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: You're not understanding that because it's like, well, okay, well
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: just we're gonna we're gonna have them go up there
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: just to help promote the best of but then we're
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: gonna go back and we're gonna go find another singer.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: It's like, you didn't really understand. That's like kiss getting
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: back with makeup and then all of a sudden saying yeah,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: and you know what, we showed up the original four
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: with makeup, but we're going to give you Carnival of Souls.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: You know, you know, you're like, well wait a minute,
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: you I just it just blows my mind that that
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: none of them got together and said, guys, this is
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: not a good idea. We put Dave up there, even
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: if we're thinking this is just like a one time deal.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: This is gonna this is going to blow up in
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: our face. But that discussion apparently never happened, and they
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: just thought, yeah, this is a great idea.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, they underestimated the the they underestimated the excitement that
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: would come from Dave coming back.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: I think they did, you know, I think that they
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: assume that people would just forget about him at that point,
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: and you know, Sammy was there and they'll forget about
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: him just as well. But I don't know, you know,
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: it's it doesn't work unless they're all there, you know,
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: It's I mean, and there are a lot of bands
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: you could say that about. It's like Queen for example.
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: You know, Freddie Mercury. Going solo isn't a good idea.
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: You need all of the components there, you know. And
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: you know with Van Hall and it's not so much
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: going solo and not going solo, it's what will the
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: fans accept, because they're very loyal fans, and it's it's
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: not an easy thing to accept, you know, these different
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: late lead singers. You know, Dave was a front man,
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: you know, and he had a personality that Sammy did
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: not have. And I feel like when Sammy attempted it,
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: he didn't come off the same across the same way,
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: and it was hard to accept back then. But there's
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: other things that Sammy is good at that Dve wasn't
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: able to do as well as you know also, and
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: that's why, in hindsight, having everything that we have as
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: a Van Helen fan, is truly a blessing, you know,
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: because we got to even Van Allen three. We got
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: to see something experimental that Eddie wanted to do, almost
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: like a passion project. I'll tell you what, I'll throw
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: this out there, you know, for anyone to speculate if
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden Van Helen three demo tracks were
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: found with Gary Sharon and Eddie right and Michael Anthony
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: and Alex and they clean them up and put out
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: you know, Van Helen four, maybe ten songs. I would
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: be the first one to purchase it. You know, I'll
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: take anything I can get now. And that's again that's
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: part of the regrets, you know.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Find the Booked on Rock website at bookdnrock dot com.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: There you can find all the back episodes of the show,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: the latest episode in video and audio, links to all
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: of the platforms where you can listen to the podcast,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: plus all the social media platforms were on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: and x. Also check out the Booked on rockblog. Find
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: your local independent bookstore, find out all the latest hot
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: rock book releases, and before you go check out the
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: Booked on Rock one, pick up some Booked on Rock
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: merch it's all at booked on rock dot Com. We
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: did get the album in twenty twelve, Different Kind of Truth.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: It was the tour, another tour in twenty fifteen, and
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: then October sixth, twenty twenty, that was the day we
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: heard Edward van Halen had passed away. Where were you
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: when you heard the news and what was your reaction?
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really a strange story, and it's basically it's
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: basically how I open up the book, you know, the
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: Day of Music Died. It's not Buddy Holly. I'm talking about.
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: If you're a van Halen fan and you purchase the
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: book and you see the first chapters titled the Day
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: the Music Died, you probably know what that's about. And
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: I was literally setting up speakers. I had just received
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: in the mail a package of two speakers that I
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: had to name because when you connect your speakers to
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: your WiFi in the house into the app, they want
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: you to name it like living room, bedroom, you know whatever,
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: dining room. And I said, I know what, I'm gonna
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: name one of them Eddie, and put it downstairs and
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: name one of them Alex. I'm sorry Alex downstairs and
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: the other Eddie, and put it upstairs, so instead of
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: naming them upstairs and downstairs, I named them Eddie and Alex.
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: And I kid you not. I got a text from Vinnie,
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: who I jokingly say is constantly sending me rip messages,
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: you know, and it said rip Eddie van Helen, and
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: I gasped. I guess, I guessed so loudly that my
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: wife thought that something terrible had happened. And it did.
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: You know, it was so shocking, I said, like I
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: knew he was sick a while ago, but nothing was
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: really leaked about him being you know, terminal, and I
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: just couldn't believe it. And you know, to this day,
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: I have that Eddie speaker, you know, upstairs in my bedroom.
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: But it was so odd that I was doing that
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: at the time this message came. And I wanted to
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: ask you the same question. Where were you when it happen?
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was. I was at work. I was at
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: my day job, and this is this is crazy. My
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: boss didn't realize how big of a fan I was.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: And she was on the phone with somebody who used
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: to work in our office that knew how much of
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: a fan I was, and he had apparently sent to
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: her on the phone, like, hey, you know, how's Eric doing.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: You know Eddie van Halen died? I just heard and
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: she said, she said, she's like, Eric, did you know
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: Edie van Halen died? You know? And I she saw
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: the look on my face, like I went pale white
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: and kind of just like went blank for a while there.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: And she actually like apologized later, She's like, I'm sorry,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize you know how big of a f
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: I go, no, No, it's okay, But I said, this
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: is like you don't understand. This is like huge for me.
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: This is it's a big thing.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: Now. Did you feel like I did? Like that was
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: the first time that that a huge chunk of my
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: youth had just disappeared.
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And I say that in the book.
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: I said, I never realized that the death of a
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: celebrity would have such an effect on me. And and
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: I recalled, I don't tell this story, but I do
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: mention Elvis dying. I remember being at my grandparents eating
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: dinner when Elvis died around that time, and my mother
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: was not eating, and my father finally had something to
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: say about it, and he said, you know, you have
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: to eat. This is ridiculous, you know what, It's not
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: like Frank Sinatra died. He said that, and my grandmother gasped,
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: you know, like you know, and and I remembered that, like, yeah,
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: I can understand why my mother was so upset when
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: Elvis died, because I felt the same way when this happened,
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: you know, And I'm sure you did too.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: You know I did. And it's never been the same since.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: And as much as I listen to Van Halen and
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: I love the fact that Sammy's out there doing his
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: thing and Dave's doing his thing, it's like it's just
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: there's there's that, there's that there's that feeling of that
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: possibility that something's coming next, you know, that that they're
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: going to come back with an album or tour that
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: is gone, it's off the table. And whether even if
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: they did a tribute tour, which they had talked about
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: with Satrianni and Dave and now it's never going to
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: be the same.
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: No, it's.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: But having said that, on the flip side of it,
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: what they did is set in stone. It's there. It's
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: always going to be there, right, so you can always
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: turn to it and you can always play the music
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: and you can watch the videos, and you can see
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: the photos, you know, and take to all those pictures
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: that have been taken all throughout the years, and you
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: see them in books, and you know it's always going
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: to be there. So that's that's what's most important, is
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: and and we're experiencing what our parents experienced when all
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: their favorite musicians that you went to pass the d
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: right after after Eddie passed away.
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, I did so. Yeah, my son moved out to California,
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: I want to say, maybe six seven years ago, and
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: I said, you know what, let me put together a
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: little tour. So I looked up some locations. There's Las
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: Luna Street, there's the liquor store in the sidewalk right
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: around the corner where Eddie and Alex grew up. There's
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: Dave's house on the other side of town. The gate
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: you know, was open there. There's the Pasadena Convention Center
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: right civic Yeah, thea civic center that was there with
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: Eddie's plaque outside. I took a picture in front of it.
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: Michael and I also took a ride to Sunset Sound.
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: We took a ride to the Whiskey. We took a
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: ride to the location of Cherokee Studios, the old location.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we went to.
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: Now I didn't know this, but he lives in Sherman.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: He's about a black from Ventura in Sherman Oaks and
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: he is literally two mile walk from fifty one to
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: fifty from the entrance to that road.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: Your son is, yes, he is, but I can't walk.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: You can't walk up into the hills because it's too
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: dangerous those roads. But we did drive there and I
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: you know, at the bottom of the it's on the
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: main road and then there's a road that goes all
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: the way up. You can't see the house at all.
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: But I did take a picture of like the entrance
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: to the street that drives up there. But yeah, it's
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: it's all in that area, which was really cool. So
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: I was able to visit a lot of those locations.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Emotions.
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then so Chaz Charles, who you might be
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: familiar with from Van Halen regarding Van Allen.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: Three, I think on the on the Van Hellen.
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: Three podcast mentioned something about it was one of the
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: podcasts mentioned something about the garage and said, well, you
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: can't see Edie. You can't see the garage from last
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: Luna Street. You can see the house. There's trees in
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: the way, but you can't see the garage. He goes, no, no,
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: there's a path behind the house. I said, really, okay.
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: So one of the friends I met on the podcast, Josh.
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: Josh is one of my witnesses in rock Court this season.
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: So Josh decided that he would meet me for a
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: cheeseburger out there, and we went to Last Lunas and
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: we said, let's see if Chas is right. Sure enough,
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: there's like an alley behind the houses that runs parallel
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: to Last Luna Street and it's where the garbage pickup
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: is and that's where you would park your car, I guess.
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: And you know, all the garages are obviously visible, but
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: the house where Eddie and Alex grew up, there's a
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: fence that goes around a stockade fence that goes around
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: the garage, so you can't really see it. You can
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: see the top of it, but you know, we took
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: a picture in front of it, and it was nice
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: to see.
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where he was working on his guitars, painting
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: the guitars, right, all that stuff, that garage. It was,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: it was.
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: Very cool and it was it was if anybody ever
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: wants some ideas about where to visit. It's there are
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: some pretty cool locations out in the out in that
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: area of California, Los Angeles.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this was great.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: You mentioned Rock Cort. That's our friend Cory Morris. That's podcast.
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: So season two of Rock Court, I defend the Sunset
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: Strip and Chazz defends the new wave of British heavy metal.
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm basically playing this hot headed attorney
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: who is creating some havoc in the courtroom and getting
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: himself in trouble, and Chaz is playing this instigator. And
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: we have Kevin Brown with his British accent on the bench,
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: so of course I'm calling him out being uh, you know,
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: being partial. You know, not an impartial judge in any way.
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: So we had so much fun with it, and I
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: really encourage I did mention you a couple of times
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: because you were nice enough to get back to me
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: with some answered questions.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: I fed you some research, yes, to bolster your case.
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I put some of that in there, and a
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: couple of times I said, well, I spoke Derek Sanitch
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: about this.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: I was I was a witness or yeah, I was
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: a witness. Uh this was what episode episode six when
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: this was when they were it was it was it
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: was Sammy Hagar versus David E.
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: Roth yes season one.
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: And Kevin Brown was the Rock Turney representing Sammy Hagar
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: the defense of Sammy. So he had me on a stand.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: He had me on the stand. Yeah, that was fun.
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: The book again, I'm going to say, Christmas is about
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: a week away. You order this on Amazon, you'll get
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: it and especially if you have if you have Primate call,
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: you get in a couple of days. And yeah, I
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: got a vanil and fan and the family or a friend.
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: This is perfect.
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and like tell your friends about it because I
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: just want to share the story. You know, I even
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: have a price to share, like nine ninety nine. So
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: I just want people to read the story and remember
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: some of these things, maybe learn a few things if
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: they're younger. But yeah, it's it's it's it's so one quick,
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: one last quick thing. It's a quick read, and you
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: know it. There's a lot of information in it, and
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: I tried to make it very memorable as far as
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: the images and everything, but it's a quick read. And
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: my buddy Vinnie who's in it a few times. He
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: had his daughter time him, how long is it going
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: to take me to read this? And would you know
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: that when she hit stopped it was fifty one minutes
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: and fifty seconds.
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: Get out here.
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: I said, you know what, and I'm saying I'm telling
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: the story for the first time. I said, you know what. Vin,
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: whenever somebody asks how long should it take me to
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: read this, I'm going to say it's fifty one to fifty.
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: That is in fifty seconds.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: Oh man, that's so cool. That's so cool, Michael Pastor.
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: I will see you again down the road at some point,
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: I'm sure. Thanks so much for coming on and look
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: forward to having you back on again. We can do
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: another van Halen discussion.
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: Loved it absolutely, Thank you, Eric, I really appreciate this.
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: This is great.
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: It's in the books.