craig..very cool. is that a scratch on the body i see in the pic? yes, playing is great stress relief. enjoy! :)
ryan

interesting. thinking he's maybe 12-14? hope he inherited some of dad's chops..but what a standard to be help up to. kinda like dweezil zapa trying to find his nitch back in the eighties and getting into 'shred rock' to be different from dad..
ryan

deathpunk dan, those bands you listed were my youth sound track. We sneered at VH and Rush as being too soft. i did like the technical aspects of Rush and a few of the VH songs were fun (panama/hot for teacher) but for the most part i wanted them to play faster without so many damn solos. i now think the Flaming Lips are the most relevent band currently. they border on genius/idiots, its a fine line

Bivenator - nice. I'm a big flaming lips fan. Ever read Leanings by Peter Egan? I went on a long ride to Montreal by myself with my VFR750 2 years ago, and took only the book leanings and Flaming Lips' 'Soft Bulletin' and 'Yoshimi...' with me.

Hmmm, Egan? VFR? Did you know he has come out with Leanings 2? Just as good as the first book. I also got his books from his articles in the car magazines and for some reason they didn't hold my interest like the bike articles do.

Here's some footage from a few days ago. He looks great and sounds like a normal human being. I guess rehab really works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCfAEAlWo-8

Looks like Eddie's put on some weight and got a tan.

good to see..

This is pre-rehab, but still not too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT0exTVXIHI&mode=related&search=

Van Halen ended for me when DLRoth was fired or quit. I lot of those songs are twisted into high school memories. I'm still an old school fan though, old VH, Rush, Zepp, Doors, Sabbath, who, Stones, floyd, ACDC, Boston, Hendrix, Thorogood, ZZtop, Bowie, old Queen, Clash, old Aerosmith, and Ozzy.

BTW, new Rush album came out today.

Nothing Like a vintage Eddie 11 minute guitar solo...
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I love some Rush but all of the new stuff sounds the same to me. If I find a newish Rush album at a flea market for $3 like Vapor Trails or Test For Echo I listen to it once and shake my head. Nothing like Moving Pictures or Signals. All of that talent going nowhere. I used to play the bass and love a good bass player. Geddy Lee is one of the best. All three are virtiuosos but resting on their laurals I think.

Mark

Rick,

It's great to hear you describe how these two bands (VH and Rush) move you. I can definitely relate. For me, it's Van Halen's Fair Warning (particularly Mean Street and Hear About it Later) and Rush's 2112 (Overture, Temples, Bangkok). This music shaped a lot of my perspective in my teens/20's, and is still relevant, important and moving to me today. Your words did a good job in capturing the "essence" of the importance of certain music to your individuality. I "get it".

Thanks for starting this discussion.

JA

Anyone catch this from the RRHOF in March? Pretty cool retrospective.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vV13bsqmo4o

Nice clip

I was never a fan of Sammy, but this is pretty good http://youtube.com/watch?v=YHI1xnsapyA&mode=related&search=

Musically speaking, 2112 is a rocker's Handel Messiah. Too bad concept albums have lost to the music money machine of radio. This is one up there with floyd's work.

I still love the intro and the amazing build up, of course it needs to be played loud and without distractions.

Neil said in his last book that 2112 made them. They were just about to get dropped by their label and 2112 got them a new lease on life and the label told them they could do whatever they wanted after that. It served its purpose well and it's still great listening.

I liked some of EVH stuff but as a player I could never understand why people think his talent for scales was so great. I agree that the music was good but some songs didn't need a 11 minute solo. I think he was a show boat and a very good scale player. Never liked Sammy on anything, voice to much like a girl, like some of Rushs stuff. I never appreciated Rush until I saw a show on VH-1 of a concert. I played with a kid back in 74 or 75 that could play scales as quick as Eddy but could'nt do anything else. I would have to show him simple chord patterns which pissed me off because he too thought he was a guitar God for knowing all the scales. Didn't play with him long. Then in about 80 I quit playing with all the guys and started playing at home on my accoustics. Don't play much now kind of a therapy, my kids friends come over and love to hear the old Beatles, Zeppelin, Clapton, Stones and the likes. Eddie was very good guitar player it's sad that he didn't stay in touch with what got him were he is today.