Dan Fogelberg left us on Sunday, December 16. He was only 56. Cancer took him from us all too soon. I wish I could finish this blog entry as it is already 2 days late, but I can't find the words.
Ever On, Dan........
"You've got to just follow your heart and do your best work," he said. "For better or worse, I have followed my heart. There is no doubt in my mind or heart that everything I've done is exactly what I intended to do." -Dan Fogelberg
Kevin Dubrow, lead singer of Quiet Riot was found dead in his Las Vegas home on Sunday, November 25, 2007. Cause of death is not yet known.
Drummer Frankie Banali has posted a message on his website regarding the death of his friend.
I met Kevin briefly in 1994 at a radio gig. He was full of personality & was a lot of fun to hang with. This guy had a set of pipes made for rock! He will certainly be missed.
Well that’s 4 of 4! Apple has just added the complete George Harrison catalog to iTunes. Over the past year, Apple has also added John, Paul & Ringo with little fanfare. Now you can buy any John, Paul, George or Ringo song…you just can’t buy a Beatles song. ???!!!
All songs are DRM free in George’s catalog. I suggest starting with Thirty Three & 1/3 from 1976. Great seventies groove- can’t miss with this one.
Complete Clapton Complete is a pretty big statement. Considering this release only has 37 tracks of Clapton’s work, I wouldn’t say it falls under the definition of “complete.” But, if you don’t already own all of Clapton’s work on vinyl (ahem), then for just $25 this is a fine place to start.
Necessary Evil by Debbie Harry Oh Debbie, what have you done? Formerly an American punk frontrunner, Debbie has gone soft. She still has a great voice at age SIXTY TWO (!!). Still sexy and sultry, but she’s lost the sass she needs to even pass as a pop music artist. This recording comes off as bland and unremarkable and I doubt it will receive much play on even the mushy adult contemporary radio stations. Skip this one.
The Best of Chicago Try not to confuse this one with The VERY Best of Chicago, Heart of Chicago (both volumes), Greatest Hits 82-89 or Love Songs. This lame repackaging attempt signals to me that Chicago might just be living out a contract with Warner. These are the same, albeit great, songs from Chicago but new cover art, a different track order and slapping the word “remastered” on this package won’t make it sell, folks. If you don’t already own Chicago 1-30 and you are looking to leap into the Chicago sound, this is a decent primer of material. Thirty songs for just $15. Not bad.Famous by Puddle of Mudd The l-o-n-g awaited album by Puddle of Mudd. The current single “Famous” has been playing on rock radio since May 2007. Leave it to the record companies and lawyers to get in the way of an album releasing on time! This may possibly hurt the CD on the charts since listeners have cooled to the title track while waiting for the CD to drop. We also haven’t heard anything from this band since the 2003 release of “Life on Display.” Hopefully, listeners haven’t forgotten how hard Puddle of Mudd can rock and they’ll pick this one up.
The title track, as well as “Merry Go Round” and “I’m So Sure” show Wes Scantlin penning some of his best. Word of advice: Don’t be an ex girlfriend of Scantlin. He seems to write best when scorned and for god-knows-what-reason he has been there often. (Girls, what is wrong with this guy?) His I’ve-been-wronged-and-no-body-cares style works for the band and fuels some head banging guitar crunch.
The current single "Psycho" is a nice little ride. Reminds me a little bit of "She F*ing Hates Me" simply because of the darling quirky little verses that fall into a thrashing chorus pit. You can check out a video of this one at the Puddle of Mudd Myspace page.
I’ll wager that “Thinking of You” will have to be a single at some point. It’s radio friendly and has a much softer edge to it and for that, girls will dig this song. Guys will learn to play it. Girls will love guys that learn to play it...ah, the cycle of rock and roll. Another radio possible track is the almost-too-Nickelback-ish “We Don’t Have to Look Back.” Again with the softer and friendlier “girl rock” but you have to give them credit for reaching out to both sides of the market.
“Radiate” is this album’s “Blurry.” It’s got that lilting, lower register that Wes does so well. Still heavily guitar driven, but this is a vocal standout. Could be another big hit.
If fans haven’t forgotten the name Puddle of Mudd, then this release will do well because it’s just plain well written. Period. Right now the best career move would be for these guys to start recording another album right immediately. Release it in the spring and go out for a summer concert tour. The music industry and consumer dollars wait for no one- let’s not have another four years between releases!
It’s been more than a week and VH is still going strong! Reviews are great, but the bulk are coming from the die hards that would go to the moon to see Dave reunite with Eddie. I’m sure Wolfie is enjoying the perks of rockstar life…but is he keeping his dad up past his bedtime???
Meanwhile, Michael Anthony is in Cabo San Lucas helping Sammy celebrate his 60th birthday with SIX completely FREE shows at the Cabo Wabo Cantina. Reports from the first show say that Sammy & crew played for 2 straight hours. The set list was:
Open I´ll Take You There I Love This Bar When The Sun Don´t Shine On A Roll (a new one about getting on a hotstreak in Vegas) 24365 (this one rocked!!!) Mexico Shaka Doobie Can´t Stop Lovin You (haven´t heard this one since 95) Piece Of My Heart (never heard this one live) Finish What Ya Started One Way To Rock Heavy Metal I Can´t Drive 55 Fight For Your Right Serious Juju Marching To Mars Sam I Am I'll Fall In Love Again Dreams (acoustic)
Night 2 in Cabo & the set list was:
Girl Gets Around Red Voodoo Sympathy For The Human Top Of The World Tropic Of Capricorn Open 24365 When The Sun Goes Down Why Can´t This Be Love Joe Love Three Lock Box Things´ve Changed Little White Lie Who Has The Right Rock Candy Mas Tequila
It seems they're not so bad. The Charlotte Observer reports that it was a full house and the band put on a pretty good show. Early comments by readers seem to report the same thing. You can read that review here. As it turns out, the rehearsal set list that leaked was the actual song list for the night. Scattered reports around the internet are saying that the sound was "muddy" and hard to listen to. The almost-everyone-is-over-50 band put on a great show, but without all the leaps and jumps of the old days. One fan reported that Dave reminded her of Liberace in costume strutting about the stage. Dave does love to strut his game show host poses and those porcelain veneers! And a special note about Wofie's debut: There is not one report of any mistakes. Not that we expected him to tank, but he is only 16 and has never played a full show at a venue of this size (he did play select songs during the 2004 tour when he was 13). Even though the rehearsal reports were saying his vocals were "off" and/or too loud in the mix, the fans at lastnights show say he was fabulous. Way to go Wolf!
Overall, even with some sound issues, it sounds like the fans are happy to see this reunion. Who wouldn't be? After 22 years, no one ever thought this would happen. If they can keep their egos, anger and addictions in check it may turn out to be a good run.
I'm sure more reports will filter in today....stay tuned.
Somebody get me a doctor! In just two hours Van Halen kicks off their 2007 fall tour with David Lee Roth in the driver's seat. Last chance to place your bets: Will this tour implode...or not? Hard to say. The reviews will be out soon...stay tuned!
Tomorrow night. Charlotte, North Carolina. They're back........
And it looks like it's a go. Additional shows have just been added, bringing this tour to 29 stops. Still no stop in Denver, so I'll have to rely on fellow bloggers, national reviews and of course, YouTube to find out what the VH boys are up to.
So, Dave's back but why is Michael Anthony gone? Here's a blog posting on August 23, 2007, by Mike on his blog:
Thanks For The support!!
First of all, I hope all of you are having a great Summer!! I want to thank everyone for all the support you're shown me during the past months. I'ts all been pretty crazy, and I just wanted to bring you all up to speed. Alot of you have been asking about the upcoming Van Halen tour and my response to it. It's not that I'm not touring with Van Halen because I'm going out with Sammy, I'm going out with Sammy because I was not invited to do the VH tour. Sammy told me that if I was asked to be part of the VH tour and decided to do it, it would be totally cool, and it would not tarnish our friendship in the least!! Well it's not to be, and life goes on. I'll still be out there with Sam, and I can't wait to do some partying with all of you. One last note from myself to all the Van Halen fans out there who will be attending their shows...Wolfgang is a great kid, so don't judge him too harshly. I'm sure he'll do just fine!!....See you all soon, Mike
Rumour also has it that Eddie & Alex did not want Mike on the 2004 reunion tour with Sammy. Sammy insisted that Mike be included or he would not participate. In the end, Mike agreed to a pay cut and Eddie & Alex hit the road with Mike & Sammy. I personally love Mike...and Sammy. No wonder I'm not so hyped to see the "new" old VH.
btw...You can see Michael Anthony on tour with Sammy right now. They call themselves "The Other Half" and they usually play right after Sammy finishes his set with the Waboritas.
Here's a little trivia fact: None of Roth-era albums held the #1 album spot on the Billboard charts. Zippo. Null. None. Big Zero. However, all four Van-Hagar albums did, starting with 5150. ALL FOUR. That's a lot of number one time.
I was wondering how they might handle the "Van Hagar" years on this tour. Sammy was able to do the favorites like "Jump" and "Panama" but would Roth be able to pull off a Hagar song?
**SPOILER ALERT*** Details of the show may be revealed here. If you don't want to know, stop reading now.
I have a copy of the rehearsal set list. Not a guarantee that you will hear these songs in this order, but it's a good indication.
01. You Really Got Me 02. I'm the One 03. Runnin' With the Devil 04. Romeo Delight 05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor 06. Beautiful Girls 07. Dance the Night Away 08. Atomic Punk 09. Everybody Wants Some 10. So This Is Love? 11. Mean Street 12. Pretty Woman 13. Drum Solo 14. Unchained 15. I'll Wait 16. And the Cradle Will Rock 17. Hot for Teacher 18. Little Dreamer 19. Little Guitars 20. Jamie's Cryin' 21. Ice Cream Man 22. Panama 23. Guitar Solo (incl. "Women in Love" intro, "Cathedral", "Eruption") 24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love ------------------------ 25. 1984 26. Jump
Not one Sammy-era song. In fact, when I went to the official VH web site, I was surprised to see there was not one trace of Sammy left. The background graphics are made from images of all the Roth albums. The discography section is gone, so there is no mention of any albums post-Roth. Even the logo has reverted back to the orignal; the wings of VH are straight now, they were curved during the Sammy years. Interesting how they are just erasing history.
Van Halen is treading in some dangerous waters and unless they find a way to handle this transition back to Roth with some dignity and respect for the Sammy years, they are going to alienate a great portion of their fans. Here's a video clip from the final rehearsal:
It's actually pretty good! Might even make you think about buying tickets to this tour. Let's not forget that just one year ago Dave was doing this:
And I repeat: Vegas oddsmakers predict this tour will implode before the 5th show.
"Never take it seriously, you never get hurt. Never get hurt, you can always have fun. And if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends." -Penny Lane
