Funny, but I always thought it'd be Diamond Dave, not EVH...

[Van]

...who'd eventually end up in this sort of morass...




EDDIE VAN HALEN Collaborates With Adult-Film Director: Audio, Video Available - July 27, 2006

Jared Rutter of AVN.com reports that rock superstar Eddie Van Halen has joined forces with adult director Michael Ninn to write and perform two songs for the upcoming Ninn Worx feature "Sacred Sin".

Although several big-name rappers have contributed material to XXX movies, Van Halen is probably the first major rock star to lend his name to an adult project.

Van Halen told AVN.com he's not bothered by possible criticism. "I'm working with a friend — very simple. I like his work," he said. "Michael Ninn is like a Spielberg to me: the imagery, the way he makes things look, just… sensual.

"We hooked up, I ended up doing the music, and it's some whompin-ass shit. I think it's the best work he's ever done, and me too. And more to come."

"Eddie is from Amsterdam, born and raised, and his interpretation of sex and music are all in one, so it wasn't a big step for him," Ninn told AVN.com in an exclusive interview.

He and Van Halen, he said, have been friends for "a couple of lifetimes, it seems like. It started out as him ringing me up to work on some music together. One thing just led to another, and it ended up, I had this movie in mind. We would sit at the piano — he has two grand pianos in the house — and play and talk all night long."

The project came to life as a result of "the things we talked about : life in general, imagery and the power of imagery. Sometimes as he'd play I'd walk around the estate and the story kind of came to me while I was there."

The Van Halen songs in "Sacred Sin" are "Rise" (mp3) and "Catherine" (mp3), a remix of the theme from Ninn's 2005 movie of the same name.

"One of the things that Eddie really, really liked," Ninn said, "was the theme from 'Catherine'. He did a remix, it still carries the melody, but it's got a 'Kashmir' / LED ZEPPELIN kind of feel to it now. A very, very powerful piece of music.”

He said Van Halen was "absolutely elated with the track," and the rocker himself confirmed, "If 'Catherine' doesn't move you, you're brain-dead."

The second song, "Rise", was a tune he had been working on already. "I heard it and just fell in love with it," Ninn said. Van Halen also contributed some "transitional piano pieces that are sprinkled throughout the movie." The rest of the music is the work of frequent Ninn collaborator Loren Alexander.

Ninn Worx will release "Sacred Sin" on September 13, distributed by Red Light District. The two-disc set will contain music videos for both Van Halen songs. "They're pretty powerful," Ninn said, calling his friend "an incredible performer who really comes to life when the cameras are on. He's a showman."

Read more at AVN.com.

To watch a video clip for "Rise", featuring an appearance by Eddie Van Halen...

Here's links -

Audio - Rise - http://www.ninnworx.com/sacredsin/music/rise_evh.mp3

Audio - Catherine
http://www.ninnworx.com/sacredsin/m...therine_evh.mp3

Video Clip -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ub8zh6CPoo




This is fucking embarrassing...and I'm only talking 'bout this new music!

AP, for once your riotous vomiting is nothing to be ashamed of here.

My god, how the mighty have fallen.

[Mister Bushice]

Eddie doesn't do Vai quite as well as Vai does.

[Headhunter]

Eddie doesn't do Vai quite as well as Vai does.

Rack!

It's ok, but it really does sound like a Vai knockoff rather than EVH

[mothster]

evh raised in amsterdam?

uhh, he moved to pasadena when he was like 8

[socal]

My god, how the mighty have fallen.

Ask your doctor if Viagra is right for you.



The porn director would have been better off with Carrot Top's brother.

[Atomic Punk]

This will make your day/night Van.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shrGEg50 ... ed&search=

Best solo I've heard him do.

[Mister Bushice]

yeah but that clip was what - 10 years ago or more? And the solo was a variation of eruption, from 20 plus years ago

It's too bad that booze has such a hold on him.

[Atomic Punk]

Yep.

Here's one of the many

Hear About it Later

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjDpa8qp ... ed&search=

[Van]

It's weird to see that solo clip of EVH now, mainly because it's plainly evident how simple he was in terms of his technique compared to so many of the more advanced players like Petrucci, Satriani, Gilbert, Vai, etc.

Vai, in particular, obviously.

Even Eddie's signature moves of tapping and whammy bar dive bombs are totally pedestrian by more modern day standards and he sure spent a lot of time simply doing the Santana thing where he just picks one string (and even just one note sometimes) really fast.

Eddie always sounded cool, absolutely, but it's easy to see how Vai went ahead and played Eddie's entire solo with just one hand when he was touring with DLR...

Anyway though, you gotta love the Spinal Tap thing where Eddie is just camped there in front of eighty seven 4x12 cabinets, all without grills. I sure hope that dude wore ear plugs.

Maybe that was his secret to dealing with DLR all those years...

What?
Huh?

What??

[Mister Bushice]

Yeah, I was surprised at how simple EVH's technique is too. I never saw him play before, I've only heard it.

Even Watching DLR in those videos. He borders on Male Cheerleader at times on stage, and when he has nothing to sing, he does that asthmatic scream.

they sure were fun back in the day, though.

[drummer]

It's weird to see that solo clip of EVH now, mainly because it's plainly evident how simple he was in terms of his technique compared to so many of the more advanced players like Petrucci, Satriani, Gilbert, Vai, etc.

Vai, in particular, obviously.

Even Eddie's signature moves of tapping and whammy bar dive bombs are totally pedestrian by more modern day standards and he sure spent a lot of time simply doing the Santana thing where he just picks one string (and even just one note sometimes) really fast.

Eddie always sounded cool, absolutely, but it's easy to see how Vai went ahead and played Eddie's entire solo with just one hand when he was touring with DLR...

Anyway though, you gotta love the Spinal Tap thing where Eddie is just camped there in front of eighty seven 4x12 cabinets, all without grills. I sure hope that dude wore ear plugs.

Maybe that was his secret to dealing with DLR all those years...

What?
Huh?

What??

I dunno if you ever heard that infamous mp3 of the guitar " battle " between Van Halen and Holdsworth at MI years back ( who are friends , BTW ) , but AH cleaned out EVH's clock , and left him in the dust . EVH sounds like he gave up after a few bars of some serious changes .

[Atomic Punk]

Eddie started it, it was a party band and they just were that. After Eddie and what once was a collection of personalities split the sheets, then =VH= died. Those 4 original crew members gelled and then the studio musicians capped in on their fame like Satriani and Vai.

Van, if Vai was so good, why did his time with DLR die off quickly? Anybody that can play can copy EVH, but you don't have the creative abilities by studio musicians/copycats. Several people from these boards have heard me live and I can copy EVH quite well with a Mesa Boogie Mk IV. (Going Dins, I have one of EVH's old guitars that is nothing more than an electronic package fitted with a body and neck). That simple.

You guys that get wrapped up into Satch, Vai, Holldsworth are missing the whole point. That point being, they are technically better, but can they create tha party feel?

No, they cannot.

Check this out! Mini Shrubb meltdown sans personal info that let's Martard target American posters with Hezbollah freedon fighter's RPG's over the Niagra Falls locale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7P3UDkx ... ted&search

I hope you've learned your lesson.

-Scott :kisses;

[Van]

Those 4 original crew members gelled and then the studio musicians capped in on their fame like Satriani and Vai.

Neither Vai nor Satch have ever been "studio musicians", along the lines of a Larry Carlton or Steve Lukather.

Satch has been a solo artist his whole career and Vai's always been a hired gun for touring, writing and recording, before he went off on his solo career.

Van, if Vai was so good,

There's no "ifs" about it. Vai is so good. As a writer/innovator/player Vai's in a class of guitar players where roll call takes all of about three seconds.

why did his time with DLR die off quickly?

Because Vai and especially Billy Sheehan soon grew sick of Dave's "note police" antics, that's why.

Telling players like Sheehan and Vai to calm their shit down to the point of being a pop band was never going to last. They took their paychecks and ran.

Vai's next phase in his career: the most important guitar movement of the 90s, headed by "Passion & Warfare", the single most critically acclaimed and influential guitar treatise since "Eruption"...

Anybody that can play can copy EVH, but you don't have the creative abilities by studio musicians/copycats. Several people from these boards have heard me live and I can copy EVH quite well with a Mesa Boogie Mk IV.

Betcha can't rip EVH's face off and crap down his neck with just one hand though, the way Vai can...

You guys that get wrapped up into Satch, Vai, Holldsworth are missing the whole point. That point being, they are technically better, but can they create tha party feel?

Holdsworth? Of course not. You don't ask Einstein to fix your leaky toilet. Then again, who's to say he couldn't, if he wanted to? A guy with that level of knowledge and skill could easily understand and create "Dance The Night Away" if he felt like it...

Obviously though the party going on in Holdsworth's head is just a bit more involved than that.

Satch? Fuck yeah, he can create a party feel!

"Satch's Boogie"??? Hello??

"Mystical Potato Head Groove Thang"?

"Summer Song"??

"Surfing With The Alien"?

That's a large part of what Satch does, the basic 4/4 pentatonic party groove thing.

Vai's quite capable of it as well, as evidenced by "Ladies Night In Buffalo", "Yankee Rose", "The Audience Is Listening", "Bad Horsie" and too many others to mention.

Thing is, again, asking Vai to just play party songs is just plain stupid. Bach never played birthdays.

No, they cannot.

Yes, they most certainly can, and have.

Here's the difference. Using the Bear Bryant analogy, Vai or Satch could take Eddie's, and beat Eddie, or they could take their own, and beat Eddie. Eddie couldn't even begin to compose and execute like Satch, much less Vai.

Eddie's strength was in writing cool pop rock songs, and in sublimating his ego at least long enough to let DLR turn that band into a household name. Eddie was a phenomenally influential player, and a very good one during that era, but as a guitar player he long ago shot his wad and gave up the ghost. He hasn't been relevant in over a decade and he was long ago left by the side of the road by more serious, dedicated and just plain better players like Satch and Vai.

For a good fifteen years or so now Eddie's been strictly living off his laurels while the guitar world continues to advance and leave him further and further in its rear view mirror...

[Van]

...who'd eventually end up in this sort of morass...



My god, how the mighty have fallen.

So Eddie is broke and his agent found a way to make him (and Eddie) some easy cash.

So what.

There is no way on God's green earth that EVH could've ever found himself broke and needing to do porn soundtracks to earn cash.

That guy could continue to live like a king the rest of his life just from his old Peavey royalties...

Besides, the "falling" I speak of isn't so much his choice of musical venue; no, it's the simple fact that he borderline sucks in these pieces. This is exactly what I'm talking abnout, vis a vis Vai. Eddie's attempting to do rock instrumentals, a la so many of his supposed guitar contemporaries...except he just sucks at it.

He can't do what they can do, but like AP said, they can easily do what he does. Often times, they actually do it better.

[Atomic Punk]

He can't do what they can do, but like AP said, they can easily do what he does. Often times, they actually do it better.

I couldn't have made this point within a Kenjetta glass of Mad Mountain Burgandy, a Mooreese tire injection of 4 to 5 pounds of air pressure into a hopeless hole looking for pressure, a Kaley injection of 1 & 1/4 inches of feeling scabs, (I'll let the bigger 1/8th of him pass with another poster that felt the same scabs), and such.

No fucking way.

Those lovesickles you slurp might be good, but who wants to see them play? That's my point.

[TenTallBen]

Hey Van,

Guess who I'll be going to see this Saturday....

[Mister Bushice]

Eddie's strength was in writing cool pop rock songs, and in sublimating his ego at least long enough to let DLR turn that band into a household name. Eddie was a phenomenally influential player, and a very good one during that era, but as a guitar player he long ago shot his wad and gave up the ghost. He hasn't been relevant in over a decade and he was long ago left by the side of the road by more serious, dedicated and just plain better players like Satch and Vai.

EVH, DLR, Vai, Satch, Pop rock.

Which of those two don't belong with the others?

Despite Eddies playing ability and songwriting ability, it's just a different class and style of music he writes and plays well, compared to the other two guitarists. Those porn pieces of his are forced to rely too heavily on the pick distortion, two handed tapping, and harmonics that worked well for his party pop rock anthems.

He'll have to dig a little deeper both theoretically and mechanically if he's going to work in the genre of instrumental prog rock. Those few tricks of his just won't fly in every song. I don't think he can do it.

IMO he really just needs to hook up with a decent high energy rock vocalist and stay on the path he was on. I know there are a lot of Van Hagar detractors here but it was quite a successful venture and certainly a step forward from Van Roth, technically and compositionally. It just wasn't as much mindless fun.

I'm just not so sure that Eddies ongoing battle with the bottle would allow that to happen, though.

[Atomic Punk]

Van loves technical things even though his love for a guy that is a better guitar player than EVH had this long career with DLR.

Yep, a sure fire "I'm better than you on guitar" is credible when Van trie's nto make excuses for the copycats that ripped-off Eddie and made squat, when their names are forgotten and Eddie is still bangin' it out... although a cheesy "Better left dead" soundtrack and the otheres.

Van, bow out as your boy might be "technically" better, but he is no Eddie Van Halen.

Fakers sign in below here:

________________

(one spot left Van)

[Mister Bushice]

I just see them (EVH vs Vai, Satch, etc.) as two different genres of music that really don't crossover.

But after watching EVH play on those videos, I WAS surprised at how simple his technique is.

but I also remember that when he discovered it - and discover it he did - he had to turn his back on stage at local LA gigs to hide it from everyone until after their breakthrough album was released.

[Van]

AP, G3 sells out every year, all over the world. I'd say there's plenty of people who want to hear them play, even if you don't. There's also no lack of Vai, Satch and Petrucci music equipment gear that continues to sell well, even to the point that Eddie left Peavey at least in part because he felt pushed to the side by Peavey's dedication to Joe Satriani and his whole line of JSX amps and other signature gear.

Meanwhile, what's Eddie doing these days?

Horrible soundtracks for porn.

Killing himself to where he now looks like Cruella Deville.

Not inspiring anybody, anywhere, anymore.

You're right. Vai's no Eddie Van Halen. Vai's healthy, happily married, fully in charge of his faculties and at the very peak of his (much loftier) playing ability. He's light years beyond Eddie as a performer and as a player, and the chasm between them will only continue to grow larger as Eddie spins further and further down the drain while Vai racks up more and more accolades and choice gigs throughout the music world.

Also, no, I don't subsist on "technical things". First off, I'm a blues player. Secondly, many of my favorite players (Clapton, B.B. King, Bily Gibbons, Page and even SRV) aren't really considered to be "technical" players. I don't require a bunch of technical flash.

I don't mind it either though, at least not when it's in the hands of someone who has a mastery of it, rather than being mastered by it.

A guy like Vai is an example of that. His technical prowess just gives him more bullets in his gun but he's still perfectly capable and willing to just fuck you up but good with a simple kick ass rock lick. He's not like some of those guys from the Mike Varney stable, where they literally are controlled by the metronome.

Vai creates, very well. That's why he plays. He doesn't need to impress with 64th notes. His thing is phrasing, where he displays a unique voice and unnatural talent.

[Qbert]

rAcK

[Mister Bushice]

You know, Diamond Dave DID end up in morass first:

6/14/2006

Dave To Appear June 15th On "Country Music Across America"

Nashville, Tenn (June 13, 2006)... CMA Music Fest (Fan Fair) is country music's busiest week and Storme Warren somehow managed to include all of the action on this week's "Country Music Across America," Thursday, June 15, 9:00 pm (EDT) on GAC.


Big & Rich make a special presentation to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum during the debut of the documentary behind their moving new single, "The 8th of November;" Jason Aldean celebrates a No. 1 hit; and rock icon David Lee Roth drops by to talk about his latest - "Strummin' With The Devil" a bluegrass tribute to his old band, Van Halen. Storme interviews Diamond Dave during his recent visit to Nashville.

"Country Music Across America:" the only entertainment news show on television solely dedicated to covering the world of country music.

More To Come So Stay Tuned...

For more information: http://www.countrymusicacrossamerica.com

[drummer]

Frank Zappa admired EVH for his " purity " of style , meaning that he sounded natural , and not contrived in his gutiar/musical style . EVH is techincally nowhere near what Vai has accomplished , but I will never believe that Satriani has had a bigger imapact musically than EVH . Satriani couldn't hold Bill Conners/Return to Forever era's jock . Hell , you want to hear some good 'ol soul playing with a EVH edge , just hear Foley McCrary with Miles Davis' last electirc band in the 90's , where Foley was playing a 4 string baritone Guitar .

I call bullshit on Satriani , Van . He ain't shit .

[drummer]

To add ...

Nobody has mentioned Randy Rhodes yet . If he had lived , he would had eclipsed everything you have heard today ( outside of Holdsworth ) . He already eclipsed EVH on Ozzy's second album .

His solo on " Over the Mountain " , complete with the accurate , musical whammy bar , is and was the shape of things to come .

[smackaholic]

Also, no, I don't subsist on "technical things". First off, I'm a blues player. Secondly, many of my favorite players (Clapton, B.B. King, Bily Gibbons, Page and even SRV) aren't really considered to be "technical" players. I don't require a bunch of technical flash.

Van, Whilst my guitar knowledge may be on par with jtr's intercourse knowledge, well, not that bad actually, I gotta call you on SRV's "technical" status. While his genre may not be known for technicality, he sure the fukk appeared to have it in spades to my admittedly untrained ear.

[Atomic Punk]

To add ...

Nobody has mentioned Randy Rhodes yet . If he had lived , he would had eclipsed everything you have heard today ( outside of Holdsworth ) . He already eclipsed EVH on Ozzy's second album .

His solo on " Over the Mountain " , complete with the accurate , musical whammy bar , is and was the shape of things to come .

Randy was a student of music. He took lessons from anyone just because he was a sponge and wanted to learn more. Even when he was OzzY's guitarist, he still took lessons from obscure teachers.

I'm talking about 4 guys that fit perfectly together and all had major talent. Van, none of your copycats would be where they are had it not been for Edward Van Halen and the cast dazzling the masses with a damn good show.

Those 80 speaker cabinets weren't lit up at once like the Spinal Tap reference suggested. The engineer would switch series of four cabinets and amps to let the tubes cool off during the concerts. So when Ed was standing by a stack, I'm pretty sure his hair wasn't getting blown forward. They just cycle the stacks and amps during concerts.

And Van, I think Gary Moore is the bomb... but this is a Van Halen thread. :winkieupyerstinkiebitch:

[Van]

EVH is techincally nowhere near what Vai has accomplished, but I will never believe that Satriani has had a bigger imapact musically than EVH .

I would never even begin to say that either Satch or Vai had anywhere near the musical impact of EVH.

Not even close. In terms of being influential Eddie's on a list of rock guitarists which really only includes three other names:

-Jimi Hendrix
-Jimmy Page
-Yngwie J. Malmsteen

Satch and Vai were both VERY influential, without a doubt, but not to the extent of a Van Halen. Satch and Vai only influenced the hard core guitar instrumentalist crowd. They helped to make that genre grow, to the point where bits and pieces of what they do have spilled over into more mainstream guitar playing.

Van Halen's guitar influence though, it's crossed nearly all musical borders. You even see blues and fusion guys occasionally copping some of Eddie's riffs and definitely that whole abominable tapping and whammy dives thing that nearly everybody dabbles in at least a little bit can be attributed directly back to Eddie.

Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page are no brainers. Those two defined rock guitar, both in terms of playing and composing. They set the table for everything that followed.

We don't arrive here, without them.

To a lesser degree Tony Iommi should also be included in that statement.

Many people would laugh at the inclusion of Yngwie but there's no denying his impact on the guitar world. Along with Eddie, Yngwie is almost solely responsible for every little kid you ever saw shredding in the 80s at Guitar Center. It might not've been Yngwie directly who everybody was copying but Yngwie was the direct inspiration for all those other guys those kids were trying to copy.

Randy Rhodes gets a little of that credit too, and actually more than he deserves, since he was but a very watered down version of what Yngwie introduced to the guitar world.

Satch? Just go ahead and take away "Surfing With The Alien" and "Flying In A Blue Dream" and even his G3 tours idea and the whole landscape of guitar throughout the late 80s, 90s and beyond looks quite different.

Otherwise, yeah, Satch is "all that." He's every bit as good as he's purported to be. He's nowhere near as technical and musically adventurous as Vai, sure, but he's note perfect, he never makes a mistake, he's every bit as blindingly fast as anybody else when he wants to be and he's a helluva lot more melodic than most of his pretenders.

He's also the best ambassador for instrumental rock we've ever had. He's the Ernie Banks of modern rock guitar intrumentalism.

[Van]

Also, no, I don't subsist on "technical things". First off, I'm a blues player. Secondly, many of my favorite players (Clapton, B.B. King, Bily Gibbons, Page and even SRV) aren't really considered to be "technical" players. I don't require a bunch of technical flash.

Van, Whilst my guitar knowledge may be on par with jtr's intercourse knowledge, well, not that bad actually, I gotta call you on SRV's "technical" status. While his genre may not be known for technicality, he sure the fukk appeared to have it in spades to my admittedly untrained ear.

To me, SRV is God. Make no mistake.

Best blues/jazzy blues player ever, and my #1 influence. Coolest fucker to ever bend a note.

Still, compared to an Allan Holdsworth, Al DiMeola, Stanley Jordan or Steve Vai, well, SRV's level of technical prowess was minimal at best.

No fault of SRV's, either. Relatively speaking, blues is just not that technical of a guitar playing genre.

[mothster]

To add ...

Nobody has mentioned Randy Rhodes yet . If he had lived , he would had eclipsed everything you have heard today ( outside of Holdsworth ) . He already eclipsed EVH on Ozzy's second album .

His solo on " Over the Mountain " , complete with the accurate , musical whammy bar , is and was the shape of things to come .

Randy was a student of music. He took lessons from anyone just because he was a sponge and wanted to learn more. Even when he was OzzY's guitarist, he still took lessons from obscure teachers.

I'm talking about 4 guys that fit perfectly together and all had major talent. Van, none of your copycats would be where they are had it not been for Edward Van Halen and the cast dazzling the masses with a damn good show.

Those 80 speaker cabinets weren't lit up at once like the Spinal Tap reference suggested. The engineer would switch series of four cabinets and amps to let the tubes cool off during the concerts. So when Ed was standing by a stack, I'm pretty sure his hair wasn't getting blown forward. They just cycle the stacks and amps during concerts.

And Van, I think Gary Moore is the bomb... but this is a Van Halen thread. :winkieupyerstinkiebitch:

regarding speakers--i read somewhere that eddie said only the bottom speakers were on and top stacked speakers were just scenery (i.e. diver down album pic with eddie in cap)

[Van]

Randy was a student of music. He took lessons from anyone just because he was a sponge and wanted to learn more. Even when he was OzzY's guitarist, he still took lessons from obscure teachers.

Randy was fucking awesome. Awesome chops, awesome tone...and a good guy, to boot.

Even so, Randy himself admitted that he was no Yngwie. Yngwie was still just a relative unknown in America but Randy knew of him and he knew Yngwie was on a whole other level.

Randy was scratching the tip of the iceberg.

Yngwie was the iceberg.

I'm talking about 4 guys that fit perfectly together and all had major talent. Van, none of your copycats would be where they are had it not been for Edward Van Halen and the cast dazzling the masses with a damn good show.

Agreed.

Eddie's influence and his ability (along with DLR's, by playing the carnival barker role to the hilt...) to popularize heavy guitar playing are inestimable. No doubt the world Vai and Satch inherited would've looked quite a bit different were it not for the explosion that was "Eruption".

Then again, the world Eddie inherited wouldn't have been the same were it not for messers Clapton and Holdsworth.

Those 80 speaker cabinets weren't lit up at once like the Spinal Tap reference suggested. The engineer would switch series of four cabinets and amps to let the tubes cool off during the concerts. So when Ed was standing by a stack, I'm pretty sure his hair wasn't getting blown forward. They just cycle the stacks and amps during concerts.

Speaking of Spinal Tap, I recently saw Yngwie in a tiny club.

Dude had something like 17 Plexi heads and an equal number of 4x12 Marshall cabinets onstage. This was in a club that sat maybe 200 people.

Of course, only two of the heads were lit up...



Nonetheless, it was the loudest show I've ever experienced. Because I was standing only ten feet or so away and directly in front of Yngwie's lit stacks my shirt was literally being blown against my chest by his Marshalls. It felt like wind. It got to the point that every time Yngwie would hit a high note and use his tremolo arm for vibrato we in the audience would literally cover our ears.

Most painfully piercing volume I hope to never experience again.

And Van, I think Gary Moore is the bomb...

Agreed. I'd include him on any list of all time most underrated players. Dude has some of the best tone ever.

[Atomic Punk]

Damn, you've seen Yngwie in person? Dude, I'm not bagging on the artists you've mentioned. I just wanted for you to recognize Eddie's influence and that others wouldn't be shit without him breaking the ice.

I've had my run ins with rockers waaaay A buddy sold me my current setup and lived next to the Van Halen's. He is the guy that is friends with former RATT guitarist Warren DiMartini. Just living down there was life as a USC student. DiMartini was the reason I bought a Mesa Boogie Mk IV after seeing his personal setup.

I'm so Dins/Zyed up right now that I want to make ass candles for the tards to enjoy.

Lastly, I want to make it clear I'm not bagging on your guitar heros. I appreciate them as well. Eddie, is a product of Clapton and he likes Holdsworth. AH's influence is clearly heard on the album 1984.

Ed is going to live another 10 years and die of cirrhosis like his father Jan. He chased away the band after blaming them and I'll never forget the story of Ed drinking hard alcohol daily outside the studio in his backyard under the gazeebo.

Valerie had enough of his act and it's too bad.

[Van]

AP, yeah, I've seen Yngwie live, twice. The first time was with Satch and Vai at the Reno G3 tour a couple years ago. The most recent time was just a few months ago at a tiny club called Harlowes, in Sacramento...





...where my buddy and I were literally only ten feet from his lit up amps, stage right.

As you can see here he's lost a lot of the weight since the G3 Tour a couple years ago, when he was just a leather bedecked William Perry.

As for your going Dins/Zy on us here, hell, I've got you beaten so badly that it's downright embarrassing in the telling...

Briefly though...

-I used to know Randy Rhodes and his mom, when we all grew up together in the San Fernando Valley.

Great guy, and a huge Yngwie fan, even though Yngwie was still a relative unknown at that time in America. It was Randy who first told me about Yngwie. He felt he couldn't hold a candle to Yngwie. He felt Yngwie was the Real Deal while he was just a student dabbling at learning what Yngwie'd already mastered.

-Hung out one afternoon with some buddies at Yngwie's rented Northridge house, following his huge Jaguar crash.

Funny dude, and very candid, as you might expect.

He thought Rhodes was good but hugely overrated by a guitar public that was simply too ignorant to understand that nothing Randy was doing was the least bit new or innovative...other than the fact that he was being heard on the radio doing it, due to playing with Ozzy.

-Played guitar for Delany Bramlett (of Eric Clapton, "Bonnie & Delaney" and "Derek & The Dominoes" fame), in his apartment, through his home stereo!

I was there with a buddy who told me he was just going to this guy's place to pick up a guitar but as it turned out he was really there to give Delany Bramlett some pot!

Dude decided to audition me right there on the spot for some upcoming tour, but he was so fucked up that even though he offered me the gig right then and there I'm sure he didn't even remember the whole episode the next day and I never heard from him again.

My dumbass buddy thought the whole thing a hoot, especially knowing how much I'm anti drugs.

-Accidentally jammed with Joe Walsh at a guitar store on Ventura Bl, in the Valley.

Some guy was sitting with his back to the counter, playing an unplugged electric. I plugged in and started playing on the bench behind him.

Finally, this guy starts playing along with me, through an amp, just comping some rhythm lines beneath me.

"Sounds good, man!", he finally says when he turns around after we were done blindly screwing around together for a few minutes.

Yeah, I was all...



...when I first heard that unmistakable voice and then I saw the face to go with the voice.

-Met Bruce Dickenson in a tiny Northridge music store. Fuck, he's a midget.

-At the recent San Francsico movie premier of the "Tokyo G3" DVD (Petrucci, Vai and Satch) I got the opportunity to talk with Satch and his drummer for awhile about prospective G3 guys for possible future shows.

Their Yngwie war stories are classics. They (the drummer, Joe and Vai) hold Steve Morse in the highest esteem and they'd absolutely love to get Holdsworth on a G3 tour but the promoters say Holdsworth wouldn't fill enough seats to make it viable.

They're working on scheduling Morse and DiMeola, with Morse being highest on their list as he's already guested on some G3 shows.

I also met Vai, bit only insofar as it was an informal meet and greet where we said hello, shook hands and that was that...

Other than maybe Ken Norton Sr Vai probably has the biggest fucking hands I've ever seen. Go to the Hollywood Guitar Center some day and check out their "Walk Of Fame" in front of the store, where they have all the signed cement handprints in the walkway out front.

Check out the size of Vai's meathooks compared to Eddie's, Page's and Jeff Beck's. They're all grouped right together in what's definitely the coolest grouping in that whole display. I think only Chuck Berry's handprints are close to the size of Vai's...

[Qbert]

Van, AP

RACK you and your experiences!

how does Jeff Beck fall into "the BEST?"

for me its:

Page
Beck
Hendrix
Yngvie
Vai
Chuck
SRV
EC
Satrioni
maybe EVH

(there's a few Blues guys my brain is missing...i'm stuck on Robert Cray...)

EVH has been a great contributor over his career.

but Porn Tracks now?

gives a new meaning to "tapping."

Jeff Beck has to be Top 5 "all time."

[socal]

He's also the best ambassador for instrumental rock we've ever had. He's the Ernie Banks of modern rock guitar intrumentalism.

What's this we've stuff? Show me your ring, playa.

:P

[Dinsdale]

but it's easy to see how Vai went ahead and played Eddie's entire solo with just one hand when he was touring with DLR...

I saw that...1986, I think it was. Awesome. Totally awesome. Stevie, who at that time was relatively unknown to the masses, was stepping into some pretty big shoes doing the DLR gig, especially after Dave told the world he was touring with "the guy who's better than EVH."

And Vai stood there on the front of the stage, at the loudest show I've ever been to...which is saying a lot...and ripped up Eruption, with one hand, while playing with his hair with the other hand. Truly awesome. Just shredding it. He didn't play the ending of the solo -- he left that for Billy Sheehan.


EHV might very well be the most overrated guitarist that ever lived. Although, at least he plays music that's somewhat enjoyable to listen to -- unlike Yngwie...who is completely unlistenable. And a HORRIBLE human being, to boot.

[TheArtist]

guitar store on Ventura Bl, in the Valley.

I met Tom Petty in that same store.

Where do you rank Brian Setzer, Van?

[BSmack]

As you can see here he's lost a lot of the weight since the G3 Tour a couple years ago, when he was just a leather bedecked William Perry.

He's LOST weight? Are you fucking serious? Dude looks like he could still sign on to play the lead role in the Life and Times of Meatloaf.

Musicaly speaking, the only time I was ever impressed by Yngwie was when he was covering Ritchie Blackmore songs with Graham Bonnet. His instrumental shit is nothing more than boring, souless, techno wanking that is sadly missing anything even remotely resembling feeling or direction.

[Van]

B, yep, that picture shows that he'd lost a ton of weight from his G3 tour days, when he had to be pushing 300 lbs.

Serious, serious drinking problem. Dude sure loves his Heinekens.

In fact, the best road story Satch and his drummer toldd me about Wingnut had to do with beer...

Seems Yngwie decided during the G3 tour that he and he alone would get his band's entire allotment of beer. Apparently each band had riders in their contracts specifying what they were to get in their dressing rooms, and the assumption there was that Yngwie's band would share the X amount of beer they were allotted.

Nope. Yngwie decided it was all his.

Like Dins said, he's quite often thought to be a horrible person, and I can definitely see it. On the other hand though he has legions of defenders who point to stories of the real Yngwie, who they say is a pretty decent and even humble dude.

I know he seemed like a decent enough guy when I met him. He was candid and forthright, sure, but he wasn't a jerk or anything. Funny guy, definitely, and even with an injured hand it was pretty amazing to watch him absent mindedly shredding on an unplugged electric as he spoke.

He can hold a conversation while simply killing it on a guitar in the same way most people can hold a conversation while absent mindedly tapping a pen on a table.

Dude's physical facility on the instrument, man, it's just hard to imagine. It's so ingrained in him that it's easy as breathing to him.

Anyway, even Satch and his drummer said that after seeing the way he treats his bandmates they'd never want to work for Yngwie but they wouldn't mind touring with him again, not at all. They said they had no problems with him at all and that he really tried to fit in with the other G3 acts.

Anybody who saw that tour can relate to what they're saying. Yngwie was bending over backwards trying to be "one of the boys" onstage with Satch and Vai; sometimes to the point of seeming embarrassment on their part. They often times seemed to regard him as some sort of big, sloppy, out of control St Bernard who just wanted everybody to love him. You couldn't help but scratch him behind his ears because he was just a big dopey galoot...

And for all that, and for all his goofy antics on stage that tour, he still absolutely kicked ass on guitar. Bottom line.

[drummer]

Jeff Beck has to be Top 5 "all time."

RACK !!

[Dinsdale]

His instrumental shit is nothing more than boring, souless, techno wanking that is sadly missing anything even remotely resembling feeling or direction.

Oh, no way dude. Playing the same scale over and over and over and over and over is really COOL!

Sin,
5th grade band class



Remember that one tune where Yngwie plays the pentatonic scale really really fast?

Nah, I don't remember that one, either...wait...it's every single measure of every single song he ever played...my bad.


"And now for my next number, I'm going to play the pentatonic scale very quickly."