I go into each weekend with the idea of living the perfect weekend. Since the majority of my life is spent in a gray box listening to bumpkins in Nachitoches, Louisiana trying to figure out how to send a text message I have to get the most out of my two days of freedom.
This weekend I did a respectable job of having a perfect weekend. Saturday I got up relatively early and deposited my paycheck in the bank and got my nocturnal emissions test done. Then it was over to Barnes 'n' Noble where I caved in and bought the new Guitar World with Eddie Van Halen on the cover. This is the first time I've bought a guitar magazine in probably 14 years. I got it for the CD-ROM, which features Eddie in his home studio talking about the new replica of his guitar that Fender guitars is putting out.
I had picked this up before and pondered buying it, but then reasoned that paying $8 to see an infommercial where Ed would tell me about his $28,000 guitar that I wouldn't buy even if I could afford it would be ridiculous. The inner 15-year-old in me that isn't at all far from the surface took over, though, and I wound up reporting to Barnes 'n' Noble and turning some more of my dollars over to Mr. Van Halen. There was a time when we were all bezerk over Van Halen but the opportunities to read his words were rare, and the opportunity to actually see him speak were nonexistant. So even if it's a grizzled Eddie who now slurs and speaks with forked tongue (he had the tip of his tongue removed due to cancer...I guess he can't honestly use that expression "it's right at the tip of my tongue" anymore) it's great to see Ed, Eddie, Edward, effusing about this guitar.
Then online at Half.com I bought Metallica's "black album." Mixing down one of my own tunes a couple of weeks ago I was A/B'ing my work with producer Bob Rock's work on Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood and was pretty satisfied with the comparison. However, since my tune was more Metallica-like, I decided I'd like to hear exactly what Rock did with their sound. Previously I've prided myself on only having material from the "real," pre-black album Metallica, but this should still prove interesting. Today I cracked further and bought Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge which I know is gonna be flaccid but for completist reasons I got it anyhow. It's only $3.52 total so I can't miss!
At work...I got my yearly evaluation which was good as usual, but then my boss harangued me because apparently I'm going offline to pee and get a cup of water too often. She actually had the sack to call it a "ethics issue." Then they also gave me a zero on a call evaluation for following one of their rules that's in direct opposition to one of their other rules. Yes, I have evidence, which I have shared with them, that the play book has two different sets of directions that are in total conflict, and two different departments are told it's the other department's issue. Not to mention I first brought this to their attention around late November or early December. I am a mental Gulliver among Lilliputians.
So that's what's up lately.
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Wait, there was more...I have discovered an amazing plethora of bootlegs at Diamond David Lee Roth.com, and availed myself to 6/30/1976 at the Starwood as well as 12/31/1977 at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. Last weekend I got 10/27/1977 Pasadena Civic Center, which I had before but this one includes the soundcheck, which is outstanding, and also a 1983 session at 5150 of Eddie, Alex and Mike all working on "Girl Gone Bad' for the 1984 album. It also has 10 or 15 minutes of Eddie just noodling by himself. What a blessing the Internet is!
And I did some cleaning.
That was the weekend.
Ed looks a little weird on the cover of that magazine, no? Almost like a wax figure of himself.
As for your review of your review...further proof that it's time to get the heck outta Fitzsimmons.
Happy Birthday.
No, not all Van Halen bootlegs are the same, particularly those club days ones. They do originals that never made it to the albums but are sometimes head and shoulders better than the album songs, and they also play all sorts of interesing covers. Plus Eddie was at the pinnacle of his powers when he was about 19 or 20. And the vibe is different from show-to-show. The 1977 soundcheck is really revelatory.
Yes, I know any respectable weekend entry should include at least one story of a threesome and vomiting Jack Daniels at 4 a.m., but who would come to my blog expecting that?
And not to be self-serving one bit, I posted on my blog for once. :)
And now over to your blog...