The World According to Josh

Tonight another dream of mine came true: to see Van Halen with David Lee Roth live in concert.

I have been a faithful Van Halen follower since the late 70’s when Eddie Van Halen’s first released guitar solo Eruption changed the world of electric guitar and rock and roll forever. Every rock guitar player today knows the name Eddie Van Halen and is influenced by him one way or another.

But I saw Eddie do his thing live on three different occasions before tonight…twice in Honolulu, Hawaii and once right here in Houston, but with Sammy Hagar as the front-man. Tonight I finally got to see the original Van Halen (almost…bassist Michael Anthony is no longer with the band) with David Lee Roth, yes, Diamond Dave himself, fronting the band once again.

Be it known that I LOVE Sammy Hagar, even before he joined Van Halen. He will always be the Red Rocker, and now the heavy metal equivalent to Jimmy Buffet, with his Wabo-rita-let’s-all-go-to-Mexico and eat-fish-and-wear-aloha-shirts-and-drink-Mas-Tequila attitude-with-a-different-latitude. Some of my favorite Van Halen songs/moments come from when Sammy was with the band. But there is something amazing about being able to say that I indeed saw David Lee Roth with the band live, in concert, in Houston. They simply kicked ass.

Eddie was sober and healthy looking. Alex never missed a beat on drums. New bassist Wolfgang laid low but was able to have a few moments in the spotlight. Roth was same old Roth…tons of attitude, martial arts and sexual innuendo. Oh, and he can still sing, too.

I will say this about Roth’s vocal chops of present: I think I can Roth-Hawk better than he can. In most songs tonight, when we expected him to make his signature sqwuak of a scream, he just wouldn’t do it. His voice must be thrashed from “all those crazy years gone past”. I didn’t mind helping him him out, even though I was sitting in nosebleed seats at the Toyota Center. Actually, my friend mentioned tonight that this would be the last time he settled for the cheaper seats, because it’s just too important of an occasion to be trying to save a couple of bucks. I have to agree.

The sound mix, at least from my angle, left much to be desired, but it didn’t seem to matter after a few songs. The band just drew us all into their catalog of songs from the old Van Halen days, not one of them being a song from after 1984 (the year and the album). OK, for all of the geeks out there who really need it to be said, yes, technically there was one passage of music that was not written until about 1990 or so. The 316 bit that Eddie did for his solo. There, I mentioned it, now go get a life.

In an effort to get this blog out there, I will end my comments here for now. Following is the setlist from the show last night and some notes. I hear Van Halen is touring well into April. I hope you all get a chance to see them!

Setlist and notes:

• You Really Got Me
• I’m the One
• Running with the Devil
• Romeo Delight (Wolfgang tapping on bass…not bad)
• Roth on Harmonica/Scat leading into…
• Somebody Get Me A Doctor
  • During the breakdown of the song, they go into a Crossroads tribute. Nice!
• Beautiful Girls
• Dance the Night Away
  • (Dave’s hat trick. His top hat is magically held up by his crotch.)
• Atomic Punk (without all of the Roth-hawk screams…sigh.)
• Everybody Wants Some
  • (Roth vocal imitation of a Harley - impressive! vs Eddie’s guitar. Eddie won! I also loved how when Dave finally got around to the line “I like the way the line runs down the back of your stockings” the crowd went nuts!)
• So This Is Love
• Mean Street (That tapping is still just as impressive as the first time I heard it!)
• Pretty Woman
• Alex Drum Solo
• Unchained (Wolfgang gets to say “C’mon Dave, gimme a break”)
• I’ll Wait (canned keyboard parts)
• The Cradle Will Rock (also canned keys)
• Hot For Teacher
• Little Dreamer
• Little Guitars (I almost lost my mind that they actually played one of my faves…this lesser known track)
• Jamie’s Cryin’ (great but hard not to hear Tone Loc’s Wild Thing now. Damn him!)
• Dave acoustic guitar/storytelling
  • He talked about the actual ice cream truck his friend had. They threw away the ice cream and kept the beer cold for the party that night. Also about how he sang this song to his Mexican girlfriend? OK, Dave.
• Ice Cream Man
• Panama
• Eddie Guitar Solo
  • Little Guitars intro
  • Spanish Fly
  • 316
  • Drum stick tapping blues
  • Cathedral
  • Eruption
• Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love
• Encore: 1984/Jump

Over 2 hours solid of Rock and Roll history I was very glad to be a part of! Somebody give me a shot!

Here’s a decent video from a different night showcasing a few of the songs. Thanks to youtube user VandeGroep.

Concert, Music Review

IMG_0889, originally uploaded by heyjosh.

I still can’t believe that when I say “my kids”, I am now referring to 4 instead of 3. I had 3 kids for over 6 years, so I was getting used to it. I look forward to getting used to this, too.

I really liked this picture and wanted to share it. I’m sure there will be more. Thanks for putting up with my doting on the new baby and all.

Josh

Family, Flickr

Especially Office 2007.

It didn’t last 20 minutes with me. I cannot find the proper words to desribe how painful and frustrating this “upgrade” is. First off, every app looks like a Smurf sneezed all over it. It’s pale blue everything! I have nothing against blue, but this blue blew! It was actually hurting my eyes, looking at everyday emails in Outlook.

Office 2007 is the version for Vista, but can also run in XP. I can only imagine the sick feeling even avid Windows users are feeling, who just bought new machines that have Vista and Office 2007 installed.

Get this: If you don’t like the new “ribbon” interface (replaces traditional menu items at the top of each application), then you have to pay 30 bucks for a utility to get to look normal again. WTH??

I predict backpedaling on an enormous scale by Microsoft’s OS and Office Dev departments. And I never even tried Vista itself either… tsk tsk. Never will either. Get a clue, Microsoft! There are millions of us Windows users who would rather die than allow Macheads across the world feel one bit justified in their smug condescension!

Tech

IMG_0734, originally uploaded by heyjosh.

We caught Zoe smiling during a dream. Love the dimple too. I wonder what she’s dreaming about? Maybe about drowning in a sea of breasts? Oh wait, that was my dream…

Family, Flickr Zoe

Seth just LOVES the crying sound, originally uploaded by heyjosh.

This picture just cracks me up! It was the first time that our 3 first kids were able to hold Zoe, Sarah going first. While taking photos of the moment, Zoe cried just a little bit and we snapped Seth’s (left) reaction.

Isn’t he gonna just be a great daddy?

So far, I am OK with the little bit of crying that Zoe does. She is still SO cute and her cry is so tiny that it’s not nerve-racking at all. I give a few weeks though, and I’ll probably end up looking like Seth here. Eep!

-Josh

PS I now have my flickr account tied to this blog so I may decide to blog a picture or two straight to the blog via Flickr, like I just did here. Kinda cool feature, really.

Family, Flickr

I’m in love again! Zoe came into the world on January 12, 2008 at 12:57 pm in Houston, Texas. She weiged in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces and measured 20.75 inches long. I was right there when she took her first breath and I am still amazed at emotion and feelings that sweep over me, this being our fourth child.

Family, Personal Zoe

Trish sums it all up here. We are fine, and this is a blessing!

http://berryflower.blogspot.com/2008/01/psyche.html

See you tomorrow!

Family Family