From Ross Halfin: VAN HALEN was AMAZING with Wolfie!

[James in New York]

December 13

Head off to meet up with Edward Van Halen. It is hot today and I'm in black which doesn't help my thumping head. I feel like I'm being cooked in the sun - tortured...

Edward is in a great mood, he's easy to work with. And I'm not saying who or what I shot, but I will tell you Edward played a couple of cds which I thought were from 1978 (it was from two days ago) of Van Halen rehearsing with Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. It was jaw-droppingly amazing. They played On Fire, I'm The One, Atomic Punk. I'm not listing the rest, but I will tell you the band sounded untouchable. On Jamie's Crying they did a long bass-lead jam on the intro - the band rocked. I don't like that word (too American) but the band rock - really rock. It was as exciting as the first time I saw them. They will come back and destroy the world. One of the tightest, freshest sounding groups ever. I want to go and play the first album as soon as I get home. Had a blast listening to them, it made me remember why I liked music in the first place. Having Edward's son on bass has rejuvenated them.

They were rehearsing later that afternoon. I was invited - I wish I was staying...Got to LAX and got moved to the front of the plane. I was going to shoot the night sky, but couldn't get motivated. I'm still feeling ill - I should have stayed and watched Van Halen.

Bumpy flight, I write this over the Green Mountain Reservoir above the Denver Rocky Mountains. We start to be thrown all over the place...


Some new pictures of Van Halen - Vintage Van Halen... See more Van Halen...

[James in New York]

And I'm not saying who or what I shot

Uh huh...

Bet it was DLR...

[Raldo]

Sounds like VH could be back in a way not seen or heard in a long, long time!!!

[Number 47]

Label me as you see fit, but that's the first time I've gotten excited about ANYTHING Van Halen since the first rumors started trickling out.

[Bad to the Bone]

nice that wolfie's been in the band for 3 months and he gets long bass lead in jam to songs but mike was in the band for what 25 years and he could barely get a bass solo let alone any kind of bass led jam leading into anything.....

[vanzefflin]

I'm sure ol' Ross is one helluva judge of bass playing.

Extended bass intro for Jamies Cryin.................Thump.....thump thump..thump thump..da da da da..thump...........................

[noise next door]

I most likely wasn't Wolf's playing that made the tapes sound great... it was probably more the fact that Wolf is inspiring his Dad to play with more passion... and when Eddie plays well, Al plays well too..

[Bigdaddy_14]

great to hear they sound good...still not sold on the kid being in the band, but oh well. Please God, new music????

[valdez44]

ok.....maybe I'm clueless, but who the fuck is Ross Halfin????

[Rocket]

Maybe the negativity that Ed felt toward Sammy and Mike had a hand in his poor performance in 2004.

2007 seems to be shaping up to a VH year to remember.

[Greenpaw]

ok.....maybe I'm clueless, but who the fuck is Ross Halfin????

I know who he is and I ask that same question LOL


He's photographer, I think he shoots mostly for the music biz?

But it seems as though he's Van Halen's spokesperson these days

[vanzefflin]

ok.....maybe I'm clueless, but who the fuck is Ross Halfin????

A photographer with a bad ear.

[NOaverageJOE]

Hey, if this is what it takes to get Ed motivated, I'd gladly accept Wolfgang as long as he can play. It'd be better to see people who love each other on stage, rather than two guys who have to fake it the whole time. Perhaps Wolfie is keeping his dad stable. I can't imagine how Roth will fit in with this, but maybe they all just want to play the old songs together again? I see it as a coincidence, really. Wolfie likes the DLR era and...what do you know...we don't have a singer again? I can see how this feels right to them. As for Mike, I'm not so sure he wants to be with these guys anymore, anyway. He seems mighty happy with Sammy, and that's awesome. And before you say anything, I'd still rather Mike be there, but not if he and Eddie are miserable about it.

[ziggysmalls]

And I'm not saying who or what I shot

Uh huh...

Bet it was DLR...

Wrong.

It was either David Coverdale or Sebastian Bach

I am glad to hear this though. I think Eddie is out to prove a point and is not wanting the naysayers to be proven right.

[NOaverageJOE]

Maybe the negativity that Ed felt toward Sammy and Mike had a hand in his poor performance in 2004.
2007 seems to be shaping up to a VH year to remember.

This is all hypothetical, but I think what happened was these guys met up, Sammy and Al were aching to get on the road, and Eddie wanted to release an album first. He was probably a little rusty and not used to performing since he had six years off. So, he showed Sammy some songs in which Sammy eventually wrote shitty lyrics to, and the producer and Eddie told him to try again. This probably happened a few times, and Eddie became frustrated. Al probably convinced Ed to let Sammy just do a few songs since WB wanted to release the double-disk. The tour was being scheduled this whole time, and Ed probably was bitter over not getting new material out other than a few songs. He drank a lot, practiced sparingly, and things were awkward, but friendly with Sammy as the tour began since everyone was hyped over the crowd response. His drinking became worse and Sammy or Mike probably told him his playing was suffering. That's when I'm guessing Ed lost it and continued on an even bigger downward spiral in which he pushed everyone but Al away. Al probably didn't want to side with Ed, but had to. And I totally think there were times Ed played badly just to spite Sammy, but there were other times he just sounded too messed up to even hold a guitar. This coming tour, my friends, will be the return of King Edward. He's got two loyal family members with him this time, and even if Roth gives him problems, their rivalry may actually get him to play better. At least that's how it used to be.