Ed, Sending you out thanks and well wishes...

[panama francis]

Dear Friends, Fans, and Eddie,
I just received a current guitar mag (Guitar World March 2003) that rightly has proclaimed Eddie as "THE Hall of Famer Guitarist." CONGRATS Eddie! All of us who have been scouring over web pages both legit and speculative have obviously missed Eddie and VH greatly and we all seem to take this silence out verbally in different emotional fashions. I think what most of seem to forget at times, myself included, is that Eddie is human. Besides being probably one of if not the greatest musicians to play the guitar and reinvent the instrument since Hendrix in rock music, it is often easy to overlook the fact that this man has had other great achievements as well as "personal issues" that make up his spotlight persona that are personal issues. Paul McCartney once said in a interview after being quizzed so much about, "well what about when Lennon said this, or someone said that, and etc." And Paul pointed out that as sad as it is that John is no longer with us, when someone dies as powerful as John Lennon, there is an aura of Martyrdom that is achieved. Since John is no longer with us to speak for himself, it is way TOO easy to speculate what he would now say, day, deny, retract, re-phrase, etc., if he were still living. I think many of us follow this same m.o. even though Eddie is still VERY much alive (thank God!) regarding Ed's silence. Since Ed is silent mostly for whatever reason(s) and is not posting comments daily, monthly, and/or annually to spill his guts, many of us try to do it for him with no regard really to this person as a individual who has endured a LOT of ups and downs over the past few years. Most of tend to not care much about Ed's personal life as much as fighting/debating/demanding the agenda of Eddie and VH's next move: reunion with Dave, Sammy, new person, no person, no more VH period, etc. And I'm as guilty if not more so than many other fans. I'm 34, never got to see any of the VH lineups in person and the only real taste I ever got have been grainy and shoddy bootleg videos giving me a glimpse into what was the once almighty Van Halen back in the "Dave days." However, as a dude who grew up prior to the days of MTV (sure I got it later), I got to enjoy the simpler days of going out and buying albums, yes the big 12" vinyl ones, that starting with VH's first album which changed music forever. Things were different then, without video's and TV concert shows, I sat holding these albums looking at the covers and reading the liner notes over and over and over trying to visualize what this EVH cat and Dave, Alex, and Michael were like visually. Those were magical days when so much was left up to the imagination prior to MTV. And shortly therafter indeed did come MTV giving me and many others a "taste" of what these guys were about LIVE! This gave me a whole new perspective of what a talent EVH and the entire band were and frankly, still are, and always will be. Then over time, things changed; Dave was gone, Sammy came, Dave was maybe in/out, Sammy left, Gary came, Gary left, then the lights seemed to go out completely at the Van Halen camp. For many of us, this was unacceptable completely. As fans we feel somewhat entitled to every bit of business that really is not our privilage to begin with. Eddie struggles like any man and though most of us in our public lives get the anonymity we like, Ed gets shafted. And we don't need to sugar coat what Eddie himself has confessed many times over; struggles with alcohol and chemical demons, a twenty year realtionship that sadly ended, and most of all, CANCER. Can any of us really say that word and not relate it to a friend, a relative, an acquintance we know who was given this terrible diagnosis and survived it or maybe died from it. It is a seriously tragic condition regardless of how it pans out. Try for just one millisecond to imagine getting this diagnosis yourself and all of the implications it brings up. Would you or I feel like bearing our soul all over the world wide web this news along with EVERYTHING else that has been difficult realities in our lives? I wouldn't and Ed deserves our compassion and understanding more than we have given him. We lose so many great people every year to disease and so many other tragic ways of passing that just don't make sense or seem fair. It ain't fair! I think the greatest ray of light and hope that we can have as friends and fans of Eddie and Van Halen past, present, and future is that Eddie is still with us. And we know deep down I think that we have NO idea what he is going through personally right now. I think we need to rally around Eddie, regardless of how jaded we feel about the absence left by Van Halen not being front and center. Eddie earned all he has and yes we supported that and feel that we need him still. We do need you Eddie! But we need you when you are ready and feeling good, not just because out of personal selfishness we DEMAND a version of Van halen RIGHT NOW even if Ed and everyone else is content with time off to live a personal life for the time being. Always remember, TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED! LIVE your life, don't try to live others lives. We have waited repeatedly and tragically many times until so many brilliant musicians have passed to state how much they meant to us. Let's send Ed our love and wishes NOW! Ed, you changed my life for the better in a million different ways over the years and you are a hero to me in many ways. So is Van Halen, you all (in every lineup) have given us SO much, the least we can do is give you some space. You are loved, cherished, and missed greatly so take care for now. Many of us are just hoping you know that we will be here when you are ready to come back when it feels right for you, not for us.
Peace and Love,
~Panama Francis 1-29-2003

[Zahzoo]

Nice 1st post!!! Welcome!!!

word... paragraphs...

[LittleGuitars99]

Thumbs Up [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img] man, thats a incredible post,I agree with you 100%, problem is though like most things for every one great VH fan you have ten losers, and there are alot of those selfish assholes on here.
I myself see Van Halen as the most positive thing in my life through the good and bad, there should be no negative and you can tell you are a true fan.Again great post.. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[beautifulgirls316]

Panama my friend- YOU HIT THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD! My feelings exactly. Eddie as a person, will ALWAYS come first. Hang in there, and best wishes to my EDDIE

[PHOENIX]

Fuck this bullshit. The fans deserve to know whats going on. The real truth. George Harrison was dying and he was working on music and it finally got released after his death. Eddie is not dying folks.

[ED-A-HOLIC]

YOU ARE CORRECT!!!!!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

WE LOVE YOU EDDIE!!!!

COME BACK WHEN IT'S THE CORRECT TIME FOR YOU.

I wish most fans thought like you panama francis, it's a shame some "fans" only demand things when the TIME, IS FOR SUPPORT.

[marfish5150]

[img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img] Nice!!! [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[loser]

Originally posted by PHOENIX:
Fuck this bullshit. The fans deserve to know whats going on. The real truth. George Harrison was dying and he was working on music and it finally got released after his death. Eddie is not dying folks.

Yeah!
I agree!

[skiler78]

Originally posted by loser:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by PHOENIX:
Fuck this bullshit. The fans deserve to know whats going on. The real truth. George Harrison was dying and he was working on music and it finally got released after his death. Eddie is not dying folks.

Yeah!
I agree! </font>[/QUOTE]I actually don't think the fans "deserve" shit. If VH still exists and wants to give more, they will. If they don't they wont. They have as much right to privacy and downtime as anyone.

[VH Spirit Lives On]

Hey Folks,
Eddie Van Halen is a guitar God genius extraordinaire. No question about it. But the guy is also nuttier than a fruit cake. His behavior can be down right weird. OK, I forgot how rich he was... Let me say that he is... ahem... excentric.

The man marches to the beat of his own drummer (no not Alex, his own inner voices). That's what makes Eddie Eddie. If he thought like everyone else, he would play like everyone else, and we wouldn't be sitting here 25 years later writing about the guy.

Let's face facts, he is not insynch with his fans. But that's cool with me. The guys tunes are worth the wait. I read grownups on this board boo-hooing over Eddie not wishing them a Merry Christmas on his site, not acknowledging the 25 anniversary, not doing this or that. As Dave once said, "On behalf of Van Halen and most particularly myself, fu.. you!"

Eddie doesn't owe us anything. He has given more for our entertainment than any other guitar player I can think of. Grow up and move on. If he makes more music, cool. I'll be first in line buying the CD. If not, thanks for the good times.

[ec_anarchy]

Originally posted by PHOENIX:
Fuck this bullshit. The fans deserve to know whats going on. The real truth. George Harrison was dying and he was working on music and it finally got released after his death. Eddie is not dying folks.

There should be an Arrogance Hall of Fame put your statements into.

You don't deserve anything.
You don't know if Eddie is dying or not (by your own admission the "fans" don't know the real truth).
What George Harrison did with his life is his choice. No one is required to follow suit.