Dude, I get more profound with every beer"To begin with, I am not a religious or spiritual person. I do believe in the advancement of society and human civilization for us to progress as a race of beings, but not for any spiritual reward. For most of my life, I pretty much subscribed to the notion that everything I needed to know in life came from either Star Trek or Star Wars. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..." , "Anger, fear, aggression...these lead to the dark side", "Hold me like that time you did near the lake at Naboo" and so on.
Instead of following the teachings of some sci fi movies that many others follow, I think I'll start my own cult. I'm going to name it "The Other Half". Why? Because Mike Anthony and Sammy Hagar deserve to be heard as voices of wisdom. When they're sober, that is.
Michael Anthony was the bass player for Van Halen from it's inception thru, well, now. He was informed that he would not be part of the Van Halen reunion of 2007 the same way the rest of the world did-thru the internet. Anthony was replaced by Eddie Van Halen's 16 year old son, Wolfgang. When Van Halen launched a new site for their tour, they tried to take Michael Anthony's image off of the old album covers and replace him with Wolfgang. They even removed his songwriting credits from the 1984 album (granted, how much he contributed to songwriting is questionable).
Most rock stars, hell, most people, would react angrily and bitterly at such shabby treatment. He wasn't just fired, his former employers are trying to erase any sign of his past work. After all, Anthony had been a member of all editions of Van Halen up to now through the good and bad times. At least when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant decided to leave John Paul Jones out of a reunion, they called it Page & Plant instead of Led Zeppelin.
But Michael Anthony took the high road. He has not painted an ugly picture of any of the current band members. Anthony has even asked audiences to accept Wolfgang as the new bass player. Sure, he's probably not hurting for money either way but it takes class to not only accept you've been unfairly fired but replaced through nepotism. The Dude is a Saint. A Saint probably drunk on Jack Daniels half the time (there has to be a reason why he has a bass shaped like the bottle) but a Saint nonetheless.
As for Sammy Hagar, about a year ago I found out he had something to say on everything relevant in life. I trust a man who has his own bar, liquor brand and can work with every ego driven guitarist in the business. Some of the profound statements he has made in life or song has included:
- Winner takes it all, loser takes the fall
- You've got to give to live and live to give you' ve got to give...to live
- All that matters is right here, right now
- There's only one way to rock
- Suckers walk! Money talks! But it can't touch my three lock box (whatever a 3 lock box is, you can't touch it)
- I want the best of both worlds because I know what it's worth
- Stop lookin' out, start lookin' in / be your own best friend / stand up and say, hey! This is Mine!
- Only time will tell if we stand the test of time
- Uh! (the grunt about 30 seconds into "Summer Nights")
- Yeah, there's still some fight in me/That's how it'll always be/Hold your head up high, look 'em in the eye/Never say die!
- I've taken a lot of lip/just to be where I am/you think it's tough being a kid/try being a man sometime
- Mas Tequila!
- and of course...I can't drive 55! (actually I can, particularly when the MAN is coming down on me. I can't afford Sammy Hagar's insurance rates)
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