The sudden passing of guitarist Eddie Van Halen caught fans off-guard, the unwelcome news serving as just one more gut-punch in a dreadful year. 2020 seems hell-bent on trying to make 2016's parade of mortality seem like the good old days.
I don't remember whether or not Van Halen's music has ever been played on TIRnRR. Without checking the records, I think VH may have received one spin over the course of our history, and that would have come courtesy of one of our Guest Programmers. I confess that neither Dana nor I ever really got into Van Halen. Oddly enough, over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about maybe slipping a Van Halen track into one of our playlists. I know there are Van Halen fans among our listeners, I know they'd appreciate it, and we will be doing that in the near future. I know what track I would be most likely to play. It will fit right in with whatever it is we do. It's ALL pop music.
But.
We haven't played Van Halen in the past. Because of that, Dana and I agreed that we did not want to play Van Halen on this week's show; I can't quite articulate the why of it, but doing so would have felt disrespectful of Eddie Van Halen's memory. Silly? I guess. Nonetheless, I was uncomfortable with the notion of appearing to jump on a bandwagon as so many fans legitimately and sincerely mourn the loss of their hero. For us to participate in that would be wrong.
We are going to play Van Halen, sometime soon. But not this week. This week, the process of paying tribute to Eddie Van Halen belongs to his fans.
Before leaving the subject, though, I want to tell you a brief story I heard about 35 years ago. In 1985, I was working at a record store in downtown Buffalo. Security at the store was provided by off-duty cops, and one day our security guy told us about some of his fellow officers working security at a recent Van Halen concert. The story included references to the prerequisite hedonism of a hard rock show, but one part of the narrative always stood out for me:
The cops were standing guard outside the tour bus. One member of the band (you know which member) acted like a preening jerk. But Eddie Van Halen came over to the cops, chatted with them for a bit, found out they were hungry, and then turned around and brought them all sandwiches and beer. A wink and a smile. Runnin' with the devil. There ya go, guys!
He didn't have to do that. He did it anyway. This story was the first thing I thought of when I heard that Eddie Van Halen had died. And in that moment, I felt a sense of the loss that fans of Van Halen--the band and the man--were experiencing.
Let the feeling stand. The music will follow at a more appropriate time. With respect. With love. With understanding. The fans deserve nothing less.
In the mean time: This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
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https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/
Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 165 essays about 165 songs, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of songs can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here.
TIRnRR # 1046: 10/11/2020
TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Tracks we think we ain't played before are listed in bold.
THE RAMONES: Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? (Rhino, End Of The Century)
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