"BLUE" JIMMY: ROCK JOURNALIST
BLIND DOG OZZY: NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA
"BLUE" JIMMY: June 2012 Staples Center, Los Angeles. I was standing in the lobby of Staples Center getting a fresh, ice cold beer after a newly reformed VAN HALEN just finished playing "Unchained" to begin their set. I couldn't believe I was seeing VAN HALEN again after nearly 30 years without Dave. A totally wasted chick approached and started trying to talk to me. I humored her as best I could when a guy came up and asked if we were going back into the show. He thought we were a couple. KOOL AND THE GANG were the opening act (yes, they were) and he was only there to see them. He said he was leaving and had front row tickets ... did we want them? I grabbed the tickets from his hand and left the drunk chick standing there. I told ANDY DAMMAGE someone had just given me front row tickets and we both had our doubts if they were real. But the ushers let us down to the front row of Staples Center and we saw Edward Van Halen for the last time in our lives ... and it was great.
"BLUE" JIMMY AT VAN HALEN SHOW STAPLES CENTER 2012
BLIND DOG OZZY: Widdly, diddley ... waaaaaangggggggggg!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Flashback ... Summer of 1978. I was listening to FM Rock radio in my garage during my Summer vacation. My Dad had put our old "Hi-Fi" radio/record player in there to make room for our new "Stereo" system in the house. I liked the old "Hi-Fi" better because it had one giant speaker that blew my hair back when I sat in front of it. A guitar solo came on the radio which I thought was keyboardist playing a synthesizer followed by a version of "You Really Got Me" which I knew was not THE KINKS version because ain't nobody played guitar like that in the 60's.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Not even HENDRIX!
"BLUE" JIMMY: A short time later, I had the first VAN HALEN vinyl LP on my turntable and then the 8track, followed by the cassette tape and finally the CD. Whatever the format, I have never stopped listening to it or marveling at the guitar artistry contained within. I have always maintained that VAN HALEN saved Hard Rock. LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, AEROSMITH and others were heaving their last breaths by 1978 and Disco, New Wave and Punk were all the rage on the music scene. I remember people would tell me I was listening to "dinosaur music" because I still liked KISS and DEEP PURPLE.
BLIND DOG OZZY: "Frampton Comes Alive!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: VAN HALEN came along and showed that young men with long hair and loud guitars would dominate the music scene for years to come ... QUIET RIOT, MOTLEY CRUE, RATT, L.A. GUNS, POISON, GUNS AND ROSES, et al. But they all worshipped one man ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: ... Edward Van Halen!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I often tell people that as a guitarist, my own guitar technique stopped growing around the first Bad Company album but I was fascinated by Edward's guitars and his style. From the various histories I've read, he created his own "Frankenstein" guitar from spare parts and made several unheard of modifications which gave him the roar of a Gibson Les Paul and the feel and whammy bar of a Fender Stratocaster. As far as his fingerboard tapping is concerned, I have heard people say that Rock guitarists like Harvey Mandel, Steve Hackett and Frank Marino were doing it years before Edward and I have seen Italian Jazz guitarist Vittorio Camardese doing it with great enthusiasm on video as early as 1965. Whatever the case, he did it with great aplomb by the first VAN HALEN album and it created a cottage industry where guitar manufacturers had to start making guitars with low action, slim necks, locking tuners and unbreakable whammy bars to accommodate the hordes of young guitar players who wanted to play in Edward's style.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Like Dave said, "Everybody Wants Some!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: From a guitar player's standpoint, it's still a mystery to me where Edward got most of his style from. I mean everybody copies someone when they first start out and and I have heard Edward say in many interviews that he idolized Eric Clapton when he first took up guitar. But I just don't hear that BB/Albert/Freddy King graceful string bending that Clapton perfected in his style. I think he was kind of secretive in his guitar influences in later years but here is what I hear: Rick Derringer, who was very popular among Sunset Strip guitarists in the late 70's; Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore for whammy bar madness; Uli Roth and Michael Schenker for their use of Classical music scales and modes; Allan Holdsworth for his flawless, left-hand hammer-pull technique and Alvin Lee, Johnny Winter, Frank Marino and Gary Moore for sheer, ripping, fretboard speed.
BLIND DOG OZZY: John Mc Laughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Whoever he listened to (and it might not always be guitarists) it all added up to one of the greatest axemen to ever live. What I loved about Edward was that while others took his technique and went in all kinds of directions with it, he liked to take all his genius and stick it in the context of a 3 minute Hard Rock song ... and that was enough for me.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Rock On, Edward!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
