Howard on Eddie Van Halen....

[sixxswine]

From Marksfriggin.com:
Howard's Eddie Van Halen Phone Call Discussion. 07/31/06. 6:25am
Howard said he got a call from Eddie Van Halen on Thursday night and he was talking about calling in this week. He said Eddie kept changing his mind over the weekend and he's not sure where they stand at this point. He said Eddie wanted to talk about how a couple of their songs were put in a porn movie and explain what was going on there. Howard told Gary that he's not sure that Eddie will even pick up the phone if they call him.
Gary said that Eddie is very scattered as far as his views and thoughts go. Howard said that Eddie told him he doesn't like doing interviews and he knows that he's not good. They had him on the show one time and he was all over the studio and not playing much. He wouldn't stay on mic and only played like one note on his guitar.

Howard said Eddie was telling him that he played with this guy Kenny Chesney and the crowd of about 75,000 went nuts when he got up and played. He said he's not even sure what Eddie was talking about but he thinks that they're supposed to call him at 6:30 this morning. He's really not sure what Eddie wants them to do after those messages he got from Eddie.

Howard said he thinks that Eddie's last message said that he wanted to come on the air. Gary said he was going to go give him a call and see what's going on. He came back a short time later and said that they had to leave a message. Howard was pretty sure he wasn't going to call in. He told Gary to give him one more call and then leave him alone because he's really not sure if he wanted to come on.

 

[Bryant]

Eddie is a burned out froot loop. I love what Van Halen did as a band (particularly with Roth) and what Eddie has accomplished as a guitarist, but the guy has serious mental issues.


Bryant

 

[Evil?]

Have you guys seen pictures of Ed lately? he looks like a meth addict. Really is a shame.

 

[sixxswine]

He has been looking worse and worse since his old lady left him...
That and the Cancer took it's toll. The guy is still smoking and back drinking...
Add him to your dead pool, he's moved into the top 5....

 

[Hawk]

You know its no fun to see the heroes of your youth deteriorate

 

[Electronicoil]

Eddie is a burned out froot loop. I love what Van Halen did as a band (particularly with Roth) and what Eddie has accomplished as a guitarist, but the guy has serious mental issues.

It's alcohol, man. He might have some other problem (I admit he is getting that "meth" look somewhat.) But alcohol is enough to explain the deterioration in a lot of ways.

He's my greatest guitar hero. But he's more of a drunk now than anything else. He's actually inspired me to stop drinking.

 

[sixxswine]

he's probably depressed, then drinking (alcohol=a depressant) which in short makes things even worse, more so because he is a problem drinker to begin with...

 

[Electronicoil]

he's probably depressed, then drinking (alcohol=a depressant) which in short makes things even worse, more so because he is a problem drinker to begin with...

Not to argue semantics, but alcohol is a physical depressant, which is a little different than a psychological depressant. However, a lot of depressed people drink too much because alcohol basically makes you feel numb. It covers it up, and a lot of alcoholics are self-medicating for depression, just like you said.

I don't know Eddie's real problem. Maybe he doesn't either. But it's obvious his drinking is ruining his career. Maybe "has ruined" is a better way to say it.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

Howard said, Gary Said, not sure if he wants to be on the show... blah blah blah.... annoying... sorry Sixx... just alot of repetition in that post lol ... as for Eddie ... only person other then Valerie who could save him is himself... and i beg to differ Electronicoil.... alcohol is a psychological depressant.... i have personal experience in that area....

 

[sixxswine]

only person other then Valerie who could save him is himself... and i beg to differ Electronicoil.... alcohol is a psychological depressant.... i have personal experience in that area....

I agree about the affects of alcohol, I work with addicts from gambling to substances alcohol, drugs, ect, but that said people have their opinions, so be it. Eddie can still save himself, often motivation for addicts to clean up their act is their children, Eddie has a son... There's potential for him to get it together.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

yeah i stand corrected... maybe his son can save him and not his ex wife... though she could also because he probably still loves her and that could be the cause of his drinking etc.... does anyone have a pic of what Eddie looks like at present time? ...

 

[Bryant]

I don't know Eddie's real problem. Maybe he doesn't either. But it's obvious his drinking is ruining his career. Maybe "has ruined" is a better way to say it.

I have struggled with alcohol all of my adult life as well. I am not ashamed to say I am an alcoholic..... However, even though I CAN'T totally control it, I have kept my life reasonably managable.
Having said all of that, one of the reasons I chose not to persue a career in music was due to the fact I probably wouldn't live to be an old man. A structured life helps me combat the bottle to a degree where I only make an ass out of myself on fairly rare occasions. Eddie's career choice didn't give him that opportunity. However, had he chose a different career, we wouldn't be talking about him.


Bryant

 

[Bryant]

I agree about the affects of alcohol, I work with addicts from gambling to substances alcohol, drugs, ect, but that said people have their opinions, so be it. Eddie can still save himself, often motivation for addicts to clean up their act is their children, Eddie has a son... There's potential for him to get it together.

As an addict myself, there is NO motivation for becoming sober/clean except hitting rock bottom. The "big" book of AA and NA (only worded slightly different) states in step one:

"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable"

Edward has skills, money, power and fame. It will take him longer to hit bottom than your "average Joe." On the same token, everything Eddie does is Eddie's fault. Being an alcoholic/addict is NOT his fault, but not trying to treat his problem is.


Bryant

 

[sumairetsu]

Eddie's career choice didn't give him that opportunity.

I beg to differ. There are several people in the music business who don't drink or do drugs (Gene $immon$, Henry Rollins, Tom G. Warrior, etc.) and manage to keep their lives structured and orderly - usually, because they keep themselves so busy with writing and other pursuits, or they don't have some hidden psychological need for drinking to numb themselves from the pain.

Hopefully, Eddie can pull himself out of his.

 

[Electronicoil]

I beg to differ. There are several people in the music business who don't drink or do drugs (Gene $immon$, Henry Rollins, Tom G. Warrior, etc.) and manage to keep their lives structured and orderly - usually, because they keep themselves so busy with writing and other pursuits, or they don't have some hidden psychological need for drinking to numb themselves from the pain.

While those guys are to be praised that they have been able to live clean and sober, I think you should remember that it's not equally easy for everybody. Some people barely drink at all in life and have no desire to drink more .... not because they're puritans, but just because they literally don't dig it. Others .... well even after alcohol has made their life a shambles and they honestly DO want to quit ... desperately ... still can't.

As long as we're talking role models, both Alice Cooper and Malcolm Young had bad drinking problems at one point and both were able to hang it up. That's cool.

 

[Priest of Evil]

I hope Eddie pulls through, he's in it bad. Personally, I hate giving things up that are fun, I gave up weed because it was eating up my life, alcohol is my last vice, really...