FROM NEW YORK TO DENVER, AND ON TO PENSACOLA

The vacation comes to an end. I had brunch with a friend who reported that our scheduled visit with another friend suffering with cancer was not to happen due to her recent hospitalization. The news was very grim. It probably was my only opportunity to see her ever again.

Our last day on the beach was spent dodging the big waves that were crashing on the shore. They built up during the course of the day and were coming in such that even riding them proved to be difficult, unless you didn't mind getting ground into the sand. A few such crashes and my bum shoulder experienced a twinge of pain. Stayed until sunset (the sun falling behind the dunes), at which time we witnessed the rise of a full moon out of the sea. Greasy pizza that night!

The following day we returned to Denver. We were able to get in a couple hours at the beach. A gray, mournful morning with the waves having completely vanished. Got a ride to the airport with a limo driver who spoke endlessly about his mail order bride in the Philippines that he was going to visit later in the month. Wished he spent more time paying attention to the road and not his cell phone. The flight back was uneventful.

Drifting row by row

Ragged clouds on the deep blue

Dark shadows on the sea

Deep ocean rollers

Rise as they cross the shoal

Explode on the sand

Wall of foam flecked green

Rises high and rolls over

Pounds shells and gravel

Black neoprene dots

Sit beyond the breaking surf

Wait for the big ones

The pain of deaths grip

Makes it feel like forever

While time slips away

Medicines failed cure

Bedridden and just waiting

An end too certain

Mind so crystal clear
Abandoned by the body
Ghost in the mirror

Farewells have been said

Limo to LaGuardia

Exits through Gate B

Cool morning sea air

Stood in gently lapping surf

Distant memory

Although I returned to "reality" after a week of relaxing vacation, that did not mean I was denied the opportunity to plunge back into a tequila induced fantasy. Friday night found me back on the prairie, truck door swung wide open and loud music playing. I was in the mood for more 1995, picking "Random Shot", a soundboard recording of Van Halen playing in Pensacola, Florida on March 11, 1995. A great recording that shows the band at their best. Earlier in the evening I was downloading their 1984 Montreal concert with David Lee Roth. Listening to this DLR era recording emphasized how good Sammy was when compared to the original front man. I can understand why Eddie and Alex were ready for something new when they let Dave go in early 1985, re-energizing the band with new vocals the following year.

Although I stuck to my single flask of tequila, consuming it all really messed me up this evening. Got home at midnight and just fell in bed with my cloths on and went to sleep.

Hands at lightning speed
Eddie makes his guitar sing
Thunder to the crowd

Play Where Eagles Fly
Soft melody prepares us
Strike with Ed's hammer

Weekend has arrived
Cigar, tequila, CD
Friday night fuck up

YOKOHAMA ON THE LAKE

The vacation continues. Drive out to visit the whaling museum and shops in Sag Harbor, the nature center just north of Bridgehampton and Shinacock Inlet on Fire Island. A long day trip to New York City. Visited the Empire State Building, standing in endless lines to get through security, buy tickets and get to an elevator to reach the 80th floor where they allowed us the option of walking the remaining flights up to the observation deck on the 86th floor. A show at the Hayden Planetarium. Visiting every exhibit in the Museum of Natural History. A leisurely dinner at Stouts, NYC, where they served delicious beers. Bought a cigar in a cubby hole shop and smoked it outside Madison Square Garden, enjoying the people and lights. A long trip back by train to return home for the evening. And naturally, more beach time to lounge on the sand and play in the water. Got to taste greasy New York style pizza and eat more Carvel ice cream.

"Keep the line moving!"

Miles of post and rope, waiting

Like cattle, obey

Rain drenched pavement

Puddles reflect city lights

Cool night air washed clean

Water on the tracks

Hot wind marks the trains advance

Floors coated with grime

People stand waiting
Sweat in stifling hot air
Loud sounds fill the ears

They move to and fro

Many, with separate lives

"He's out to get me"

Busy city street

A multitude of stories

Lives walk right on by

Wave crests rushing by

Flashing the late days sunlight

Curling, then it roars

Green wall approaching

Shoot over peaking waves crest

Glimpse of those to come

Shock of the first plunge

Bathed in a sea so alive

Waves of dancing light

A person so small

Dances in unceasing waves

His turn to come next

The spirit hangs on

When the body says let go

The tears are flowing

Sitting on the sandy beach of Lake Panamoka at 10 PM, I took a swig of tequila, lit the cigar and popped in the first disc of a two CD bootleg recording taped during Van Halen's show at the Yokohama Arena in Japan on November 2, 1998. This was the second to last show Gary Cherone played while employed by the band, the last on the Japan leg of the tour. A decent audience recording, with a lot of clapping from the audience in the foreground, particularly early in the show. Considering how many of the songs they played from the VH I and VH II eras, I was struck by how this show felt like a "reunion" concert, a preview of Van Halen's real reunion tours that came next in 2004 and 2007/2008. Little rapping with the audience, burn through the set list. But it was still an enjoyable experience, my favorite part being the Year To The Day/ Eddie's Guitar Solo combo.

Plucked from distant lands
Dragged across a continent
Sand through my fingers

Sound of perfection
Delicate movement of hands
Master of the strings

Fingers so nimble
A master of the guitar
Ed blows fans away

THE BEACH BOYS PARTY WITH THE VAN HALEN BROTHERS

More days on the beach and sightseeing around the Island. One lazy day of relaxing turns into another. The surf moderated to the degree that riding waves was fun and safe. Knowledge that a friend is dieing. Time with my sisters. And of course, time with Van Halen.

The deep blue sparkles
Sun's reflected points of light
Countless waves marching in

Sun flecked ocean blue
Surface churning, crossed by waves
Rides the breaking crest

Dark clouds race above
The sea a menacing gray
The surf is untouched

The long green wall nears
Push into the curling spray
Rush of sandy foam

Youths bonds of friendship

Years of independence pass

Time to say goodbye

Thursday night's concert took place during the Right Here, Right Now Tour in Paris, France on April 21, 1993, the first of two nights at Le Zenith. This tour followed their release of the live concert album of the same name. The Paris show was a good audience bootleg recording. I was rock'in on the shore of Lake Panamoka for a couple of hours.

According to the Van Halen Encyclopedia, the following occurred during this tour: "Before an outdoor show in Boston, a Junebug managed to lodge itself in one of Eddie's ears, nearly damaging his eardrum. While staying at the Four Seasons Hotel, the guitarist awoke several times throughout the night experiencing excruciating pain. Not knowing just what may be in his ear, Ed sprayed saline solution into the ear canal, and after whacking himself in the head several times, the one-inch insect fell out into the sink."

LIVE WITHOUT A NET AT TWENTY THOUSAND FEET

The planned trip to New York with my son had arrived! Saturday morning on the 6th of September I was watching the news to learn what the weather may look like as we travel across the country. Didn't look good. Tropical storm Hanna had hit the coast in the Carolina's early in the morning and was racing northward. We were headed for a collision course over New York City.

The flight was uneventful until we got to the eastern half pf Pennsylvania. The clouds that were so far below had enveloped the plane in featureless white outside the window. Then the turbulence began. My heart sank when the pilot announced that LaGuardia Airport was temporarily closed and that he'd be making a series of right hand turns as he circled waiting, in the tropical storm. The passengers were bracing for the worst. The turbulence was bad enough to cause many passengers to pull out those little bags and fill them with the contents of their stomachs. Others commented that they flew a lot and this was the worst flight of their life. I reassured my son that things would be alright while I had a white knuckled grip on the seat. The pilot eventually announced that he had clearance to land and we descended towards the airport. A steady view of the ground was not encountered until we were less than 500 off of it. The plane landed and the passengers breathed a sigh of relief and broke out in applause. We were allowed to live another day.

Shaking and dropping
Twenty thousand foot plane ride
The air smells of puke

Troublesome Hanna
Our first date above New York
White knuckled affair

Window shows but white
Rain's stream drawn across the glass
Plane feels the storm's bounce

The following day my son and I borrowed my sister's car and spent the day at Smith's Point on Fire Island. The heavy rain of the night before was replaced by warm sunny skies. However, the surf was wild from the advance of Hanna up the coast, big waves lined up and breaking a quarter mile out off shore. The surfers ventured out that distance to catch a ride, everyone else going no farther than the pounding surf right along the shore. The waves approached, sucked out all the water and then curled up and pounded the sand, sending out a rush of frothed up water that carried enough sand and shell to sandblast ones legs. We brought the boogie boards and threw ourselves into the waves, riding high up onto the beach. The day was spent alternating between stays in the relatively warm water and enjoying the sun on the sand. I got a bit too much and fried my chest and parts of the back that my son missed smearing me with 15 SPF. My other sister brought over dinner that evening which we ate with a few cold ones.

Monday the 8th was a repeat of the previous day: on the beach, sunny day, less wind but the surf had mellowed only a little bit. With no lifeguards, the county police were patrolling the beach, discouraging people from entering because they had already rescued several people that morning. We stayed in the surf right along the beach, riding the boogie boards. Like yesterday, we headed home around 6 PM, stopping to have a Carvel ice cream on William Floyd Parkway, something I fondly remember doing while growing up on the Island.

Storm's waves pound the shore
Cast white foam upon the sand
Feel thunders damp spray

Green wall rises up
Curls over upon itself
Thunders frothy spray

Row upon loud row
Sun glinting off the wave crests
Feels their salty spray

Far off the sand beach
On crests of storms breaking waves
Surfer dudes on boards

Sand beach day dreaming
Different times and places
Castles in the sand

Sea green walls march in
Tumble of frothy whiteness
Shout their arrival

Flashing silver light
Reflect the afternoon sun
The sea's surface shimmers

Walls of boiling white
Row upon row they advance
Foam sheets lap the shore

After a dinner of chicken fajitas, my son found the DVD player and zoned out with that device while I walked down the road to a private beach along Lake Panamoka, a body of water that filled a depression in the sand created by a giant block of ice melting off the face of the continental ice sheet that covered the area 18,000 or so years ago. No truck this time, but I did bring the portable CD player and the BOSE headphones. Dropped in "Live Without A Net", Van Halen at the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in New Haven ("New Halen") CT on August 27, 1986. This is a concert someone ripped from the DVD of the same name. Great sound quality, from the early days of Van "Hagar" when Sammy was new to the band. Great collection of songs off of their newly released no. 1 hit album, "5150". The band was in top-notch form that evening. I sat there on the sandy beach rocking out with cigar and flask of tequila, looking at the distant lights from homes across the lake. Stumbled back to my sisters house late, finding everyone fast asleep. I dropped into the foldout couch that turns into a bed. Just like that Seinfeld episode, this bed also has a hard board that runs across the width of the bed, right where it crosses the small of the back. Sleeping on my side helps minimize its impact on my spine.

Vast ice block's footprint
Lakes last bergs have long melted
Where turtles now swim

They wait all evening
Patient for an eruption
To hear Eddie play

SAMMY UNPLUGGED

Late afternoon on Sunday my son and I drove to the trail head of Gray's and Torries Peaks, two side-by-side fourteen thousand foot mountains not far from Denver. I wanted him get his first experience hiking up one of these tall peaks, these two being one of the easiest to climb. We arrived at the trail head shortly before sunset and hiked a mile in growing darkness, finding a campsite alongside the trail in the pitch black night. Shortly after setting up the tent and laying out our bags, the rain joined the wind and buffeted the tent all night long. I always sleep poorly at altitude and so this night was excruciatingly long, the wind and rain being particularly loud.

We got up early and joined the throngs of people who were making the pilgrimage to summits. I went easy so that this would be a relatively fun experience for Eric. After a few hours of slow and steady, we made it to the summit wind swept Gray's peak. With a headache and not feeling up to the task, Eric decided not to cross over to Torries Peak. Saving that for another day. The hike down is always easy, and after picking up our camping gear we made it back to the truck by 2 PM and in the front door by 4:30. I enjoyed being outdoors, away from house projects and even downloading music.

Wind battered tent
Cold pelting rain through the night
Snug inside our bags

Darkness approaches
Cold, damp clouds shroud the summits
Deep breaths with each step

Tents loud flapping
Bumpy ground, shortness of breath
Awfully long night

Clouds dart past the peaks
Driven by cold gale force winds
Touch the deep blue sky

Crowds reach the summit
Surrounded by wilderness
Out come the cell phones

I had brought a cigar with me on the hike, but no lighter. So I smoked the stogie at home outside shortly after sunset. After taking one swig of tequila, I popped in Sammy Hagar unplugged, playing before a Boston crowd in 1997 on behalf of a radio station promoting his new album Marching To Mars. This was shortly after his split with Van Halen and at a time when they had just signed on Gary Cherone. Unlike the other members of Van Halen, Sammy had to fulfill contractual obligations to his old record label (Geffen Records) and so he was periodically pumping out albums even while playing for Van Halen. Marching To Mars was, I believe, the last solo album with new songs that he produced.

Sammy was playing "unplugged": acoustic guitar accompanied by piano and lite percussion instruments. Sounded like a small venue, but the crowd was wild for Sammy, chanting for him throughout the short performance. He rapped with the audience between each song, similar to what he did while with Van Halen, explaining where each song came from. Finish What Ya Started and Right Now were part of the set list, both from VH days. Nice easy listening, unlike the full throttle power of Van Halen. Some quotes from Sammy:

"At least you're gonna hear all the lyrics"

"Whole notha trip playin' like that, come'on guitar help me out!"

And at the end he thanked his two man crew and said "Thanks Gary Cherone, hope he does a great job for that band."

Sounded like he was partying the whole gig! He was really enjoying himself.