The David Lee Roth Show

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Van Halen fan. I lost my musical virginity to David Lee Roth, matured with Sammy, and if you want to stick with the metaphor, Gary Cherone is that night you get a little too drunk, and wake up the next morning going "what the hell did I do last night!?" Nonetheless, when David Lee Roth left Van Halen in 1985, his solo career gave birth to a couple of terrific albums, but then slowly declined. He's had a tough time keeping his musical career afloat throughout the 90's and now the 2k's. He became an EMT for a while, until he was offered the highly sought after gig replacing Howard Stern on terrestrial radio. I've been listening since the first show about a month ago, and I had high hopes for the gig. As a lifetime fan of David Lee, I knew he could pull of the stint very well if he wanted too. His personality is rambunctious, over the top and in your face. In other words, perfect for radio. But he started off pretty rough. I've spent much of my time since 1985 as a Van Halen apologist, but I'll be the first to admit that the new show is pretty rough. I understand and applaud him for trying to do something a little different, but it isn't really working. The show is all over the place and scatterbrained, which, I suppose is very much Diamond Dave. I do think if he focused the show a bit more on a specific topic, actually let callers speak once in a while, got rid of that obnoxious dance music always on in the background used to accent his witticisms, lost his bodyguard "Animal" as a studio personality, and quit twisting every anecdote of his into a slam on Sammy Hagar or Eddie Van Halen, the show might be much better. But, it's Dave, and you don't tell Dave what to do. So, you end up with this. I hope he can stay on the air long enough to improve. Or maybe I don't. Truth is, I really just want him to call Eddie, get his ass to 5150, replace the wine bottle in Ed's hands with a guitar, apologize for the last 20 years, and record a new Van Halen album. But, since this is the real world, and because I'm starting to turn blue, I'll stop holding my breath for that.