Posted on 08/13/2005 7:46:08 AM PDT by Drew68
By Joal Ryan
Fri Aug 12, 8:57 PM ET
If Van Halen was a sports franchise, the argument could be made it'd be the dysfunctional, "Bronx Zoo" version of the New York Yankees. In which case the Baltimore Orioles might be in trouble.
More often than not, the Yankees of that era beat the Orioles.
A showdown between Van Halen, the hard-rock supergroup, and the Baltimore Orioles, the fourth-place baseball club, is on after a judge rejected the team's attempt to bench the band's lawsuit challenge, the Baltimore Sun reported Friday. The start of the trial, set for Los Angeles, is "imminent," a Van Halen lawyer told the Associated Press.
The rivalry dates back to last year, when Van Halen filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Orioles reneged on a deal to bring the then-touring band to the team's Camden Yards. The would-be Sept. 2, 2004 concert would have been a first for the baseball-only facility. Presumably more important to Van Halen, the concert would have brought it about $1.5 million, plus an 80 percent cut of ticket and merchandise sales, the band claimed in the suit.
Technically, the suit is being pursued by Van Halen's management company, the newspaper said. The firm seeks at least $2 million in payback from the Orioles.
Even without a stop in Baltimore, Van Halen hit 80 cities during its 2004 tour. Billed as a new beginning for the veteran band, with "Right Now" singer Sammy Hagar back on vocals, the road trip ended with Hagar and guitar god Eddie Van Halen coming close to a bench-clearing brawl, Hagar recently told Billboard.
"It was a horrible way to end the whole thing," Hagar said in the music-industry magazine. "So, I just say, 'Man, that's it for me. I'm not playing with people like this.'"
Van Halen, the band, has been on hiatus as a recording and touring act since the tour ended last November, leaving bassist Michael Anthony time to touting the pending release of his two new barbecue sauce varietals, Mad Anthony's Original and Extra Hot. ("Reinforce the asbestos underwear," Anthony wrote on his Website this month.)
Meanwhile, Hagar, out on the road again this summer as a solo act, occasionally backed by Anthony, told Billboard he held out hope that Van Halen, the rocker who used to be "a fun guy," might "change back, and then we can do it again."
After all, comebacks are part of baseball.
Baltimore loves hard rock. Van Halen would have done very well there.
Sorry, I just had to.
It's hard to think of a more dysfunctional band.
They should take lessons frrom Aerosmith or even (yech!) the Rolling Stones, who at least know how to stick together and roll with the changes.
Discount Dave in all his glory.
Is Sammy suggesting that Eddie should start drinking again?
That falls under the "cruel and unusual punishment" category.
Someday, someone will make a movie. I'm sure it'll be a comedy.
For some people this isn't necessarily a bad idea!
I'm not sure I know (or want to know) what that means.
That's not Van Halen... it's Van Hagar (*cringe*).
And this nonsense isn't Rock & roll.
Nice to see Havana Pete Angelos getting sued for a change.
Isn't David Lee Roth the one who's driving an ambulance in NY now?
MM
I thought they broke up and went into rehab. Their last couple of albums sucked.
You got that right. Van Halen was great...about 2 decades ago.
As a teenage fan of loud, guitar-driven hard rock back in the 1980s I eagerly anticipated the release of "5150" in 1986. I loved Van Halen and I thought Sammy Hagar was pretty damn good as well. Putting them together in the same band seemed like a perfect match.
Few times in life have I been greeted with as much disappointment as that day when I unwrapped my brand new "5150" LP and placed it on my turntable.
No, that's the guy that played Eddie Haskel on Leave it to Beaver. The guy who used to be Johnny Holmes. I read about it because Robin Williams wrote about it at about the time Denzel Washington gave a bunch of money to the military. Or was that George Carlin?
Yep. Same here. I was unhappy with DLR leaving but figured "Hagar + Van Halen = Rock!". I bought 5150. It was the last Van Halen LP I bought. Too bad, because the original VH was about as fun as heavy metal gets.
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