Very recently, the wife and I were giving a Mancunian guitarist a ride to a downtown airport hotel after he had just played the big arena north of Atlanta. When he saw that Van Halen were scheduled to play at the same venue in February, he proceeded to tell a very funny story about when he met Van Halen in the year after Diamond Dave was kicked out of the band in 1986. Names and places to this story are unimportant (if I were telling the story in person, they obviously would though) but he tells of Sammy Hagar being overly friendly, Eddie Van Halen looking like a smiling retard the entire time on stage and Alex being the worst drummer he'd ever seen. Utter hilarity.

Then again, if Van Halen just kept with what worked, the "dark years" (aka "Anything With Sammy") would never have happened. Sure, they had number one songs and albums, but dammit, Dave was the soul of the band! The zen-cum-slapstick comedian of the group! I defy you to prove me otherwise.

If life's a stage, I want the brightest spot.....

To prove my point, listen to this mp3! PROVE! ME! WRONG! BITCHES!

Diamond Dave - Runnin' With The Devil