Free Republic

David Lee Roth has changed his name. The former Van Halen front man now wants to be called “David L. Roth” or “El Roth.” The change was inspired by the current movement in the music industry to disown words having to do with the slavery that existed in the South — which comes in response to the Black Lives Matter protests that rose up after the death of George Floyd

Eddie Van Halen has secretly been flying to Germany to receive treatments for throat cancer, TMZ learned Sunday (October 13). According to the celebrity gossip outlet, the Van Halen legend has been quietly jetting overseas over the past five years to undergo radiation treatment for the disease. As fans know, Van Halen was first diagnosed with cancer of the tongue in 2000. Following an operation to have nearly a third of his tongue removed, he was declared cancer-free in 2002. Insiders with direct knowledge told TMZ, "some of the cancer cells migrated down to his throat," which required doctors to...

David Lee Roth says that VAN HALEN is "finished." The singer made the comment while speaking to Meltdown of the Detroit radio station WRIF about his upcoming Las Vegas residency, which is due to kick off in January. Asked if he was "bummed out" that he couldn't tour with VAN HALEN this past summer, as had been rumored several months ago, Roth responded: "That's been canceled a number of times, and I think VAN HALEN's finished and this is the next phase. I've inherited the band de facto — whatever that means. I think it means if you inherit it,...

Did you see that Sen. Bernie Sanders released his income taxes?....well, his 2014 income taxes, anyway. He did it around 7 p.m. on a Friday night, on the same day that the Democratic presidential hopeful was making international headlines by speaking at the Vatican and meeting Pope Francis, for at least a handshake. In journalism, releasing information at that off hour is what we call "a Friday news dump" -- usually an attempt to bury bad news. That's weird, because if I were handling PR for the Bernie Sanders campaign, I'd be shouting the news from the Green Mountain-tops. They...

This week, on Louder With Crowder, we welcome Senator Ted Cruz in an exclusive, full-length, unedited interview. Some transcript highlights below, but the video is worth a watch. This is Ted Cruz unbuttoned, uncensored, and like you’ve never seen him.Ted Cruz Throws Down! | Louder With Crowder (Video)On his direct challenge to Obama’s attacks on him regarding Syrian refugees. “Yesterday he attacked me, said I was ‘un-American’, today he attacked me and said I was 'offensive’. All because I'm saying what millions of Americans are saying across this country""I think it is lunacy when this administration can't vet them, has...

Six months after the Sandinista government granted a Chinese businessman a 100-year concession to build a vast canal across Nicaragua, most of the nation is in the thrall of the imagined waterway. In the capital, Nicaraguans snap photographs of the plaster Virgin Mary perched on an altar against the backdrop of a supertanker traversing the country's biggest lake. 'Virgin Mary, bless the great trans-ocean canal!' declares the government-sponsored invocation behind her. From boardrooms in the capital to hamlets where goods move by horse cart, Nicaraguans say they are confident the £25billion ($40billion) canal will become reality, lifting their country from...

Who says lightning doesn't strike twice? For the second year in a row, Eddie Van Halen has topped a major summer-long poll at GuitarWorld.com. In 2012, readers crowned him the Greatest Guitarist of All Time. This year, one of his many six-string masterpieces, "Eruption," a wildly innovative instrumental track from Van Halen's self-titled 1978 album, was voted the Greatest Guitar Solo of All Time.

A 14-year-old girl named Tina S. may be the next Eddie Van Halen. In a clip recently posted to YouTube, Tina shows off her otherworldly guitar chops with a cover of the solo from Van Halen's "Eruption." The clip lasts just a minute and a half, but that's more than enough time for her to make believers out of anyone.

ROCHESTER (WWJ/AP) - A 57-year-old man suspended from Oakland University for writing about his attraction to teachers has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $2 million and four credits for the class. Joseph Corlett says his First Amendment rights were violated by university officials. The school suspended him for three semesters last year after saying he violated a policy against intimidating people on campus. He said he was also warned that he’d be arrested for criminal trespass if he entered the campus during his suspension.

1. Edward Van Halen - Van Halen 2. Brian May - Queen 3. Alex Lifeson - Rush 4. Jimi Hendrix 5. Joe Satriani 6. Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin 7. Tony Iommi - Black Sabbath 8. Stevie Ray Vaughn 9. Dimebag Darrell - Pantera 10. Steve Vai 11. Randy Rhoads - Ozzy Osbourne/Quiet Riot 12. Dave Mustaine - Megadeth 13. David Gilmour - Pink Floyd 14. Les Paul 15. Duane Allman 16. Robert Johnson 17. John Petrucci - Dream Theater 18. Zakk Wylde - Ozzy Osbourne 19. James Hetfield - Metallica 20. Ritchie Blackmore - Rainbow/Deep Purple 21. Angus Young...

This year's Grammy nominations concert raised rumors of a Van Halen reunion performance. While the band never materialized onstage that night...it is now kicking off a tour that it advertised with a video remix that includes "Hot for Teacher." The original music video for that 1984 song turned a spotlight on Lillian Muller, who played a teacher that inspired the attention of the students....

Van Halen will tour in 2012. The rock band has posted a video on its website announcing that the first tickets will go on sale Jan. 10.

“I saw a ship and two creatures inside of this ship… And they were connected to me, tapped into my mind through some kind of mysterious wireless connection,” explains Sammy Hagar in his new book, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. The brief memoir, whose release coincides with "Alien Abduction Day", is not the first instance in which the former Van Halen singer has offered public disclosures of ET contact. A new report from a Vancouver audio lab suggests that Sammy Hagar was covertly communicating about alien abduction as early as 1991.

In light of Judge Roger Vinson’s ruling that Obamacare is unconstitutional, Wisconsin’s attorney general, J. B. Van Hollen, has declared the Badger State free of any obligations imposed by the law. “Judge Vinson declared the health care law void and stated in his decision that a declaratory judgment is the functional equivalent of an injunction,” Hollen says in a statement. “This means that, for Wisconsin, the federal health care law is dead — unless and until it is revived by an appellate court.”

The news that Van Halen is recording its first studio album in twelve years with original lead singer David Lee Roth may have fans wanting to, well, jump. It has certainly been a long wait since 1998's "Van Halen III." Speculation of a recorded reunion has been thrown around since 2008, when Van Halen completed a successful reunion tour that featured original frontman David Lee Roth with the band for the first time since the 1984 Tour (plus a brief appearance at the 1996 MTV Music Awards).

Check out the strategic email featured on the website inviting people presumed to have the 'correct' opinions to be heard by their congressmen (VanHollen, Linder, and Kohl)on an appointment basis. I'll quote a comment from the webpage: "This is the dems plan, hide in the office, conduct “office visits”, and hold tele-conferences. That way, they don’t have to face their constituents, the media won’t be blind-sided into covering anything that isn’t love for the congresscritters, and no bad publicity of union goons beating up citizens." posted by UpNorth

16-Sep-08 Eddie Van Halen Reaches Out To Sammy Hagar Over The GOP's Use Of Their Song "Right Now" Rolling Stone magazine reports that days before Heart served the GOP campaign with a cease-and-desist letter for playing their 1977 hit "Barracuda" to introduce VP pick Sarah Palin (high school alias: “Sarah Barracuda”) at the August 31st Republican convention, Van Halen sounded off against McCain and Co. for blasting their tune "Right Now" at a rally in Dayton, Ohio. “Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given [to use the song]," Alex and Eddie Van Halen said in...

Sammy has always been one of the good guys of rock and roll...entertainer, entrepreneur, family man. He's written and recorded several patriotic songs and counts Ted Nugent as one of his best industry friends. Politically, he's probably a mixed bag...'the man not the party' he says. ___________________________ The two never connected, which raises some lingering questions. “Why didn’t [Van Halen] say no when Pepsi Cola gave us a million dollars to use the song in a Pepsi Light commercial?” asks Hagar. “That’s when you say no. That isn’t the message of this song.” But when a potential future president is...

John McCain used a Van Halen song during his big speech earlier today and the band wants to make to make one thing clear -- they're not running with McCain. Van Halen management tells us the band had no idea McCain was planning on using "Right Now" during his big entrance in Ohio telling us, "Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given." For the record, Dubya used the same song during a bunch of his campaign speeches back in 2004, but sources close to the band tell us, "They're not political, they're just rock and...

For any interested Van Halen fans, here are 4 short video teasers from a recent rehearsal for the upcoming 2007 tour in California. Enjoy!