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St i ll Rock i n'
David Lee Roth proves there's life after high flying Van Halen gig.
MARTIN NATCHEZ
Special to the Jewish News
B
rash, flamboyant and raucously rock 'n'
roll, David Lee Roth is a conflicted
Jewish rock star.
But there's no apparent conflict
between the ex-frontman of the rock band Van
Halen and his replacement, Sammy Hagar. The two
super-lunged singers have elected to tour together as
"The Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll" and
will appear at the DTE Energy Music Theatre on
May 31.
"What we are about is a spirit and an attitude that
goes beyond the last band we were in," Roth recent-
ly said, deflecting mocking references to the pairing
as "The Sam and Dave Show" and "The Sans Halen
Tour."
Each singer plans to perform a 90-minute set with
his own rock band, including such Van Halen clas-
sics as "Jump" and "Panama," with Roth's lead
vocalizing, and Hagar's later chart hits, "Why Can't
This Be Love?" and "When It's Love."
Van Halen History
Of the two charismatic Van Halen alumni, Roth
enjoyed the most adulation and incurred the most
wrath from fans.
Much to their dismay, after the 1985 release of his
platinum-selling solo EP, Crazy From the Heat —
which produced his Top-3 remake of "California
Girls" and a whimsical retro-medley of "Just a
Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" — Roth decided to exit
Van Halen.
The cloud of discontent over Hagar's tenure
(1985-1996) began to lift when it was announced
that lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen and Roth had
made amends and agreed to record two new songs
for a forthcoming greatest-hits album.
After the reunited band's highly touted appearance
on the MTV Video Awards, however, a surprising
announcement that Roth had been unceremoniously
booted from the group soured what appeared to be a
rudely calculated marketing ploy, at Roth's expense.
If asked about rejoining Van Halen today, Roth,
47, usually jokes that he -wouldn't do it "without a
team of lawyers and a Valium."
He considers his current David Lee Roth Band
the future, while calling his former group "some-
thing that belongs in the pasture."
"When I left Van Halen, it was not something
that I was delighted to -do. I was not celebrating. I
was not relieved. It was one of the scariest moments
of my life," Roth wrote in his 1997 autobiography,
Crazy From The Heat (Hyperion).
"It's unfortunate that this feuding has to continue
all the way up until the present, because what Van
Halen meant to a lot of people and myself, in par-
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2002
74
According to Roth, the theme of his bar mitzvah
speech was "It's really difficult being Jewish and I
don't like it."
"It shocked everybody," he said. "Fourteen pages
of 'I'm not proud to be Jewish. Everybody hates me.'
Everybody was silent, like an E.F. Hutton commer-
cial, because they all knew I was right.
Roth said his hometown of Brookline was very racist.
"It was not unusual to see swastikas painted on
the front door of the Jewish temple — literally six
blocks from where John F. Kennedy was born," he
said. "I became Jewish in a militant sense, but not so
much in a 'church-going' sense."
In his book, Roth hammers against the silence of
political correctness, which he equates with social
intolerance for minority assimilation. The best a Jew
can hope for is to be "tolerated," he theorizes.
"You'll never be accepted. You'll never be just one of
the gang.
Nonetheless, the golden-maned "Diamond Dave"
carries a fiery torch against anti-Semitism.
Roth feels it's this underlying combativeness that
is partly responsible for his on-stage antics. What
you get from repression and what you get from
hatred is fury, he observes.
"I once heard somebody say to the Van Halens,
You guys play the music; the Jew sells it,'" recalls
Roth. "Every step I took on that stage was smashing
some Jew-hating. Every step!
"I jumped higher 'cause I knew there was going to be
more impact when I hit those boards. And if you were
even vaguely anti-Semitic, you were under my wheels."
New DVD
David Lee Roth: "I once heard somebody say to the
Van Halens, 'You guys play the music; the Jew sells
recalls Roth. "Every step I took on that stage
was smashing some Jew-hating. Every step!"
titular, was very positive. I guess the best I can say
is: Go out and buy those records and see if you can
hear the truth in the music."
Jewish Mojo
Roth has always_ taken pride in landing on his feet,
as well as standing up for what he believes as a Jew.
Born in Bloomington, Ind., the son of ophthalmolo-
gist Dr. Nathan Roth and wife Sybil, he grew up a _
hyperactive child who idolized the showmanship of
legendary singer Al Jolson.
When he was 7 years old, the family moved to
Massachusetts, and Roth was forced by adversity to
accept his Russian Jewishheritage.
"Being Jewish has always been a real hard jacket
for me to wear because we all want to be accepted,"
he said. "I had learned at a very early age that I was
different. I was not part of the clan. I went to
Sunday school. I went to some Jewish summer camp
for a few weeks. I had a bar mitzvah."
.
No wonder, when Roth's music career is examined,
what springs to mind is attitude. And no lack of it will
be seen on his soon-to-be-issued DVD, David Lee
Roth's No Holds Bar-B-Que, consisting of an hour's cel-
ebration of the rock star's hedonistic lifestyle.
The self-written and self-produced montage of Roth
partying with fellow musicians and friends was shot
inside and outside the singer's house, Mojo Dojo.
Viewers will see a fast-paced hullabaloo of Roth
pursuing his love for martial arts, beautiful women
and music. (According to the New York _Times, Roth
sent copies to friends in the media with a note he
might be the next Ozzy Osbourne, a la the 10-part
reality-based MTV series peering into the private life
of rocker Osbourne and his family.)
Among the Bar-B-Que DVD's soundtrack highlights,
Roth includes uncharacteristically well-done cover ren-
ditions of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," Gerry
Rafferty's hit "Baker's Street" and Electric Light
Orchestra's disco hit "Shine A Little Love."
Several breaks between the "action" sequences also
showcase Roth's talent as a Flamenco guitarist.
Being a true party animal and an extreme Punster,
Roth almost overcooks his digitized Bar-B-Que with
creative lunacy. Even so, what's seen simply confirms
that he's only gotten crazier from the heat. El
David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar perform at
DTE Energy Music Theatre 7 p.m. Friday,
May 31. $30.50-$49.50. (248) 645-6666.