Monday, March 24, 2014

KLEM FM


I ran across this old video looking for something else.

LOL at the Rod Serling intro -- I could do that!

I learned a couple stray facts about David Lee Roth:  Born in 1954, he grew up in Indiana but moved to LA as a teen. His father was a successful ophthalmologist and real estate investor. His uncle owned Cafe Wha? in NYC during its heyday and he claims to have hung out there as a kid. He met the Van Halen brothers at a community college. He did a cameo bit in The Sopranos. He actually seems like an OK guy. But can you imagine?

23 comments:

ndspinelli said...

His cameo was as himself playing in Tony's poker game.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

His father was a successful ophthalmologist…

Lol. And at the end of the Hot for Teacher video it says he'd grow up to be a famous gynecologist.

What do you find unimaginable at the end of the post?

I remember the Sopranos episode. I think he was playing cards with them at the Bing IIRC.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It must be quite a drag to be an unsuccessful ophthalmologist.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I'm pretty sure I'll run out of testosterone by the time I ever make it permanently to California.

Last time I ended up nekkid with a nekkid woman in her outdoor hot tub on my first night in town. I wonder what April's excursion will bring.

California girls are better. At least the ones I find.

chickelit said...

Last time I ended up nekkid with a nekkid woman in her outdoor hot tub on my first night in town.

The verb is "to jacuzzi" -- means to go hot tubbing in SoCal. The term is named after the inventors.

chickelit said...

A scene from "Eating Raoul" (1982), when jacuzzying was in "full swing."

Icepick said...

His autobiography, Crazy from the Heat is a surprisingly good read on many levels. There's a somewhat surprising chapter called something like "All the Girls I've Loved Before" that won't be what you expect.

Unfortunately I don't have my copy at the moment, having loaned it to a friend a year or so ago, along with Kon Tiki and Into Thin Air. They go surprisingly well together!

As one of the five star reviews on Amazon puts it:

Within ten pages of reading this book I cursed myself for wasting my life. DLR has sailed the Amazon, climbed the Himalayas, slept with hordes of women, rode his bike on every continent, mastered several forms of martial arts and rocked tens of thousands of people at a time...he's lived more lives than most of us can dream.

Roth also claims to have had to wear braces on his legs when he was a child.

A couple of quick stories not in the book, and completely from my ragged memory so undoubtedly wrong.

Alex Van Halen woke up on morning lying in a hedge beneath his hotel window. He was scratched up, beat up, and had no idea what happened to him. Roth was the first person he ran into.

AvH: What happened to me?
DLR: You got ripped last night and told everyone you could fly. You were gonna prove it by jumping out the window.
AvH: Why didn't you stop me?
DLR: I bet everyone a hundred dollars you could do it!

DLR claimed that he had sex for the first time when he was 13. Allegedly it was with a Filipina girl (paging Shouting Thomas!) who had recently immigrated to the country and did speak English very well.

DLR: She kept saying, "I LIKE you, David! I LIKE you, David!" I was scarred for life!

ricpic said...

Beach Boys' version of California Girls is the gold standard.

Roth's is the Minsky version.

Icepick said...

Did NOT speak English very well.

One of the few people I envy is a former boss of mine, who's about eight years older than I am. Not only did he see Van Halen on their first national tour, he got all four of them to autograph his copy of their first album. That is seriously cool.

A couple of funny stories from the book include a bit about DLR's moment of inspriation upon listening to Bob Marley perform: Roth listened from an alley outside the Whiskey A-go-go (I think that was the location), and his explanation (now well-known) of the infamous brown M&M rider in Van Halen's touring contracts. But yer gonna have to read the book yourself to find out how they go.

Chip Ahoy said...

This whole time I thought that was Beach Boys.

Icepick said...

Chip, Carl Wilson and Christopher Cross(!!) did the backing vocals for Roth on that track.

chickelit said...

Not only did he see Van Halen on their first national tour, he got all four of them to autograph his copy of their first album. That is seriously cool.

My older brother was fresh out of the Navy around in 1978 and had heard of VH when they came to Madison. He urged me to go -- they played a tiny venue called "The Shuffle Inn" which held maybe a couple 100 people. I declined. How uncool is that?

A few weeks later they were on everybody's radar.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

How uncool is that?

Very uncool. But if there was any way to get a bootleg who knows if that might make up for it? Doubtful though, given the time, technology and venue.

deborah said...

I'd rather have heard a Van Halen version.

Pray, what is rule 5 at Lem's?

Icepick said...

I'd rather have heard a Van Halen version.

That wasn't going to happen. Eddie couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to be an artiste or a pop star at the time, and mostly just fucked everything up.

deborah said...

I know little about them, but I especially like Pretty Woman and Ice Cream Man. It would have been interesting to see how they would have handled California Girls.

Chip Ahoy said...

*looks up Christopher Cross*

Oh. I heard that high voice before.

Today I ripped out 75% of the plants in the aquarium and the fish are now frolicking in the open spaces.

Today I shared a plate of delicious brownies with women and children. Brownies made from dark chocolate, not from cocoa, and not so sweet, and not completely cooked either.

I just realized I should have added coffee. A bit of instant espresso. Not to make it taste like coffee, but to extend the chocolate profile. It's already extended with vanilla so what the heck.

deborah said...

Coincidentally, or are we just experiencing spooky action at a distance, yesterday I was looking at online aquarium plants for my two bettas and four neons. Each betta is in about a 2-1/2 gal. tank.

chickelit said...

Pray, what is rule 5 at Lem's?

See Rule #5 herein.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

High Anxiety parodied,

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Big argument later today at SUCOTUS.

I wander if they are going to do the live audio.

The liberals are doing their usual - Roberts better not rock the boat and make the court into a partisan nest - bloviating.

Unknown said...

I forgot how hot DLR was back then. yowza.

deborah said...

Thanks, chick...interesting!