VAN HALEN NEWS DESK

Holiday greetings from Sammy

December 17, 2009 64 Comments

Holiday Greetings 2009 – Sammy’s special message to all the Redheads:

Filed Under: Sammy Hagar

Van Fan

Merry Christmas, Sammy! We love you, man. Thanks for all the great years in VH, and THANK YOU for Chickenfoot — the best rock album of the last 10 years. It still kicks my ass every time I listen to it.
Rich

Shame about John quitting the Chilis but they are getting a new guitarist (possibly Josh Klinghoffer, we’ll have to wait and see).

Thanks to Sam, always a beacon of hope and the future is certainly not in the past, 62 and still going strong with yet more album and touring plans next year! The man is a dynamo! A great Christmas present for me this year would be for Eddie and Sammy to reconcile their differences and get over the petty shit, after all, they’re both over 50 and who knows how long they’ll last? I hope they both live to be 300, life is too short for such talented people to go on hating.

If I can’t get that, some new stuff with Roth would be excellent (:
http://www.qereach.com K. Reyoch

Very nice Sammy! You won me over during the Sam & Dave tour (didn’t give a snow ball’s chance prior to that – sorry). You have not disappointed since.
Pete

Very cool…I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like this. I’m sure it’s been done, but you know…you can tell “he means it”. Very cool.

SCOOTER…you should post some pix of your VH bar…I’d love to see that!

Cheers,

Pete

P.S. Good on everyone here too for keeping this seasonal thread “classy”. Cheers!
Eric Degenhardt

Sam is the man. Thanks for your inspiration all these years. We went to Cabo in 2008 to see you and we’ll be there in 2010. Cheers! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Ryan

R A 812…
That would be so cool if he played Red. You guys are all invited, but I think he is pretty busy lol
Rob

I met him this summer backstage at the first Chickenfoot show here in Italy, he has really been cool. He started to speking with me about random subjects and I realized that this guy i Really down to earth….. no lead singer disease, no big ego and everything…. Mike has been the same….. I’d wish the same attitude for the VH bros….
Sean

Sammy thank you for all the years! How true about Sam saving VH in ’86. We saw what happened with Cherone, who knows where VH might be had Sam not come along. They might be buried so deep in hibernation that none of this reunion stuff would be possible. And it figures the only two classy members to play in VH show up for the fans at the Rock Hall induction.
Kevin

Sammy is a class act…just like Michael Anthony. You rock Sammy.
TheTruthHurts

Skutch says: “Thanks to TheTruthHurts for turning an overwhelmingly positive thread into yet another platform to bash Ed.” Competent reading comprehension would show that I just stated facts; I didn’t bash Ed. How sad that just relaying facts about Ed sounds like bashing him.
JCN

Ditto Sam.

Right back at you!

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!
jeff butler

sammy, i love ya, man. i was in vegas for your show on friday and then the chickenfoot show on saturday. had backstage passes and wanted to meet you soooo bad. but you busted. got to meet everyone but you. and get the hell back up to eugene, oregon, goddammit! you rock. you are awesome.
Panama Red

To Canes_fan5150 -
I agree with you about Sammy appreciating his fans and being a nice guy and everything but judging from your comments,(No disrespect intended),I don’t think you’ve ever seen Sammy Hagar live with Van Halen. He totally embraced being in that band and loved Van Halen fans. That doesn’t mean he was going to give up being himself onstage though. He already had a successful career and fan base. Remember, he left his career as a solo artist when he was asked to join Van Halen.
He had to put out one more album as a solo artist after he joined VH because he was still under contract with Geffen. Eddie played bass on that album and co-produced it. He didn’t leave VH to start a solo career. David Lee Roth left VH to start a solo career. Sammy didn’t start making more solo records until VH started working with Dave again.
He would wear Red Rocker shirts onstage while he was in VH because that’s who he is, that’s his moniker. And the people who were Sammy Hagar fans before he was in VH knew him by that name.
The “I can’t drive 55″ thing was a big hit before he was in VH and he was famous for it, kind of like a motto. He would also routinely wear shirts and banners that fans made and threw up on stage that said “RedRocker” “Cabo Wabo” and “I Can’t Drive 55.” And Eddie would play “I Can’t Drive 55″.
“Cabo Wabo” was a song he wrote with Van Halen. (and also kind of a state of mind, lifestyle reference and a damn fine tequila that I just took a shot of, Holy Shit Anejo kicks ass) And he opened the Cabo Wabo cantina while he was in VH and would hang out with the guys in VH and he even tried to get the VH brothers involved in his cantina. (Selling them shares of it)
Nobody wanted him to erase his past when he joined Van Halen. He shouldn’t be faulted for already being famous.
CEO

Sammy, please keep recording great rock music!! You and your friends are the only ones who are rocking anymore! Please keep on having fun and putting out new, fun-loving, hard rock music. We love you!!!