August 16, 2000 - Van Halen News has been hard to come by lately, but the rumour mill keeps spinning. The latest speculation is that we won't be hearing any new music from the band before the end of this year.

Of course this latest rumour hasn't be confirmed or denied by Van Halen because they're still saying nothing. However, insiders report that the reunion with David Lee Roth is still going well, and that the delay isn't because of tension between Roth and his old bandmates.

Without any updates from Van Halen, nobody really knows if they're even recording at the moment. If the rumoured "legal hassles" are the cause of the delay, that's understandable. (I'm not going anywhere near that scenario.)

I guess all we can do is wait, and be confident that the longer the silence from David Lee Roth and Van Halen continues, the more likely they are to stay reunited. Maybe we'll get a summer tour after all? A year later than expected!

August 18, 2000 - Van Halen update: The first six Van Halen albums are now available for pre-ordering from cdnow.com. Expected delivery date is September 19, 2000. All of these albums have been digitally remastered, and will include all of the original cover artwork and liner notes.

Sammy Hagar update: Contrary to rumours circulating on the Internet this week, Sammy Hagar has not fired his band, the Waboritas. According to redrocker.com, the new album is finished and sounds "awesome". The tentative release date for the album, titled Ten13, is October 24, 2000. The first single, titled Serious JuJu, will be released on September 19, 2000.

Photo: Rolling Stone

David Lee Roth update: We're getting closer to the promised release of the new DLR tune. Dave's webmasters have promised we will be hearing a new recording from Dave before the end of August. It's rumoured that the track is titled Flex, and was co-written by David Lee Roth and former DLR Band guitarist, John Lowery. (8/19 Update: This rumour has been squashed by TK).

The most recent photo of Dave can be seen in the current issue of Rolling Stone, with Keanu Reeves on the cover. Diamond Dave is pictured on page 22 with R&B singer, Kina. The quote from Dave reads: "I don't know her, but I'd do her!"

August 24, 2000 - Although he's still officially on hiatus, David Lee Roth is certainly keeping his mainstream media profile high. Following in the footsteps of his photo with R&B singer, Kina in the current issue of Rolling Stone, Dave's image is now being shown in a brand new TV commercial that began airing this week.

The commercial is for Gateway Computers, and features a guy showing his lady friend around his apartment. She starts admiring his photos on the wall, and notices that he has photos of himself with many famous people, including boxer Evander Holyfield, Lassie and Marilyn Monroe. In the next shot, the name-dropping star is seen in a photo with the one and only David Lee Roth! The photo is even signed: "KEEP IT REAL! DAVE."

The voiceover gives away the obvious secret that the guy has done a course in image manipulation using the Gateway "Photoware" package. Mock footage of him learning how to touch up photos, with his David Lee Roth image as the example, is shown at the end of the commercial.

If you haven't seen it yet, or you don't live in an area that carries the commercial, don't despair. Thanks to a regular VHND visitor, I've managed to get a copy of the commercial and make it available for download from this site. The file is quite large, but worth the wait if you get a buzz seeing Diamond Dave on television. Thanks to Tom Welch for providing the file!

Link: Gateway Commercial (MPEG video, 5155KB)

August 29, 2000 - The October 2000 edition of Spin Magazine hit the newsstands yesterday. It's sure to be a hit with fans of Van Halen, and especially David Lee Roth, because the Diamond One is on the cover!

The issue contains a feature titled The 100 Sleaziest Moments In Rock. Coming in at #10 is "Diamond Dave's Bonus Program", a story describing the ingenious method employed by Dave during Van Halen's 1979 world tour for rewarding roadies who provided the band with the most talented female company..

If you would like to win a copy of the magazine autographed by David Lee Roth, check out the "WAZZUP" section at davidleeroth.com this Friday.

In other news, the recent charity auction for David Lee Roth's Ashley Abernathy single was a runaway success! The winning bidder was a Roth nut from Japan, whose bid of US$3,350 surpassed all expectations. All proceeds will go to the Songs of Love foundation.

Finally, I'm hoping to break an exclusive story this week about the latest project of a former member of David Lee Roth's solo band. As soon as I get clearance to do this, you'll see it here first. Stay tuned!

August 31, 2000 - Gregg Bissonette, the original David Lee Roth Band drummer, has recently been recording with rock legends, Spinal Tap! Bissonette is officially credited as Percussionist on the band's latest single, Back From The Dead. The single can be downloaded from Tapster, the band's answer to the controversial file-sharing software, Napster.

This Is Spinal Tap, the "rockumentary" dubbed by many as the funniest movie ever made about rock and roll, will return to theaters in September. A special edition DVD/VHS is due for release on September 12. To promote the re-release of the film and the new Spinal Tap recording, the band will be making several appearances on nationwide television during September.

Keep an eye out for Spinal Tap on the series premiere of VH1's "Where Are They Now?" on September 6 (23:00 ET/PT). Update September 4: Tap will also be performing (in Dubly Surround) on the Late Show with David Letterman this Thursday, September 7 at 23:35 ET. Gregg will be drumming with the band for this performance.

In the meantime, I present to you the following light-hearted observation of this interesting news...

Gregg Bissonette Recording With Spinal Tap