September 3, 1996 - "The Best Of Van Halen", featuring two new tracks with David Lee Roth, will now be released in the USA on Tuesday October 22, 1996. Other release dates around the world are yet to be confirmed. The new disc will contain 17 tracks - 8 "Dave era", 7 "Sammy era" plus the two new songs recently recorded with David Lee Roth. Hopefully a track listing will appear here shortly.

September 4, 1996 - As predicted here on the Van Halen News Desk for the past week, Van Halen made an appearance at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards last night! From all reports the whole band was very well received, they even got a standing ovation when they walked onto the stage! To quote David Lee Roth:

When asked about the future of Van Halen, Dave replied "The sky's the limit". Dave and Edward also hugged on stage. The band mentioned at the after-show press conference that videos will be made for *both* of the two new tracks recently recorded with David Lee Roth. Look for the first single in early October.

Other news to come from the MTV awards was that Edward will have a hip replacement operation in December. This will render our favourite guitarist out of action for the best part of three months, which won't be much fun for Edward or his family.

September 8, 1996 - Below is the track listing for the new Van Halen Greatest Hits package, to be released in the USA on October 22, 1996, UK on October 14 and Japan on October 17. No real surprises, but we expect intense debating between Van Halen fans on some of the songs that were left out and shouldn't have been.

September 9, 1996 - David Lee Roth appeared on the Howard Stern radio program this morning. A synopsis of the interview is available from this link. Thanks to Pat from the Van Halen list for typing this up and donating it to the Van Halen News Desk.

You can also click here for a summary of the interview from Mike Demers, another member of the Van Halen list.

September 12, 1996 - News from our friends at The Inside - The Toronto Live video from the 1995 Balance tour which was originally scheduled for release in April, then pushed back to October, will not be released. This concert was originally shown as a Pay-Per-View special last year in the USA and Canada, and was going to be officially released with added backstage footage and extra tracks. We can only speculate on the reason for shelving the release, but it's most likely related to the fact that Sammy Hagar is no longer with the band.

However, it's not all bad news on the home video front. We have news that Van Halen will be releasing a music video compilation instead. No word yet on what videos will be on it, but it would be safe to assume that each song on the "Best Of" album release with an accompanying video will be included.

The home video will be released in the UK on October 21. No date has been announced for the US release. Australian fans should see the CD and video released on either October 28 or November 4 (Note: Australian dates are not official yet.)

September 16, 1996 - Below is the track listing for the upcoming 'Best Of Van Halen' home video. No real surprises here. Van Halen fans around the world are rejoicing at the fact that the band has finally decided to officially release these videos for sale. No more watching 5th generation NTSC converted mono copies of old videos from MTV with the start and end missing!
The tracks:

The News Desk is in party mode because Hot For Teacher has been included on the track list! But what happened to Amsterdam, Why Can't This Be Love (yes there was a video made for this!!) and Dance The Night Away? It's okay, most of us have all the videos anyway....

September 17, 1996 - Sammy Hagar will be playing at the Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on October 11, 12 and 13. Over recent years it has become a tradition for Sammy to celebrate his birthday in the club he and former band-mates Van Halen established a few years ago. David Lauser, the drummer from the Van Halen "spin-off" Los Tres Gusanos, will be there along with Robert Berry on bass. An all acoustic set is planned for October 12 featuring Damond Johnson from Brother Cane.

September 17, 1996 - Howard Stern has done it again! Somehow he obtained a pre-release DAT copy of the new Van Halen track Me Wise Magic and played a snippet of it on his radio show this morning. The Van Halen News Desk has been jumping all day after hearing the new track!! Yes folks, Dave really is back. Van Halen are rocking like there's no tomorrow. Eddie's guitar never sounded so good. Expect to hear the track on radio from October 4. Don't hesitate to download the .wav files from the sites below. They may not be there for long...

September 26, 1996 - Howard Stern's interview with David Lee Roth will air on the E! television network. The show can be seen at 11PM ET on Thursday October 3 (part 1) and Friday October 4 (part 2). The E! web site gossip page is also reporting that Gary Cherone has joined Van Halen. Please note that this is a RUMOUR that has not been confirmed by the band, it's management, or Warner Bros. The Van Halen News Desk does not normally participate in rumour spreading, but this one just won't go away. Don't expect any official announcement before the new album is released.

September 27, 1996 - Okay Van Halen fans, nobody from the Van Halen camp is officially confirming or denying the rumours about Gary Cherone joining the band as the new lead singer. It may be true, it may be a pack of lies, we don't know. The Van Halen News Desk is hearing all sorts of stories, mind you none of them are from Van Halen insiders.

As Gary Cherone would say himself - "Three Sides To Every Story":

• Seashells for Souls, the Unofficial Extreme fan club stated on August 16 they were recently in contact with SRO Management to ask about the rumours of Gary leaving Extreme to join Van Halen:
  
  

"Apparently Gary merely mentioned it to a friend that he was MAYBE doing some writing with Eddie Van Halen and this got overheard and grossly misinterpreted. So there is no need to worry, despite the hype the music press are giving this particular rumour."

• The New York Daily News is reporting that Gary Cherone and Van Halen are currently writing and rehearsing at 5150. The headline reads "Halen a New Lead", but the writer takes a back step by stating that Gary is only a "contenduh" for the lead singer position.
  
  
• Van Halen have said nothing publicly to address the rumour. Scotty Ross, Van Halen's Tour Manager, recently responded in the following manner on the Van Halen list:
  

  
   Q: "By the way, what do you think of Gary Cherone?"
  
  SR: "Gary Who???"
  
  

Keep watching this page and Jason Kramer's excellent Extreme Page for the latest updates. Please understand that the News Desk is trying to keep you guys up to date with what's going down. Just remember, until we get official confirmation from Van Halen, the situation is this:

• Sammy is no longer in Van Halen and from all reports won't be back.
• Van Halen stated they are "looking for a replacement" for Sammy.
• Dave returned to Van Halen and recorded two new songs for the upcoming 'Best Of' CD.
• Dave is one of many contenders for the position to replace Sammy.

September 27, 1996 - You can grab the full version of Me Wise Magic by following the links below. Disclaimer: This is nothing to do with the Van Halen News Desk, just passing along info..... ;)

September 29, 1996 - This morning I received an email from Judi and Kali from Seashells for Souls - the unofficial Extreme Fan Club regarding the Gary Cherone rumours that just won't go away. I have reprinted it below, with their permission:

To the Van Halen News Desk

Hi. Firstly we should introduce ourselves..... We are Judi and Kali and 
we run the Unofficial Extreme Fanclub SEASHELLS FOR SOULS (just to 
reassure you - although unofficial we do have permission and support from 
both the band and their management and are therefore in regular contact 
with them). We are writing to you in response to the continuing rumours 
and speculation about our Gary being recruited as the new vocalist for 
Van Halen.

When the story first broke a couple of weeks ago it really was all 
speculative but in the last week or so things appear to have changed 
radically.

On the 27 September `96 a reliable source close to the band revealed to 
us that this is now far more than just a rumour. Although no decisions 
have been made at the time of writing the future of Extreme is in serious 
question and it is indeed true that Gary is under consideration to be the 
new VH singer, although there are others in contention.

We will keep you informed of new developments as we get them as obviously 
we all share a common interest in all of this - this is BIG!!!!!!! If 
anyone out there would like to get in touch with us we'd be happy to hear 
from you.

Love,

Judi Clarke and Kali Michael
Seashells For Souls
Unofficial Extreme Fanclub
Essington House
North Tawton
Devon 
EX20 2EX
England

e-mail :  106056.1760@compuserve.com

Phone no :  +44 1837 82510

Seashells For Souls also have a message for Van Halen fans here.
Here is another one that I received on October 8, 1996.