Osaka is a fucking shithole, I loved it. One bar, dude has a pet iguana or something. Thought it was a toy then it moved. Then he took out a fucking huge snake out of his duffel bag and wrapped it round his head. Snake was sticking his tongue out at me. Time to go, I said to the missus. That wrapped up one hours drinking during which a Turkish guy looked like he was having a nervous breakdown on the phone and wanted to fight me, and fat judo instructor who was hitting on the girl challenged me to put him in a headlock. Translated by the Turkish guy who was practically in tears about something.
Quino (Joaquin Salvador Lavado) - creator of Argentinian comic strip Mafalda, going since 1962. Probably almost unknown outside the Spanish speaking world, but he's often compared to Schulz in terms of style and influence. 88.
Archie Lyndhurst - son of Nicholas - has died at the age of 19 after a short illness. I didn't realise Nicholas Lyndhurst had a son who was an actor. He was in a CBBC sitcom apparently. Awful to hear.
Edward Van Halen. 65.
One of the all time greats, and one of the very few who genuinely had a profound influence on an entire generation of guitar players.
While many wore his influence on their sleeve, no one ever really came close to equalling his irreverent technique and unique sound.
I was a huge fan in their glory days, and while my tastes moved elsewhere as I got older, I've always had a soft spot for those first six Van Halen albums. For a generation of rock fans of my age, the first time hearing their debut album still ranks as one of the great WTAF?? moments in music.
And it wasn't just the technique. His playing and sound was the definition of lighting in a bottle, but beyond that he just had that indefinable magic ingredient X in his fingers. One of the few who tore up the rule book, and broke new ground.
As an aside, I should mention that it always saddened me that Eddie grew to become such a weapon's grade arsehole in his later years, but the reality is that you could apply that to most musicians of that era.
Of the original four members of the classic Van Halen line-up, only bass player Michael Anthony has ever maintained any semblance of dignity. Such is life I guess.
Certainly it was an open secret that Van Halen had been battling cancer again this last year, but it's still shocking to hear of his passing.
A true rock legend.
EVH definitely looked like he was having fun a lot of the time, and that does indeed matter a lot if you're gonna be on stage constantly.
Yeah you could call them the Goofy Zeppelin or you could just witness the motherfucking riffs.
They definitely kick started the whole hair rock 80s thing. First album is a stone cold classic although I find it hard to listen to because the stereo mixing sounds weird these days.