Bottoms up to 2020. We’ve had to deal with a lot, haven’t we? From lockdowns, civil unrest, economic uncertainty, over 213,000 souls lost to COVID-19 and the efforts to dethrone the sitting president on November 3, this girl was given one more tough pill to swallow.
The musical hero of my youth, Eddie Van Halen, died this week.
I don’t play guitar, although my dad made me take lessons for two years. My hands were too small, I was too young to appreciate the gift of learning a musical instrument at the time. Had I learned much, it would have never been enough to comprehend what Eddie gave to the world with his talent.
It was more than how he played, it’s how he played with the sounds he made with his fingers, and how that sound was perceived through the mechanics of amplifying that guitar. Here’s a video from 2015 as he explained “tapping” as he utilized it, playing with both hands on the neck of the guitar.
I can’t appreciate the technical, genius aspects of his craft, but I can celebrate the joy he brought to the world in which I came of age. There isn’t a song he played that didn’t bring energy and exuberance to my spirit, even in teenage angst.
And so maybe in the anxiety that embodies 2020, we could benefit from a little bit of Van Halen.
And if you’re not a fan, well then turn up your own music and get lost in another time — a time that has nothing to do with the ugliness of 2020.
To better days, NV friends. It’s 5:00 somewhere — cheers!