Sensible Shoes: (singing) I'm Calling...Dr. Love...

Sensible Shoes: Seriously, where did your moniker come from?

Dr. Love: The first Van Halen oriented site I ever signed up for was the DLR Army. I signed up under the user name "Roth'n'Roll" or something like that. I didn't seem to fit in very well at the time and so I went back to lurking. Eventually the Pleasure Dome came out and I signed up. I believe that sometime the week before that I had went to my first (and only) KISS concert, and that song was stuck in my head. I went with it because I wanted to build an internet persona around a person that might be interesting to meet, as if there were actually a Dr. Love somewhere. Over time I’ve given up the idea of playing at an internet character. I alternately use the moniker "Dr. Feelgood" at times.

Sensible Shoes: And of course, Dr. Love has a way with the ladies.

Dr. Love: Well... not so much on the forums. I have more luck in real life, although in some ways I'm much different than I am on the forums, and in some ways very similar.

Of course, on the forum, I am usually chatting with ladies that are significantly more experienced in life than I am. ;-)

Sensible Shoes: What about this rumor that's floating around that you have three penises?

Dr. Love: Well, I have to say it is entirely true, all of it. I don't know how people found out, either.

Sensible Shoes: Uh, you told us.

Dr. Love: oh yeah.

Sensible Shoes: OK. Do you have any advice for our viewers on purchasing wheels?

Dr. Love: Well, having had my wheels completely removed from my car recently, I have to say that the people at Discount Tire Company were more than accommodating; they even delivered the tires and installed them for me for a reasonable price.

Sensible Shoes: How much?

Dr. Love: for delivery and installation, it was about $50, I believe.

Sensible Shoes: That's pretty cheap for rubber.

Dr. Love: More than I wanted to spend.

Sensible Shoes: OK, let's touch on your real life versus your virtual one. I understand that you are rather young to be a Van Halen Fan.

Dr. Love: Well, by no means am I the youngest -- Ally_Kat and some others are younger than me, but I've literally been a Van Halen fan my entire life. My parents were about 19 when Van Halen came out, and they were big fans. My mother often tells me that when she was pregnant and I was active, they would play Van Halen through some headphones and put it on her for me to hear, and I would calm down.

Sensible Shoes: That's quite contrary to the quote of Dave's that Classic VH made you want to dance, drink and fuck.

Dr. Love: well, I was a little young for that, I think. Beyond that, the first song I could "sing" was Ain't Talkin Bout Love... my favorite song at 4 was Jump. I stopped hearing Van Halen for a while until Pepsi started playing "Right Now"... at the time I was twelve and liked the song for whatever reason and became a fan of Van Hagar for a while. I never realized it was mostly the same band I enjoyed from childhood until much later.

Sensible Shoes: Which brings us to the current tour - which incidentally hits my town tomorrow night.

Sensible Shoes: You have been very vocal over at DDLR about going to the concert - when others are boycotting because there's no Dave. How come?

Dr. Love: I get a lot of shit for that, and sometimes it irritates me, I'll admit. The older folks, the ones that really remember old Van Halen at the time have a lot of anger over the whole ordeal. I don't, really. It's kinda silly to be so angry over something like that, but that's how they are. I'm going because I want to, and the ticket is free. I haven't bought a ticket to the show that is in my town, but I have a ticket to the one where my parents live. I like some Van Hagar, and I wouldn't mind going to see it. I'm kind of looking forward to it. But I'm not going to change my stance over how a bunch of internet strangers feel about the band. And I'm not going to pretend, like some people, to have the same level of understanding as some people that actually lived it when it was going on instead of discovering it much later. To me, that's pretentious (and silly). Beyond that, I sometimes suspect that the ones that are the loudest about not going are the ones that are most likely to go. I know of several “diehards” that have went to the Van Hagar show but would never admit it.

Sensible Shoes: Doctor Love: Lover or Fighter? (on the net)

Dr. Love: I'm a pretty laid back guy, most of the time. I'm not angry, I don't have anything to prove. Internet wars only make the people involved look really stupid.

Sensible Shoes: This is good - let's try something. I'll give you two choices and you pick one.

Sensible Shoes: Jack or Cabo Wabo?

Dr. Love: I have both, currently. Jack is preferred in taste ... Cabo has a strange tang that isn't very appetizing, but I'll usually move to the Cabo after a while because I've never had a hang over from it. Of course, I've done really stupid things because of it

Sensible Shoes: (this is a psychiatric test.)

Sensible Shoes: Chocolate or Vanilla?

Dr. Love: Vanilla. I'm allergic to chocolate.

Sensible Shoes: Texas or Canada ?

Dr. Love: Texas . Don't get me wrong, I love Canada . I'll love it even more when it's begging for mercy from the Texans. ;-)

Sensible Shoes: Britney or Christina?

Dr. Love: Britney... I'm not into Christina. She's very nasty (not to say Britney is much better)

Sensible Shoes: Laverne or Shirley?

Dr. Love: sheesh, I barely remember that show, except to remember that Laverne had a screwed up nose. Shirley… but remember that I don’t even remember what she looks like.

Sensible Shoes: Loaded SUV or little red sports car?

Dr. Love: heh, I've had an SUV and a ricer... I like the car, easier to drive, don't have to feel like I'm about to flip.

Sensible Shoes: Gay or Straight?: Oops, that's probably too personal.

Dr. Love: Heh, I'm straight, but I have no problem with gays, especially the female ones. ;-)

Sensible Shoes: Yeah, yeah, two lesbians kissing, look up - "Oh it's DR. LOVE - why don't you join us" right?

Dr. Love: I can’t even begin to convey how often that actually happens… :-P

Sensible Shoes: Are we allowed to tell folks you just graduated?

Dr. Love: Yeah, that's no big secret. I have a bachelor's degree in Computer Science.

Sensible Shoes: Found a job yet?

Dr. Love: Yep. I work for a big bank as a Senior Developer. I’m pretty happy about it because not a lot of folks right out of college would have an opportunity like this. The job is rewarding because it really challenges any ability I have. The previous project or two I had were sometimes insultingly easy in their scope.

Sensible Shoes: How often do Site owners or administrators hit you up for technical help?

Dr. Love: not often at all... I know some of them are computer people themselves. I've offered assistance before, and there's been some openness to it, but nothing really has come of it yet. But if they needed the help, I'm all for giving it.

Sensible Shoes: Well I have this really bad problem with my CD burner....

Dr. Love: Most likely it's a problem with the end-user.

Sensible Shoes: (wincing) OK.

Dr. Love: Heh, sorry. I actually spent a good deal of time as a help desk in my early undergrad years. There is a lot of fun in that job. First rule of the Help Desk: Blame the user.

Sensible Shoes: Tell your very best Van Halen story. I know you've got one.

Dr. Love: Here's a story people have heard before, but it's still my favorite to tell. Back in June of 1996, my Dad was working as a programmer for a major airline. One of the things that the programmers in the company had made was a "interesting passenger list" program that would search for people they wanted to meet. Well, one day, Eddie Van Halen's name popped up on the list, so my Dad found out the flight times and arrangements, and he and I went up and got to meet him. He was actually very friendly and let us speak with him for about an hour. He told us that Sammy Hagar had been fired from Van Halen and that he (Eddie) had to fire him because his work ethic was very bad. He wouldn't tell us who was joining Van Halen, but told us they'd be singing "all the old stuff". It was nice for me at 15 to get to meet the guy. He signed some tablature books for me, and thumbed through them. He had no idea Van Halen offered this sort of merchandise. Oddly enough, he opened the book and looked at the sheet music for "Spanish Fly" and said, "Oh, this must be eruption." ... and the words "SPANISH FLY" in bold was printed at the top of the page.

Sensible Shoes: Was he drunk? Sorry, that was a cheap shot.

Dr. Love: I don't think he was ... but he was drinking a scotch at the time, and he has a publicist with him. He was just coming back from meeting with Peavey to finalize the deal on the Wolfgang guitar. He gave me a sales pitch on the guitar and his 5150 amplifiers.

Sensible Shoes: Speaking of which, do you play and instrument?

Dr. Love: I play several instruments... guitar, drums, bass, and some piano. I've managed to pick it all up on my own, actually. I play in a band and we play a lot of Van Halen (badly) and write a lot of original music. It all comes back to this weird neurological quirk I have called "synaesthesia".

Sensible Shoes: What's that? Fear of synthesizers?

Dr. Love: LOL, I wish, sometimes. It's a condition in the brain where when you're an infant, your brain grows extra connections between the senses, thus linking them. There are different degrees of it, but I have a rather high degree being that I inherited it on both sides of the family. Basically, when one sense is stimulated, one or more of the others are also stimulated. I will hear a piece of music, and see a color, or feel a tactile sensation, or taste something. I can look at words and similar things will happen.: It causes me to really like some bands and really hate some others. It's a lot more involved, but for me to really go into the details would take a lot of time. Suffice to say there are a lot more things, colors associated with people and their names and things like that.

Sensible Shoes: Wow/ Must have some interesting implications in your sex life.

Dr. Love: Heh, I actually have no idea. For me, this is 'normal'.

Sensible Shoes: Like, you're the only person who really DOES see fireworks and all that.....

Dr. Love: Exactly. I do get flashes of color during sex, actually... I always assumed that was normal!

Sensible Shoes: Um, no.

Dr. Love: Well, then you guys have no idea what you're missing. And that is a part of the problem when trying to relate to people, sometimes. The frame of reference is somewhat skewed because I perceive a lot of things slightly differently than others.

Sensible Shoes: So THAT's why they call you Dr. Love!

Sensible Shoes: Do you have any final thoughts for the loyal fans?

Dr. Love: I'd be amazed and embarassed if I had a single fan, but I do want to thank SoCalChelle and Parrothead for picking me as this month's "Tormented Van Halen Fan" and I really want to thank you for interviewing me and putting up with can sometimes be overly verbose responses. ;-)

Sensible Shoes: Only for equally verbose questions. Good luck with the rest of your life!

Dr. Love: Thanks.