September 2005 Featured User

HAMBON4LIF

Where were you born/raised? I was born in San Bernardino , California . And because my old man was in the service, I was raised in various parts of the country, and in West Germany (when it was still called West Germany ) for about 3 years .

Any brothers or sisters? I have 2 younger sisters .

What is your earliest memory? Living in Mainz , Germany with my family when I was 4. I remember my mother always waiting for me to get out of school so she could take me to nearby Wiesbaden to go shopping, because I was speaking almost fluent German, and could communicate with the people there. There was only one TV station out there that was in English, and that was the AFN (Armed Forces Network), and everyday they would begin their broadcasting day with a show called “Dah Guttentagh” which taught you one German word a day, and I sort of picked it up subliminally while I was waiting for the morning cartoons to come on. Unfortunately, I have forgotten most of it over the years. Now I can only count to 10 and say things that would get you punched in the eye by someone who knows German (laughs).

What were your favorite toys as a child? It wasn't so much ‘toys' as it was comic books, as well as books. I spent my early years off by myself reading.

What are your favorite toys now? That would have to be my car, and my home stereo system. Just the bass cabinets alone can crack windows and give you that queezy feeling in your gut….and I love it LOUD!!!

What musical instruments do you play? I can play guitar, I'm not great by any means, but I know all the chords I need to write my own songs if I wanted. And I can play pretty good harmonica.

When did you first get into Van Halen? I was aware of them because their first album was being played everywhere, but when ‘Women And Children First' came out in 1980, I was 12 years old, and that album dropped into my life like an atomic bomb. I was going through the ‘have you seen juniors grades?' period in my life at that same time. I couldn't imagine how I got through life before that album came out, I felt someone was speaking for me, that they knew what I was going through. I was the target audience, I was part of what people consider to be “the Van Halen generation”. The thing that put me on the mailing list was the pictures they'd have in rock magazines that were popular at the time like ‘Hit Parader', ‘Circus', and ‘Creem'. I opened one up that had a picture of Dave flying off the drum riser, and it was the coolest damn thing I'd ever seen. The sight, as well as the sound, were wrapped up in such an awesome package that it knocked you on your ass, and right then I decided that this band was the best thing since the invention of radio, and that they were going to represent me from here on out, and here we are 25 years later, and I still feel that way today.

Has anybody (besides me) ever told you that you look like Dave ? I haven't heard that in quite some time, not since high school, when there was a more deliberate attempt to be like the man. I grew my hair out and bleached the hell out of it, and walked around with the same confidence, the same demeanor, the same…attitude as he did back then. I only have 3 people on this Earth that I consider my ‘heroes', my ‘idols……Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali, and David Lee (laughs) so that's one hell of a compliment Chelle! Thank You very much.

Other than VH, what other music do you enjoy, and what other shows have you seen? I listen to absolutely everything, right across the board. I feel just as comfortable listening to country music like Waylon Jennings to early 80's funk like Lakeside , The Gap Band, to Morris Day & The Time. I listen to it all indiscriminately because I feel every genre, every style has its good, and not so good artists, and talent overrides any boundaries or categories they may be put into. My all-time favorite music is early Aerosmith, early ZZ Top, and of course, early Van Halen. As far as shows, I've seen hundreds. There was a time before ticket prices were as outrageous as they are today, when I'd go see everyone. It didn't matter who they were, they all represented freedom to me. Of course now, because of how expensive it's become, you have to pick and choose which shows you want to catch.

What's the most embarrassing CD you own? (laughs) That one's tough. I was a mobile DJ for many years, so I've accumulated literally thousands of CD's. If I had to go through and pick one, it would probably be The Fuglees ‘Indiana'. It has the song ‘David Lee Roth' on it, but the rest of the disc is horrible.

Are you married/single? Do you have any kids? I'm not married, but I've had a girlfriend for the last 7 years on and off. She's one of the best things that's ever happened to someone like me, she keeps my ass in line, and I do consider myself lucky. As far as kids? I have none, because I made a solemn promise to myself that if I didn't meet the ‘mother of my children', I wouldn't even bother. The last thing the world needs is another ‘Saturday Daddy', and it just wouldn't be fair to the kid.

What did you want to be when you grew up? A Program Director for a radio station, not just any radio station, but a powerhouse radio station like KLOS 95.5 in Los Angeles , or KLUP 97.9 (the LOOP ) that we have out here. The recent ‘Satellite Radio' explosion hasn't made me change my mind one bit. I still have that ambition to be a part of something like that, and we have one of the best broadcasting schools right here in Illinois , so it's still attainable.

How many cities have you lived in? Well, because Pop was in the service, he was stationed somewhere almost every six months or every year, so I've lived in Florida, Texas, Arizona as well as Germany for short periods of time, but for the better part of my life, I lived right there in the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino, California. I lived there for over 20 years.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Reading magazines, books. Listening to music. And I can almost always be found online on a DLR/CVH related website.

What would people be most surprised to know about you? That I'm more together and intelligent as the person I portray myself as online.

What would you say is the biggest difference between your personality online, and your personality offline? My online personality will NOT under any circumstances engage in any political and religious disputes that go on. I feel stuff like that separates people. There's nothing wrong with being passionate about the issues, I just choose not to be a part of it. I'll just post the most outrageously dumbest things you've ever heard, or just make a joke. Because it doesn't matter to me if you're Liberal or Conservative, Catholic or Protestant, we all met on a rockstars messageboard, and if we get along, then stuff like that means almost nothing to me. My offline personality is one of the coolest people you'll ever meet, someone who honestly cares about other people and has a great deal of compassion. my online personality will most likely die alone. (laughs)

What's the craziest thing you've ever done? One morning after a keg party, I woke up stuck halfway inside a doggie-door. It was late, I was drunk, and the doors were locked. I thought I could fit, and I got halfway through, and passed out……does that count? (laughs)

Imagine with me, if you could go back to one point in your life and change that one thing. What would that be, and how might your life be different today? Changing one thing would interrupt the chain of events to what got me to this point, so I would have to say nothing. I've been incredibly lucky with the way things have turned out, and I walk around with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on my face, and it's well-earned, I always feel like I've just gotten away with something (laughs), so I wouldn't alter it at all.

If you had only one day left to live, how would you want to spend it? By finding a place in the middle of nowhere, finding out a way to get the original Van Halen lineup together to play a one-time-only show, and gathering all my friends and family members to spend the day rockin' out, and partying our ass off like there's no tomorrow.

Do you have a general philosophy on life? It's in the words of Ted Nugent. “You're born at Point A, you're going to die at Point B….KICK MAXIMUM ASS….LIVE!!”

Anything else you'd like to mention that I haven't asked you about? Not really, I think we've covered quite a bit. Thanks Chelle…..YOU ROCK!!!