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R.I.P. E.V.H.

October 11, 2020 6 Comments

Almost one year to the day before Edward Van Halen died, I texted a friend whom I was pretty sure would know the answer to a question that had been troubling me for some time.

Is Eddie sick?

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Filed Under: Music, Personal, Van Halen

Oh, Chris … not you too …

May 18, 2018 Leave a Comment

Taking a break from politics to republish this piece on the one-year anniversary of Chris Cornell’s death. I still can’t believe he’s gone.

I got out of the Army in 1991, one week before Christmas. My brother’s gift to me that year was Soundgarden’s “Badmotorfinger.” I was a short-haired, 21-year-old, ex-military cop with my sights set on a career in law enforcement.

A year later, I was a long-haired, college-radio DJ whose daily attire consisted of beat-up combat boots, ripped jeans, flannel shirts and a leather biker jacket. I had discovered I could write, and I no longer wanted to be a cop for a living. Chris Cornell featured prominently on the soundtrack to my transformation.

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Filed Under: Life, Music Tagged With: Chris Cornell

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Jon Zal 🇺🇦 Follow 23,793 55,189

Husband, father, writer, podcaster, drummer, Army vet (M.P. K-9), ex-music journalist • BLOG: https://t.co/wkEwZclWEe • IG: https://t.co/9PB3Virbbu #BlackLivesMatter

jon_zal
jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506728347652567053

Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have used almost all of their time during this confirmation hearing to pander to Q-Anon lunatics. This should terrify everyone. Stop it with the “both sides” nonsense; one of the two major parties in this country is literally a cult.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506727640782225410

Just wondering if Josh Hawley regrets inciting a violent insurrection against the United States Government that resulted in the death and maiming of police officers.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506668483316260868

I am so far removed from the utter insanity of the far right that I keep feeling surprised when someone reminds me that Graham, Hawley, et al, are harping on the child-pornography thing in order to appeal to the Q-Anon conspiracy nuts whose votes are propping up the decrepit GOP.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506643627950456837

Wild that Ketanji Brown Jackson has to teach the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee how the Judiciary Branch works.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506628980320911360

ProTip™: If you twice acquitted Donald Trump & helped him incite a violent insurrection that resulted in dead & maimed police officers, you’re not actually…

(•_•)/
<) ) TOUGH!
/ \

\(•_•)
( (> ON!
/ \

(•_•)
<) )> CRIME!
/ \

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506597758555377670

PARENTING UPDATE: Waiting to find out if your first-born child will get into the college of his choice is a special kind of torture.

If this kid doesn't get into this school, I'm going to cry.

(That's him in the George Washington costume he asked for as a 7th-birthday gift.)

Image for the Tweet beginning: PARENTING UPDATE: Waiting to find Twitter feed image.
Image for the Tweet beginning: PARENTING UPDATE: Waiting to find Twitter feed image.
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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506422895030976516

Juxtapose Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s composure during hours of pointless, racist, pandering attacks from white men not worthy of carrying her laundry hamper to that of this black-out drunk, credibly accused rapist appointed by a credibly accused rapist:

Image for twitter card

Hell hath no fury like white-male privilege threatened

For a brief moment last Thursday, as Brett Kavanaugh began his opening remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee...

jonzal.com

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
22 Mar 1506418152816660480

I love @SenBooker actually making his questioning of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson all about, you know, *Ketanji Brown Jackson*.

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ABOUT ME

Jon Zal @ The Capitol

I was born in 1970, raised just outside of Boston, and now live near Philadelphia. As a child, I thought I was going to be…
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Photographic evidence that I occasionally leave th Photographic evidence that I occasionally leave the house. Rare … but it happens.
Go @RedSox! #OpeningDay Go @RedSox!
#OpeningDay
New profile pic. Previous one was six years old. S New profile pic. Previous one was six years old. Started to feel like a lie.

Longest my hair's been in 18 years. Planning to let it keep growing for a bit. Not gonna let it get as long as it was Back In The Day (read: down to my chest), but ... I need a change.

Anyway ... that's me now. 👋🏻
Just gutted by this loss. Van Halen, Rolling Sto Just gutted by this loss. 

Van Halen, Rolling Stones & Foo Fighters. That’s my Big Three … and of those three, there’s only one I was banking on as a go-to active interest for the next couple of decades. 

As with Van Halen, I fell in love with Foo Fighters not only because of the music, but because of the fun those guys had with, and love they had for, each other.

Had plans in place to go see Foos play in Oregon this October for the final stop on their now-canceled tour. Can’t believe I won’t get to see Dave & Taylor play together again. 

Dave was the first interview I ever did with someone who wasn’t a member of Van Halen. He let me call him at home one weekend, 22 years ago. Two East Coast guys, same age, drummers, music lovers, shooting the shit on a Saturday afternoon. It remains one of my favorite memories. 

I briefly met Taylor in Austin, TX, back in 2006 when he and his solo band somehow got put up at the same shitty Holiday Inn as me. He was very kind, gracious and cool to this awkward, socially anxious fanboy. Saw him play live that night, his drum kit positioned at the front lip of the stage so he could sing lead and play drums at the same time. Great set. 

I am absolutely gutted thinking about what Dave is going through right now. 

Hadn’t been playing much in recent months. Been sweating it right the fuck out every day since Taylor passed, though. Nonstop Foo Fighters & Nirvana play-along sessions. Only way I’ve been able to channel the grief. Glad I have that outlet. (Thanks for getting my ass behind the kit again, Taylor.)

Really hoping Dave finds a way to make peace with this tragic loss and keep being the joyful soul & inspiration he’s been to so many of us for so long now. 

#RIPTaylorHawkins 🥁💔
#FooFighters
My weekend? Awesome, thanks. How 'bout yours? Ret My weekend? Awesome, thanks. How 'bout yours?

Returned home Sunday and all is well now, but ... man, for a guy who not once in 52 years spent a night at the hospital or experienced a serious medical emergency, I made up for it in spades last week.

Celebrated Valentine's Day with my first colonoscopy. Couple small polyps removed. No cancer found, and no other problems. "Return in five years." Yay! 🥳

Fast forward to last Thursday (2/24), at which time large quantities of nothing but blood began exiting my body via an orifice from which large quantities of blood should not pass. So that was disconcerting.

Pro-Tip™: A good way to skip the wait at the ER is to show them a picture of a toilet bowl filled with nothing but your own blood and then pass out.

Three mostly sleepless beep-filled nights, one CT scan, a couple IV bags, several bazillion blood draws & some bad hospital food later, I was home without any further issues, and, thankfully, no surgery or other medical intervention required.

But, yeah ... hoping to never do that again. 🥴

So, uh, anyway ... how you doin'?
Happy #nationalmargaritaday. 🍹 Happy #nationalmargaritaday. 🍹
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