Jason Becker: national newspaper coverage July '89 to June '05
rmjon23
5th Caprice...the articles and reviews from the David Lee Roth era of
Jason's career are included to lend perspective to the subsequent
stories about his dealing with ALS. And no, I'm not posting this
because I heard Jason had died; I was simply doing some research on
this amazing guitarist and incredibly courageous human being, and
figured I'd put it up here in case anyone else was innarested. As far
as I know, Jason Becker is still with us. To paraphrase Lennon, "I know
I'll often stop and think about him..." - rmjon23]
http://stu.westga.edu/~jmatthe2/WebPages/Videos.htm
Paper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Title: Cacophony In High Speed
Date: June 25, 1989
The heavy metal rock group Cacophony performed at Furst Rock on Friday
evening. With the twin lead guitars of Jason Becker and Marty Friedman
blazing the musical path, the quintet set a raging pace with songs from
its latest release ''Go Off.''
Cacophony has taken the concept of guitar harmonies, popularized by
acts such as the Allman Brothers, Wishbone Ash and Racer X, and taken
the arrangements into the upper reaches of modern rock speed limits.
With a sophisticated sense of harmonic theory and the instrumental
technique to back it up, the guitar duo have built the band's sound and
material around its solo potential with fine results.
Becker offers classical music influences in his guitar breaks that are
offset by the more Middle Eastern flavor of Friedman's offerings.
Together the pair can't be faulted in its imagination or execution, but
a clearer emphasis on the melody content might have been in order.
Songs such as ''E.S.P.'' and ''Ninja'' showed the group's strong
points, but its cover of Deep Purple's ''Smoke On the Water'' and
AC/DC's ''Highway To Hell'' contained some of the most exciting moments
of the set.
With a surprising show of force, the local rock group Axeminister
displayed some powerful moments of its own. Although the act was a
last-minute addition to the program, the group's performance was
delivered with considerable impact.
Author: By David Surkamp
Paper: The Record (New Jersey)
Title: THE LIFE OF THE PARTY THROWS ANOTHER BASH
Date: January 24, 1991
David Lee Roth, "A Little Ain't Enough" (Warner Bros.) @@ 1/2
Hot women and lots of them.
Hell-raising and plenty of it.
These can only mean one thing David Lee Roth is back.
Roth, the former Van Halen front man, has carved himself quite a
reputation as a fun-lovin dude. And "A Little Ain't Enough" does
nothing to dispel that image.
The 12-song collection serves up more of the 120-mph rock-and-roll that
Roth featured on three previous solo albums. Unlike past efforts,
however, the emphasis here is more on blues-flavored rock, which
well-suits Roth's rough, big voice.
Balancing his usual libidinous tales ("Baby's on Fire," "Shoot It") are
songs with healthy doses of humor.
Roth's comedic sense is at its sharpest in "It's Showtime! " A
wonderful satire of the music industry, the song includes such lyrics
as: "Produce me daddy, talkin 8 to the bar/Big, bigger, biggest/With
the rite lighting, you'll go far. " Roth sings the lines like a man
who's heard them all.
"It's Showtime! " gets several demerits, though, for sounding a little
too close to Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher. " "Last Call" also scores
minus points for bearing a strong sonic resemblance to Aerosmith's
"Walk This Way. "
It's a couple of slower-paced songs that produce Diamond Dave's most
brilliant moments.
"Tell the Truth," fueled by a midtempo bluesy shuffle, is a vocal
showcase. So too is the hook-laden "Sensible Shoes," which features
spririted interplay between Roth on harmonica and guitarists Jason
Becker and Steve Hunter.
Becker and Hunter are the newest members of Roth's band, and both fit
well into the lineup that includes the Bissonette brothers (drummer
Gregg and bassist Matt) and keyboardist Brett Tuggle.
Paper: St. Petersburg Times
Title: "A LITTLE' IS PLENTY GOOD
Date: February 1, 1991
David Lee Roth
A Little Ain't Enough
Warner Bros.
+ + +
Brash, pompous, and crudely comical, David Lee Roth has always played
the ultimate caricature of the stereotypical rock star. Like the class
clown in elementary school, he is sometimes funny but forever
conspicuous, seizing any opportunity to provoke a cheap laugh or to
draw attention to himself. Roth is perpetually ""on.''
A Little Ain't Enough, Roth's strongest solo outing since his departure
from Van Halen, holds no surprises for those familiar with his loutish
voice, swashbuckling demeanor and top-notch backup musicianship. His
vocals, though mostly delivered with trademark camp, work best when
placed in competition with a similarly spotlight-hungry lead guitarist,
in this case the adequate Jason Becker.
A dynamic horn section and sparkling piano set Shoot It apart from some
of Roth's more characteristic forays into mainstream hard rock, giving
it a bright, brassy edge. He experiments freely with musical
arrangements on much of the album but lyrically adheres to his
predilection tor male braggadocio, chauvinism, and frequent references
to fast cars and alcohol.
Roth predictably switches gears on Sensible Shoes (""Ones that will
lead me back to you. . . .''), a terrific little loping blues number
that features rich, understated vocals and tasteful harmonica wailing
by Roth himself. Becker spikes this one up with splinters of delicate
guitar wizardry and inspires hope that more is to come.
Unfortunately, the mood is instantly shattered by the rudely aggressive
Last Call, a disagreeable cross between Aerosmith's Walk This Way and
Van Halen's Beautiful Girl. Another challenging listen is the
prestissimo It's Showtime, which makes Flight of the Bumblebee sound
like a sedate waltz.
Noticeably absent from this assembly is a bombastic cover version of
old chestnuts such as California Girls or Just a Gigolo. Perhaps David
Lee Roth finally realized that if he behaves like a cheerful buffoon on
his own songs he can also reap the royalties.
This is A-1 commercial rock product. Roth has a knack for exploiting
himself in videos and doubtlessly will find suitable fodder here. With
characters culled from the Old Testament and a sinister figure
symbolizing evil and temptation, Hammerhead Shark is a ready-made video
storyboard.
A Lil' Ain't Enough,the title track, neatly encapsulates everything
that is typical of David Lee Roth's style throughout his career. It is
loaded with boastful hooks, acrobatic guitar work, and the suggestion
that life (and everything else) is there for the grabbing.
Author: JEFF JACKS
Paper: Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Title: FOR ROTH, 'A LITTLE AIN'T ENOUGH' NEW ALBUM'S TITLE RINGS TRUE
FOR VETERAN ROCKER \ (A LITTLE AIN'T ENOUGH DAVID LEE ROTH (WARNER
BROS.) GRADE: C)
Date: February 10, 1991
David Lee Roth's slap-happy, playboy / clown image is wearing thin
these days, but he manages to work a few dextrous moves into his inane
antics on the new A Little Ain't Enough.
The highlight is Shoot It. Here his growls are just right for Jason
Becker's searing guitar solo and the infectious chorus.
Becker is again exemplary on the bluesy Tell the Truth, and Roth
convincingly polishes off that track as well as the hard-rocking
Hammerhead Shark and heavy metal Baby's on Fire.
Less impressive is the title track, a pedestrian anthem-rock number on
which the singer proclaims, "Yeah, I'm the same old number." No
kidding.
At 35, Roth may be getting a little old to keep up with the speed-metal
aspirations of It's Showtime and his stale double entendres and sexual
innuendo are childish pranks for a man his age.
The Dogtown Shuffle is at least a competent attempt at mocking societal
structure, and the groove is solid.
But A Little Ain't Enough raises too many questions about Roth's
abilities, and the title implies a truth the singer never intended.
- BY Chuck Campbell; Scripps Howard News Service
Paper: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Title: DIAMOND DAVE RECORDS SOME HITS AND MISSES
Date: February 24, 1991
When picking up David Lee Roth's latest album, "A Lil' Ain't Enough,"
the first thing one notices on the cover is an image of a laughing
devil.
A devil?
Roth has never been involved with that 666-devil's area code nonsense
in his musical past. Can this possibly be a comment on himself?
Roth has never been a devil, a scoundrel maybe, but never a devil.
Futhermore, this is David Lee Roth, remember him the flamboyant and
one-time frontman of the premiere Los Angeles heavy metal band Van
Halen. The only thing ever demonic about him was his enflamed ego.
Who knows, maybe Roth did sign one of those hellish contracts that
Elvis Presley was once accused of signing. Maybe the contract was
notorized by Elvis himself? This, however, is all conjecture.
If Roth did sell his soul to the devil, he certainly didn't read the
fine print. After the success of the Van Halen's mega-release "1984,"
Roth became sidetracked by the success of his four-track EP, "Crazy
>From the Heat." "Crazy From the Heat" was a silly, harmless release at
best and the EP success was due primiarily to the marvelous companion
videos for the songs "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo." Roth got
such a swelled head from this outside venture that he was even talking
movie project based on this shoddy release.
Kicked Out
As a result, guitarist Eddie Van Halen showed why the band Van Halen
was graced by his name and not Roth's. Kicked out or departed (it
doesn't really matter anymore,) Roth went solo and veteran rocker Sammy
Hagar became the new singer for Van Halen. Sounding like a completely
new band, Van Halen still proved to be a successful franchise and, in
1986, achieved its first No. 1 album, "5150." Roth, on the other hand,
released two number-five albums, "Eat 'Em and Smile" and "Skyscraper."
However, Roth was starting to sound like a tired parody of himself.
The title track "A Lil' Ain't Enough" covers familiar territory for
Roth - he seems at home with the song's heavy metal movement. Crunchin'
guitars and Roth's signature screams introduce the song. The song
quickly becomes a showcase for accellerated rock rhythms supplied by
lead guitarist Jason Becker, rhythm guitarist Steve Hunter and bassist
Matt Bissonette. Roth's rough, raspy voice playfully delivers the
lyrics quickly enough so you don't have time to think. Greg
Bissonette's pounding drums crashing and Brett Tuggle's chord-crunching
keyboards rounds out this track.
On the anthemic "Shoot It," Roth comfortably flows with the lyrics as
he effectively creates his punchy rock "n' roll antics. Although lead
guitarist Becker is only adequate compared with the superior Eddie Van
Halen and the exceptional Steve Vai, he does give the foundation that
Roth needs. As a fast mechanic, Roth's raw voice adds grit to the
lyrics. He captures the rock "n' roll idealism, without being offensive
and without being tamed, and creates an effective middle ground, where
guitar solos are happy and even keyboards can find peace of mind.
Raging Fury
The track "Lady Luck" is played with raging fury. Roth's growling voice
capitalizes on the song's theme of "living on the edge, on the run and
on the road." His narrative reckliness, of living day by day with no
direction except onward, is emphasized by crunchy guitar riffs. Roth
screams; he howls; he sings but somehow is always in control.
Thankfully, Lady Luck here not some cheap sex gimmick but some force
that guides the rock 'n' roll spirit. In this case, the spirit is alive
and well.
Roth sounds like a rock 'n' roll version of Leon Redbone on "Hammerhead
Shark." The song has a bluesy rhythm, but it's pure rock "n' roll. Roth
delivery of swing-sway lyrics and snappy lines creates the catchiness
of this change-of-pace track. The track "Tell the Truth" features
subtle guitar notes and a drum beat reminiscent of Alana Myles hit,
"Black Velvet." The instrumentation is minimal and Roth sings with
controlled spite. With humming background vocals, the song comes off as
a rock "n' roll campfire song.
Instead of getting sanitized, Roth gets Palmer-ized on "Baby's on
Fire." From it's title on, this song is a dead-ringer for a Robert
Palmer song. While the song sounds more Power Station than solo-Palmer,
the most obvious thing is that Roth sounds miscast for this vehicle.
The song features Palmer-esque drums and powerchords. Roth tries to
give sophistication to the song's shameless wordplay.
On "40 Below," crashing drum symbols, grooving guitar riffs and vocals
accelerates the other side of the rock 'n' roll thermometer (the cool
side). The song features a lot of raw energy and rock 'n' roll devices
more at home with Roth.
The Blues
A bluesy guitar rhythm, slow-paced drums and crying harmonica riffs are
highlighted in the track "Sensible Shoes." The song is the blues
according to David Lee, with slowly paced vocals and satirical overview
of success. In the song's premise, Roth slyly explains he has
everything he need except one thing: "Sensible shoes/One that'll lead
me back to you/Sensible shoes/'cause you're the only lover who was ever
true."
Roth should be ashamed of the messy "Last Call" which features a stolen
Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" rap and a derivative Joe Perry guitar riff.
The song also features an undefined guitar solo which sounds like a
vacuum cleaner being rubbed on the neck of a guitar. Moody keyboards,
crunchy guitar riffs, kicking drums sets the backdrop of "The Dogtown
Shuffle. The song is the closest Roth comes to social commentary on the
album. The song concludes with a confusing monologue with swear words
about waiting in line for tacos.
Flamboyance
"It's Showtime" is a flashy and sometimes gaudy, name-dropping send-up
that works. With noisy guitars and boisterous vocals, the song is a
perfect vehicle which captures Roth's flamboyance and rock 'n' roll
nature. The song attacks the film and music industry with all the
cliches and names associated with the business. The song, which
concludes with a big curtain call finish, would be the perfect ending
to the album. However, the album continues for one more number "Drop in
the Bucket," a mindless wander through misguided guitar solos and
meaningless lyrics.
Author: Craig S. Semon
Paper: Daily News of Los Angeles (CA)
Title: ROCK NEWS & NOTES - NEW PACKAGE TOUR EYEING STOP IN L.A.
Date: June 14, 1991
Strings attached: A benefit concert to aid David Lee Roth guitarist
Jason Becker in his fight against Lou Gehrig's disease will be
presented by Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine Wednesday at
Excess, 223 N. Glendale Ave., Glendale.
Among the acts featured on the bill: Bad English, Toto guitarist Steve
Lukather, former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, Ratt guitarist
Warren DeMartini, ex-Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell, Kiss' Bruce
Kulick, renowned bassist Stu Hamm and virtuoso guitarist Tony McAlpine.
Schrapnel Records founder Mike Varney will be master of ceremonies.
Becker recorded on Roth's new album, "A Little Ain't Enough," but his
illness prevented him from touring with the singer.
Paper: Los Angeles Times
Title: 'Real Good Time' Concert to Aid Ailing Guitarist
Date: June 14, 1991
Lori J. Barker has mostly been a casual music listener over the years.
She rarely goes to concerts, attracted to the modern rock sounds of
such artists as U2 and Peter Gabriel. But when one of her closest
friends, hard rock guitarist Jason Becker, was recently stricken with
Lou Gehrig's disease, she soon found herself concentrating much more on
a music scene dominated by heavy chords and black leather.
This sudden involvement will manifest itself Wednesday night with a
benefit concert for the 22-year-old Becker; it will feature a virtual
army of noted rock guitarists at the Excess club in Glendale. Barker
has organized the show to help pay the mounting medical costs of the
Bay Area guitarist, who played lead guitar on the recent David Lee Roth
album, "A Little Ain't Enough."
"He's very excited," said Barker, a 29-year-old accounting student at
Pierce College. "He thinks it's pretty neat that people want to get
together and do this. It's going to be fun. There aren't going to be
any speeches; we just want people to have a real good time."
Among the musicians performing are Steve Hunter, a veteran sideman for
Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, David Lee Roth and others; Steve Lukather,
ubiquitous studio player and a member of Toto; George Lynch, Jeff
Pilson and Mick Brown, all formerly of Dokken; Zakk Wylde of Ozzy
Osbourne's band; Warren DeMartini of Ratt; Vivian Campbell of
Whitesnake and Bruce Kulick, lead guitarist of Kiss.
Becker will be at the show, Barker said, although he isn't likely to
perform. The young guitarist is still writing music at home, where his
father is caring for him, but his weakened legs have made him
uncomfortable on stage. Becker recently performed Bob Dylan's "Meet Me
in the Morning" with other members of Roth's band for a compilation
album soon to be released by Guitar for the Practicing Musician
magazine.
The magazine is co-sponsoring the concert, helping Barker contact
several of the musicians. And several music companies are donating use
of equipment for the evening.
"Nobody is getting paid," Barker said. "George Lynch is coming out from
Arizona at his own expense. Everyone has been so generous, it's been a
great discovery. You have an image of people in rock 'n' roll that they
are self-serving, and it's just not true at all. People have gone to
such lengths to just do anything they can at all. It's just wonderful."
Kulick said he volunteered to perform soon after hearing about Becker's
career-ending disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a
degenerative nerve disorder. Kulick said he had found it virtually
unbearable to put down his guitar for just two weeks when he suffered a
broken collarbone a few years ago.
"I think it's really tragic for anybody young who plays rock 'n' roll
to get into a debilitating condition to where he can't do what he
loves," Kulick said. "Here was a great opportunity for him, with his
chance to play with David Lee Roth. But right now he has to take care
of his health."
Kulick, who said he will perform Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" with
Lukather during the concert, added that the hard rock community is
often active in charitable concerns but gets little credit.
"This is a real nasty business," he said. "If you're on top, they want
to knock you down until you can do something for them. But something
like this, where someone can't do what their dream is, it just brings
everybody down to a common ground. It takes away all the egos and all
the cat fighting, and brings them all down to the same level."
At the show will also be an electric guitar autographed by all the
participants, to be raffled off during the night.
"I've never done anything like this," Barker said Tuesday. "So I don't
know what to expect. So I'm pretty nervous about it. I hope people show
up, not only because it's a good show, but because it's also a good
cause."
A benefit concert for guitarist Jason Becker, featuring the members of
several noted hard rock bands, begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Excess,
223 N. Glendale Ave., Glendale. Tickets are $15. No one under 21
admitted. For information, call (213) 841-4437 or Ticketmaster at (213)
480-3232.
Author: STEVE APPLEFORD
Paper: Hartford Courant, The (CT)
Title: AMERICA'S ENTERTAINING PAST INSPIRES ROCK'S SHOWMAN -- ROTH
DAVID LEE ROTH SURMOUNTS ROCK'S PEAKS AND VALLEYS
Date: July 1, 1991
First David Lee Roth's solo tour got canceled in spring due to poor
ticket sales. Then a massive new summer package with a co-headliner in
Cinderella finds both the top acts upstaged by the opening act Extreme,
which happened to chart a hit album and a hit single that the big names
did not.
But Roth, 35, holding forth on the telephone last week, takes a
philosophical approach.
"If you're going to have a longer than the traditional three- to
seven-year rock 'n' roll career, then of course you're going to have
peaks and valleys," says the ex-lead singer of Van Halen. "That's half
the fun. You're a gypsy, you're a show-person. You know, it's not all
peaks and pinnacles. If it was, it'd be dreadfully boring."
And boring is just what has become of rock during the past few years,
Roth says. "I probably caused it," he says, at first just joking. Then
he latches onto the theory seriously: "Yeah, Van Halen caused it. A
cumulative impact that culminated in [the album] `1984' with [the
single] `Jump.' "When Van Halen started, it was a period when you made
rock guitar songs that were all 20-minute-long epics. They were all
great big movements, and I don't mean symphonic," he says, adding a bit
of his scatological wit.
"And we started writing `three-minute 20-minute songs,' songs with
actual harmonies on the choruses. That was my whole musical history up
to Van Halen: the Temptations, James Brown, Motown, Stax record kind of
stuff. So what you had was this Sturm und Drang, end-of-the-world
guitar riffs from Eddie Van Halen combined with the Four Tops on every
chorus," he says. "We crossed the barrier musically and started a
legion of mimics and imitations, which is unfortunate, since, as a fan,
it aggravates ... me.
"As an artist I can always transcend it," he says modestly. "But I
gotta be a fan."
One person he is not a fan of is the person who replaced him in Van
Halen, whose new album he has not heard, thank you.
"I don't like Sammy Hagar at all," he says. "I didn't like him long
before he joined Van Halen and I don't like him now. So to try to
analyze what Sammy Hagar does on a record or says in public
about me would be like answering something that a character in a Batman
comic has said."
Still, he allows that it might be intimidating for his new guitarist
Jason Becker to live up to the Eddie Van Halen solos from Roth's
earlier band. But he adds: "It's a lot of fun to pit one musician
against another or one B-actor against another," he chuckles. "It all
kind of starts with the high-school mentality: who's got the fattest
tires."
And as fat as Van Halen's tires were, to lay rubber on a metaphor, it
takes an even wider pair to cover everything from old Van Halen to
weird Roth solo covers. "The sweep from `Hot for Teacher' to `Just a
Gigolo' is a pretty dramatic one," Roth says, even if, he adds, "I
think it's the same song."
His 1985 solo medley of "Just a Gigolo" with "I Ain't Got Nobody" was
perhaps the first pairing of a No. 1 hit from 1931 with a No. 3 hit
from 1921 by a former lead singer from a top heavy metal band.
But a lot of Roth's inspiration -- as well as some of his material --
comes from forgotten eras of American entertainment. His new album, "A
Little Ain't Enough" is adorned with still photos of vulgar-looking
minstrel actors in blackface.
And his new video is filled with shapely women "right out of
vaudeville, direct out of burlesque."
Roth started his love for vaudeville and bygone show biz through
voracious reading. "I started reading at a very early age," he says.
"Books and magazines were my best friends at an early age."
Reading about music only enhanced it later on, he says. "I always found
it was a lot more intriguing to learn a little bit about Keith
Richards' lifestyle: a little bit about his background, where he was
from, what he ate for breakfast, or if he even bothered to get up for
breakfast at all. It brought more to the music when you finally did
hear it.
"Much the same as it did when you know what Fats Waller's neighborhood
kind of looked like and what he had for breakfast, then it brings a
little more to the music."
But, alas, kids who today listen to Keith Richards for classic music
have no idea who Fats Waller is. "There's some great music that goes by
the wayside simply because there's no contemporary heroes that play
that kind of music anymore. It has nothing to do with the tunes at
all."
Clearly Roth has played a role in changing that a bit, although he says
his new music is "more toward the blues directly than anything else.
And that's the natural completion of a circle. Something I always head
back to. I grew up with r & b music, and elements of that I found in
the best rock 'n' roll I loved later in life, a la the Rolling Stones
or ZZ Top, or Led Zeppelin or just the blues bands -- most of them are
just art-school sissies that are just trying to be black for a week.
"I grew up listening to that," he says, waxing nostalgic. "That was the
stuff I started shoplifting to when I was started becoming a consumer.
And we've kind of come full circle now: I get to be black for a week."
But this time he avoids the blackface makeup. But he does have a couple
of big props for his stage that have been getting most of the press
heretofore.
"I have two oversized props," he says. "Other than that, I have
an absolutely flat deck with no hydraulics, no special effects
whatsoever, no laser beams, no smoke bombs, no pyrotechnics. You know
what's funny, somehow, just because I wheel out a couple of special
effects on the last two songs of the show -- this is on the last three
tours -- people get the idea that it's somehow spectacular and over the
top and you know what? They're right!"
Still, he adds, it's good to keep it all in perspective. "Nobody ever
went to Elvis and came away saying, `Wow! What great backdrops!' Nobody
ever watched a Fred Astaire movie and said. `You know, I always liked
his lighting gels!' Nobody saw Baryshnikov ... and said, `Whoever his
tailor is, he must be rich!' "The working theory is, if you can't do it
under one white light bulb in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, no fancy
clothes, on an empty stage, then you can't do it at all.
"And if you can bake your cake with those ingredients," he adds, "Fine!
"Then load that sucker in icing!" David Lee Roth, Cinderella and
Extreme perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Lake Compounce Festival Park in
Bristol. Tickets are $25.25 for reserved seats and $20.25 for
general-admission lawn seating. These prices do not include service
charges. For more information call 583-6000.
Author: ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic
Paper: THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Title: Guitarist Jason Becker Won't Let Lou Gehrig's Disease Defeat Him
Date: April 28, 1996
One day Jason Becker was a 19- year-old wunderkind playing lead guitar
for David Lee Roth. The next, a ``lazy feeling'' he'd been having in
one leg was diagnosed as Lou Gehrig's disease. In short order, Becker
found himself unable to speak or even hold his beloved guitar
It could have been the end of his musical career, but against all odds
Becker turned his ``plummet into the pits of hell'' into an opportunity
to compose music completely different from his previous speed-metal
leanings. Compositions began to fill his head, ``as if from some
magical source.'' With technology substituting for his failing hands
and voice, Becker painstakingly began to turn those ideas into an
album.
The result is ``Perspective,'' a self-produced record from Becker, now
26 and living in Richmond with his parents. The album will be released
May 27, and on Friday and Saturday the Diablo Ballet will perform an
original dance to selections from ``Perspective'' at the Dean Lesher
Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.
While his disease progressed -- he went from using a cane, to metal
crutches, a manual wheelchair and finally a battery-powered wheelchair
-- Becker put together a MIDI-based studio and set about learning how
to use his new tools. Nothing about the process was easy. Once a
production team was in place, much frustration resulted from Becker's
physical degeneration. The producer was not able to be in the studio
and couldn't even speak to his team on the phone. But after a lot of
pat ient remixing, the album was finished to Becker's satisfaction.
It is a poignant piece of work that uses the swell of an orchestra as
much as it does soaring guitar licks. Becker was unable to be
interviewed, but he did provide a transcript of a previous exchange
about the album and his own struggles and triumphs. He remains
passionate about the guitar and its importance to the album, and said,
``The guitar has a fire that touches me more than any other instrument.
I think in guitar.''
When asked if he would have preferred the album to have more guitar
licks on it, he answered, ``You can bet your sweet patootie my guitar
would have been all over it . . . (but) many times in music, if you are
given limitations, it expands the creativity.'' Though Becker has many
new songs in his mind, he has become too weak to work.
But he has not given up hope. Engaged to be married, he believes that
he will regain his health one day.
-- Julene Snyder
Paper: West County Times (Richmond, CA)
Title: ROCKER'S NEW PERSPECTIVE'
Date: June 20, 1996
"Many times in music, if you are given limitations, it expands the
creativity." Jason Becker, in the syndicated column "Celebrities" by
Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith.
RICHMOND Jason Becker held his first guitar when he was 5. When he was
19, David Lee Roth asked him to join his band as lead guitarist.
A week later he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
or Lou Gehrig's disease.
Seven years later, in an electric wheelchair with a guitar he can no
longer hold on his lap, Becker, 26, continues to fight his increasing
debilitation to pursue his art.
Last month he released his latest album, "Perspective."
"All of me is in it," he said last week. "I have done other albums that
I like for various reasons, but this is the one I feel most proud of
because it compares, well, with all of the greatest albums of the past
in every way."
The strength in his arms and legs is not the only thing that has
progressively failed. He has difficulty speaking; his mother and father
occasionally help to finish his thoughts.
Despite not being able to hold a guitar, Jason produced "Perspective"
by composing songs using a keyboard and Macintosh computer. The album
took five years to complete.
Becker spent half a year composing the songs and the rest of the time
working with recording artists and engineers to accomplish his vision.
It was frustrating at times trying to battle fatigue.
"I didn't have enough energy to do what I had always done to make
things happen fast," he said.
On Jason's wall is a framed gold album for his work on Roth's "A Little
Ain't Enough," which sold half a million copies. It is a reminder of
the young musician's rapid climb to musical stardom.
His father, Gary, gave him his first guitar lesson at age 5. Jason got
bored quickly learning the scales so Dad took a different approach. He
taught him the chords to one song. Bob Dylan's "As I Went Out One
Morning." He picked that up quick enough, but it wasn't until several
years later when Jason showed his father how to play Eric Clapton's
"Further Down the Road," that Gary knew his son had a special talent.
"I'm not your teacher anymore. You can be mine," he said to Jason after
that point.
With the potential for a successful musical career, Jason had to make a
big decision. He had always been a good athlete in school, and football
was his favorite sport.
It took him a day to decide.
"I wasn't the best at football," he said.
Jason was impressive even as a kid. His longtime friend and manager Pat
Mapps was with him the day he went to buy a Fender Stratocaster guitar.
She remembers Jason, then 13, asking to have it hooked up to an amp so
he could try it out.
"Every head turned to look at him," Mapps said. "He was that good
then."
By age 16, he was giving guitar lessons for $10 an hour.
He had to graduate from Kennedy High School six months early to put out
his first album.
A tape he sent to the "Spotlight" column in Guitar Player magazine led
to his first record deal. He teamed with Marty Friedman, now lead
guitarist for Megadeth, to form the band Cacophony.
The result was "Speed Metal Symphony." After that came "Go Off!" and
"Perpetual Burn," his first solo record.
Then David Lee Roth came knocking and so did fate.
"We went from happier than we'd ever been to sadder than we'd ever
been," said Pat, Jason's mother when they discovered Jason had ALS.
It was a struggle to finish the Roth album because the disease had
already weakened his hands and legs. All the dreams of musical success
seemed to fade quickly for everyone except Jason.
He continued to find ways to make music, and "Perspective" is a
testament to his courage and perseverance, especially in the music
world, where depression sometimes leads to suicide and drug addictions.
It doesn't matter that Jason cannot hold the beloved Stratocaster or
that someone needs to be with him constantly to get him through the
day.
He is a man with a fiancee, Serrana, and a family, friends, fans and an
inexhaustible will to live.
"Every night I dream I can still play guitar," Jason said.
Author: RENITA SANDOSHAM
Paper: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA)
Title: ILLNESS ROBS YOUNG GUITARIST'S DEXTERITY, NOT HIS IMAGINATION OR
DRIVE TO CREATE
Date: June 23, 1996
RICHMOND - One week after David Lee Roth asked him to join his band as
lead guitarist, 19-year-old Jason Becker learned he had amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease.
Seven years later, in an electric wheelchair with a guitar he can no
longer hold resting on his lap, Becker, now 26, continues to fight his
increasing debilitation to pursue his art.
Last month he released his latest album, "Perspective."
"All of me is in it," Becker said recently at his Richmond home. "I
have done other albums that I like for various reasons, but this is the
one I feel most proud of because it compares well with all of the
greatest albums of the past in every way."
The strength in Becker's arms and legs is not the only thing that has
progressively failed. He has difficulty speaking; his mother and father
occasionally help finish his thoughts.
Despite being unable to hold his beloved instrument, Becker produced
"Perspective" by composing songs using a keyboard and Macintosh
computer. The album took five years to complete.
Becker spent half a year composing the songs and the rest of the time
working with recording artists and engineers to accomplish his vision.
Battling fatigue frustrated him.
"I didn't have enough energy to do what I had always done to make
things happen fast," he said.
On Becker's wall is a framed gold album for his work on Roth's "A
Little Ain't Enough," which sold half a million copies. It is a
reminder of the young musician's rapid climb to musical stardom.
His father, Gary, gave him his first guitar lesson at age 5. Jason got
bored quickly learning the scales, so dad took a different approach. He
taught him the chords to one song, Bob Dylan's "As I Went Out One
Morning." The boy picked that up quick enough, but it wasn't until
several years later, when Jason showed his father how to play Eric
Clapton's "Further Down the Road," that Gary knew his son had talent.
"I'm not your teacher anymore. You can be mine," Gary told his son.
With the potential for a successful musical career, Becker had to make
an important decision. He had always been a good athlete in school, and
football was his favorite sport.
It took him a day to decide.
"I wasn't the best at football," he said.
Becker was impressive even as a kid. His longtime friend and manager,
Pat Mapps, was with him the day he went to buy a Fender Stratocaster
guitar. She remembers Becker, then 13, asking to have it hooked up to
an amp so he could try it out.
"Every head turned to look at him," Mapps said. "He was that good
then."
By age 16, he was giving guitar lessons for $10 an hour. He graduated
from Kennedy High School six months early to put out his first album.
A tape he sent to the Spotlight column in Guitar Player magazine led to
his first record deal. He teamed with Marty Friedman, now lead
guitarist for Megadeth, to form the band Cacophony.
The result was "Speed Metal Symphony." After that came "Go Off!" and
"Perpetual Burn," his first solo record.
Then David Lee Roth came knocking, and so did fate. "We went from
happier than we'd ever been to sadder than we'd ever been," his mother,
Pat, said of the discovery that Becker had Lou Gehrig's disease.
Becker struggled to finish the Roth album because the disease had
already weakened his hands and legs. All the dreams of musical success
seemed to fade quickly for everyone except Becker.
He continued to find ways to make music. "Perspective" is one testament
to his courage and perseverance.
It doesn't matter that Becker cannot hold the Stratocaster or that
someone needs to be with him constantly to get him through the day.
He has a fiancee, Serrana. He has family, friends, fans and an
inexhaustible will to live.
He also has memories.
"Every night I dream I can still play guitar."
Author: RENITA SANDOSHAM
Paper: Los Angeles Times
Title: Dole Raises Disability Issue for All to See
Date: July 8, 1996
When Bob Dole, man with disability, runs for president in 1996, the
ailment is old, but the discussion of it is new.
The old reminders: He rarely eats in public; it is too hard. He does
not shake hands; his right arm, shattered in World War II, does not
work. He autographs copies of his new book for just a few moments, then
hands out hundreds of pre-signed tomes.
The new embrace: He talks about the Americans With Disabilities Act
with greater frequency and increasing pride. He tells audiences now how
he learned to walk, for the second time, in his 20s.
And people with disabilities are starting to join him regularly on the
campaign trail: a quadriplegic artist in Fresno, a musician with Lou
Gehrig's disease in Oakland, a schoolgirl with multiple birth defects
in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Dole stands at the complicated intersection of campaign and conscience,
breaking ground in American politics. He is not the first man to run
for president challenged by a physical disability. He is the first to
acknowledge his ailment out on the hustings at a time when it is more
comfortable than ever to talk about such issues, but not quite
comfortable enough.
For the candidate and the disabled Americans who greet him, this new
chapter in Dole's political quest serves multiple, mostly good,
purposes, with both sides using each other to advance their respective
causes.
Softening Image
Dole's campaign-trail meetings help increase the visibility of
Americans with disabilities--a goal Dole has pursued. At the same time,
his advisors know that being sung to by a disabled child as the
campaign jet roars and the television cameras shoot helps to soften the
former Senate majority leader's sometimes harsh public image.
As for the disabled, some are deeply touched by Dole's attentions. At
the same time, the activists among them see the brief meetings--a
handshake, a plea, a smile and a thank you--as a way of seeking
increased help for their disabilities.
And every time Dole says that he, a Republican, supported the embattled
disabilities law, he reminds the world that he believes the measure is
necessary at a time when many conservatives are attacking it for having
spawned vast federal regulations.
"It humanizes him and makes his disability less awkward in this era of
searing television images," said political analyst Sherry Bebitch
Jeffe. The disabled are "a group that doesn't have the traditional
power tools of politics. . . . He needs them, and they need him."
"If it looks like he's trafficking in [his disability] for self-serving
ends, it won't work," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the
Annenberg School for Communication at USC. "But this is legitimate.
This is an instance in which biography, legislative record and rhetoric
are synchronized."
Campaign's New Phase
It is also very, very new for Dole--the unveiling over the past several
weeks of a new phase in his run for the White House. Until recently,
while Dole supported legislation to assist disabled Americans, he
almost never spoke publicly about his disability. "You're seeing the
natural evolution of a candidacy," Jamieson said.
Opening up about his life and struggles was "not a comfortable
decision" for Dole, said his press secretary, Nelson Warfield. "He's
come to the conclusion that he has to talk a little more about what
makes Bob Dole the man he is. Like it or not, his experience with the
war and recovery and everyday life is shaped by his disability."
When Jason Becker, musician in a wheelchair, was rolled out onto the
Oakland Airport tarmac last week to greet the candidate and his smiling
wife, there was Bob Dole looking warm and caring.
Score one for the candidate.
What the camera did not capture over the roar of jet engines was a
well-planned pitch for a sometimes forgotten ailment, amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. In 1990, rock star David
Lee Roth asked Becker to join his band; soon after, Becker was
diagnosed with the degenerative muscle disorder, one of only about
30,000 Americans with the cureless syndrome. In May, he released his
latest album, the computer-generated "Perspective."
Last week, confined to a battery-powered wheelchair and barely able to
speak, Becker and his family pleaded his case to the man who wants to
be president. "I want to ask him what his plans are to do with ALS and
other nerve diseases," Becker said before Dole's arrival. "And find out
what he can do for us . . . and to find out what people can do when
they run out of resources and hope."
Score one for the musician, a registered Democrat in an embroidered
purple vest who plans to change his voter registration--and join the
Green Party.
"For a man with Mr. Dole's power and knowledge of the system, it's an
opportunity to put this issue in front of him," said Patricia A. Mapps,
Becker's manager. "When a man of this stature invites you, you go. A
person in Jason's position is not partisan. He's just trying to breathe
and swallow."
Political Risk
Simply talking about disabilities on the campaign trail runs some
political risk for Dole, which was one reason for not doing it in the
contested Republican primaries. The Americans With Disabilities Act
costs the government money, costs businesses money and runs counter to
the Republican anti-regulatory emphasis. Many conservatives strongly
opposed the measure when it was in Congress.
"The larger question is, why should the federal government regulate
here and not in other places," Jamieson said. "That is the interesting
question for Dole . . . and it raises a question about the Republican
revolution."
That is not a question Dole has ever directly answered. Clearly,
however, he feels strongly that federal aid for the disabled is
justified.
In "Unlimited Partners: Our American Journey," the joint autobiography
written with his wife, Elizabeth, Dole calls July 26, 1990, the day
President Bush signed the act, "one of the most rewarding days of my
life."
Dole was not a principal author of the controversial legislation, but
he worked hard for its passage. "I suppose there were some that day who
saw only a White House lawn covered with wheelchairs and guide dogs,"
he wrote of the signing ceremony. "As I looked around, I saw Americans
possessed with amazing gifts, who could finally contribute to a nation
much in need of their skills and insights."
Poignant and important as the legislation was to this disabled American
veteran, Dole spent most of the subsequent six years relatively silent
on the issue of his war wound and the need for greater opportunities
for the country's 43 million disabled citizens.
It wasn't until the end of the bruising 1996 primary season, when his
candidacy was pretty much in the bag, that Dole began to heed the
advice of his staff and talk publicly about that day in 1945 in the
mountains of Italy, 48 hours after Franklin D. Roosevelt's death.
Dole was wounded on April 14, "the day that changed my life," he says,
on an Italian peak called Hill 913. "I spent the next 39 months of my
life in and out of hospitals. Blood clots on my lungs. I was a guinea
pig for streptomycin. But I was learning how to feed myself and dress
myself and go to the bathroom, all those things you take for granted
when you're 20 years old."
Looked Ill at Ease
When Dole first hit the campaign trail full time after his resignation
from the Senate last month, there were American Sign Language
interpreters at his first two stops--a luncheon in Toledo, Ohio, and a
rally in Overland Park, Kan. On June 14, in Winston-Salem, a 9-year-old
schoolgirl with diastrophic dysplasia dwarfism sang him all the verses
of "Getting to Know You" on the airport runway. The candidate looked
decidedly uncomfortable.
Four days later, on a swing through California, he met with artist
Clayton Turner at the Western Art Gallery in Fresno. Turner, a
quadriplegic, broke his neck in a diving accident in 1949 and paints by
gripping a brush or pen in his teeth. His works are owned by former
Presidents Carter and Reagan and former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp.
Dole to Turner: "Clayton, how you doing? I'm proud to know you. . . .
You're an inspiration." Turner to Dole: "Look who's talking."
Fast-forward to Tuesday night in Century City, when Dole brings a
laughing audience to silence with a five-minute lecture on being
disabled, on legislation for the disabled, on a wound that cost him
mobility but gave him sensitivity to the struggles of tens of millions
of Americans, himself included.
"Everybody knows that you learn from every experience. And I learned a
lot. How to walk. How to dress myself. How to write left-handed. . . .
It taught me a lot about discipline and hard work and doing it the hard
way. And that's what America is all about."
Does this make voters uncomfortable? Sometimes it seems to. Does it
make a usually guarded man look human? Most of the time it does. But
whether one considers such public encounters to be politics at its
worst or politics at its best, there is no doubt that politics is at
the heart of what is going on here.
"The point of all this is to tell you who I am," Dole instructs the
$1,000-a-plate crowd, looking well coiffed in the glow of candelabra at
the Century Plaza Hotel. "We need to fill in the blanks. You need to
know about Bob Dole."
Lillibeth Navarro, a Southern California activist who has polio and is
confined to a wheelchair, honors Dole's toughness and perseverance and
compassion. Navarro was one of hundreds of people with disabilities on
the White House lawn for the signing of the Americans With Disabilities
Act.
"I'm glad he feels proud of the ADA," she said. "But it's not enough.
We have to put teeth in the ADA. There are efforts to water it down."
The disabled want to be self-reliant, she says, but 70% of those who
can work are unemployed. Simply talking about disabilities on the
campaign trail won't fix that.
"If he becomes president, Bob Dole has to make a major effort to change
that," Navarro said. "We have a lot to offer, but we're not given the
opportunity."
Or as the candidate himself said in San Francisco recently: "We want to
make it possible for people, wherever they're from, whatever their
background, whatever their physical condition or whatever, they have a
right and a possibility in America to make it to the top.
"Make it to the top, that's the American dream."
Author: MARIA L. La GANGA
Paper: Chicago Sun-Times
Title: Eddie Van Halen rocks the Riviera
Date: November 18, 1996
Eddie Van Halen doesn't wing it into town for just anybody. But Sunday
night at a benefit concert at the Riviera, the legendary guitarist
looked humbled while he honored his terminally ill friend, Jason
Becker.
Becker was, by all accounts, a world-class rock guitarist even before
he could shave. A nimble-fingered California speed demon, Becker's
lightning chops dropped the jaw of David Lee Roth, who in 1988
recruited the teenager to wield the ax front and center in his band.
For Becker, it was the dream of a million teenagers, a dues-free bite
at all the delicious decadence rock 'n' roll's fastest lane guaranteed.
But the Roth gig was about the last free-and-clear good news Becker
ever got. Soon after, the prodigy was diagnosed with the rare and
always fatal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's
disease. Though the ailment wrecked Becker's musculature and nervous
system, he continued to write and record music, using an intricate
computer setup to cut his first album, "Perspective." He also continued
to build an army of friends and admirers, many of whom rank among
rock's guitar gods.mini-sets, the vocally partisan crowd treated much
of the opening material simply as Prelude to Eddie.
When Eddie Van Halen hit the stage, pandemonium rippled up and into the
last balcony row. Though new Van Halen singer Gary Cherone had been
expected to make his debut at this show, he never materialized. No
matter. The now-frenzied crowd would have hailed even the arrival of
Michael Bolton. As it was, the 2,300 in attendance were in for one of
the raunchiest, rawest pure power sets in a long while.
Opening with a raucous version of "Wipeout," Van Halen and bandmates
Billy Sheehan (bass), Steve Lukather (guitar) and Pat Torpey (drums)
served notice that the night's song list would stay rewardingly distant
from the usual Van Halen fare.
They followed with a searing version of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad
Times," then shook the building during the Van Halen classic, "Ain't
Talkin 'Bout Love." Eddie's opening riff on this number was as
effortless and immediately distinctive as on record, and he transfixed
the crowd by working it inside and out when the band backed off. A
cover of the Beatles "I Want You/She's So Heavy" provided ample room
for Van Halen to show his blues chops, while a manic rendition of
Hendrix's "Fire" nearly tore the roof off the place. Though the set
lasted only 30 minutes, it's hard to imagine a truer, more heartfelt
testament to an ailing friend. Author: BOB KURSON
Paper: Concord Transcript (CA)
Title: DISEASE SLOWS BODY BUT HIS MUSIC PLAYS ON
Date: July 1, 1999
Ten years after he was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, Jason
Becker, a local composer and guitar "genius," will have his music
featured in the July 3 kick-off performance of the Arts Millennia 2000
series held at the Concord Pavilion.
Along with Jason's music, The Diablo Ballet's American Independence
Celebration will feature a world premiere ballet and orchestra. The
series, highlighting the arts in Contra Costa County, is set to run
through July 2000.
"The whole theme is honoring the past and imagining the future," said
Lauren Jonas, artistic director for the Diablo Ballet. "We thought
Jason would be great."
Following a 1989 diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),
otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, Becker's body slowly began to
deteriorate, eventually leaving him paralyzed.
"In my case, my brain is completely normal as well as my thinking and
my feeling, but little by little my body keeps going away," Jason, who
continues to compose music, said of his disease in a letter to Guitar
magazine.
Jason's father, Gary, bought him his first guitar when he was 5 years
old.
Gary said he first taught his son a Bob Dylan song, but Jason soon
developed his own style.
"What I didn't know was that (in the seventh grade) he was secretly
listening to Eric Clapton songs," Gary said.
Before long, Jason was playing along with the Clapton recordings, Gary
said.
When he was 19, Jason landed his dream job playing lead guitar for
David Lee Roth, former lead singer for the rock group Van Halen.
But just as Jason was set to record his first album with Roth, he
developed an incessant limp in his left leg. Finally, after months of
having the lazy feeling in his leg, Jason went to the doctor, his
father said. Jason was diagnosed with ALS.
"When I first met Jason, he had a limp that was getting very bad," said
Jonas.
Not wanting to accept the news, Jason continued to work on the album
recording with Roth, he said.
"It was very weird in the recording studio. One day I was recording the
acoustic part of Drop in the Bucket' and no matter how hard I pressed,
it wasn't hard enough. I barely got it after awhile and I went in the
back room and noticed that opening and closing my left hand was
difficult," Jason wrote in his letter to Guitar.
"Back then I wouldn't have admitted it to anyone or even to myself
because I always liked to think I could overcome anything and be a
great musician," he wrote.
"(Jason) impressed Roth quite a bit," said Gary.
"He had such a full, substantial, articulate sound, played through the
simplest equipment. That kid could move air, man. And the kindest,
gentlest, most flexible, absorbing, want-to-learn spirit that I've ever
really worked with," Roth wrote of Jason in his book, "Crazy from the
Heat."
Once Jason's body functions began to deteriorate, his father invented
an alphabet board that would enable him to continue communicating with
other people once he lost his speech permanently.
In this communication system, each letter of the alphabet is placed in
order within a grid of six boxes. Each of the six boxes contains four
letters.
To communicate, Jason uses two specific eye movements to point out
which letter of the alphabet he wants to use to spell out words.
The first movement indicates in which of the six boxes the letter is
located; the second indicates which of the four letters within the box
he is trying to use.
With this method, Jason spells out words to compose sentences.
"I invented the communication system myself," said Gary.
"I have memorized it and people close to Jason have, but we keep this
diagram for reference," Gary said pointing to the small diagram that is
taped to Becker's wheelchair.
"I can say anything I want very quickly," Jason said.
Once Jason was fully aware that his body was beginning to deteriorate,
he needed to act fast and record as much music as possible before his
body would no longer function.
"Since I couldn't tour with Dave because I was too weak, I started
recording on a keyboard and computer with one hand because the other
hand would fall," said Jason.
The result of his labor was "Perspective," an album featuring Jason's
guitar playing full orchestral pieces with flavors of modern, Baroque,
classical, African, Indian, blues, rock, Native American, choral, and
Japanese music.
"Perspective," set to be re-released this year on Warner Bros. Records,
will feature a track by Eddie Van Halen, who will play one of Jason's
compositions.
"He is practicing it right now," said Jonas of Van Halen.
"He really had the drive to play for hours a day," said Gary of why he
thinks his son was so successful.
Jason "always thought the guitar was a legitimate instrument" and
thought it should be played that way," Gary said of why his son felt
the desire to compose music that integrated the electric guitar with
orchestral sounds.
And Jason is looking forward to being at the Pavilion and hearing his
music come alive.
Author: Angie Saltsman
Paper: THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Title: Hart-Felt Spirituality
Date: November 14, 1999
JASON BECKER'S DIVINE INSPIRATION
Jason Becker was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS,
the degenerative neurological condition also known as Lou Gehrig's
disease, when he was in his 20s. The Richmond musician had just gotten
his big break playing guitar with David Lee Roth, former lead singer of
Van Halen, in 1989. In his autobiography, "Crazy From the Heat," Roth
writes, "Trying to hire genius is like designing art by committee --
damn near impossible. But I came so close you could feel the heat
coming off of it,with a fellow named Jason Becker."
As Becker's condition deteriorated, however, he had to leave Roth's
band. Doctors told him that he had three to five years to live.
But as ALS slowly claimed various body functions, Becker immersed
himself in new technology that allowed him to continue composing. In
1995, with one hand still functioning, he put together the al bum
"Perspectives," using a keyboard, computer and the help of friends such
as Steve Perry. When Becker lost his voice, his father, Gary Becker,
devised a way for Jason to communicate by using specific eye movements
corresponding with each letter of the alphabet. At his lowest point,
Becker had a near- death experience that renewed his creative and
spiritual energies.
"I feel weird about talking too much about it because people are
uncomfortable hearing about God," he says, with his father
interpreting. "For me, since God is infinite and I was blessed to
experience some of that, it renewed everything in life -- music,
health, relationships and love for myself and life."
Now 30 and able to move only his eyes and left thumb, he has put
together another album, "The Raspberry Jams: A Collection of Demos,
Songs and Ideas on Guitar." "Working on it brought Jason back to life,"
says his father.
" `Raspberry Jams' means so much to me because I have put so much of
myself into this music," Jason says. "It would be a bummer not to share
it."
Warner Bros. is planning to rerelease "Perspectives," with Eddie Van
Halen playing one of the compositions. Meanwhile, Becker remains
remarkably positive as he looks forward. Apart from his music, he
maintains a Web site and continues to seek daily enlightenment.
"Jason's always had a strong spirit. He's always been on fire," his
father says. "There are miracles in the world that aren't scientific.
Jason is still full of plans and visions."
-- Aidin Vaziri
Paper: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA)
Title: PEOPLE
Date: January 12, 2000
FRIEDMAN QUITS MEGADETH: Marty Friedman, longtime guitarist for L.A.
speed-metal band Megadeth, has abruptly announced he is quitting the
group in the midst of a concert tour to pursue other musical interests.
Friedman joined the band as it was recording its 1990 album "Rust in
Peace." His arrival coincided with a lineup overhaul and the supposed
new-found sobriety of frontman Dave Mustaine (formerly of Metallica),
and, in the eyes of many critics, helped take Megadeth to the forefront
of metal music.
"Marty is an incredible player and has been a keystone in Megadeth,"
said Mustaine. "We are sorry to see him go, but we wish him all the
best." Al Pitrelli (Alice Cooper, Savatage) will fill in for Friedman
until the band wraps up the current leg of its U.S. tour Jan. 21.
Bay Area metal fans will also recall Friedman's work with East Bay
guitarist Jason Becker in the 1980s band Cacophony. He has not detailed
what he plans next.
.
Paper: THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Title: PEOPLE
Guitar virtuoso silenced by illness
Richmond man's lyrics go unheard
Date: September 7, 2001
At night, while he sleeps, Jason Becker is always healthy. Often, he
dreams that he's playing the guitar, cutting up the strings with his
trademark speed.
But when he wakes, Becker, a guitar prodigy who played in former Van
Halen singer David Lee Roth's band when he was just 20, can't move or
speak. Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease shortly after he began
recording an album with Roth, Becker's bodily functions have left him
one by one.
At 32, he can move only his eyes and one finger. It's been more than a
decade since he's played the guitar, five years since he's composed
music. After a tracheotomy in 1997, he lost the ability to talk and
began communicating with his eyes, indicating letters one at a time by
using a simple chart his father invented. A ventilator, feeding and
breathing tubes keep him alive.
Yet Becker leads a remarkably vibrant life. He reads, meditates, sends
and receives e-mail, listens to music, has loved ones, a girlfriend,
projects. In May, Warner Bros. Records re-released "Perspective," a CD
of eclectic music Becker composed around 1992. (Already severely
restricted by ALS, he composed much of the music note by note, moving a
computer mouse with his chin.)
In addition, "The Legendary Guitar of Jason Becker," a two-part video
compilation with footage from performances and from a guitar clinic he
taught at the Atlanta Institute of Music, is now available. And in
June, "Warmth in the Wilderness," a tribute album featuring musicians
playing songs written or inspired by Becker was released by a small
Finnish label, Lion Music.
"Jason is a great composer and as a guitarist he really has a personal
voice," Lion Music president Lasse Mattsson said via e-mail.
An English writer, Nicky Baldrian, came up with the album concept and
Mattsson, long aware of Becker's music and fate, immediately agreed to
the project. Musicians from a dozen countries, including the United
States, England, Germany, Sweden, Russia and Argentina, donated their
time. The proceeds are going to Becker and his family.
"It feels weird because I am still alive," Becker said with his
girlfriend of three years, Marilyn White, interpreting. "Still, it's so
sweet."
Though his physical limitations are so extreme, Becker is able to
express an extraordinary range of emotion with just his eyes and face.
"He's an open book," said his father, Gary Becker, who has been Jason's
primary caretaker for the past 12 years.
Becker smiles, he twitches his lips, he lifts his brows, he looks at
people with almost beatific warmth. The sweet-looking, shaggy-haired
rock star of yesterday looks older, but not that different from some of
the posters and photos that hang on his walls near his old guitars. He
still has long hair and gentle eyes. And, of course, the smile.
White, who met Becker through a friend, said she knows their situation
is unusual, but she was drawn to his spirit; he makes her happy.
Becker's parents, who live next door to him in Richmond, are sometimes
still overwhelmed with bitterness that their serious, passionate child
with nimble fingers and a taste for speed metal was wrenched from the
path that had stretched so promisingly before him. "Even though we can
see the big picture, it's such a cruel, awful thing to happen to us,"
Pat Becker, his mother, said.
But Jason Becker is more accepting. Since a near-death experience in
1997, when Becker -- weighing just 80 pounds and hospitalized because
of breathing problems -- thought he saw another world beckoning, he's
been more peaceful, he said. The experience gave him renewed energy and
launched a spiritual journey that led him to Ammachi, an Indian woman
he considers his guru. His home is filled with photographs of her. "I
asked her to give me the strength to not be so angry and, poof, I am
not as mad," he said.
Though Becker's musical life was so short, his virtuoso guitar playing
and compositions continue to move people, from neighbors to strangers
in Transylvania. . He receives e-mail every day, often from people
thanking him. Fans write to say they played his music during a wedding,
a birth. They send pictures of their babies holding his CD.
"He was incredible, incredible," said Pat Becker, who felt that her son
would be a star almost from the time he formed his first chords at age
5. "There aren't very many musicians who can take your heart and soar
to the moon. "
"He had the fire," his father said. "He had what you couldn't teach."
Guitar music depresses Becker, who rarely listens to his old favorites
more than once a week. And it depresses him that he has music swimming
in his head that he can't get out.
But maybe one day he'll be able to put those guitar symphonies and
solos on paper, he said. Maybe the technology will come along. Or maybe
he will be cured. Becker refused to listen to doctors when they told
him a dozen years ago he had five years to live. And he doesn't listen
to naysayers now, said Pat Becker: "He believes in miracles."
Author: Rona Marech
Paper: Times Union, The (Albany, NY)
Title: VICTORY TOUR ED HAMELL IS BACK PERFORMING AFTER RECOVERING FROM
A SERIOUS CAR ACCIDENT
Date: August 16, 2001
Guitarslinger Mike Campese -- formerly of Mr. Strange -- celebrated the
release of his sophomore album, ``Full Circle,'' last year. On Saturday
night, he'll be whooping it up to mark the release of his debut album,
``Total Freedom.'' Huh? It seems that when Campese initially released
``Total Freedom,'' the album was available only on cassette, but in the
wake of his success with ``Full Circle,'' he's decided to release
``Total Freedom'' on compact disc as well. The CD bash is slated for 10
p.m. Saturday at Saratoga Winners (Route 9, Latham) with Suburban Blues
Experience opening the show.
Campese, who pens a column for Guitar Player magazine, is also featured
on a new double-CD compilation, ``Warmth in the Wilderness: A Tribute
to Jason Becker'' (on the Finnish Lion Music label). Becker is the
former lead guitarist with David Lee Roth and Cacophony as well as a
recording artist in his own right; he suffers from ALS, also known as
Lou Gehrig's Disease. The tribute CD also features contributions from
such folks as Vinnie Moore, Steve Morse, Chris Poland, Marty Friedman
and Paul Gilbert.
Paper: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Title: Thousands blessed by Indian leader
Date: June 14, 2005
Jason Becker waited patiently in his wheelchair as Indian spiritual
leader Amma blessed and hugged one person at a time in a crowd of
hundreds in Castro Valley on Wednesday.
Amma sat in the same place in the middle of a large room with vaulted
ceilings for six hours and made occasional eye contact with Becker,
smiling at the former guitar player for David Lee Roth like she'd known
him a hundred years.
When the line was finished, Amma walked a few feet to Becker and stood
above him with three people from her entourage. As hundreds watched
raptly in silence, she kissed, caressed and blessed him, then grasped
his hand around an apple, a Hershey's Kiss and rose petals - a gift
for all her guests.
The only part of Becker's body that he can control, his eyes, looked
happy and sad at the same time.
The 35-year-old Richmond man has visited Amma on each of her two annual
trips to Castro Valley since 1997. He has Lou Gehrig's Disease, which
destroys movement-controlling neurons. He communicates with amazing
articulation though a lengthy series of eye movements his father
designed.
Becker first visited Amma because he wanted to be healed. He has
pictures of her taped to his wheelchair.
"I just want to be near her," Becker said. "It always improves me.
Sometimes mentally and sometimes with physical problems. I feel
different every time. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad. Sometimes happy
or refreshed. But it does always give me a boost."
Amma travels the world hugging and blessing people and organizing
humanitarian projects. Her entourage estimates that Amma has hugged up
to 18,000 people in one day. The proceeds are donated to hospitals,
medical camps, orphanages, schools, legal advice clinics and nature
preservation groups, etc.
Thousands will have visited her by the time she departs the Castro
Valley spiritual center June 19.
The 51-year-old woman is considered by many a living saint; she donated
$23 million to tsunami relief within 10 hours of the disaster, her
followers said.
In 2002, primatologist Jane Goodall presented Amma with the Gandhi-King
Award for Non-Violence at a U.N. hearing in Geneva.
Only about two cents of every dollar donated to Amma's charities go
toward overhead costs, said one of the M.A. Center organizers, Rob
Sidon.
"There's no pressure to donate," Sidon said. "If you want to, great, if
not, she'll still love you and hug you. The giving is anonymous."
Amma does not follow or prescribe a specific religion, but does believe
any religion can lead to enlightenment.
Her Sanskrit name is Mata Amritanandamayi, but she is more commonly
referred to as Amma, which means mother.
The Castro Valley M.A. Center is named after her and sits on acres of
rural hills that were donated by a wealthy devotee. It is one of 33
centers worldwide.
The visitors kneel or sit Indian style in line while they wait to hug
her. They scoot forward, as opposed to walking, when the line moves
forward. There seemed to be guidelines to the etiquette, but nothing
was etched in stone. Chanting music played as people chatted,
meditated, browsed through books and merchandise, prayed and laughed.
There were no rules.
Amma smiles almost constantly and pulls each of her visitors firmly to
her chest or lap. She sometimes caresses their backs or heads as she
whispers whichever particular message she feels in the moment. Her
touch is strong and maternal. Some people laugh with her, other people
cry.
A small band of monks surround Amma and the person she hugs, and hand
her the tray of gifts from which she chooses a few tokens for each
person.
Amma only sleeps about two hours a day, said one of her monks,
Dayamrita Chaitnya, 45. Chaitnyma lives at the Castro Valley center and
has traveled with Amma half the year for 11 years.
"I was very skeptical of her at first," he said.
Chaitnya was making a documentary in India about fraudulent healers and
thought Amma might be a scam artist.
"I eventually saw that she wasn't trying to make miracles," he said.
"She just wanted to make people happy."
When Amma learned of the world's misery as a little girl, she wanted to
kill herself, Chaitnya said.
"But she saw that there's no use crying about a wound," he said. "It's
better to put medicine on it."
Author: Michelle Beaver, STAFF WRITER