hola sammy, the wabos and the members of the latest hard rock chickenfoot band. i am an EDmonton ALberta vh, redhead fan. i responded to the cabo wabo tune twice over and the TA tune from your "turn up the music" album. it just so happens that i owned a (rare in alberta) 1979 red on black (american version) formula. i had it painted endura metallic RED with a few ghost flame licks on the lead panels. the two rear flares i had mounted came off a retired black & gold burt renolds bandit version TA found in RED deer alberta out of the classifieds. i also installed two brand new over loader TA coil shocks myself. it was truly valued at $5500.00 bucks when she was painted and ready for the road. proof of being an american version formula it had a automatic 403 oldsmobile engine that sat on a blue block. also the formula stickers were smaller ones located on the lead panels as opposed to large block lettered ones just above the rocker panels of the canadian models to go with the formula decal on the rear spoiler. alberta is wildrose country, so if you take the prefix mont from montana and add the pink prickly (voodoo) rose from alberta and it kinda sounds like MONTROSE and i own that rare cassette too. now sammy, i know my 79 firebird was not quite a 79 trans am wonderland car, but my formula did indeed have a 403 auto blue block and it was the closest model in red deer in 1990 to that 79 TA song from my SH "turn up the music" cassette. sammy your cowl hood and my air induction swaddles were practically the only difference in the daytona versions. get this sam, my alberta plates were truly registered in the sequence of KSH 399, (thats right sammy your initials were truly on my license plates)!

truthfully speaking i discovered sammy hagar for the first time ever in 1984. i was at a flea market, and i came across some cassettes. i seen sammy hagars "cruisin and boozin" and "three lock box" tapes for the first time in my life. out of curiosity i bought them both for 5 bucks a piece and played them in my red sanyo walkman. i liked your powerful vocals, the music as a whole and the playing of gary pihl because i was a guitar enthusiast then, and even more so today in 2013 with my latest black and blue slammer by hamer wolfgang copy that i sing and practice with almost daily. in 1985 i was walking onto the parking lot of my apartment building and a buddy named mark pulls up in his blue chev truck, and says to me "hey bumstead, guess who the new lead singer of VH is"? and i said "i don't know, i heard eddie was going to do some work with pete townsend from the WHO, and he replied and said "no". then i said "what about billy squire he was a runner up wasn't he"? and he said "no, sammy hagar". i looked at him and said "no kiddin, holy fucken shit man". so that is the truth about how i learned of the new lead singer for my favorite rock group VH. i would also like to mention the 5150 interview with BC on rock line. i listened to it repeatedly and wrote the whole interview down on paper and memorized some of the over all conversations with BC. there was a part about alex saying something about "this could be taxing" and then eddie said "ya taxing". well what i am saying here is that i was 18 years old in downtown edmonton in 1985 selling bogus acid with my buddy joe to the younger punks from the games room and on the streets to make some bucks for cigs, hoots, beer,and subs! anyway i was in front of capital square on jasper ave, and i was verbally going over that part of the 5150 interview when ed and al were talking about something that could be taxing. i wanted to memorize the 5150 interview and use it as a conversation piece at the bars and parties for cool laughs. i was talking out loud about it to myself, and just then two girls walked by and heard me saying "ya taxing" out loud. they must have thought i was looking for a taxi so i guess they flagged one down and sent him a half a block down to me from where they were walking. so then suddenly this blue cab with orange letters on the door that said "skyline taxi" with a picture of a jet on the door drove up with his window rolled down and looked at me on the sidewalk and yelled from his drivers seat "hey did you call for a cabo"? i looked back at him and said "yah right man" then chuckled! so then a bit over six years later in feb 92 my buddy pat carter and i took a cab to the airport and flew to cabo" to eat and drink at the world famous cabo wabo cantina. however i did so return to cabo a decade later on october 12-17 2004 to see bogus otis and the wabos perform live. it was a pretty cool thrill seeing sammy and mike in real life first time ever other than magazines and edmonton concerts. the show sounded great, loud, live in front of my naked steaming eyes. i was a bit nervous at times, but i have been to enough bar gigs and live concerts that i held myself fairly good all night after a couple coronas then walking through 650 people or so to take piss breaks etc... i had a blast in cabo but not as much fun as it would have been had sheila minard my friend from california came with me. see i hooked us up with deja vue travel near northridge mall on tampa and roscoe off the 101 when i flew down to LA for a visit. i then drove sheila to kinkos on ventura blvd in her navy blue 1988 cadillac stretch limo (in fairly good condition and shape) to get her passport updated. anyway i was on the other side of kinkos looking around at stuff, and i guess sheila had a couple drinks in the back of her limo beforehand, so she slightly smiled at the camera as the shots were taken. after kinkos processed her pics, the canadian and american consolate generals phoned us and said they rejected her photos. by the time we attempted to get retakes we ran out of time so i said "FUCK" out loud because our names were on the itinery at the travel agency. sheila is a good looking, slim, right on, business oriented party lady. sheila is good long time friends with "earth wind and fire" from LA. sheila has been in the music business producing music for years. she owned the 55 music studio on melrose ave before it became a parking lot. she also knows some popular hollywood celebrities like mackenzie phillips and has known david geffen for a number of years. sheila has been to cabo once already too. you see sammy, i paid a deposit for the trip already with no refund allowed so i said "what the hell, i guess i'll fly down to cabo from LAX and check out the show myself". i then boarded a mexicana airway jet and flew down the baja then checked into the fiesta inn san jose del cabo. then took a shuttle bus to cabo just in time and found myself in the line up that went down the street from sammy and marco's cantina around the corner to the next block. i was wearing the original cabo wabo shirt from 1992 because it was in good shape and only worn on special occasions, and i had a small 5150 kramer guitar patch sewed on my right sleeve. so then this older blonde haired woman was rolling around with a camcorder reeling in the fans. when she came by me and some people i met from saint louis missouri usa she by passed me because i was standing and they were sitting on the sidewalk. i thought she would catch my t-shirt because it stood out with the original CW logo and eddies guitar patch. i was kinda pissed at her for not getting me on tape. so i started drinking some canned coronas and got into a laughing mood again (oh well). my newly aquainted american friends and me in the line up swapped drivers licenses to see how it's colors and design looked for a conversation piece. upon entry to the cantina i had intentions of later getting my t-shirt autographed by sammy on 10/13 04. i had a black felt marker and the 10/13 CD that dion gave me when i walked in the gate. after the show started i was trying to get myself to the stage when sammy came down the stairs of that skywalk pedway to the stage and yelled with his trademark voice "and welcome to the cabo wabo" see these clowns in front of the stage knew i was trying to get my t-shirt autographed because i was holding my felt marker up over my head and my 10/13 CD too. i was going to put the CD inside my shirt against the logo as a bass and hopefully get sammy to reach down and sign my t-shirt, but those fuckers in front screened me on purpose, they would not let me through the crowd because they wanted to be the closest to sammy. so i was shit out of luck. to be continued...

chris bumstead
edmonton alberta.