Music, resilience, and the fight against ALS

In 1989, former Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth invited guitar virtuoso Jason Becker to be his guitar player. Only the greatest in the genre have played alongside Diamond Dave.

Jason was to follow in the footsteps of Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai, and this was truly a one-in-a-million, beyond-wildest-dreams job in that profession. One year into the job, however, it all stopped with a diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS.

I have always followed the careers of Van Halen and David Lee Roth. In my vinyl collection, Van Halen (debut record), Fair Warning, Women and Children First, 1984, and 5150 are foundational. Sunday evening, I put on 1984 and 5150 back-to-back while reading the Life Magazine special edition about their career. The split with David Lee Roth that led to them hiring Sammy Hagar and DLR heading out on a solo career was “Days of Our Lives” Rock n Roll drama at its peak, and reading it with the records providing the perfect literal soundtrack was a nice Sunday sunset activity. David put out a string of successful solo records post-Van Halen in the 1980s and 1990s.

The third solo album was called “A Little Ain’t Enough,” and Becker joined David as former guitarist Vai moved to the band Whitesnake after being in David’s band for two records, “Eat ‘Em and Smile” and “Skyscraper.”

Jason was a child phenom at guitar and was recording major label albums and touring the world by the time he was 16. After joining Lee Roth’s band, one day he reported to his doctor a lazy limp, which led to the ALS diagnosis. By 1996, ALS had taken away his ability to walk, talk, and speak, but not his will to live or produce music. Today, Jason still puts out music, communicates with a specialized setup, and even has a book project in the works.

You can learn more about Jason’s career and projects here.

ALS is a disease that impacts approximately 200,000 people worldwide. It affects the nerve cells and causes them to stop working. No cause has been found for ALS, and there is currently no cure. If you need more information on ALS or ALS support and research, please visit the ALS Center | University of Miami.

In 2015, when Zac Brown Band played at the Tallahassee Civic Center, the highlight of the evening was when band member John Driskell Hopkins, who graduated from FSU, told a story to the crowd about playing Bullwinkle’s on Tennessee Street with his college band.

Hopkins and ZBB then launched into a cover of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. I don’t think I had heard a country band before (or since) perform a metal song live, maybe Eric Church, but that’s it. I have followed John and ZBB since they played in the corner at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta and have seen them at every phase of their explosive rise to super fame, from clubs to arenas to stadiums. In recent years, John was diagnosed with ALS (2021), and despite a brutal diagnosis, he is pressing forward with the band and raising awareness on ALS with his new organization called Hop on a Cure (Donate here).

Jason uses a very innovative low-tech tool to assist him in his day-to-day life. The system is focused on using his eyes as the central communication tool. He calls it Vocal Eyes, and it was invented by his father, Gary Becker. It allows Jason to use a clear board with letters to spell out communication to family, friends, and caretakers. The Becker Family has offered this free to all, and you can also see it in use here.

Jason also uses the latest tech for composing, using Logic Pro to pipe in AI drums or other instruments into the process for an artist.

While I knew John years ago and have been a fan of Jason’s music and his story of perseverance for many years, ALS hit closer to home this year when I found out my longtime family friend, Mifflin Hollyday, was also diagnosed with the disease. She lives here in Florida and is an amazingly talented artist and a wonderful human being.

If you wish to see her work, please consider visiting her exhibition, The Nature of Kinship & Its Artful Connections, at LeMoyne Arts in Tallahassee next month.

ALS is a brutal illness, but there are positives in these stories. John and Jason are beating the odds by outliving the initial diagnosis of ALS, and Mifflin is still pushing her art forward for all to see. I first heard of ALS from the website Blabbermouth.net, a music site of all places. They regularly feature Jason and his story.

When I was a kid, reading about bands like Van Halen in magazines like Circus, Hit Parader, Metal Edge, etc., Blabbermouth took that torch digitally as those magazines went into the history books. These days, it is one of the few media outlets (along with Metal Sludge – Too Fast For Sludge) that keeps us aging metalheads in the know of the latest and greatest music news. They also make a point to push forward important stories like Jason’s.

I hope the sharing of John, Mifflin, and Jason’s stories inspires you to get in the fight and share with someone you know who might need to hear these stories of courage, staying positive, and beating the odds.