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October 22, 1998:

Here is a picture I did for Steve. I hope you like it. I had many variations of it, but this is the final of it. I am 21 years old, and play the guitar. I live in Turkey Istanbul, I wish that Steve will come here someday. I currently attend a guitar course, but we need some support for music education. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks,

Okan

This is some artwork I did in school. The pictures (one above & two below) are from a scanner and then Adobe Photoshop. I also added a picture that I took at G3 here in San Antonio.

Satch69

Hi Steve,

I was reading one of your journal entrails, er, 'scuse me - entries - yesterday, on your web page. Good looking page, by the way. I think you wrote something about one of your friends, how he was having a really low time in his life, and then, almost suddenly, a really high or euphoric time. It made me think of something I just read in the book I'm currently reading, "The Tenth Insight". You strike me as the kind of person who would like this book as well as the first part, "The Celestine Prophecy", both by James Redfield. I wouldn't be surprised if you have already read them. Anyway, in the book, he's referring to souls who won't or can't yet allow themselves to accept the help or love they need to pull them out of a very tough or anxious place, why they won't 'wake up' or 'accept the love' they so badly need. I don't know if this applied to your friend or not. The one guy asks "Why can't they accept the love"?, and the other replies " Because when they feel the energy (love) and it raises their consciousness a degree, their preoccupation lifts somewhat and doesn't fend off the anxiety of their aloneness. Coming into awareness and breaking free of a control drama always feels anxious at first, because the compulsion has to lift before the inward solution to the lostness can be found. That's why a 'dark night of the soul' sometimes precedes increased awareness and spiritual euphoria". I dunno, I thought it was a pretty good one, and what you wrote about your friend going from in the dumps to a state of euphoria made me think of that. It also reminded me of times in my life that were that way, and I think it's true. Always darkest before the dawn kinda thing. So that's all, thought you might dig that. You'll like the books if you're into reading. Also, check out "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior". Great story.

Peace,
Glenn

One overcast day, a stainless steel tour bigger than it appeared to be from the outside. The insibus without any windows pulled in front of my house. As I walked toward the bus the doors opened. Inside, I discovered that the bus seemed MUCH de walls of the bus were lined with electronics from the floor to the ceilings. It looked similar to a space craft. Next to every row of electronics was what looked to be giant speaker mounted into the walls of the bus. There were 4 of them. In front of every speaker, on the floor, was a small meditation platform. On the center platform...there was Steve Vai kneeling in a meditation position. As I knelt on the platform next to his, the electronics throughout the vehicle came alive with process. As I/we began to meditate, the bus began to drive. There was no driver, no windshield or any operating mechanisms. As the bus drove we began to levitate. We hovered 3 feet off the floor. The lights turned dark blue. The electronic devices processed our energy, which was being drawn by the the speaker like dishes, into the electronics and processed into MUSIC! The music was powering the bus and was also being projected through an enormously loud speaker system on top of the bus. As the bus drove... everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to see where the glorious sound was coming from. People listened as they watched the bus drive by slowly. It made everyone who listened love one another and forget hate. As the bus drove the earth, wars stopped, violence seized and there was peace in the world....then I woke up!

joe sozzi

Steve,

Thought you might find this funny. My ten year old son believes you are the second coming of Christ. He absolutely hates today's bands (I raised him right). Anyway, it is the last day of school in his fourth grade school year and the teacher throws a home room party, and lets the kids bring their CD's (each kid gets to play one song each during the party.) Naturally, the kids bring Spice Girls and other top 40 groups. What does my kid bring? Mine brings "Passion and Warfare." His teacher asks "Who is Steve Vai?" My son shouts to the class, "the best guitarist that is and ever will be!!"

My kid is the first to play his selection and of course plays "The Audience is Listening" (in the spirit of school). A small bit of laughter arose when the teacher begins coaching "little Stevie" and when Steve's teacher shouts "turn it down," my kid reaches over and cranks up the volume on the jam box. It was straight out of a movie - hilarious!

Next year, my son (he is the apple of my eye) plans on entering the school talent show, playing of course - the guitar (I bought him a little Washburn). Watch it Steve, he's gonna kick your ass 10 years from now!

Alan Atwood

This is just a collage of some guitar magazine scans and other pictures of Vai. I think it looks pretty cool with the soft edges and stuff... doesn't really fit the theme of the artwork that made it on the site but it would be cool to be on there anyway! It's actually what I use for my wallpaper, it's 1024x768 and not bright and not cluttered with any words, so it works perfectly!

Matt

Newfound Hope:

I was about 13 when I first heard an album that floored me. Up until that age I was convinced that all good guitar music was already created with the likes of Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, and Yngwie Malmsteen. My friend had this funky pink jacketed CD with this nutball on the cover with a multicolored guitar. That was the beginning of the rest of the fascination of guitar playing for me, and then of course my obsession with the man's music, none other than Steve Vai. I told myself years ago that I would play just like that. Well, I am not even close to being there (though with my Jems and Eventide I sure as hell sound like him!!). I have always thought that it would be ideal to tell him how I really felt about his music and how it has influenced me so, but on a more important note, how it helped my brother smile.

My brother was born with a rare disease, Hyperammonemia, a blood condition that affects about 1% of the population in the US. He was diagnosed since day one with the condition and was always given grim prognosis by the medical community. My brothers and I ignored them all, knowing that he will live long and healthy because we willed it so. The doctor's said early on that he would not make it to the age of eighteen and if he did, he would slowly mentally deteriorate because of his abnormal ammonia level in the bloodstream that was hard to control. He had always looked up to me and followed my steps, ultimately he wanted to be nothing more and nothing less than a rock star. A cute kid's dream that I never frowned upon.

When he turned 16 I gave him the ultimate gift for a teenager, his first real guitar. It was an Ibanez-RG550 that was hot-rodded from the pickups on down. It was my first real guitar, and I wanted it to be his. He loved it and never put it down. Everyday I gave him a lesson, a book, or a new trick that he practiced til he had it down nailed better than I sometimes! He had an unbelievable determination to master his newfound skill. I introduced him to the Steve Vai in my collection and I could see it in his eyes that that was what he wanted to acheive with the guitar. He had an ambition, and desire that matched only mine, and then some. He went to numerous rock concerts, shows, venues, you name it, but he lived the last 4 years in Guatemala, Central America, and of course there aren't too many rockers parading through there these days. He was hoping that he could come to the US with me and see Vai in action. Well the first time I saw Vai was on December 7, 1996 at the House of Blues in Chicago. It ranks as the number one show I have ever seen in my life. I saw Vai again on the G3 Tour at the Riv in Chicago in June I believe a year later. I finally met him, but unfortunately was too starstruck and barely keeping the tears back to tell him how much he means to me and how much he meant to my brother. My brother died in March of 1997.

I never thought of music or a musician that can have a profound impact on one's personal life. I never stepped back to see what I really saw in music until months after my brother passed away. I heard "Tender Surrender" carefully, and intently, and felt the aspirations, emotions, and mindset that Vai might have felt while playing that song. I began to really feel the emotions that I longed to play, every nuance of every note gushed romanticism, feeling, and power. And that is why I adore the music so, and why I have been committed to preaching the wonders of Vai.....and then some.

I wanted to take this oppurtunity to thank Steve Vai, for the inspiration, the hope, and the smiles your music put on my brother's face. I have not become jaded, cynical, or depressed after his death for too long. I also found hope through the mellifluous notes I hear in "Sisters" which to me represents any family.

Thank You Steve Vai....both in mind, heart, body, and spirit.

Paolo Urizar
For my brother Hector Urizar {January 17, 1980-March 31, 1997}