Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography (52 page)

They segued into a jam of “Magic Bus.” You will rarely find a single performance of “Romeo Delight” better than what happened in Dallas on January 26, 2008. It was an eight-minute exercise in rock music entertainment excellence. It was as transcendent as a rock performance could possibly be. I saw it and I documented it. It was
crazy
good. The whole train though was also less than a month from derailment.

9.    A Little Bit About My Brother

My brother was three years older than me. He was the classic, stereotypical older brother in every sense of the word. He was the extreme protector and the extreme torturer. There were two things that complicated our relationship growing up.

Brandon was not a great student in grade school. He seemed to always struggle with his grades, but it was always obvious he was not a dumb kid at all. On the other hand, good grades came natural to me. I don’t recall having to put in a huge amount of effort or that I was somehow superior. I just got good grades and did all the way through high school and college. This was always a point of contention between my brother and I, and he would often use his larger physique to settle whatever score there was to settle whatever day he chose to settle it.

We had a family van. It was loosely passed down to my brother, but I was also learning how to drive by backing it up and down the driveway. One day, I hit the garage and dented the van. Brandon came out and flipped out on me, cursing me for being, specifically, “stupid.” My retort was cruel and referred specifically to our grades and Brandon physically attacked me on the driveway, grabbing me by the neck. But then he stood up and walked inside and didn’t say anything.

Later that night, my dad called me into his room and told me that Brandon told him what had transpired. Dad then taught me the lesson that there are some things you just don’t say to another person when you’re mad or at all, and that that was one of them. I felt terrible.

The other point of contention between my brother and I was playing guitar. We both got our first guitars on the exact same day from the exact same pawn shop. Brandon was thirteen, so he got a cheap electric and an amp and I got a $20 acoustic guitar because I was ten. Right away, I knew I had a natural proclivity, and after several years, it was obvious that Brandon did not. Bless his heart, he just didn’t have the natural talent required to be a decent guitar player. By the time I got to playing Van Halen songs note-for-note, it was driving him nuts. He refused at first to acknowledge my band’s accomplishments, but by the end of high school, he did come to our talent shows. As our band in Austin in the 90s was doing well, he was able to be around a few times to catch a few of those shows, and he always told me how proud he was of me.

One point of contention my brother and I did
not
have was Van Halen, and, specifically, Edward Van Halen. While my brother continued to love all eras of VH, I steadfastly remained loyal to the Dave era and it certainly caused its share of arguments between us.

When we first ever discovered Van Halen, it was really my brother that was bringing it into the house and essentially broadcasting it from his room. I will never forget those days when I was only nine or ten and I was rocking out with my brother to
Diver
Down
. I cannot even begin to recall how many hours we spent listening to records and looking at pictures and just talking about how cool Eddie was. It was our thing.

As we got older and were in our twenties, my brother and I completely settled our differences. I made a rule that he could no longer refer to me as his “little brother” but simply as his “brother,” period. I was so proud of him for overcoming his scholastic career and kicking ass in flight school and becoming a commercial pilot. He was proud of me and my band and the fact that I had graduated college. We spoke often even when we were over a thousand miles apart.

My brother and his wife Susan had been living in Los Angeles for several years, and Brandon worked at the Van Nuys Airport. He used to call me weekly with his latest “celebrity” report—the Van Nuys Airport is a celebrity ant trail. Brandon actually ended up befriending Phil Hartman (the voice of Waldo in the “Hot for Teacher” video). Brandon even got to fly Phil’s plane to Catalina with Phil in the passenger seat. Brandon also went to his home and met his wife and his children. They were friends. When Phil was murdered by his wife in the summer of 1998, I was the first person that broke the news to my brother, and he broke down and wept on the phone.

By 1998, Susan had taken a job in Miami, so they hit the road again. Brandon struggled to find a job at first but got a call back from an airline that exclusively flies executives to the Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale. As part of his hiring process, Brandon was required to make three runs before he could be given the job. The first two runs were simply from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas and back. The airline does not fly at night and Brandon was slated to come back the next day to do his third run. But someone at the airline insisted that Brandon do his third run that evening, just a quick touch-and-go landing off of a small airstrip near Lake Okeechobee, and he could start work the next day. My brother was in the pilot seat with a supervisor in the passenger seat and the head of safety for the airline in the back of the plane when he took off for his third run on December 8.

The plane never returned. Susan called my mother and father to tell them he was missing and my father then called me at work. What followed was a bizarre haze of eight long, twisted days and nights in Florida looking for him and the plane. Eventually, the plane was found in Lake Okeechobee; after sunset, the lake sky becomes pure black with only a few lights on the horizon. The plane was essentially undamaged, indicating that they had hit the water at a level heading. When the plane was removed from the water, the altimeter read 1,500 feet. The plane hit the water so smoothly that the only cause of death for my brother was drowning—he had only hit the side of his head.

Van Halen lost one of its most hardcore fans of all time that day. My life was never the same. I could not even bring myself to play a show with my band until they convinced me it was the best medicine. I rejoined the band for a high-profile New Year’s Eve show at the biggest club in Austin. It was tough for me. Brandon was the one that really brought Van Halen into our household, into our lives, and into our brains. We were better for it. He only lived thirty years—but he packed them full of adventure, including having put his arm around Eddie Van Halen.

REFERENCES 

References include books (retrospectives, visual histories, autobiographies, biographies, collections of interviews, and general rock history); web resources; magazines (online and print); broadcast (TV and radio; material used only as permitted); press releases; and transcriptions of broadcast interviews (recorded in whole or in part and/or broadcast on TV, radio, or internet; this material used only as permitted).

Note: All of the Eddie Van Halen-Jas Obrecht quotes are from the
Jas
Obrecht
Music
Archive
at
www.jasobrecht.com
. Used by permission. All
Dwyer
&
Michaels
interviews transcribed by Kevin Dodds and approved by Greg Dwyer. Used by permission.

Alphabetical by Author

Agostino, John D. “Pop Music Review : Van Halen’s Altered State In San Diego.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. May 4, 1992.

Aledort, Andy. “Get Up.’”
Guitar
for
the
Practicing
Musician
. September 1988, p. 67.

Aledort, Andy. “Transcription to ‘Eruption.’”
Guitar
for
the
Practicing
Musician
. December 1987, p. 23.

Aledort, Andy. “Transcription to ‘Ice Cream Man.’”
Guitar
for
the
Practicing
Musician
. November 1986, p. 67.

Andeman, Joan. “Van Halen returns to the party.”
Boston
Globe
. October 31, 2007.

Andrews, Rob. “Van Halen: The Rock Brigade.”
Hit
Parader
. September 1984, p. 16.

Arnold, Thomas K. “Hagar Lets Van Halen Floor Pedal to the Metal.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. November 16, 1988.

Arthur, George. “Van Halen: No more disappointments with ’1984.’”
Circus
. February 1984.

Atkinson, Terry. “Rough Sailin’ For Van Halen.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. April 6, 1986.

Baltin, Steve. “Eddie Van Halen Thanks God for Sobriety and Guitar Riffs.”
Spinner.com
. June 11, 2009.

Bertinelli, Valerie.
Finding
It
. New York, NY. Free Press, 2009.

Bertinelli, Valerie.
Losing
It
. New York, NY. Free Press, 2008.

Boehm, Mike. “Van Halen All Smiles at Pacific.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. September 12, 1991.

Bomb, Adam. “High School Musical ’77.” August 30, 2007.
http://www.myspace.com/adambomb2012/blog/304696074
.

Boss, Joseph. “Edward Van Halen: Player of the Decade.’”
Guitar
World
. February 1990, p. 46.

Boucher, Geoff. “David and Eddie, together again.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. January 26, 2007.

Boucher, Geoff. “Van Halen’s road plans have taken a rocky turn.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. February 23, 2007.

Boucher, Geoff. “Van Halen’s back on tour — with the Hagar lineup.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. June 07, 2004.

Brown, Glenn. “Van Halen: Biggest U.S. Band?”
Circus
. March 1983, p. 35.

Brown, James: e-mail to author. June 26, 2011.

Bully, Debbie. “Valerie Bertinelli.” 1987.
Homonculus.com
.
http://www.homunculus.com/articles/bertinellivalerie/bertinelliinterview87.html
.

Burk, Greg. “A classic Van Halen eruption.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. November 22, 2007.

Bustillo, Miguel. “Con Artist Uses Charm and Lies to Steal Car, Police Say: Crime: Man who claims to be an assistant to a rock star also disappoints a group of quadriplegic.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. March 4, 1994.

Cherone, Gary. “Letter to Eddie Vedder by Gary Cherone.”
Vox-nova.com
.
http://vox-nova.com/2007/06/20/letter-to-eddie-vedder-by-gary-cherone/
.

Chilvers, C.J.
The
Van
Halen
Encyclopedia
. Oak Lawn, IL. Malpractice Publishing, 1999.

Christie, Ian.
Everybody
Wants
Some:
The
Van
Halen
Saga
. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Cioffi, Billy. “Edward Van Halen: King Tapper.”
Guitar
School
. April 1989, p. 18.

Clehane, Diane. “Valerie Bertinelli: Eddie Is Not in Rehab.”
People
. March 12, 2008.

Cohen, Jonathan. “Van Halen Putting Tour On Hold For A Month.”
Billboard.com
. March 10, 2008.

Cohen, Scott. “It’s Only Roth and Roll.”
SPIN
. April 1986.

Connelly, Chris. 1996 MTV Interview with Edward and Alex van Halen.
YouTube
. Poster: modernVintagefilms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azJ4dOC5TwM&feature=related
.

Corgan, Billy. “Best of Both Worlds.”
Guitar
World
. April 1996.

Crisafulli, Chuck. “Ain’t Talkin ’Bout Love.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. October 20, 1996.

Cromilen, Richard. “Van Halen Rocked by Social Conscience: Pop Music: Band noted for party image turns to defense of fans rights.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. April 25, 1992.

Cross, Charles R.
Heavier
Than
Heaven
. New York, NY. Hyperion, 2001.

Crowe, Jerry. “Sammy Hagar Marches On With Life After Van Halen.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. May 17, 1997.

Crowe. Jerry. “Van Halen Jumps Into Era III.”
Los
Angeles
Times
. March 15, 1998.

Dansby, Andrew. “Eddie Van Halen Has Cancer: Guitarist vows to beat disease.”
Rolling
Stone
. April 30, 2001.

Dansby, Andrew. “Van Halen Says He’s Cancer Free.” Rolling Stone. May 9, 2002. dbeck03. “Eddie Van Halen gets sober.”
HubPages.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Eddie-Van-Halen-gets-sober
.

Del Barrio, Ron with Meisler, Andy. “18 With… Eddie Van Halen.”
Maximum
Golf
. August 2001. di Perna, Alan. “Crazy Eddie?”
Keyboard
World
. July 1988, p. 26.

DiMartino, Dave. “David Lee Roth: Foul-Mouthed Reagan Shocks The World.”
Creem
. June 1986.

Djansezian, Kevork. “Van Halen Postpones Shows, Eddie Undergoes Medical Tests.”
Associated
Press
. March 3, 2008.

Dodds, Kevin. Transcription. Van Halen press conference, August 13, 2011. Public domain.

Dodds, Kevin: Transcription. Dwyer and Michaels radio interview with Edward Van Halen, November 25, 2003.
Dwyer
&
Michaels
. Used by permission.

Dodds, Kevin: Transcription. Dwyer and Michaels radio interview with Edward Van Halen, January 9, 2004.
Dwyer
&
Michaels
. Used by permission.

Dodds, Kevin: Transcription. Dwyer and Michaels radio interview with Edward Van Halen, April 9, 2004.
Dwyer
&
Michaels
. Used by permission.

Dodds, Kevin: Transcription. Dwyer and Michaels radio interview with Edward Van Halen, May 11, 2005.
Dwyer
&
Michaels
. Used by permission.

Dodds, Kevin: Transcription. Dwyer and Michaels radio interview with Edward Van Halen, October 3, 2005.
Dwyer
&
Michaels
. Used by permission.

Dodds, Kevin: Transcription. Dwyer and Michaels radio interview with Edward Van Halen, April 7, 2006.
Dwyer
&
Michaels
. Used by permission.

Dr. Shoop, Stephen A., and John Morgan.
“
Eddie Van Halen gets hip—literally.”
USA
Today
Health
.
December 1, 1999.

Dwyer, Greg, e-mail messages to author: July 12, 2011; July 13, 2011; July 18, 2011; July 19, 2011.

Evans, Paul. “Balance.”
Rolling
Stone
. March 23, 1995.

Foyt, Caitlin M. “Van Andel Arena is named Van Halen Arena just for a day.”
The
Grand
Rapids
Press
. June 3, 2008.

Fricke David. “Van Halen Hot And Happy Without David Lee Roth.”
Rolling
Stone
. July 03, 1986.

Fricke, David. “After Sour Grapes of Roth, Van Halen Finally Finds Happiness.”
Rolling
Stone
. July 3, 1986.

Fricke, David. “Head for the bomb shelters! It’s Van Halen.”
Circus
. May 1980 (reprinted October 1982), p. 32.

Fricke, David. “Women and Children First.”
Rolling
Stone
. June 26, 1980.

Garbarini, Vic. “The Well Tempered Guitarist.”
Guitar
World
. October 1999.

Garbarini, Vic. “Three of a Perfect Pair.”
Guitar
World
. March 1998.

Gill, Chris. “Eddie Van Halen Interview: Of Wolf and Man.”
Guitar
World
. February 2009.

Gill, Chris. “Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen: Cast a Giant Shadow.”
Guitar
World
. March 3, 2010.

Gordon, Matthews.
Van
Halen
. New York, NY. Ballantine Books, 1984.

Graff, Gary. “Q & A With Edward Van Halen.”
SFGate.com
. March 22, 1998.

Greene, Andy. “A Mostly Reunited Van Halen Hit Madison Square Garden.”
Rolling
Stone
. November 14, 2007.