The news of John Lennon's murder caused me to temporarily forget all about my purchase of the Marshall half stack. Like everyone else, I was glued to the tv for the rest of the evening, stunned and numb. At around midnight, when the horrible truth began to sink in, a few friends and I went to an all-night diner to drink coffee and talk. No one could sleep nor eat. It took a long time to get over our loss (the world's loss), but of course life didn't come to a standstill. I'm sure I tried out my Marshall the next day. And three weeks later, on New Year's Eve, I moved it into a newly rented rehearsal studio. My band and I - Disturbing The Peace - moved in on December 31, 1980. Now I didn't even need the special low volume switch on the amp head. I could play as loud as I wanted, at any time.
But I kept Jose Arredondo in mind, and one day a few months later, I found myself in need of his services. The kid in Beverly Hills had told me : "If you ever need it fixed, make sure you take it to Jose. He knows what he's doing and he won't rip you off". I don't remember if I'd blown out the transformer or if I just needed some new tubes, and I also don't recall if the kid had given me Jose's address or if I found him in the phone book. But, one day in March 1981, I drove down to North Hollywood, the Marshall in tow, to bring it to Jose for repair. He noticed the pull-out switch right away. "Ahh, this is one I already work on". He was a small, balding middle aged man, possibly of Cuban or Spanish descent, and totally unassuming.
"You know what I try for with this switch"?, he asked me. It was a rhetorical question that he proceeded to answer himself. "I wanted to give low volume option but also keep distortion, keep warmth. You know Eddie Van Halen sound"? I said yes. "That's what I try for with this switch. Give option for low volume but keep sound big". Ed's sound would come to be known as The Brown Sound for it's warmth, I think Ted Templeman coined it, but I hadn't heard that term yet. Maybe Jose didn't either. But he continued : "You like Eddie Van Halen? I do all his amps, boost wattage, special transformer, custom tubes and Celestions. That's where his big sound come from"! He stated this with pride, and well he should've. Then he filled out a repair order and told me to come back in a few days to pick up my amp. "It will sound even better than before", he promised.
When I returned, I paid the bill and was getting ready to load my amp for the trip back to our studio, when Jose hit me with a surprise. "Listen" he said, almost conspiratorially, "You like Eddie Van Halen, so I tell you this special. But please, to keep it quiet, not spread around, o.k."? I nodded, eager to know what it was.
"He is getting married soon. Wedding is invitation only, but I know address of the church. You want it? I give it to you, maybe you can sneak in". He was already writing it down before I could answer. I thanked him profusely and left. The church was located in Westwood. He'd also written down the date : April 11, a Saturday.
And that's how I found myself at Edward Van Halen's wedding, five days before my 21st birthday, thanks to the kid from Beverly Hills, who told me about Jose Arredondo, who gave me the address to the church.
I went down there with Ono (better known as Pat in real life). We never tried to sneak in, but it was beyond cool just to be standing there in front of the church doors as the wedding was taking place. Then suddenly it was over and people were coming out. I remember seeing Nicolette Larson, who sang during the ceremony. She'd had a big hit with "Lotta Love" just a year or two before, and was temporarily a star. Unfortunately, her life was short, as are so many in the entertainment industries.
But then.......all of a sudden and Holy Smokes : here came Edward and Valerie. They came right down the church walkway, right past us, close enough to shake hands. Ed wore a white tux, Valerie no doubt had on a beautiful wedding dress. I was focused on Ed, so I didn't notice. They got into a waiting limousine, and that was it. They drove off.
But I was at their wedding, even if I was only standing out front. Later, early in my relationship with Lillian, she one day handed me a gift, of an envelope containing 8x10 glossy black and white photos of EVH and Val, taken at their newly constructed home in Coldwater Canyon. As Chris mentioned this morning on Facebook, our friend's Dad was the framing contractor who built their house, and 5150 (at least he built the frames). And Lillian's family home was just off Coldwater, so there were a lot of connections. At any rate, she'd found the Van Halen address, gone up there, and had removed the envelope from the mailbox.
She was only 16. It's the kind of thing we did in those days. When I was 14, me and Mike B. went through Alice Cooper's mailbox, and he drove up while we were doing it! And he didn't even get mad. But yeah, and with Lilly, she had done it for me, to get me a souvenir. The envelope also contained a letter from Warner Brothers, talking about business matters. All I remember about the letter is that it mentioned a million dollar figure for what Van Halen the band had earned in album sales for a certain period.
I was stoked to have those photos, and to know that they'd come directly from the Van Halen mailbox. I was only 21, and when you're young you think of things differently, even if you know something isn't entirely kosher.
I kept that envelope, and those photos and the business letter, for 16 years. It survived the Northridge Earthquake, and the resulting move from the legendary Rathburn house to my Dad's apartment in 1995. It further survived another move, to the also legendary Burton Street house six months later. But sometime in 1997, when my life was getting very real, I got it in my head that I needed to fix anything that wasn't 100% karmatically cool. And because Edward Van Halen had remained for all those years at the top of the heap in my book, I announced to Mr. D (who was also the Burton Street proprieter) that we needed to take a drive.
We needed to drive up to Coldwater Canyon, about 15 miles away, up near Mulholland Drive where the house and recording studio were located. "I've gotta return these pictures", I told him. It was not just the right thing to do, but was necessary for karma's sake. That's the way I was in 1997, in the most mindboggling year of my life.
So we drove up there, following the address on the envelope. Before we left, I'd written a Note of Apology, explaining how I'd come to possess the envelope (without naming names), and why I'd held on to it for all those years. I don't recall my exact rationale, but my note was a full page, and I closed out by stating my devotion as a fan. "Van Halen Forever"! was how I signed off.
Dave and I drove up to Eddie's house that day, and I got out and stuck the envelope in the mailbox, which - it seems likely - would have been the same mailbox from which Lilly took it 16 years earlier. The property is expansive, so there's a gate in front, and a lot of trees and a driveway. It's also on a hillside, so you can't really see much from the mailbox. But when we got back home to Burton Street in Reseda, later that night I was wondering to myself. I wondered, "did anyone get the mail"? By chance, did Eddie get it? Only he and Valerie lived there. And Wolfie, who would've been about seven.
I always hoped he got the envelope back, even though I was thrilled to get it as an illicit gift in 1981, and even though I kept it for a very long time. And if he got it back, I always hoped he read my note.
It would have meant a lot to me. /////
So that's one of my Eddie Van Halen stories.
I will see you in the morning. Love, love and more love until then.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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