In 2015, a writer found an email address that supposedly belonged to Eddie Van Halen. He fired off a note on a lark — and kicked off a five-year friendship that lasted until Eddie’s death.
. Rather, that’s the first thing I say to someone who possibly is but probably isn’t Eddie Van Halen. I mean, who am I kidding? There’s no way the real Eddie Van Halen’s email address should be available for anyone to find in a public database — and it sure as shit shouldn’t be an America Online account.
So, I fire off the Michael Anthony email at close to 5 o’clock on Sunday, May 31, 2015, and figure that’ll be the beginning and end of it. But 51 minutes later: “You’ve Got Mail!” That response kicks off a five–plus-year correspondence that would change my life.see the email until Monday morning, when I get to work. My insides flutter just a bit.
y question appears to strike a nerve. A few hours later, five new emails arrive in my inbox. They’re a bit stream-of-consciousness, filled with rage and incredulity. I speed-read them all. “Damn, OK . . . didn’t mean to get you all riled up,” I respond 21 minutes after the sender’s most recent email. “Maybe Mike was mad b/c VH wasn’t doing anything for years… I mean it took, what, 15 years to doIt works. After saying this would be the “last thing I’m going to say,” the writer says much, much more — enough to more or less confirm that it’s indeed the real Eddie Van Halen.
Of the original four band members, Ed always seemed like the biggest mystery. Mostly it’s those unduplicable legato notes he makes flow from his custom-made red, white, and black Frankenstrat guitar. Or the whammy-bar dives and sorcerous two-handed finger tapping he popularized, which unintentionally helped inspire the birth of hair metal. In any rock & roll era, past, present, or future, Ed was and will always be ahead of his time.
Truthfully, I had just assumed he was well. I’m no oncologist, but I know there’s no way a 60-year-old vaper is performing two-hour shows for 41 nights in the dead of summer if he’s in any real danger.get along. It’s just the three of us in this dimly lit, cavernous dressing room. Some guitars lean against the wall, though none I immediately recognize fromor Van Halen’s many music videos. There’s a rolling wardrobe rack tucked into a corner, too, but there isn’t anything on it. We all flop onto a fraying black leather couch and, almost immediately, Ed picks up right where we left off.
Months later, rumors of an impending reunion with Hagar persist. On Oct. 13, five months after we’d begun our correspondence, I tell Ed it’s Hagar’s birthday, but that if he wishes him a happy one on Twitter everyone will assume the rumors are true.“Maybe we get the whole shebang up there.
Meanwhile, Roth violates the band’s omertà — once again — and publicly alludes to Ed’s health situation. That same month, he does an interview to support an upcoming Las Vegas residency. In it, Roth says, “I’m the face of Van Halen from this point on, most likely. I’m not sure what’s happening with Ed, but he’s probably not gonna answer the bell this time.”
“Doing OK buddy, you??” he responds on March 15, 2020. He sends me a jokey viral video of a street dealer selling toilet paper as if it were contraband. I respond with an “LOL,” but there are no laughs left in me. I just can’t help but think Ed may not be around to see the end of the pandemic.
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