Van Halen: The High School Years

[Foamfoot]

I recently contacted Alumni of several Pasadena-area High Schools. The reason.. I wanted to find out as much as I could about when VH played schools in the mid-70's. I was looking for things like specific dates, photos, school newspaper clippings.. ANYTHING!
I was hoping to confirm/deny bootleg dates that are circulating around here.. (some dates just don't make sense!) And evenutally pass along this info to the VH Encyclopedia.
Well, after a couple of months.. most of my "leads" seem to be dying out and I havent confirmed a damn thing!
But what I did get was a bunch of personal stories from their high school friends/acquaintances.. I thought I'd share my e-mails with you guys, some of 'em are pretty cool.
It's long, but enjoy!

1) I would try to get a hold of Mark Stone who lives in Sierre Madre CA. He was
the groups original bass player and my next door neighbor for 15 years- we
basically grew up together. He played with them through high school- we
graduated in 72, then after for some time. He went to Eddie's wedding, etc.
so even after he left the group he remained pretty tight with them. Also-
there is a guy Michael Reinhart who did some traveling with them in their
early days. Two good contacts. I used to go to their gigs with Mark, but
this was in 71-72, earlier than the dates you are looking at.

2) I do recall many PHS events that "Van Halen" performed at....but I have no
documentation or memory of specific dates. I've often wished I'd snagged at
least one of the hundreds of flyers/posters that were always "everywhere"
before an event.
Of course, none of us had a clue they would ever amount to anything.....
<sigh>

3) I do however
remember when they played at local parties on the week-ends when I
attended P.H.S. They were then also known as "Rat Salad", we all knew
that these guys would have a successfull career, especially Eddie on
guitar and Alex on drums. They were then really into "Black Sabbath".
Just some trivia other then that good luck in your project.

4) Yes I went to school there and do remember Van Halen or Mammoth playing
in the auditorum. I graduated in 1974 so I beleive it was then not 1975.
Eddie and the boys were a year older than me. I did attend a few parties
around town in backyards where they played (as Mammoth).

5) They were one class ahead of me and at that time to the best of my knowledge actually went by a
name like Genesis. They would play local open parties, only one I went to
was a backyard affair somewhere near to the 210 Freeway. They also came back
later when they had a name and played in the plaza in front of city hall.
Somewhere in 72 they had switched their name, I will ask a friend of mine
who was in their class about that.

6) I was senior class president of Pasadena High School and graduated from
Pasadena High School in 1972. I was also a member of AZA (a jewish youth
group in Pasadena). Van Halen did not play at PHS while I was there, but a
version of its forerunner band did.

7) I believe the Van Halen brothers went to Blair High School in Pasadena. I
knew David Lee Roth from AZA. Roth led a band which was one of three bands
that auditioned for a PHS dance at either the end of 1971 or the beginning
of 1972. PHS was mostly African-American and Hispanic at the time and
Roth's band finished last of the three at the audition (I was the only one
who voted for them). I seem to remember that Roth did a Traffic song at the
audition. He was quite good, he already had stage charisma.

8) I believe the Van Halen brothers were loosely associated with another Blair
student who had a band (I don't remember his name) and possibly with a PHS
student named Ron Morgan who was the lead singer for a band called (for one
performance at least) Filthy Dirty that played at PHS at a dance at the end
of 1971. I don't remember whether Roth or the Van Halens were part of that
band.

9) I graduated in 1972.
When I knew the band it was Genesis, then Mammoth. They did play for us
and were good then. I do have a friend that's husband was in the band.
10) Come to think of it, I may have gone back to Pasadena High school
in 1975 with friends to see them. No date though.
I went to Pasadena City College at that time, David Lee Roth
was also going there. What an ego Bozo even then.

11) Hi...I went to school with Eddie and Alex...we rode the same bus to
school...He lived in Hastings Ranch a few houses from me...alll I remember
was they played in 1974...prom ...don't know the date...and there was battle
of the bands at La Salle ...the private school in our neighborhood. I am
sorry I can't help you anymore than that. Alex and I were pretty good
friends but he used a lot of acid...his Dad was pretty hard on them and he
had a thick Dutch accent

12) I met Eddie Van Halen when he attended Pasadena City College. I used to see him around
the campus. I wasn't into rock music per se so I wouldn't know when and where he did his
performances.

13) I was a student there from 71-75, however, I don't recall them playing at
PHS. I do, however, recall that they did play at Pasadena City College when
I was a student there between l975-l977.

14) I remember the band playing in front of the La Canada gymnasium, but
unfortunately don't recall a specific date.

15) I was there. So was my brother. I was in the class of 76 and my brother
was in the class of 78. It was at lunch, outside if I recall correctly. I
think my brother Phred got a sticker. I am not sure how often Phred gets to
his email, but I am sure he will get back to you.

16) I graduated in 1976, and Van Halen DEFINITELY played on the steps of our
high school gym sometime in 1975.
I have distinct memories of the free gig. Though they were only slightly
better than most of the garage bands floating around at the time, what stood
out for me was their presentation. Roth had already deveoped what would
become his stage persona, strutting around and mugging as if playing to the
back row of an imaginary arena.
I remember turning to a friend and saying, "Where do these guys think they
are? The Forum?"
When they started getting gigs on Sunset, me and my friends were
incredulous. We just couldn't believe that those clowns who played to jeers
at our high-school were actually playing club-dates.

17) My neighbor, Rudy, was one of Van Halen's sound men, and he's got gold records hanging all over his walls. I will give him a copy of this email and see if he has any information for you. I was in the same graduating class as Eddie, but to be honest with you I never knew him or his brother who was a couple years ahead of me. In fact I did not know this fact until I was on the planning committee for our 10-year reunion in 1983! They never did a concert while I was there.

18) As a member of the John Muir Class of 1976 I can absolutely verify for you
that Van Halen did NOT play on our campus during my four years there. We knew
who they were as they did play some local clubs (Handlebar Saloon next to the
Ice House comes to mind) and were making a name for themselves, but they did
not play our campus between 1973 and 1976. D.L. Roth is a John Muir grad from
'72, though. It is possible they played Elliot Junior High (also a D.L. Roth
haunt).

19) Will check on the date you requested. Eddie Van Hallen played many time at John Muir as he went to school here.

[ANGEL4U]

[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Now that took some time and effort [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks for posting that...I did not know they called themselves Genesis [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Dan Halen]

Thanks for that info, spanked. [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img] I remember hearing Ed say that he saw a Genesis record in a store and told Al that they had an album out. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[seenbad]

Genesis? [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

Anyway, spanked, that is really a fantastic contribution to the forums man!! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img] What a cool idea!!

I'm always into little snippets from those days. I'll probably re-read that a time or two. Very cool.

[Glenn]

Wow, that's an absolutely amazing gathering of information. Very interesting that Mark Stone attended Eddie's wedding.

All of this is reason #208 that Van Halen needs to come out with a comprehensive biography and photo book.

Great stuff Spanked. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[seriousjuju]

thanks for the interesting info. that must have taken some effort to gather.

[Hide Your Sheep]

good job. i always love hearing about tales from the pre-fame days of Ed, Dave, Al & Mike.

You should try getting a job with "The Inside" or take it over for that matter...

maybe you could get them to publish a friggin' issue more than once every 2 years...

HYS

[Glenn]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hide Your Sheep:
You should try getting a job with "The Inside" or take it over for that matter...

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>If working for the Inside pays even a dollar a day, it's still the easiest job on earth.

The end of this month will be 12 months since our last issue. Fortunately that last one was 12 full months of reading. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Foamfoot]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hide Your Sheep:

maybe you could get them to publish a friggin' issue more than once every 2 years...

HYS<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Amen to that!!!!

And thanks to everyone for the kind words.. I hope I can find out more stuff soon!

[Jerel]

Let's hear it for Spanked!! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[track 5]

Good work spanked!

And by the way you should work for the INSIDE. I'll stop there, but I think my point is made. Out.

[Down In Flames]

Word, spanked55!

Those responses were really interesting. If you get any more, please oist them, too.

(BTW... Who knew Al was an acid-head? [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] )

[SactoFan]

spanked...great work, bro...What a fun read!!!

[TDR]

WOW! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Fuckin' DAMN good work man. I'll get you a beer some day...

[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Cabo Kid]

Way to go, spanked!! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Definitely a job well done and I hope more of your "leads" produce some even jucier reads for all of us.