that had opened for VH on a hot summer day in August of ‘78 at the Hooker Lake Inn , WI.
VH arrived in their van and the first thing out of Dave’s mouth was
"Don’t beat on the drums and you can’t use our fans !"...
It was a blistering morning and the heat was frying everyone’s mind and
the drummer from Pearl Handle, Dean Alliotta, got super pissed at this announcement.
They were all at the bar when this was taking place, while the show was setting up...
After a couple of hours had gone by in that afternoon heat; Dean had enough.
He got in Dave’s face again about the fans, to a point where he lost it. They had to
hold him back from kicking the shit outta Dave.
Dave’s still bitchin’ about touching the drums and saying he didn’t want anything broken.
Dean was sick of Dave talkin’ shit and thought the fan thing was so ridiculous. He yelled out
“ Who’s dick did you have to suck to get these fans, you fucking homo ! ”
and because Dave was being Dave, Pearl Handle gave Dave the choice (not necessarily Van Halen)...
..... Either you let us use those fans or NO P.A. ! That must have pissed off Dave ? ! ! !
Meanwhile; While all this was taking place, Ed was still in his room... ???
So, now in between the soundcheck and hangin’ around the bar, and with Dave gone,
it was time to put everything in relax mode.
With Michael & Alex still hangin’ round, the boozer's that they were, the band decided to invite them
to partake in the relaxation with a little Blonde... Lebanese..
The whole afternoon Michael & Alex followed Dan & Dean around like little puppy dogs wanting another treat...he says.
That turned out to be a good thing because they got to talkin’ and then asked what the fuck is Dave’s problem ?
To no surprise their answer was “We know he’s an asshole, but he’s the best singer we got”
They also talked about how Alex played guitar and that Ed was on the drums and how Dave was in a rival band.
This whole time up to the start of the show Ed’s still in his room.
Dan said when he put his ear up to the wall all he heard was Eruption over & over again.
He thought to himself; how’s he doing that with all those notes ?
There was a brief moment during soundcheck where Dan asked and Ed showed him,
but as he’s noodling, and when he came to right hand tapping, Ed turned his back with a few second sample and then said “there you go”
