ABSTRACT
Backyard parties developed into an art form. J. C. Agajanian, the famous auto-racing promoter, had a nephew who lived in a house with five bedrooms and a big pool, and lots of space. So when his folks would split, two, three times a year, there’d be a massive party. Well over two hundred people would show up. This was right about the time, going to one of these parties, that I first saw the Van Halens. It’s the brother and the brother, you know, the guitar player and the drummer, with the bass player, doing note for note, verbatim renditions of The Who, Live at Leeds, or Deep Purple, “Smoke on the Water,” or shit from Woodstock, when Alvin Lee comes out and plays “Goin’ Home” faster than any known human being on earth, or at least up until that time-Edward could do that lick. You know, it was amazing stuff.
