Gene:

I first met the VAN HALEN menagerie right after the wedding of Edward to "Yoko" Bertinelli. Yeah, Alex and Eddie were partiers alright, but Dave was the most boistrous, which I am certain comes as no surprise.

It was a unique moment in my life, and my very first brush with fame.

I will say this however --- I did not like Valerie from the moment I met her --- defined "prissy" to a tee.

What happened was that I was nineteen years old, and I wrote and sent a business letter to the local representative for Warner Brothers Records, and on the day of the show, this guy calls to tell me that there would be an ALL ACCESS PASS waiting for me at will call.

Then . . .

I showed up in the front row at the next five shows in a row (all in my area) and these people took notice. Eddie sent out one of his bodyguards to find out who I was and why I was in the front row for six shows in a row.

Over the years, I have met some very cool people from the music world:

The VAN HALEN guys / Metallica - entire band - introduced them to Paula, which she got a big thrill from / the guys from FAITH NO MORE / Peter Gabriel / the guys from YES who were staying at the same hotel as I was / the guys from the extremely heavy "death metal" bands SLAYER and VENOM / Aerosmith / Mr. Baerwald / Olivia Newton-John / Bob Seger

I used to be a ticket scalper here in Buffalo, before our city was demoted to its' present sorry state.

It was fun, and I wouldn't trade the experiences for anything in the world --- it was a fucking blast!

KDB = Buffalo, NY USA