Guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen is no longer a solo: Saturday night he married Janie Liszewski, his girlfriend of three years.
The ceremony took place in the garden of his seven-acre estate in the hills above Studio City, Calif., starting at 7 p.m., when Liszewski walked down the aisle to Van Halen's "When It's Love," performed by the Sonus Quartet.
The 54-year-old groom's 18-year-old son, Wolfgang, served as best man, while brother Alex Van Halen, an ordained minister, officiated at the 20-minute, nondenominational service. Among the 100 guests: Van Halen's ex-wife, Valerie Bertinelli (they divorced in 2006, after 25 years of marriage.)
The bride, 39, was given away by her mother under the watchful eye of Kano, the 15-year-old Pomeranian who walked Liszewski down the aisle. This was her first marriage and Van Halen's second.
Liszewski wore a champagne and pink custom-designed Hanna Hartnell gown with matching Bulgari earrings and bracelet. Her sister, Jennifer, served as maid of honor. Eddie and Wolfie dressed casually in Sy Devore cotton pants, un-tucked buttoned-down shirts and flip-flop sandals – as did the bride and wedding attendants.
The couple wrote their vows and designed the rings – Janie's, a platinum band beside a nearly three-carat diamond engagement ring; Ed's, a gold band with yellow diamonds.
Non-Alcoholic Bar
At 7:30 guests were served appetizers such as mini hamburgers and corn dogs, roasted garlic-parmesan, French fries, and an assortment of nonalcoholic beverages from the lemonade bar. Later on, diners were treated to organic fare such as heirloom tomatoes, baby arugula salad, Niman Ranch Filet Mignon, orange and rosemary glazed grilled chicken, Mojito-marinated prawns and grilled vegetables.
The simple, elegant wedding cake was layered with white chocolate, strawberries, whipped cream and decorated with white hydrangeas. The bride and groom toasted with non-alcoholic French Sparkling Apple Cider and Sparkling Pear Juice honoring Eddie's year and a half of sobriety.
The evening’s entertainment ranged from an aerial tissue performance to a contortionist in a clear plastic ball on top of the pool. After dinner, Ed chose Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" as the traditional first dance. Next came Janie's choice, Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time, " as she invited the guests to join them. DJ KMP provided the rest of the music as the bride and groom boogied into the night.
As the party ended, each guest received Calvin Klein and Kate Spade vases and flowers. They were also treated to old-fashioned-style candy, including ring pops, candy necklaces, pop rocks, wax lips and custom printed M & M's.
The couple plan to honeymoon in New York, Germany and the Netherlands, where Eddie was born.
Photos courtesy by :Celebrity Bride Guide.com
Guitarist Eddie Van Halen filed a lawsuit against Nike in Los Angeles Friday, alleging the company used the trademarked striped design from his guitar on their new line of "Dunk Lows" tennis shoes.
The Nike shoes feature red, white and black streaks along the midsole.
The suit states that Van Halen received a 2001 copyright for the design on the body of his "Frankenstein" electric guitar.
Court papers allege that Nike infringed on that copyright by using the design on sneakers without "consent, approval or license."
Van Halen claims Nike is doing "irreparable harm and damage" to his signature design. He is seeking general and punitive damages, all profits arising from the sales of "Dunk Lows" and a permanent injunciton halting production of the Nike shoes.
Van Halen recently launched his own line of striped chucks under his EVH brand.
Between Jimi Hendrix and Slash, there was Eddie Van Halen. For rockers who came of age in the late ’70s and early ’80s, EVH was the ultimate guitar hero. From his showcase piece on the first album’s ‘Eruption,’ as well as FM staples like ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘Running With the Devil,’ he consistently tops the list of most influential guitarists of his generation. In recent years, though, the guitar god has battled throat cancer, gone through rehab and divorced his wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli, positioning him more as tabloid fodder than rock idol. However, sober, healthy and happily engaged to publicist Janie Liszewski, he’s back, as evidenced by the chants of “Eddie! Eddie!” that awaited him every night on the recent sold-out Van Halen tour that reunited him with frontman David Lee Roth. With the band that bears his surname currently between projects, Eddie has turned his attention back to his passion of guitars, specifically designing them. With the recent release of the Fender Wolfgang guitar, named for his 18-year-old son, now Van Halen’s bass player, Eddie spoke with Spinner. Though his interviews are rare these days, he proved to be very forthcoming, sharing stories about several of Van Halen’s signature songs, including ‘Jump’ and ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,’ touring with AC/DC, learning to play sober and how his guitar riffs are literally God-given.
You didn’t start off playing guitar, did you?
I never took guitar lessons. I took classical piano lessons from the age of six when we lived in Holland. And when we moved to America, it was just the typical thing except I was really good at it; so was my brother. Long Beach City College had this contest, it was a piano recital, and I won three years in a row. But I stopped playing piano for one reason: I was forced to do it and I wasn’t allowed to play what I wanted, so it wasn’t fun. So I rebelled and bought myself a drum kit. And my brother quit playing piano, too, and he started playing guitar. Well, Alex started playing my drums and he got better than me, so I said, “OK, f— you, I’ll play your guitar.” Talk about your recording/writing technique now.
It takes me a good hour to loosen up my fingers and I always just leave the DAT tape rolling or something, or a cassette, anything, and after two and a half, three hours, you kind of get into a zone that I’m kind of relearning because I’m not drinking anymore. When I used to drink, it would get me there quicker. It’s kind of the zone where you’re not thinking, where you’re just open to anything and I just believe that when you play long enough you’re able to execute with your fingers, whatever God gives you, and God’s not gonna give you nothing if you don’t practice or play. So after a couple, three hours, God says, “OK, he’s ready. I’ll throw him a bone.” And God’s got a sense of humor, too — sometimes he gives me s—, ’cause not everything I do I like.
I think every writer hits upon moments where you know you’ve reached something special. What are a couple of those moments for you?
It’s like ‘Jump’: It was our only No. 1 single, and believe it or not I built my studio to put that song on our record ’cause everyone hated it, same with the song ‘Right Now.’ Alex and I tracked the whole thing, certain people didn’t want to be a part of it, then it wins a Grammy and a MTV Award for Video of the Year, and all of a sudden it’s like, “Hey, yeah, great!” But it was like pulling teeth to get the person to sing the damn song. And there are certain things that I fight for because I do write all the music so I think I have a little bit of say in how things should go. I’m not a tyrant, as a lot of people think. I just expect other people, if you’re in this band, to work as hard as I do. How did not taking lessons influence you as a guitarist?
I started doing all kinds of weird stuff on the guitar, which became part of my playing. I started doing harmonics and tapping on the guitar and pulling off strings and doing all this weird stuff that no one had ever done before. And if I would have taken lessons I probably wouldn’t have done it, and what forced me to do all this weird stuff on the guitar was I couldn’t afford effects pedals, I didn’t have all this stuff when I was a kid so I just tried to squeeze all the weird noises I could out of the guitar, which brings me to building guitars. Nobody built the guitar that I like or that did what I wanted it to do, so I built my own. And to this day it’s still a great guitar. On this last tour, I had a chance to see a few shows, and especially at the Philly show, there was that moment when you’re playing at the end and the crowd is just chanting “Eddie!”
It brought tears to my eyes. It makes me feel kind of weird, but obviously the Man Upstairs gave me something and it touches people, and I’m just so blessed. And now I got my son in the band and it makes it even more … Alex, Wolfie and I, it’s a family thing. And by the end of the tour, Wolfie was just incredible. For a 16-year-old to get up there and play in front of these people, he pulled it off very, very good. My favorite moment in the Philly show came where you reached over and mussed Wolfie’s hair in a fatherly way. You looked like you were having so much fun up there.
It was. Whoever thought that my own son is the one to kick my ass? That kid is so good, you have no idea. When I first heard him sing, it was, like, fifth grade for a science project; he came up with the craziest idea … I think it was an ‘N Sync or New Kids on the Block song. I went out and bought a karaoke track of it, and he and a buddy changed the lyrics and called it ‘Dirty Cell.’ I still have that recording, and he blew my freaking mind how great his pitch was. I named him after the right guy [Mozart], that’s for damn sure. A lot of the stuff on the Van Halen records is very basic and simple; live, midway through the tour, he started noodling around. He got bored just doing the simple stuff that’s on the record. His first instrument is drums, he’s an amazing drummer; he’s got the Van Halen gene, I guess. Nobody thought that he’d be able to pull off Mike Anthony’s background vocals, and he did.
So will we ever hear the ‘Dirty Cell’ song on a Van Halen box set?
That would be funny. It’d be up to him [laughs]. Believe it or not, it holds up. If we ever did put out everything in the kitchen sink, I have footage of me playing guitar when the guitar is actually bigger than me in the sixth grade talent show, all kinds of crazy stuff like that. It would be a different approach to a box set, like a family album.
There’s all kinds of stuff. So much stuff, I have so much music, so many CDs, DATs and cassettes in boxes, and just recently I’m starting to kind of listen to stuff because I never label stuff very well. I’ll pop something in, world music type of stuff and all kinds of stuff. But I was always up against certain people saying [about 'Jump'], “That doesn’t sound like Van Halen.” [I was told] verbatim, “You’re a guitar hero; nobody wants to see you playing keyboards.” Well, I didn’t mean to ram it up their poop chute, so to speak, but it’s our only No. 1 single. And that closed the last tour.
Yeah, because it’s our only No. 1 single ever, right now. It’s a keyboard-based song. “That’s not Van Halen.” Well, what is Van Halen? Van Halen is whatever I write because I write all the music [laughs]. But I get outvoted because we are a democracy, so to speak: Dave, Wolfie, Alex and I are a band. I hope that after Janie and I get married in June and Wolfie graduates that we sit down and discuss recording new music, which I have tons of, if Dave’s up for singing … and then do another tour and just see where it takes us. But it is true that people expect a certain thing from Van Halen. But the stuff that Janie’s talking about I wrote years ago. I’ve always been this way. That’s why when people ask me, “Who’s your favorite band?” I don’t have one; I like songs by people. The only band I was really over-into was Cream. And the only thing I really liked about them was their live stuff ’cause they played two verses, then go off and jam for 20 minutes, come back and do a chorus and end. And I love the live jam stuff, the improvisation. Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce pushed Eric Clapton; I almost feel bad for Eric because these guys were jazz players playing Marshall amps and loud as s—. Listen to ‘I’m so Glad’ on ‘Goodbye Cream’; if that doesn’t blow your f—ing mind, I don’t know what will. If you’re writing different styles of music, are there chances for you to collaborate with different people?
I think as long as we’re a band I’ve always pretty much felt I could get my ideas out in the form or the unit of a band ’cause I do write all the music, except I write a lot of different types of music that doesn’t necessarily fit the mold. So yeah, if Van Halen as the world knows it right now is over, then … Put it this way: Originally, when Dave quit in ‘85, I’d already spoken to Phil Collins, Joe Cocker, Pete Townshend, all kinds of people to have different singers on every song. But my brother talked me out of it. He goes, “Let’s just take Van Halen to what the world knows.” But it’s never too late. And now with my son in the band, he brings a whole new aspect to it ’cause he’s into a whole different trip; even though he loves Van Halen, he listens to all kinds of the current stuff, which I’m really not that up to date ’cause I really don’t have the time to listen to anything. If you look at the rock bands who have longevity, they are the ones who are honest, as opposed to those who are writing songs for a commercial.
It’s funny, when bands or younger musicians ask me, “So, what does it take to make it?” Well, first explain to me what you mean by “making it”: Do you want to be a rock star or do you want music to be your livelihood? If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you’ll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you’ll get to where you want to be. What’s the old cliché? “It takes 10 years for an overnight success.” If it’s your passion and it’s from the heart, you just keep playing, playing and playing, and eventually somebody’s gonna notice. That’s how we got signed; we just played, played and played and Warner Bros. came to us; we never shopped a tape. Gene Simmons tried to help us, but that went nowhere. It was kind of a brief, fabricated idea that he had and it just wasn’t us; wonderful guy, don’t get me wrong. He tried to help, but I guess he and their manager at the time had a different vision of what are and what we could be and it just didn’t work out.
Has your approach changed as you’ve gotten older?
I don’t feel a day older when it comes to my approach to music or what gets me off than when I was a teenager. I’ve always been into different kinds of stuff and when I play I like to play loud. I like my arm hairs to move and I like my body to vibrate ’cause I like the feel of it; I’m still a teenager at heart. My favorite record by AC/DC is ‘Powerage.’ And ‘Down Payment Blues’ off that record is my favorite song by them. They never play it live. We did a co-headlining tour with them back in ‘83 or ‘84 and we had a gas. I kept asking, “Angus, you plan on paying ‘Down Payment Blues’?” And ‘Riff Raff,’ all that stuff is great on that record. To me, it’s not to take anything away from Brian, ’cause when I saw him he actually sang better live than he does on record, he does a great job, but ‘Powerage’ and ‘Highway to Hell’ are probably my two favorite records by them — ‘Powerage’ even more so than ‘Highway to Hell.’ There’s something about that record. Having gone through everything you’ve undergone with the illness and the rehab, do you have a different appreciation for we’re you’re at in life and music?
Yeah, I thank God on my knees that I’m alive and obviously to be sober and to be working with my son. I’m so damn blessed it’s beyond words. And sometimes the reason I get emotional when people chant my name is because it’s like it’s really not me, I’m not a rock star, I’m just a musician. I make music for a living, I wouldn’t know how to act like a rock star. What is a rock star anyway? I think people pick up on the vibe that I’m not bulls—ting, that what I play comes from the heart. Of course, sometimes I have off nights, but when I’m on people do feel the message that I was given, and I think that they feel that and that it’s not just some prefabricated moneymaking thing. I would be doing this still in the clubs if we never made it, ’cause that’s just what I do.
The long-awaited Guitar Hero: Van Halen was previewed at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles this week, with a trailer for the game surfacing on YouTube. Although the current lineup of singer David Lee Roth, drummer Alex Van Halen, guitarist Eddie Van Halen and bass player Wolfgang Van Halen are seen in the trailer, there's no word on whether former members Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone will appear in the game as well. Although the avatars of Roth and the elder Van Halens seem to be taken from both the late Seventies and the present, teenager Wolfgang appears the same throughout.
The game is said to feature 25 classic Van Halen songs as well as what's described as "three signature Eddie Van Halen guitar solos." It's not known whether any songs outside the David Lee Roth era of the group will be included.
Weezer, Queen, Blink-182, the Offspring and Queens Of The Stone Age are among the other acts featured in the game, which is due out later this year.
Guitar Hero: Van Halen will be the third edition of the game to be centered on one act, following earlier titles built around Aerosmith and Metallica.
Here's a preview
David Wild of RollingStone.com conducted an interview with Eddie Van Halen at the third annual Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which was taped this past Saturday night (May 30) in Culver City, California. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
RollingStone.com: The VAN HALEN tour was such a success. Were you pleasantly surprised?
Eddie Van Halen: You never know. But I do know this. Janie [Eddie's fiancée/publicist] and I are getting married on the 27th of June, and then we'll go on a honeymoon. Then Dave [Lee Roth], Wolfie [Van Halen], Alex [Van Halen] and I are going into the studio and record some new music and go on tour about a year from now.
RollingStone.com: Did the VAN HALEN tour help fire up some new musical ideas?
Eddie Van Halen: No, I am always writing, you know. But we're a true band now. It wasn't just a reunion one-off thing. I've already gone to Dave's house four or five times over the last month. I've got so much music. It's just trying to figure out what Dave's into because we haven't written together in a long time. But it's great. It feels like we've always felt in the beginning. But I'm sober, so it's different. He's sober, so it's different. It's a wonderful feeling.
RollingStone.com: Have you heard CHICKENFOOT?
Eddie Van Halen: No, I haven't.
RollingStone.com: No particular interest?
Eddie Van Halen: Well, I don't listen to anything really, for one.
RollingStone.com: You make your own music?
Eddie Van Halen: Yeah, I'm too busy doing my own thing. I wish them well. The funny thing is that everyone who quits the band always claims they got fired by me. Hey, I'm not the bad guy here. When [Sammy] Hagar left the band, Mike [Michael Anthony] went with him. Then when we get back together with Dave, and all of a sudden, he wants back in. It's like, "No, dude, you quit the band." So my son became the bass player. But we didn't give Mike the boot to have my son play. He was around. We didn't have a bass player. "Hey Wolfie, you want to play?"
Eddie Van Halen 
David Wild of RollingStone.com conducted an interview with Eddie Van Halen at the third annual Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which was taped this past Saturday night (May 30) in Culver City, California. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.