ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to my wife and my daughter, who, without either of them, this book could not have, would not have ever come to fruition. Thanks for dragging my sorry ass out of bed, and pushing me to never give up—even when I wanted to. I love you both.

Thanks to Matt Harper at HarperCollins, who gave me a shot, listened to all my stories, and decided, maybe, other people would like to hear them, too. You’re the best editor a guy could ask for.

And thanks to Joe, a man of unmeasurable will and patience, for taking the little fragmented pieces of my life and transforming them into something tangible. This is a mosaic, and you are a godsend.

Thanks to Carl Scott, to Neil Zlozower, and to Justin Malet; to Dr. Sex Pistol and Zak Wilson; to Katie Steinberg and Victor Hendrickson of HarperCollins, and to Frank Weiman at Folio Literary Management. You guys made it possible.

Thanks to Gail and John Warner, for cracking skulls and taking IOUs.

Thank you to David Edward Byrd, for making my life’s work something beautiful, and to his husband, Jolino Beserra, for doing the same to my adopted home, Los Angeles.

And thanks to the boys in the band, for giving me something to talk about.

This book is for the legion of fans who, after thirty years, still find a way to email me, call me, write me, break into my backyard, and startle my dogs; and for the more polite ones who stop me on the street, in restaurants, in stores and once at the library, and almost never follow me home. I don’t know how, but you guys are still interested in knowing what really happened. Well, here you go; here it is. This is for the ones who want to know all of the juicy, gory, dirty little details about my time with Van Halen—and this is for the ones who never bought the party line about what really happened in the end. This is for the truth-seekers, and maybe for the journalists, too.

Have at it.