spoon.
Jan continued to perform, ultimately developing into a phenomenal clarinet soloist. As noted by Ian Christie in The Van Halen Saga , at his peak, Jan’s band, the Ton Wijkamp Quintent, was the top act at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival, a highly respectable musical achievement. Nevertheless, Eugenia was finally ready for the ultimate change. After years of Dutch colonial occupation of Indonesia, followed by Japanese occupation, then resettling in the Netherlands, the base of her native country’s subjugation… needless to say, she was more than ready for a change. Furthermore, she fell under the spell of letters from family members who had emigrated to Los Angeles after the war. These letters were full of stories about the Land of Opportunity and perfect weather, even though they were somewhat fabricated according to Alex.
Coming to America
As winter closed in 1962, Eugenia finally had enough of the Netherlands. Edward said bluntly, “My mom wanted us in the U.S. and out of Holland. She was afraid we’d get into music like my father.” Consequently, the four van Halens prepared to embark on that all too familiar journey, the one where the family from a faraway land decides to start over, yet again, in a strange and different new land, willing to take the risk for the potential reward. Alex noted, “Taking a gamble, my parents sold everything they had and moved over here.”
Except the family did not quite sell everything . It seemed the one family possession they could not part with was their cherished German-made Rippen piano. One can only imagine the reception upon boarding the boat: a married couple, two boys under ten, a few bags, and a piano. A piece of the legend also includes that the family only had “fifty dollars” with them. Of course, the amount of money they spent on freight for the piano would have clearly been a fortune, but obviously that was not an issue of particular importance for the family. The piano was a family member. It was coming, period, no matter the cost.
The nine-day trip on the boat is a pauper’s fairytale. Jan played with the ship band to help finance the expedition (and to conceivably help cover the freight cost of the piano). Also, the little boys themselves, likely pushed out as a sympathy act, capably demonstrated their individual piano skills for the passengers. Edward said, “Alex and I actually played on the boat while we were coming to America. We played piano, and we were like the kid freak show on the boat.” Alex added, “It was kind of a novelty to have two kids playing the piano.” Following their performances, the kids would begin their lifelong routine of working the crowd, getting their start by passing a hat amongst the passengers to collect tips to help raise money for the family during the voyage.
Looking back, it is a rather young age, particularly for seven-year-old Edward, to take on the task of passing a hat for tip money to support the family; it surely left a lasting impression upon this already extraordinarily talented little boy. But Eddie noted poignantly, “Music saved our family.” A photo from the journey shows an all-smiles family enjoying dinner on the boat all decked out in paper sailor hats. Clearly, they were a tight-knit group.
The family arrived in New York and promptly had their surname Americanized to Van Halen, because everyone knows Americans would surely just get too confused over van Halen with that funny lowercase “v”. The clan, along with the beloved Rippen, next made a cross-country journey via train straight into Los Angeles. One can only imagine the sights they observed out the window along the way—traversing the length of a country a mere 236 times the size of the Netherlands.
CHAPTER 2
Life in America
Eventually, they settled into a two-bedroom bungalow in Pasadena at 1881 Las Lunas Street where they would stay for two decades. One of the first orders of business upon arrival was to find a replacement piano
Jan continued to perform, ultimately developing into a phenomenal clarinet soloist. As noted by Ian Christie in The Van Halen Saga , at his peak, Jan’s band, the Ton Wijkamp Quintent, was the top act at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival, a highly respectable musical achievement. Nevertheless, Eugenia was finally ready for the ultimate change. After years of Dutch colonial occupation of Indonesia, followed by Japanese occupation, then resettling in the Netherlands, the base of her native country’s subjugation… needless to say, she was more than ready for a change. Furthermore, she fell under the spell of letters from family members who had emigrated to Los Angeles after the war. These letters were full of stories about the Land of Opportunity and perfect weather, even though they were somewhat fabricated according to Alex.
Coming to America
As winter closed in 1962, Eugenia finally had enough of the Netherlands. Edward said bluntly, “My mom wanted us in the U.S. and out of Holland. She was afraid we’d get into music like my father.” Consequently, the four van Halens prepared to embark on that all too familiar journey, the one where the family from a faraway land decides to start over, yet again, in a strange and different new land, willing to take the risk for the potential reward. Alex noted, “Taking a gamble, my parents sold everything they had and moved over here.”
Except the family did not quite sell everything . It seemed the one family possession they could not part with was their cherished German-made Rippen piano. One can only imagine the reception upon boarding the boat: a married couple, two boys under ten, a few bags, and a piano. A piece of the legend also includes that the family only had “fifty dollars” with them. Of course, the amount of money they spent on freight for the piano would have clearly been a fortune, but obviously that was not an issue of particular importance for the family. The piano was a family member. It was coming, period, no matter the cost.
The nine-day trip on the boat is a pauper’s fairytale. Jan played with the ship band to help finance the expedition (and to conceivably help cover the freight cost of the piano). Also, the little boys themselves, likely pushed out as a sympathy act, capably demonstrated their individual piano skills for the passengers. Edward said, “Alex and I actually played on the boat while we were coming to America. We played piano, and we were like the kid freak show on the boat.” Alex added, “It was kind of a novelty to have two kids playing the piano.” Following their performances, the kids would begin their lifelong routine of working the crowd, getting their start by passing a hat amongst the passengers to collect tips to help raise money for the family during the voyage.
Looking back, it is a rather young age, particularly for seven-year-old Edward, to take on the task of passing a hat for tip money to support the family; it surely left a lasting impression upon this already extraordinarily talented little boy. But Eddie noted poignantly, “Music saved our family.” A photo from the journey shows an all-smiles family enjoying dinner on the boat all decked out in paper sailor hats. Clearly, they were a tight-knit group.
The family arrived in New York and promptly had their surname Americanized to Van Halen, because everyone knows Americans would surely just get too confused over van Halen with that funny lowercase “v”. The clan, along with the beloved Rippen, next made a cross-country journey via train straight into Los Angeles. One can only imagine the sights they observed out the window along the way—traversing the length of a country a mere 236 times the size of the Netherlands.
CHAPTER 2
Life in America
Eventually, they settled into a two-bedroom bungalow in Pasadena at 1881 Las Lunas Street where they would stay for two decades. One of the first orders of business upon arrival was to find a replacement piano