Alex Van Who?

In 1998, Van Halen played Philadelphia's Spectrum on their first tour with ex-Extreme singer Gary Cherone. When Todd Weiler lived in Philadelphia and worked for a caterer, he helped set up the backstage food for the band.

"We cooked them poached salmon, asparagus, a flank steak with garlic and rosemary potatoes, and a mixed salad," says Weiler. "They commented on how much they loved the asparagus because they'd had asparagus so many [other] times that was overcooked....

"It was the first big tour they had done without Sammy Hagar.... I went out and saw Eddie Van Halen doing his warm-up, which is just him on his guitar playing -- which was memorable....

"My buddy didn't really know what Alex Van Halen looked like. So [Alex] was coming through the line and [my coworker] was, like, 'You can't come in here without your meal ticket.' And [Alex] was, like, 'Don't you know who I am?' He goes, 'I don't care who you are. You need a meal ticket to get in here.' Alex goes, 'You don't know who I am? I'm Alex.' Then [my coworker] goes, 'Alex who?' And Alex says, 'Alex Van Halen,' and it finally occurred to him it was Alex Van Halen.

"And we're standing behind him cracking up because we knew exactly who it was, and he felt like such an idiot. Then [my coworker said] 'Oh, all right, Mr. Van Halen, come on through!' [Bass player Michael Anthony] was laughing too because Alex was getting such a hard time about it....

"After all those years of hearing the story about the brown M&Ms [being picked out of the bowl], they still requested it on their rider. We had to pick them out of their big bowl of M&Ms. There wasn't any booze in the dressing rooms -- just food. They also had a strict deli platter -- no cheeses mixed with meats."