Eddie Van Halen’s Guitar Tech In Danger of Losing His Home
Eddie Van Halen’s longtime guitar tech, Tom Weber, is currently in danger of losing his home. The death of EVH, the COVID-19 pandemic and the closing of his guitar repair shop has plunged Weber into financial hardship, so Van Halen fans have chipped in to raise money for the guitar hero.
Weber was booked to tech for Reba McEntire’s 2020 tour before being scheduled to work with Poison for their supporting slot on Motley Crue and Def Leppard’s stadium co-headliner. “It was going to be one of those years where my family wasn’t going to see me, but it was going to be a $200,000 year. And I thought, ‘This will allow me to pay off my house. It’s going to be amazing,’ ” Weber said. “And of course it went from a banner year to zero income overnight.”
Beyond losing his source of income for the past 12 months, Weber was forced out of his guitar repair shop after 25 years by what the GoFundMe page refers to as “a predatory landlord.”
“The loss of the business has been compounded by the sale of two other buildings where what remained of Tom’s business has been stored,” reads a GoFundMe page set up by Roadiecare’s Sandy Espinoza. “One of the buildings was sold recently, which makes it necessary for him to move yet again, at a time where there is no income, and no potential for work on the horizon in the foreseeable future due to the total collapse of the live entertainment industry because of COVID19.”
“Things are looking pretty bleak at the moment, I won’t lie,” says Weber. “I have been looking for employment, but am told I am over qualified for the jobs that are available in the area I live in, or that the job is more suited to a younger candidate, and now with the uncertainty about the house, it feels like I am chasing my tail… I’m most worried about how this is affecting my family and the uncertainty each day brings. I just don’t know.”
A cancer survivor after undergoing two years of chemotherapy in the 1980s, Weber has also been forced to put numerous medical tests on hold due to his financial issues.
Weber tells Cincinnati.com, “The last conversation I had with [Eddie], we were discussing when we would potentially go out again, and he said, ‘Whatever happens, you’ll be my first phone call because I’m not leaving the house without you.’ “
As of this posting, Van Halen fans have raised over $15,000 of the GoFundMe’s $35,000 goal. If you’d like to donate to Tom Weber, click here.