Viewing 1998 from 2014

January 22, 2014

As I've been pulling out these old tales of my early Journey adventures from back in 1998, I've had a big smile on my face remembering those times. All of those events are burned on my memory so clearly that even now, nearly 16 years after they occurred, I can remember the look, feel, and emotion of it all. 1998 was a huge year for me and kicked off a decade of amazing times and the start of many dear friendships.  

In 1998, I had no idea that it was just the beginning of what would become a massive roller coaster ride and an adventure of a life time. I probably wouldn't have believed it if anyone had told me about what was to come. Friends and family who knew me prior to these events can attest -- jumping on a plane to travel 2,000 miles to attend a concert by myself and then later driving up and down California to take in 6 shows in two weeks was a radical departure from my usual self. Heck, I barely mentioned any of these events to my co-workers at the time because they were so out of the ordinary for me and even I thought I was a little nuts. Things changed dramatically for me after that year. (I still think I was a little nuts and I know my old friends and family think I was a lot nuts!)

Still, with all the things that happened after 1998, I have consistently said that one show of Jon's at his church in Petaluma would have been enough. Since that night in March, I've seen Journey nearly 70 times in places all over the US (plus Canada and the Carribean Ocean), met all the significant members of the band save two (Steve Perry and Arnel Pineda), organized five fan conventions, and met hundreds of fans from around the world. Even with all of that, the feeling I carried around with me for days after that show in Petaluma was amazing and would have been enough. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade all the adventures I had over those 10 years for anything in the world, but that night will live forever in my memory as nothing short of magical.

October 10-11, 1998: An Amazing Weekend!

Detroit and Grand Rapids, MI
Palace at Auburn Hills and Van Andel Arena

Well all, I made it back from Michigan in one piece and definitely in a super terrific mood. I had such an unbelievable weekend. This is likely to get pretty long, so you’ve been warned!

Some quick background (for those of you who’ve heard my sob story, skip to the next section!) -- This was my first Journey concert experience. Having overprotective parents, I couldn’t go to concerts until I was 17, which meant the only tour I had a shot at seeing was Raised on Radio. When Raised on Radio came out I was in a short-lived “I’ve out-grown Journey” phase (hanging head in shame) so when my cousin invited me to the opening show at Mountain Aire in Calavaras County in August, 1986, I turned her down because I just didn’t feel like going “all that way” to see ‘em play. (It’s about a 3 hour drive from home.) A few weeks later, I actually bought Raised on Radio (after much nagging from my cousin) and went “oh-yeah—I love this band!” So December ‘86 rolls around, and Journey is coming home to play at the Cow Palace. Terrific! I can go with my cousin for her birthday. One problem—she’s going to Guam for Christmas and leaves the day before the show! Since there is no way my parents would let me go to the Cow Palace alone (much less drive me there since I couldn’t drive at the time) and none of my friends are fans, I don’t go. So, Christmas break ends and I go back to school and I run into one of my friends who tells me that another friend of ours had won tickets and the two of them went to see Journey. I literally slammed my books down at her feet and yelled at her “You’re kidding me!”. Spent a good five minutes cussing my friend who had won the tickets up and down. So, later in the day, I’m relaying this story to another (casual) friend, and she says to me “Oh my boyfriend and I went—and we had an extra ticket”. BANG BANG BANG. So, the years roll by and I finish college, get a job, move out and grow up (more or less) when one day I’m scanning Forbes magazine for my boss, and see that Journey has a new album coming out. I about flipped my lid, a new album! and after 10 years another chance to see ‘em on tour! Well, we all know how that went. So when I got a chance earlier this year to see Neal perform with a reggae band one night, and Jon perform a benefit for his church the next night, I figured that was as close as I was gonna get to ever seeing Journey live and in person. Then an amazing thing happens—there’s a new singer, and rumors of shows. But my lousy luck continues—Journey does a free show an hour away from my house and I can’t go because I’m taking my first vacation in 4 years and will be in Paris that night! All this drove me completely over the edge, and led me to doing something that if anyone had said I’d do I’d have told them they had lost their minds—getting on a plane and flying across the country to see my first Journey concert.

I won’t bore you with all the details of getting myself to Detroit, but I will say that when I sat down at the gate to wait for my flight I put on my Walkman and tuned in KSAN only to find them playing “Wheel in the Sky”. Oh yeah, this was gonna be a good trip!

So I made it to Auburn Hills in one piece, and after catching a nap and getting my bearings, I went over to the Holiday Inn to meet up with the other fans. Gotta say good job to Dan who organized it. It was great to meet all sorts of fellow Journey fans (Big Hi to everyone!) and I’m glad to report that no one was a psychopath, which was a huge concern of my mother’s when I told her about this trip! (I’m 30 years old and she’s STILL overprotective! LOL!)

After dinner, everyone goes their separate ways (no pun intended) to go to the Palace for the show. I get to show, and find my seat...2 rows up from the floor, one section away from the stage on Neal’s side. Not bad. Then I look over and see Moni, Dan Stacy, Steve and his son—sitting on the floor right in front of me! Wow. I swap seats with Steve’s son so he can see better in my more elevated seat. While we’re chatting, we see Ross come out to say hi to some family he had in the audience.

Then the show started. I’m sure by now other folks have posted the set list and comments (I haven’t had time to read my digests yet), so I’ll just say it was terrific! I think I liked the Trial by Fire songs better than the rest, but probably only because there are no other live performances to compare them to and they aren’t quite as embedded in my heart and soul as the earlier material. “Castles Burning,” a song I couldn’t stand on CD, was fantastic live. A couple of songs didn’t work for me (“Faithfully” and “Ask the Lonely” come to mind) but the song I thought would be the hardest to hear (“Lights”) which I didn’t like on the copy I have of the Marin show brought tears to my eyes and didn’t totally break my heart. That song is home to me and getting to hear it live, was truly special. I loved Jon on “Anytime” and “Just the Same Way”, and unfortunately just as “Open Arms” began, there was a bit of a ruckus a few seat in front of me that distracted me and ruined that moment. My ears were ringing by the end of show, and there seemed to be some audio problems during the encores (Augeri voice wore out? mike go out? my ears totally shot?) so last bit was rather muffled, which may have contributed to “Faithfully” and “Ask the Lonely” not feeling right.

Thanks Moni!

The next day I had a very nice drive to Grand Rapids (Michigan looks very pretty in the autumn!). I get to my hotel, check in, get my bearings, and grab some lunch and a nap. I met up with Moni and Dan Stacy, Mary and Dave, and couple from San Jose who’s names I’ve forgotten (oops! -- sorry guys!) Moni (my hero) has after show passes and invites me along (thank you thank you thank you). I think this was the better show overall, though I wished they hadn’t cut out the two Rolie songs that Jon sang. I had a slightly better seat (about as far back, but more towards the center). It was a bit odd though with people sitting down during some of the rockers (great view for me since I’m all of 5’ 2” and have to peer between heads a lot of the time, but how they could be sitting???). Everyone around me sat down around the time they did the two instrumentals and (if my brain isn’t totally short circuiting) “Remember Me” (plus for some of the TBF songs). “Lights” brought tears to my eyes again, which really is high praise for Augeri from me. This time when they played “Open Arms” the bozos behind me start a REALLY loud conversation which was annoying! This time everything sounds a lot clearer towards the end of the show since I’d picked up some ear plugs on my way to Grand Rapids. (Anyone going to up coming shows—get ‘em. I never thought I would use ear plugs, but god did it help!)

Me and Deen. This picture always cracks me up.

After show, I hook up with Moni, et. al. again (lucky bums had front row seats!) and go off to meet the band. It was terrific! I got to talk to everyone except Jon who ducked out early because he wasn’t feeling well (not too disappointing since I've met him twice this year already, but would have liked to get a photo this time and add his signature to my shirt!). I got pictures with everyone else (I think—I can’t remember if I got one with Augeri or not and for some reason I didn’t get him to sign my t-shirt—I think I was in a little bit of shock. It was fantastic getting to talk to all of them for however brief a time it was.

Me and Ross.

When I got back to my hotel room, I sat there in a daze for a while. Could not believe the weekend I had just experienced. Completely unforgettable. I couldn’t get to sleep for the longest time because every time I started to drift off my eyes would pop open and I’d say “Oh my god, I’ve finally seen Journey and I met the whole band!” I don’t have my pictures yet due to traveling, but I’ve got a couple errands to run for work in a bit and will be stopping at the one hour photo shop in the process!

Me and Neal.

It took forever to get home due to bad weather in Detroit, but the delays allowed me some time to think. I’ve loved Journey for 18 years—since I was 12 years old (okay, with one notable lapse in judgement) -- but 15 years ago I was no where near as fanatical about them as I am now. 15 years ago, this was “just” a band that shone a little light in a dark time of my life. 15 years ago, it was “just” the music that kept me focused. I had other concerns in my life to deal with than to obsess over “some band.”

I think my complete renewed devotion to this band over the last two or so years comes around to a tired cliche—you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

Journey’s music is something that has always been a part of my life, and it always will be and I’m not going to be taking it for granted any more. I really missed having this band around for 10 years, and I’m so glad they haven’t gone away again. Some people will say “yeah, but it’s not the same anymore” but when is anything in life ever the same? To paraphrase another timeless classic—you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.

April 14, 1998: Jon Plays San Jose

San Jose, CA
Guitar Center

As posted to the Steve Perry Mailing List.

Well, I see Liz and Debbie got their comments on Jon's show in last night. Now here's mine. Liz and I had been emailing back and forth all day because I wanted her to deliver your messages (Donna, I'd left the office before your message arrived, so it didn't get to him. I'm sorry!) in case I had another attack of brain lock like I did last time.

Anyway, I left work about 15 minutes early so I could grab a snack since I wouldn't be having dinner until after the show. I got to the Guitar Center really early (around 5:45) and since I was meeting my cousin Denise (at 6:15) I sat in my car in the parking lot listening to Body Language while I waited for her. I figured, what the heck am I gonna do in a guitar store for half an hour? Well, if I'd gone in I would have seen Jon warming up. I found out from someone else there that he was warming up until about 6:10 when he left for dinner. D'oh!

Jon finally arrived around 7:30 (he got stuck in traffic. Classic California for ya!) and played for about an hour and a half. As Debbie said, I jotted down the set list, and I'll add that at the end of this post. The feeling of this show was different from the one in Petaluma last month. It was more the "public" Jon than the "private" Jon, but I rather expected that. Most of what he played was from Body Language and For a Lifetime, and I think it's just amazing what technology can do. Jon was there with a baby grand piano and behind him was the electronic equipment (which wasn't very big at all) that had his "band" playing -- which really completed the sound.

Towards the end of the set he did a Journey medley. Jon sang a verse of each of the following songs -- "Who's Cryin' Now", "Separate Ways", "Send Her My Love", "When You Love a Woman", and "Don't Stop Believin'." This segment got a huge cheer, particularly DSB. Jon called these songs his "kids" and said "Hopefully there will be more stuff soon." -- which is what Debbie told me to write down. It was neat hearing these songs in an acoustic setting. A little slower, a little softer, but old friends. Of course, in my head I was hearing the missing instruments and filling them in where needed. It also got me thinking that Jon wouldn't be a bad substitute for Steve on lead vocals. I'm not sure if he could pull it off in a large setting, but he sure did a great job in a small one.

After he finished, Liz, Debbie, Denise and I were right in the front of the line for autographs. When Liz handed over the messages I'd printed out, he promised he'd read them later. I didn't really ask him anything much, just "How are you?" ("Burned out. I was up all last night with a sick kid.") but I was nowhere near as panicked as I was last time. No shakes, no heart pounding, no brain lock. If there hadn't been such a line behind me, I probably could have stood there and chatted all day! Guess this meeting heroes is routine now! LOL!

It was another fun evening of great music!

Set List:

Paradiso
Winds of Carnivale
Body Language
Moonlight at Marabella
Cry for Love
With Your Love
Faithfully (which he sang of course, big cheer from the crowd)
For a Lifetime
Open Arms
Loved by You (unreleased vocal. He did this one at the Petaluma show too. It's great.)
A Day to Remember
Song of Calabria
One Look
Precious Moments

March 20-21, 1998: Neal & Jon -- Compare and Contrast

San Francisco and Petaluma, CA
Maritme Hall and a Petaluma church

Here I am, as promised, with my report of my wonderful wonderful weekend. This is likely to get a little long, so be prepared.

We’ll start with Friday night. Actually, let’s start with Friday morning. For the previous few weeks my body had decided that 5 hours of sleep was enough, so I had been waking up at 4 and 5 a.m. for a while, which is not a good thing. That Friday morning was no exception. I woke up at 5, and despite my best efforts, couldn’t get back to sleep for the remaining hour & a half until my alarm goes off. All this meant was that by around 3 Friday afternoon I was getting quite tired, and was really wondering how I’d make it through the show. Sugar and caffeine helped, thank goodness.

I left work Friday night and drove to pick up my friend who had graciously agreed to go with me. We had dinner and got to the Maritime Hall around 8:45 or so, as the show was to start at 9. Now, remember, I had no clue who I was going to see or what kind of music, exactly, was going to be played. When we got into the hall, there were maybe 150 people scattered about, or in other words, more empty than full. We got a couple drinks (the worst margarita I’ve ever had in my life) and stood around waiting for the first band to hit the stage. I looked around at the sparse crowd, and realized that we rather stood out looking fairly like the white suburbanites we are. That’s when we knew for sure it was a reggae show.

Now, my knowledge of reggae can be summed up in one sentence. I have heard of Bob Marley. That’s it. So, I figured okay, something new. The first act hit the stage a little after 9, and they were pretty good. While my friend and I are kinda boppin’ along to them, I notice this kinda short, curly haired guy with a big nose walk in front of me. Before I get a chance to get a good look though, this big Rastafarian guy came up to me and said something, the only word of which I understand is “dancing”, and walks off. I look around again, but I can’t see him. I am 99.99% certain it was Neal. Damn. (After the show, I’m 100% sure.)

So the first band plays for about an hour. This was our first clue we are in for a looooooooonnnnnngggg night. The whole bill had 4 acts and Strictly Roots is act number 4. By this time the hall is getting fuller, and my friend and I don’t stand out quite as much and I notice a couple handfuls of people who don’t look like they’re there for the reggae either.

The second band got up and played their hour long set, and I’m beginning to tire out. My friend and I go into the ladies room where there’s a couch and an open window, so we can sit down and get some fresh air. (My throat was sore from all the smoke for days. It is really rare to go any place in California and have smoking of any kind, and this place was filled not only with the expected pot, but cigarette and incense. I reeked by the time I left.) We were both a little weary, and were wondering how on earth we would make it through two more bands.

We went back out for the third band, and managed to find a couple of the few chairs along the wall so we could sit through one. Both of us were kind of nodding off at this point. I’m tired, my eyes and throat are burning, and it’s 12:30 when the third band finally finishes their hour long set. Okay, this means, thank god, Strictly Roots and Neal are up next so we’re closing in on the end of the evening.

I got up to go stand near the stage, and my friend asks if I’d mind if she just stayed in the seats and I find her after the set. She was really tired and had come as a favor to me, so I told her it wasn’t a problem and walked over to the stage. About the same time I get in front of the stage, who should walk out, but Neal! He started setting up his equipment and, finally, at around 12:45 he began playing with a guy on the conga drums.* Neal played three or four songs of his own, that were really quite cool, and there I was standing about 10 feet away right in front of him. That was quite a thrill. Meanwhile, I started looking around at the crowd, and they looked very puzzled since MOST of them are there for the 4 reggae acts and these are definitely NOT reggae tunes.

*I now realize that Neal's conga player was Michael Carabello formerly of Santana, most recently of the Gregg Rolie Band.

I wish I could describe the songs Neal played better, but I was soooo tired that they didn’t register enough to be able to remember them. One was rather interesting as it sounded like he was playing ochestral strings, but that’s about all that I can remember about it. It was a little distracting since he kept walking over to the side of the stage to make adjustments to his equipment, so I wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. Well, he played for about 20 minutes, and then thanked the audience for allowing him to play “some experimental stuff” that he’d been working on.

Then Strictly Roots came on stage and I got to witness one of the stranger sights I have ever seen. Picture, if you will, Neal on stage with his guitar and wearing a denim overall kind of thing with a denim jacket over it. Now picture six guys with dreadlocks wearing sorta camoflauge pants and jackets. Very bizarre. So, the band starts playing and they’re doing their reggae thing and Neal’s playing along, but it’s not like Neal’s playing reggae. It’s more like he’s doing his thing and the band is doing their thing, and they just happen to be playing at the same time. It worked okay, but it was definitely Neal playing WITH a band as opposed to playing IN a band.

After about 20 minutes of this, I looked over to see how my friend was doing, but she isn’t where she’s supposed to be. I got a little worried, so I worked my way out of the crowd to go look for her. She had gone to sit on the couch in the ladies room because Neal was just too loud for her and she was half asleep. Since I was pretty tired myself, and four hours of reggae music was more than enough for my ears, I said “let’s go home”. As we left Neal was playing a very nice solo, which actually, was a nice way to head out.

Leap ahead in time now to Saturday afternoon. I had somewhat recovered from the late, smoky evening before, and my cousin Denise came over to drive up to Petaluma with me for Jon’s show. As we’re driving up I play For a Lifetime for her so she can hear it, and tell her about Neal’s show the night before. I was fully expecting that Jon’s show would be 180 degrees different than Neal’s.

The drive to Petaluma wasn’t as bad as I had expected, and we found the church easily. We had left in enough time to go have dinner first, so that’s what we did before heading back to the church. We got inside and noticed it was a fairly small church, which was good, and that the crowd has a lot of older folks (read, church members, not Jon fans). As we walk in, I notice an attractive brunette woman holding the hand of a little girl and another woman behind her holding the hand of a little boy. I figure this must be Jon’s wife Liz and their twins.

After chatting for a few minutes with a few fellow fans, Denise & I went to find some seats. Denise, who is a pianist & until recently was a music director at a San Jose church, wanted to be where she hoped she could see Jon’s fingering. Unfortunately the way the piano was set up didn’t allow for this. While we’re waiting for the show to start I look around at the clean white walls and notice the very intimate “church-y” feel of the place, and laugh to myself at how different it was from the smoky filled hall the night before.

The pastor of the church gets up and starts his introduction. He got a signal from someone in the balcony to stretch it a little, but while he was talking a door on the altar opened up and Jon looked out then walked out very quietly. The pastor concluded his introduction, and the show started.

He opened with “For a Lifetime”, and I sat there in awe and thought, “My god, I’m going to recognize all of these songs really easily!” I hadn’t had For a Lifetime out of my CD player since I bought it the week before! He finished that piece and then thanked the audience. He then introduced a “song I’m sorta famous for” and launched into “Open Arms”. He played a lot of tracks from the CD, which I just love to death, but he also sang “Faithfully”, “Little River” (which he introduced with the story of how he wrote and sang it for his daughter Madison’s baptism), “Distant Shores”, and did a slightly reworked version of “When I Think of You” which he dedicated to the pastor, who apparently is leaving. (I really liked it. His voice sounded better live than on recording. At least better than I remembered “Back to the Innocence” being.)

Throughout the whole show I was thinking how real he seemed. I’ve always thought Jon was the most down to earth member of the band, and watching him that night really solidified that opinion. It also brought home to me the fact that this person, whom I’ve idolized since I was a teenager, is really just a person and not a super-hero. You don’t usually think of a “rock star” as someone who goes to church or has a more spiritual side. You just picture this big flashy sign that says ROCK STAR, and forget that really, the rock star is just another human being.

After the show, CDs were available for sale and Jon was standing around signing autographs and talking to people. I bought another copy of For a Lifetime (heck, the money was going to charity, it’s the least I could do!) and Denise and I got in line to get our CDs signed. I was standing in line, and my brain was just going on overload, but basically the same thought is running through my head—“oh, my god. I get to meet Jonathan Cain!” So much for my rock star as a human being!

Denise and I got up to Jon and told him how much we enjoyed the show and his music in general. I really don’t remember what I said, but at least I’m fairly sure I didn’t make a fool of myself. When I handed him my CD for him to sign he asked “Do you want me to personalize this?” My brain did register that (barely), so I said yes and told him my name. As he autographed that and my ticket, Jon mentioned that he’d only played the little show in the city the week before, and that it would be a good idea to do this show too. I told him how great I thought it was he did the show, and thanked him.

It was really neat seeing him interact with the fans and the church members (which you could tell were two different groups), and I didn’t stop smiling for days. It was just such a great evening.

Driving home, Denise and I just rehashed the show over and over, and she thanked me for kind of nudging her to go. She’d hesitated for a bit when I asked her, since she wouldn’t be seeing her boyfriend at all that weekend if she went, but I think she kinda figured she could see her boyfriend anytime she liked, but Jon performing was rare. As an added bonus to the whole thing, Denise and I had more fun together than we’d had in years. When we got home, I pulled out all my Journey/Steve/Neal/Jon, etc. CDs, and we played a couple then watched the Raised on Radio documentary, and just talked and talked about the music and our lives for a few hours. Our friendship was a little strained for a while, and only in the last year or so have we been putting it back together. Journey was what helped us become good friends when we were kids, and it seems they’ve helped bring us back together.

Jon's Set List
(special thanks to Scott Cannon who sent this to the Perry List and to the gods of pack rats everywhere that made me save it on my computer!)

For a Lifetime
Open Arms
A Day to Remember
Faithfully
Precious Moments
Song of Calabria
Just to Love You
Distant Shores
From the First Look (combined with Blue Nocturne)
One Look
Bridal March
Living on Love (A unreleased song he wrote with a friend)
Olema Waltz
Loved by You (A new song with vocals, dedicated to his wife Elizabeth)*
With Your Love
When I Think of You
Little River
From Wings of Love

Encore:
When the Spirit Comes

* yes, THAT "Loved by You" -- same as appeared on Arrival three years after this memorable night!
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After Jon's show, I was floating on air for days. Here's a follow up to my original post.

I so so wish everyone on this list could have seen Jon's show. I feel a little guilty going on and on about it because I was one of a very select few. I haven't been able to stop talking about it for days. Literally. Virtually everyone I've talked to in the last three days has gotten some version of my weekend. (I keep saying things like "I had such a GREAT weekend!" or "Last weekend was the best couple of days in the world!" You know, comments intended to get people to ask "Oh really, what did you do?" That's all the opening I need, and I'm off!)

Actually, yesterday one of the women I work with arrived at work around 3 p.m. after a harrowing day. She's been taking a math class in the mornings and usually doesn't arrive until noon, but yesterday she called around 1:30 to say her car had gotten a flat tire and she was going to be later than usual. When she finally arrived in the office, she was just so stressed out I told her "I wish I could bottle the way I'm feeling and give some to you." I don't usually start talking about Journey or Journey-related topics with my co-workers since most of them are at least 15 years older than me and have totally different tastes in music, but I told her about going to see Jon and how wonderful it was, and when she heard the excitement and happiness in my voice she told me that it helped relax her. The feeling spreads!

Man I could make a fortune if I could just bottle it! LOL!