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Monday, March 23, 1998

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!