February 5, 2014
As I've been going through the tales of 1999, I realized that they only glossed the surface of an important year. I first entered the world of on-line fandom in 1996 when Journey's brief reunion with Steve Perry produced their first new album in 10 years -- Trial by Fire. Circumstances changed and it wasn't until 1998 that a new Journey, now with Steve Augeri on lead vocals and Deen Castronovo on drums, went back out on tour and fans got to attend concerts and begin to put faces to the names from the various message boards, mailing lists, and news groups that were the virtual meeting places of the time.
I'd met a few of my on-line friends in 1998 at various shows and events, but 1999 was the year I met on-line friends that became off-line friends as well. Early in the year, some of the NorCal contingent of the Steve Perry mailing list decided to get together for lunch as some of the Atlanta based contingent had. While we managed to miss Liz somehow, Carla, Darla and I met for lunch and instead of meeting new people it was like meeting with old friends. Many other lunches and what can only be best described as grown up slumber parties were to follow. Somewhere along the line Ana Marie joined us.
In June, Journey kicked off their summer tour with Foreigner in Chicago. A group of fans from the Journey Digest mailing list put together a gathering of fans for the show. The night before the concert, many of the attendees met at a bar to see Kevin Chalfant, who had been the lead singer for The Storm with several former members of Journey. I rode to the show with one of the organizers and 5 other women and again those these were people I had just met in person, it was like a girls night out with friends I'd known for a long time. The day of the concert, those folks attending Journeyfest were allowed to attend sound check. I volunteered to help check people in and in doing so, I handed a name tag to Leslie Forysthe and noticed she lived in the Bay Area. We chatted a bit before and again after the show and so would begin another friendship that carried beyond the virtual world.
That meeting with Leslie led to her hosting a pre-show barbeque at her home before the Bay Area Journey show as she lived near the venue. Other than a brief introduction to Darla when we purchased the tickets and another brief meeting at Journeyfest with Jeff, another Journey Digest member, who'd flown up from Southern California, Leslie hadn't met any of the other guests. I'm still amazed that she trusted my judgement that these folks weren't totally insane (though Scott smashing the hornet that had decided to eat Jeff's chicken might have made her question that.) I can still remember hanging out in the parking lot after the show talking with Jeff and Janet and watching both of them battle in air-guitar.
November brought another San Francisco show and a gathering of the NorCal contingent that had grown from the 5 fans who'd met in 1998 at the first Journey Fans Convention (Debbie S., Janet, Scott, Kevin and me) to about 20 people from the Bay Area and Sacramento areas. That's when I finally met another Perry List member -- Cheryl -- and another virtual friend became a real life one.
A lot of friends have come and gone in the intervening years. Some have remained mostly virtual friendships or have faded away entirely as time and distance intervened. Others are seen few and far between, but it's always like picking up where we left off the next time we meet. Carla got married and moved out of state, but we've remained in touch through the years. Leslie left the Bay Area and returned and Cheryl's in SoCal now. And sadly, Darla passed away in 2008 -- a loss I still feel every day. So even though the tales relayed about 1999 are thin, the memories and friendships made in that year are still strong and valued.
