November 26, 2014
As has been the case from the minute I started copying these old tales from the bowels of my computer and putting them all together in this blog, I re-read all of the stories and events as they transpired more or less in chronological order (not to mention getting side tracked with old emails, news articles, and god knows what else.) Going from the highest of highs in January 2005 with Journey receiving their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, through the chaos that surrounded the band in 2006, and ultimately to 2007 which saw no Journey tour for the first time since 2000 and left the band with out a lead singer for the second time in a year. That was a complete roller coaster of events, and I've yet to get to all that transpired in 2008 (a year burned so vividly in my brain that I can't forget it no matter how much I wish I could.) It was odd to relive many of those emotions again in 2014.
The thing I remember most about 2006 is feeling burned out by Journey. Having helped organize 4 fan conventions of growing magnitude over the course of 5 years and planning yet another for that year was finally catching up with me. It seemed that all of my free time was being consumed by Journey and I was in need of a break. Journey started their tour in Europe that year, and when they started talking about the tour, I thought about flying half way around the world to catch them. As it turned out, the dates the tour started conflicted with some family commitments, but having started thinking about spending my summer vacation in the UK and Ireland, I decided I needed a vacation more than another Journey concert and arrived in London a week after Journey had come through.
Another objective of my three week vacation was to unplug from the Internet. Other than a couple of emails to my mother letting her know where I was heading and a few others to friends I was meeting on my travels, I pretty much avoided everything. Visiting with a few of my Journey buddies (though unfortunately not all) did get me some gossip and tales, but for the most part I was out of the loop when the US leg of the tour began and Steve Augeri had to drop out of the tour and all the chaos and craziness that surrounded that began. When I returned to the States, I caught up somewhat with what had happened while I was out of the country, but was so tired of the chronic bickering and battling that I eased out some what. I was beginning to understand what Steve Perry meant about re-entering the earth's atmosphere without heat shields. I was in Journey over load.
We pulled off another successful JPP, though a vastly lower threshold of excitement than we'd had in 2005. By the end of 2006, Steve Augeri was officially out and Jeff Scott Soto was named his replacement. I was less than thrilled and decided I was done with my road tripping around the country for Journey shows. It was an expensive hobby and after seeing four shows with Jeff on lead, it wasn't working for me and not worth the time and expense.
That Jeff was let go six months later -- announced literally the day after "Don't Stop Believin'" closed out the finale of The Sopranos, an event that gave Journey HUGE exposure -- added to the burn out. With no Journey tour that year and a reunited Police, I took my traveling to them and spent a lot of time on their message boards. The Police fans were so happy and excited that their band had reunited when everyone on the planet had expected hell to freeze over before that happened, I soaked up all their positive energy. While the Police weren't "my" band, I had been a fan for years and I totally understood the feeling those fans had. I know I talked about it with several of them, including likening it to the ill fated Journey reunion with Steve Perry in 1996. I loved that feeling.
So I spent 2007 mostly seeing bands I'd never seen before (or hadn't seen in over 20 years) and wrote up a few reports for friends along the way. My status as a Journey "super fan" started to fade then, and has continued to do so ever since. Oh, I'm still a fan of the band and will continue to see them when they play in a reasonable proximity to home, but the days of cross-country travel and fan conventions are long behind me now. I do miss getting to see the many friends I made between 1998 and 2006 and try to keep up with as many as I can and every once and a while I think "maybe I should try to put together a JPP Family Reunion one of these years." No big fancy get together, no recording studio tours, no receptions with the band, no group seating at the concert. Nothing like that, just a nice, simple family picnic. Bring your blanket and something to share and hang out and chat about old times and new.
Perhaps I'll do that one year (if I can get what's left of "the band" back together.) For now, I can look back at a really fun time of my life and think, yeah, it was totally worth it all.
