January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (the end)

The Ultimate Journey Concert!
Saturday, April 26, 2003

 

Saturday morning we moved in slow motion. We didn't have anywhere to be until the concert at 7:00, so we were going to enjoy a quiet day. Our attendees were off seeing the city, on what turned out to be a spectacular day (finally!) and we took our leisure and pretty much hung around the hotel. I took care of a little business by taking much of the money we had raised and depositing in the bank, but other than that it was just a day of reliving the previous two days over and over. We were all so proud with how things had happened and completely amazed by the reactions of the attendees.

During the reception Friday night, Michael Carabello had asked Darla if she could give him a massage prior to the concert, so she left and went over to the Warfield a few hours earlier than the rest of us. A short while after Darla had left, my cell phone rang -- she had seen a copy of the set list and called to let me know that my favorite Journey song was part of the set, "Mother, Father" would be played immediately after "Open Arms."

We knew many of the fans were going to get in line by 5:00 so they could be right down on the front of the floor when the doors opened at 7:00, but none of us particularly wanted to stand in line for 2 hours (or longer) so we didn't head to the theater until shortly before 7:00. We stood in line and were harassed by the usual batch of homeless people selling newspapers and the like -- a sad but typical fact of shows at the Warfield. Once we got inside we found that Darla had grabbed a table for us right above the main floor. A perfect spot for me with my photo pass -- no heads to shoot through! And was I ever glad to have that table -- the place was packed and I was too wiped out from the previous two days to even consider doing battle on the jam packed floor.

We had known for weeks who the special "friends" for the Journey and Friends show would be. I had been amused by the speculation that had abounded on the Back Talk forums -- most of which concluded that "Journey and Friends" would be like the "Friends and Family" show in Santa Rosa the previous year, where the "Friends" were the fans. Boy, was everyone in for a treat!

If you look closely, that's Aynsley Dunbar on drums

The concert kicked off and everyone went nuts as "Red13/State of Grace" opened the show. Three songs in, Deen got up from his drum kit to allow Aynsley Dunbar take over the skins for "Wheel in the Sky."
 
The crowd went wild. I did my best to take pictures of this historic moment -- Journey's original drummer back on stage with the band for the first time in over 20 years! Alas, the drum kit was huge and Ross kept getting in my way (yo, Ross -- Move OVER!) so all the shots of Aynsley are fleeting at best.

Steve Augeri singing his heart out

After Deen resumed his position behind the drum kit the show kept rolling on and hit the audience with another amazing surprise -- a medley of tunes that hadn't been heard live in years. "La Do Da"opened and then it faded into "Dixie Highway" which morphed into "Line of Fire." My jaw just hit the floor and the crowd ate it up. Things slowed down a bit then as the band went into "Lights" (always a huge favorite in San Francisco.) Then Jonathan started his solo that warned me that "Open Arms" was next. Time to grab the Kleenex and take the deep breath to prepare for what was coming next.
 

Jonathan Cain on the harmonica for "Precious Time"

When the first note of "Mother, Father" hit, my eyes welled up immediately. Cheryl had placed her hands on my shoulders, and that was about all that was holding me up at that point. As the song continued I was just overwhelmed by emotions. This is a song that has long had a very deep personal connection for me and to hear it live was completely beyond my ability to cope. Singing along was next to impossible and tears were just streaming down my face as I sobbed through the song. Towards the end of the song, when I was at a point near dissolving into complete hysterics, a shoving match broke out on the floor in front of me. It was over quickly, but distracted me long enough to get some composure while I sobbed through the finale of the song.
 
I have seldom been such an emotional wreck in public, much less at a concert, and had to recompose quickly as Jonathan Cain picked up a harmonica and Journey launched into "Precious Time." Talk about a gear strip! I went from sobbing to shock to excitement in about two seconds! Drying my eyes quickly so I could actually see to take pictures, I hopped up and fired off a round of film.

Chepito Areas and Michael Carabello join in

The set list continued to surprise and amaze with "Rubicon" and, during the first encore, "We Will Meet Again." When the band left the stage after that first encore, Neal said to the crowd "Stay where you are, we'll be right back." This is when we looked around at each other -- we knew what was coming. Michael Carabello and Chepito Areas were going to join the band and cover a couple of Santana tunes and "La Raza del Sol," just as they had done eight months before at the show in Konocti where the Bammies Walk of Fame plaque was announced. It made for a very circular moment for us. As had happened at the earlier show, the crowd went wild as the band launched in to "Black Magic Woman" with Neal on lead vocals. "La Raza del Sol" was percussion perfection as Deen got to jam with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Michael Carabello and Chepito Areas. Closing out the second encore with "Everybody's Everything" with Jonathan on lead vocals was an amazingly energetic jam.

And they weren't done!

Sammy Hagar joins the fun

We were on our feet throughout the encores, and when the band left the stage after "Everybody's Everything," I looked at Darla and said, "Oh my god, this is the best show I've ever seen AND we know what's next!" What was next shook the walls and blew the roof off the Warfield -- Sammy Hagar came out on stage with the band as they launched into a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll." The place went nuts. It was truly one of the most amazing things I had ever witnessed -- after over two hours of high-energy rock and roll, everything went up a notch and the magic was palpable.

Take a bow boys

After the concert no one wanted to end, we trooped back to the hotel and after closing down the bar in the hotel with a bunch of the attendees, we invited people upstairs for more talking and reliving an amazing weekend. This was another one of my personal highlights because again I was able to sit and visit with people in a way I hadn't during the chaos of the weekend. Stories and histories and memories poured out of everyone and we talked ourselves raw.

Mary Ann had a ridiculously early flight, so we stayed up with her until it was time for her shuttle to the airport and so we said our final farewells around 3:00 in the morning. Sunday morning broke and it was time to pack up and head for home. We met what attendees there were for brunch in the lounge of the hotel and talked some more about what a magical weekend it was.

In the end though, the one thought that kept running through my head, and still does, was "We really did it!"

January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (part 8)

The JPP2003 Reception
Friday, April 25, 2003

Our cocktail reception wasn't scheduled until 8:00, so we had a little bit of time to recover from our hectic morning and afternoon. Back in the committee suite, we celebrated with wine and chocolate and babbled a bit for the video camera. The thought that kept running through my head was "We pulled it off." I had seen everything we'd planned unfold more or less as we had expected and was amazed that we had actually done it.

The reception went very smoothly. We set up tables for our silent auction items and a display of the two raffle items. Journey (and Journey-related) music was played over the PA, and the fans came in to sit back and spend some time visiting with each other and reliving the day. As has become habit at these things, I was the emcee for the evening. Everyone is their own worst critics, so I'm not going to dwell on all the things I should have said and done in that capacity (and believe me, there are many) but I had to laugh that every time I was planning to give my welcome speech, something interrupted the moment. First I had to make an announcement about the auction. Then Aynsley and Margaret Dunbar arrived and I had to introduce them. Then Michael Carabello and his girlfriend Rebecca arrived and I had to introduce them. By the time I was ready to give my welcome speech the evening was half gone and we had to start paying attention to the auction and raffle.

Then I got hijacked. I had just made an announcement about when we would be drawing for the raffle when Rob took the microphone and he and Tom Perez proceeded to thank the committee and present us with plaques of appreciation. I was stunned, as were my fellow committee members. We'd already received many many gifts and this was completely unexpected. Then, before I could say thank you on behalf of the committee, we were hijacked AGAIN. Julie Skene and Renee Ballentine ALSO had put together framed certificates of appreciation for our work. I had known in advance that Julie wanted to say something at the reception, but I had no idea what was planned.

Sufficiently surprised and remarkably thankful, I took the microphone again and turned what had been my welcome speech into a thank you speech. I felt it was important to recognize the people who had made it possible for us to keep pushing onward when we didn't know what we were going to do about a variety of issues that popped up on us. I honestly don't know if we would have been able to pull it all together if we hadn't had the constant encouragement of our fellow fans. The emails and messages we received while we were planning the event were inspiring. People were really looking forward to the event and we couldn't let them down.

Raffle winners Rob Rennert and Chris Waleszczyk

Soon it was time for our raffle drawings, and Jeff, having been away from a microphone for far too long, took over some of the emcee duties. I must say, he did a much better job than I as he can easily integrate his humor into what he is saying. Something must have been in the stars that night because when we did the drawing for the autographed leather jacked the winner turned out to be none other than our volunteer jacket model-Rob Rennert!
 
I'll have to admit, the committee was really thrilled that Rob won such a cool prize -- he did a LOT of work for us. Next up was the guitar that everyone was hoping to take home with them. We asked Deen's mom Kay to draw this grand prize and then we tortured the attendees by reading off the numbers one by one rather than the name that had been written on the back of the ticket! (Actually, there was a good reason for this too-it would have taken me twice as long to attempt to pronounce Chris Waleszczyk's last name!)

After more mixing and mingling and photo taking, we closed the silent auction and announced the various winners for the night. With all the incredible donations we received we were able to raise $1,000 for the Okizu Foundation. Way to go Journey fans!

The reception wound down by 11:00 and people scattered to the winds. The committee cleaned up the items we needed to take back upstairs and headed to our rooms for a much-needed drink and wind down time. It wasn't to last long though -- Leslie had invited a few people back to our room to visit. Darla, Mary Ann, and Emerson went back to their room and Cheryl, Leslie, and I visited with our guests. As tired as I was, I was the last one to fade out -- Cheryl and Leslie went to bed and I stayed up talking until after 2 in the morning! This was actually one of the best times for me -- throughout the day I had been rushing around making sure everything was going well and really hadn't gotten much of a chance to visit with anyone, especially the many people I hadn't met before.

Once everyone left and I crawled in to bed I was able to realize just what we had accomplished. Exhausted but happy I drifted off to sleep, but not before noticing Cheryl was muttering in her sleep. Ah, sweet dreams.

January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (part 7)

Hard Rock Café
Friday, April 25, 2003

Leslie had gone ahead to the Hard Rock Café with Emerson and Rob so that they could videotape the arrival of the band and the fans -- I don't think they expected us to arrive almost simultaneously! The scene at the Hard Rock was organized chaos. Fans who had heard the band would be at the restaurant had descended upon Pier 39 and the JPP Committee had the unenviable task of telling them they couldn't come past the barricades that had been set up for the JPP group. This was not set up as we had hoped -- our original plan was to have the donation of the guitar in a private room. That The Bone had been announcing that the "fan club" was going to be at the Hard Rock didn't help matters either. I had to turn away at least four people who said, "I'm a member of the fan club" (at least one of whom produced their fan club membership card) and explain that while the organizers of the event were members of the fan club, it was not a fan club sponsored event. People were running everywhere and I looked around and hoped things would go off smoothly.

About 2:15 Dennis appeared on the small stage that had been set up in the restaurant and re-introduced the band who then joined him on the stage. Neal presented manager Dan Godfrey the autographed guitar and boom; it was over in a flash. Hmm… not quite what I had anticipated. Then suddenly I heard the microphone come to life again -- one of our attendees, Vincent Price had asked Dennis for the microphone to say a few words of thanks to the band. It happened so quickly and unexpectedly that no one managed to get it on videotape! The guys then scattered about the restaurant and started mingling with the fans. This was the meet and greet to beat all meet and greets!

Neal donates a guitar to the Hard Rock Cafe
photo courtesy of Toni Peterson

In the original scheme of things, we had planned to raffle off the guitar from Gibson at the Hard Rock Café and have the winner get the autographs personally and a photo with the band. This was obviously not going to happen in the scenario as it played out. That meant the JPP Committee had to get that guitar signed before the guys disappeared for rehearsal! Holding a fistful of silver Sharpies and trailed by Emerson and his video camera, Cheryl and I set off to get this guitar signed! First up was Ross, and while Cheryl was having him sign the guitar I was able to talk briefly with his wife Mary. She had been very impressed with the event and the program that Rob had put together for us and asked for more copies. I told her to check with JT, since he was supposed to have extras, but if he didn't have enough for her we'd be glad to get some more to her. (Which we eventually did when the tour began in Las Vegas a few weeks later.)

Finding the rest of the guys was like a life-sized game of "Where's Waldo?" -- they were scattered all over the restaurant surrounded by fans. Gregg and Herbie were half hiding in an alcove near the kitchen, Jonathan was cornered by the bar, Deen was pressed up against the stage, Steve was surrounded by people, Neal was over by the entrance, and no one could seem to find Aynsley! One by one they signed the guitar, some with confusion about why and what it was for, others with big smiles and hugs.

We'd gotten the guitar signed by everyone but Aynsley, so I stopped for a few minutes to grab a couple of the appetizers that were being passed around and to grab a sip of champagne. It was amazing watching the crowd mix with the band-everyone was all smiles and chattering away over the blaring music of the Hard Rock. When someone finally put on Arrival the place erupted. Singing and dancing from corner to corner.

Someone had finally spotted Aynsley in a booth eating lunch with Neal and Michael Carabello, so I grabbed the guitar once again, found Emerson and made my way over to the table. I apologized for interrupting their meal and asked Aynsley to sign the guitar. Neal looked at me rather puzzled and said he'd already signed the guitar. I told him I knew that and that it was Aynsley we were looking for.

Mission accomplished, I went and sat down for a few minutes to catch a breather and just watch the chaos unfold in front of me. Things had settled down a little, though Steve and Deen seemed to still be surrounded by fans and they had to be starving. Cheryl took it upon herself at this point to find one of the servers and told him to make Steve take a break to eat. (That would be all we need-Steve faints from hunger and can't perform the next night!)

We had told the buses to return by 4:00 so we could depart by 4:30, but it was now only 3:30 and other than grabbing a few nibbles to eat, there really wasn't much else to do at the Hard Rock. We tried to find the buses and did manage to get one back a little earlier than planned, but in the end we all wound up leaving Pier 39 on the same schedule we had started with. The ride back to the hotel was more subdued than when we had left-everyone was just a little overwhelmed and wiped out from all of the events of the day. And we weren't finished yet!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
After all was said and done, I went back to the Hard Rock Café and got pictures of the guitar mounted on the wall.

Close-up shot of the guitar hanging on the wall

Plaque under the guitar.
Text reads: "This Gibson Les Paul Guitar was donated to the
San Francisco Hard Rock Café by Journey after their induction
to the Bay Area Rock and Roll Walk of Fame."
(Hey, close enough)

January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (part 6b)

Photographs and Memories

A few pictures from the 2003 Bammies Walk of Fame Induction Ceremony.

Journey members and families listen to the induction speeches

Deen Castronovo says a few words 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neal and Ross goofing off during the speeches

Gregg Rolie's turn at the mic

Another shot of band members with family and friends listening to the speeches

Jonathan Cain addresses the crowd

Steve Augeri gives his thanks.

January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (part 6)

Bammies Walk of Fame

Friday, April 25, 2003

Friday morning. This was it. This was THE day. Everything that had transpired over the previous sixteen months had led up to this day. As tired as I had been when I went to bed Thursday night, I didn't sleep much-the anticipation was too great. Leslie, Cheryl, and I were up at 7:00 and started getting ready-taking turns showering and grabbing breakfast and going over our assignments for the morning. Leslie would be the driver for the day, transporting the team over to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (heretofore referred to as "the Civic") for the set up. Cheryl was responsible for making sure the backstage area was ready to go (including providing drinks and snacks-quick run to the store!) and would head over with Leslie. I would remain at the hotel with Mary Ann and Darla and finish checking in the last of our attendees and wait for the buses to take us over to the Civic Auditorium. Around 8, we called the other committee suite where Mary Ann, Darla, and Emerson were going through much the same process.

One of our concerns was how were we going to "hide" the plaque until it was officially unveiled. We had been told that the staff at the Civic would put a board over the plaque Wednesday afternoon and a "decorative" covering would be needed for Friday morning. What we learned was that the board had never been put over the plaque-Rob and a couple of our attendees had walked over on Thursday morning and took a sneak peek at the plaque-it was there for all to see with nothing but a sawhorse over it that had been placed there while the cement was drying! We managed to talk the convention services at the hotel out of a black tablecloth and Cheryl put it in her bag to take over to the Civic. (It turned out that it was unnecessary-someone had provided a small box to cover the plaque.)

A little before 9:00, Mary Ann and I were back in the lobby with the last of the registration materials and Leslie was making her first run over to the Civic-dropping off Cheryl, Caryn Sinagra, and Michelle Aheron who were preparing for the band's eminent arrival. Leslie returned shortly to pick up Rob, Emerson, and Jeff so that the video equipment and barricades could be put in place for guests.

While Cheryl, Leslie, and Emerson were over at the Civic preparing for the 12:00 ceremony, the JPP attendees started gathering in the hotel lobby. The people who had arrived late Thursday evening or were just arriving that morning slowly made their way through and got their registration materials. The hotel staff was excellent about making sure we had everything we needed-including sending the head of security over to ask when we were expecting the buses to arrive and load so he could make certain there was space for them to park.

Some of the gifts from our attendees

As had happened much of Thursday, the JPP attendees began showering us with gifts. Chocolate, flowers and potent potables were the most common. (I guess everyone took me seriously when I said I really needed a drink!)


We had most people checked in by 10:15, so I began another series of rides in the elevator-31 floors up and down-toting a variety of items that we wouldn't need on the buses. Meanwhile, several of our attendees went hunting for umbrellas-it had been raining off and on all morning, and raining steadily. I held my breath a prayed it would stop before noon.

The first bus pulled up shortly before 11:00, and I went out to meet the driver. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle, but the sky was still very cloudy. I talked with the driver and confirmed that he was indeed there for our group and asked when the second bus would arrive. He told me that he was the only driver-there was no second bus! A minor panic ensued on my part. I knew we had ordered two buses-I had personally written the check just a week before to pay for two buses. Where the heck was the second bus?? The driver got on his phone to the bus headquarters and I got on my phone and called Darla who had taken the last box of things upstairs. I told her to find the bus contract in my file and bring it downstairs. I had sixty-five people in the lobby and a bus that held forty people-I had to have that second bus!

Crisis was avoided again when the second bus pulled up about five minutes later, and it was time to load up. In the process of bringing all the items back to our hotel rooms I had accidentally left the checklist of attendees in the box of things I didn't need. It was too late to go back and get it, so I took a quick count of heads on the two buses and asked if anyone knew of anyone who was missing. No one was reported missing, but we did almost leave with out Deen's mother and sister! (Ooops!) Fortunately they arrived just as we were closing the doors to the buses, and no one was left behind. Mercifully, the rain had stopped, and except for a light drizzle part way through the ceremony everyone would remain dry.

11:15 and the buses began the short caravan from our Union Square hotel to the Civic Center. I called ahead and let Leslie know we were on our way. Leslie asked me if I had a copy of Arrival or Red 13 with me, I said I didn't but when I posed the question to the bus several people responded that they did-great, more music for the pre-ceremony! The lead bus was taking us down Polk with the intention of turning left on Grove Street and dropping us off right in front of the Civic. One problem with that-we had closed Grove Street in that direction! So we had to take a detour and come around the block and exit the buses across the street.

Everyone got off the buses and, in true San Francisco fashion, walked right across the street in the middle of the road! Cheryl and Leslie had made sure there was a special "reserved" area for the JPP attendees-front and center! I marched up with the group and got them to the right spot and then went into "promoter" mode. Part of the arrangements with our sponsors was to have fliers distributed at the event, so I recruited a few volunteers and started handing out program fliers and other promotional material as promised. This meant I had to cut across the stage from time to time, as there was a flurry of activity going on all around me. I was able to stop and take a look out at the crowd and I was thrilled-the turn out was fantastic and everyone was very excited! Standing on the stage also afforded me a great view of Gregg Rolie hopping out of his limousine and ducking in to the Civic! The cheer from the few people who saw him was music to my ears.

Dennis Erokan welcomes the band.

Close to noon, I had finished distributing fliers and went to take up my position (cameras in hand) next to the media pit-smack dab in front of the podium. I wasn't going to miss a single expression on anyone's face by being stuck in the back! The crowd was really humming by this point and "Higher Place" was blaring from the PA (okay, so we had a little music, but it wasn't live music so I don't think we violated any permits!) and I started dancing along. When I looked up I could see Deen's mom rocking out to the side and caught her eye. We both smiled-this was a good day!

The Lobster (aka Paul Wells) makes his comments

Dennis Erokan came out and the ceremonies got underway. One by one the band, along with their families, came out and took the stage. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to explode and the crowd let out a huge cheer. There they were, on the dais with their wives and children-that was what hit me the most. I expected to see Neal, Jonathan, Ross, Steve, Deen, Aynsley, Gregg and Herbie up there. I didn't expect to see their families there also, at least not on the dais with them. Wow, this really was a big deal!

Cheryl and Darla representing the JPP Committee

The ceremony opened with a seven minute recorded introduction produced by local DJ Paul "The Lobster" Wells (with some help from VH1 and Behind the Music.) The guys sat there and listened as the history of Journey unfolded-it was hard to believe that 30 years had passed since Journey formed. Darla and Cheryl were up next-they'd volunteered to say a few words to the crowd (after some convincing from Dennis that at least one of us should be part of the ceremony.) All I can say is I'm glad it was them and not me-I probably would have gotten sick on Ross's shoes! I could tell Darla was nervous and I kept sending good thoughts her way so that she could make it through with out getting sick on Ross's shoes! Cheryl spoke next and I would have sworn that's what she did for a living. (It was later that I learned she had been nervously pacing up and down the hallway inside the Civic only moments before!)

Steven Seaweed

Up next were two more long-standing members of the Bay Area music scene -- Steven Seaweed, a DJ from 107.7 "The Bone" (formerly known as KSAN) and Joel Selvin, music editor for the San Francisco Chronicle. Both spoke to the history of Journey in San Francisco, having witnessed it from the very earliest days.

Joel Selvin

Herbie Herbert was our next speaker, and it was wonderful hearing about Journey from the perspective of the man who created the band around Neal Schon. Herbie is truly an old San Francisco hippie, and I've got to say I'm fascinated by how he got so much accomplished with that kind of sensibility. And, of course, the image of Herbie and his "wayward children" is too priceless to ever be forgotten.

Herbie Herbert talks about his "wayward children"

Mayor Brown was due next, but as is typical, he was running late. Dennis took this opportunity to make a few more comments, including a quick introduction of each of the guys on stage. The roar that went up when Steve Augeri was introduced sent chills down my spine. It was unbelievably loud-the loudest of all the cheers that day. Dennis then ran through the list of Bammies that had been awarded to the members of Journey. It's impressive, but I was particularly amused by the sheepish grin on Jonathan's face as Dennis read off the five "Outstanding Keyboardist" awards he had won.

Ross Valory addresses the crowd

Dennis stretched for as long as he could, but the mayor still hadn't arrived, so Ross and Neal each took a turn at the podium to address the crowd. I could tell they were in a bit of a state of amazement that this was actually happening-the sincerity in their comments was apparent. It's hard now to recall what was going through my mind, everything was happening so quickly it seemed, but I stood there watching and listening and beaming with pride. I felt like a proud parent-there were "my boys" finally, finally getting the recognition they so long deserved in their hometown! It was unbelievable.

Neal Schon takes his turn at the mic

Mayor Brown arrived and gave an invigorated speech. He's a politician's politician and can rally a crowd like no one I've seen. Whether or not he was really at Winterland on New Year's Eve 1973 is irrelevant, you believed he was truly there! (My compliments to his research staff!) Mayor Brown then presented the band with their "Walk of Fame Day" proclamation.

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown

Now it was time to unveil the plaque and as everyone got into position, I was nearly knocked over as a couple of video cameras (presumably belonging to the band) came flying over my head. I ducked down into a squat behind the rope to let the camera guys through and then watched as the guys stepped down from the dais mere inches in front of me! Of course, the view I got was from the rear, but I can't really complain too much about that now can I?

Herbie Herbert accepts the
"Walk of Fame Day" proclamation

Once the plaque was unveiled and photos were taken, the guys stepped back to the dais and one by one Aynsley, Steve, Gregg, Deen, and Jonathan each said a few words. Deen's comments touched me the most-he was near tears and my heart just swelled a thousand times.

Journey members past and present
and the Bammies Walk of Fame plaque
photo courtesy Caryn Sinagra

And then it was over-the speeches, the planning, the months to get that darned plaque in the ground. It was done! I looked around for a minute and then burst in to tears! Oh my god, we actually pulled it off! How on earth did we manage to do it? I never thought I'd see the day, but not only had I just seen it I had planned it! I can't remember a time I'd ever felt so proud or that I had really accomplished something.

After a couple of minutes to recompose myself, I got back in to planner mode. Where were my attendees? Where was the rest of the committee? Have we cleaned up enough? Is someone putting the barricades back? What time is it? I scrambled around checking things out while the guys took time to sign autographs and pose for pictures-everyone was getting a chance to talk with the band! Fantastic.

Journey members past and present at the Bammies Walk of Fame Ceremony
L-R: Steve Augeri, Gregg Rolie, Aynsley Dunbar, Deen Castronovo, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, & Ross Valory

Dealing with a large group of people and several different things happening simultaneously is rather like herding cats-just when I got two where I need them, three more dashed out in opposite directions. I kept walking up and down the street trying to make sure I had everyone on the bus and all the items we brought with us that we needed to bring back. The buses were mostly loaded when I went looking for Jeff, who had been taking down the barricades. Once found I hustled him to the bus and made sure everyone was on board. Then we saw the limos loading-oh no! the band was leaving before us!

January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (part 5)

And So It Begins
Thursday, April 24, 2003

The alarm goes off-same time as any other Thursday-6:30 a.m., time to get up and start another day. Of course, it's not any other Thursday; Journey Past and Present 2003 starts today. I crawl out of bed already feeling a little sleep deprived. Wednesday had been a hectic day of last minute details. I'd also picked up Rob from the airport and took him to dinner at Pier 39 as part of his compensation for all the hard work he'd done for us designing artwork, which meant I got home from San Francisco a little later than I had anticipated and I just couldn't go to bed without attempting to start packing for the weekend. But, no rest for the weary-it was time to get things rolling and try to get up to the hotel by early afternoon (I knew already that my original goal of noon wasn't going to happen.)

After a quick shower and breakfast I start running down the list of things that need to be done before I load my car for the trip to San Francisco. Most of the "goodies" had been put together on Saturday and stuffed in to my trunk, but I still had a TON of stuff in my living room that needed to be packed up. Better start with the clothes for the weekend-except for one new outfit, I hadn't even figured out what I was going to wear!

Once the overnight case had been packed, it was time to get the JPP supplies together-tickets (check), key chains (check), name tags (need to make a few more-check!), pens, paper, markers (check, check, check). One by one the supplies and items I was responsible for bringing (which was pretty much everything but the T-shirts and AV equipment!) were put in a box and I could load the car. The big surprise is that there weren't more things to load out! I had anticipated needing to bring 4-5 boxes out to my car, but it was just two, plus the big box that held the Gibson guitar that had been donated for us to raffle off.

It was nearly noon by this point and I knew I'd better have lunch before I loaded the car and drove up to San Francisco. So another quick bite and I'm off. A brief stop at the grocery store to pick up some supplies for the suite (and a birthday cake for Leslie!) and I'm on the road by 1:30.

By the time I had left I had already spoken with Leslie, Cheryl, and Darla at least twice each. Leslie had made it to the hotel by noon (with the box of T-shirts) and she and Rob went out and scouted for a place to bring the group for our informal dinner. When I arrived at the hotel it took the bellmen 10 minutes to unload all the things from my car-there were about a dozen boxes and assorted sundries that needed to be brought to the room! I stopped at the front desk to get my room key and headed up to the thirty-first floor to meet Leslie and Rob.
 

The JPP Commitee (and friends) getting things assembled.
From L-R: Jeff "RawkDawg" Barnes, Mary Anne Bohne
Michelle Murray, Rob Rennert, Leslie Forsythe,
Cheryl Simien. Kneeling: Emerson Dong & Darla Ellis

When I arrived, they were just finishing folding the T-shirts for the goodie bags. I snuck the cake in to the kitchen area of the suite (thank goodness Leslie was busy when I walked in!) and waited for my bags and boxes to arrive. Over the next hour or so, the rest of the committee arrived, as did two more of our indispensable volunteers-Leslie White and Jeff "RawkDawg" Barnes.

With so many hands in the room, finishing the goodie bag assembly was fairly quick work, if somewhat chaotic as the room was a frenzy of activity. All the activity was a bit noisy, but when there was a knock on the door we all stopped to see who it was. Strange, there wasn't anyone at the front door. Then we realized that the knock had come from the door to the adjoining room! Lo and behold when we opened the door there was Michelle Aheron (augerifan) who was sharing the room with Caryn Sinagra (Journeycat)!! Well woo hoo-friends we won't have to worry about keeping awake with our chatter!

My cell phone would erupt every 5 minutes -- someone new had arrived, someone was lost, and the questions started pouring in. We were all in a fairly jovial mood -- okay, we were a little bit silly -- so after the tenth call in less than an hour I answered the phone laughing "JPP nuthouse, this is Michelle." I about fell over when the voice on the other end of the line replied "Hello? This is Margaret Dunbar, is this Michelle?" YIKES! Aynsley's wife had called to let us know they would be attending the reception at the hotel Friday night. I frantically waved everyone to be quiet while I tried to recompose myself and switch into a more professional mode. Why is it when ever you're goofing off something important happens??

Soon it was 4:30 and time to start heading down to the lobby to meet up with everyone who was going to dinner. This is when it began to feel real-35 people waiting in the lobby ready to head to Tony Roma's for dinner and kick off one unforgettable weekend. And not everyone had arrived yet!

We marched ourselves over to Tony Roma's a block away and took over the back of the restaurant. Fortunately, Leslie and Rob had warned them in advance that we would be coming. Unfortunately, they only had one waitress for the whole lot of us!

Dinner at Tony Roma's

Once we were all seated, someone requested that people introduce themselves to the group since nametags had not yet been distributed. I started the round and by the time we were finished I was laughing to myself-it was like an AA meeting! "Hi, my name is Michelle and I'm a Journey nut…."

More of the gang at Tony Roma's

Dinner was ordered and much talking and laughing ensued. One of the highlights of the evening was when Deen's mother, who was part of our group for the weekend, pulled out baby pictures and started passing them around! (Awwwwww!) As is typical of any fan gathering the chatter around the table was almost exclusively Journey related. It never ceases to amaze me just how much grown adults can wax poetic on their favorite band!

Handing out goodies at registration
photo courtesy of Susan Ulm

After successfully paying the bill (with no major hassles or shortages!) and not totally driving other customers out of the restaurant, we trekked back across the street to open up registration. Our original plan had been to have registration in the second floor lounge, but due to an event occurring at the hotel (Ted Turner was addressing the Commonwealth Club) we were moved to the third floor to set up. I spent a lot of this time riding up and down the elevator getting things from our suite and bringing them back to the registration table, but after the initial rush of people I was able to plant myself at the table and assist the rest of the committee for the check in.

Keep looking for those goodie bags
photo courtesy of Susan Ulm

People remained in the registration area for a while - visiting with friends new and old and looking through their goodie bags. Soon people started to break off in search of other things to do, while Cheryl, Leslie F., Leslie W., Mary Ann, and I remained to keep the registration table open until 10 p.m. Darla and Emerson had left to pick up one of the attendees who had flown in to the San Jose airport.

By 10:00 everyone who was coming in on Thursday had checked in, so we packed our things and headed upstairs to the suite. Time for a little break for the committee-and to break open a few of the bottles we'd brought. We all felt good about how things were going to this point and ran through the names of the people we had met. We were all tired and ready for bed, but we couldn't go to sleep just yet.

Just a couple of bottles of wine

Once we had returned to the suite it was time for a glass of wine and to work on the speeches that Cheryl and Darla would be giving the next day. They had both jotted down some notes and I had passed along some suggestions, but the fine tuning still needed to be done. After the first draft run through, we sat around making suggestions and wordsmithing ever so slightly-without a thesaurus on hand we had to come up with all the different ways to say "celebrate" without actually saying "celebrate" ten times! Finally happy with the final results around midnight, we forced ourselves to stop talking about how things had gone thus far (very well) and about what we expected for the next day (is this really happening?) and headed off to bed.

January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (part 4)

Panic and Deadlines
April 2003

April first -- our deadline for so many things. Most of the funds from our attendees had been received, the invitations to the band and other dignitaries had been mailed, the audio from The Lobster was in production, the street closure permit was issued, menus and deposits were set for the Hard Rock Café, speakers were lined up, and things seemed to be rolling along quite well. There was still a lot of work to do, but the reality of it was clearer -- three weeks to go and all seemed on the right track. Then we got a message from Rob.

In the process of designing the program, Rob had kept JT in the loop about what we were doing and JT had been so impressed with some of his designs that he wanted to use one for an official T-shirt for the band. GREAT NEWS... for Rob. Turns out the design JT liked was the same one we were going to use for OUR T-shirts. Less than a week to get the design to the printer and we have to change plans. Poor Rob was run ragged for a few days between his deadlines for JT and his deadlines for JPP. Things worked out in the end and we were able to use the design we had originally wanted as there were some differences between the official band shirt and ours.

Then Cheryl got selected to serve on a jury. Yikes! She had been making lots of phone calls for us and was now going to have limited access to a phone during business hours! I took over some of the bureaucratic phone calls dealing with the SFPD and other various entities. We needed yet another permit in order to have amplified sound at the Civic Auditorium! Meanwhile, my cell phone started ringing off the hook; it was the number that had been sent out with the invitations to various guests. By the middle of April I kept my phone in my pocket at all times rather than buried in my purse.

Mary Ann had been following up with Gibson and we finally got word from them about a week before the event what they would be contributing to our event -- an electric guitar for us to raffle off. Not quite what we had hoped for, but we'd make it work, we'd made everything else work so far. Leslie had also been successful in her endeavors. She managed to get a pledge for 10% of our costs from Dunlop Musical Supplies. Between the cash we had received and the guitar to raffle we felt we would reach the goal we needed to pay for the expenses associated with having a plaque made and an accompanying ceremony.

The big question now was just which of the former band members would be appearing. We knew early on that Aynsley Dunbar was all set to come and we suspected from the beginning that Steve Perry wouldn't attend. That left Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith. We kept getting different responses about whether or not Gregg would come until finally, about a week before the day, we knew that Gregg would definitely be in attendance. We had been optimistic from the start that Steve Smith would show up, but a last minute scheduling conflict popped up and he would be out of town that weekend. Disappointing to say the least. Now, we just needed official word from Steve Perry -- would he actually attend??

About a week before the event Cheryl received a call from the Department of Parking and Traffic. What was the status on the liability insurance for the street closure? Liability insurance? What liability insurance? This sent us in to a major panic. With out the insurance we couldn't close the street, if we couldn't close the street we couldn't have the event! Phone lines went into furious action as we made phone calls to get this very important detail covered. After some negotiation, IOM, the company behind the California Music Awards agreed to take on the insurance. When it this was all settled, I called Dennis to let him know the good news -- we were back on track and the event would happen as planned. Dennis took this opportunity to let me know his news -- he'd heard back from Steve Perry's representatives. Steve would not be coming. We had known from the start it was a long shot, but we'd remained hopeful that he would attend. A disappointing response for all of us, and the end of an exhausting day.

With all of this in hand, it was time to focus on the big day. The programs were at the printers, the fliers were nearly ready to go, the T-shirts were being made, and all the little details seemed to be coming in to place. But where was the plaque?? Cheryl and I took turns leaving messages for Don Rich, the artist designing the plaque. We HAD to have the plaque in the ground absolutely no later than Tuesday, April 22. There was an event at the Civic Auditorium on Thursday and we couldn't put it in while they were moving in on Wednesday or during the event on Thursday. I had gotten a call from Don earlier in the week saying that the pattern was nearly ready and when it arrived he would let us know so we could film the pouring of the bronze into the pattern. As the week progressed though, no call ever came. It was the Friday before the event and we had no plaque!

Saturday was the last official meeting day before the event. Time to put together the goodie bags for our attendees. The programs were delivered and looked fantastic. Name badges were laminated and a Journey lanyard attached. Everything was ready to go, but where were the T-shirts?! A delay in the printing meant they wouldn't be ready until Monday. We were going to have to load the box in someone's car and put the T-shirts in the goodie bags when we checked in to the hotel on Thursday! Our final meeting went smoothly otherwise, the only thing we're worried about now is where the heck is the plaque? It has to be in the ground in three days!

Bammies Walk of Fame plaque before it goes in the ground

Monday morning -- four days before the big day -- I finally get a call from Don. There had been a problem with the pattern and it wouldn't be ready until 2:00 that afternoon! I told him that the plaque HAD to go into the ground on Tuesday, would it be ready? He wasn't sure, so I got on the phone with Cheryl. Could we do it Wednesday? How big of a problem would that be with the Civic Auditorium? Cheryl left messages with her contact there and I kept Don posted. We knew we had a little wiggle room and might be able to get the plaque in the ground on Wednesday. It worked to our advantage that the location of the plaque was in front of a ticket window and not a door so any work that needed to be done wouldn't interfere too much with the event movers that were loading in for the trade show. When we didn't get a response, Cheryl finally left a message that we would be at the Civic Auditorium at 10:00 Wednesday morning and putting the plaque in the ground. Fingers crossed that it would be ready to go by then!

Part of the crew clearing out the hole in the cement

Tuesday afternoon, I informed my co-workers that I would be in after lunch on Wednesday -- I needed to go to San Francisco and watch a hole being dug. Cheryl, finally freed from jury duty, and I had agreed to meet at the Civic Center BART station by 9:30 on Wednesday morning and would pick up the permit we needed so that Don could put the plaque in the ground. When I arrived in San Francisco, Cheryl informed me that we didn't need to go by the Department of Public Works to pick up the permit - Nick, wonderful helpful Nick, would personally deliver the permit to us at the Civic Auditorium! We made the short walk from the BART station to the Civic Auditorium -- this is it, we finally get to see the plaque and it's really going into the ground. This was the biggest moment of the whole year -- everything that would come afterwards would be frosting on the cake (and there was LOTS of frosting!)

Time for the epoxy

Don and his crew arrived shortly after we did and promptly got to work, but not before showing us the plaque. It looked wonderful! Better than we had expected really. Watching cement being torn up is about as riveting as watching grass grow, but Cheryl and I sat and watched as the outline for the plaque was traced on the sidewalk and bit-by-bit the circle was cut out and the hole smoothed out. Cheryl and I tried to go over last minute details while we sat on the sidewalk and shouted over the nose of the drills in the cement. After this all that was left was for Cheryl to go to the Hall of Justice and sit through the hearing to get the PA approved for the ceremony. During the work, people would walk by and ask what was going on - and Cheryl and I proudly told them that Journey was receiving a plaque on the Bammies Walk of Fame. I was amazed at how many passers-by stopped to see what was going on and the positive response. It really was a cool thing! After about 2 hours of watching and waiting, it was time to put the plaque in the ground. The epoxy was put in the hole, then the plaque, and finally a cement rim to keep it in place. There it was, in the ground. I could hardly believe my eyes! Cheryl and I whipped out our cell phones and started calling the rest of the committee - "It's in the ground! It's in the ground! We really did it! It's in the ground!"

Mission Accomplished!
Journey's Bammies Walk of Fame plaque is in the ground!

I headed back to work and Cheryl headed off to get the sound permit. It was all down hill from here - the fans would be arriving tomorrow and we would be kicking it in gear playing hostess to 75 fans and the band, but our primary mission had been accomplished. Journey's plaque on the Bammies Walk of Fame was in the ground!

Artist Don Rich (center) and his crew
after installation is completed

January 2002-April 2003: Behind the Weekend: Journey Past & Present and the Bammies Walk of Fame (part 3)

Planning
January-March 2003

The new year began, and we started to focus once more on the plaque installation and when and where we could make it happen. We knew from our conversations with Jonathan and JT in Reno that the band would likely be starting their tour in early May, so we pulled out our calendars and counted forwards and backwards. We guessed the tour would start around May 15, which meant the band would probably be rehearsing in April, so the date for the plaque installation would likely be towards the end of April. It was January 5 and we had 16 weeks to pull the whole thing together. Would we ever make it and get everything done??

By this point, we had gotten a bunch of email from fans who were interested in coming to San Francisco for the event so we sent out a "save the date" email to those fans as well as to the ones who had attended our previous two conventions. We didn't actually have a date at this point, but we needed to get the ball rolling and giving people an idea of when this might take place would let them get it on their calendars and begin to budget for traveling from points near and far. We also started tracking down the former band members to give them a general idea about what we were doing and when it might be. We knew from the start that if any of us tried to contact Steve Perry we wouldn't get anywhere, so we passed that job on to Dennis Erokan and went after the rest of the guys on our own. We'd all met Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith over the past few years from attending shows, and Aynsley Dunbar had donated an item to raffle off for our 2002 convention, so they all knew who we were. This made letting them know what was planned much easier and we got to hear their responses first hand.

One of our biggest concerns about the event was, would it be better to have a concert happening at the same time, and if so, how would we pull THAT off. We'd also been concerned that our earliest conversations indicated that everything would need to happen in ONE day. The logistics of that were a bit overwhelming to us, and we tried to relax while people other than us were working out the details. Not an easy task for a group of control freaks!

After several weeks of back and forth between the organizing committee and JT on behalf of the band, the date of April 25 was confirmed. Better yet, the band was working on putting together a benefit concert for that weekend!! A BIG sigh of relief for us, but it was now early February and we were looking at 11 weeks to get everything lined up. We made a list of all the things that needed to be done -- get the plaque designed, get all the permits in order for the city, and most importantly find sponsors to help pay for these expenses! This on top of getting all of the logistics for the fan convention in order too, and throw in the memorabilia for the Hard Rock Café on the side! The to do list was 3 pages long by the time we'd added everything, and that was just for things that needed to be finished by the beginning of March! We all took a look at that list and knew -- our lives would not be our own until this was done. Nearly every free moment was going to have to be put into working towards our goal. It's a good thing we all really like each other and work well together as we were practically going to be living together for three months!

With a task list that large, everyone had to take on a set of assignments. Darla was charged with dealing with the band (including past members,) Cheryl would continue working with the California Music Awards and the San Francisco bureaucracy, Leslie would take care of a lot of the leg work involved in finding hotels and buses, Mary Ann would work on sponsorship, and I would manage the budget and fan interest. All other tasks would be juggled among us as time and ability allowed, and there were many tasks and very little time!

One of the ideas that we had for the fan convention was to put together a program for the attendees -- something similar to the concert programs that were once available at any concert. We lucked out in this regard when fellow Journey fan Rob Rennert offered his talents to create artwork for us and design our program. We immediately took him up on his offer and gave him our thoughts and let him run wild with it. We also used some of the artwork he designed and plugged it in to the website that Darla and I were working on.

We began having monthly meetings with Dennis Erokan to go over all the aspects of the induction ceremony -- from contacting sponsors to how the event program would go to how contacting previous band members was going. After meeting with Dennis we'd continue planning all the other details, so 4 and 5-hour meetings were not uncommon. They would become more frequent the closer we got to April 25.

Meanwhile, we needed to come up with a design for the plaque. We got an idea of what the band wanted and shot off a quick rendition of what we thought it might look like. Ideas started passing back and forth and we coordinated with band management and Don Rich, the artist commissioned to craft the plaque. Cheryl and I took a quick visit to Don's studio in Oakland one Friday morning and got a rough idea how the plaque would be made. (This was followed by a very productive brainstorming lunch at Jack London Square! Sure beats working!)

We'd also been asked to send out formal invitations to all the band members, past and present, to follow up on the emails and phone calls that had already gone out and to help solidify the importance of the event. So invitations needed to be drafted, ordered, and a list of names gathered since we would need to reach a few other dignitaries other than the band members.

And what about the fan convention? We needed to visit hotels and confirm space. How many people did we expect?? Since we were waiting on official word about the concert, we were limited on the amount of advance notice we could put out to fans. We knew most people would be interested in attending only if there was a concert, but we couldn't say there was going to be one until the band had finalized their plans. The best we could do was estimate our numbers based on the previous year, so we focused on accommodating 90-100 people. We'd worry what do to if we got more if and when that happened. Then we got a break, we were given permission to discuss the concert with the people who had already expressed interest in attending! We knew that word would get out about the concert once we announced it, but we didn't realize just how FAST it would get out! Less than 12 hours after we were given permission to discuss the concert, it had spread like wildfire on various message forums. We had to work quickly with the Journey team to put that fire out!

And of course, the questions began. Who's coming? When will we know who's coming? So we began monitoring the fan sites and responding to questions as best we could. We knew what everyone wanted to know -- would Steve Perry be attending -- but we also knew we weren't likely to receive an answer for weeks. So the answer stayed the same -- everyone has been invited, we can't say who will be coming. (Why is it no one asked about Mike Baird?? We spent a good couple of days confirming that he was, in fact, not dead as someone had suggested!)

By the end of February, we were all feeling a bit frazzled. We needed to get the design for the plaque approved, finalize hotel and transportation arrangements, and that darned to do list didn't seem to be getting any shorter. I think this is the point where we all freaked out a little bit. This event was GOING to happen, but we had NO idea how we were going to pull it off. There was just so much to do -- I would go to bed and toss and turn and have ideas pop into my head so often that I started taking a notebook to bed and would jot things down as they popped in my head, even if that happened to be at 2:00 a.m. and I had just jolted awake shouting "We need goodie bags!" This event became the last thing we thought of before drifting off to sleep and the first thing to pop in our minds when we woke up. We'd always said Journey was a part of our daily lives, but now they were LITERALLY a part of our daily lives; with no "off" button to give us a break. We had nearly 1200 email messages to sort through between the committee mailing list and the attendee mailing list -- and that doesn't include emails sent to each other at work or questions received privately or email contact with outside parties (band, hotels, etc.) And we still had two months to go!

March came roaring in and we kept on running. We had set a deposit deadline of March 1, but since we were still waiting for an on-sale date for the concert we scrapped it and made our "final payment" date our drop-dead sign up date - April 1. We knew people were waiting for those tickets to go on sale. What our attendees didn't know, and we did, was that JT had offered us 80 tickets to sell to our attendees. Of course, we couldn't say anything about it until the ticket prices had been solidified and an on-sale date was announced. We also realized that our "maximum occupancy" had been decided for us. We only had enough tickets for 80 people - any one who wanted to attend JPP after those tickets were sold would need to be responsible for their own seats. As it turned out, we didn't need all 80 tickets, some of our attendees preferred to purchase balcony seats and our final total attendee count was 75 attendees and guests.

We got a good bit of news early on in the month, the band had agreed to come to the Hard Rock Café and present a guitar for their collection! This was just the energy jolt we needed. Every time we began to feel run down and overwhelmed, something cool like this would come along and push us back in the right direction. Of course, like so much else, our original vision of the JPP attendees in a private room with the band donating a guitar became a much larger event. A local radio station was now involved - 107.7 "The Bone" and they wanted to have contest winners come to the Hard Rock. Adding in the band and their guests, the numbers were starting to get huge -- much more than the 100 that the room could hold! Once again small and simple got overtaken by events.

With about 6 weeks remaining to get everything finished, we realized we needed to set some dead lines and work backwards for when we needed to have things done. When did we need the T-shirts? The programs? When should the formal invitations go out? And oh my god - where are we going to get the addresses we need to mail the invitations??!! That's when it hit us, we needed to have MOST things done by the end of March. Okay, time for panic to kick in again!

It was time to get it in gear in dealing with the bureaucracy that is San Francisco. First on our list was addressing the "disability access" requirements for the event. Primary in this was an audio recording to be played at the ceremony and then placed in the public library for the visually impaired. Towards that end, Cheryl set out to contact a local radio personality who had been involved in the seven previous inductions - Paul "The Lobster" Wells. Personally, I was thrilled with the prospect of having The Lobster involved -- I'd listened to him on the radio quite a bit in my college days. And - bonus! - he had an interesting Journey-esque connection, he can be heard on the Storm track "In the Raw."

Meanwhile, Mary Ann and Leslie were out beating the bushes for us trying to find sponsors. We'd struck out with local radio stations, and hoped some other companies affiliated with the band would come through. We made contact with Gibson guitars and were also pursuing Dean Markley Strings on a tip from Dennis. Hopefully one of them would come through for us.

Back in San Francisco, it was time to file the permit request to close the street for the ceremony. This meant once the permit fee was paid that someone had to attend a public hearing in order to get approval. Cheryl had been dealing with the city, but wasn't available for the hearing, so I agreed to take the morning off work and attend the hearing. I wound up taking a whole day off since I was going to need to meet with Don Rich and deliver the final plaque specs and then see Dennis to have him sign letters to all the band members congratulating them on receiving the plaque.

The hearing was an interesting experience and went fairly quickly and our street closure was approved on the condition that we pay for four hours of a parking control officer. Woo hoo more fees! Here's hoping that a sponsor comes through soon, because we're finding more expenses that we had anticipated! After the hearing I walked over to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to verify the order of the plaques for yet another permit that Cheryl was working on. I looked at the order of the plaques and figured that the preferred location for Journey's plaque would be next to Jefferson Airplane rather than at the other end near Metallica.

I headed home for a few hours and made some follow-up phone calls -- what was the status on the formal invitations, and where the heck were the checks for the bank account I'd opened to handle the funds from JPP???!!! Soon it was time to hit the road and see Don and Dennis, so it was back in my car for the drive across the bay. I quickly dropped of the final version of the plaque design for Don to work from then headed off to my meeting with Dennis. We were meeting at a Starbucks in Lafayette and I arrived early so I stood outside waiting for him. He pulled up in his SUV a short while later with his cell phone to his ear -- a perfectly normal routine for the Bay Area! He signaled to me that he saw me and needed to finish the call. It was worth the wait. When he got out and we sat down in Starbucks he told me he had been talking to a representative from Dean Markley Strings and that they would put up about half of the funds we needed! Woo hoo!!!!! Things were rolling now!

Having a sponsor come through was another energizing moment for us and we were able to breathe a little easier. We were still short on our total projected expenses, but we had confidence that it would come through. Where and how we didn't know, but we are all firm believers in the power of positive thinking -- it would work out. It had to.

Reality infringed on our plans in March when the war in Iraq began. Besides having general concerns about whether or not people would still want to travel in such uncertain times, a quick look at the news showed the general sentiment towards the war in San Francisco. Protestors shut down the city for a few days and the thought crossed our minds -- what if this keeps up until April? Will the city allow us to have an event if their resources are busy handling large crowds of protestors? Fortunately that fear was unfounded as the protests became smaller and scattered through out the Bay Area and any impact on our plans would be minimal. So long as people were still willing to travel.

March was winding down quickly and time for us to scramble around getting all of our deadlines met. Over the weeks, Rob had been sending the program he had been designing page by page. Leslie and I had done some of the leg work for research and a call went out to everyone for scans of their memorabilia, but all the design and creative work was done by Rob. As each page came through we were amazed. Our original idea was to have a program with a yearbook kind of theme to it, but nothing we had mocked up could even remotely compare with the incredible job Rob was doing for us!