What ya listening to?

FWIW a former manager of mine who'd formerly was two of C&W's biggest star road-managers once told me that Hells Angels did security for one of their concerts and they had ZERO, I mean ZERO problems.
 
I used to teach motorcycle safety in RI, where some kind of safety class was required to get a Motorcycle Endorsement on your license. We had two types of classes: one for noobs or near-noobs where we would start from the very beginning with straddle walking and friction zone and whatnot. The second type was for "experienced" riders either from out-of-state, dirt-bike riders and/or riders caught by police without an endorsement. In the latter case, the judge would often dismiss the charges if they showed up for court with proof of taking the class/new MC endorsement on their license.

Such was the case with a Hell's Angel that showed up for one of the experienced courses. He showed up with a couple of other HAs all on their choppers with ape-hangers and straight pipes. :) Technically, he was breaking the law by showing up riding a bike but I and most other instructors didn't give a shit when an experienced rider showed up on a bike. :cool: We're there to train them, not bust them. And the experience course was often abbreviated--it was scheduled for 4 hours but we would often be done in 1-2 hours. As our names would go on the course completion certificate, we DID have to make sure they knew how to ride our little 250cc bikes. If you can ride a small bike, you can ride a big bike. We'd run them through a few basic exercises with stopping and turning and so on, try to teach a few pointers, discuss amongst ourselves whether or not everyone was good to go and if so, sign off on them. Occasionally but infrequently, we'd tell someone they needed to take the full class because their skills weren't up to par.

As for the HA, he did OK but was clearly annoyed to have to be there. :D We treated him just like the rest of the class of about 10 riders. "Get your eyes up--look ahead!" "Turn your head--look where you want to go!" and so on. He passed as did the rest of the riders. When he left he laid about a 30' patch of rubber as did his buddies! :D
 
Racer88 said:
No backing tracks. No auto-tune. No lip-syncing. Just pure talent. I think they sound better live than the studio version. This is also my favorite Journey song.


View: https://x.com/MusicJim2/status/1988670704561336407?s=20
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Journey in their prime, and with the classic lineup- Perry, Schon, Cain, Valory, & Smith (Smitty) on drums. Yeah, baybee!! Huge fan here.

I will say that Dean Castronovo not only fills Smitty’s shoes well, he also NAILS Perry’s vocals on “Mother, Father…”. LIVE and while nailing the drum parts. Just phenomenal.

But I digress. Journey has announced they are retiring after their 2026 tour.
 
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One Ping Only said:
Journey in their prime, and with the classic lineup- Perry, Schon, Cain, Valory, & Smith (Smitty) on drums. Yeah, baybee!! Huge fan here.

I will say that Dean Castronovo not only fills Smitty’s shoes well, he also NAILS Perry’s vocals on “Mother, Father…”. LIVE and while nailing the drum parts. Just phenomenal.

But I digress. Journey has announced they are returning after their 2026 tour.
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Do they have ANY of the original band left? I have not followed them at all since Perry left.
 
Racer88 said:
Do they have ANY of the original band left? I have not followed them at all since Perry left.
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If you go back to the original lineup in 1973, Schon is the only one. It’s his “brand” he maintains he established. Truth is, Herbie Herbert formed the group to be a crack studio band for various artists…they moved out of that niche and Herbie more or less let Neal run with it. He was like a dad to Neal, but also a ruthless, or at best, relentless promoter that nearly ran the band into the ground for the sake of massive profits. And at one time they were ultra wealthy, each earning, while onstage 45,000 a minute in the mid-80’s. They owned much SF real estate and what not. Herbie had them set up for life.

But dysfunctional lives, numerous divorces, etc brought it all down to a shadow of what they once had.

You can only push a thoroughbred horse so hard. Perry, his voice “feeling toasty” as he put it, buy then saw the writing on the wall and got out while they were “on top”. He told the guys he didn’t want to see them relegated to a sideshow “nostalgia band” at fairs and what not..
 
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One Ping Only said:
If you go back to the original lineup in 1973, Schon is the only one. It’s his “brand” he maintains he established. Truth is, Herbie Herbert formed the group to be a crack studio band for various artists…they moved out of that niche and Herbie more or less let Neal run with it. He was like a dad to Neal, but also a ruthless, or at best, relentless promoter that nearly ran the band into the ground for the sake of massive profits. And at one time they were ultra wealthy, each earning, while onstage 45,000 a minute in the mid-80’s. They owned much SF real estate and what not. Herbie had them set up for life.

But dysfunctional lives, numerous divorces, etc brought it all down to a shadow of what they once had.

You can only push a thoroughbred horse so hard. Perry, his voice “feeling toasty” as he put it, buy then saw the writing on the wall and got out on top. He told the guys he didn’t want to see them relegated to a sideshow band at fairs and what not..
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I thought Perry got out because of a DEEP divide (they've never spoken since) he had with the other members. I seem to recall he had to take a break for health reasons, and the rest of the band said "come back or we're going on without you." So he left.... very bitter.
 
Racer88 said:
I thought Perry got out because of a DEEP divide (they've never spoken since) he had with the other members. I seem to recall he had to take a break for health reasons, and the rest of the band said "come back or we're going on without you." So he left.... very bitter.
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It was a combination of things. The first time he left (in the middle of the Raised On Radio tour in what, 86, he was burned-out, his voice was feeling "toasty" and after personal demons, his mom passing and life going quickly by when they were doing a massive amount of shows year after year, he left the band.

There as rumor that Steve had lost his voice at the time. UNTRUE. I say that for two reasons, first, I have a good friend whose band was hired to play Steve's Birthday Party at his Hanford home one year, and during their set, Steve jumped up on stage and did a Sam Cooke song with them, and tore it up. "Whatever the rumors are, I heard it firsthand, Steve still has his voice" is what my friend said. Then, a few years later when Perry did his Solo album For The Love Of Strange Medicine, we saw his concert at the Warnor's Theater in Fresno, and though he wasn't say, in Infiniti Album form at this Zenith, he still tore it up- Faithfully, etc he pulled off well, but I understand that tour was a mixed bag for him- neurotic in a way and I mean no disrespect. ie: "Is my voice going to work tonight, or it is going to SUCK?" every single night before the show.

Again, you don't run a thoroughbred into the ground, and Herbie Herbert all but did that. Guitarists can heal their fingers, drummers their hands, but you don't screw with vocal cords. It's true. As both a guitarist AND a singer, I can vouch for that 100%.

The hip issue is when he left the band a second time after their reunification album Trial By Fire in the 90's, and they didn't go out to tour because of Steve's hip. They finally tired of waiting, and I can see both sides, "hey- we need to tour for album support", and "hey I'm in pain and I'll decide when I go under the knife"...he told them after they revealed they had been "checking-out other singers" which threw him for a loop and, told them 'well go ahead but don't call it Journey'. "Don't crack the stone". They decided otherwise and Steve called up his attorneys "to get the divorce papers filed"....geeze such ugly, personality stuff. I'm not taking sides. I can see both their views. And Perry inasmuch admitted they weren't getting along anymore and couldn't stand to be around each other for very long. I beleive he took personal responsibility for his own bad behavior- he also has not mended fences, nor does he intend to from what I gather, with Jonathan Cain. I have my suspicions as to WHY but don't know it to be fact, so I'll shut up about it.
 
A true story- another close friend of mine went to one of Smitty's drum clinics some years ago. At one point, he had some personal time with Steve Smith, and said to my friend "so you want to know how it was with Journey, right? Well let me paint you a picture, (put his sticks down and had a chat). The Limo picks me up at the house- my drums are already on the way, the limo takes me to the airport- I get on the (private) jet, and the jet takes me to the town of the venue, I get off the plane and into another limo that takes me to the hotel, and then to the venue that night. I get out of the limo, my drum tech has my set dialed and ready, we play the gig, then I get back into the limo, go to the hotel, and so forth. Meanwhile, wife is at home alone and having a nervous breakdown because it's Christmas and her husband isn't there...."

Those guys ended up being a (very productive) cash cow for the Industry, and that was first and foremost. Keep the cash train running. So sad.
 
Currently listening to the sounds of a Entitled 120lb German Shepherd breathing heavy, sighing and whinning because I got cold an came inside
 

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