Dear Neal Schon,
I have been working on this letter now since you started the revelations tour anxiously awaiting your show in seattle. First let me start by saying I forgive you for all the past singers. Augeri...(a feeble attempt at replacing the “voice” who I shall now refer to as “the mute” ) reminded me of Kenny G with the face of Data from Star Trek. I forgive you for that blunder. You should have left him at the Gap, but I digress. As far as Soto was concerned, I havent forgiven you yet for that faux pas. I didnt realize Randy Savage of the WWF also sang.I hear Hulk Hogan was interested in that spot. Wrong voice, wrong face, wrong band.Did Tony Soprano coerce you into that decision? The Seattle performance was to say the least phenomenol and well worth the loooonnngg wait and endless nights watching recent shows on You Tube. Because of your fortunate efforts of finding .Pineda...all is now forgiven Mr. Schon , all is now forgiven. The show tonight was to say the least cosmic, sublime, and ethereal and that’s without the influence of the THC cloud the guy next to me was creating from his porta- b_ _ g. My only disappointing comment was the chunky drunk 55 year old lady to my right who kept rocking side to side asking me if I could set her up with anyone who was in her age range. To make matters worse she had the gaul to tell me she was an SP fan. Nevertheless, the night was memorable especially when the crowd went wild over Faithfully. The other older lady in front of me who I’m sure was a die hard fan was noticeably crying during the song. All I can add is the voice was right, the energy level palpable, the kharma rockin. It was like hearing Perry without the silly leopard yellow jacket and autism style of fan acknowledgement. Such fond memories of rockin out with the boys once again. Perry had a memorable voice and we owe him all a debt of gratitude for his contributions, but like a man with head trauma, I have since forgotten him and all the hoop la la he caused. I’m sure there will always be that one percentile of die hard fans that write their boo hoo blogs about how things will never be like they used to be and I unfortunately sat by her while she was drunk. But frankly, the life expectancy of that one percent by now is very low. So on to the new generation of journey fans. So lets wipe away those nay sayers with the proverbial Journey two ply toilet paper. May the negative bloggers soon rest in peace. The months of waiting for the concert to arrive were worth every night watching other concerts on you tube. I even closed my clinic just to make sure I was well rested and ready to rock out. The traffic sucked but the crowd was surprisingly a nice mix of the young , middle aged, and incontinent.Well worth the thousands of dollars of lost daily revenue for closing my work early and having to pay my staff for not working...well worth it!!!I want you to know Neal that I will most likely be unable to make my car payment for this month now..but its all good. You did good Neal..you did good. Pineda’s humility in character and powerful voice will serve you well in the years to come. He is your new jedi so train him well as Darth Perryius has gone to the dark side now and is beyond reclaiming.News has it that he’s trying to make his own band with some ewoks. I wouldnt even know where to begin describing what I enjoyed during the concert.. It just brought you back to a happier youthful innocent time in life..you know, the teenage mall walking, no bill paying, pimple faced googie eyed over hot girls days. As a die hard fan who listened to your vinyl records until the grooves were gone, who reveled in your triumphs and mourned your separation and fall from fame, who endured the painful sounds of Kenny G and Randy Savage as your frontmen, who felt your anguish and sense of futility of finding the right singer for your band, I am happy to know that yes your hard work has paid off. So to you Neal Schon...and to your band mates...a toast to you all for a life well lived and a long journey yet to be enjoyed and travelled. The best is yet to be...oh yes...the best is yet to be. Rock On!!! Gracias for the awesome Seattle show.
