Interesting Read

[Saint John]

Yes it’s true, the hard drive crashed and there was poor Steve Augeri naked with his real voicals coming through the P.A.
Deen Castronovo (who can play all SteveSmith’s Drum parts while singing all of Perry’s vocal parts perfectly) saved the day by jumping off the drum riser and taking over vocals. His roadie took over drumming.
No one has heard Steve Augeri sing for 3 years. I did a video of them in 1999 at Concord Pavillion and poor Stevie (a very nice guy) was having trouble even then. People told me it was the best Video of Journey they had ever seen, all except Neal Schon who watched my video and cringed as Augeri regularly went off key and his voice cracked. Neal has perfect pitch. Herbie Herbert (former Journey Manager) told me “Man when I first heard Augeri’s audition tape, I said he owns these songs.”
But the following year Stevei A. was in trouble, by the time they did the Live DVD Video from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nocturne (The video production company formerly owned by Schon & Herbert) had two isolate all of Stevie A.’s vocal tracks and “Fix” them in Pro-Tools, correcting pitch etc. A deviated septum surgery didn’t help matters at all.
When you watch my videos “Concord & Beyond” &”Fillmore Boogie” on the www.journeymusic.com website (Click on “Fan Club” then “Photos & Videos” to download, you’ll notice I had to take Stevie A. out of both videos or they never would’ve seen the light of day.
Former Journey guitar wizard/composer George Tickner told me yesterday “It’s pathetic, now they’re only in it for the money”. Former Production Manager Allen Craft also is “Feelin’ That Way” he said to me “You can’t stop the Gravy Train” .
Seems like this Gravy Train has de-railed itself, now it’s a Crazy Train. By the way I was at Skywalker Rance when Journey recorded “Trial By Fire” and Steve Perry was pleasant and could still sing great. If they had waited until Perry decided to have surgery on his own and not gone out with Augeri, Perry would still be with them today. I always said “Hell, just put him in a wheel chair and get him to the show and “Wheel In This Guy”.
Oh well as Perry said to Jonathan Cain “You know there’s no going back”

Ted Oliphant
Las Vegas, Nevada tedoliphant@hotmail.com

[Deb]

I have to say, they weren't using tape for all 2005 concerts. I have seen one from around July 2005 (think it is Konocti?). And while Deen sounds great on Patiently, Where were you, Somthing to Hide and La Do Da........Steve A sounded awful (voice cracking, hoarse, I actually thought he might have laryngitis or something at least for the first half - 2/3 of the show. Deen did some more bg. I chalked it up to maybe needing more warmup or something or it being long shows (3 hours). This was before I heard anything about tapes. First time I saw Neal's SSB....amazing, but I found RV's Walks like a Lady almost painful to watch.

[A Fire Inside]

Former Journey guitar wizard/composer George Tickner told me yesterday “It’s pathetic, now they’re only in it for the money”.

[Monker]

Former Journey guitar wizard/composer George Tickner told me yesterday “It’s pathetic, now they’re only in it for the money”.

Yeah, I thought that was funny too. Since Rich is such a buddy of Tickner's, wonder what Tickner has said to him.

The wheelchair thing was funny too...If Perry wouldn't even sit on a stool and SING AT THE GRAMMY's, why would anybody think it would tour, or was interested in Journey AT ALL? It's wishful thinking...If this guy is so into AllenC's quotes, why doesn't he quote some of the things he said about Perry?

[ArnelRox]

Where did u see this? Damn.

[L~L~L]

Wow... St John, where did you acquire this from? Very interesting read indeed.

[Saint John]

Wow... St John, where did you acquire this from? Very interesting read indeed.

Same place I got this.

"Umm Rolling Stone…..you do know that the fan that “uncovered” this and called Journey oput on it also had six months to live in 2004 because he was dying of cancer(miraculous recovery), gave Sylvester Stallone the Journey Generations cd to use in the upcoming Rocky 6 movie and Sly contacted him about it, (we’re still waiting for him to post the letter Sly sent), and in January of this year, he killed three people while driving an Amtrak train in California when their pickup got stuck on the tracks. He is a very “reliable” source. GREAT job researching where you get your stories from!"




I'm assuming this dude is referring to Deano. It IS a blog, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt. Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/i ... -deceivin/

[SteveForever]

What strange and unexpected twists that have occured in the lives of these men. Its so depressing to find out the band was so "broken". Their management was like an overprotective mother whose well-intentions nearly ruined them.

[Andrew]

BS - closing!