OK........

[Deb]

.....allow me to whine for a minute.

But looking at my sig and seeing Billy and Eric shoulder to shoulder, drinks in hand and big smiles after all these years.........just makes me smile bigtime. It took one phone call and a dinner at Paul and his wife's to get everybody back together. They all seem to have moved on and their live chemistry is off the charts. Why oh why can't somebody just lock Steve and Neal in a room too until they hug it out.

What I wouldn't give to see a little set like this with Perry and Schon.........smiles and laughter included. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAcJQzNjQw

[SilvioRodrigues]

.....allow me to whine for a minute.

But looking at my sig and seeing Billy and Eric shoulder to shoulder, drinks in hand and big smiles after all these years.........just makes me smile bigtime. It took one phone call and a dinner at Paul and his wife's to get everybody back together. They all seem to have moved on and their live chemistry is off the charts. Why oh why can't somebody just lock Steve and Neal in a room too until they hug it out.

What I wouldn't give to see a little set like this with Perry and Schon.........smiles and laughter included. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAcJQzNjQw

Deb, Mr Big confirmed today 2 shows in Brazil !!! I'll have the oppurtunity to see this amazing band playing live!!!

[Deb]

.....allow me to whine for a minute.

But looking at my sig and seeing Billy and Eric shoulder to shoulder, drinks in hand and big smiles after all these years.........just makes me smile bigtime. It took one phone call and a dinner at Paul and his wife's to get everybody back together. They all seem to have moved on and their live chemistry is off the charts. Why oh why can't somebody just lock Steve and Neal in a room too until they hug it out.

What I wouldn't give to see a little set like this with Perry and Schon.........smiles and laughter included. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAcJQzNjQw

Deb, Mr Big confirmed today 2 shows in Brazil !!! I'll have the oppurtunity to see this amazing band playing live!!!

Yay! ENJOY, they're going to rock your socks off!

[NoMoreTails]

.....allow me to whine for a minute.

But looking at my sig and seeing Billy and Eric shoulder to shoulder, drinks in hand and big smiles after all these years.........just makes me smile bigtime. It took one phone call and a dinner at Paul and his wife's to get everybody back together. They all seem to have moved on and their live chemistry is off the charts. Why oh why can't somebody just lock Steve and Neal in a room too until they hug it out.

What I wouldn't give to see a little set like this with Perry and Schon.........smiles and laughter included. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAcJQzNjQw

Hey, Neal gave Punxsutawney Perry an invitation (through an interview) to get on stage at any show he wished durning the Augeri era. Its pretty clear that Perry isn't interested in being friendly with any of them if he won't eve communicate with Smitty.
The question is whether BS would have been so happy to see EM if he could no longer sing. Did Billy convert to Scientology since the big MrB blowup?
On a side note, I miss their MR titles....Mr Gone, Mr Never..., etc

[Saint John]

Steve can't even sing a step down. The end.

[Deb]

.....allow me to whine for a minute.

But looking at my sig and seeing Billy and Eric shoulder to shoulder, drinks in hand and big smiles after all these years.........just makes me smile bigtime. It took one phone call and a dinner at Paul and his wife's to get everybody back together. They all seem to have moved on and their live chemistry is off the charts. Why oh why can't somebody just lock Steve and Neal in a room too until they hug it out.

What I wouldn't give to see a little set like this with Perry and Schon.........smiles and laughter included. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAcJQzNjQw

Hey, Neal gave Punxsutawney Perry an invitation (through an interview) to get on stage at any show he wished durning the Augeri era. Its pretty clear that Perry isn't interested in being friendly with any of them if he won't eve communicate with Smitty.
The question is whether BS would have been so happy to see EM if he could no longer sing. Did Billy convert to Scientology since the big MrB blowup?
On a side note, I miss their MR titles....Mr Gone, Mr Never..., etc

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend. Like as if that would work? I truly think there is still some bro-love hidden in there between Schon and Perry and truth be told I don't really wish a Journey reunion, just would love to see Schon and Perry work together again in some aspect. What I wouldn't give to even just see a little creative accoustic show like I posted above with Schon and Perry.

As far as the Scientology I think Billy has been for long time.

And agreed, I loooooove Mr Gone, showcases there killer harmonies and I totally dig EM's R&Bish vocal run near the end there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1MahZfFFFY

[Deb]

*Edit.......I guess BS has been, since at least the early 70s as per this interview.

GB: I would like to move into an area that involves your beliefs now. As I said before, answer these only if you feel you want to. Am I right in saying that you are involved in the Church of Scientology?

Billy: This summer is my 30 year anniversary.

GB: Why is it that no one seems to refer to the fact that you are a Scientologist? A lot of high profile performer folk who are members go through a lot of media hassles because of this affiliation and their beliefs.

Billy: I am not a proselytizer. If I was a Christian (I have great respect for their religion), or a Buddhist (again, great respect for that philosophy too), I wouldn't necessarily be out there talking about it. I believe in trying to be the best example you can be. Again, if someone is interested in what I am into, I'd be glad to tell them a little bit about it. But it's very important for people to find out on their own.

[Saint John]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend.

I *believe* that the terms were Perry's to choose and that they said "a song, show, shows or tour." Really, what they were saying was, "Your job is here waiting for you whenever you want it back, but we simply can't wait any longer while you play fucking games." Turns out that the decision to move on without him was, undeniably, 100% correct.

[Don]

*Edit.......I guess BS has been, since at least the early 70s as per this interview.

GB: I would like to move into an area that involves your beliefs now. As I said before, answer these only if you feel you want to. Am I right in saying that you are involved in the Church of Scientology?

Billy: This summer is my 30 year anniversary.

GB: Why is it that no one seems to refer to the fact that you are a Scientologist? A lot of high profile performer folk who are members go through a lot of media hassles because of this affiliation and their beliefs.

Billy: I am not a proselytizer. If I was a Christian (I have great respect for their religion), or a Buddhist (again, great respect for that philosophy too), I wouldn't necessarily be out there talking about it. I believe in trying to be the best example you can be. Again, if someone is interested in what I am into, I'd be glad to tell them a little bit about it. But it's very important for people to find out on their own.

It's an expensive religion to be part of. While not one myself, I work for a company that incorporates it's teaching into out business model. For those in our company who are members, the pressure to contribute financially to different programs and courses administered by the church, supposedly towards the individual's own betterment is tremendous.

[ebake02]

Steve can't even sing a step down. The end.

I've often wondered it that's the main reason for him avoiding the music scene. We all know Neal has offered on more than one occasion for Steve to join them on stage and I'll bet that quite a few concert promoters and record executives have offered shit tons of cash for a reunion tour and/or concert and/or album, especially after DSB and the Sopranos. If SP still had a voice we would've saw a reunion by now, after all, money talks. Money has brought "enemies" of the same stage more than once. Diamond Dave and the Van Halen Brothers, Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, Glenn Frey and Don Henley.......

[Michigan Girl]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend. Like as if that would work?

Can't blame him either!! If my boyfriend dumped me, via phone call by someone
else, and then publicly invited me over for a roll in the hay, I
wouldn't have gone running back!!

[Don]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend. Like as if that would work?

Can't blame him either!! If my boyfriend dumped me, via phone call by someone
else, and then publicly invited me over for a roll in the hay, I
wouldn't have gone running either!!

Bad analogy. If my girlfriend wouldn't let me fuck her for over a year because her hip hurt but didn't even offer to give me a blow job or even jerk me off in the meantime, I'd have to make that call too.

[Deb]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend. Like as if that would work?

Can't blame him either!! If my boyfriend dumped me, via phone call by someone
else, and then publicly invited me over for a roll in the hay, I
wouldn't have gone running either!!

Bad analogy. If my girlfriend wouldn't let me fuck her for over a year because her hip hurt but didn't even offer to give me a blow job or even jerk me off in the meantime, I'd have to make that call too.

Ok I luv SP, but THAT was funny!

[Michigan Girl]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend. Like as if that would work?

Can't blame him either!! If my boyfriend dumped me, via phone call by someone
else, and then publicly invited me over for a roll in the hay, I
wouldn't have gone running either!!

Bad analogy. If my girlfriend wouldn't let me fuck her for over a year because her hip hurt but didn't even offer to give me a blow job or even jerk me off in the meantime, I'd have to make that call too.

...your jealousy,constant nagging, pressure and inability to satisfy was a major turnoff!!!
It was time to move on!!

[portland]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend. Like as if that would work?

Can't blame him either!! If my boyfriend dumped me, via phone call by someone
else, and then publicly invited me over for a roll in the hay, I
wouldn't have gone running either!!

Bad analogy. If my girlfriend wouldn't let me fuck her for over a year because her hip hurt but didn't even offer to give me a blow job or even jerk me off in the meantime, I'd have to make that call too.

...your jealousy,constant nagging, pressure and inability to satisfy was a major turnoff!!!
It was time to move on!!

Yes that was funny Deb but so was that! ^^^^^

[Saint John]

In all honesty, I think Jon's call to Steve Perry was pretty classy. You know that Perry would have "lawyered up" and had management and/or a team of lawyers make that call. Perhaps I'm wrong and Perry personally called Ross and Smitty when he decided to oust them, but I doubt it.

And I think Jon's call, more than anything, was really a last attempt at salvaging the lineup and that took a lot of balls. Jon is obviously a lot more articulate and intelligent than Neal, and he was probably the calmest and most rational voice to try and persuade Perry to get off of his ass and work. But people acting like Jon enjoyed washing 20+ years of band history down the toilet and losing the band's most recognizable member is just plain crazy. I bet that call hurt Neal and Jon just as much as it did Perry. Probably more so, because Perry already knew it was over and was just playing games. Neal and Jon probably got hit with the cold, heard truth right then. And that had to really suck.

[Don]

Perry could have but didn't try to meet the band at least half way during all of this. Journey could have saved face with promoters by doing a dozen or more theater shows geared around the ballads on TBF and other classics done acoustically. They all could have sat on stools, even video recording it for Sony to have an additional product to put it on the market.
Of course that didn't happen and I think so occurred one of the bigger mistakes Neal and Company made. They should have bought Perry out.
At that time, the Journey catalog was a nice collection but projected royalties were not beyond the norm based off of the current and past activity. Perry has shown a penchant for quick cash over investment by his liquidation of all the real estate property the band had acquired under the guidance of Herbie. As soon as he mentioned getting a slice of the concert receipts for X amount of years, the band should have offered a clean break with 20 million dollars for him to go away. Perry would still continue to collect song writing royalties but would forfeit rights to licensing income and having any say in how Journey used the catalog moving forward.
Other acts have done this, or had members who signed away their rights freely because they wanted a lump sum of cash for whatever reason (See Steve Tyler).
I think, based on past actions by Perry and what he was asking for as part of the divorce, this could have been a successful action.
All that said, once Family Guy and the stint with the Chi-Sox happened, half a decade later, the value of the back catalog quadrupled and so ended any hopes of removing band member #6 from being a major player and benefactor in future usage of the Journey brand.
I could be wrong and the band may have tried going that route but seeing how things have turned out, perhaps they should have tried harder.


Multiple edits are due to my sucky grammar.

[Deb]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend. Like as if that would work?

Can't blame him either!! If my boyfriend dumped me, via phone call by someone
else, and then publicly invited me over for a roll in the hay, I
wouldn't have gone running either!!

Bad analogy. If my girlfriend wouldn't let me fuck her for over a year because her hip hurt but didn't even offer to give me a blow job or even jerk me off in the meantime, I'd have to make that call too.

...your jealousy,constant nagging, pressure and inability to satisfy was a major turnoff!!!
It was time to move on!!

Yes that was funny Deb but so was that! ^^^^^

True dat!

[brywool]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend.

I *believe* that the terms were Perry's to choose and that they said "a song, show, shows or tour." Really, what they were saying was, "Your job is here waiting for you whenever you want it back, but we simply can't wait any longer while you play fucking games." Turns out that the decision to move on without him was, undeniably, 100% correct.

Have to agree. SP was given YEARS to sort our his personal stuff. While he said he was toast, he was making solo records. What kind of message did that send Journey? In the end, they STILL held up the car and waited for him. Smith put his jazz career on hold only to have Perry derail that. At the 11th hour (literally) all the sudden, Perry couldn't do it without a major surgery and he kept the band waiting while he mulled that over. Wouldn't make a decision and wasted all the effort that the band had put forth with TBF. Sorry, but he did (injury or not).

Very like the Dennis Deyoung situation. Dennis had been pretty dictatorial with Styx (as had SP) throughout their career. The band resented it and his constant pushing into territories they didn't want to go to. Just like Journey. They get the band back together (which was hard enough), have a successful tour and then all the sudden Dennis gets sick and starts jerking the band around and making them wait for him, etc.

I think it boils down to "great, once again we are going to be led around the nose by this same member. I don't have a lot of sympathy for him after the way we were treated for so long. After so much time of not doing this, I have realized life is too short and I want to move ahead on my own with this project. Who's with me?"

Hit generators or not, these two guys jerked their bands around in prior years. It was like these guys cried wolf too many times. In the end, the bands said the heck with it and moved on without the members.

You gotta wonder that if both bands didn't have so much time off in prior years, would they have been able to have kept it together? I think having that time off, they each gained so much autonomy and independence that they were irked by the one member trying to dictate the whole thing.

[SF-Dano]

Perry could have but didn't try to meet the band at least half way during all of this. Journey could have saved face with promoters by doing a dozen or more theater shows geared around the ballads on TBF and other classics done acoustically. They all could have sat on stools, even video recording it for Sony to have an additional product to put it on the market.
Of course that didn't happen and I think so occurred one of the bigger mistakes Neal and Company made. They should have bought Perry out.
At that time, the Journey catalog was a nice collection but projected royalties were not beyond the norm based off of the current and past activity. Perry has shown a penchant for quick cash over investment by his liquidation of all the real estate property the band had acquired under the guidance of Herbie. As soon as he mentioned getting a slice of the concert receipts for X amount of years, the band should have offered a clean break with 20 million dollars for him to go away. Perry would still continue to collect song writing royalties but would forfeit rights to licensing income and having any say in how Journey used the catalog moving forward.
Other acts have done this, or had members who signed away their rights freely because they wanted a lump sum of cash for whatever reason (See Steve Tyler).
I think, based on past actions by Perry and what he was asking for as part of the divorce, this could have been a successful action.
All that said, once Family Guy and the stint with the Chi-Sox happened, half a decade later, the value of the back catalog quadrupled and so ended any hopes of removing band member #6 from being a major player and benefactor in future usage of the Journey brand.
I could be wrong and the band may have tried going that route but seeing how things have turned out, perhaps they should have tried harder.


Multiple edits are due to my sucky grammar.

Do you think those guys had 20 million to give Perry then. That is a large some of money even for those guys. I mean wasn't Ross in bankruptcy by that point in time? Would have been a good move on their part, but I don't think they personally had the $$$ to make that kind of deal then.

[Deb]

Steve can't even sing a step down. The end.

I've often wondered it that's the main reason for him avoiding the music scene. We all know Neal has offered on more than one occasion for Steve to join them on stage and I'll bet that quite a few concert promoters and record executives have offered shit tons of cash for a reunion tour and/or concert and/or album, especially after DSB and the Sopranos. If SP still had a voice we would've saw a reunion by now, after all, money talks. Money has brought "enemies" of the same stage more than once. Diamond Dave and the Van Halen Brothers, Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, Glenn Frey and Don Henley.......

For some bands/people it just isn't all about the money.........

Like the part about touring with the Rush guys.


Chris: Speaking of the Mr. Big reunion Billy, um, clearly you were able to put the lineup back togeter. The original lineup. And there was some bad blood between the members which eventually did end the band. How do you get past that? You know, without the fear of it creeping back in to things once you guys are out and spending time together again, out on the road and whatnot?

Billy: Well, you change your ways. Change your point of view. Evolve. Grow up a little bit more. And forgive, and forget. Without un-acknowledging what went on before, we had a deal where Richie Kotzen was in the band for a while. We love Richie, Richie is a dear frend of all of us. Paul’s, Eric’s, mine and Pat’s. And we just thought, if we’re going to do it again, and make a lot of people happy… (my inbox is packed with e-mails, and they’re just very pleased people.) we kinda… it’s our duty to make it happen for real, and do it for real. So to make sure these things don’t crop up again, we just sat down and had a long conversation about everything that went on. I think we cleared the air very well, very effectively. Some of the elements that were around us before are no longer around us. As I said, we’ve evolved, all of us have evolved as people, and as players. And it happens with every band. It happens all the time. It happens with every relationship.

Chris: Sure.

Billy: You move on. You figure it out and move up. So, I’m real happy to be back with all the guys. Even if we weren’t playing, just the fact that we’re all friends again, is… it makes me very happy. So, that’s good. On top of it, the icing on the cake is that we are playing together again, yeah, which is fantastic.

Chris: Sure. Now is it difficult from the business side to bring it back together? And the reason I ask is because, as you come back… Eric has a manager, and you have a manager, and Paul has a manager… it’s bringing a lot to the table.

Billy: Yeah. We actually allowed one manager to take care of everything. One guy. So we have a unified thing, one manager behind… he’s just a fantastic, experienced, world-reknowned expert. He knows exactly what to do, and we’re very confident with him. That he’s running this show and doing great, and keeping things from the band, so we can get on with making music and not to get involved with any of that stuff. With all the problems before. So that’s a real good thing that we put in right away that fits right up, to make sure that things go smoothly and easily, so that’s really good. The business side pretty much takes care of itself. Once the promoters found out we were back together, the offers came rolling in, in Japan. And Budokan… Budokan sold out. I tell people Budokan sold out in 5 minutes, but in fact it sold out in 3 minutes.

Chris: Wow. Jeez.

Billy: 5 minutes (because) three minutes sounded too unbelievable. So I lied, and said it was 5. So it’s all good. What a good feeling to be back together and enjoying the situation. Something like that. It’s a good thing.

Chris: Absolutely. Billy I want to look back a little bit. I actually have seen Mr. Big 3 or 4 times. But 2 times, specifically, I saw you guys with Rush. I know you as one of these virtuoso type players. You know, to be out there on a tour and be able to see Neil Peart every night, that had to be somethin’. As a musician. Not only like as a player, but to watch somebody of equal caliber on a different instrument… how was it?

Billy: We had a blast. One thing that I’ve gotta say about the guys in Rush… Many people don’t actually know them personally. What a nice bunch! We had a great time. They’re the most friendly, gracious, generous people you could imagine. Nothing makes me happier then when I meet someone that’s famous or well known, and happens to be an incredible person, and Geddy, Alex, and Neil were three of the finest people I’ve ever met. The were so nice to us. Uh, on top of being spectacular players. So it’s always good to see that. Cause many times you see someone who’s a great player, but maybe catch ‘em on a bad day or something like that, and you wonder what kind of person they are. But the guys in Rush, they were spectacular, it was just fantastic. They were so nice to Mr. Big. They took us out on tour with them twice. Uh, we played a lot of big shows with those guys. Neil is just incredible. Geddy, awesome. Alex… who can say more about Geddy’s bass playing, it’s great. It was an amazing experience.

Chris: Absolutely. Was Mr. Big really well received? Because obviously what you guys were doing at the time was far different then what Rush has ever done.

Billy: We did real good. In fact, Geddy commented that it’s the first time he’d seen girls in the front row at a Rush show since they played in Toronto.

[Don]

Come on NMT, as if. That would be like MB replacing Eric and then extending an invite to join them up on stage with the new girlfriend.

I *believe* that the terms were Perry's to choose and that they said "a song, show, shows or tour." Really, what they were saying was, "Your job is here waiting for you whenever you want it back, but we simply can't wait any longer while you play fucking games." Turns out that the decision to move on without him was, undeniably, 100% correct.

Have to agree. SP was given YEARS to sort our his personal stuff. While he said he was toast, he was making solo records. What kind of message did that send Journey? In the end, they STILL held up the car and waited for him. Smith put his jazz career on hold only to have Perry derail that. At the 11th hour (literally) all the sudden, Perry couldn't do it without a major surgery and he kept the band waiting while he mulled that over. Wouldn't make a decision and wasted all the effort that the band had put forth with TBF. Sorry, but he did (injury or not).

Very like the Dennis Deyoung situation. Dennis had been pretty dictatorial with Styx (as had SP) throughout their career. The band resented it and his constant pushing into territories they didn't want to go to. Just like Journey. They get the band back together (which was hard enough), have a successful tour and then all the sudden Dennis gets sick and starts jerking the band around and making them wait for him, etc.

I think it boils down to "great, once again we are going to be led around the nose by this same member. I don't have a lot of sympathy for him after the way we were treated for so long. After so much time of not doing this, I have realized life is too short and I want to move ahead on my own with this project. Who's with me?"

Hit generators or not, these two guys jerked their bands around in prior years. It was like these guys cried wolf too many times. In the end, the bands said the heck with it and moved on without the members.

You gotta wonder that if both bands didn't have so much time off in prior years, would they have been able to have kept it together? I think having that time off, they each gained so much autonomy and independence that they were irked by the one member trying to dictate the whole thing.

One major thing is Shaw/Young didn't give Dennis the keys to the kingdom as part of the breakup settlement despite him being a founding member of the band and major contributor to the songwriting. The same with David Gilmour, he didn't cave into Waters who was really the only Song writer at that time and a founding member of Floyd.
In Journey's case though, for whatever reason, Two thirds of the writing team gave a non founding member of the group such a sweet heart deal that must have left DeYoung and Roger Waters wondering where they went wrong when they split up with their bands.
Journey WASN'T TOURING. Going to court would not have been a bad thing to do at that time but instead, they proved Herbie right when he said Cain and Schon just weren't smart enough to deal with someone like Perry.
Schon really needed to be on the Phone with Herbie saying 'Here's where we're at, what do we do now?"

[Don]

Perry could have but didn't try to meet the band at least half way during all of this. Journey could have saved face with promoters by doing a dozen or more theater shows geared around the ballads on TBF and other classics done acoustically. They all could have sat on stools, even video recording it for Sony to have an additional product to put it on the market.
Of course that didn't happen and I think so occurred one of the bigger mistakes Neal and Company made. They should have bought Perry out.
At that time, the Journey catalog was a nice collection but projected royalties were not beyond the norm based off of the current and past activity. Perry has shown a penchant for quick cash over investment by his liquidation of all the real estate property the band had acquired under the guidance of Herbie. As soon as he mentioned getting a slice of the concert receipts for X amount of years, the band should have offered a clean break with 20 million dollars for him to go away. Perry would still continue to collect song writing royalties but would forfeit rights to licensing income and having any say in how Journey used the catalog moving forward.
Other acts have done this, or had members who signed away their rights freely because they wanted a lump sum of cash for whatever reason (See Steve Tyler).
I think, based on past actions by Perry and what he was asking for as part of the divorce, this could have been a successful action.
All that said, once Family Guy and the stint with the Chi-Sox happened, half a decade later, the value of the back catalog quadrupled and so ended any hopes of removing band member #6 from being a major player and benefactor in future usage of the Journey brand.
I could be wrong and the band may have tried going that route but seeing how things have turned out, perhaps they should have tried harder.


Multiple edits are due to my sucky grammar.

Do you think those guys had 20 million to give Perry then. That is a large some of money even for those guys. I mean wasn't Ross in bankruptcy by that point in time? Would have been a good move on their part, but I don't think they personally had the $$$ to make that kind of deal then.

Schon had the money. He could have even borrowed against his personal businesses, his collateral being his royalties for life. Anything would have been better than what they did in the end, letting Perry ride their concert receipts for 9 years, never mind letting him have a continued say and split in the licensing which will eventually end up being the biggest money maker of all for the band in the long run.

[Deb]

One major thing is Shaw/Young didn't give Dennis the keys to the kingdom as part of the breakup settlement despite him being a founding member of the band and major contributor to the songwriting. The same with David Gilmour, he didn't cave into Waters who was really the only Song writer at that time and a founding member of Floyd.
In Journey's case though, for whatever reason, Two thirds of the writing team gave a non founding member of the group such a sweet heart deal that must have left DeYoung and Roger Waters wondering where they went wrong when they split up with their bands.
Journey WASN'T TOURING. Going to court would not have been a bad thing to do at that time but instead, they proved Herbie right when he said Cain and Schon just weren't smart enough to deal with someone like Perry.
Schon really needed to be on the Phone with Herbie saying 'Here's where we're at, what do we do now?"

Speaking of Herbie, Billy has mega respect for him...... (lol yeah I like reading interviews........especially when they pertain to two of my favorite bands. )

Ryan: In our past conversations I've never asked you about Herbie Herbert who I know was the bands first manager and is of course famous for managing Santana and Journey. How did you hook up with him initially, was he managing Eric at the time?

Billy: He was involved with Eric, not officially managing him, but he was kind of taking care of him. I went up and had a meeting with Eric and Herbie and proposed the band. I told them about Paul Gilbert and that I had a drummer named Pat. Herbie liked the idea and said he'd be happy to manage it, so that's how it started. Herbie has my eternal respect and gratitude for what he did for Mr. Big. The success of the band is for the most part due to Herbie Herbert. He was one of the founding fathers in the music business in many ways and iconic in so many ways. If no one knew about managers they knew about Herbie. I have such a great respect for him and like I said I'm eternally grateful for what he did for Mr. Big.

[ebake02]

I've wondered, why did Perry give Smitty and Ross the boot before ROR?

[Deb]

In all honesty, I think Jon's call to Steve Perry was pretty classy. You know that Perry would have "lawyered up" and had management and/or a team of lawyers make that call. Perhaps I'm wrong and Perry personally called Ross and Smitty when he decided to oust them, but I doubt it.

And I think Jon's call, more than anything, was really a last attempt at salvaging the lineup and that took a lot of balls. Jon is obviously a lot more articulate and intelligent than Neal, and he was probably the calmest and most rational voice to try and persuade Perry to get off of his ass and work. But people acting like Jon enjoyed washing 20+ years of band history down the toilet and losing the band's most recognizable member is just plain crazy. I bet that call hurt Neal and Jon just as much as it did Perry. Probably more so, because Perry already knew it was over and was just playing games. Neal and Jon probably got hit with the cold, heard truth right then. And that had to really suck.

In all honesty, screw Jon, don't really care.......for me the Journey magic was Schon and Perry. Selfishly, I would just like to see them write/play together again if even in a small setting like that accoustic clip I posted in my original post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAcJQzNjQw

[Don]

I've wondered, why did Perry give Smitty and Ross the boot before ROR?

IIRC, Herbie made the band pay Smitty and Ross as performing members on the ROR tour, even though they were no longer in Journey.
Is this where Perry got the idea of getting paid like a six band member after his own divorce from the band?

[Michigan Girl]

Billy: Well, you change your ways. Change your point of view. Evolve. Grow up a little bit more. And forgive, and forget. Without un-acknowledging what went on before, we had a deal where Richie Kotzen was in the band for a while. We love Richie, Richie is a dear frend of all of us. Paul’s, Eric’s, mine and Pat’s. And we just thought, if we’re going to do it again, and make a lot of people happy… (my inbox is packed with e-mails, and they’re just very pleased people.) we kinda… it’s our duty to make it happen for real, and do it for real. So to make sure these things don’t crop up again, we just sat down and had a long conversation about everything that went on. I think we cleared the air very well, very effectively. Some of the elements that were around us before are no longer around us. As I said, we’ve evolved, all of us have evolved as people, and as players. And it happens with every band. It happens all the time. It happens with every relationship.

This is a very grown~up, big boy approach ...I don't think Neal is capable and I'm serious!!
His childish words/behavior during interviews, no class, zero, zilch, notta, is the first clue ... Jon~yes ...he seems very capable!!
Perhaps Neal is pissed because he made very poor choices/decisions ...tough!!
That's as much his cross as Perry's removal from the band may be his!!
I'm glad it worked out the way it did for Perry, he deserves every red-cent!!
The whole NOMOTA is a joke in itself ...the only thing they removed from the Band
is the tux ...everything else about that band screams PERRY!! NOMOTA, my ass!!

[Deb]

I've wondered, why did Perry give Smitty and Ross the boot before ROR?

IIRC, Herbie made the band pay Smitty and Ross as performing members on the ROR tour, even though they were no longer in Journey.
Is this where Perry got the idea of getting paid like a six band member after his own divorce from the band?

What is IIRC?

[Don]

I've wondered, why did Perry give Smitty and Ross the boot before ROR?

IIRC, Herbie made the band pay Smitty and Ross as performing members on the ROR tour, even though they were no longer in Journey.
Is this where Perry got the idea of getting paid like a six band member after his own divorce from the band?

What is IIRC?

IF I RECALL CORRECTLY