Memphis - 9/14/11

[Don]

DannyBoy emailed me the video so I could upload & share it :

http://db.tt/6tPRYrg

....And Neal and co. keep on playing, giving it no heed.

Any context as to this fight?

I wonder if it has anything to do with Dan and a can of liquid ass?

Can you imagine Neal and Arnel down there in the melee? It would be like a bad episode of "When Elves Attack."

[Gideon]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

[Saint John]

DannyBoy emailed me the video so I could upload & share it :

http://db.tt/6tPRYrg

....And Neal and co. keep on playing, giving it no heed.

Any context as to this fight?

I wonder if it has anything to do with Dan and a can of liquid ass?

lol ... man, I didn't know what the fuck was going on. I turned around when I got leg whipped in the ankle, and just saw a ball of people rolling towards me. I had an end seat. I didn't start recording until after about 2/3rds of the fight was already over. It started up a few rows, apparently. And then it worked its way down to us and then in front of us. I saw one guy try to pull his buddy out of the pile and he just got swallowed into the rolling pile. It was sort of surreal.

[Gideon]

Aren't you like 6'4" and 300lbs.? You could have stopped that shit singlehandedly.

[artist4perry]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

My dibs are on Cain! He takes good care of himself! So does Deen!

[Gideon]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

My dibs are on Cain! He takes good care of himself! So does Deen!

No kidding.
Ashley has the hots for Cain, which made me especially amused when he came out on stage in Nashville. That suit was hilariously tacky.

[DrFU]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

My dibs are on Cain! He takes good care of himself! So does Deen!

Piano players do not bar fight ... ever

[Saint John]

My dibs are on Cain!

He's Italian and from the mob town of Franklin Park, Illinois. Guys like him make phone calls and people just disappear. Ask Steve Perry.

[Gideon]

Guys like him make phone calls and people just disappear. Ask Steve Perry.

Or Herbie.

[artist4perry]

DannyBoy emailed me the video so I could upload & share it :

http://db.tt/6tPRYrg

....And Neal and co. keep on playing, giving it no heed.

Any context as to this fight?

I wonder if it has anything to do with Dan and a can of liquid ass?

lol ... man, I didn't know what the fuck was going on. I turned around when I got leg whipped in the ankle, and just saw a ball of people rolling towards me. I had an end seat. I didn't start recording until after about 2/3rds of the fight was already over. It started up a few rows, apparently. And then it worked its way down to us and then in front of us. I saw one guy try to pull his buddy out of the pile and he just got swallowed into the rolling pile. It was sort of surreal.

It was like the people blob.............

[artist4perry]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

My dibs are on Cain! He takes good care of himself! So does Deen!

Piano players do not bar fight ... ever

I could see him do it if anyone tried to bug Liz or the kids. And would not blame him one bit!

[Gideon]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

My dibs are on Cain! He takes good care of himself! So does Deen!

Piano players do not bar fight ... ever

I could see him do it if anyone tried to bug Liz or the kids. And would not blame him one bit!

Are Neal and Arnel to be included here?

[artist4perry]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

My dibs are on Cain! He takes good care of himself! So does Deen!

Piano players do not bar fight ... ever

I could see him do it if anyone tried to bug Liz or the kids. And would not blame him one bit!

Are Neal and Arnel to be included here?

No........... Just his three real children.

[Deb]

DannyBoy emailed me the video so I could upload & share it :

http://db.tt/6tPRYrg

[steveo777]

Cain and Deen would be the ones to watch out for. Cain might be old as hell, but he seems strong as hell.

My dibs are on Cain! He takes good care of himself! So does Deen!

Piano players do not bar fight ... ever

Bullshit! Have you ever seen The Fabulous Baker Boys?

[Rip Rokken]

Still waiting for Saint John's story!

[Behshad]

Still waiting for Saint John's story!

Scroll up!

[artist4perry]

Still waiting for Saint John's story!

Scroll up!

Nah! That was not the whole story..................the night was full of fun events.

[Saint John]

Memphis Review:

Night Ranger

They opened with a new tune, Lay It On Me, and it was a brilliant idea. Treat the fans there to see you to a new tune and allow those casual fans taking a squirt or getting a beer a chance to make the trip down to their seats before they miss a known tune. Their set was great. They pumped out the hits, sounded great and really had flow to their set list. The crowd interaction/music ratio was perfect. Don't Tell Me You Love Me was a scorching rendition and the highlight of their set. As far as an opening act goes, they were nearly perfect. 9.5/10

Foreigner

Foreigner sits in the catbird seat on this tour. They get the benefit of Night Ranger warming the crowd up and they don't have headlining pressure. And they delivered. They belted out hit after hit after hit, with nary a new song in sight (that I can remember). And the crowd just ate it up. Kelly Hansen is the frontman of the tour and he commands the stage, and audience, very well. My lone gripe is that he is not as vocally experimental as Lou Gramm. He sort of rounds out powerful notes with stage posturing, rather than good old fashioned rock lungs. Nevertheless, their set was supercharged and the crowd never sat, never stopped singing and never lost interest. The highlight of their set was definitely Urgent. They nailed it. 9.0/10

Journey

The headliner always has the bullseye on their back to outperform the opener(s). Sadly, that wasn't the case this night. Earlier in the tour, when I saw Journey and Night Ranger in Omaha, Journey was on fire, mixing 4 new songs with fine renditions of the classics, and really keeping the crowd energized through most of the show. Memphis saw 3 decidedly noticeable lulls in the set. They opened with Separate Ways and followed up with Ask The Lonely and the crowd was wild with enthusiasm. Then, seemingly out of left field, they slowed the show to a halt with a ballad, When You Love A Woman. The rendition was great, but it wasn't what the crowd wanted. They wanted Stone In Love, Be Good To Yourself, Wheel In The Sky or some other rocker to keep the momentum alive. WYLAW was a dud. Excellent rendition, poor placement.

The second lull was Edge Of The Moment. You'd think people were playing musical chairs for money. People just couldn't get into their seats fast enough. It was so bad that I felt bad for the band. Lose this song. As far as audience reception goes, and that's all that counts, it sucks. Never play it again. Thanks.

The third lull was La Do Da. Perhaps one of the worst songs in Journey's history, and they're playing it on what was CLEARLY BILLED as a Greatest Hits package tour. The song had people scratching their heads. Hell, I think this song might be what started all of the fights. I know *I* felt like punching someone when it started! Never play this one again, also. Thanks.

The set took off like gang busters from there. Be Good To Yourself was a very appropriate song after having to endure La Do Da! The crowd was back in gear and Any Way You Want It really took the noise and excitement to another level. Then, the opening keys to DSB, made it sound as if the roof was going to come off the place. I've been to a lot of concerts and that may have been the loudest reaction to a song I've ever heard. Man, they nailed it, too. Arnel has gotten much better on this one. The did their little confetti drop and, curiously, went right into LTS, without ever leaving the stage. The crowd sang along, the rendition was nice and the band took their final bows. The crowd seemed content, and I think everyone left happy. Me? I need better flow in the band's set. You don't play a ballad in the 3 slot. That's like batting Pete Rose cleanup. Lost EOTM and La Do Da, revise the batting order and then you'll get a better grade than 8/10.

Post-Concert Fiasco

I parked my car in a parking garage with the address on it, so I didn't really pay attention to exactly where. Big mistake. Rip drove me to the address on my ticket, dropped me off and we said goodnight ... or we thought we did. i went up to the garage to find that it was completely closed. I banged on every fucking door they had and a chubby little black fella opened the door. I told him I needed to get my car and he informed me that my car wasn't there. I told him it was on the second floor, but he informed me that they didn't have a "second flow. Just a first and third." Anyway, I showed him my ticket and he informed me that they own 4 garages in Memphis, all around the city. He assured me my car, from what I described, was about 3 blocks away. So I decided to jog there. No luck. Another garage, but only about a third of the size that I remember mine being. I decided to pull out my iPhone4 and figure out how close I was to the venue, since I knew I parked only about 2-3 blocks from The FedEx Forum. Um ... 1.6 miles.

I decided that I was far too embarrassed to call Rip and tell him that I couldn't find my car so, with my iPhone4 in hand, I started jogging the route to the venue. Well, that didn't work for a few reasons. The first was that it took me on the highway. I decided that was a bad idea after about a quarter mile. So I "exited" up the hill and back onto Memphis city streets. I was walking with my head down trying to figure out where the fuck I was when a homeless man informed me that I was on "his side" of the street and that he'd "fuck me up." Never one to argue, I started to jog again. My pride level dropping faster than Obama's approval rating, I decided to call Rip. I got my phone out as I was walking through an outside train station platform when, out of fucking nowhere, a lady appears from underneath a stack of blankets on a bench. Scared the shit out of me. She politely informed me that she was gonna "cut my ass." Well, that was fucking it. I told her that I meant no harm, crossed the street and called Rip. He and Dan, Ginger's husband, picked me up about 10 minutes later. Rip looked perplexed as to how I was now about a mile and a half from where he dropped me off about 30 minutes earlier. I told him the story in the car.

We FINALLY found my car, after backtracking the route that I walked some 7 hours earlier. We went to Denny's, ate, shared stories and laughs, and watched an old friend of Rips', swear to God, show us iPhone footage of her being robbed by 2 black guys! All 3 robbers were caught, though. Unlike Rip, who went down a one way street loaded with pedestrians from bars with no headlights on in front of 2 police cars, and with me honking and hanging out the window screaming "It's a one way, Rip!!!" I ended up getting back to Little Rock at 3:55 am, sleeping 3 hours and driving to Tulsa, OK where I had 2 appointments for work. What a night, though!

[Gideon]

First, that was a fantastic review.

Second, the post-concert debacle.... was hilarious. And deadly?

[artist4perry]

I disagree on the Journey set I would have given them a 9.5 myself. I liked LaDo Da and When you loved a Woman. I happen to like love songs though, and never heard LaDoDa by Arnel so that was a fun switch. I loved all the songs.

Memphis is a dangerous town at night if your a white guy and alone. I started to itch the second they dropped you off. I sent Dan with Rip because I noticed Rip was way to unfamiliar with the layout of Memphis, and I know Danny had been there many times and knew his way around better than Rip. I am glad you were not hurt, it would have been too easy.

Susan and I sat and worried. She is a nice person and I truly loved her company. But no one was more happy to see you three return than I was. I am quite aware of the dangers of Memphis, and I would not go there without Danny. To show how in tune my husband and I are, the guys come in and almost simultaneously we both said Here's Larry, Curly, and MO!

It was like the Three Stooges get lost in Memphis! And when I tell my review, that will be my title.

[RedWingFan]

I started to jog again. My pride level dropping faster than Obama's approval rating

Classic!!!

In your review you forgot to mention how I was right in predicting that Foreigner would put on the better show over Journey!

[tater1977]

And even with a GPS ..we wonder why men don't stop & ask for directions...well in Memphis @ midnite....

[Rip Rokken]

First, that was a fantastic review.

Second, the post-concert debacle.... was hilarious. And deadly?

I made a few traffic errors for sure, but taking the trolley road? I'd noticed it was not for cars earlier that day and tried to tell the people in the car with me that later on, but they insisted it was legal! Ginger and hubby were following, and I'm lucky they didn't ditch me then!

I couldn't believe how far Saint John had walked in that crazy area - we mounted a rescue operation to find him. One thing he left out - when we finally found his car, the garage was locked up tight. He was able to honk his horn with his keychain remote so he knew it was up there on the 2nd floor, but couldn't get to it. It had to be past 1am by this time, and luckily there was a number on the door to call. They walked him thru finding a back entry, then were able to open the garage remotely for him to let him out. Amazingly, I'd placed my order at Denny's before we left, and still waited 20 more minutes for it once we got back about 30 minutes later.

Actually, I'm somewhat familiar with the main streets in downtown Memphis because my dad has a house on Mud Island, but it's much easier to find my way around in the daytime and I've never paid attention to the parking garages before. Finding my way around the FedEx Forum though? Completely lost!

[Rip Rokken]

A few pics...



And both of these shots are cool...

[Gideon]

Very cool, guys!

Rip, I shall name my firstborn after you for speaking to Neal about "Resonate." Your powers are formidable.

[artist4perry]

The Three Stooges get lost in Memphis

For starters, I am not as eloquent as Dan, and since I rarely get the privileged to go to concerts, my reviews will vary from Dan's but here goes.

As I said earlier, Danny and I head to Memphis, it was raining most of the way out of town but cleared some by the time we hit Memphis. We look around close to the FED EX Forum and find a spot with cheep parking for $10. It was kiddy cornered to the Fed Ex so we thought great! and proceeded to the show. To get to the Fed Ex from our car we had to walk a ways down Beale Street and enjoyed the thorough fare and people you commonly see there.

We get to the front of the building and I spy Dan and remembered him from photos from MR. Susan I had met before and knew her on sight. There was a little delay getting the tickets.........see above story.

We exchanged hellos, and handed out tickets and went on our way. I was impressed by Dan. I felt he was personable, nice, and funny. I felt instantly at home in his presence. Susan as always was fun and charming. We went inside and waited, talked a bit and then the show started.

Night Ranger
They totally surprised me. I had heard a few tunes of theirs, and thought it would be one of those bands you take bathroom trips and go get something to drink while they play. They started out with a great tune and every tune from there on was magical. Fun performance, energetic and great. I heard tunes of there's I did not know and loved them. Jack Blades impressed me very much.

Foreigner

Rocking as hard and as great as the original members in the 80's. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by that one too.
Many times when older members leave you get people who don't even sound remotely like the original crew. They rocked the house down and had me singing along and yelling and enjoying every tune.

Backstage meet and greet: During the Foreigner set the four of us.........Dan, Danny, Susan and I went to go to the designated place for our meet and greet. This was about 7:45. We stood around and after a while they said we were to go to another spot. So we ventured there, and waited. After a while they told us to go back the way we came to the venue. They said go back to the bottom it looked like they were leading us back to our seats. At the bottom though, they lead us with a small group back to a room. We all had to sit around a table, and Dan jokingly said maybe they wanted to play poker or something to that effect. Ross came in first, and I said Hi Ross! Sorry a bit excited, I never met Ross before. Then Jon came in shaking peoples hands. To remind him who I was and why I was there as a guest I said, " I am the lady who made Madison's baby quilts and your Father's day quilt." He looked thoughtful and said, "We still have them!"
Next thing I know someone comes in and is asking for me by name! I wondered what is wrong? So we go out and find out that we were to go see Arnel at this point. I asked if I could go in and just say Hi to Jon for just a minute, but they said no.
We go in and stand in line to see Arnel. The lines were short so it was not long till we got to each shake hands speak briefly to him and get a photo and an autograph.
(Little did I know at the time, when we felt they were leading us on a wild goose chase and not letting us go to our meet and greet, Dan had messaged Rip. So like the Calvary he sent these guys in guns a blazin to make sure we got to at least meet Arnel. ) I am glad he did, because I have never met Arnel before. That was a treat. He was so sweet. I mentioned I was a teacher in conversation and he said thank you for doing such a good thing. I found him to be sweet, humble, and charming. I could not find Eclipse to get him to sign before I left and all I could find in a hurry was an Escape album. He said, "I feel bad taking credit for his work." I told him not too, it was just all I could find before I left home. I told him he had a beautiful voice. This little man was so soft spoken and gentle. I was taken back by that. Not a bit of arrogance or ego in this man at all. I got tickled by Dan standing next to him. I probably should not have commented but I remarked how different in sizes they were. It was like you could stack two Arnel's together to make one Dan. LOL Of course I came up to Dan's ankles. I watched Arnel's child bounce around rockin in daddy style. What a lovely child, so full of life. And so cool he brings him with him.

Journey

I loved the whole thing. I sang along with every tune, and yelled and screamed and had a wonderful time.

There was one part during a Journey song that they let fly confetti from the ceiling. The first were long streamers then small snow like sized white paper. The Fed Ex is tall and dark at the top. I could not help but feel like a child in a night time snowstorm. They gently floated down and looking straight up you felt like it was snowing. I cannot tell you how beautiful it was. And with the music playing it was magical to say the least.

I got to sing to my husband, hold his hand, and enjoy some of my favorite love ballads with him. It was romantic for me. I loved every second.


Just a note: I don't get to go to concerts as often as I would like. I am not one who has great means in life, but I do have a job I love, and a husband I love even more. The tickets were a gift from a kind person who wanted me to go see the band and meet Jon. I will be forever grateful to this wonderful lady. I did not ask for the tickets, it was her gift to me. I was glad to be able to share them with Dan and Susan who made two of the most wonderful people to go to a concert with that I could think of. My review is not one of someone who goes a lot so I cannot tell you how Journey did from this night to another. I think because I rarely get to go, that I see it through more child like eyes with great wonder and joy. I come from a small town and things like this are a luxury I rarely can afford. It was so wonderful to be treated to such a wonderful night of fun, and we were blessed by such wonderful friends to share it with.

Rip, Susan, and Dan...........you all made our night fun wonderful and one to remember for the ages. I feel I have made some new friends and I hope life opens up some doors so I can do something like this with you guys again.

[steveo777]

A few pics...



And both of these shots are cool...

I no longer have doubts about St. John's gender. I see plenty of Adams Apple. Whew!
Great pics, gang! Notice Arnel perfers Ginger's boob and not her hubby's?

[artist4perry]

Oh! I forgot our Denny's story!

Susan and I waited while Danny and Rip went to find our lost waif Dan. We heard a homeless woman had harassed him and were getting quite worried. He parked in a very bad neighborhood. Susan had nothing to eat all day and was starving. Our waitress was nowhere in sight. She and I waited for what felt like an hour and the girl finally showed up, and asked if we wanted anything. Susan told her she wanted her salad first because she was very hungry I ordered the same thing she had and tea. Susan had a sprite. Well we waited................and waited..............and waited................no drinks no nothing. I wondered if this gal had went to a garden in California and was hand picking our vegetables. She shows up and Susan asked about her salad, and she goes, I'll go see if it is ready. She returns after a while with the salad and a Sprite for Susan and a water for me. I reminded her that I had a tea, and asked her if I could have my salad as well. It took her a while but she returned with the salad and tea. The guys were gone for a long time. We both were getting worried. After what seemed an eternity they walked through the door and I remarked here is Larry Curly and Mo! Danny said the same thing at the same time. (We think too much alike)

Finally she takes the guys orders and after a while she brings Susan and I our orders, the guys got their orders right after that. Makes me wonder if she had lost ours all that time. She didn't refill any of our drinks, I wanted some coffee but gave up on that seeing our service.

Now get this............when we had called before the show to make arrangements to meet, I jokingly told Dan over the phone that I wanted to thank him for offering to buy us all dinner after the show, I told him Rip told me he was doing that. We all laughed and I told him I was teasing.

So I felt pretty embarrassed when after we got through eating Dan had taken care of the bill! I told Dan he did not have to do that! I had just been kidding. But thanks anyway my friend. That was sweet. I owe you a dinner now.

[artist4perry]

Thanks for the photos Rip! They look great........Danny and I had a blast!