Neal VS Jon

[The_Noble_Cause]

Apology below from radio website - which both Neal and his wife gullibly fell for.

@Q104.3
Late yesterday we shared a story on Instagram with the headline: 'Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain Did Not Fight Over Gregg Rolie's Journey Return'

The story was removed after we were informed that some of the information included was in error.

We are sorry to @NealSchonMusic, Jonathan Cain, Gregg Rolie, Journey and their fans for the confusion.

It really speaks to the dysfunction going on that Neal - aka Mr. Founder - has to learn about his own band second-hand from a fake news website. Pathetic.

[Arkansas]

Journey is probably done. The ride is over. They've devolved into rock-n-roll cliche, nothing even remotely exciting any more.

Jonathan needs to negotiate his way out after this tour and let Neal crash on his own.

I can certainly see this happening. He'll fade into quasi-obscurity, doing a few appearances, as he ages even more. (70s?)
He may do some one-off Journey gigs. He and Perry may end up writing or producing together. But full time Journey is most likely done after this 50th thing is over.

I'm kind of wondering now if this is Neal's attempt to relaunch Journey Through Time as Neal Schon's Journey.

I could also see this happening, but it would be selective dates and no major touring. Only the hardcore older type fans would go for it. And ya know, this could be an outlet for the above JC scenario. Everyone can play nice at least a couple times a year, maybe.


later~

[Gideon]

I know I've lost all interest in Journey since this shit went down. I was hyped in 2021 for Lollapalooza and iHeart and the Aragon ballroom show and all that shit, but watching Journey regress into scandal in the twilight of their career when they should be firing on all cylinders and looking to maximize every opportunity they have to stay musically relevant... it's sad.

Especially for a fan like me, 31 years old, who only ever learned of Journey in the post-Perry era. NS and JC have been the nucleus of my Journey experience as much as NS/JC/SP. To see that brotherhood just wither away is really sad.

BTW, I don't know if it's been pointed out, but I follow Miles Schon on FB and he and Neal have been estranged for the past 4-5 years. I don't even know if they're on speaking terms.

[marco17]

BTW, I don't know if it's been pointed out, but I follow Miles Schon on FB and he and Neal have been estranged for the past 4-5 years. I don't even know if they're on speaking terms.

It's funny that you mention that, I was just thinking that Neal used to hype Miles's musical endeavors, but you haven't seen a thing in a few years.

I'm older than you are (44), but similarly, Journey to me was Trial by Fire coming out, then nothing, then the Augeri era which really brought me into their music. I was very interested in the band for a long time, and now I couldn't care less, and a lot of it has to do with all the drama and nonsense. With the things going on in this world, maturity, and better perspective as to what really matters in life, it's hard to care or sympathize with a bunch of millionaire musicians who hate each other and are just trying to bank the big checks. I'm sure Deen appreciates the gig, as does the new bass player, and will just shut up and do their job, but at this point, I'd assume even Arnel is "loaded" and beyond "loaded" for his country, so you have to wonder how long he's going to want to deal with all the BS.

[Archetype]

BTW, I don't know if it's been pointed out, but I follow Miles Schon on FB and he and Neal have been estranged for the past 4-5 years. I don't even know if they're on speaking terms.

Miles has to be pretty embarrassed. Neal’s dick pic, all the cringe bullshit with “Lady M,” the pay per view wedding, all the Journey drama that’s fully showing what a soulless corporate rock band they really are, etc etc

[JohnH]

What a shock no Gregg after all !

https://loudwire.com/neal-schon-journey ... ming-back/

I never saw one word from Gregg he was signed and in. Nothing !

[The_Noble_Cause]

What a shock no Gregg after all !

https://loudwire.com/neal-schon-journey ... ming-back/

I never saw one word from Gregg he was signed and in. Nothing !

This is similar to the Randy Jackson scenario. Neal is going off half cocked before there was even ink on a contract. He's the boy who cried wolf basically. He should have said, I hope to have Gregg and any other past members join us. Instead he said "you'll be seeing him." At a certain point, people are just going to tune him out.

[Art Vandelay]

What a shock no Gregg after all !

https://loudwire.com/neal-schon-journey ... ming-back/

I never saw one word from Gregg he was signed and in. Nothing !

This is similar to the Randy Jackson scenario. Neal is going off half cocked before there was even ink on a contract. He's the boy who cried wolf basically. He should have said, I hope to have Gregg and any other past members join us. Instead he said "you'll be seeing him." At a certain point, people are just going to tune him out.

You mean it's not really now time for coffee ?

[jrnyman28]

I feel like Neal has been trying to pressure Gregg into appearing with the band with all this public approval. I never took his “you’ll be seeing him” as meaning anything more than Gregg making a guest appearance or two. And Gregg’s emoji response seemed very telling.

[Hollywood]

What a shock no Gregg after all !

https://loudwire.com/neal-schon-journey ... ming-back/

I never saw one word from Gregg he was signed and in. Nothing !

This is similar to the Randy Jackson scenario. Neal is going off half cocked before there was even ink on a contract. He's the boy who cried wolf basically. He should have said, I hope to have Gregg and any other past members join us. Instead he said "you'll be seeing him." At a certain point, people are just going to tune him out.

Agreed. And to all those that think this will be the end of Journey, I highly doubt it. There could be some member turnover, but there is too much money to be made. People like us that follow the band see all of this stuff and take it seriously. The average ticket buyer doesn't and this is also why we don't get good, diverse set lists. I don't go see them very often anymore, but it has nothing to do with this BS. Many of the band I follow have awful issues I'll list a few below. The last few times I saw them was to see Steve Smith with them and then the orchestra show here in Vegas. I will probably see them again if it is something special or a package of other bands I want to see. The band still puts on a great show.

Other band drama.

If you ever go see the Gin Blossoms take note that Robin (Lead Singer) is way out front of stage and the other 4 members are tucked away by the drum and amps. They never get near each other. The other four members detest Robin and vice versa and the keep their distance. They do not travel, record or write together. The only member that got along with Robin is original drummer Phillip Rhodes, but addition issues keep him out of the band. After having pre-1st record release of Doug Hopkins decent into addiction and shortly after suicide they have a very short leash when it comes to this.

Collective Soul - The original guitarist got kicked out for sleeping with Ed Roland's wife.

The closest to Journey is Survivor. Basically Frankie runs the show now as none of the other members want to deal with him and his constant lawsuits. Jimi kept his distance and basically just showed up and sang towards the end. Peterik will not even speak of him. He turns over replacement players constantly. Got rid of the core drummer Mark Droubay from just about the beginning to bring his son into the band. He talks so glowingly of Jimi on social media and how great friends they were, but has never participated in any of the yearly charity fundraising events in Jimi's name or his memorial. He put out a tribute to the drummer during the Too Hot To Sleep era and spoke glowing of him, yet he got Kyle Woodring's name wrong.

[Gideon]

Love Gin Blossoms. Hey Jealousy is a banger.

[Monker]

Wow, Jon and Arnel forced the issue and now Gregg won't tour with Journey. Now the ultimate Journey anniversary tour just can't happen, and it's all their fault. Yep, sure it is.

It's not like this couldn't have been planned up to two years ago.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Andrew asked Neal for clarification regarding Rolie and Neal said "I just did. I don't belong to the dictatorship of JC."

I still have no idea what he's talking about.

[Hollywood]

Andrew asked Neal for clarification regarding Rolie and Neal said "I just did. I don't belong to the dictatorship of JC."

I still have no idea what he's talking about.

They both own Journey 50/50 so nothing can get done unless they both agree to it. This is why it would be beneficial to have a strong manager to intervene.

We are at the point production rehearsals are to begin. There was nothing of any plan for Gregg made. Is he a full time player at the show. One song, two songs? Playing the hits would only give him 4 cuts that he played on. Maybe add one of his songs from Infinity on. Then you have contracts and how much Gregg will get paid. The expense of having more equipment and at least 2 more in the travelling party. The fact that Gregg never said anything was a big clue this wasn't going to work out. I don't think he wants to be involved in this mess.

If Gregg was on the show in a substantial capacity I would try to catch a show.

I just don't think this is the tour to do it anyway. It's a secondary market tour, off peak season. The 50th was just tacked on recently. It is still billed as the Freedom tour on the Journey website and most venues. Wait for another tour where you can do press and stuff leading up to something like this. This tour is the normal cadence for the band. Major markets, then a second run in the secondary markets. It works for them.

[Andrew]

Andrew asked Neal for clarification regarding Rolie and Neal said "I just did. I don't belong to the dictatorship of JC."

I still have no idea what he's talking about.

Yeah, didn’t help my understanding either. I’ll try again.

[Archetype]

“I don’t belong to the dictatorship of JC” is some really odd phrasing, and the type of over the top verbiage an old friend of mine who ended up becoming schizophrenic used. I wonder what ever became of him.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Neal now saying that both him and Gregg will be doing interviews on this. I'm with Monker.... why would Gregg publicly associate himself with this drama?

[Onestepper]

Neal's been on an absolute binge on Twitter over the last 24 hours or so. He (or she), seems to be just retweeting and restating the same stuff over and over, looking more and more desperate every time.

Been kind of sad to witness.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Neal's been on an absolute binge on Twitter over the last 24 hours or so. He (or she), seems to be just retweeting and restating the same stuff over and over, looking more and more desperate every time.

Been kind of sad to witness.

Definitely some very bizarre personal issues going on as well as short-term memory loss. He's been on the war path against websites reporting that Gregg won't be there now. He's blaming everyone from Jonathan to former management as the souce. I guess he doesn't read the articles. HE'S the source for these stories. When somebody asked if Gregg was appearing, he said "not at the moment." Websites picked that up and ran with it.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Cain countersuit is out and its a doozy. Not sure how Neal gets out of this one.

All the flashy chrome hearts apparel and bling jewelry NS wears? Yea, paid using the Journey card.


https://odyportal.cc-courts.org/Portal/ ... =False&p=0

"In or about 1998, an American Express platinum corporate credit card in the name
of Nomota was issued (“AMEX Account”). Cain is the personal guarantor on the AMEX
Account. It is tied to Cain’s Social Security number and Cain is personally liable for all expenses
on the AMEX Account."

"Schon first obtained a platinum card in
his name on the AMEX Account in or about May 2021 (“Schon’s AMEX Card”). Prior to that
time, Schon never expressed an interest for an individual card on the AMEX Account. It was
about this time or in the summer of 2021, Cain was informed by Journey’s business manager that
Schon had serious financial problems as a result of an extravagant lifestyle and could not keep up
with his expenses"

"For the one-month billing period ending March 16, 2022, Schon charge more than
$400,000 of his personal expenses on the AMEX Card. The charges included $42,000 to various
PayPal accounts, over $104,000 to Chrome Hearts (jewelry and apparel), more than $31,000 to
the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City, and over $54,000 for his personal
insurance premiums.

Schon’s charges placed considerable pressure on Journey and its ability to cover
normal tour expenses. Schon was spending Journey’s money, and Cain is the one who was and is
ultimately liable for the AMEX Account and Schon’s charges on the AMEX Card.

In order to protect the band’s ability to cover expenses, Cain requested that
American Express limit the charges on Schon’s AMEX Card to $30,000 per month. This
spending limit infuriated Schon.

Even with the $30,000 limit on Schon’s card on the Nomota AMEX account,
Schon still managed to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional, excessive personal
expenses through other tour personnel and travel agents. For example, the budget allocated a
maximum of $1,500 per night for hotel rooms for Schon and Cain. However, Schon demanded to
stay in hotel suites that cost in excess of $5,000 per night. After the recent tour ended in
Honolulu, Hawaii, Schon stayed an extra week in a hotel suite that cost $6,000 a night, and
charged more than $100,000 in expenses to the AMEX Account."

[Art Vandelay]

Cain countersuit is out and its a doozy. Not sure how Neal gets out of this one.

All the flashy chrome hearts apparel and bling jewelry NS wears? Yea, paid using the Journey card.


https://odyportal.cc-courts.org/Portal/ ... =False&p=0

"In or about 1998, an American Express platinum corporate credit card in the name
of Nomota was issued (“AMEX Account”). Cain is the personal guarantor on the AMEX
Account. It is tied to Cain’s Social Security number and Cain is personally liable for all expenses
on the AMEX Account."

"Schon first obtained a platinum card in
his name on the AMEX Account in or about May 2021 (“Schon’s AMEX Card”). Prior to that
time, Schon never expressed an interest for an individual card on the AMEX Account. It was
about this time or in the summer of 2021, Cain was informed by Journey’s business manager that
Schon had serious financial problems as a result of an extravagant lifestyle and could not keep up
with his expenses"

"For the one-month billing period ending March 16, 2022, Schon charge more than
$400,000 of his personal expenses on the AMEX Card. The charges included $42,000 to various
PayPal accounts, over $104,000 to Chrome Hearts (jewelry and apparel), more than $31,000 to
the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City, and over $54,000 for his personal
insurance premiums.

Schon’s charges placed considerable pressure on Journey and its ability to cover
normal tour expenses. Schon was spending Journey’s money, and Cain is the one who was and is
ultimately liable for the AMEX Account and Schon’s charges on the AMEX Card.

In order to protect the band’s ability to cover expenses, Cain requested that
American Express limit the charges on Schon’s AMEX Card to $30,000 per month. This
spending limit infuriated Schon.

Even with the $30,000 limit on Schon’s card on the Nomota AMEX account,
Schon still managed to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional, excessive personal
expenses through other tour personnel and travel agents. For example, the budget allocated a
maximum of $1,500 per night for hotel rooms for Schon and Cain. However, Schon demanded to
stay in hotel suites that cost in excess of $5,000 per night. After the recent tour ended in
Honolulu, Hawaii, Schon stayed an extra week in a hotel suite that cost $6,000 a night, and
charged more than $100,000 in expenses to the AMEX Account."

Wowwwwwww!!! Ok, so here's a theory about the Gregg Rolie debacle. If Gregg were to be brought in, that would cut into band budgets. Which, I imagine could possibly affect everyone else's pay to make it work, no? If Schon is indeed draining the pool with his own lavish expenses...I'm not so sure I'd agree to be bringing anyone else into the band to be eating up budgets that are being jeopardized already.

[danielb]

A lot of respect for Schon going out the window after reading these sordid details. He's entitled to do what he wants with his own money, of course. Less so with Journey's money. But the level of spending detailed here puts me off personally.

[Onestepper]

Imagine being outraged at only being allowed to spend $30,000 a month on a credit card.

This is all pretty nauseating.

[Eric]

I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that kind of spending.

[Archetype]

I have a hard time seeing Neal’s way out of this one. Seems like Jonathan is in the right. I think all the Gregg Rolie hype is just an effort to get under Cain’s skin.

[UrbanCoyote]

Neal must burn through some cash. Guess that's why he sold off about 100 of his guitars.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/neal-sc ... tion-sale/

[JourneyHard]

I have a hard time seeing Neal’s way out of this one. Seems like Jonathan is in the right. I think all the Gregg Rolie hype is just an effort to get under Cain’s skin.

Yes. I have opened my eyes to what is really going on. The last ten years, Neal has been doing stuff to try to piss off Jon. Even when Neal said in concert, "We wrote Lights about San Francisco," Neal didn't do it to piss off Perry. He did it to piss off Jon because Jon had no part in writing that song. So, why did Neal say this at every concert on the tour? He did it because Jon was forced to hear him say it and Jon probably rolled his eyes. Back then, I didn't know what was really happening, but now I do know. I should have known. For the longest time, Jon is way on one side of the stage and Neal is way on the other side for every concert of every tour. Neal never walked over to Jon's side even for one song. This should have told me what was going on.

[JourneyHard]

Neal is spending all that money. Most of it is going straight to Lady M. The M stands for money. She's in this for the money. That is why Journey will never stop touring. They gotta keep the money coming in. If something happens where Neal can't tour anymore, he is in real trouble. Once the money dries up, she will divorce Neal's ass and then take half of what he has left.

[UrbanCoyote]

Neal is spending all that money. Most of it is going straight to Lady M. The M stands for money. She's in this for the money. That is why Journey will never stop touring. They gotta keep the money coming in. If something happens where Neal can't tour anymore, he is in real trouble. Once the money dries up, she will divorce Neal's ass and then take half of what he has left.

100 agree and have been thinking the same myself. She's trying to suck all the money she can from Neal and the band. Must be some good pussy to jeopardize burning down everything he's built.

[Monker]

I have a hard time seeing Neal’s way out of this one. Seems like Jonathan is in the right. I think all the Gregg Rolie hype is just an effort to get under Cain’s skin.

Yes. I have opened my eyes to what is really going on. The last ten years, Neal has been doing stuff to try to piss off Jon. Even when Neal said in concert, "We wrote Lights about San Francisco," Neal didn't do it to piss off Perry. He did it to piss off Jon because Jon had no part in writing that song. So, why did Neal say this at every concert on the tour? He did it because Jon was forced to hear him say it and Jon probably rolled his eyes. Back then, I didn't know what was really happening, but now I do know. I should have known. For the longest time, Jon is way on one side of the stage and Neal is way on the other side for every concert of every tour. Neal never walked over to Jon's side even for one song. This should have told me what was going on.

You like to invent things. There were other arguments going on over the years...Jonathan not wanting to record was one of them.

The bottom line is Jonathan own s50% of Journey's LLC. Neal can't just fire him like he did Steve Smith and Ross Valory - who were just hired employees. If Neal could fire Jonathan he would have a very long time ago. If anything, Jonathan showing up on stage and Neal KNOWING he can't do anything about it I'm sure REALLY pisses Neal off.