by Journey/Survivor » Mon Dec 15, 2025 3:31 pm
I was already a huge Rocky fan at about 6 or 7 years old. I was born in early 1972. And by the age of 10 in 1982 I was really pumped to go see Rocky III in a theater. As Eye Of The Tiger started, which was my first time hearing it, it instantly grabbed my attention. I was hooked on the song from the very first moment.
My love of both the Rocky franchise and Survivor's music continued to grow with each passing movie and album to the point of near obsession.
Anyway, to skip ahead to the main point, I can't remember for certain now if it was 1992 or 1993, but I heard that Survivor were getting back together. A good friend of mine had a friend who knew Jim Peterik, and we found out about the reunion before it was officially announced.
When we first found out about the reunion it was said that the Survivor lineup was going to be Jimi Jamison on lead vocals and Frankie Sullivan on guitar, and that Peterik was still going to write songs for the band, but not be part of the touring band. We did not know who would be on drums or bass.
Eventually we got an update that Peterik would be part of the touring band as well.
Then in the late winter or early spring of 1993 we were told that Survivor were on the road, but that it was Dave Bickler on lead vocals, not Jamison.
A few days later we found out that "Survivor" were booked to do a show in Dayton, Ohio. That same friend of mine and two other friends of mine drove down to Dayton for the show. We were assuming that the band we were about to see was Survivor with Bickler, Sullivan and Peterik.
When we got to the venue there was a band photo posted by the door that had Jimi Jamison and 4 guys who we had never seen before. We didn't know what the hell was going on?
One of my friends then started talking to Bill Marshall who was the bands drummer. He told my friend that Jamison had his own band that he was calling Survivor.
When my friend mentioned that we had just driven all of the way from Cleveland to Dayton, Bill Marshall was impressed by our dedication as fans, so he asked if we wanted to meet Jamison.
He took us out to the tour bus before the show and let us onto the bus and we spoke with Jamison for a while.
After the show we were allowed back on to the bus again and we spoke with Jimi for a longer amount of time than before the show.
After the show we told Jamison that he should try to book a show in Cleveland, and he told us that he did have a show booked in Cleveland, it just wasn't announced yet.
We stayed there talking with Jimi and his band until they left the venue a couple of hours after the show.
I had driven my friends and myself to the show in my car. I had to be to work the next morning at 9:00 AM. We didn't leave the venue to head home until like 3:00 AM. I didn't get home until 7:00 AM, so I just stayed up and then went to work. I didn't get to bed that night until about midnight. It had been close to 48 hours since I had slept.
So, a few weeks later Jamison did a Memorial Day weekend show in Cleveland's flats. Jimi spotted me and my friends in the crowd and he then let us backstage after the show. We hung out with him and his band for quite a while backstage.
A couple of months later Survivor with Bickler, Sullivan and Peterik did a show in Pennsylvania. I again drove my friends and I to that show. We got to talk with Bickler and Peterik after the show. Sullivan was uninterested in talking to us, I guess?
A couple of months after that, Jimi was back in Cleveland again sharing the bill with Kansas. After the show we passed a note backstage to Jimi mentioning who we were. So he came out and found my friend and I and took us backstage with him, and we then stood on the side of the stage with Jimi and Bill Marshall watching Kansas perform. We then hung out with Jimi and his band backstage after Kansas finished playing. And that was the first time that he gave my friend and I backstage passes.
A couple of years then went by before Jimi was back in Cleveland again. So the very next time he was in Cleveland, roughly 2 years since the last time we had last seen him, as he was walking to the stage to do the show, he saw me and said "Hey, I know you." I was surprised that he still remembered me two years later. So after the show he was being mobbed by fans, but he made a point to talk to me, and he told me to hangout backstage again.
On that occasion I had taken two Target records and the Cobra record that were all in mint to near mint condition with me to get autographed. Jimi was telling me that he didn't have those records anymore and jokingly asked if I wanted to sell them to him. He gave me some personalized autographs on the records.
Anyway, he once again gave me an updated backstage pass.
It was about another two more years that went by before he was back in Northeast Ohio again. He was then doing a show with Loverboy in Amish Country south of Canton. I got a message back to him about who I was, and he had his security guy let me and a few friends of mine backstage again before the show started. I wound up going out into the crowd to watch the show from there. But after the show I went backstage again with a couple of my friends. Jimi had already performed, but Loverboy were about to go on.
Paul Dean of Loverboy was sitting in a chair tuning his guitar. As he tuned the guitar I started talking to him. He thought that my friend and I were maybe in an opening band. I did have very long hair at the time, and he didn't figure that any fans would be backstage, so we must have been from an opening band. We got some photos taken of us with Loverboy as well.
My friend and I stood off to the side of the outdoor stage and watched Loverboy with Jimi. At one point Paul Dean started playing a long guitar solo, so Mike Reno came over to talk to Jimi. A friend of mine who was sitting in the crowd took a photo of me and our other friend while we stood there on the side area of the stage with Jamison and Reno.
After that Jimi went back into Survivor. Sullivan made it difficult for Jamison to allow fans backstage, so most of the time at those shows I was only getting to briefly speak with Jimi. One of the Survivor shows after Jamison rejoined Survivor was at a casino, and a friend of mine and myself did walk around the casino with Jimi after the show and played some slot machines with him.
I got to have multiple long discussions with Peterik, Bickler and Droubay, as well as Chris Grove. One of the times that I spoke with Peterik was that Survivor show in 1993, and another occasion was after an Ides Of March show. I very, very briefly spoke with Stephan Ellis once. I did speak with Sullivan a few times, but it was very brief on all of those occasions.
As far as musicians, most of the ones that I've met are from my favorite bands, Survivor, Journey, Bad English, The Storm, Foreigner, Night Ranger, Loverboy, 38 Special, etc, etc.
Obviously there are people on here who've gotten to know a lot of those musicians a lot better than I have. Andrew has, of course. And there are others. But it was pretty cool for me, and it's fun to think back to the occasions.
I don't really care if I meet a celebrity no matter how big of a celebrity they are unless I am a fan of them. I much rather hangout with Jimi than someone who's ultra famous if I'm not a fan.
Anyway, like I said, there are of course people on here like Andrew or in the past Joe Vana who got to know a lot of those guys a hell of a lot better than I did. But it's fun to think back to those days, especially since some of those concerts were long road trips with good friends of mine, two of whom have died since then. And of Course Jimi as well.