Old Steve Perry Article that reveals he has over 50 songs ready. We'll get 15 of them on October 5, 2018

Here's an old Steve Perry News Article ad I never got around to posting. It reveals that Steve Perry had over 50 songs ready when this news article was found in 2015...

Steve Perry will be releasing his new album "Traces" on October 5, 2018. You can order it on Amazon.com and receive the 10 song version or order from Target and get 5 extra songs for a total of  15. That's 15 brand new songs from Steve Perry!!

The Journey Force Fan Club Newsletter from November 1, 1986, part 1

Volume 1, Number 3 of The Journey Force Fan Club Newsletter for November 1, 1986 begins with a Tour itinerary for the first leg of "The Raised On Radio Tour" which was to be Journey's biggest tour to yet.

The new line-up first played on August 23, 1986 at Calaveras County Fairgrounds at Angels Camp. This is the Mountainaire Festival. Page one of the Newsletter contains many reviews of the show from the local newspapers. The Tour Itinerary is missing the August and September dates.

Page 2 of the Newsletter continues the reviews of the shows. The main article on page 2 is "Meet The New Rhythm Section". There is a Journey Force interview with both Randy Jackson and Mike Baird. There is also a picture of Mike Baird and Steve Perry relaxing backstage if that's what you call relaxing.

It all starts right here with a color picture of the band. Again, as usual, Randy is represented by his eyes and teeth and extremely loud shirt...

To be continued next week...

Journey's song "Kohoutek" got it's name from a Comet that NASA first sighted in 1973

Comet Kohoutek was first seen from Earth in 1973 and may return 75,000 years later.

This is a real photo of Comet "Kohoutek". This is not artwork from Journey, Stanley Mouse, or Anton Kelley;

Comet Kohoutek, was first sighted on March 7, 1973 by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek.
It attained perihelion on December 28 that same year.

Here is the official NASA word on "Kohoutek";

Comet Kohoutek (1973 XII) was discovered by Lubos Kohoutek during a search for asteroid images on photographic plates taken in early March 1973 at the Hamburg Observatory, in the Federal Re-public of Germany. Calculations of its size and orbit showed it to be a large comet that would pass close to the Sun, reaching perihelion at the end of 1973.

This early discovery of a large comet in an orbit that would carry it close to the Sun prompted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to initiate "Operation Kohoutek," a program to coordinate widespread observations of the comet from ground observatories, aircraft, balloons, rockets, unmanned satellites, and Skylab. This program was headed by Stephen P. Maran of the Goddard Space Flight Center. The third Skylab mission was rescheduled so as to make the best use of this opportunity-specifically to permit observations from Skylab during a period centered on perihelion. It is during this period that the most interesting and dramatic changes happen to comets, and it is also during this period that observations from the Earth's surface are hardest to make or even impossible because light from the nearby Sun is scattered by the Earth's atmosphere into instruments aimed at the comet.

Another factor making Comet Kohoutek an attractive subject for study was the fact that orbital calculations suggested it was a new comet-one that had never before passed close to the Sun and would therefore be expected to differ from comets that had periodically returned.

Here are a few examples of some Journey Artwork that resemble the photo of "Kohoutek";

From the back of the Escape Tour Book

From the inside gatefold of "In The Beginnings"

From the back of the "Escape" album 

Trivia about Comet Kohoutek;

Because Comet Kohoutek fell far short of expectations, its name became synonymous with spectacular duds. However, it was fairly bright as comets go and put on a respectable show in the evenings shortly after perihelion.

In 1973, David Berg, founder of the Children of God, predicted that Comet Kohoutek foretold a colossal doomsday event in the United States in January 1974.[4][5] Children of God members distributed Berg's message of doom across the country. The majority of U.S.-based members then fled in anticipation to existing communes, or formed new ones, around the world.

Before its close approach, Kohoutek was hyped by the media as the "comet of the century". However, Kohoutek's display was considered a let-down,[3] possibly due to partial disintegration when the comet closely approached the Sun prior to its Earth flyby.

In the comic strip Peanuts, Snoopy and Woodstock hide under a blanket from a "strange light" in the sky in a story arc spanning 29 December 1973 through 3 January 1974. Linus eventually identifies the light as Kohoutek.

The rock band Journey wrote and recorded the instrumental "Kohoutek", which appeared on their self-titled debut album Journey in 1975.

"In Celebration of the Comet - The Coming of Kahoutek" is the title of a popular and widely circulated bootleg album from the band Pink Floyd. Recorded on February 17, 1972, the concert featured a musical piece referred to by the band as "Eclipse Suite," (later re-dubbed "The Dark Side of the Moon" when the band eventually recorded it as an album in the studio later that year).

Burl Ives recorded a single called "The Tail of the Comet Kohoutek / A Very Fine Lady" (1974, 7 in., 45 rpm, MCA 40175).

An article written in 1994 by Dave Barry;

Remember Comet Kohoutek? It Was 1973 And The Astronomy Community Lost Face When It  Failed To Deliver The Light Show Of The Millennium?

Gather 'round, young people, because it's back-to-school time, and Uncle Dave wants to give you some important advice to help you excel in the classroom and have successful, rewarding careers, assuming that the Earth is not destroyed by giant comet chunks. 

This is definitely a possibility. Just recently, giant comet chunks whomped into Jupiter and caused destruction so massive that it would have wiped out all human life if there had been any, which there probably wasn't because the atmosphere on Jupiter has essentially the same chemical composition as Drano. 

Of course the astronomy community carried on as though the mass destruction on Jupiter was just about the coolest scientific thing to happen since the invention of the pocket protector. Every night you'd see astronomers on the TV news, holding up blurred photographs of what appeared to be a pizza, pointing to a roundish smudge that appeared to be a pepperoni, and announcing, in happy voices, that it was the equivalent of 19 hillion-jillion atomic bombs. 

They claim we don't have to worry. They claim that the mathematical odds of a large comet chunk hitting the Earth in our lifetimes are infinitesimal, even smaller - if such a thing is possible - than the odds of the Buffalo Bills winning a Super Bowl. But whenever we hear the astronomy community making claims, two words should spring into our minds: "Comet Kohoutek." 

Back in 1973, the astronomy community claimed that Comet Kohoutek was going to pass close to the Earth and produce this spectacular celestial phenomenon, so big and bright you'd be able to see it EVEN IN THE DAYTIME. People were afraid to go outside for fear they would suffer comet burns. 

And what happened? Nothing. All over the world, millions of people spent hours squinting at the sky, pointing excitedly at airplanes, moths, beer signs, smudges on their binocular lenses, etc. But ultimately they had to accept the ugly truth: There was no Comet Kohoutek. 

Oh, sure, the astronomy community, desperate to save face, produced some blurred photographs of a "comet," but it turned out, upon close inspection, to be a human sperm cell magnified 400,000 times. (We now believe it belonged to Carl Sagan.) 

My point is that if the astronomy community claims we're not going to get hit by giant comet chunks, then we probably are. The result would be mass destruction on the most horrendous scale ever seen in the history of this planet, causing famine, disease, death and - in the United States alone - literally millions of personal-injury lawsuits. 

Journey's New album and singer stall the arrival of "Arrival"

In 1998 Journey hired a new singer to replace Steve Perry.

The new singer was found how many of Journey's singers are found by his wife at the time and the internet. The lead singer of Tall Stories and Tyketto caught her eye.

His name is Steve Augeri and he worked at "The Gap" when he got a call from Neal Schon.  At first he thought it was a joke but in 1998 he was the lead singer on Journey's new song "Remember Me" for the Armageddon soundtrack.

The album was first released in Japan in December 2000 but, due to its leakage onto the Internet, the band decided to delay its release in the United States. Based on feedback from fans who heard the leaked version of Arrival, the band decided to record two harder rocking songs, which were included on the American version of the album, which now did not retain "I'm Not That Way" from the Japanese release.

Released on April 3, 2001 in the U.S.A. it produced a minor adult contemporary hit with the ballad "All the Way", while rock fans were more satisfied with songs like "Higher Place" and the two new tracks on the American release, "World Gone Wild" and "Nothin' Comes Close".

Peaking at No. 56 on Billboard's album chart, Arrival was the band's first album that did not receive at least gold status, since 1977's Next. It was also their last studio album under Columbia Records, which had been the band's label since their self-titled 1975 debut.

Heres a great article form Ultimate Classic Rock about this album;

15 Years Ago: Journey’s ‘Arrival’ Unfairly Suffers from Steve Perry Comparisons

For some fans of this band at its radio-ready zenith, there simply can be no Journey without Steve Perry – and that sensibility did no favors for replacement singer Steve Augeri. Though he was similarly named, similarly voiced, even similarly maned, none of it could save his debut project with Journey.

Never mind that “We Will Meet Again,” released as part of Arrival on April 3, 2001, meets and maybe exceeds much of their classic-era output. Co-written by Journey stalwart Neal Schon, Augeri and Alabama-based songwriter Kim Tribble, the song builds toward a sweeping vista reminiscent of Journey’s Roy Thomas Baker-helmed sides like “Winds of March” and “Opened the Door,” a welcome development indeed.

An inventively layered rhythm by Deen Castronovo, Journey’s new replacement for Steve Smith at the drums, sets the stage for a moment of controlled fury from Augeri — who, as with every post-Perry Journey singer, is often asked to elevate more than enunciate. Along the way, he turns a lonesome lyric into one of impressive determination. And like those two earlier-mentioned 1978-era tracks, “We Will Meet Again” serves as an emotionally resonant side-closing moment.

Elsewhere, “Higher Place” finds Augeri offering a vocal that bridges the two eras. After an intriguingly episodic opening statement, Augeri sounds enough like Perry to carry Journey to the well-constructed verse — before this Schon/Jack Blades composition finds its own voice within a chorus that’s pleasantly free of imitative ticks. A finely attenuated return to the verse then gives “Higher Place” a taut sense of expectation, almost a proggy feel. In this way, Journey references previous successes, but ultimately uses them as a foundation for something new.

Still, bedrock Journey supporters clearly remained reticent – even though the band had actually started without Perry and he’d long since prematurely retired. In fact, Perry has now been gone far longer than he ever was actually in Journey. Of course, the two decades that followed Perry’s late-’70s arrival would see the group sell roughly one gazillion records, permanently lodging his presence in most music fans’ minds eye when they think of Journey.

This new-look edition of Journey copped to those expectations with “All the Way,” a ballad more in keeping with their earlier Perry-led platinum-era sound, but it only just scraped the Top 40 at No. 39. Arrival then failed to reach gold-selling status, the first time that had happened since the pre-Perry 1977 project Next.

Augeri simply couldn’t shake the ghost of his predecessor, and this was long before Perry began making stirrings about a return. Journey left Columbia, its label home since ’75, after the follow up to Arrival. By 2006, Steve Augeri was gone too, succeeded by Jeff Scott Soto and then current singer Arnel Pineda, a partnership that seems to have finally got the group back on track with fans — and, belatedly, with the Billboard charts.

Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie Join Carlos Santana for a SANTANA reunion Tour

Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie, original founding members of Journey are joining Carlos Santana in a SANTANA reunion with all original members. The Tour began in Las Vegas at the House Of Blues on March 23, 2016.

The Review in The Las Vegas Sun Newspaper;

By John Katsilometes

Published Wed, Mar 23, 2016 (7 p.m.)

Updated Wed, Mar 23, 2016 (11:35 p.m.)

The original members of Santana are architects of so many rock ’n’ roll traditions: Lengthy guitar jams. Thunderous percussive stops and starts. Calls from the stage for LSD intake.

Carlos Santana got high with a little help from his friends Monday night. We’ll qualify that he was likely spiritually high (wink). But whatever the case, the feeling at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay hearkened to the heady days of the 1960s as the core of the band that recorded the first three Santana albums resumed the jam for a live recording to be issued as a live DVD and also air on national television (specifics on both projects have yet to be released).

Oh, and there is a new album, or “product,” in the offing: “Santana IV” is to be available for purchase online and in CD form April 15. The first single, “Anywhere You Want to Go,” was released in February and has topped the Billboard Classic Rock charts since its first week.

“Santana IV” is the long-anticipated album recorded at Henderson’s Odds On Studios over a three-year period ending last May. Reassembled were guitarist Neal Schon, keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie, drummer Michael Shrieve and percussionist Michael Carabello.

The brainchild of Schon, the reconvened graybeards simply roared through a two-hour set that blended the classics from Santana’s infancy to the new release. The crowd chant from Woodstock ushered in “Evil Ways,” “Jingo” and “Everybody’s Everything” and accelerated through the evening. At the encore, Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers strode out for “Love Makes the World Go Round” and “Freedom in Your Mind” from the new album.

Santana was in the spirit with his omnipresent fedora, this one a beige number, a gold Gibson and multicolored shirt with a sketch of his image splashed over the front. Schon was his guitar-god sidekick, alternately complementing the sound with his own distinctive guitar licks and the fashion in his black jacket, slacks and shades.

The visual quality matters as this was a video as well as audio showcase, with the “Santana IV” album art looming behind the band. But the music was dominant, a nearly unbroken stretch that stitched the early Santana classics with songs from the new album.

Santana also connected the eras with his requisite political rant. Repeating a statement from a photo opp at the HOB entrance Monday afternoon, he told the crowd, “During Woodstock, there was the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon and LBJ. Now we have Donald Trump and the same sh*t.” That fired up the crowd.

This one-off concert was certainly an artistic and even physical challenge, as a sweat-soaked Shrieve muscled through the set as if running a steeplechase. But the band was super-tight in the circuitous course set by the ever-whimsical Santana. There were moments when the music was so powerfully performed, you almost couldn’t think straight, which is fine for avid Santana fans. At one point, Santana did advise, “If you have any mescaline or LSD, now is a good time to take it.” Many in the audience had apparently already sampled some medically approved herbal treatment.

Similar to the music made from the stage, you’re not exactly sure where this Santana lineup is going. Nor are they.

“We’ll see what happens, but I can tell you we have really enjoyed playing together again,” Rolie said before the show. “We all have lives and schedules, but if we could work out a tour or something like what Carlos has here (a residency at HOB), that would be fine with me.”

Rolie and Schon were the ones who broke from Santana originally to create Journey, and that band’s latest formation played a residency at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel last year. “It’s an easy thing to sit down and play that type of run,” Schon said, also before the performance. “But we’ve got so much going on already. We’re touring together a little, and Journey is back here (at Mandalay Bay Events Center) in August. But you never know. It was great to see all these guys again, that is for sure.”

The Journey-Santana dates are April 13-15 at Madison Square Garden, Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut and PPL Center in Allentown, Pa.

In that pairing, Santana has mused of straddling both eras, performing with his own band, then with Schon and Journey. Even when sharing the stage with a such a great as Schon, Santana still calls the shots. As Schon said during a conversation at the Hard Rock last year:

“I was just 15 when I joined with him, and he was everything to me. If he went to the store, I went to the store. He went down to the guitar shop; I was at the guitar shop. We went to get a burrito; I was at the burrito place. So, I was like his little puppy dog that he took under his wing.”

The hang Monday was House of Blues in Las Vegas, and where this leads is anyone’s guess.

Steve Perry takes the spotlight at the 1980 Bammie Awards

Steve Perry wins Best Male Vocalist at the Third Annual Bammie Awards!

Steve Perry has been getting all the spotlight since he joined the band in 1978 and that's no different at the Bay Area Music Awards as shown in the paragraph about Journey;

Journey closed the show with a powerhouse rendition of the band's hit, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'," that blended the Sounds of Delight into Journey's basic five-pice sound, while vocalist Steve Perry dragged various vocalists - from Eddie Money to rank amateurs - onstage to sing the final choruses.

Aynsley Dunbar also wins Best Drummer / Percussionist as part of Jefferson Starship!

Journey Drummer Deen Castronovo rapes Wife and is replaced on current concert tour

I've avoided this long enough, but it all seems to be true. Journey's drummer, Deen Castronovo, has been charged with raping his wife. These are serious charges and we don't yet know if Journey will make an official replacement or give him another chance at beating more women.

For now Journey is using Omar Hakim on their current 2015 Tour and could possibly be their next official drummer. This news story can be found all over the internet, here is the story from HuffingtonPost.com...

Deen Castronovo, the drummer for the band Journey, has been charged with raping his wife in addition to several other charges.

The 49-year-old was arrested earlier this month on domestic violence charges in Salem, Oregon and was released on bail.

According to a local news site it's not clear if the new charges are related to the incident that led to his earlier arrest, however, the drummer has now been charged with "unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of menacing, one count of rape in the first degree, one count of sexual abuse in the second degree, four counts of assault in the fourth degree and one count of assault in the second degree, one count of coercion and one count of criminal mischief in the second degree."

Following the drummer's arrest, Journey announced that Omar Hakim would fill in for Castronovo on the band's upcoming U.S. tour dates.

"We have made the decision to have Omar Hakim play drums for the band's upcoming U.S. concerts (Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, June 20 and the Stadium of Fire in Provo, Utah on Saturday, July 4), as well as the band's Canadian tour (July 6 – August 3), due to Deen Castronovo's pending issues," the band said in a statement on June 18. "We are very grateful to Omar filling in with his musical excellence."

Castronovo, who joined Journey in 1998, was also arrested in 2012 for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. 

NEAL SCHON: 'The Door Has Always Been Open' For STEVE PERRY To Sing With JOURNEY Again

There's a great article at Blabbermouth.net about Neal Schon opening the door for Steve Perry to sing again with Journey.

Here's what Neal says, "The door has always been open, like I've said a zillion times" "People ask me every day, 'Are you reuniting?' STEVE says 'No', and I say 'You never know'"

Read the whole article here;

Neal Schon opens Door for Steve Perry

There's also another great article at ultimateclassicrock.com. about the same thing.

Ultimate Classic Rock - Neal Schon, Steve Perry

What a dream that would be.

Journey's Friday The 13th show from July 13, 1979 proves stardom ahead in their future

Mid-way through the eight month "Evolution" Tour, on July 13th 1979, Journey went on stage at Assembly Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The band played for over an hour and 30 minutes playing hits from the "Evolution" and "Infinity" as well as a few songs from the albums before Steve Perry joined the band.

Steve's voice is a very nice addition to those which really make them come alive. I've always thought the balance between Steve Perry's and Gregg Rolie's voice is part of what made the band so special.

Here is a copy of the review that was in The Tulsa Tribune the next day, Saturday July 14, 1979.

It's a great review about the band, the show and the massive stardom they are about to embark upon.

The Third Annual Bay Area Music Awards review from Thursday, March 27, 1980

Here's a great newspaper article about the 3rd annual Bay Area Music Awards known as The Bammies.

Steve Perry wins best Male Vocalist and Evolution wins Best Album!

All the winners are listed in the article.

The picture is Steve Perry with people he picked out of the audience...

Journey's Steady Road to Success

To kick off the 1980 "Departure Tour", Journey played March 26, 1980 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco, California.

I've got a review of that show from a newspaper clipping from late March 1980.

Most reviews during the 1970's and 80's of Journey were very critical. Journey was always called "commercial" or "corporate rock". For some reason, they always had a hard time with the press.

This newspaper clipping of the review starts out very complimentary but has a bit of criticism...