Journey
Induction into the BAMMIES Walk of Fame
( See
The Journey Show Review & More
on the Induction)
(Note:
Due to crowd noise, portions of this transcript are incomplete)
DENNIS
EROKAN
Journey is here. I saw
Gregg Rolie in there. So we
got truly Journey Past and Present. And
we are just like a minute to so away.
We are going to a lot of stuff.
You are going to a lot speakers first, so be prepared.
It’s not the worst thing in the world.
And then we will have the band come up talk.
And then, the plaque the reason we are all here.
It is right there and if all works right we will be able to remove
the top and the plaque will be underneath.
If it doesn’t work right… we cannot try it out.
No we have to do it right the first time.
We have Steven Seaweed of the Bone here, so he will be talking to
you. So just hang in there
for another minute, maybe we will hear a little more of a song and then we
will start.
CEREMONY BEGINS
DENNIS EROKAN
I want to thank you all for being here.
My name is Dennis Erokan and I am the guy who started the BAMMIES
about 26 years ago. And about
5 years ago we started the BAMMIES Walk of Fame right here.
We have some great, great musicians that have been inducted into
this and now we have this fabulous band coming up.
This band, by the way we are sharing in their 30th
anniversary of being one of the top rock bands in the world.
Part of my job at the California Music Awards, which is happening
in a month by the way and here is to the thank you.
I am going to do a couple of quick thank yous and then we are going
to get on with the speakers and then we are going to let the band talk.
I want to thank Dean Markley Strings that is their sign over there
for being the sponsor of this. I
want to thank Miller MGD and Miller Lite for also being a sponsor.
I want to thank ILM, David Zimmerman and Ron Gibson, who make all
these happen including the California Music Awards.
I want to thank all the Journey fans, including Journey Past &
Present who are the ones who made this happen.
And now, I would like to introduce the Lobster, Paul Wells, who
every year when we do an induction provides a historical tape.
Paul, come on up.
PAUL WELLS
This is a very exciting moment.
This is a band who that transformed a lot of what when on in music
that was the first to do a lot of things.
What you are going to hear is not just an audio presentation, but
it is also for disability access for the city and county of San Francisco.
It’s created so that people cannot see the plaques can go to the
Public Library and hear about the artists that have inducted to the Bay
Area Music Walk of Fame. When
I first met Neal Schon, I had just come from New York looking for a radio
job and wound up working in a little nightclub in Palo Alto.
Vince Garaldi, the jazz cat who did the Peanuts theme, was playing
there every Tuesday night. The
way I fell in love with this guitarist, was he walks up to the stage, I
help him put his amp up, he turns to all of these cool, laid back jazz
cats and goes “Let’s rock n’ roll!”
We were both teenagers and I know that at heart we still are,
because what rock and roll music does is it keeps you young forever.
CROWD:
How many years?
PAUL WELLS
How many
years? 30 years, well yes in
1973 they started to put the band together.
And also, this is the anniversary of the release of Infinity
in 1978. 25 years since that.
It is a great pleasure to be here on behalf of Journey and all the
people, Herbie Herbert and his entire crew.. that did so much to make this
band a name that will never be forgotten in rock and roll.
And on behalf of my radio show, by the way which is nationally
syndicated, you can go to www.lobstersrockbox.com
and you can get links to all sorts of shows.
It is on locally on two stations, on behalf of the Bone who are
nice enough to sponsor I won’t go into call letter wars right now. But go to www.lobstersrockbox.com
and check things out. Herbie
Herbert did a wonderful interview for the show, so did Gregg Rolie.
Neal Schon and I are going to get together and he will be on the
show shortly. Every Sunday
night at nine. We are going
to hear this tape right now. I
took 30 years of Journey history and melted it down in 7 ½ minutes.
So let’s hear it, it is the history of Journey.
~AUDIO HISTORY AS PREPARED BY PAUL
WELLS~
Journey transformed music in the last
60’s. A decade later
Journey transformed the music business itself.
They were the first to perform nighttime, outdoor stadium shows
with high resolution video screens creating an intimate feeling in these
giant venues. Journey sold
close to 70 million albums, connecting with souring pop ballads that
struck a deep emotional cord like few bands in rock history.
It is only fitting that Journey is the first to be inducted into
the Bay Area Music Walk of Fame by their fans.
[Inaudible] In 1973,
after leaving Santana road manager Herbie Herbert and young guitar
phenomena Neal Schon put together the Golden Gate Rhythm Section and
conned keyboardist and vocalist Gregg Rolie.
GREGG ROLIE:
I think that it was only the popular inside… Ross Valory was
there, George Tickner and Perry Prince was playing drums at the time.
And what they were making was a rhythm section that could play for
artist that might come to the Bay Area and they would be a back up band
for those types of artist. Then
we started making our own music and it became something else.
And then we got Ansley. And then it became a band.
Now that they were a band, they needed a
real name.
ROSS VALORY:
We decided to do a radio promotion to have the fans to write in to
give us their thoughts on what the band should be named.
And they came up some of the most horrendous names, Hippy’potumus,
Rumbled Foreskin…
Including bass player Ross Valory and
drummer Ansley Dunbar, the band took off with [not audible] record
odyssey.
GREGG ROLIE:
I think the best the name you could give it was fusion rock.
Jazz-fusion was all around at the time and we were playing with
time signatures and all kinds of stuff, and a lot of solos and stuff with
no vocals.
But after 3 albums, Journey only had a
cult following. The record label issued an ultimatum.
ANSLEY DUNBAR:
CBS said that if we don’t send x amount of copies of the next
albums they were going to just drop us.
NEAL SCHON:
They wanted a front man, somebody that could get us on the radio
because they couldn’t get us on the radio, man.
Their first choice didn’t work out.
Manager Herbie Herbert convinced Steve Perry to give the music
business another go.
HERBIE HERBERT: It was at the Long Beach
Arena, I had Robert Fleischmann hung up so he could not handle the sound
check with interviews and such. The
band was sound checking without a singer and I just took Perry up there
and handed him a microphone and told the band to play this song.
Perry sang with the band, they had no idea what was going on or
what was happening. And it
was really amazing. All the
ushers and all the stagehands and the opening act and the headliner people
all came from where ever they are in the building and watched this guy
sing this song and applauded at the end.
It was like beyond what I wanted to have happen at that moment.
And Neal Schon is like “What’s going on here?
What was that?”
Steve Perry remembers….
STEVE PERRY:
The next thing I know, I am in Denver, Colorado and I am hanging
out with Neal, just hanging out.
NEAL SCHON:
I had an acoustic guitar, and I just picked up and I started
playing… (strums Patiently).
STEVE PERRY:
And we wrote Patiently, the two of us in that hotel room.
NEAL SCHON:
I definitively thought that we had great chemistry.
It came out of nowhere within about 5 minutes.
And it was done except for a few lyrics and he finished that in the
next 10 minutes, and there was a new song.
STEVE PERRY:
The way he played guitar, the sound of his guitar and the heart
behind his guitar I just had a kinship with it.
It was deeper than I could explain.
The band went into the studio to record
their 4th album and the one that would bring their music to a
new level, 1978’s Infinity. Then
they embarked on an epic tour.
GREGG ROLIE:
You know we didn’t call it the Infinity tour for nothing. It was
9 months, grueling. We really worked that record.
And that is what broke Journey into the radio world.
STEVE PERRY:
Wheel in the Sky was a song that was written when I came into the
group and it was a very good song and it was the first single that the
group released off of Infinity. It did quite well. It
was up in the high 20’s.
~Harmony of Wheel in the Sky~
After the Infinity tour and Steve Smith
joins on drums.
In 1980, Gregg Rolie splits, ironically after the release of
Departure and the band recruits the Baby’s keyboardist JONATHAN Cain.
[Comments made by narrator regarding Open Arms, in audible due to
crowd noise.]
STEVE SMITH:
The quote that I remember from Neal was “That was kind of Mary
Poppins”.
NEAL SCHON:
It wasn’t that I didn’t like the song when I heard it.
It was just so far removed from anything we have ever attempted to
record before. So it was like, “What am I going to do on this?”
With Steve Perry lyrics, Open Arms
becomes their first million selling single. Leading to many successful Cain/Perry collaborations.
~Open Arms plays~
JONATHAN CAIN:
I just remember sitting there going, whoa wait until the world
hears this.
After a string of hits and more line up
changes, came a 7 years hiatus. Journey
reformed in 1996 to cut Trial By Fire and scoring their first Grammy
nomination. But Steve
Perry’s illness cut the come back short.
After a long wait, the band decided to carry on with out him.
JONATHAN CAIN:
The hardest was to call Steve Perry and say “We are going to move
forward with this.” And he
was like, “Well you know there is no coming back”.
And I said, “I know that.”
Journey set sail again with new vocalist
Steve Augeri. (quotes
inaudible due to crowd noise) Journey
the produced Arrival and began to tour.
DEEN CASTRONOVO:
I was just eyes wide open and like oh my gawd, listen to this guy
it is Steve Perry with a perm.
Although Journey and Steve Perry have
gone their separate ways, the signature sound of the band remains
indelicately etched in our hearts. The
songs embraced by so many, continue to be heard on the radio and in
concert. The organization,
artistry and impact of Journey blazed a trail in the music business few
can claim to have traveled. With
their fans leading the way, Journey becomes the 8th inductee to
the Bay Area Music Walk of Fame, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, on April 25th
2003.
DENNIS EROKAN
All right.
Thank you Lobster for a fabulous, fabulous tape there.
That was amazing. You guys did it just right, all of you.
So now I want to bring on two of the women that made all this
happen, Darla Ellis and Cheryl Simien of Journey Past & Present.
DARLA ELLIS
Hi.
A little over a year ago the BAMMIES Walk of Fame was just an idea
that the Journey Past & Present Committee had to honor their favorite
band. We felt that this
plaque would be a special way to commemorate Journey’s 30 years of
music. This was an
opportunity to recognize one of the most successful bands to ever come out
of San Francisco. Thank you
to all the members of Journey, past and present and the fans for being a
part of today’s event. And
for helping us celebrate 30 years of kick ass rock n’ roll.
CHERYL SIMIEN
Hi everybody,
thank you for being here. I’m
Cheryl Siemen with Journey Past & Present.
And there are so many people to thank for this day.
You can’t imagine how much love and how much effort went into
making this happen for everybody. We are just fans, just like everyone else, we wanted to see
this happen, so we made it happen. One
of the people, of the many, many people that I would like to thank, and I
am just going to thank right now is Mr. Dennis Erokan.
I want to thank Dennis for taking that first meeting with me about
year ago, when he was brave enough to meet with me and listen to a crazy
fan with crazy idea that we had all come up with about putting Journey in
this sidewalk, because they deserve to be there.
He listened, he had the patience to you know say “Okay how are
you going to make this work”. Finally,
you know Dennis looked at me and said, “You know what?
I don’t know how we are going to make this happen, but I love
Journey too. Let’s do
it!” Thank you for being
here. Enjoy the rest of your day. We
are just lucky to have the band here.
DENNIS EROKAN
Thank you
Cheryl and Darla. So uh, yeah
so I have been a Journey fan since the very beginning so I love Journey
too. It is an absolute
pleasure. Where is Steven
Seaweed?! Get over here! Thank you so much, get over here. Ladies and gentlemen, from the Bond Steven Seaweed.
STEVEN SEAWEED
Thank you very
much Dennis. I too am a
Journey fan. As a
matter-of-fact when Journey’s first album came out I was working
afternoons at a small freeform rock station in Carmel. And basically we
played everything. We played
rock, we played jazz, we played blues.
The format, well there was no format that’s the way it worked
around that radio station. You
know, I think I played either Kahotec or Of a Life time at least every day
for a long, long while. At
that little radio station we always looked up to the legendary Jive 95
KSAN here in San Francisco, as the way radio really ought to be done.
Unfortunately, KSAN’s founder, Tom Donahue died around the same
time the first Journey album came out.
And unfortunately, also, things were never quite the same around
there. But I did get a chance
to work at KSAN the last year of its first rock existence, and they held a
contest to name the band Journey. I
was talking to Ross about this earlier, and I wouldn’t say that the
contest was exactly fixed, but they did end up with the name after the
contest was over. To make a
long story short, I’m still at KSAN although I had to take a little
break when somebody decided to change the format to country.
The thing about it is, I really never stopped playing Journey on
the radio. At KRQR The Rocker
and our listeners could never get enough Journey.
You know, I think even played Journey, I don’t know this for a
fact because things are little fuzzy back then, but I think we even played
a little Journey at KFAT in Gilroy. Well
now a days KSAN is called 107.7 the Bone and you know what?
Our listeners really can’t get enough Journey.
You guys were all raised on radio and whether it is Lights or
Don’t Stop Believin’ or Red 13, I think I can say that we have all had
a very long love affair with Journey.
And we congratulate them on 30 awesome years as a truly great rock
and roll band and also on this plaque that they are about to receive on
the Rock and Roll Walk of Fame today.
Thank you very much for coming, much love from 107.7 the Bone to
our long time friends in Journey. You
are the best, continue the evolution.
Thank you so much.
DENNIS EROKAN
How often is
it when you are on stage and you don’t get to play any music, you just
get to sit there and have to listen to person after person talk about you.
Thank you for putting up with all of this.
So now, we have one of the great San Francisco journalist, Joel
Selvin from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Come on up here Joel.
JOEL SELVIN
Thanks man.
I listen to Seaweed you know. He’s played Journey on every
station he has ever been on. I
wasn’t there at the beginning, but I was at the second show.
We are all old Journey hands today.
And I think I wrote the first article about the band and they
certainly got a lot of mileage out of their career in the paper.
So, I got a lot to thank them for.
I didn’t think about a crowd being here today but I did think
that the band would be here. And
there was something I wanted to say to the band about today, which is that
sometimes in this town there are people, and I am as guilty of this as
anybody, who think that it is a crime not to be hip.
But you guys have been vindicated.
Okay. So having said
that I am supposed to be introducing someone here. There are a lot of
musicians who belonged to Journey over the years, and they all have good
reason to be proud of their contributions.
But all this time, there has been only one manager.
And I think that all the musicians would agree that even though he
never played an instrument, at least back then, he was every bit as much
of a part of the band and the band’s success as any one other component.
I’m here to bring him on. The
legendary Cyclops, would you please welcome Herbie Herbert.
HERBIE HERBERT
All right.
Well thank you so much I appreciate that.
Listening to Lobster’s timeline brought back a lot of memories.
A lot of things I really don’t think about and am glad that
coaxed me into remembering, this really came out of childhood. This was
just us being kids, hanging out with Ross in the tower smoking dope
listening to music. You know,
simple as that. And then, we
had a band Furmer Bandersnatch and things that we did and I was maybe at
times a little more serious than the other people.
I eventually landed a job with Santana and that’s where I
happened upon Neal Schon and we started hanging out.
Little punk, but I loved him.
He was tremendous. So many stories. So
many thoughts about his talent and watching that flower and develop.
But I will tell ya what, he was good to go day one.
If he never got another lick or another chop, when he was 15 he was
just there. I guess he’s a natural.
So I’m really proud, very proud of the pedigree of all of the
musicians that have ever participated in Journey.
They were no slouches ever allowed.
You had to keep up with Neal Schon anyway. And I said often but never to a crowd, you just can’t over
state Neal Schon’s talent it is not possible.
That’s right. So you
know, my relationship to the whole thing is much more parental than I
would probably like. And
maternal than I would probably like, you know with my wayward children. It was one hell of a good ride.
So much hard work and so had to be done the hard way.
You know. I said at
some point no body will remember how un-hip we were and uncool we were.
The things that we were charged with, you know commercialism,
corporate rock, beer barrel boogie with our first Budweiser sponsorship
deal and things like that. Hey
man, you are lucky we pay homage to that old high that everyone else get
high on like our parents you know. It’s
true. And so, I look back and
the music is as near and dear to my heart as it probably ever was.
It just becomes part of you and it is something you are trying to
get recognized for what it is, and we were just not allowed to do that by
normal channels. It wasn’t
going to happen that we were going to have hits and be on the radio, so we
had to create our successes in an unconventional way and it is mostly by
incessant touring and constant promotion, campaigns for those tours and
that’s pretty much how most people heard out music for the first time.
It wasn’t because a programmer decided to play us. And then when we had our first hit and our audience expanded
exponentially, that was when we were created right? You know. So
that was hard to overcome. Once
you have that huge success, the nature of the business is that you have to
continue to have that success. So
in the later years it became necessarily harder and a lot of the romance
of the business… Gregg mentioning how hard the ’78 tour was, we called
it DOA Dead on Arrival. And I
think the first leg was 120 shows with Van Halen and Montrose.
And it was Van Halen’s first tour and they were pretty hot.
They were real hot. That
really pushed us and that was just totally grueling.
But isn’t the old saying that in beauty of birth the labor pain
are forgotten. I don’t know
about that we can think about that for a while.
But anyway, I know I haven’t forgotten any of the pains but it
was that kind of joyful pain. I
just appreciate all you people being here and supporting the band.
30 years wow. I was
taken aback. Now let’s get them into the Hall of Fame.
DENNIS EROKAN
So I have a
new vision, Herbie Herbert and his boys.
So we are waiting for the mayor who is on his way over here.
But in the meantime, I wanted to say a quick thing here.
And again this is a thanks to Dean Markely strings for presenting
this thing. The thing is everybody has been really kind of restrained.
I am going to get off the restrained thing for a minute in how
Journey and the BAMMIES and the Bay Area Music Awards and the California
Music Awards have done with each other.
They have lots of other awards, but I am not even going to mention
them. I am just going to mention the ones they have won with us.
It all starts with Ansley Dunbar who one the very first best
drummer of the year award, the very first award we ever gave out Ansley
won. I also want to mention Gregg Rolie for outstanding keyboardist.
And let me tell you something, the band right now is pretty
amazing. What have they got?
They have a fabulous keyboardist and great songwriter, JONATHAN
Cain. A fabulous guitarist,
Neal Schon. A great bass
player, Ross Valor. And then
two new fabulous guys Steve Augeri and Dean Castronova. Let’s talk about the awards they won. Journey outstanding group, 1980, 1986. Outstanding album, Evolution 1979. Outstanding album, Escape 1981.
Steve Perry vocalist 1979, 1980, 1984, and 1986.
Get ready for this list for the California Music Awards and Bay
Area Music Awards. Neal Schon
outstanding guitarist, 1978, 1984, 1986.
Outstanding debut album, 1981 Untold Passion.
JONATHAN Cain, outstanding keyboardist 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986 and
1997. We had to stop giving
him the award he had won too many. And
of course Herbie Herbert for his outstanding working in the Bay Area, he
got an award also. So the
band 4 awards. Individual
Journey members 12 awards. Individual
Solo Debuts 3 awards. This
is an amazing band. And
folks, I thought by now the mayor would be here.
So let’s face it. It’s
on Willie Brown’s time, whenever he wants to come here he is welcome to
come here. I’m sure he is
on his way over. Let’s give
a round of applause for Journey.
ROSS VALORY
I’m not
speaking first because I’m sitting here.
That is just where they put me.
When that door opened and you began yelling I said to myself,
“How many people are out here?” In
the rain. You make enough
noise for at least 2,000 people. And
as it has been described by our loyal ladies from the fan club how this
whole event came about, this is your day as much as it is ours.
Because you made this happen.
Normally, I have plenty to say when I get on a microphone and
embarrass myself and everyone around me, but I am somewhat speechless.
This is a very humbling experience.
I want to thank everyone from BAMMIE and California Music Awards,
and of course the fan club and you all for making this happen.
I am especially honored to be here today with some former members.
I had hoped that more of them would be here, but I am especially
touched that Ansley and Gregg and Herbie are here with us today.
And I didn’t want to make this as much of debate as a speech, but
I need to respond to some former comments.
Actually, what was most important to say is yes there was a name
the band contest, we did receive and look at all of the submission, they
were just not good enough. You
did have your day in court but it just didn’t work out.
Thank you very much. I
should invite Neal since he’s standing up.
NEAL SCHON
Thank you.
How are y’all doin’ out there, I know it’s wet.
First of all, thank you for 30 amazing years.
We mean it. We love ya.
We are going to continue to play music.
It is a true honor to be inducted into this Rock Walk of Fame in
San Francisco, the city that we live in and we love. First of all, Herbie Herbert if it was not for Herbie Herbert
there would have never been Journey, ever.
Everybody needs to realize that, he is the man.
I want to thank all the former members, Gregg Rolie, Ansley Dunbar
it would’ve been nice to have seen everybody but they were invited.
Thank you all for showing up here.
Thanks to our fan club, to all our fans.
We love you and we are going to continue to play music.
Thank you mom. I am
gonna thank my mother for having me and putting up with my guitar playing.
DENNIS EROKAN
Okay, this is
some great news. We finally
got that settled about how the name was taken.
So this is great, thank you Ross. Now I told you he would be here.
Ladies and gentlemen, the mayor of San Francisco.
His honorable Willie Brown.
MAYOR WILLIE BROWN
I suspect as I
look around, there are a few of you who were here 30 years ago.
As a matter-of-fact, I see some of you here before 30 years ago.
You were here, when some of the members were still part of the
Santana Group back then. Journey
started 30 years right here in San Francisco. I remember New Years Eve at
Winterland 1973. I actually
had hair then. But it as so
long ago, just so long ago. 30 years, can you imagine that?
You would’ve never have assumed that these cats could last 30
years. I mean physically, but
here there are. Back on the
road after more than 12, 13 years of not touring.
Got a new singer, new drummer.
But not a new sound, it is still Journey at its best.
San Francisco is a hotbed of music, was a hotbed music still is a
hotbed of music. Bill Graham
has given the great guidance, this building now has his name.
An incredible number of band that started out in San Francisco, in
my opinion none became more famous internationally than did Journey.
More than 50 million, 50 millions albums sold long before there was
such things as CD. Journey
was doing the number. 18 wasn’t it, different album.
Yes, 18 different albums. Journey
is just incredible, which means they also made some money in the process
of doing all the wonderful things they have done.
I hope many of you have your tickets for Saturday night.
Because Journey is going to be at the Warfield.
Journey was always best as a live band.
Journey loved San Francisco so unbelievably much that when they did
Lights and did those 3 lines, those 3 lyrics in Lights they’re quoted by
people all over the world and it is automatically when they said the city
in the words of Journey, it’s only one city San Francisco.
So it is with a great degree of pride that I come to participate
with all of you in celebrating Journey’s being installed on the Walk of
Fame here in San Francisco. The BAMMIES Walk of Fame, but equally as
important in the history of this city, on the rolls and the scrolls, 15,
20, 30, 40, 100 years from the day you’ll be able to go backwards and
take the look on April 25th 2003 when the plaque was put down
for Journey, on that same day, we the citizens said this is Journey’s
Walk of Fame Day in our City.
JONATHAN CAIN
Journey’s
more than band, it’s a brotherhood.
That’s all I got to say.
DENNIS EROKAN
Okay folks
this is the moment. Mayor we
would appreciate it if you could get down there for the plaque unveiling,
I need the member of the band. Ron
Gibson of ILM, Ron Gibson and David Zimmerman are two fellows that put on
the BAMMIES every year, the California Music Awards.
There he is, he is about to unveil the plaque. Hold it up, the thing weighs more than we do.
However, so it’s down there.
Fans, you have to let the photographers.
I just want to the band to know, who is along here with you.
Carlos Santana, John Lee Hooker, Janis Joplin, Bill Graham, The
Grateful Dead, Metallica, Jefferson Airplane.. and now Journey.
All of you get down there around the plaque.
Now listen,
one of the great things that’s happening, and I have seen this happen
over and over again, people come here to these plaque and they just look
at them. They look at their
favorite bands, so this fabulous band Journey who people have been
listening to their music for 30 years and are going to see them in
performance for 30 more will be able to come here and see this plaque, day
after day and year after year.
Thank you
Mayor for your wonderful talk. We
definitely have the hippest mayor in the land. His honorable Willie Brown,
he is the man. Okay, this is
it. Congratulations to
Journey, you guys are fantastic. Congratulations
to your family and friends for being here as part of this, it is wonderful
to have each and every one of you here.
Enjoy yourself Ansley. Gregg
Rolie great to see you. Do any of you guys want to say anything?
ANSLEY DUNBAR
I would like
to thank everybody. It’s
been quite a while since I have been in San Francisco, but it’s great to
see you all. And thank you
for supporting us all. And I
am really happy that this has all happened. It’s great to see my old
friends too. So thank you very much.
Thank everyone here, the mayor and everybody else.
DENNIS EROKAN
Steve.
Steve, they’re calling you Steve.
Steve Augeri.
STEVE AUGERI
Ladies and
gentlemen, people of San Francisco, Journey fans all over the world.
Funny thing, I’m not much of a public speaker and what do I do
for a living, I hold microphone. So
this moment is absolutely a humbling experience.
I’m brought to tears. I’m
at the point where I’m just speechless.
This is an amazing group of men to be sitting beside and I’m just
proud to be able to play and sing for you and be part of this.
And thank you people of San Francisco.
Thank you Mayor Brown. Thanks
for coming out in the rain, you know you are our sunshine that is for
sure. Thank you so much.
GREGG ROLIE
Well, I will
make this real brief because I am freezing.
I want to thank all you people for doing this, because without
fans, without people who buy the music that we create this wouldn’t
happen at all. This really
belongs to you and thank you.
DENNIS EROKAN
Deen what
about you? Get over here!
DEEN CASTRONOVO
I guess the
only real part of this legacy I have is that I bought every record these
guys made, and I stole every drum lick from that guy and Steve. I mean I grew up with these guys. This music shaped my playing and it’s my life now.
I am truly humbled, extremely blessed to even be on the same stage
with these gentlemen. Thank you so much.
DENNIS EROKAN
By the way, I got a call last
night from Steve Smith who is on his way to Albuquerque for a tour.
And so he wasn’t able to here, but he wanted everyone to know how
much he appreciated this. And,
through is people I heard from Steve Perry and he also thanks you all for
being here. And now, I just
want to say thank you from Dean Markley strings, from ILM, the California
Music Awards… who did I forget? Jonathan,
Jonathan come one. He said he
had said all he wanted to say, but has some more.
JONATHAN CAIN
You guys rock
our world, you always have. And
your faithful support over the years as Gregg said is the reason we are up
here and that is in the ground. I
came here in 1976, when I started a little brief solo career and I got
some love here and I said to my friends, I want to come back to San
Francisco some day. I had a
little physic flash, because Neal Schon and Herbie Herbert made that
possible by letting me come to this beautiful city and be part of an
amazing musical community. It
made me proud to be part of an amazing musical community and you know,
Dennis and the BAMMIES have always made us feel like there is a kinship
and a brotherhood that exists here in this City.
And I hope that it always continues to be an open door for
musicians and bans. I know
that the band Train has had a lot of success and you know, several new
bands are coming out of this city, I can’t mention them but all I can
say is we’re proud to be here and I am proud to be a part of San
Francisco. Thank you.
DENNIS
EROKAN
Okay, I know. You
would like them all to come up again and speak again.
Right? Okay so the
California Music Awards, May 25th.
It’s free to the public this time, it’s for all of you.
Every one of them has talked.
So it is picture time, if you guys want to sign an autograph go
ahead. Again May 25th,
in Oakland in front of City Hall the California Music Awards, with the
kind of bands that Jonathan is talking about.
The new bands, Luce, Audio Vent, the great new bands that are
coming on.
