A brief PM from Steve Augeri

What a class act, and I will leave it at that.

That's all he said ?! Very short PM if you ask me. Who was he refering to ?! :p

B, I was friended by him on facebook. Got into a conversation and apologized for my posts about him in 2006. I know I was out of line at the time. He seemed aware of the whole MR thing, and was very cool.

He was very aware. And it wasn't easy for him to deal with. We had a long conversation face to face about this in the UK last year. And a great curry afterwards.

Fabulous human being. Wonderful guy.

Andrew wrote:Fabulous human being. Wonderful guy.

Was this directed at Steve or me?

Gideon wrote:

Andrew wrote:Fabulous human being. Wonderful guy.

Was this directed at Steve or me?

I think he was referring to you Deacon!

GI_Jim wrote:

Gideon wrote:

Andrew wrote:Fabulous human being. Wonderful guy.

Was this directed at Steve or me?

I think he was referring to you Deacon!

Huh?

...

Unbelievable. So we're the same person now?

http://www.myspace.com/jrnyfan2006

^ Check the profile and heroes section. This isn't fake.

https://www.facebook.com/jessiahe?ref=name

^ Neither is this.

If you want, I can link you to Deacon's Facebook and Myspace too.

Chill out Gideon. Apparently you missed the . I'm not getting into a debate about your split personalities. I can only argue with one person at a time! So whose picture did you use to set up "Deacon's" account?

Gideon wrote:

GI_Jim wrote:

Gideon wrote:

Andrew wrote:Fabulous human being. Wonderful guy.

Was this directed at Steve or me?

I think he was referring to you Deacon!

Huh?

...

Unbelievable. So we're the same person now?

http://www.myspace.com/jrnyfan2006

^ Check the profile and heroes section. This isn't fake.

https://www.facebook.com/jessiahe?ref=name

^ Neither is this.

If you want, I can link you to Deacon's Facebook and Myspace too.

Damn Gideon... I just checked out his myspace, and he listed ME as someone he'd like to meet. I feel honored! It's funny to read that, because he hasn't said much at all to me on the forums. I don't think he's ever even sent me a PM.

In light of this, I'll have to quit harrassing you about it!

BTW Gideon, how long after my post did you put op the "Like to say hello to Jim" blurb? I'm onto you. Also, where is "Gideon" on his friends page?

What are you talking about?

That's my Myspace and my Facebook. You want me to link you to Daniel's?

Edit: I edited my profile to include your name as proof that it is my Myspace, not Deacon's.

Sorry, I misread your post. I thought you were saying that it was Deacon's. Thanks for saying you'd like to meet me though... as long as you don't have a man-crush on me. So then where is Deacon on your friends list?

I actually have no particular desire to meet you. I just wanted to make multiple references to you as proof that it's my account.

His name is Daniel Chick and his display name will look like this: daniel™

Do you just want me to link you to his profile?

http://www.myspace.com/chicky_boi

Let's see some pictures of the two of you together.

GI_Jim wrote:Let's see some pictures of the two of you together.

And next the request will be "without clothes," right?

You won't find pictures of us together. I rarely take pictures with other guys and Daniel and I never really had the occasion to do so in school. He's a year younger than I was and we assorted with different groups of people.

I think I've done more than enough to prove that we're separate people. Send him a friend request and I'll have him accept it. And then you can see that we have friends in common. Ashley was a good friend of his and left comments on his profile. There's your link.

Gideon wrote:

GI_Jim wrote:Let's see some pictures of the two of you together.

And next the request will be "without clothes," right?

lol...and don't let Jim convince you that there's a new Gatorade flavor called Jammin' Jesus Juice.

Saint John wrote:

Gideon wrote:

GI_Jim wrote:Let's see some pictures of the two of you together.

And next the request will be "without clothes," right?

lol...and don't let Jim convince you that there's a new Gatordae flavor called Jammin' Jesus Juice.

Chances are he has already been into it

I should go see "Journey To The Cure".

Steve A is without a doubt, one of the most humble, nicest guys in the business. He's truly a 'turn the other cheek' type of person. There really isn't a better guy. He's truly fantastic....

...and personally, I thought the public hanging of him on MR.com back in 2006 to be regrettable in the least, and utterly and pitifully shameful in the extreme. It really shouldn't have played out in such public fashion. Especially considering the fact that Augeri wasn't the only guilty party in Journey re: tapegate.

Frank wrote:Steve A is without a doubt, one of the most humble, nicest guys in the business. He's truly a 'turn the other cheek' type of person. There really isn't a better guy. He's truly fantastic....

...and personally, I thought the public hanging of him on MR.com back in 2006 to be regrettable in the least, and utterly and pitifully shameful in the extreme. It really shouldn't have played out in such public fashion. Especially considering the fact that Augeri wasn't the only guilty party in Journey re: tapegate.

The person whose "instrument" isn't on is the one that's always going to get most of the blame. While I feel that all parties involved deserved to be called out, the whole thing did get way out of hand. Me being as guilty as anyone. However, the fact that the lipping spanned several years tells me that Augeri probably had a chance to get out and simply didn't because of some combination of denial and the $$$ that being in Journey yields. He might be the nicest guy in the world, but he still knowingly stood on a stage singing into a microphone that wasn't going out to the crowd.

Saint John wrote: The person whose "instrument" isn't on is the one that's always going to get most of the blame. While I feel that all parties involved deserved to be called out, the whole thing did get way out of hand. Me being as guilty as anyone. However, the fact that the lipping spanned several years tells me that Augeri probably had a chance to get out and simply didn't because of some combination of denial and the $$$ that being in Journey yields. He might be the nicest guy in the world, but he still knowingly stood on a stage singing into a microphone that wasn't going out to the crowd.

Dan,

You do realize that there's a great deal of additional 'players' involved in this so-called scandal???..any lip-syncing scandal requires some asshole on the side of the stage, hitting "play" on the tap machine...in the most simplest of situations.

With the technical requirements of putting on a rock show in today's day and age, it's more than just one person. It's a team of them. Among those that were most culpable/responsible, the band stands at the top of the list as vocal cues are very important to any live band. Anyone who's a musician here knows that full well. Once you look at it in those terms, Steve's just the guy standing out there with an SM58 that isn't plugged in....but it could very well be Friga, Fro, Ross or Castro out there....because each and every one of them is just as guilty.

Once you add in the possibility that there were legal/non-performance contractual obligations likely involved here....and that Steve A had a little more pressure than you might fin you see fit to afford him (likely, knowing you, in an effort to exonerate that midget Napoleonic piece of shit guitarist who claimed he never knew ) you might want to provide Augeri with a little more latitude. I guarantee you that any of the sources you would likely claim to inside information within Nomota's House Of Cards will *never* offer you such a detail, as it doesn't serve their best interests.


Steve Augeri *is* one of the nicest guys in the world...and he stood on stage with 4 of the world's biggest assholes....all of whom were EQUALLY responsible and culpable in tapegate.

The great thing in all of this, is that Steve A is still one of the nicest guys in the world. Neal Schon is still a fucking douchebag and Cain's still an opportunistic prick. Some things are still more important than trying to rewrite history (and failing miserably) with a guy that can't sing in english to save his fucking life...

Frank wrote:

Saint John wrote: The person whose "instrument" isn't on is the one that's always going to get most of the blame. While I feel that all parties involved deserved to be called out, the whole thing did get way out of hand. Me being as guilty as anyone. However, the fact that the lipping spanned several years tells me that Augeri probably had a chance to get out and simply didn't because of some combination of denial and the $$$ that being in Journey yields. He might be the nicest guy in the world, but he still knowingly stood on a stage singing into a microphone that wasn't going out to the crowd.

Dan,

You do realize that there's a great deal of additional 'players' involved in this so-called scandal???..any lip-syncing scandal requires some asshole on the side of the stage, hitting "play" on the tap machine...in the most simplest of situations.

With the technical requirements of putting on a rock show in today's day and age, it's more than just one person. It's a team of them. Among those that were most culpable/responsible, the band stands at the top of the list as vocal cues are very important to any live band. Anyone who's a musician here knows that full well. Once you look at it in those terms, Steve's just the guy standing out there with an SM58 that isn't plugged in....but it could very well be Friga, Fro, Ross or Castro out there....because each and every one of them is just as guilty.

Once you add in the possibility that there were legal/non-performance contractual obligations likely involved here....and that Steve A had a little more pressure than you might fin you see fit to afford him (likely, knowing you, in an effort to exonerate that midget Napoleonic piece of shit guitarist who claimed he never knew ) you might want to provide Augeri with a little more latitude. I guarantee you that any of the sources you would likely claim to inside information within Nomota's House Of Cards will *never* offer you such a detail, as it doesn't serve their best interests.


Steve Augeri *is* one of the nicest guys in the world...and he stood on stage with 4 of the world's biggest assholes....all of whom were EQUALLY responsible and culpable in tapegate.

The great thing in all of this, is that Steve A is still one of the nicest guys in the world. Neal Schon is still a fucking douchebag and Cain's still an opportunistic prick. Some things are still more important than trying to rewrite history (and failing miserably) with a guy that can't sing in english to save his fucking life...

You can give Augeri all the homer points you want to, Frank. He's got two things going for him that you eat up...he's Italian and he's from New York, and you've been suspended from his nut hairs for many years. We all know that. That said, I am certainly of the opinion that *if* we were to hypothetically place the majority of blame with anyone it has to be Neal. It's his band and whether he was initially asleep at the switch or lies because of legal obligations (the latter definitely being the case since he's admitted to it in certian circles) it still falls on him. But let's not go painting Steve Augeri as the patron saint of live fucking music either. He shares a certain amount of blame as well. As much as Neal? Almost surely not, but there's no denying that for several years as this charade played out he simply didn't have the balls to hop off the gravy train.

Please add Kevin Elson to the blame game.

I went on the Journey site when this was all going down and I asked: "Why does Kevin Elson still have a job?"

My post was never deleted, however, I never got a straight answer.

Cat

cat wrote:Please add Kevin Elson to the blame game.

I went on the Journey site when this was all going down and I asked: "Why does Kevin Elson still have a job?"

My post was never deleted, however, I never got a straight answer.

Cat

Not being privy to the intricacies of the band I have no idea if the idea was Kevin Elson's or if he was simply solicited to make it happen. I have a sneaking suspicion that because Irving Azoff has a stable of young lippers the idea started with him or someone very near upper management. But that certainly doesn't mean that Kevin Elson couldn't have simply said "No."

Saint John wrote:
You can give Augeri all the homer points you want to, Frank. He's got two things going for him that you eat up...he's Italian and he's from New York, and you've been suspended from his nut hairs for many years. We all know that. That said, I am certainly of the opinion that *if* we were to hypothetically place the majority of blame with anyone it has to be Neal. It's his band and whether he was initially asleep at the switch or lies because of legal obligations (the latter definitely being the case since he's admitted to it in certian circles) it still falls on him. But let's not go painting Steve Augeri as the patron saint of live fucking music either. He shares a certain amount of blame as well. As much as Neal? Almost surely not, but there's no denying that for several years as this charade played out he simply didn't have the balls to hop off the gravy train.

Um, you're wrong on the homer issue. If you knew me from a hole in the wall, you'd know that while I live in NY, I have a certain amount of contempt for the place. I don't like the quintessential Noo Yawkah stereotype and if I had my druthers, I'd be a florida or texas resident in a heartbeat. The above explaination also speaks volumes for the italian issue as well, since 70% of the people that portray that 'noo yawkah' stereotype are italian (with the other 30% being jewish). So wrong on both accounts.

What *is* the truth is that I have been a fan of Steve Augeri's since his Tall Stories days and I saw my fair share of Steve Augeri performances (all 100% fucking live) YEARS before he was even an itch in Nealpoleon's pants. All of that speaks volumes about how much I respect him as both a musician and a person.

Let me also add another personal note. When I did contract work for Journey, the ONLY fucking band member that gave me more than mere perfunctorial, limited access to information (which only would have added to my job function) was Steve Augeri. I shared plenty of personal emails with the guy while he was with Journey and it not only helped my ability to present his web presence on Journey's website better, but it gave me a clear indication just what he thought about his fans. Contrast that with Friga and Fro, who couldn't give a rats ass about the internet or the fans on it...and it showed. So yeah, I hold a near and dear place in my heart for Steve...


...and that, at the very core, is why I found tapegate so very hard to swallow...because I know very well, just how much Steve Augeri cares about his fans and about how he's viewed by them. He didn't germinate this idea to lip, I can gaurantee you that. It was presented to him as a solution to what Journey's braintrust viewed as a problem that needed tending. Probably Kevin Elson is to blame for dreaming this one up....(and yes Cat, I agree, that motherfucker deserves equal blame)

As far as having 'balls to hop off the gravy train'...I'll suggest that there's more to play than just saying "this is it, I'm gone." This isn't Rob Halford or David Lee Roth, where their future is secure whether or not they stay with the band or not. Augeri has a beautiful family and had their future to consider...it might not have been so easy as to jump off the train. Lest he do that, he might have found himself at the business end of a lawsuit....for all you know, he was bound contractually to stay in there...and might have put his children's future at risk, if he just 'jumped off' (as you say)....It's not like it was when we were all 15 and playing in bands in high school...where you could just quit and deal with having to pass your ex-bassist in the halls on your way to chemistry. This was a little more serious than that.....and too many overly excitable drunk idiots on MR.com spent WAY too much time burning this poor man at the stake, when they should have been looking at the man's employer JUST AS much, if not more.


Also, one final statement on this....consider the 'source' of all this tapegate bullshit. I'm fairly accomplished studio engineer and have spent far more time in a recording studio than most MR.com posters....I know *exactly* what it takes (both from an equipment standpoint and a knowledge standpoint) to splice together live audio from the Arrival DVD along with live bootleg tapes from shows. I gaurantee you the person presenting these tapegate tracks was *not* the source, at least so far as the generation of the 'splices' is concerned. That person had help...considerable help. That 'help' didn't stray too far from your 'gravy train' (as you say) either!!!