UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

Stephen, my dear, sweet, most favorite Troubadour in the whole entire universe,

HOW THE HELL DID YOU MAKE THAT MUSIC SOUND SO BLOODY FRIGGIN' PERFECT?! GOD BLESS YOU SIR!

I just got the Greatest Hits 2 CD in the mail today, and WOW WOW WOW WOW.....it is like BRAND NEW MUSIC almost!!  I mean, it's like I'm hearing it for the very first time----but you can hear EVERY little thing, every layer, every note, being played on every instrument, and it's all so crystal clear as a bell!!!

Normally, you know that Ross is there, and you realize there's some kind of bass thing going on, but you could never really focus on hearing it because it was always so layered and covered up by Neal and everybody else....but NOW....on this one, you can hear ROSS, loud and clear, and it has made me appreciate him so much more than I ever did before!!  That is sheer brilliance!!  He is amazing!!

You have single-handedly been contributing to the continuing success of Journey, even though you're not in the band anymore, and I am telling ya, Stephen, without your doing these projects, they wouldn't be enjoying such a massive resurgence in popularity.  Here's my other observation...during the Depression in the 1930's, people felt hopeless, they felt bogged down by problems and financial woes, and everybody---EVERYBODY---needed an escape to see the latest movie at the theater, or to hear the latest music on the radio.  Guess what???  We are currently facing a repeat of history.  It all comes around in full circle again and again, and that's no surprise to me whatsoever.  I've studied history most of my life, you know, and I never cease to be amazed at just how similar our lives and our generation really is to the past lives and generations that came before us.  Our country is in turmoil, money is worth next to nothing, the Euro is going to kick everybody in the ass thanks to Greece, and even Michigan is so broke it's turning off all the streetlights in Highland Park.

Then, suddenly, on the radio, there's your voice.  Smooth as silk, glissando-ing and crescendo-ing and vibrato-ing all over the place, singing happy words, hopeful words, positive messages.......so guess what? The resurgence of Journey is partially due in part to the crappy economy too, but MOSTLY due to YOU, with your involvement doing these side-projects that keep them in the public's eye.  You are a shrewd businessman, my friend, and I love that about you.  It seems that you understand history too, and you can make a few bucks from it yourself by doing this stuff.  MORE POWER TO YA!!!  I congratulate you and shake your hand in absolute respect for all that you've done for this band, then and especially NOW.

You have polished this music to its shiniest possible purity, and I am absolutely amazed.  Oh my GAWD, it has been YEARS since I've listened to my Dream After Dream album----but "Little Girl" was always one of my all-time favorite songs that you guys did.  I mean, how many songs NOWADAYS actually have a guy saying he's SORRY to a girl?!!  NONE!! ABSOLUTELY NONE!! If it isn't some rapper guy talking about shooting a cop, or somebody singing about big tits on a woman, or a big fat ass that they would like to tap, or whatever the hell Lady Gaga does (I do not like her, she's just a regurgitated Madonna, same shit, different day).....if it's not singing about some kind of dirty sexual reference, it isn't even played.  It's so REFRESHING to hear a man say---with all sincerity---that he is SORRY!!  It makes me melt every time I hear it.  They need to play THAT on the radio more often.  THAT is what a REAL MAN is all about, if you ask me.  They admit their mistakes, they apologize, they accept responsibility for their actions, and they know they are not perfect.  POLITICIANS NEED TO KNOW THAT TOO. Not this bullshit Kid Rock gangsta persona that really gets irritably tiresome real fast.  That is NOT what a real man is in my eyes.  In fact, that kinda guy is a huge turn-off to me, and to most women of my generation, and beyond.

And OHHH!!!  I haven't heard "Suzanne" in a bajillion-friggin'-million years either, but holy CRAP that song is so awesome!!  I forgot how awesome it really was.  Except now that I know who you were singing about, all I see in my mind is her face!  Suzanne Vega, right??  I think I remember reading that somewhere years ago.

And when you put "Good Morning Girl" on this CD----oh man....man oh man....you have no idea what that song does to me.  I get this huge flood of memories back from Peter, my DC boyfriend before I met and married Pete........Peter would say that to me EVERY DAY.  "Good Morning Girl." And every day when he would say that, it would make me think of YOU, which always put me in a good mood, and so my days would always start out GREAT!  A man I loved with all my heart, would say something that YOU say in that song, and holy crap----talk about a massive mind-fuck----I fell for it every damned time.

You just kill me.

How the HELL do you keep getting BETTER AND BETTER, when most men take a total crap and turn into major asshole curmudgeons by 62?!!!  YOU ARE GODDAMNED AWESOME!!!

I love you more than life itself.

There.....is that enough ego-stroking for one day?! hehehehehe  I do mean every word of it though.

THANK YOU so much for doing this project, Stephen. I mean that with all my heart and soul.

It's brought a massively new freshness to the music-------and wow, it's funny, actually-----but if you stand back and watch this whole thing unfold between you and the boys of Journey, with an objective eye, it's almost like you guys are playing the game of "eye for an eye," or something.  I almost want to burst out into singing "Anything YOU can do I can do BETTER."

I mean, Journey says, "Adios Perry, we'll just find somebody who LOOKS like you a little bit...(Augeri)...and we'll still go out and tour without you---so THERE!" (And we all know NOW that he took a shit real fast, didn't he?)  The poor guy couldn't keep up with the lyrics and those high notes at ALL.

So, then you went off and found a band that had a guitarist VERY SIMILAR SOUNDING to NEAL, (Lincoln Brewster), and said, "HA!! I can replace YOUR stupid ass TOO and go on a SOLO tour!"

(Skip the whole Jeff Scott Soto guy...he was just an tiny blip on the radar).

Then, Journey finds this new guy, Arnel Pineda, who is doing VERY WELL, and I actually LIKE him too, and he brings this brand new fresh perspective to the boys energy and the music----those other singers were just there to get a paycheck.  Not Arnel.  He loves you.  He loves the music.  He loves being there.  He feels totally blessed, and absolutely humbled by it.  And that energy is contagious.

So then, in response, you say, "Ya know what? Sure, he can bring a freshness to the band, but SO CAN I!!! TAKE THAT, YOU BASTARDS!! I WILL RELEASE A GREATEST HITS 2!!"

And now, we wait for Journey's next move.  And after that, YOU will have another solo album.

Am I right?!

Well, it just SEEMS like it's some kind of "my penis is bigger than yours" contest or something, and frankly that seems very childish to me.....BUT.....if I am WAY off in my observation, you can kick my ass and tell me I'm full of crap.  However, I will say that I don't think I am that far off the mark, because most women know how playground-like boys of all ages can be.  Didn't Neal once date one of Jonathan's old girlfriends or something??

"That's MY toy! GIMME!"
"No, she's MY toy!"

You get what I'm sayin'.  (raises an eyebrow at you in suspicion).

So if this whole thing is just a pissing contest between you guys, KNOCK IT OFF, will ya???  Just go and do YOUR thing, and FUCK those guys.  Don't make it some kind of contest, to see who can keep beating the dead horse of your "divorce" into the ground....it's like sitting there hearing your parents badmouth each other all the time.  And if you're doing that kind of crap back and forth to each other to prove something, all it really does is take AWAY from the happy, upbeat, positive music messages that you guys created, shared and believed in for so long.

That is what the world needs, more happy, upbeat and positive.  Not "I'll show YOU fuckers."  Do not slide into the temptation of that, Stephen, it's far easier to play the game than it is to rise above it, but YOU CAN AND SHOULD RISE ABOVE IT, if that is indeed what's going on between you guys.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE my friend.  It's a simple concept.  Let them go on their merry way, and take your own path elsewhere, in different directions, and to HELL with what they are doing, to HELL with how many new lead singers they find, or don't find, and to HELL with playing the "eye for an eye" game.  You're better than that, aren't you??  I sincerely hope that you are.

Ya know, when the Museum made me choose between my job and my family, I figured, "They don't OWN the Holocaust, I can still go off on my own and teach about it, and take people on tours there anytime I fucking WANT to, and there's not a goddamned thing they can do about it.  I don't need them. They need ME worse than I will EVER need them."

And that attitude is actually a normal response when you're feeling hurt all the way to the core of your being, BUT, it's not a healthy way to live.  I learned that lesson.  I know that the Museum is doing much more than I ever could, especially now that I am no longer a part of it...but I can still do MY thing, on a smaller scale, in MY way, in MY direction, and I can always ALWAYS study and teach this history no matter what.  I could, for instance, contact a local community college and ask to apply to be an adjunct professor with a course about the Holocaust.  I could contact the school districts here, to tell them I would like to speak in the classrooms of every elementary, junior and senior high school in the area.  And none of that would affect the Museum, it would only HELP THEM OUT in a silent way of my own.  I wouldn't need to do interviews, or plug it on the radio, or slap the faces of the Museum employees who screwed me over.  I would simply do my best to further Holocaust education, for ME, for MY soul, for MY healing process, NOT to say, "Fuck you guys, take THAT!!"

It's a difficult temptation to resist though.  Part of me wanted some kind of revenge, sure, don't we all?? But revenge is a dish better served cold, my friend.  Let it go.  It's not worth it.  If that becomes your sole purpose in life, to show up the boys of Journey by re-doing old songs, you really REALLY need to stop. You need to focus on YOU.  Put that passion into YOUR own music, YOUR own style, YOUR own feelings---without them.  Don't keep going back at them every time they do something back to you.

If it's a way of trying to make AMENDS with them even---"remember the great times we had, isn't that magical, that song we wrote, I'm so glad we were brothers and loved the music so much for so many years..." then I say, "Good for you, but now you've said it, and it's time for you to MOVE ON."  It's been over a decade for you, and for me too, since our lives changed so drastically.  I have NOT gone to the Museum to give tours, I have NOT gone to the school districts, or the community colleges.  I have NOT felt the ability yet, to do those things.  I'm not ready to.  But, just knowing I COULD, is all I need. I CAN, however, read more books about it, study more, write about it on my web site for kids (www.Tolerance4Kids.com), and I CAN even write my own book about working at the Museum too.  In fact, I have been working on a book since I left there...I just haven't had it published yet.

I love you Stephen.  I have lived through a similar tragic event in my life like you did...sometimes I can see things much clearer because I am not caught up in the tornado like you guys all are---and continue to be---I'm standing OUTSIDE, looking IN, while you're all stuck INSIDE the fishbowl, looking OUT, but seeing nothing but a total blur.

So.....lecture over.....now onto the SMUT!!!! YAY!!!!  A naughty story....ohhhh yessss...

Well, actually, I'm going to have to tease you with the smut today because I have to go shower and get ready for our trip to Cleveland tonight.  I'll be thinking of you when I'm bent over the spanking bench!!! And hey, maybe tonight's adventure will be the fodder for the story tomorrow!! WOOOOOO!!

God Bless You, Stephen, for giving us Greatest Hits 2.  Just examine your inner motives, and I hope they are as pure and crystal clear in your heart and soul, as the music always will be.

I love you more than the sun, the moon, the stars.......you are my beacon of hope, in a world of chaos.

Love, Rebecca