Greatest Hits Live...a masterpiece.

Ok Stephen,

I just had to crank up some of my favorite tunes, from Greatest Hits Live....and OH MY GOD, have you really cranked that up, EVER, and really REALLY listened to it?!  Do you NOT KNOW just how AWESOME that whole damned CD totally IS?!!

The ENERGY of it just gets me hyper like you wouldn't BELIEVE.  It's like when I close my eyes while listening to it, I am THERE, in the same arena, with YOU in front of me, and it's absolute BLISS.  THAT is when I am the happiest human being on EARTH, IN THE MOMENT, jazzed up like a wild woman, waving my hands in the air, head banging, and just FLYING!!!!

Goddammit man, I miss that energy so fucking much, I cannot even fully convey my emotion to you.

The whole "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" thing on that CD just KILLS ME.  Every time.  Just kills me!! Breaking off into a massive solo exchange between Neal and Jonathan---BRILLIANT!!!  And they just kicked ass through that whole song.  And YOU, holy shit dude, YOU were beyond amazing!!!!

And "Wheel in the Sky" at the end---again, breaking off into a solo thing, just getting the crowd whipped up into a frenzy---fucking BRILLIANT!!!!

Oh, but you know what I really REALLY love??  Is when you sing "Stay Awhile," and at the END of it, you just leave everybody HANGING ON for that last word..."If you'd just....stayyyyy................." and the crowd goes insane, hanging, waiting, on the edge of their seats----"WITH ME AWHILLLLLLEEEEEEE!!!!"  Holy crap dude, that nearly melts me into a puddle of goo.  EVERY TIME I HEAR IT.

You kill me, Sir.  You truly do.  You may not ever listen to yourself on that album, I don't know. But you should. You really SHOULD.  You might not even recognize it as being you, but it's so incredible, and so massively filled with energy---it's ELECTRIC.  It's pure magic.

PLEASE, will you just one more time in your life, bring that magic BACK?!!

I know, I know, it's not the same without the other guys----I agree, it never will be the same.  But we don't WANT or NEED "the SAME," we want and need something from YOU, that is just as kick ass awesome, just as energetic, just as positive and happy and ELECTRIC as you have always been.

Ah well, I know that it sometimes sucks that everybody is so damned needy around you all the time, begging for more music, begging for an autograph, a picture, a kiss...you've had enough of the needy greedy groupies and the crazed fans from hell.  I understand that.

But holy GOD a'mighty, man, you were just so CONTAGIOUS on that stage...running around like a wild man, that hair flying all over the place, I swear you must have had whiplash a few times....or at least a really bad neck ache the next day from head banging so much.  (I get that now, too, whenever I head bang...dammit).

I know, I know, you probably say to yourself, you're in your mid 60's now......GRANDPAW age....you should just retire and be quiet and never sing another song in your entire (whatever's left of your) life.   Is that what you think? Is that why you just won't do it again? Because you think you're a has-been, you can't hit those high notes anymore, and you want to leave everyone with your voice still echoing as it once was, younger, more vibrant, not as raspy and deep as it is now that you're older and retired?

FUCK THAT GARBAGE.

*Smacking you upside the head*  You're an IDIOT if you believe that shit.

Don't be a freakin' idiot, Stephen.  Jeezus you sell yourself too short, and it pisses me off.  STOP IT.

You could get up on that stage, and BURP the friggin' ALPHABET BACKWARDS, and we would BUY IT.  Just throw in a little vibrato here and there, and you've got yourself a major hit on the charts. (let me reference LADY GAGA just for shits and giggles. No talent hack, can't sing worth a shit, all gimmicks and costumes).  If SHE can get so disgustingly popular from THAT crap, my GOD MAN, you have got it MADE.

Sing a duet with Adele!!!!  I LOVE HER.  Ya know WHY?  Because she's REAL, and she's not full of gimmicks, she's just simple, gorgeous, and her SOUL SHINES THROUGH EVERY WORD SHE SINGS.  Just like YOURS does.  It always has, it always will.

Your SOUL is what we miss, Stephen.  The contagious energy of your SOUL whenever you opened that gorgeous pie-hole of yours, THAT is the magic we miss so much.

Sure, you're absolutely right to protect your soul from anymore heartbreak, and I know you've been through the wringer with all the BS you've been dealt from the boys of Journey all these years, but COME ON, you're capable of rising above all that crap, you're better than they are, you can and SHOULD shine that soul of yours to the world, and just sing your guts out ONCE MORE....

Maybe your new album should be called, "Once more."

"Opened the Door" is another one of my favorites----such a sexy damned song----but my all-time favorite is "Sweet And Simple."   Get up on a stage with Adele, and sing "Sweet and Simple" with her. Do you have ANY IDEA HOW AWESOME THAT WOULD BE?!!

Ah well, maybe I need to calm myself down.  My old bones just cannot handle too much excitement anymore.  But when I listen to that CD with my eyes closed, I am THERE, all over again, re-living the catharsis that is every Journey audience in the world, surrounded by people I wouldn't normally give the time of day to---but thrilled that they are just as excited and wild as I am---feeling like they are family now, we're all in this together, everybody loves the music, the magic is in the air, and it's just the BEST feeling EVER in the whole entire UNIVERSE.

I miss that feeling.  Sooooo horribly much.  You cannot sit there, Stephen, and tell me that you don't miss it sometimes too.  I know you do.  You must have moments of a tiny twinge of sadness here and there, when you're out getting groceries and you hear yourself overhead on the speakers...the memories flood through your body and your brain and your soul like salt on a wound.  I know that is how it must be for you sometimes, painful, but bittersweet.

How can a person actually MISS the quicksand of the cesspool you once lived in?  I don't know how, but I've been there, done that.  I know how it feels.  I get homesick sometimes, too.  The music business has changed dramatically.  It's not the same game it once was.  It's not fun anymore.  It's work, and stress, and drama, and a whole lotta bullshit.

But YOU are in the best possible position you could ever be in right NOW----you can MAKE IT FUN again, doing what you most love, and what your whole purpose in life IS, all over again, YOUR WAY, singing whatever the HELL you want to, with WHOMEVER you want to, and no matter WHAT comes out of that pie-hole, Mister Man, you are GUARANTEED to be adored and loved all over again by all of us out here who have lost you for so many years.

Bring that shiny sexy soul of yours out for us to see again.  Please.  Just once more.

.............that thing I wrote yesterday.......it was a first draft, just off the top of my head, so I know it needs a lot of editing.  But I posted most of it on Facebook and several people said it was the most intelligent thing they have read on the subject so far.

I kinda thought that was cool.

Well, anyway, you are loved, ya big lug, no matter what you do....or don't do.

But I just wanted you to know, that even NOW, so many years later, that CD just gets me all riled up, and I love reliving every moment of every concert I got lucky enough to experience with you.

I just miss ya.  That's all.

Bye for now. Have a great weekend, and think about it...just toss it around in that sexy noggin awhile, and play that CD really loud, with your eyes closed. Re-live it.  Then tell me you "don't miss it."  I know you'll be lying.  Stop lying to yourself, and get your ass out on that stage where it belongs.

Love, Rebecca