What a show.

It’s been about 48 hours since seeing Journey in Concert at Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix. You know, I’ve seen Journey around a dozen times in concert. Once with Steve Perry in 1986, several times with Steve Augeri, and once with Jeff Scott Soto in 2006. Two nights ago, after a two-year break, I was again watching Journey perform, this time with Arnel Pineda.

I could write about the set list, the lights or the sound system but I’m not going to do that. I want to write about how the show made me feel.

I think the following post I left on Twitter is a pretty good summary of how I was feeling that night:

Damn, Arnel Pineda is a good singer.
09:26 PM October 03, 2008 from txt
davidgalindo

Have you ever heard music that moves the core of your soul?

That’s how I was feeling Friday night. I hope everyone has the opportunity to experience things like this in their own lives. Whether it’s music or some other kind of art, it serves to remind us to not miss the wonders that are around us.

If you don’t get it, that’s OK.

I’ve listened to Journey for almost a lifetime. I’ve heard people joke and minimize the quality and relevance of Journey’s music. I’m OK with that. What I know is the importance the music plays in my life and the lives of many others around the world.

A Journey looney.

In my earlier post, Portrait of a Journey Fan, I mentioned Steve Perry being the “true” voice of Journey. An anonymous comment mentioned something about me being a “Perry looney”. What this reminded me was how passionate people are about Journey, the music and the band members. What I can say is that Steve Perry has been and will likely always be an inspiration to me. Another, very nice comment after that thanked me for sharing. My post was picked up on Arnel Pineda’s official site, again with friendly comments. That made my day!

Back in June, I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and a story about Arnel Pineda. That was the first time in quite a while that I’ve believed Journey’s music could truly be brought to life again. I went out and bought Journey “Revelation” that very same day. Arnel, Neal, Jon, Ross & Deen have not disappointed us.

What I can say about Friday’s show is this:

Arnel, you made me believe again. Thank you.

Hope you enjoy some of my pictures from the show!

Before you challenge my true loyalty to the “real” Journey, let me just say that, to me, Steve Perry is THE real voice of Journey. But the music and the performances by the rest of the band members were the vehicle that allowed Steve Perry to soar. That being said, Journey’s music has been a part of my life almost as long as I can remember. I got my first Journey album, “Infinity”, for my birthday in April, 1978 – over thirty years ago!  I was nine years old and just beginning to find my own way in music. Although I almost wore the album out from repeated playings, I still have it and several others today. AND – I still have a turntable to play it on. I could probably even tell you where every scratch, hiss and pop are on that record.

Here I am today:

Still a Journey fan.

As you can probably see, I’ve collected a few things along the way. Well, maybe more than just a few things:

Too much? Compared to others, my collection is pretty tame. Ok, so maybe it looks like a bunch of clutter. But to me it represents a huge part of my life, all captured (also the name of a Journey album) in images and sound. Everything here has a story associated with it. Maybe one of these days I’ll write some of those down.

Well, I have to work in the morning and I know I should be getting to sleep but I sort of feel like a kid on Christmas eve. I don’t know about you but sleep doesn’t come easily for me on nights like this.  Anyway, I’ll wrap this up. Look for my post-concert review sometime this weekend.

And, as always, Don’t Stop Believin’!

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

It’s been a week since I woke up and found my face wasn’t working quite right. In that week, I’ve learned a lot about this condition called Bell’s Palsy and I continue to learn more. I’ve found there’s this world-wide community of people suffering from it. Still, it’s surprising that outside of that community, not many people are aware of Bell’s palsy. Or if they are, there are a ton of misconceptions, both good and bad.

The most important things I’ve learned are that having a positive attitude, being patient and just giving things time to heal are really the best and only course of action. In some ways, that’s contrary to the way that I normally function…I tend to try to find ways to fix or mend things. That alone is teaching me something greater than I probably could have learned otherwise.

Driving to Work

Today I drove to my company’s Scottsdale office to facilitate some testing classes I’ve been coordinating. The commute is 35 to 50 minutes depending on traffic. I sometimes like these drives before getting in front of a group because I get to spend a little more time listening to music. Music has always been important to me and one of my favorite bands, Journey, was in the CD player this morning.

Now, those that know me, are aware of the fact that I occasionally like to do a little karaoke now and then. And those that know me REALLY well, know that one of my more important hobbies is writing, singing and recording my own songs in my spare-bedroom studio.

In the last week, with the way my mouth was, or rather, wasn’t working, I haven’t really felt like singing a note. This morning on my drive to work, with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” playing loud over the speakers, I sang for the first time in 8 days.

It felt a little odd at first, trying to form the words and the hearing in my right ear getting “boomy” at times, but it went ok. All in all, it was a good release.

Progress Pictures

Before leaving for work this morning, I took the following pictures. I added a couple of profile pictures to illustrate my smile on both sides. I think that I notice a difference in how people react depending on the side they see first. Others tell me that’s not the case. To be honest, I’m really not sure.

When I look at these pictures and compare them with my earlier post, things look much the same as they did then. One small but optimistic sign is that it appears my right eye is closing a little more. That’s a big deal when you understand how much time I’ve been spending making sure my cornea doesn’t dry out or get damaged.

Straight Face	Smile
Eyes Closed	Raised Eyebrows
Smile – Left Side	Smile – Right Side

Tomorrow, I’m going to share pictures of what I’m beginning to call my “Bell’s Palsy Survival Kit”. I love Ziploc bags. They rank up there with Velcro and Nougat!

About a week ago I was walking into the local Whole Foods grocery store.

On the back of a PT Cruiser I saw this license plate:

Anybody who’s known me for even a little while eventually discovers that I kind of like the band Journey. I’ve been listening to Journey since I was about 10 years old. That’s a LONG time. Anyway, I saw the this license plate and immediately felt a connection with the car’s owner. I got the picture but never saw who the owner was.

It’s cool to see there’s others out there keeping the Journey spirit alive.

Want to hear one of my favorite Journey songs? Press play below and “name that tune”!

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