Journey Reunion: Very Bad Idea

While I've taken June off from blogging to finish my second novel, Revolution 1990, I've got to take a few minutes and share my thoughts on this whole Journey Reunion buzz that's going on.

For those of you who may have been under a rock for the past several weeks, Steve Perry (former lead singer of Journey) has made several surprise stage appearances. He's come on during the encore of a few EELS shows.  This immediately raises two questions: first, "Who are the EELS?" and second, "When's the Journey reunion?"

While I'd love to time travel back to 1985 and see Journey live on stage during their Frontiers heydays, the last thing I want is a Journey reunion and subsequent tour.

Let me be clear: a Journey Reunion is an extremely terrible idea.

Here's the thing: I want to remember them how they were.  If they perform today as Journey, they are going to sound like 60 year old guys trying to play Journey. To me, it's kind of depressing. Did you see the Ringo/McCartney reunion at the Grammys? It was pathetic. Do you want that to happen to your Journey memories?

It's been what, almost twenty years since Trial By Fire and even that was a far cry from their previous album Raised On Radio which wasn't even close to Frontiers.  Trial By Fire is proof that as a band, Journey had tapped out their hit writing abilities.

Steve Perry has certainly moved on musically since then and that's what I want to hear.  That guy has probably twenty-five years of melodies brewing in his head and I want to hear the best of them.  Most likely it's gonna be more rhythm and blues than corporate rock. Steve even said it himself, 'Well, I hadn't sung in 20 years -- I sounded more like Otis Redding than I did in Journey." That's a hint, folks. He's ready to record and sing stuff that sounds more like "Hard To Handle" than "Open Arms."

Can you imagine the album that can come from Steve Perry's mind and voice today? After decades of the music critics trashing him for being corporate rock, he could comes back and nail it with a deep soul album. That would be huge.

And a concert that follows?  Not one where he plays stadium crowds singing "The Girl Can't Help It," "Any Way You Want It," and "Don't Stop Believin'". No I'm talking one of those smaller venues as a singer in a smoky room, belting out Detroit Motown blues from Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Smokey Robinson.

Can you imagine Steve Perry's version of "Who's Lovin' You?" That would be awesome. That would be an evolution of Steve Perry and a departure from his Journey years. (Pun intended there, folks.)

That's what I want to hear.

Come back Steve. But don't regress, be the Steve Perry of 2014 and not the Steve Perry of 1984.

Wal Ozello is the author of Assignment 1989: The Time Travel Wars . He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.

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5 More World Cup Questions for Greg Bartram and Brian Phillips

I sort of consider myself the average "American" soccer fan. I enjoy the game but typically  just drink a beer and scream real loud when a ball gets close to the net. With the 2014 World Cup almost set to pop, I thought the time was ripe to ask local soccer experts -  CD1025 DJ Brian Phillips and renowned Photographer/Musician Greg Bartram - some of my dumb-ass soccer questions to help get up to speed on what I need to know.- Colin G   Click here for questions 1-5

 

6)What players do I need to keep on eye on that can make a big difference helping Team USA advance?

 

BP) Up until Saturday's friendly with Nigeria (also a World Cup bound side) I was very concerned with our defense. It seems Klinsman has arrived at shape he's pleased with however and the USA certainly played a solid game in the back. For all of this to work Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman (he of the wicked dreds) will have to live just to the top of our defensive four clogging up passing lanes and generally lending a stout hand in the middle. His success would allow fellow midfielder Michael Bradley to focus on creating offensively. 

Striker Jozy Altidore is another important piece. Up until Saturday's two goal outburst he hadn't scored in any match, for club OR country, in 2014. Altidore has be in top form, ready to turn and fire on goal. Sometimes he'll need to play with his back to the net, holding up the ball with strength and finding Clint Dempsey in space. The more he can be a force, the more room for Dempsey to run free. Defenders have to be so worried about his strength and athletisism they forget every one else.

Another couple of players I'll be watching are outside defenders DaMarcus Beasley and Fabian Johnson. Klinsman would like to push both of those guys up into the attack. Can they do that and get back and cover? Will others track back quickly to prevent counter attacks? It's a risky, but exciting tactic. Look to see how much we're able to employ them offensively.

GB) Brian’s got that pretty well covered, but it’s a different squad than we’re used to seeing. The two guys who scored for the US here in the last incarnation of the traditional US 2-0 win over Mexico, Eddie Johnson and Landon Donovan, won’t be there, so guys who aren’t known for their scoring touch have to find it.

Also, transition, transition, transition…the midfielders have GOT to be strong supporting both up top and in the back.

7) The World Cup is a really big deal. Can you recommend a good spot to go watch the games to catch the excitement? With kids? Without?

 

BP) Thanks to the Crew Columbus has over the past couple of decades turned into a soccer town. There are no shortage of watering holes featuring the matches. Fourth Street Bar and Grill comes to mind. Also I'll be hosting an event with CD1025 at The Elevator Brewing Tap Room at 171 N. Fourth for the Portugal game. We'll be watching just feet from the Elevator's brewing operation on the big screen with a $2 pint special and food trucks (hint hint hint). 

As for watching with your kids? I'd probably watch with them at home. People can get a bit nuts. Maybe invite a few neighborhood kids over. 

GB) Sounds like the Elevator’s gonna be a good one. Also, Fado at Easton was just rated as the best place in Ohio to watch World Cup matches, and the Columbus Crew are partnering with them for the tournament. Anyplace you go, it’ll be good viewing.

Want to share it with the kids? I’d call up the members of your son or daughter’s footie side (soccer team), invite players and parents, and host your own with a bring-a-dish-with-ya kinda theme. That way, you don’t have to trouble yourself with the more heavily-partying types.

 

8) What other teams / players are you most looking forward to watching in addition to USA?

BP) A lot of the usual suspects. Messi (Argentina) Srna ( Croatia) Suarez... though he could be hampered by recent knee surgery...  (Uruguay) Balotelli (Italy) Klose (Germany).... For my money the host nation's Neymar is the most exciting player. 

I'll be very interested in Mexico's fortunes. They barely made the field of 32 and had a terrible qualifying. How many coaches did they go through the past couple of years? I've lost count. They have nice players, but they just haven't figured out how to play together. I always watch England. It's hard to pick against Brazil at home. Cameroon is usually entertaining. Suffice to say a dark horse will emerge from nowhere and at least one superstar will be born in the next month. 



GB) There’s also this fella from Portugal that the US will get a close-up view of named Christian Ronaldo…
France, Germany…I’ve always liked Germany’s game, but I’m pretty interested to see how much Home Country Advantage comes into play.

9) Team USA advances to the next round if…

BP) They have to beat Ghana in the opener. Without that win nothing else is possible. After that they probably have to figure out how to draw with either Germany or Portugal. Good luck! 

GB) Beat the team they should, and at least one team who’s ranked higher. Gotta be riding the wave on the way into the second match, and they’ve GOT to replace Donovan’s experience and scoring.

10)Team USA is in big trouble if..

BP) They lose to Ghana. They backslide into some of the sloppy defending we've seen prior. Altidore has to lead the side in goals. 

GB) They are facing Germany and Portugal without a win. Definitely going to need Vitamin Mo(mentum).

5 World Cup Questions For Greg Bartram and Brian Phillips by Colin G.

I sort of consider myself the average "American" soccer fan. I enjoy the game but typically  just drink a beer and scream real loud when a ball gets close to the net. With the 2014 World Cup almost set to pop, I thought the time was ripe to ask local soccer experts -  CD1025 DJ Brian Phillips and renowned Photographer/Musician Greg Bartram - some of my dumb-ass soccer questions to help get up to speed on what I need to know.- Colin G.

 

1) Ok, I said I was a soccer dumb-ass so first things first, what time and what channel is the first Team USA World Cup game vs Ghana showing?

Brian - USA/Ghana kick off at 6pm Eastern Monday June 16. USA/Portugal 6pm Sunday June 22. USA/Germany Noon Thursday June 26.

Greg - Here’s a link that lists the other coverage for the first round. This is the last year of ESPN’s coverage contract, and they’re approaching it with the mindset that they want it to be the very best coverage EVER, making it an exceedingly tough followup for FOX.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2014/02/espn-schedule-2014-fifa-world-cup/

2) I have Ghana filed under "American killers." Is that accurate? And if so, what is it about them that seems to give us trouble?

Brian - That's tough for me to answer specific to this World Cup as I have not seen them play. Ghana is perennially one of the best sides on their continent. I'm reading they're strong in the midfield, but perhaps a bit lacking elsewhere. The 13th ranked USA will have to beat the world's 37 to have any hope of advancing. It's really that simple.

Greg - The US have played Ghana 4 times, twice in 1983, once in the 2006 World Cup, losing to them in the Round of 16, and once in the group stage in 2010. They’ve lost all four, but no one who played an any but the last match are still active with their teams. They’ve got some players in the best leagues in the world, but how will they mesh coming into this tournament?

Local connection…both Dominic Oduro (just traded to Toronto, to the great disappointment of my youngest son) and Fifi Baiden of the Crew are from Ghana. Oduro has been called into the Black Stars’ camp on at least one occasion, but has never appeared in international competition.
 

3) There has been much talk about us being in the "group of death." Is it really harder than the other brackets based on World Rankings or is that just ESPN-fueled hype?

Brian - Not in this case. Germany is ranked second in the world and Portugal fourth. Getting out of this group will be one hell of an accomplishment. 

Greg - As Brian said, this group includes the 2nd, 4th, and 37th ranked teams in the world, with the US being ranked 13th. The top two teams will advance, so the US will have to defeat at least one top-5 team to advance…there isn’t any way around that.

4) Don't we have to play a game on top of a mountain in the middle of the jungle or something? Do you feel the climate will help or hurt Team USA  one way or another?

Brian - I don't worry about that stuff. The USA plays in all manner of environments during qualifying. Everything from a blizzard in Denver at high altitude, to the extreme heat of Central America, to the smog and high altitude in Mexico City. If it's an issue we weren't ready to play.

Greg - It’s not so much where they are (although the stadium at Manaus is built in "the heart of the world’s largest rain forest," according to the CBC), as how far they have to go to get there. The US will travel 8,866 miles in the group stage alone, whereas Germany will travel slightly less than a third of the total distance the US will. The USMNT actually have the longest travel schedule of ANY team in the group stage of the World Cup.

5) It seemed odd to me that Landon Donovan was cut from the team at such a late date. Did you find this surprising? Concerning? What was the motive?

Brian - Landon took a year off and he's 32 years old now. I was a bit surprised sure, but he wasn't the only one cut. I don't think there was any motive other than the usual. Jurgen Klinsman would hardly allow politics to sway him one way or the other at this juncture. That said, if the USA performs poorly it'll be the first thing some say. 

Greg - The internet is awash with conspiracy theories, including the thought that US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is building for 2018, and not taking this one seriously, but I don’t buy into that. I will defer to the words of current LA Galaxy and former USMNT head coach Bruce Arena…"If there are 23 better players than Landon, then we have a chance to win the World Cup." 

5 more World Cup questions for Greg Bartram and Brian Phillips coming soon!

Johnny DiLoretto Answers Your Questions About the Downtown Drive In June 13th @ North Market

Johnny DiLoretto is the director of communications for the Gateway Film Center, the Midwest's premiere independent movie house. He will be checking in from time to time over the upcoming months to keep us informed about all the kick-ass events they have scheduled that are sure to keep your summertime blues at bay.

Q: Wait, wait, what's this? You guys are having a Drive-In movie series at the North Market? Like park outside and watch in your car and everything? When does it start? What do I need to know?

A: You got it, Colin! This is total badassery at work. We kicked this program off back at the beginning of May with Toy Story. Next up is Ghostbusters on Friday the 13th. It's great -- you park in the North Market parking lot, we put up a 40-foot inflatable movie screen, and you listen to the movie through your FM radio. We're bringing this tradition downtown so you don't have to drive out to some shady-ass boondock and risk having some heroin addict climb through your hatchback and stab you in the neck with his cooking spoon.

Q: This is so cool. Where did the idea come from? Is there anything else like it in America?

A: I came up with it. (No matter what Rick Harrison Wolfe, North Market exec director, and Gateway FIlm Center president, Chris Hamel have to say about it...) And, to answer the other question - there is only one other downtown drive-in in the United States and I probably had the idea for that one too.

Q: Harold Ramis recently passed away. In addition to his role in Ghostbusters, what would you recommend is worth revisiting from his impressive body of work as both a writer/actor/director?

A: In addition to co-starring with Bill Murray in Ghostbusters and Stripes, Ramis directed Caddyshack and the first National Lampoon's Vacation movie, so obviously those are classics. He also did the movie, Multiplicity, which has a fun performance by Michael Keaton as a guy who clones himself, so he can get more shit done. 

Q: Did you ever sneak a bunch of people into a Drive-In movie growing up and if so, how many?

A: No, I was too riddled with Catholic guilt to sneak people in. I have two distinct drive-in memories though. One, is when I was really young, my uncle brought me to the drive-in and let me go buy popcorn by myself. I got lost on my way back to the car and when I finally thought I'd found the car, I saw a dude's horrifying, pale white ass pumping away at someone under him. It was the wrong car and scarred me for life. To this day, I shudder at seeing a dude's pale white ass. The second experience came later when I was 12 or so. I went to the drive-in with my friend and his super hot mom, and all I could think about was how I could lose my friend and make out with his mom. I forget the movie, but not the mom.

UPDATE: You can actually now order your tickets / parking space in advance for Friday's show here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/downtown-drive-in-ghostbusters-presented-by-gateway-film-center-and-north-market-tickets-11868851053

 

 

 

 

"Pulp Fiction" @ the Gateway Sunday June 8th. Johnny DiLoretto Explains Why this Movie Still Matters.

Johnny DiLoretto is the director of operations for the Gateway Film Center, the Midwest's premier Independent movie house. He will be checking in from time to time over the upcoming months to keep us informed about all the kick ass events they have scheduled sure to keep your summertime blues at bay.

Q: Sunday June 8th Cinema Classics presents the 20th Anniversary Screening of "Pulp Fiction" at the Gateway Film Center. Wow, that was a quick twenty years. Why is this movie still important and worth seeing on the big screen?

A: Of course you gotta see this movie on the big screen! You have to see it in its element to be reminded of exactly how revolutionary and influential it was. It changed the way movies were made and had a direct impact on everything that came after it. For better or for worse. Mostly for worse, because people lifted Tarantino's techniques and bit off his writing style without the cinematic chops to make that stuff sing. You should see it to be reminded of how great it is. 

Q: For us movie dumb asses, what makes director Quentin Tarantino special?

A: He's a savant. He has devoured, passionately devoured, all of cinema -- the classics, the crap, all of it. And he pukes it back out, in some instinctive way, so that you can see all of this amazing stuff happening in his movies -- he's referencing film history as he's blazing new narrative ground. He's conducting a score of tension and comedy and violence all the while spinning these exhilarating, musical exchanges of dialogue. He is - without fucking question - one of the true geniuses of modern American cinema. 

Q What other Q Tarantino's films do you consider essential viewing for the casual movie fan? 

A. You can't go wrong with any full-length movie he's directed. All of it. Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained. Of the stuff he's only written, you have to see True Romance, which features a mind blowing cameo by Gary Oldman as a psychotic, dreadlocked, pimp; and features one of the all-time great scenes between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper. 

Q: What are the details for the movie again and when can I hear Cinema Classics?

A: You can see the movie at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 8. It's $7.50 for just the film; or you can get eat brunch and see the movie for $15. We do a great brunch in The Torpedo Room. 

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