Back in 2004, in the fall of that year, Journey came to town in late Sept or Oct, can't recall which.

In any event, they were doing a show at the Blaisdell Arena - just one date. Before the show, I did a phone interview with Neal Schon weeks in advance. On the phone I asked if I could do another in-person with him when he came to town, and he said yes, just after soundcheck at the venue.

Sure enough, that day, I went down to the venue, and at about 4:30 or so, whatever time it was, I was escorted backstage, and sat in a room just off of the stage area, listening to Neal roaring away on stage by himself, just playing, getting his sound together. I remember it was very loud, and went on for maybe ten or fifteen minutes.

Eventually he exited the stage, and came into the little room. My first impression was that he was short. He wore sunglasses in the room, which was inside the backstage area at an indoor venue...

We recorded an interview that was about 15 minutes long, and among the things we discussed, was a pretty extensive dialog about being in the Santana band, early visits to Honolulu, Journey's historic ties to Hawaii (where their second ever show was performed), and a quite detailed account of everything going bad with Steve Perry, and how that fall-out actually happened.

When it was done, we posed for a pic, he did some IDs, and off he went.

I found Neal to be a pro, very business-oriented, and a man of his word. After the show we spoke at the meet and greet, and after hearing he'd be in town for a week on vacation, was able to convince him of a cool on-air bit to do with me. Explaining that I was originally going to record the on-location interview with him to run as a pre-recorded special that upcoming Friday, a little treat I acquired at the show for my listeners, I suggested that I instead, after a week of hyping that, have him in the studio as a surprise live guest. We would promote playing this exclusive one-on-one revealing backstage interview I'd recorded, and then, when we got to the actual moment of playing it, he'd be there live in the studio, and we do it as a cool bit, for the pure fun aspect of it. He was totally into it, and sometime I'll tell you about the magical appearance he did the next week in the studio as my guest, for what still ranks among the greatest, all-time in-studio sessions I've ever done. The backstage interview was only partially used, with a small extract about Honolulu memories and Eric Clapton trying to lure him to join Derek And The Dominos, otherwise, the bulk of it, including the intense discussion of Steve Perry, remains unaired, and unreleased until a future date.

I'm a media personality and radio broadcaster in Honolulu, Hawaii, and news anchor with Hawaii Public Radio, the voice of NPR statewide in the islands.

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