Journey Digs the 49ers of the 80s

I'm not a 49ers fan and never will be, but this shirt has both arena rock fans and football fans in mind. I guess the members of Journey and the crew liked how good the team was back then enough to have these special shirts made. They are very rare, having only seen about three others since 2002. Love the creative use of the scarab logo yet again with the helmet replacing the earth.

Striped Sleeved Escape Shirt

Love the stripes on sleeves of this Spring 1982 t-shirt. Very 80s, and very manly. The glowing bug on the back is awesome, but this one has suffered many indignities in the washer and at beer ball parties. Nonetheless, i love it. Its a common shirt, but has yet another variation on the scarab design, as the wings are cut out without color filled in between the little pointies.

Roadie T-Shirt from the Pine Knob Show

This is one of several extremely rare shirts gotten from a former Journey roadie who was selling lots of his stuff off on ebay. His name is Terry Brennan, and not positive if he was selling for the roadie or if he is in fact the roadie. He is great because all the stuff had buy it nows on, so you didnt have to risk losing some once in a lifetime buys, stuff you didnt even know existed. I am still so bummed i missed out on the Escape Tour leather jacket with the parked beetle logo on the chest. I saw one other for sale once, but that was for charity. Got some other things from him though that are very cool.

I had seen this shirt before, but this one is possibly one of a kind because the back graphic is on the front, and the front is on the back. Its excellent to have this one. All the Pine Knob shirts i have seen have the scarab sort of die cut out with the white border around it.

Classic Escape Tour Jersey

This is the mass-produced, uncustomized 1981 Journey Escape tour concert jersey. These tend to have pretty good image fading (see the text on the bottom of the back of the shirt), but most often achieve that great weathered and often paper-thin look. People wore the shit out of these things, but they held up. This is a Knits shirt made with ribbed fabric, like on a wife beater. Its real form fitting. Again with the standard issue scarab logo.

The Escape Show Mommy Wouldnt Let Me Go To

I really wanted to see Journey play Blossom Music Center when they came back around after the Richfield Coliseum show, but my parents, who took me and J.T. Frasier to the first show woundn't let me. Lots a dopers, they thought.

Well, here is my redemption, my swan song, my little ditty. This vintage journey Escape tour shirt was nearly not mine. After a frantic bidding war i lost it and i was pissed. This shirt was the reason i really stretched my frugality to the limits and bid just about anything to get me some fabric. Anyway, they shirt was back on ebay within two weeks - the dude that won it wanted to have a vintage shirt to wear to the reformed Journey show, but this one was too big. He relisted it, i won it and here it is for you to admire over, or is it upon?

I see these here and there, so its not too rare. I think they played three shows, so a bunch of these were sold. Has the standard scarab front. The back image with the bug shooting a the city name etched in stone was done for a few shows, including most notably the Pine Knob show - of which i possess a very rare version of to be posted later. Its a neato one.

Escape Tour Heads to Hawaii

A great way to kick off the Escape shirts. This is one of my faves and is very rare - only seen one other on eBay since 2002. Instead of the globe with the infinity band of clouds around it inside the beetle - as in the standard versions coming up, this one has the Hawaiian Islands put in there. And I love the little infinity symbol in the boat on the back of the shirt. There was a lot of artfulness and creativity put into Escape shirts. Certainly some are more elaborate, but this one is just beautiful and classic.

Journey Frontiers Tour Shirts All Posted

So, 1983 is wrapped up. They are all below. Have a lookey. Frontiers was really the end of all that was good, and at the same time the beginning of the crap. Songwriting on this album is super, especially the title track - it never got enough credit. I actually got to see Steve Smith a few years later at a drum clinic and he played the drum line from Frontiers and i just remember myself and the rest of the auditorium moving to the edge of their seats to see him play it. At the end i got his autograph on an album and stole a pair of his drumsticks. I dont feel too bad about it. He also explained how "Perry" (he wouldnt call him Steve) recut the tracks with another drummer without telling him, so that's why he quit the band for ROR.

Onto the bad - the outfits they wore on that tour were absurd, even for casual observers of the day. They broke away from the beetle theme to address the rampant technological advances unfolding before our eyes. Then of course they broke up and Raised on Radio made me hang my head in shame - especially because of Johnathan Cain's freakin long neon splattered jacket and permed mullet and that lame portable keyboard thing. Artwork for that sucked then and it sucks now, as does the weak title track. My collection may not be as complete as others since I refuse to buy anything from that tour. I did get to see them third row center though - that was cool except when a colorfully huge Randy Jackson got too close. "Girl Cant Help It" is a pretty good song, I guess. I hate to be critical, but i wish they were still together and making great music as evidenced by the really good Trial By Fire. And still using Stanley Mouse for the artwork. Oh, welps.

Anyway, gonna start posting Escape stuff next, the meat of the collection. The Meat!
And if anyone wants to quit holding out and sell me the shirts that Neal and Steve S are wearing in the above picture, that would be great.

One Last Random Frontiers Sweatshirt

Got this dirt cheap on eBay, probably because its sorta ugly and very scratchy and uncomfortable. Very 80s style was given to staff working the JFK stadium shows seen on Frontiers and Beyond video. Its very rare, only seen this one time. Not an official band issued thing, but its still nice to have.

The Only Original from Youth Times

It has been through a lot since 1983, but I never stopped loving it. Its the only shirt I own from my original experience at a Journey show. Didnt buy a shirt at the Escape show the year before - opted for the giant poster for my bedroom. So this is all I got. It is very thin, with tears down the side from my burnout days. I was so excited to wear it to school the next day, and i remember the dudes saying stuff like "that's the one i'm gonna get tonight" and other such jealous lies.

This commonly appearing shirt doesnt get worn anymore, but it will stay with me forever as my sweet memories do - like making an "Edge of the Blade" album cover for art class by copying the front shirt image. And hating to have to leave the Richfield Coliseum early from the second night because my friend's dad wanted to beat the traffic. I dont really recall any other specific moments while wearing the shirt. Alas, oh well.

Journey Day on the Green Staff T-shirt

One of those shocking finds in a vintage clothing store on The Haight. Its in excellent condition and very rare. There was a football jersey version of this shirt being sold on Wolfgang's Vault for a while, but those have all sold. There are still some regular white t-shirt versions, both from 1980 and 1983. Have never seen the ringer version that is shown here.

This is from the Bill Graham shows at Oakland Coliseum. Huge sorts of stadium shows that Steve Perry grew to dislike - lack of intimacy with the fans or something along those lines. I used to love those kinds of shows, but now I too find them loathesome and brutish after being spoiled by seeing great bands in tiny venues in SF for years.

Frontiers Tour Hits Hawaii

Journey did two special Hawaii shirts, this one is from the Frontiers tour. (View the other one here.) It is the most elaborately designed of the special 1983 show shirts and is rare. I don't have any of the other special show ones - they end up selling for a lot in auctions, and since the focus of my collection is on the Escape tour, I don't really need to shell out the extra dough. These are the other special ones that I have seen:

• California and Florida shows have black sunglasses on the robot guy - they say something like "California Rocks" and "Florida Jam" on them - I hope to get one of these at some point
  
• A New Orleans show has a Bourbon St. streetlight on the back
• Texas show has stars dancing around the main front image
• Others are customized by adding the city name on the back, like my only personally purchased shirt that I still own - check it out here
  

Another Standard Frontiers Shirt

The blues in this shirt really blare out. The back is especially pretty with a frosty glow about it. Got this on eBay from some woman who claimed her brother sold shirts for the band when they came to town and he kept a few extras. This thing is perfect and unworn. Very nice to find these ones that were socked away and preserved.

Sorta Sleeveless Journey Shirt from 1983

Ok, real sleeveless, but whatever. This one reuses that parked beetle logo from the Escape tour during the Frontiers tour. I really really love that parked bug, and have considered it as a tattoo before, but I rarely consider tattoos. I think most people get them for the wrong reasons, and I just need a right one.

This is a standard issue concert shirt. I think the one flaw is that the bug on all the shirts I have seen dips in the middle. Its a design flaw or structural or something, but its one of the only shirts they sold with the parked bug on the front. Remember how they show that bug on the huge banner at the end of the show on the Houston DVD? I want that banner real bad.

It makes a great undershirt, but i would never be seen with it around town as is. I just won't.

First Journey Shirt Bought as a Collector

This is the first shirt I bought as a vintage Journey shirt collector, and the first of a handful purchased at a vintage clothing store filled with silly hipsters. It was a day on the Haight, it was there, I left without buying it and after a few weeks of obsessing about it, I went back and bought it for $35. I was pretty cheap back then so it was a tough call. Anyway, it got me hooked and I can't stop buying to this day.

Its a standard issue, mass produced and non-customized to a specific show or city jersey. I always wondered why Steve Perry is standing aside from the rest of the gang, then found out years later that he felt left out, unaccepted, and sorta sad. I hope they didn't pick on him. I have seen this one with black sleeves, but most common is the blue. In general, this one is available all the time. I read they sold over 2,000,000 shirts over the years so they should be around - but there seems to be less available on ebay every year.

That Other Japan 1983 Tour Sweatshirt

This is that other version of the Japan 1983 Frontiers sweatshirt I was talking about. Its a crewneck instead of the v-neck and has the tour dates on the back. Not sure if this is a roadie-only or what. Got it on eBay from a vintage clothing store operator. It's very cool, and very rare. Never seen any others out there.

Japan Tour Sweatshirt 1983

Here is one I got from the Herbie Herbert auction - a leftover being offered at the store well after i found out about the auction at all. I am lucky to have gobbled up some scraps from that. Got a couple other things from the auction that will be up at some point.

This one took a lot of stretching to get back into form. It still looks pretty 80s with that deep scoop v-neck.

Luckily, I found another version of this on ebay that is a crew neck sweatshirt with a different layout on it. The back image of this one is on the front of that one and on the back of that one is a list of cities they hit in Japan. I will post that one too.

This one is rare - only seen two others on eBay since 2002.

It should not have taken this amount of time. Not at all.
Am considering posting pics of my entire Journey shirt collection with a little info about each now that it seems pretty complete. I will see you then okay bye.

Shopping problem

been shopping way too much. i have convinced myself that its:

great to catch some after-holidays sales to beef up the closets and built in shelving already billowing forth with shirts and shorts rolled up in a half-assed manner.

a good idea to buy a crapload of untested trail shoes to find the perfect fit that won't blister my footskin or make the ache in the calves. i have bought 3 pair in the last week. one pair makes my calves ache. the other gave me a wee blood blister on my right football. the other is a new pair of montrail highlines that are a bit bulky but fit great and cause no hotspots. but, i rolled my ankle on them in a race and was on crutches for a week. so, that could mean something or some nothing.

i havent had anything delivered in a few weeks so i can get some shit i dont need on ebay like a munsingwear cardigan that i probably will never wear but it was being sold by a guy that i won a journey shirt off of so i could save on shipping by getting something else. i have always liked the little penguin tho, so that will make good sense of the purchase.

there has been nothing in the form of memorabilia, sports or jrny in a long while. i cant think of anything else to collect, so that is pretty slow. i am pleased with my collection of memorabilia - the 70's indians stuff with this logo is coming along - i have a pennant, raincoat, big pinback, Fleer cardboard sign, stadium seat cushion, and fan appreciation coin purse. it was a horrible time for the tribe, but i like that poised character ready to either get hit in the head with some high inside heat or fan on three slurves.

otherness: how can anyone trust what cheney and bush say about any initiatives about the middle east anymore - dick was being interviewed and mentioned numerous actions iran has taken to make them dangerous to us. enron was mired in shady accounting practices, and this compounded by the complex nature of how it predicted profits and loaned money to itself let to its downfall. they may have thought they were doing the right thing to keep the company in good standing, yet it was still wrong - this i believe to be true, sadly true, saddley. still shaking headedness about how poorly the sucknuts played in desert. a pummeling in the pueblo. a mauling on the mesa. now all are heading to the nfl.
angel island is a great place to hike and run. take the stairs out of the ayala cove near the ferry dock and look for the trail to mount livermore. get to the top and see so much beauty from a unique vantagepoint, then head on back. take a right a few hundred yards down the trail as it flattens a bit to make a loop out of it. pretty woods to meander through. did a race there yesterday and it was absolutely pristine out there. pctrailruns.com

There it was

So long ago i tried to keep this thing up. So i try once again. There is so much time.
Some things learned:
There are still some Papa Joe's mugs lingering around out there where the wild turkeys abruptly flee from between two of the Three Big Rocks in the creek so enclosed by houses too big for one family who then demand a pond be built to entertain their dunce kids. Cajun food is best served with a crawfish tail sauce. Rafting the Salmon and Snake in fall in Idaho in rafts in a drunken haze is one of the finest vacations one can spend with kindly strangers. Running a marathon on Mt. Tam can be successful and almost fun and certainly fulfilling if you train and get in some quality long runs. Just try one - its fun stuff. Also them urban challenge things can net you a goodly amount of miles in a day, if urged on by aisles of sweet and salty foods stocked at many drug stores in your neighborhood. The devil in the white city was indeed devilish in his demeanor and abilities to kill kill and kill a lot of folks till dead. Then the city went up in flames arson by the out of work and striking workers left after the fair closed its gates. You gotta knead the egg pasta dough a bunch to get it to stay uniform and pretty during the rolling process. Secattrs are a created with the most absurd software tool one could ever possibly conjure up in a cauldron of hateful unfriendliness. Maybe i should be a tool interface designer or something.
Seattle has an underground sidewalk and a very bulbous music museum. It was there that i found my squirrel thermometer.
Sick with a headcold that may be morphing as the last thing i forced out of my nose was something more viscous and of disturbing in color to make a man want to chuck it and go give a chinaman some music lessons. Though, beware of the Dutch Feast!

the old man has a hernia

so the old man has a hernia - i know all about that. god, it seems like it was yesterday. 33 years ago. boy, that thing really let my innards out. what a bulge! the doc just kept telling me to shove it back in with my little fingers, but i kept forgetting and one day the dam burst. yes, the surgery was a success! i was up and about within minutes. even had selfless tendencies back then as i hobbled out of bed in immense pain to help a fellow hospitalmate manchild put his toy train together. god, i wish we were still friends he and i. oh, well. i healed and so will my old man. hope he doesnt rush off and mow the lawn the day he gets out of the hospital at the badgering of his old lady - as i was peer pressured by my sister to climb a tree and ride my bigwheel when i got home.
in other news, the bike is riding swell uphills. still tough, but manageable and will be good for me. still a bit of chain rub, but i'll live. i cant stand going back there anymore. looks like castro is gonna die soon. do the cubans care? we dont want to think about it. my little bulbous succulent is making a cute wee flower. immense disappointment in an almost comical sense as news of lecharles' patellar tendon tear keeps sinking in. utterly dumbfounding. smell has been solved as the discovery that receptors in the nose send electrical currents through the odorous molecules to read vibrations between atoms which are then sent as specific signals to the brain for interpretation. death valley is very dangerous in the summer because of the heat. atlantic cod are near extinction - what will we fry?? ambien causes uncontrollable eating during sleep in some patients. the wiki is the way to go big, but is frought with infighting and punks trying to debunk the trunk. finally got rust never sleeps by neil young, an album i always remember seeing around the house when i was a kid. its better than i remember it to be.