A Very Brief Moment With Neal Schon

[drumbob]

We tried to get Neal Schon to endorse the Guild S-300 series guitars. We failed. Here's the story.

I called Journey's management and arranged to bring a guitar over to Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, NY, where the band was playing on a Saturday night during the summer of 1980. I was admitted to the facility and sat through some of Jouney's soundcheck. Lead singer Steve Perry was playing drums.

When they finished up, I walked onstage and went up to Neal Schon, who looked at me with a combination of disdain and boredom.

I said, "Neal, I'm from Guild and we'd be interested in talking to you about endorsing our S-300D series guitar."

I opened the case, took the guitar out and handed it to him.

He looked it over front and back, sneered the sneer of all time, handed it back to me and said, "That's the ugliest guitar I have ever seen in my life, and I hate Di Marzio pickups."

"Don't you even want to play it?"

"No!" He turned and walked away.

So much for Neal Schon.

The band's manager came up to me and said, "Sorry Neal didn't like it. He has definite ideas about what he likes and dislikes. Do you need tickets for tonight's show?"

"No thanks. No offense, but I really don't like Journey very much, to be honest."

And I turned and walked away.

[jps]

[jps]

I did see Steve Smith last week at my favorite local music venue, Night Town. He brought his Steve Smith Jazz Legacy band; These guys smoked the place with some of the hardest bopping jazz I have heard in quite some time.

www.vitalinformation.com/jazzlegacy/

[winston]

Another hilarious story, I had no idea that Steve Perry could play drums. Is he any good?

[whojamfan]

Very funny story Bob, great ending.

A buddy of mine was in an opening band for Journey right after they replaced Steve Perry. All I can say is it wouldn't be appropriate to quote him word for word, but the jist of it was that he was a very arrogant and harsh person. I don't know Neil personally, but my buddy is a down to earth guy who usually never has a bad word to say about anyone.

Really a lame move in my opinion, if a rep walks a guitar up to you and just asks you to try it out, what point is there to being rude?

BTW, I'm not much of a Journey fan either.

[phlemmy]

I don't know, my reaction to you may have been similar:

I just finished soundcheck, I'm probably tired, people are always trying to get me to put my name on their guitars...que locura! And if someone handed me a guitar that I didn't like by pure aesthetic and the ups weren't what i liked, i'd be over it too.

i met neal in the early 90s. total class act with me one on one.

[drumbob]

In my way of thinking, there's never an excuse for out and out rudeness from anyone, no matter how famous they are. The most emotionally well developed people I know treat people with courtesy regardless of how they're feeling at the moment.