HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE!!!

As you all shall very well know by now, today, January 22nd, is Steve Perry's birthday! What you may not be aware of, however, is that, coincidentally, today would be Sam Cooke's 78th birthday if he were still with us. You are likely somewhat versed on who he was, but in case not, I will elaborate just a bit. He was a Soul/R&B/Gospel singer/songwriter during the fifties and sixties. Some of his most well-known works include "Cupid", "You Send Me", and "Wonderful World." This man was one of Steve's main musical influences. Unfortunately, Sam was shot and killed on December 11th, 1964 at the Hacienda Motel I in LA, California. He was only 33 years old. The details of the shooting are still unclear.

You may have caught Steve Perry singing one of Cooke's pieces of artwork during a concert for the For the Love of Strange Medicine tour. Something I actually find intriguing, aside from the fact that the two share the same birthdate (obviously excluding the year), is that, if you tune in closely, their voices often sound quite similar; specifically if you have a listen to Perry's later material. Perhaps this is just a tid-bit of useless observation... I just thought I would throw that in.

Anyway, what was I saying? I seem to have lost my place again. ;) Oh yes! Today marks the 60th birthday of Stephen Ray Perry! Although, and I'm sure my lady friends reading can agree on this, I don't believe he looks anywhere near his age. So... that's all I really have to say in a nutshell.

Below are Happy Birthday messages from fans. If you would like to add a message, no worries, it isn't at all too late. Just send them to perrylovingpoet@yahoo.com and I will edit this post and add them in. Make sure to put some sort of name so that I can give credit to you. The post can be a short little message, a long letter-like thank you, or anything you would like. You can even make a video or a graphic to post. Whatever you wish. (: Below these are pictures of Mr. Perry himself and Mr. Cooke. Before I sign off - be sure to check out the "Video of the Week", which is a birthday tribute made by yours truly. There are clips from 15 different songs, of course sung by Steve, in the video. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for everything, and again,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE PERRY! I hope it's AMAZING.

Love,

Jade.

p.s. Oh goodness, one more thing - If you want to leave a comment, just look at the very bottom of the post where it says "__ comments", click on it, and you can leave one as anonymous, you can put your name, or if you have a blogspot account, you can log in and comment that way. Thanks!

"Happy Birthday Steve Perry! I would like you to know that I'm ONE of your MANY fans. My name is Valery & I want to wish you the BEST on your Birthday. I thank God for blessing us with your voice, passion, style (& looks, too) Enjoy your special day filled with happiness! I always loved you & I always will. Your songs have helped me in a lot of situations growing up & I have to thank you for that, I really do. My husband of 15 years wants to say Happy Birthday to you, too. He's been so great with me about the love I have for you."
Forever Yours...Faithfully
I love you Steve Perry
- Valery F.

"Feliz Aniversario Steve! May you have a wonderful day filled with caring friends and lots of love. Thank you for all the gifts you have given to us through the years. You're in our hearts." xox,
- mj

"Steve... I just hope your birthday is filled with lots of love and happiness. Thank you for everything you have done for me and everyone else who has discovered your music over the years. We look forward to hopefully hearing more from you in the future! God bless, and just enjoy yourself today! Happy 60th! [or... "49... again", if you wish. ;)]"
With all the love I could give,
- Jade Rivers. (yes, I decided to throw one in myself)

"Hey Steve!
Through the years I have grown emotionally with your music at my side every step of the way. From a young teenager trying to make sense of a broken relationship to a young married woman with children to raise, to now a "seasoned" adult looking back on the best years of her life and reliving them by just closing my eyes and putting a JOURNEY album on. I have been comforted through all the phases of my life with your awesome voice guiding me along the way. Thank you! May you have a blessed birthday and many many more to come!"
Hugz,
- Desi

"I'm just sendin this to tell Steve I hope he has the best Birthday yet...And just to let him know I'm here to support any decision he makes within the music business, b/c even if he don't put out any new songs the ones he has brought out in the past, helped me make the best of life...Just reading the lyrics has brought so much joy and strength to my heart...So I hope you have an awesome Birthday, and god bless you Steve."
- Jessica Melton

"Happy Birhday Steve Perry and thanks for all the great tunes and for blessing my heart and ears with your voice !! take care.. love , peace & happiness always !!"
- "Namaste" G.G.

The Perry/Piñeda Controversy

Considering the majority of the visitors here, if not all of them, are Steve Perry fanatics, my guess is that you have heard of this new Journey singer, Arnel Piñeda. Well, I would like to take the opportunity to explain my opinions on this. Be aware, though, that my intention is not to insult him. I am merely going into detail about how I feel about it in relation to Mr. Perry.

First of all, I’ll state the obvious argument. If there was a Journey before Steve Perry, does that mean there should be one after him? In many circumstances, I would see nothing wrong with a band carrying on without the singer that made them famous, however, I believe this one is questionable.

When Steve and the band legally broke their ties, Steve told Neil Schon (according to the interview on men.style.com) “Look, you go call whatever you wanna do with whomever you’ve checked out something else. Call it the J-Boys. Call it anything. But don’t call it Journey, y’know? Because I am gonna get this done, eventually.” And in case you didn’t catch it, the “this done” is referring to his hip surgery. So, just for the record, those people who claim he “left” Journey, he did, but he planned on coming back. They just weren’t willing to wait. Despite the pleas of this humble man, “Journey” continued without him. Okay, it happens… There is more though. The singer they first replaced him with, Steve Augeri, sounded somewhat similar to Perry. The band hadn’t even attempted to change the sound! It was like telling Steve Perry “We don’t need you. We can find someone that sounds kind of like you and be just fine.” I will admit that Augeri has an incredible voice. My point is that as wonderful as it is, it’s also quite similar to Steve Perry’s. If they were so into changing the band completely, they should have taken the time to do just that; change it. Perhaps my opinion is that of an ignorant Perry fan. Who knows? Either way, again, it’s only an opinion.

Back to Arnel Piñeda. He’s a remarkable vocalist; any disagreements? Something that needs to be set straight, however, is that he is not Steve Perry. Personally, I couldn’t care less if one even prefers him over Steve. What ruffles my feathers is when people claim they sound exactly alike. WHAT!? That’s really a slur to both of them. No one wants to be considered a copy. And even if Journey wants to continue busting out hits… okay. Fine.

My biggest point in this rant is this: Journey has recently re-recorded some of their old hits including, but not limited to, “Faithfully”, “Any way you Want it”, “Open Arms”, and “Wheel in the Sky.” Any way you twist it, the way I see it, that is wrong. I can’t help but imagine what that would feel like to put my heart and soul into writing/co-writing and singing my songs and then see someone else make a living off of re-recording them. Performing the old tunes for concert purposes is understandable. Re-doing them, not so much.

Basically, I believe a Journey after Steve Perry is their decision, and although I don’t like it, I’ll deal, but the only way I’m going to just shrug my shoulders at it is if they release solely new material. I am happy for Arnel. I believe he deserves the opportunity he has been given. In fact, I would even venture to say that I rather like Journey’s new songs. I simply feel for Steve and want to be sure to speak up for him. I would love to know your opinions, even if they differ to the extreme. All that I ask is that we keep comments respectful. Thanks for reading! Also, please let me know by commenting if I made any grammatical or informational errors. I know there are a few sentence fragments, but that's just for the effect. [=

Welcome to the Perry Newsletter!

For the very first post, I suppose I'll just introduce you to the site.
My name is Jade Rivers, and I am the main writer, creator, and editor of the Perry Newsletter. Many of you are coming here from myspace, and I apologize to you for not having this up so much sooner like I said I would. I have been quite busy for a while. Finally though, WELCOME! I am beyond ecstatic to have the page up and going, and my hope is that all of you will enjoy it. About the posts:
They will be everything from venting about Steve, fan fiction, articles written by me and other fans to poetry about Steve, and anything else you guys want to submit! To submit an entry, send it to perrylovingpoet@yahoo.com. I will look over it, and it may very well be posted here. Anyone can comment on entries, and your comment can be anonymous, you can put your name, or if you have a blogspot account, you can log-in that way and your user-name will appear above your comment.
The first actual post will most likely be within the next week. I haven't quite decided what it will be about, but stay tuned for it!
If you have no entry to submit, but you would just like to make any suggestions for the site or ask me any questions, please do! (email)
Thanks to everyone who is reading! Also, just thanks for supporting "The Voice." We all know he deserves it!
Love,
Jade Rivers.