Scenes From a Memory 12 Years Ago

On January 28th, 1993, Dream Theater played their second show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Back then, DT did get some airplay, and it was announced that they were going to be doing “music clinic” at DB Music (a music instrument store) earlier in the evening. While I was unable to attend the show that evening (being under 21 at the time), I made the effort to cruise out to DB Music after work to at least meet the guys.

I don’t recall much before the band showed up, but with the aid of a videotape that I bought from someone who had a camcorder that evening, all the memories of the entire “music clinic” are still there! As is typical for me even now, I had a load of questions to ask the guys and got plenty of chances to ask them, as you’ll be able to see – I probably asked more questions than any other individual that evening! The whole “music clinic” was very light hearted – the band proved to be quite open and willing to answer all questions, and did a lot joking around.

In preparing material for this final issue of Theater of Dreams, I made the suggestion to Denis to transcribe the Q&A part of the clinic to really show what the band was like way back then, and how they’ve changed since then, and for that matter, how they haven’t changed. Many of you may already know the answers to some of the questions asked by the audience, but this still is a fun look back, and hopefully you still will learn something that you previously did not know! Enjoy this time warp back 12 years ago!

[as the band enters the room and takes their seats]

Leo Vella: My name is Leo Vella. I’m from Atco-East/West Records and I want to introduce you to the guys in the band. We’ll start off on the far side – guitarist John, on keyboards Kevin, on drums Mike, on the 6-string bass John (we have two John’s cuz we’re really short on names), and the lead singer James. Ladies and gentlemen, Dream Theater.

[applause]

Mike Portnoy: Hi, I’m Mike, and I’m a drummer.

LV: The way I understand it, the way it was explained on the radio and the way we want to keep it, is that it this to be real informal and if you got questions, go ahead and ask, do whatever you wish – the guys are really friendly...well sort of!

[everyone laughs]

John Petrucci: We’re very unprepared too!

MP: We though we were just coming to pick up some sticks and be gone! [laughs]

Kevin Moore: Are we supposed to sing or something? [everyone laughs]

audience: How did you guys meet and what kind of musical talents did you guys put together to come up with your own style?

JP: We’ll let Mike answer this one!

MP: How we met? Well, John, Kev and John all went to high school together. Once we all graduated from high school, John and John went to Berklee and he [Kevin] went to Fredonia School of Music. I was at Berklee College of Music, and I met these guys and put the band together. And what were we listening to? The one common band that really brought us together was Rush. I mean the first night we jammed together, the three of us, we were playing YYZ and doing a bunch of Rush songs. A lot of the old progressive bands like Rush, Yes, Zappa, the Dregs. But we were also listening to Maiden, Priest, Sabbath and Metallica was just coming out back then. So we just started writing originals and doing covers.

Scott Hansen: How much of the album was written before James joined you guys?

James LaBrie: It was all written. It was pretty much all together – I just embelished on the melodies which they already had written. So it was just a matter of learning the material and going for it.

audience: With your music, I noticed that there’s a lot of odd time signatures – did you get that from Rush?

JP: Well, I’m sure listening to Rush, Zappa, Yes and all that had an influence on us. But the thing that I think we learned from the way Rush does it, is that they use it in the context of the song. It’s almost disguised in such a way that it complements the music. That’s one of the tricks and challenges to writing in odd time.

MP: I have a question for you John! What kind of equipment do you use?

[everyone laughs]

JP: Do you really wanna know? I use Gorilla amps [everyone laughs] No, I use Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis amps, Ibanez guitars. Very little signal processing.

audience: What kind of kit did you use in the studio – was that an electronic snare or was it triggered?

MP: No those were acoustic drums – my Tama kit, and the snare was triggered, so that’s why it may sound electronic. That was our producer that really insisted on that. I like triggering on big open sections of the songs and it makes the snare sound good. But I wasn’t particularly crazy about it, because I think a lot of the dynamics got lost in the snare – all the intricate parts got lost.

audience: It wasn’t a snare pad?

MP: No – they had triggers on all my drums. I was just playing my drums, and this was done after the fact in the mix.

SH: About how old were each of you guys when you started on your respective instruments?

JP: I was 12.

KM: I started piano when I was 5.

MP: I was 11 when I got my first kit. [turning to John Myung when he hesitates in answering, said jokingly] Shut up John! [laughs]

John Myung: I was 17.

JL: I was 5.

MP: You were always born with a voice though, weren’t ya? [everyone laughs] It probably wasn’t until he started talking! [everyone laughs]

audience: How did you go about finding a new singer?

JP: That was one of the worst periods of our life. Actually what we did was put out ads for audition tapes and we got a lot of really horrible responses. We did something that was like a musician’s referral service where we were put in a database and vocalists trying to get in the band responded.

MP: It took a lot of patience because there’s so many singers out there, and we went through hundreds of tapes. We could have easily settled for any one of them – there were a lot with good voices but didn’t look good, or they looked good but didn’t sound that good, or they had a common direction that they wanted to go in with us. But there was always something with every singer that wasn’t cutting it. James had all the qualities we were looking for, and it paid off in persevering and being patient.

SH: How long a period was it from the time the old singer left until you got James?

MP: About two years. Not to mention that we had cut our ties with our old record company, and we switched management and lawyers. There was a period of two years, while this album was being written, where there was nothing going for us. The only thing that kept us going was the music that we were writing. Everything on the outside was just falling to pieces and we just held it together on the inside.

audience: How did you get signed originally?

MP: It was weird because it was a very unorthodox way of getting signed. I guess most bands do demos and play out. We weren’t really playing out at all and we just had home demos that we did on my 4-track. It was just weird because a friend of ours was in a band that was on a label that the president of our old label was the head of, and somebody just kept on recommending us over and over and over. Finally, he called us and came down to rehearsal, so we actually got signed off of a basement tape of rehearsal material. And then he came down to rehearsal and brought a few people from the label with him and signed us that way, so it was very unorthodox. We put in years of hard work, but –

KM: ...we weren’t shopping for a deal at the time.

MP: Yeah – it just kinda fell into our laps. It was very weird.

JP: Actually, that whole topic is good for all of you guys in bands. There’s this weird mentality of trying to get signed and being in a period of when it seems like nothing is happening – one of the things that is incredibly important is to never lose sight of what you’re trying to do. So many bands get caught up in trying to get signed and it gets to be this day-to-day grunge where they feel like they’re in a rat race and they totally lose sight of what they’re trying to do. So instead, during that time you should be concentrating on your musicianship.

MP: Same goes for when you do get signed. Because when you are signed, a lot of people think that everything just happens, you just make records and tour. But we put out an album back in ’89 and nothing happened, and that was just the beginning of all the BS. So it takes a lot of patience, and you gotta do what you wanna do and try not to ever give in. It’s a business. But he [referring to Leo] is a good guy! [laughs]

LV: No, we’re not signing anybody Mike – thank you! [everyone laughs]

audience: How long did it take you to write the songs?

MP: It depends on the song. Something like Another Day was put together in one or two rehearsals, but then something like Metropolis took exactly a month. We were playing 4 times a week, 4 hours a night. When we’re writing, we do it all together in a rehearsal studio, and we get really, really meticulous with all the parts. So sometimes we’ll spend a whole night of rehearsal working on 4 bars of music, just making sure every note is orchestrated and harmonized and everything, and that the time signatures are all worked out.

JP: And then we come in the next day and everybody forgets what we worked out! [everyone laughs] We actually have one of those marker boards that you hang up, and we write out the arrangements. Or if there’s a difficult rhythmical section we’ll write that, or if there’s a section where Kev’s gonna double me or I’m gonna double him, we’ll write that down since it’s hard to remember that stuff.

MP: And we also write out all the arrangements. Some of the songs are long, like 10 minutes, so we’ll give names to every section, whether it reminds us of something, or if it’s in a certain time signature. And then we’ll write out the arrangement – it’s not like verse-chorus-verse-chorus – it’s like the Bilbo(?) section, the Faith No More section, the Kansas section.

JP: Who’s the guy who asked about the odd times? I think it was in Learning to Live or maybe it was another one, but it had so many odd times in it, that we actually had a section called the 4/4 section! [everyone laughs]

KM: Yeah, I think it was Learning to Live.

SH: Do you guys have any cuts that are gonna be released as B-sides sooner or later that aren’t on the album?

JP: Possibly. Actually we did record a couple things. There’s only one song that we actually recorded that was good enough quality.

JL: We were thinking of releasing something in Europe.

SH: Oh – you mean releasing like an import?

MP: Like a 12-inch B-side.

JP: That’s something that we hopefully wanna get more into. Just have an over-abundance of stuff so we can do B-sides and stuff like that. It’d be fun to do some covers.

SH: Have you guys toured outside of North America area yet? [band nods ‘yes’] What kind of response have you guys gotten?

KM: We’ve only been to Japan. We did three shows and it was ridiculous because Japan’s like a different world.

audience: I have a question for the bass player John: in Metropolis you have this tapping technique – how did you come up with that?

JM: I was just jamming with Mike and I just started doing something. Mike said “what is that? That’s pretty cool!” And he just brought it out of me – he kept time and I basically ran with it. That’s how it happened.

MP: Is everybody coming tonight?

[most in the audience say “yeah”]

audience: Do you guys write on the road or just when you’re back home rehearsing?

MP: We haven’t yet. It’s weird for a band like us, because we all write together in a band environment and we very rarely have that band environment on the road, except for when we’re on stage playing. I mean there’s soundcheck and stuff like that, but usually there’s not enough time. So, so far, we haven’t. It’s gonna be weird – I don’t know how we’re gonna do it. We have a lot of material left over though, to put on the next album.

SH: James, do you play any instruments at all?

JL: No – just sing.

audience: Did you train?

JL: I took 4 years of opera.

audience: Did that help a lot?

JL: Yeah! [everyone laughs]

JP: That was detrimental to his career! [everyone laughs]

JL: [jokingly] It ruined me! I mean, a lot of the range was there – I had a high voice to begin with – but my opera teacher taught me what’s called the ‘mask,’ where you put all the notes through your bone structure in your face so you don’t use your throat. She taught me how to have control, so you’re hitting the notes and not doing flat or sharp notes, and just how to save your voice, so that you don’t ruin it. It’s gotta last 20 – 25 years in the business. So it was worth every dollar of it – it was expensive.

audience: Is there anything else outside of that, that you do to take care of your voice?

JL: Well I don’t smoke –

MP: And he doesn’t let me smoke around him.

JL: Yeah. I don’t drink that often, but when I do drink, I... [everyone laughs] I just take care of it. I drink tea and honey, and stuff like that. I drink a lot of water and warm up. I warm up about 45 minutes before a show – just a slow warm up doing scales.

KM: [jokingly] Wear scarves.

JL: [jokingly] Yeah – wear scarves when it’s cold.

audience: Do you ever run into any problems writing together, or does everything just go smoothly?

JP: What kinda question is this?!? [everyone laughs] Of course!

MP: Those are some of our best fights!

JP: Sometimes it’s over significant things, but like in a relationship, it’s over the most stupid things. Like an eighth note accent or something where it’s just one note. That’s when you know you have to go home and call it a day! [laughs]

audience: What do each of you like most about playing out live?

JP: The best thing for me is just really getting to see the reaction of the people that we’re playing to, because when you record, you can’t see their reaction – you can’t get a reaction. I think that’s the best thing – it’s an open communication process.

KM: For me it’s hearing people sing the lyrics back – that’s a rush for me – it’s amazing.

SH: You guys thanked the Spirit of Rush magazine in your thank you list – what was the reason for that?

MP: Have you ever seen that magazine? It’s an old Rush fanzine from England. It comes out every couple of months and it’s dedicated solely to Rush. I guess when our first album came out a few years ago, they picked up on it and ended up writing a couple articles on us. It was the only band I had ever seen in there other than Rush, so they really got behind it. Because I guess they knew that Rush fans would probably appreciate where we’re coming from. So we thanked them because they’ve been in contact with us ever since and they’re constantly updating their readers. They turned a lot of people on to us.

audience: I hear a lot of classical influences in your stuff – obviously you said you’re into opera, and I hear a lot in the guitar and keyboard sections. I was wondering if you could comment on if that’s so, and if so what kind of composers you’re into.

KM: I think classical music enters in to the music to a certain extent, but mostly I think classical music just helps you with technique. From my point of view it’s mostly about technique and execution, and maybe dynamics. Is there a specific thing you were thinking of?

audience: The piano song – Wait for Sleep. And then in Learning to Live, you’ve got that cool counter-point going on in there. Also another thing too is that you guys seem to be really message oriented. It seems like the music is inspirational and it seems like you have real positive attitudes unlike a lot of bands. Yet you still have that same kind of crunch – that same kind of attitude that usually doesn’t show, and I think that’s excellent and I totally support that. And where you guys are influenced and even individually, your music is what you are and what you want to present to the world.

LV: WHOA!!! [everyone laughs] Do you want that in less than 500 words?! [everyone laughs]

JP: So far as with being in your face, like the crunch and everything, that’s just part of our generation. It’s just keeping everything modern and heavy – really gutsy. So far as with specific messages, it changes with the subject matter of the songs. I mean all the songs aren’t positive – there’s some negativity, but not in a way where everything’s dark. It’s more philosophies of different aspects of life.

audience: Last time you guys were around on tour down in Chicago, I heard you cut loose and did some covers and stuff.

JP: You heard wrong! [everyone laughs]

audience: Like some Kansas or...

MP: No – not in Chicago. On this tour, the only thing we’ve done like covers was around Christmas – two weeks leading up to Christmas – we did a Christmas song. [lots of snickers] Last time we were in Chicago, we did Pull Me Under twice because we were shooting a video.

audience: What are some of your favorite songs from Yes, Rush and Frank Zappa?

JP: Favorite songs?

KM: We don’t know any songs! [everyone laughs]

MP: From those particular bands? La Villa Strangiato – one of my all-time favorite Rush songs.

JP: Close to the Edge...Titties and Beer. [everyone laughs]

MP: [reciting the song] Titties and beer – titties and beer – titties and beer – titties and beer... Actually, as far as Zappa goes, Joe’s Garage – Acts 1, 2 and 3 – some of the sickest drumming I’ve ever heard in my life – it’s scary. Vinnie Colaiuta on that album.

audience: Do you guys have any plans to open up for anyone or have you had any offers or anything?

KM: I personally don’t! [laughs]

JP: It’s something that we’re pursuing.

audience: What about in Japan?

JP: We headlined that – it was just us.

MP: We’re going to Europe too next month – that’ll be cool. It’s our first time over there.

SH: With Metropolis, how many parts do you expect to have in it, or is it something you’re just gonna kinda play by ear?

JP: Well, lyrically the whole “part” thing just kinda came up. I would only perceive just a second part to it, but you never know – we could get crazy.

MP: But we know when we write part 2, that will be our outlet to blow our loads! [laughs] We gotta continue in the spirit of the first one and really hit one out to left field.

SH: With Wait for Sleep – Kevin, you wrote that song – there’s a part that’s similar to it in Learning to Live that’s in a key lower or something like that [Kevin acknowledges] - did you come up with that part for Learning to Live and then decide that you wanted to put a whole song around it, or how did that work?

KM: I don’t know! [everyone laughs] Wait for Sleep came first, and I just wrote that for myself. But I liked the riff and so I gave it to the band and we incorporated it into Learning to Live.

audience: I was wondering if you were ever going to do something as heavy as Pull Me Under again?

JP: Absolutely.

MP: Actually, we’re in the middle of writing one song right now that’s very, very heavy. It sounds kinda like Helmet.

JP: That’s something that we’ll always have, just because it’s something we’re into just as much as the progressive stuff, the jazz. It’s almost like a rule – it has to be heavy although it doesn’t always come through. We’re gonna tune down to...

MP: Well, this new one is in what – C?

JP: We’re gonna tune down to F! [everyone laughs]

SH: Do you guys foresee yourselves going in any specific direction musically?

JP: We write very reactionary. Whatever’s going on at the moment, so it’s hard to predict.

audience: John, do you use a 7-string Ibanez or just tune down?

JP: No – I don’t and I don’t tune down.

audience: Do you guys have any songs that are just instrumental?

KM: From the first album, there’s an instrumental.

audience: Where do you find it? I can’t find it!

JP: It’s outta print. Go to used CD shops.

MP: If you’re really desperate, you can get it from Japan. Hopefully, it will get re-released this year. And there’s an instrumental on that album, and we’ll be playing it tonight.

audience: What happened with the other singer? Was it musical differences?

KM: [turning in the opposite direction of the one asking the question] Question over there?! [everyone laughs]

audience: I like him [referring to James] better anyway. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I was just wondering why.

JP: James, why don’t you explain it from your perspective? [the guys in the band laugh]

JL: Ummm...well, from what I got of it... [everyone laughs] They were growing apart musically and there was quite a bit of an age difference. I don’t know – I guess it got to the point where they weren’t seeing eye-to-eye and they wanted to move on. Also, even in my listening to his voice, I think it didn’t allow him to really express himself correctly for this music. I think he was better maybe singing stuff like the Beatles or something like that. I think it was out of his range – not to put him down, because I think he’s a good singer. But I think his voice was out of context for the music.

MP: He came from a very different background. He was much older and you [referring to JP] once said that having Charlie was like getting Billy Joel or Elton John to sing with Queensrÿche. [everyone laughs]

SH: Since you guys wrote the first album on such a tight budget, was there anything that you’d wanna change other than the vocalist to make it something that you’re more pleased with? Or was everything done exactly the way you wanted it to be?

JP: The sound was the only thing – as far as I could see that lacked was the actual sonic production. I thought the music was good. We had time – it was rushed, but we were able to do what we wanted to do.

SH: I was thinking maybe if you guys were to slightly rearrange them for this tour.

JP: Well, there’s certain things that when we play some of the older stuff live, there’s some things that we do, that we add in to make it gel. Things that we’ve learned over the past few years that make it more musical.

audience: I would like to ask Mike at what point in your drum training did you start getting into double kicking, and who’s your biggest influence in the double kick style?

MP: I started playing double bass just about 10 years ago, like ’82 or ’83. Believe it or not, my first big double bass influence was – I’m may embarrass myself but – it was Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe. Back when Mötley Crüe first started, on their first album, I was really into that. And Tommy Aldridge also, when he was playing with Ozzy – his double bass drumming blew me away and the live album they did with all the Sabbath covers – the double bass drumming on that is amazing. And of course, Neil Peart, but he never really got into double bass for riding a song – he just used it more for little embelishments and stuff like that. And also a lot of the thrash that was coming out had a big double bass impact on me. I mean I listen to a lot of heavy stuff like Anthrax and Slayer or any of those bands and they all have great double bass drummers.

audience: For each of you, who’s your favorite influence – if you could only pick one guy?

JP: If I could pick one guy? For me, it would be Steve Morse.

[Kevin hesitates]

LV: Kevin?! [everyone laughs]

KM: I guess...Jens Johannsen of Yngwie.

MP: This is the obvious answer – I wouldn’t want to have to pick only one – but if I had to, I guess Neil Peart.

[John Myung hesitates]

LV: John?

JM: [sheepishly] I can’t really answer that. [everyone laughs and groans]

JL: Steve Perry from Journey.

JP: Hey John – who’s that guy that did that Frosty the Snowman special?

MP: Berle Ives.

JP: Berle Ives! That’s John’s biggest influence! [everyone laughs]

SH: Are you doing anything else off the first album tonight other than Ytsejam?

JP: Yeah.

MP: We’re trying to mix it up. The last time we came through, the set was about an hour and 45 minutes, and we shortened it a little bit. We’d like to play full albums – both albums, but that’s too much. So we’re doing different songs off the first album, constantly changing it. Like last time, we did 3 songs off the first album – now we’re doing different ones just to mix it up.

SH: Do you get to change the vocals on songs from the first album live?

JL: Yeah. I mean I basically keep it very close to the melody that’s already been laid down, but then I go off and incorporate some of my own style just to make it a little more in your face. What we’d like to do at some point in the future, which we’re talking about, is to seriously record some of the songs off the first album live with me singing them, which would be really cool.

audience: How did you go about having Jay Beckenstein play on the album?

JP: We fell into it. We recorded the album in a studio called Bear Tracks, which is in Suffern, NY. Jay actually owns that studio – his house is connected to it. And we had the vision of having soprano sax on that song and the producer suggested him. And he was gracious enough to do it – it was unbelievable just watching him do it.

MP: Does everybody know who Jay is? Jay is the sax player from Spyro Gyra that played on Another Day.

audience: Are you friends with the guys in Fates Warning at all, or is it just a professional thing?

JP: Yeah. We’re friends. They’re cool guys.

audience: Do you know John Arch at all?

JP: He just had a kid, right?

LV: Well, his wife did! [everyone laughs]

MP: We worked with him for a little while before James was in the band. He’s a singer that we respect very much – his voice and his lyrics. We were missing him in the music world. We tried working together for a little while, but he’s married, he’s got a kid and just wasn’t ready to get back into it and give 100% commitment. But we still see him – he still comes out to see our shows.

JP: Very cool guy.

MP: They all are. They all are great guys.

audience: Can you see him doing anything later? I know a lot of people who are fans of his that just wish he’d get back into it – do you think that would ever happen?

MP: I don’t think John will ever join another band. I think the only way that John would sing again is if he did an album with somebody, and that was it. But I don’t think he would give the commitment to a band, project or tour or anything like that.

JL: I’ve talked to him a bit when he’s come out to see our gigs, and he’s expressed that he really misses it, but at the same time he doesn’t want to get back into it, because he knows it’s a hard game. At this point, he’s happy where he is right now, too.

audience: What’s the hardest thing in the music business?

JP: [looking at the band manager] Can I say it?

LV: Sure!

JP: One of the hardest things is the politics that go along with it.

audience: As far as what? Can you give us an example?

MP: Actually, the thing that bothers me the most about the business is losing creative control. For instance, Pull Me Under, the radio version, is edited by 3 minutes, and then the video version is edited by about 4 minutes. And we have Take the Time coming out, and that’s edited – cut in half. We’re on Atco, it’s a major label, it’s great, and they’re really behind us, but it’s scary when you lose some of your creative control. I mean we spent so much time working on the music meticulously, and sometimes when it just gets chucked out the window with no regard for us artistically, it’s pretty frustrating. But it comes with the territory – sometimes they have to make decisions as the label.

audience: I noticed the last time you were here, most of you used ear plugs. What kind are they and why do you wear them – to protect your ears or so that you can hear yourself better?

MP: [jokingly] What? [some people laugh]

audience (same guy): I noticed the last time you were here, you used ear–

MP: WHAT? [everyone laughs]

JP: They’re the squishy kind. I personally use them just to protect my ears, because I remember the first night we played, it was so loud that when we got off the stage, I almost puked! It was just horrible. I mean there was the ringing, and it’s not like I haven’t experienced that before, but night after night of that isn’t good.

audience: Kevin, do you do any sequencing at all?

KM: No.

audience: So everything that’s done on the album is done the same way [live]?

KM: Yeah.

audience: Like there’s that opposing rhythm that goes duh—duh duh duh—duh—duh duh duh [beginning of Take the Time] where you do it with a spinning horn type thing – [indecipherable]

KM: [jokingly] You giving me trouble?! [laughs] You mean because I don’t play it live you mean?

audience: No I didn’t notice last time if you play that live or not.

KM: I’ll try! [everyone laughs] No actually that’s just laziness – I guess I should do that.

audience: Was that dubbed in the studio?

KM: Yeah that was definitely dubbed.

JP: Actually, there’s one thing like that on guitar, that’s not really what it seems. The solo in Surrounded is delay...I cheated! It’s like Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee.

audience: Is John [Myung] always so quiet?

JP: Yes! [everyone laughs] You gotta ask him a good question!

MP: What is his biggest influence? [everyone laughs]

audience: What kind of equipment do you use?

JM: A Tobias 6-string and I’m using Pierce pre-amps.

audience: John, have you had any guitar training or is it strictly self taught?

JP: I’m mostly self-taught, but when I went to Berklee, I had a private instructor there. And prior to going to Berklee, as a result of panicking, I took about 3 lessons since I didn’t know what to prepare for.

audience: Who did you study with?

JP: At Berklee? One of the guys was Bill Breznihan(?) who’s an older guy who taught me chord melody type stuff, and another guy is Paul Lansburgh(?).

audience: How did you like it at Berklee?

JP: It was great – it was a lot of work, a lot of knowledge. Actually, that’s one of the reasons why we left – because it is very challenging and we were rehearsing so much that in order to keep up our grades, we had to put a lot of time into it. But the one good thing that it taught me personally was how to learn and how to keep learning. Like what to dig into if you’re not going to school.

At this point, Leo ended the Q&A part of the session and John was kind enough to play a song for us. When he asked us what to play, I said him “something off the next album” which of course everyone laughed at and JP said that “would be a bad idea.” Hey, I had to try – it’s just too bad I didn’t know about A Change of Seasons back then! Anyway, after John played an original untitled piece on the guitar without band accompaniment (a piece that the band played on occasion back in the early 90’s such as at the 11/17/90 gig and the in-studio visit on 7/6/93), the band signed autographs for everyone and then headed off to the venue Starz to get ready for the show that evening. While I didn’t get to attend that show, that evening was still very exciting for me since I got to meet the guys for the first time! It goes without saying that I did ask the band (specifically JP since he was the first one in line) if they could still get me into the show, but sadly he said there wasn’t anything they could do...I gotta wonder if Mike would have responded the same way if I had asked him instead!