Journey Past and Present 2005
Journey to the Stars
Hollywood, CA
January
20-23, 2005
On January 21, 2005, Journey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The fan group, Journey Past and Present, put together a weekend convention to attend the ceremony. I attended the weekend and it was wonderful- start to finish. We got to see old friends, meet new ones and enjoy some wonderful California weather. It had been raining just before the trip, but the weather cleared up beautifully for us, and we had sunshine and nice warm temperatures. Here’s the day by day run down:
Thursday, January 20: Arrival
I walked out of my house here in NH at 6 AM, to a couple inches of snow and temps in the teens. Got on a plane and about five and a half hours later, I was in the gorgeous California sunshine. I arrived at LAX around noon, a bit earlier than scheduled. I was supposed to meet Cathy Jensen and Julie Skene to share a cab, but I knew they probably hadn’t arrived yet, as I was early. So I collected my bags and sat down. A short while later, I realized we hadn’t gone over what airlines we were each arriving on, so I had no idea what terminal the other ladies were coming in on! So I pulled out my cell phone and tried to call Julie, but she was still in the air and her phone was off. At almost 1 PM, Cathy called me to let me know she had arrived. Her flight had been delayed getting off the ground, but she was there. She decided to come down to the terminal I was at, so I just sat back and waited. A few minutes later, she arrived. We sat and talked for a bit, then Julie called to say she had just landed. As luck would have it, she flew on Southwest, too, so she just had to grab her bags and meet us at the door. We grabbed a taxi and headed for Hollywood!!!
We dropped Julie off at the Hollywood Rennaissance Hotel, where most of the weekend’s activities were to be centered, and Cathy and I headed up to the Holiday Inn we were staying at, about two blocks away. My roommate had to cancel her attendance, so I was going to be alone in the room. Good thing she had given me the confirmation number for the reservation, since they did not have my name on the room as they were supposed to. Anyway, we got all that straightened out and I got up to the room, unpacked, cleaned up a little, changed and went to meet Cathy in the lobby. As it turned out, Glenda White, one of Cathy’s roommates, had just arrived, so we waited while she checked in and then dropped off her luggage in the room. Glenda is from Arkansas and has the cutest accent! The three of us walked down to the Rennaissance, and the first person I see after walking into the lobby is Chrissy Banks- our Drummer Girl! Went and gave her a big hello hug, and then we found Val Holek (jrnyval), one of the people I was most anxious to finally get to meet in person! We also saw Amanda and her Mom- who told me her name, but she was Amanda’s Mom all weekend, and I’ll be darned if I can remember her “real” name!
Chrissy had a dinner engagement, so we hustled on up to the registration room, got ourselves all official, picked up our goodie bags and bought some raffle tickets. Then Chrissy left for her dinner and I tagged along with Val, her sister Rhonda, Cindy and Randy for dinner. We went to Johnny Rockets, the burger joint at the Hollywood and Highland Complex. Maybe it was the fact that all I had to eat all day long was a cup of coffee at the airport and the cookies and peanuts you get on the airplane, but my Patty Melt was delicious! After dinner, we wandered around the Hollywood and Highland shopping area, which is three levels and has a whole bunch of stores and little kiosks all over it. We went in and out of a few places, but I don’t think anyone actually bought anything, tho Rhonda was pretty tempted by those shoes……. We walked outside and looked at a few of the stars on the sidewalk, then did some souvenir shopping. We headed back to the hotel and the registration area, where we hung around with a bunch of other folk till it was time to announce the raffle winners. I almost missed putting my raffle tickets in- I had put them in my bag when we went to dinner and forgot about them, until someone mentioned the word “raffle” while we were walking around! So, we are standing around the registration room and I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around and it is Jane (lunchbreak)! The rat- she had everyone believing she was not going to be there! She wanted to surprise Mary, and ended up surprising pretty much everyone!!! Especially poor Chrissy- who had left early and could not be convinced Jane was actually there! We had been told that an “anonymous donor” wanted to get anyone who wanted one an Italian charm to commemorate the weekend, and it turned out it was Jane who did the charms. She gave me mine- really cute. It has a replica of the Hollywood sign on the hills, with 2 spotlights pointing into the starry sky. Thank you, Jane- I owe you an official thank you, too!! I didn’t win anything in the raffle, but the proceeds went to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, so it was well worth it. After, a few of us went to the bar at the hotel restaurant, Twist, for a while. There were a couple ladies from the group who are from the LA area and they were giving us some great ideas on what to do on Saturday. Then a whole group of folk came in, and a guy sat down next to me, and our conversation turned from the weather to music (how odd!) and it turns out that not only does he get to a lot of live shows a year, as do my husband and I, but he is a big Pat Metheny fan, as well. And, again, I am terrible with names, but I hope we get to see you at the Orpheum show in March! A few beers later, the Holiday Inn crew headed back up the hill and I went to bed.