Journey
Studio Jam
For airdates between August 1 and August 15, 1979
Likely recorded at the Aragon Ballroom in May 1979
Studio Jam
For airdates between August 1 and August 15, 1979
Likely recorded at the Aragon Ballroom in May 1979
Studio Jam was a syndicated radio show hosted by Robin Winter and founded and produced by Charles K. "Chip" Altholz in Chicago. The show started out by showcasing in-studio performances, and a couple years later began to feature live performances recorded at various venues in Chicago.
Studio Jam Radio Network was a 50-station radio network to produce and barter syndicated radio concerts in trade for airtime. They produced 24 in-studio live radio concerts featuring major rock stars for 17 Major Record Labels (David Bowie, The Police, Kenny Loggins, Styx, Triumph, Doobie Bros., Foreigner, Earth Wind & Fire etc.) They co-produced the concerts with JAM Productions Ltd., and Robert Pittman who later founded MTV.
This show comes from the Sam Elliot's Mustache collection. Sam transferred this from the original radio station reel-to-reel tape. Sam included a plethora of the original documents sent to the radio stations. There's a two-page Journey biography, a print ad for insertion in local newspapers, a page with Facts and Important Information about the broadcast, and a timing sheet.
What there isn't is information on when and where the concert was recorded. Robin Winter introduces the band, but doesn't mention the venue or date of the recording. So, I cast my gaze over the Internet to see what I could find.
There are several bootlegs dating back to the 1990s, attributing this as "Comiskey Park, August 9, 1979." Makes sense. The production company was based in Chicago at 875 N. Michigan Avenue (the John Hancock Center at the time), and Comiskey is six miles south.
Sounds good, right? And multiple pressings all with the same date, hey, they must be right?
No, this is the Internet. People just repeat things and add their own errors. I called up our pal Dr. Strange and asked him to come over to the Voodoo Wagon Secret Headquarters to look at one grey market item. Doc immediately pointed out that "Corniskey Park" is a load of rubbish. As to repeating error, the show is now up on YouTube as "Corniskey Park" with tens of thousands of views. And if they spelled the name wrong, what else is suspect?
| Yeah, this is all kinds of wrong... |
The next thing I checked was the date. Surely the date must be correct, even if they spelled the name of the baseball stadium ridiculously wrong.
A quick look at the Wiki for the Evolution tour lists five dates at the Aragon Ballroom (May 16, 17, 18, 19, 20) with a return to Chicago on August 5th at Comiskey Park for the WLUP-FM's "The Loop's Day In The Park." I found newspaper clippings proving the Comiskey concert was on the 5th, not the 9th. It was a big show, 70,000 people, over 200 arrests, and appearances by Journey, Santana, Thin Lizzy, Eddie Money, and Molly Hatchet. So I thought I had found proof of the date and venue.
Evidence came to light proving that to be wrong. On the Studio Jam Timing sheet, it says: "For airdates between August 1 and August 15, 1979."
It makes no sense to record a show on August 5th and tell fifty stations they can air it starting August 1. PLUS...what about production time? Can you edit, master, and do the tape duplication for the reels, and mail them to the radio stations that fast? Let's face it, that just can be right.
I went looking for more information and found a blurb in CASHBOX from July 14, 1979, that noted the formation of the Studio Jam Radio Network, with 26 rock concerts scheduled for 47 radio stations. Journey was listed as "already recorded."
That is hard printed proof that it's not Comiskey Park (or Corniskey...), and it's not August 5th (or the 9th...). If they had the show recorded before mid-July, the August date and venue is proven to be wrong.
My guess is that it's from that run at the Aragon Ballroom in May. I'm suspicious of the five night run; that seems excessive. I looked for documentation on the number of dates, and there are newspaper listings for the Friday (May 18), Saturday (May 19), and Sunday (May 20) shows. I also found a ticket stub for May 18. So we know for a fact Journey played three nights at the Aragon in May.
| This proves three nights, but there may have been five nights. |
I found a bootleg over at T.U.B.E. named "Shining In The Silver Moon" that lists the source as Aragon Ballroom, but has the date as May 28, 1979.
The odds are very low that they played three (or five) shows in Chicago and then returned a week later for another show. One possible source for the May 28 date is that Journey did a King Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast on May 28, 1978. That's a year earlier, and that show was sourced from New York, not Chicago. But all it takes is someone screwing up labeling a show and the next thing you know the grey-market boys are touting a show from Corniskey Park. The KBFH show may have been picked up for the month and day. That's just a speculation, but it makes sense.
As I mentioned, this has been bootlegged before. The complete digitization of the radio show included an eight-minute interview with Steve Perry, and 45 seconds of promotional ads. These are often left off the circulating tracks. Sam's version includes them at the end of the show.