As I recall it was a hotel room like any other, Lansing Michigan I think. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Stale cigarette smoke, picture frames with lousy art screwed into the wall, cheap shampoos and hand soap. An old plate of food aging on the desk. The TV inset into the armoire. But all that disappeared, that moment it was as if I entered the twilight zone.
That was MY city. My family who lived within mere miles of the devastation. They were MY friends who lived within mere blocks of this horror. This was the very ground I used to walk to work and the very building I would marvel at any and every chance I could get. You couldn't help it. They were that "grand" to use an Irish expression.
Later that night we ( Journey and Night Ranger) convinced ourselves it was the right thing to do to. To "Go On With The Show". To try to restore some normalcy to our lives that were now the furthest from that.We felt this because of our audience and audiences through out the tour. To play for the fans, the people. Our People. They deserved it. It ws our final show of the tour, or was it? This is a little fuzzy. But... deep down it was killing me. I was miles away from the ones I loved and they were , in the midst of it all. The center of the worlds attention. NYC, the ultimate target and I was miles away with my hands tied.
No flights obviously, buses trains... forgeddaboutit.
The following morning before the tour buses and band and I said our goodbyes before they made their long eerie trek cross country. I was able, by some small miracle, to secure a car and driver to get me home to Brooklyn. He was a sweet, kind African American gentleman who stood all of 4'10''. Probably late 60's, an ex-convict who owned and drove his own 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. Sweet as can be. I'll call him Mr. Clarence for the time being.
Cut to the chase, several hours and $600 later, we're entering Staten Island New York via one of it's many bridges, this one being the Goethals, and all I can see is a plume of smoke coming from the direction of downtown Manhattan. Now it's starting to set in. The light small talk that Mr. Clarence and I were exchanging has now come to a screeching halt. As I type this it's all sadly flooding back to me. Ugh!
Although I knew my immediate family was fine, it was the fear of the unknown. The fear of getting the bad news of an extended family member of friend distant or close. The casual acquaintances were no longer casual. We were all New Yorkers. We were all Americans.
Closer still, crossing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge that connects Staten Island to Brooklyn and now you I have a unobstructed view of ground zero. The towers had disappeared replaced by clouds of dust, smoke and a world of sorrow.It was not the nightmare I prayed it had been. This is all too real. Thank God it won't be long now. Fifteen, twenty minutes tops before I wrap my arms around my wife and son.
This of course was the longest fifteen minutes I can ever recall. The last moments between the bridge and our little two bedroom apartment in Bensonhurst found me witnessing the transformation of a nation. Down every avenue and every street. In front of every home, on each and every "Stoop", storefront and balcony there flew the proud yet recently bruised colors of my country. Not a one was without the flag waving proudly and uniting us in the September breeze. I knew then, from that day forward, life as I knew it would never be the same.
To be continued...
Steve Augeri
P.S. We all have memories of where we were that morning. Please feel free to share them with me. You may feel a little less weight on your heart and shoulders if only for a moment.
BEYOND THE CLOUDS (Inspired by the events of 9/11 and those we've loved and lost)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtIan8pmwXQ
Steve, I can recall that day as if it was just yesterday. I made a video now posted on You Tube. I will write a note that I will post tomorrow night with that video on Facebook. It's too long to submit here. Thank you for sharing what you saw, heard, and felt that day. The journey home is always the longest. More so when you need to be home.
ReplyDeleteWe did not call you Stevie Awesome for naught, now did we. Bless you and yours on these days or Rememberance and know that We Will Meet Again. [[[hugs]]] beati qui lugent: quoniam ipsi consolabuntur
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing steve. i was at work that horrible morning. alex at school,and me worrying about her, people in NY,and the Bay Area. we had mistakenly heard that stuff was happening in SF too. yes, it's awful to be away from those we love when tragedy strikes.
ReplyDeletemy thoughts are with you. fondly, marcela s.
never realised Beyond the Clouds was inspired by 9/11 Steve. You & your fellow Americans need to know the whole world is thinking of you all at this time. Make no mistake, all of mankind was wounded that day, even we few all the way 'downunder'. Thoughts & prayers coming across the Pacific to you guys!
ReplyDeleteBP
Steve, I know exactly where I was. Bob Evans, Springfield, MO, hostessing. A couple of ladies came in and mentioned the towers being hit, then a few minutes later, a man came in mentioning the Pentagon. A few minutes after that, a man in an Army uniform came in and I asked him if he knew anything about it and he said "What?!". He had no clue. A guest went to his house and brought back a TV for us to watch. We sat all the customers on that side of the restaurant that day, not that there were many. I remember crying very hard, and calling my Dad on the store's phone, confused as to why. Sadly, a day I'll never, ever forget.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to ALL that were affected by this, be it because of immediate family, or a friend that was lost. I listen to Beyond The Clouds and it never fails, every single time I hear it, I get teary eyed and goosebumps. I know how very hard that song was for you to write, and how close to home it hit, and how extremely beautiful of a song it is and I tried to get it on the air here in my hometown but it was not successful. :(
May those that lost their lives be resting in peace, and may those that are still fighting for our country come home soon!
Thank you, Stevie Awesome, for sharing this with us! I can see this thread getting very long!
I was in Phildadelphia at a conference with my friend Annette. After watching everything on TV, we kinda felt planes were coming down above us, below us and to the side of us. The city was on lockdown. We were staying a few extra days after the conference because Journey and Night Ranger were playing nearby. We were so excited to see both of you playing together. Loved when you guys toured together, we loved both bands so much.
ReplyDeleteThen we made the decision, we needed to get back to our respective homes in Atlanta and Birmingham, AL. I can't remember if you guys still played or not, I kind of think you did, but all we could think of was we needed to get back home and feel safe again and be back with our people at home. Our drive was an eerie 15 hour back to the south. But that trip will forever be engrained in my mind.
Fiona in Atlanta
Wow emotions indeed and events of that week that unfolded which seemed so the worst nightmare that one could wake up from. I was in my California home getting ready for work as usual when my friend Julie called the house to tell me to hurry and turn on the news and I said well getting ready not much time and she said you must. So unreal I thought I was watching a Hollywood production a movie perhaps...I thought what the heck is going on and the pure horror took a bit to sink in..speechless I went to work as we all shared our thoughts and fears and the TV remained on for days..Sept.14th I talked to Julie about what the world just witnessed and a few other things but there was something in her voice not the norm but who was normal after such an event? Sept.15th at work as usual and a few hours in I would get a call that would turn my world upside down. Julie, my best bud, coworker and neighbor had passed on with no Goodbye, life was taken by the hands of her boyfriend. Pure horror and again a nightmare unfolding before me. September 11, 2001 was the day the world was attacked and also four days before my friend was taken away from me. Ten years it does not seem and my heart goes out to all those who still weep. God Bless us all.
ReplyDeleteTogether they shine like the stars above, angel whispers around us near and far, for their journey has not ended but just a start forever memories live on in our hears!
Faithfully Jenny from Cali
Was at work that day, like lots of people. At the time, I worked for a broker's office. Our broker/dealer's headquarters were in NYC (still are, now at 1 World Trade). One of the women in the office said, "That's weird.... on CNN.com they have a thing that says a plane has hit the World Trade Center." The rest of us remarked that it was indeed strange... my boss called over and said, 'Its on tv.." We all go trooping into his office and I remember being shocked that the sky was so blue. For some reason I expected it to be misty or foggy, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Just smoke and flames billowing from the first tower, then there came more...shooting out of the second tower. The second plane had hit as we stood there gawking at the television. The rest of the day was surreal... we kept on working, even though the NYSE had closed, even though the towers had collapsed, even though there were two more planes, even though some of the fund companies we did a lot of business with had offices in the WTC. My boss said (the next day or the day after that or sometime that week) that some people in the 2nd tower had begun to leave the after the first plane hit, but they were told that their building was ok and they could go back to their offices. They did. He said he felt that if our office been there in NYC at WTC instead of Main Street in Buffalo we probably would have done the same thing.... just gone back to work. I like to think it wouldn't have been me, that I would have kept on going down the stairs and out the door, even if he threatened to fire me if I did. Don't know for sure... glad I don't work there anymore.
ReplyDeleteI was getting ready for work when the first plane hit tower 1. I was driving into work at the airport, seeing the smoke behind me in my rearview mirror & listening to the radio when the second plane hit. I had to slam on my brakes & pull over. I couldn't believe what was happening, started to shake & I knew I had to control myself.
ReplyDeleteAs I drove into the parking lot, I see everyone standing & looking past me. From the entrance I can see my towers in a way I never thought I would see them. I call them my towers because I used to work there. It was my home for almost 7 years & had too many memories there - good & bad. I was also there for the first attack in 1993. I understood the fear & my heart went out to everyone who was there.
I stood next the group watching this scene & shook every time a plane landed on the runway right next to my building. Without speaking, we all looked at each other & knew it would never be the same. We had to grow up now.
Here we are 10 years later, still at my job & looking over to the city where my twin towers used to stand proudly. I miss them, the people I knew & lost, but I miss our innocence too.