HOME THIS CHRISTMAS TIME

"Home This Christmas TIme"

Hi everybody! It's been a while. Since I last posted, we've seen Mother Natures Super Storm Sandy and   all her fury bring the Caribbean Islands and the north east of the United States to their knees. A lone, disturbed young man take the lives of innocent children along with their teachers in a sleepy little town in Connecticut and finally the "End of the World As We  Know It" come and go... or perhaps for some, that's precisely what it was. Lately, more so than usual, I count my blessings. Truly.

That said, while we're all busy running to holiday parties, shopping then wrapping gifts for our loved ones, I wanted to say thank you to my fans this year with a little Christmas song I wrote a couple of years back for my friend Glen Burtnick's X-Mas Extranvaga. 

‘Home This Christmas Time,’ a personal call to help those in need this holiday season, especially my fellow Staten Islanders and our neighbors who have been impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

So rather than ask for $.99 for a download on iTunes, Amazon, etc., please give it a listen on either Spotify orhttp://www.steveaugeri.com/#!music, and if the spirit of the season and the song moves you, please find it in your hearts to donate that $.99 to a charity of your choice. In case you need a suggestion or two, here are a few I am calling attention to this Christmas for personal reasons:

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Journey to the Cure, The Guild for Exceptional Children, The North Shore Animal League and the Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation.

Thank you for taking the time reading this and have yourselves a very, Merry Christmas! Here's to a kinder, gentler New Year:-)

Steve Augeri

RICH MAN"S WORLD

RICH MAN'S WORLD

What makes one man love the other hate?

What makes one man give the other take?

Empty is the heart that loves too fast 

Fear can make his first his last

Why is one content, the next, he seeks?

Oh, Take or leave it , yeah yeah

What would you do for the love of money?

Living in a Rich Man's World

Cause,you'll need it yeah, yeah

Baby, It's all for the love of money.

Living in a Rich Man's World

Well, alright!

What makes one man rise up to the test?

And the next he falls down to his knees?

Guilty is the heart that runs too fast 

Moving on onto the next, Oh

Why does one man strike

The other bleed?

Take or leave it , Yeah Yeah!

What would you do for the love of money?

Living in a Rich Man's World

Cause, you'll need it Yeah, Yeah!

How far would you stoop for the love of money?

Living in a Rich Man's World

Best believe it, Yeah, Yeah! 

Baby, It's all for the love of money

Living in A Rich Man's World

Alright! 

Take or leave it , Yeah Yeah!

What would you do for the love of money?

Living in a Rich Man's World

Cause, you'll need it Yeah, Yeah!

How far would you stoop for the love of money?

Living in a Rich Man's World

When you need, Yeah, Yeah! 

Girl, who would you do for the love of money?

Living in A Rich Man's World

Well, baby' it's all for the love of money.

Living in a Rich Man's World

One day baby, one day

Living In A Rich Man's World!

Someday baby, Someday 

Living In A Rich Man's World!

Written by : Augeri/Pullman/Raymond

Steve Augeri : Vocals / BG Vocals 

  Guitars

  Bass Guitar

  Keys

  Drums

  Shakers and Tamborines

Marge Raymond:BG Vocals / Va-Voom!

Craig Pullman: Additional Keys

Mike Orlando:       Additional Guitar

Produced by : Steve Augeri 

MIxed by : Mike Orlando @ Sonic Stomp Studios

Mastered by: Roger Lian @ Masterdisk, NYC

Cover by : Craig Pullman

 

Veterans Day 2012

Good morning America how are you?

Dear American veterans, both still with us and now departed, thank you for your service to my country and for fighting for the freedom I today enjoy as well as my family, friends and fellow country men. To my Uncle Andrew, my cousin Richard and to the other brave men and women in uniform whom I've had the honor of meeting throughout my civilian lifetime, either all too young or gratefully old. To a world when we never need your services again yet thankful, if we did, somehow you find the courage to be there at the ready. Thank you veterans this Veterans Day 2012.

Steve Augeri

Hours In The Day

Hours In The Day

Been some time since it began

This mystery, I can't explain

How she helps ease the pain

I've come to know so well

Wait for me, I'm fading fast

Hold on tightly and make it last

Ooh, this power she has

She gives me Strength

The power's in the heart

The fire that ignites the spark

Can't find the words to say

No hours in the day

Love, that of a speeding train

I reach out through the pouring rain

Tried it time and again

Try put you into words

At a loss, I've met my match

I confess, I admit to that

Times right now, now I can

I've got to let you know

The power's In the heart

The fire that ignites the spark

Can't find the words to say

No hours in the day

It echoes thru the dark

The sun, the moon and and every star

Can't find the words to say.

No Hours in the day

Oh, an emotion you can't pretend

It's your glittering prize

It's your true heart

The letter you never sent

You still hold in your hand

Loved you the day that you darkened my door

Loved you the day that you brightened my door

Written by: Augeri/Holland/St. James

Steve Augeri: Vocals
                       Secret Agent Guitar
                       Bass Guitar
                       Keys
                       Drums
                       Shakers and Tamborines

Brooke St. James: Lead and Rhythm Guitars

Mike Orlando:      Mix engineer
                             Additional Guitars
                             Catalyst and Soundboard

Produced by: Steve Augeri  (w/Mike Orlando)

Mixed by: Mike Orlando at Sonic Stomp Studios

Mastered by: Leon Zervos at Studios 301

Cover by: Craig Pullman

Special thanks to: Tom DeRossi for unearthing the demo:)
                             Kevin Shirley for his magical rolodex
                             The Steve Augeri Band for bringing it to life
                             on stage.
                             And finally, my fans, friends and family who
                             stand patiently by me
                             and to whom I am forever thankful.

                             The Power's in the heart!

Steve                                                                                           



Available on iTunes , Amazon, etc. and in record stores...
and in "hearts" around the planet!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hours-in-the-day-single/id561699761

http://www.amazon.com/Hours-in-the-Day/dp/B009AGPTW4/ref=sr_shvl_album_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347630636&sr=301-3

Happy Easter from the Steve Augeri Band

To all the bunnies, Bonnets, Peeps, chocolate eggs and pastel color leisure suits of the world, today is your day to shine. I hope this beautiful Easter Sunday finds you all happy and well. Enjoy it preferably with family and friends. Good Yontiff! Lot's of love from me and the Steve Augeri Band.

Love,

Steve

And Another Thing...

For some odd reason, the wind had chosen to direct itself to blow directly over our home in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. Bensonhurst, notorious for its Mobsters, Saturday Night Fever and the greatest Pizza on the planet. Not The Bronx, Not Queens, Not Staten Island. Not to the left or to the right. Directly above my head as I searched the heavens for a answer. The cars parked on the narrow one way street which we lived at the time were covered in ash. On occasion you would come across an entire 8x11 piece of paper from the offices that had blown clear across the east river as if to send a message or a reminder

After reuniting with my wife Lydia and son Adam, Aunt Rosie and cousin Andy and after exchanging a whirlwind of emotions and information between each other it was off to the Hospital. Mom had fallen and broken hear arm. Maimonides Hospital was between our humble apartment and ground zero. As I entered her room to to console her with hugs and kisses only an Italian son could provide, I turned to the window that faced precisely towards what remained of the World Trade Center. No need for the daily TV rental since that's all that seemed to on all of the networks 24/7 if not for months. Just throw open the curtains and...

Miracle... my cousin Jeanine and the company with whom she worked were on the very next floor from where one of the planes collided, moved across the Hudson River to Jersey City just a week prior. Are there such things as Guardian Angels? There must be. Ask Jeanine:) She'll tell ya!

Hero... one of my dear and close friends "John the Bus Driver", emerged from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel just as the first tower collapsed. After presuming it either nuclear holocaust or Armageddon, rather than abandon the bus as he was instructed, he proceeded to pick up stranded and helpless men and women wandering the streets aimlessly. They awarded him a citation. I would have given him the key to the city. Heck, how 'bout the keys to the Mayors Ferrari. My man!

Hero... my good buddy Allen, he and his fellow co-workers who are responsible for one of the greatest underground subway systems in the world, immediately left their mid-town location to aid in the rescue and recovery of their fellow workers and New Yorkers. A daunting task that lasted not hours, not days, not weeks nor months but for some years if not eternity. It's not a topic Allen is fond of verbalizing about. I hear that bro.

It is the last two gentleman, that to this day, as do many first responders, encounter upper respiratory difficulty to put it lightly. This is an ongoing tragedy that insurance companies and government budgets seem to have a short term memory about. Don't leave these good, descent people and their families hanging out to dry. Don't let them be the last victims of this horrendous act.

Let's look after those who selflessly come to another human beings aid. That's the least we can do. Ten years have past. Much has changed and as the old saying goes, much has not.

Just one more memory I'd like to share with you before I try to put this dark day to rest. Not shortly afterwards, you couldn't travel a day without passing or encountering in one form

or another one of our fallen heros funerals. We were all mourning them as if they were our own. And they were. Our neighbors, our neighbors children. Their grandsons and daughters. FDNY, NYPD, Port Authority, MTA, United and American Airlines Flight Crews. On and on and on. You would sit in traffic behind a Fire truck decked out in Purple and Black signifying a loss of one of their Engine and or Hook and Ladder Company. You would sit in you car and just weep like a baby. And this went on for months.

But in this case, rather than just one, it may have possibly been the majority of their Company. As it was pertaining to the Fire Houses closest to Downtown Manhattan and not excluding Downtown Brooklyn. These were heros, yes I do not use this term lightly, that due to congestion on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, ran rather than rode across the bridge to meet their fate. That due to congestion in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel ran through the tunnel not rode, RAN though the tunnel into danger and not away from it.

Bless them. Bless their families and may we all be at peace and never encounter another day like that ever again.

Thanks for putting up with my ranting, raving and venting. I think I'm about done. If I should decide to post again on this topic, I promise to lighten up:) After all. shouldn't I be writing about Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll?

To be continued, maybe...

Steve Augeri

"Beyond the Clouds" From the Journey Album "Generations"

(Inspired by the events of 9/11)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtIan8pmwXQ

Life As I Knew It Would Never Be The Same

The phone rang and it was well before noon. That was the golden rule for me while touring, when it came to my family calling me in the morning.Please wait until midday. I answered it with a "mild" attitude as I heard my wife Lydias voice onthe other end of the receiver. She, in a panic, instructed me to turn on the TV and put on CNN. My attitude quickly changed from "Honey, you KNOW never to call me before... to, OMG.

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