#robert fleischman

Gene: Geno, Genie

Paul: Paulie, Pom-pom (this annoys him), Pauline, Snarkchild

Bruce: Brucie/Brucie-bear, Rover, Sprucie

Eric: Kitty, sweetie, kitten (the first time was accidental and when they were both over 50), mixmaster, mittens, Kittenhawk (co-owned by Gene), Snickerdoodle, muffin, goofus supreme, Rapunzel, Honey

Eric: Foxy, Craze, Love, Little Buddy, Honey-pie, Minky, Bunny (this is slightly embarrassing)

Ace: Spacey/Acey-Spacey, Sparky

Peter: Mr. Criss 🩷, Papacat, Jazzcat, Frank Sinatra

Tommy: Tomcat, Tom, Tommothy, Tom-Tom, Spaceboy, Frigidare Supreme (affectionate), Thomas

Bobby: Mr. Rock, Bob

Mark: Markie (this annoys him eventually), Markus (this is sometimes followed by Allen-Slaughter. Heeelp), Princess Mark

Dana: Daniel (This annoys him), Strumwasser, Streamwater (this is somehow more annoying than Daniel), Dany, Danana Republic, dipshit/fuckass (arguments only)

Robert: Rob, Robbie (only when begging pretty please)

Tim: Timothy (the only person allowed to call him this??), Tim-tam (only at the crack of dawn)

RF: I—it doesn’t really matter what Herbie said about me. But I felt it wasn’t the thing to say. I thought he’d have been a little bit more understanding, have more of a heart. But he did [say it]. Hey, Herbie can sell ice cubes to Eskimos, and I really admire him for that. He had this band, and he had the vision. The only way I was hard to get along with was that we were playing this huge gig, and Herbie didn’t want me to sing. Why should I, I thought--I told him, “I thought you guys wanted me here, and then all of a sudden, you don’t want me singing tonight, so why should I even go up on the stage? It’s not like I’m playing drums, so you just want me up there to clap, and—”

DG: To shake the tambourine?

RF: Yeah! And because we were playing in Fresno, and he was afraid of what was gonna’ happen. He was desperate for it all to go well in Fresno.

DG: What was that about?

RF: Well, I mean, he felt that Fresno was the biggest Journey—you know, it was crazy there, and it was just the way he did it, pressuring me. And then they probably thought I was really pompous and everything because they would come to me with these songs and—I couldn’t write anything to that song, or I couldn’t come up with a really great idea with that song, I would just kinda’--I’d drop it. So then they’d come to me and say “Oh, have you finished that song yet?” I’d go, “No I haven’t, I’m still kinda’ working on it,” and everything, and they felt that I was controlling—because of that they felt that I was controlling. You know? But yet it just was that I couldn’t come up with an idea for it. They thought I was trying to ignore it, or I was filtering what they were doing, their music, but it was just—it didn’t inspire me to go from A to Z, you know? Finish it off. I’d get rough ideas, but that was about it. I guess I just procrastinated and I felt like this wasn’t necessary. But the ones that I did finish and everything like that, and that I had feeling for, they came out, and they did well.

DG: “Wheel in the Sky” being the most notable example.

RF: Yeah, I guess so.

DG: Let’s talk about your replacement by Steve Perry, The official story is that Herbie was floored by Steve’s demo tape, and he knew then and there that he wanted to get him in and you out.

RF: It just came down to—Herbie had connections with a guy named Michael Dilbeck who had put a lot of money into Steve Perry’s demos, and so Dilbeck was part of CBS records—he was a big honcho in the A&R department. So he kept bringing up Steve to Herbie and I guess they worked out some deal where, well, “If you get Steve in the deal then I’ll help you out more here with CBS and you’ll have a better connection with us”—it was one of those political moves. And they brought Steve in, and Steve’s a great guy—I mean, I see Steve occasionally and we talk together, and we’re friends.

DG: Oh, that’s good. But one thing the official band publications readily admit is that a level of deception was employed not only by Herbie but by [Journey guitarist] Neal [Schon], [former Journey keyboardist] Gregg [Rolie], [Journey bassist] Ross [Valory], and [former Journey drummer] Aynsley [Dunbar], when it came to the way Perry was brought into the band. Apparently Perry was actually pretending to be John Villanueva’s Portuguese cousin.

RF: Exactly! I was introduced to him that way! I mean that’s how he was introduced to me, that way. We had had a show at Soldiers Field in front of probably 120,000 people, and we were in Chicago, and Steve Perry was there in Chicago too, watching me on the sides of the stage.

DG: The Time (Cubed) booklet states that “at a sound check before a concert in Long Beach, Herbert arranged for [you] to be otherwise occupied while Perry joined the band to sing one of [your] songs.”

RF: Exactly.

DG: And how did it make you feel when you subsequently discovered what had been going on behind your back?

RF: (Pause.) Hey—that’s why I never really liked rock’n’roll too much. That’s why I never really went out and all. I like being a solo artist because I don’t have to deal with Peyton Place. You know what I mean? I don’t have to deal with the soap opera. I just think when it gets—everything gets lost. You know, your whole focus, what you’re doing—it’s gone once that element comes in.

DG: It stops being about music.