From Journey Force Newsletter
By: Herbie Herbert
Transcribed by: Becky

It's been often said that reality is what you make it. And nowhere has the concept of a created reality been more amply demonstrated than by the saga of bluesman cy klopps, an idea whose time has come.

Cy started life as a simple joke between two guys, turned into an elaborate leg-pulling and finally, fueled by a hungry press and music industry race to get in on the ground floor of emerging talent, into an actual "act" with an all-star recording session, pending record deal and everything.

If someone pitched the following scenario to a film producer, they would get laughed out of the office. "Too improbable," the producer would say. But then, truth always has been stranger than fiction. If you don't believe that, just read the following as related to us by journey's manager, herbie herbert:

The whole Cy Klopps legend started out as a complete farce. Pat Morrow would call me every morning, and I'd get into this whole Jewish mode. I'd answer the phone "Haallllllloooooo" and then he'd pause and say, "So, Sy...begets?" And I'd go "So, Sol...new?" Then he'd drive down to pick me up, or conversely, I'd drive up to get him and we'd go into work together. I was known at times to harangue him, and when we'd get to work, our receptionist would ask Pat, "How's Sy today?" And Pat would answer "Sy Goldfarb? Sy Benowitz?" He'd come up with a different name all the time. Sometimes he'd say "Ah, Sy Goldfarb, one of the nicest guys I know." One day it was "Oy, Sy Klopps." This took on a whole new inference, like this one-eyed monster.

Eventually, a routine developed on it, and Pat suggested that we should do a recording, spelled this way...Cy Klopps. It would be a Cy Klopps Jewish Blues Band, but with the double entendre of one eye, and so forth. We had this whole list of album titles...the first would be called "All Those in Favor, Say Eye," the second "Eye for an Eye", the third "Third Eye," the fourth "Four Eyes", the fifth "Eye Five", with the hand slap, the eyeball, the sixth "I Only Have Eye for You", the seventh was more rock & roll, and it was called "Get Back, Cataract," the eighth album was a return to the blues, and was called "Ol' Blue Eye is Back." The reggae album was "Eye and Eye," the live album was "Eye Live," or "Live Eye".

We would do that routine on the road (during the Journey tour), and it got around a little bit. One day Hector Lizardi (Journey's tour accountant) and I were at lunch with Don Law (concert promoter) and we were talking about Cy Klopps; it was funny and we were thinking we ought to say that Cy Klopps came here and played. Don would say that he heard about him on Harvard Square and it was a buzz, and he (Cy) phoned and Don booked him. He insisted on playing Halloween night at the Paradise Club (the big club in Boston) and Don would say that he did, and that he sold out. It was reported to the trade magazines and the industry; other promoters got involved.

People started to think that Cy Klopps really existed, even though the whole thing was just a figment of our imagination. John Scher(promoter) reported that on Thanksgiving, Cy Klopps played the Ritz in New York and sold it out, and Jerry Mickelson (promoter) reported to POLLSTAR, to the amusement business, and to BILLBOARD that Cy Klopps came in and played on Christmas Day at the Park West in Chicago. Then Bill Graham reported that he (Cy) showed up and did the Waldorf on New Years. On Valentines Day, he was in New Orleans. The reports just kept coming in. He only played on holidays, only in the evening, he'd only do a $10 ticket, and he would always do virtually sell out business.

Pretty soon, it was ridiculous. All the agents were calling and record companies were phoning the promoters getting really hostile..."How could this happen and you not tell us?" Premier Talent, the company that represents all my artists, JOURNEY, EUROPE, ERIC MARTIN, AND GREGG ROLIE, called John Scher saying they were really upset that an artist could come in and perform at someplace like the Ritz in New York and sell out. They were angry that John didn't tell them. John would just squirm out of it, and soon the rap was that Cy Klopps was a real recluse who didn't say much. When you asked him where he was from, he'd say "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide". That was his famous quote.

So we continued that, and when we got to New York on the Journey tour, Hector and John Scher had these "Eye to Eye World Tour" jackets made, and were seen wearing them around. John Scher had these postcards made, addressed them to all the people in the industry, put them in manila envelopes, and sent them all over the country. Then he had all these people take them out of the envelopes, and mail them so that they would arrive at all the agencies and record companies with the Cy Klopps logo, and "Hi from Cy. I'm bad, I'm nationwide. See you soon." People receiving the card would think, "Now I'll know where he's from. I'll look at the postmark!" Well, they were posted from everywhere. So, this scam just kept going and it snowballed.

Then one day, I was in my office with a bunch of people, including this guy I hadn't seen in ten years, Dave Denny. Dave knew Ross Valory and they used to play with the Steve Miller Band; he had just stopped by to say hello. While he was there, I got a conference call from some of these promoters telling me it had become a front page story in HITS MAGAZINE, and was insider news from POLLSTAR. All kinds of press was being generated and everyone knew about it. Now these guys were on the phone saying it had to become a reality. They were telling me that we couldn't jerk off the music industry like that, and pull off a farce like that unless we wanted to take the heat and the rap. They said, "We recommend you learn how to sing and play the guitar real quick."

I got off the phone saying, "You guys can't put that kind of pressure on me, it's ridiculous, we can't possibly make it a reality." And Dave Denny was sitting there and he said, "Hey no problem. You can do it." And I said, "Who'll play?" and he said "Ross Valory will get some guys together." I thought about it, and decided I'd go down to the studio one day to prove that it can't work and couldn't happen, and that would be the end of it. I showed up and Ross Valory was there on bass with Prairie Prince to play drums, Norton Buffalo on harmonica (one of the foremost studio harmonica players), local legend Bobby Scott on guitar, and Dave Denny producing and engineering. Dave said, "We can do the basics with you singing, and then you can come back later and put the lead guitar on it." I said OK, and we did that. We had a couple of rules. No rehearsal, no practice, no second takes. Honestly, that turned into no third takes. A lot of it we just did live. The first song we decided to do was "Born Under a Bad Sign", then we did "Going Down," then a ZZ Top song called "Jesus Just Left Chicago."

The EUROPE came to town to start their tour. I was at the studio one night recording and doing my own thing, and John Villanueva showed up with most of the members of Europe. I was so nervous and shocked. Kee Marcello (guitarist for Europe) wanted to play, so he put a solo on the second song, "Going Down".

One day, a couple months later, I was with Neal Schon talking to him about Kee. Neal was saying, "I'm not really familiar with his guitar playing." Of course, Kee doesn't play on the Europe album (he joined Europe after it was recorded). So I said, "I've got something he did. Let me play it for you." I didn't tell Neal that it was ME. He listened to it and said, "I love that guy! I'd love to play with him. I wish I had some blues songs like that to burn on." Then, all of a sudden, Kee wanted to play on more songs and wanted to meet and play with Neal, and have Neal play on it. So, even though most of it was ready to be mixed with my guitar and Bobby Scott's guitar, they came in and, with the exception of the song that Kee had already played on, redid the guitars on all the songs. So...here I am, Cy Klopps Blues Band with Neal Schon, Kee Marcello, Ross Valory and Prairie Prince, with Bobby Scott on rhythm guitar (when I could get a note in edgewise) and Norton Buffalo on harmonica. It's a helluva band!!

In keeping with all this legendary press before a note was ever played, Geffen Records had been interested from the moment we first began recording. Gary Gersch on his level, and John Kalodner on his level, are both after this project. Gary Gersch called me direct, dispensing with the bullshit about Cy Klopps being Herbie Herbert, he just said "I know it's you, and I want to sign you." John Kalodner had been going through Bill Thompson, Starship's manager, who is also Cy Klopps' manager.

To bring things up-to-date, there's no set deal yet, but we've had a lot of fun, and we really aren't finished with it yet. I've been out of the country for a while, so we'll see what happens when we resume. When you have a rhythm section like that and guitarists like that...I'm the weakest link. If you're into blues guitar, Sy Klopps is a must listening!!!