Late to the party...We're on vacation, the four of us cramped into a fairly small, but comfortable room in a motel in Pacific Grove. We get back to the room after dinner, following a beautiful drive along the 17 Mile Drive that presents some of the most wonderful and most American views in the entire country - the violent beauty of the Pacific Ocean; the serene views of Cypress Point Golf Club...accompanied by signs that make it abundantly clear that you are not welcome there; the homes that inspire awe, envy, and perhaps disgust in some.
Roughly 15 minutes remain in the series finale of The Sopranos.
Tony talking to Paulie; Tony visiting Uncle Junior. Obviously, something has happened; exactly what will have to remain unknown until the papers come out the next day.
The final sequence, which has inspired much brilliant writing, but none more so than Tom Shales, Alan Sepinwall, Matt Zoller Seitz. Absolutely unbearable suspense for the entire scene...what is going to happen?
There is nothing I can add to what has already been written, except to wonder how this scene will impact the career, which I assume is over, of Journey. For the past week, I haven't been able to get "Don't Stop Believin'" out of my mind. I was a Journey fan in the late 1970s; I even saw them live at the Cal Expo racetrack in August of 1978. I owned several of their albums, all of which were sold back to used records stores as my taste evolved (or so I like to think) and the space for my records decreased as the years went by. Journey was an easy sacrifice to make - they were an expert band, but false; their existence was almost entirely market driven, and their artistry, such as it was, could not transcend that simple fact.
Until now...perhaps.
Will the final scene of The Sopranos lead to a re-evaluation of the career that was Journey? Or will the song simply become a footnote in American popular culture? In any event, that song no longer belongs to the band; it no longer belongs to Steve Perry. It belongs to the millions of people who watched that final scene, and that fact lends the song a sense of importance; a sense of gravity that it never had before.
A strange legacy to add to one of the great television moments, but one worth considering nonetheless.
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