The SF-founded band Journey is on tour again, but the two remaining 1980s members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain are suing each other while on tour, and each has allegedly hired bodyguards to keep the other out of their dressing rooms.

The rock band Journey was founded in San Francisco in 1973, and still has a special place in this city’s heart, especially among SF Giants fans. And you may have seen the 2013 documentary Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey, which tells the truly uplifting tale of their permanent Steve Perry replacement Arnel Pineda, whom they plucked from obscurity and homelessness, and whose onstage energy reinvigorated the band’s touring success.

That story had a happy ending, but it was not a happy ending in 2021, when founding member Neal Schon and 1980 (pre-"Don’t Stop Believin’") addition Jonathan Cain fired the remaining original members out of the band via a lawsuit. A yet-again remade version of Journey, with Schon and Cain still in the band (ages 69 and 73, respectively) is currently on tour again.

But your wheel in the sky will be spinning over a new Billboard exposé on the absolutely bonkers Journey infighting between the remaining 1980s-era members Schon and Cain. According to Billboard, the guitarist Schon and keyboard player Cain are currently suing each other while the band is still on tour, are engaged in a separate legal battle over whether "Don’t Stop Believin’” can be performed at Trump rallies, and both have hired bodyguards to keep the other out of their dressing room.

And yes, it may feel like a cheap shot to go after spouses, but here’s a pair of factoids that tell you about the current mindframe of Journey’s most tenured members. Cain is now married to televangelist Paula White, who served as Donald Trump’s “spiritual adviser.” Not to be out-batshitted, Schon’s wife is the 2009 White House gate-crasher and The Real Housewives of D.C. veteran Michaele Schon.  (Their 2013 SF wedding was carried on pay-per-view, and the newlyweds ended up suing the city over it.)

In fact, Schon has been on an incredibly litigious kick for years, and fired their manager to make himself manager in 2021. “By the time Schon started managing Journey, he and Michaele had spent six years scrutinizing trademarks and merchandise and ticket sales,” Billboard reports. “And they came to one conclusion: Journey was getting screwed. That meant everyone had to go, so Schon fired or sued managers, accountants, bandmates and promoters, some of whom had worked with the group for decades.”

Which brings us to the current lawsuit between the two Journey members. That lawsuit is essentially a dispute over who gets access to the band’s American Express card. As that suit made its way through the courts, Billboard reports that Schon “stationed two off-duty police officers outside his dressing room,” and “at a Florida show last spring, Schon and his wife, Michaele, sent an assistant into keyboardist Jonathan Cain’s dressing room to snoop around.”

“Cain caught the assistant red-handed, and then hired an off-duty officer to guard his own dressing room,” per Billboard.

And there is the Trump issue. Cain apparently played "Don’t Stop Believin" for Trump at a Mar-a-Lago event, infuriating Schon. As Billboard reports, Cain "also appeared at a Las Vegas 'Evangelicals for Trump' event three months before the 2020 presidential election. In December, Schon sent a cease-and-desist letter that called Cain’s Mar-a-Lago performance 'deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarizes the band’s fans and outreach.'"

Does any of this make you want to see Journey’s current “Freedom” tour? Sorry, they’re not playing San Francisco, or anywhere in the Bay Area. The closest tour date to here is on April 19, some 85 miles away at the Stockton Arena.

Related: City Settles With Journey Guitarist Who Sued Over Cost Of 'Royal, Sexy, Magic' Wedding At Palace Of Fine Arts [SFist]

Image: View of American Rock musicians Neal Schon (left) and Jonathan Cain, both of the group Journey, during an interview on MTV at Teletronic Studios, New York, New York, April 20, 1983. (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)

A lighting malfunction at Monday night’s Giants-Padres game delayed play for about 40 minutes, but a spontaneous mass-karaoke version of Journey’s “When the Lights Go Down in the City” broke out.

In retrospect, it was probably the highlight of Monday night’s Giants-Padres game when, as KRON4 reports, the ballpark stadium lights went out for around 40 minutes. At roughly 7:48 p.m., in between the second and third innings, a lighting malfunction caused some of the ballpark’s floodlights to not power on. But then something very San Francisco went down.

A clever stadium operator quickly turned on Journey’s unofficial fan favorite track “Lights,” better known by the lyric “When the lights go down in the city.” The crowd joined in for a joyful karaoke sing-along, reminiscent of those World Series moments with Steve Perry when he led the crowd in singing the old standby.  

“It’s a computer glitch right now,” NBC Sports Bay Area Mike Krukow explained, while the lights were down in the city. “The lights are telling the engineers that they are working at full capacity, but it’s obviously not happening.”

“This could become a safety issue,” he continued. “The reality of it is it’s too dark to play. It’s not safe.”

The lighting mess got fixed, and the game resumed shortly before 8:30. While this lighting malfunction happened relatively early in the game, it still wasn’t even the game’s first delay. Earlier in the contest, per KRON4, “Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson was forced to leave the game after slipping while tracking a foul pop-up. Second base umpire John Tumpane took Hudson’s place behind home plate.”

And despite an eighth inning rally, the Giants continued their rough patch and would go on to lose the game 6-5. They now sit a daunting eight-and-a-half games out of the last NL Wild Card slot.

Related: Giants Roll Out ‘Flex Pricing’ to Try to Fill Seats at the Ballpark [SFist]

Image: @irapolis via Twitter

"The City by the Bay" about whom Journey guitarist Neal Schon so lovingly played — and by whom he was so terribly wronged during his Palace of Fine Arts "Royal, Sexy, Magic" themed wedding — has settled its score with the musician.

Bringing the February suit to a close, the Examiner reports that San Francisco has agreed to pay Schon $290,000 pending Board of Supervisors approval. That amount is roughly what the City ended up charging for the event, which was originally to cost just $58,000 in fees. But renting the rotunda at the Palace of Fine arts as well as the Innovation Hangar that used to house the Exploratorium became much more expensive for Schon and his affianced. In her words — this is Michaele Salahi, who plays a person on reality television — the City’ was “reprehensible” in its behavior. Yes, inexplicably, after she turned the wedding into a $15 pay-per-view event, San Francisco Rec and Parks levied further fees upon the couple.

"The event evolved from small and secret to a live commercial broadcast, and the city’s fees evolved accordingly," a spokesman with the City Attorney's Office said at the time. According to the suit, city officials held the couple's wedding permit "hostage" until the amount was paid in full, which it eventually was, although Schon and Salahi declined to make a charitable donation as had been requested.

Though the betrothed “should have been excited and happy in the days leading up to their wedding,”according to their lawsuit they were instead "being extorted by Defendants.”Those named were Phil Ginsburg, who is head of the Recreation and Park Department as well as Dana Ketcham, a permits manager, and Diane Rea, an events specialist.

“Despite what the City’s government did to us," Schon told the Examiner in light of the settlement, "we love our ‘City by the Bay’ and its residents... We couldn’t be happier that we’ve been vindicated.”

A spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera said, “We’re glad we could reach an agreement to resolve the dispute amicably, and we wish Neal and Michaele every happiness in married life."

It's safe to say, though, that the honeymoon period between the musician and San Francisco is over. Let's just hope they can get along okay from here on out. And as for Salahi, who gained infamy for crashing a White House party — perhaps she should stay off the events circuit for a while.

Previously: Journey Guitarist Sues San Francisco Over Palace Of Fine Arts Wedding

Journey's lead guitarist and his reality TV-star wife are suing the city of San Francisco, claiming the city "extorted" them over their wedding at the Palace of Fine arts.

Neal Schon and Michaele Salahi say the rental fee for the picturesque location had over quadrupled less than week before the 2013 wedding, from $58,000 to $240,000. The new fees included a "premium reservation fee" and a "park regeneration fee" which ballooned the cost of their wedding. "What the city did was inexcusable," their attorney Rebecca Coll told SFGate.

Schon and Salahi first came into the public eye as a couple when her ex-husband sued her for sleeping with Schon... we guess? The Salahis were infamous as the couple that somehow crashed a White House party.

The wedding at the Palace of Fine Arts was turned into a $15 pay-per-view event, which is why the city says they jacked up the prices on the c-list couple. "The event evolved from small and secret to a live commercial broadcast, and the city’s fees evolved accordingly," said a spokesman with the city attorney's office. The couple say the fees were unfair given the fact that the producers of Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes only had to pay $2,000 in fees. They also allege that they were forbidden from using the Palace as a backdrop for photos and that their free speech rights were violated when they were not allowed to turn an old Exploratorium room into a "Sexy" room for a reception.

Despite this lawsuit, San Francisco will remain proud to keep Journey as one of their musical ambassadors, says the city attorney's spokesman. "We wish the couple well. Nothing is diminished in San Francisco’s affection for Journey."

What a perfect meeting of past, present, and future glories. Former Santana guitarist/now-and-forever Journey member Neal Schon is coming back to the North Bay (where he grew up and leaned how to strum) to help launch the first-ever Gibson Robot Guitar. Just what is the Gibson Robot Guitar, you ask? We have no idea. But let's go to the press release to find out!

Ahem: it says that it's -- get this -- "the world's first guitar with robotic technology." Hmm. Ok then.

Well, we're still at a loss as to how the new Gibson differs from you regular electric guitar -- surely, the instrument was concocted in a cobweb-laced science lab with dry ice fumes brimming out of colorful test tubes and beakers and such! -- but what's not confusing is the awesome presence of Journey. Come meet acclaimed Journey guitarist who will host the demonstrate and perform using the world's "first-run limited edition version of the Gibson Les Paul Robot Guitar." A question and answer session will follow, and you can try purchasing the guitar on Friday, December 7, when the limited number of cherry guitars go on sale.

What: Meet Journey's Neal Schon
Where: Bananas at Large, 1504 - Fourth Street, San Rafael
When: Monday, December 3
Time 12:30 p.m.
Cost: free