AT&T karaoke palace has a head cheerleader
An edited transcript of the conversation between former Journey singer/die-hard Giants fan Steve Perry and KNBR’s Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey:
Murphy: You have such an artistic eye and you proved that in 2010 talking about the (Giants), but it’s not the same team. Some of the guys are the same, but what are you feeling from this team from an energy and aesthetic standpoint. Who jumps out at you? Perry: This is just my observations — I have my limitations, everybody in life has their limitations, and the players certainly know their limitations. We’ve watched them every night to where we get to know them enough to see they have some limitations. The difference is, it seems like this team recognizes their limitations and with (manager Bruce) Bochy’s help they just push past them anyway and do more than they’re aware they can do. They really do reach on the other side of that — with fervor and enthusiasm, they just push themselves. I know both teams do that, and maybe I’m just closer to the Giants, but I don’t know — I see them push past the things that seem to limit them. They just push past it anyway.
McCaffrey: You mentioned Bruce Bochy — is he like the Bill Graham figure for these guys? There are famous stories of Bill Graham getting the Who to play three more songs when they wanted to go home, or getting Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to perform. ... Do you see Bochy as that guy the way Bill Graham was for your community? Perry: There’s no doubt that certain key figures like Bill and Bochy do sit in an area by themselves. They do get you to do things — somehow you just want to rise to their requests, and somehow they get people to play for them. I think Bochy is that kind of guy. I’ve had the pleasure of being on the field for batting practice a few times and got to talk to him. He’s a pretty charismatic cat. He walks up to you, and first of all he’s about nine feet tall. He looks down at you, and he’s a very big guy, and he’s got that (deep) voice, “How’re you doing, how’s it going.” ... But I want to say one thing — one of the themes of some of our other playoff runs was “torture.” I’ve got a new one — I think torture kind of comes with a sense of entitlement, and we don’t have that. We do not have a sense of entitlement as a team. A friend of mine said something the other day — I was saying, “Man, this is amazing — this is tough!” And he said, “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be fun!” I thought that was genius — if this was easy, it wouldn’t be fun! McCaffrey: Part of the great AT&T experience is really a communal thing — it brings a lot of different kinds of people together who probably wouldn’t be sitting together normally, and we’re all applauding for the same thing. You’ve become a big part of that with “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” and “Lights” in the eighth inning. Do you still get a charge out of that? Perry: I have not been in a situation like that in many, many years — you guys know that. I was asked to lead the fans during the middle of the eighth, and wow it’s a real charge. In fact, sometimes I have to calm myself down because I start to hang over the balcony and stuff like that. Murphy: Can you hear everybody singing back at you? On the Fox broadcast (Wednesday) they said you turned AT&T Park into the world’s largest outdoor karaoke bar … Perry: It was. … I had to tell the music director to keep turning the system up, because that system has limiters on it and they only play it so loud. The problem is that if I get everybody going and they’re all singing, I can’t hear the music because I’m listening to the house speakers like everybody else. So I told them they had to turn it all up — and they did, I could hear it.