![]() ![]() He can actually do a great deal more than that. I can even take calls on it,” he says, taking a bite of a sandwich. The model I’m getting today, I can control the whole thing with my phone. “What they can do these days with the technology-it’s phenomenal. Valory looks like a prototypical aging rock star: craggy skin, a preternaturally skinny frame, and a bleached, coiffed mane of hair seemingly transplanted from a man thirty years his junior. Long-time Journey bassist Ross Valory knew for years that his hearing was going too, but didn’t bother to do anything about until about five years ago, when Cain convinced him to take the hearing-aid plunge. “102 decibels is about as high as we go,” he says-whereas many acts push it into the 120-40 decibel range, into white-noise territory, past the so-called “threshold of pain.” Those guys were crazy loud.” Journey concerts are loud, too, he admits-but not that loud. “I went to see U2 in Vancouver a couple of years ago and had to leave after two songs. “Most rock concerts are way too loud,” he claims. A hearing aid helps counteract the painful tinnitus that Cain has experienced ever since, and, he says, makes it possible for him to enjoy everyday life and continue performing at a high level.Ĭain has since become a rather passionate advocate for hearing protection, not only for himself and his band mates, but for his audiences as well. “Technology can fix poor eyesight and surgeons can repair your body, but once your hearing goes, that’s it,” says Cain, who began wearing hearing aids about fifteen years ago, after a doctor in Germany accidentally injured his left ear while flushing it of impacted ear wax. Standing in front of a Marshall four-stack for forty-plus years can take its toll, and protecting what’s left of their hearing is, for these guys, a form of job security. That’s why yesterday, during their day off before tonight’s concert at Xcel Energy Center, two members of the legendary eighties pop-rock juggernaut Journey-bassist Ross Valory and keyboard player Jonathan Cain-spent the afternoon at Starkey Hearing Technologies headquarters in Eden Prairie, being outfitted for new hearing aids. Rock royalty of a certain age have different priorities, however. Paul, Twin Citians are intensely interested in what rock stars do when they are not performing. ![]() Members of Journey, including Ross Valory (far left), and Jonathan Cain(far right).Īs we know from Adele’s recent visit to the Hi-Lo Diner, Lady Gaga’s love for the Turf Club, and Miley Cyrus’s strolls around St.
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