Saturday night a friend & I saw Journey in concert. I don't know if you have heard about their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, but it is a great story. After unsuccessfully trying to replace former lead singer Steve Perry for many years, one of the band members came across a youtube video of Pineda covering Journey in his band, The Zoo, and was so impressed with his vocals that they contacted him about joining the band. Pineda was raised in poverty in Manila after the death of his mother, who inspires his music to this day. He is 40 but he jumps around the stage like he is in his 20s. He does sound JUST like Steve Perry. The band put on a great show, singing hits like Faithfully, Wheel in the Sky, and Don't Stop Believing, a song that Pineda said is his theme song. ALmost 10,000 people attended the concert here, including a number of proud Filipinos like the girl seated next to us who waved a Filipino flag throughout the show (making me feel a little bit like I was at the Olympics).

Oh--and then I ran across this little tidbit in the newspaper article about Journey, which said "the decision to sell their new CD, Revelation, only via Walmart was suggested by manager Irving Azoff, who also handles the Eagles."

If you want to hear a little more of the story, including what Pineda sounds like, here is a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcOZV...eature=related