I’m going to get a little off topic in this post but it is something I think readers of this blog are interested in. I have been following the story of Arnel Pineda and his fantastic Journey. Arnel was a singer in a bar band called The Zoo, in Manila doing cover tunes of bands such as Led Zepplin, AC/DC, Journey, and more.

Some videos of the band made it onto YouTube and it happened that Neil Schon, lead guitarist of Journey was searching on the internet for people to audition for the new lead singer. He came across Arnel performing a Journey song. Neil was so impressed on how Arnel sounded like former lead singer Steve Perry that he offered Arnel a chance to audition. Arnel was hired and is now touring as the new lead singer of the band.

The part about Arnel being discovered on the internet and winning the job with the band is exciting but that isn’t “The Rest of the Story.” Please go to http://www.youtube.com and type Arnel Pineda and Journey into the search and find the CBS morning news story about Arnel. The story is a real inspiration in that it covers where he came from and what he went through. It covers things such as his close relationship to his mother and how he went from a homeless teen on the streets of Manila to become the lead singer of one of the best rock bands in the world. It is inspirational and will bring tears to your eyes. I will try to link to the video later but I’m having problems right now with the plugin.