On a vaguely related note…

Weezer has a new single out called Pork and Beans. Which, I bet is making gnad giggle right now.

This is not that single:

This, however, is:

Rise to Fame

So, I caught this interesting story over the weekend about this dude Arnel Pineda. Maybe you’ve also heard this by now.

He was raised by his father in Manila after his mother died when he was twelve. As the oldest sibling, he quit school and collected scrap metal and newspapers to help support his family. Things were looking up by the time he was 15–he had joined a few bands and won a few music contests. He put together a decent recording career in Asia over the next few decades. So, already this is a decent rags to riches story.

Videos of his band doing covers of various 70s and 80s bands started to show up on YouTube, including a bunch of Journey tunes. Journey’s been without a permanent leader singer since 1995–so they tried to contact him through messages on YouTube. Pineda thought it was a hoax. A few days later, he’s flown out to meet Journey. Things happen–and now he’s their lead singer. His first concert with Journey was televised to 25 million people. Before that, he had been hitting the bar and nighclub circuit.

So, all of this is great–but the creepy thing is how much he sounds like the original lead singer of Journey. It is sort of freaky.