Endless Journeyman

Random Memorandum™ to diminutive, Philippine vocal chameleon Arnel Pineda: The broadsheets are reporting that "Everyman's Journey" — the adoring, flip video documentary of your remarkable "journey" up the Billboard charts — is playing to packed houses and standing ovulations on the usually snooty film festival circuit. Bravo, little big man! Plucked from obscurity like a gray hair from Steve Perry's nostrils, you are a living proof that YouTube® can be used as a tool for good (as well as the very naughty.) Your rags-to-riches-to-rags-around-the-microphone-stand story far outshines the dopey, leather-panted Mark Wahlberg-and-that-Rachel-actress “Rock Star” fantasy. Imagine the pride that homeless Manilans must feel — especially the mates in your old tribute band The Zoo, who soldier on in hotel bars and seedy cabarets in your absence. Also, I was delighted to read that your endless concert Journey will continue in town faires and secondary concert venues on either side of the pond this summer. You, your band mates, their salon-ready style and rejuvenating facial peels are single-handsomedly transporting a pot-bellied generation back to the 10th grade. Your story whispers “don’t stop believin” into the ears of puffball pop fans and sport club owners seeking a sing-along for their money-bilking stadium-slash-shopping malls. May you continue to enjoy the success that eluded other Journey replacement singers, and to those lesser sound-alikes who begrudge your success, I place a pox on their filthy touring vans. Rock on, Citizen Superstar! Yours Truly, Constable Dooley.