http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=108&a=30282&sp=1
October 1st, 2008
Arnel Pineda says Rolling Stone misquoted him in Journey article
by Momar Visaya/AJPress
NEW YORK— Arnel Pineda is in the limelight once more but this time, it is not about his journey to fame but how this experience had made him a sad man, according to a recent article published by Rolling Stone.
In its October 2, 2008 issue, the magazine featured an article titled Sad ‘Journey’ for New Singer and painted Pineda as someone who was not enjoying his stint with the band, and to make matters worse, mentioned that "the Filipino frontman finds Journey tour "a curse."
In an interview with CBS5 News, Pineda set the record straight, saying that he tried his best to answer the questions honestly.
"As far as I am concerned, I am having a blast onstage, but I can’t deny it. I miss home, I’m homesick, but I got the best gig in the world," Pineda told CBS, "How can I be so miserable?"
For his bandmate Neal Schon, it was a typical case.
"They took a segment of what he said in the interview and erased all the good stuff he said in between. It has happened to me a million times in my career," Schon said as he defended Pineda.
He said that the band has offered to get Pineda’s girlfriend and son. "He’s definitely being taken care of," he added.
The problem with the Rolling Stone article, Schon observed, is that it was so misleading. "Because they take a portion of what you say, you can’t say ‘I didn’t say that’ but what they don’t tell you is the rest of what you did say," he said.
"It’s his first tour. None of us knew what it would be like. We didn’t know what kind of strength he had in a long duration like he’s been. We’ve been out here for a solid four months with no breaks in between," Schon added.
Misquote, mislead
Rolling Stone asked Pineda in the interview about how the tour has been so far and if he is more comfortable onstage now.
Pineda replied with a response that was pure and honest.
"I am quite comfortable with the stage now, but, for me, it’s still a very grueling tour. I haven’t done this before. I may have done an every-night gig in Hong Kong because I was there for almost 16 years, and in Manila, Philippines, I did gigs there," he said.
"So it’s very hectic. It’s very stressful. It’s a very, very challenging job. It’s a fantastic job, but at the same time it’s a curse. Trying to fill up very, very big shoes," Pineda added.
When the article came out, its subhead screamed that Pineda finds the tour "a curse" and made it appear that he was not happy with his current situation.
"I never really get to go around and walk. They wake me up for soundcheck, then I wait until the show at nine. It’s a fantastic job, but at the same time it’s a curse. . . . I told Neal that the only thing that will make me quit this is if I get sick. I guess that’s the same reason Steve Perry bailed out," the article quoted Pineda.
"Andy Greene did us and Arnel a disservice by editing this interview into an article that takes Arnel’s words out of context," posted reader George Gordon in the Rolling Stone website.
Backlash
The article has been receiving a lot of feedbacks, with the comments mostly supportive of Pineda and critical of Andy Greene, the article writer.
According to a comment posted by Jay55, "Rolling Stone should be ashamed of themselves for portraying Arnel Pineda as having a miserable experience touring with Journey. Arnel Pineda is very grateful about this opportunity that Journey have given him, and for Rolling Stones to convey the interview and project a different meaning of the interview with Arnel is irresponsible and unworthy of this stage of journalism."
The magazine published in its website the transcript of the interview, and those who support Pineda found more proof that the article picked out some of his most controversial responses to come up with statements that were totally out of context.
"It so SAD for Mr. Greene because he painted Arnel as a miserable and ungrateful Asian man by taking some of Arnel’s HONEST answers OUT OF CONTEXT," comment poster lixox1455 said.
Other comments agreed with observations that Pineda was just being honest when he said that he was sad because he was homesick and he missed his girlfriend and his three-year old son.
"This IS the real and genuine Arnel Pineda—a grateful, humble and truthful guy! A profound thinker and a modest, self-sacrificing and family-loving man! Andy Greene you ought to be ashamed of yourself for acting like a tabloid journalist—editing and twisting your interviewee’s comment to portray a totally different character on that other malicious article entitled ‘sad journey’, whatever!" DanielWeise123 said.
