Don wrote:I think one the confusing problems here is that you, Gator were in the band's corner big time with Arnel. You didn't just jump onto the bandwagon either from what I remember, you waited it out and gave the new lineup a proper evaluation when the album was released and then, when you finally you got to the shows, you jumped on the New Journey train full tilt.
Here we are a few years down the road, and you gone 180 degrees and all based on one performance according to you (the Superbowl pre-game). Now you seem a pretty loyal guy but to go from "Here comes Hurricane Arnel and he is going to blow you away" all the way to the " Arnie boy sucks" position that you have been espousing as of late, It's hard to fathom that one bad performance by Pineda could induce such venom from a guy who wants to educate us all on the subject of loyalty.
So, what's the real deal? Why did you go from being Journey and Arnel's #1 fan to what you have become now? I really am curious to understand the massive shift in your camp from one end of the spectrum to the other.
I was pretty excited to hear Arnel with the band and NWA sounded great when it first came out. I liked Rev the first few weeks of the summer of '08 after I got it, but then it didn't stand the test of time. Yeah, there was the accent, but I figured it would improve as time went on (it didn't).
He's a good singer, I'll never take that from him. His range is impressive. But, I've gone pretty sour on Arnel over the last year and a half or so too. His jumping around the stage like a caged zoo animal is terrible and more importantly, the guy just doesn't have a lot of "feel" to me. The lack of feel really shines through when he tries to adlib shit live. It's bad. Karaoke bad.
I have a theory as to why he is this way, and I think it is sound. When Asians are learning or doing something, they are known for their hard-driving, repetitious style and their penchant for imitation (see: the beginning of the Japanese car industry). In school, they rote memorize until their blue in the face. In electronics and other products, they imitate the best parts of other cultures' inventions (cars again, stereos too). You probably know that having spent time in parts of it, Don. We all know how Arnel spent his pre-Journey career: Doing rote imitations of other cultures' hit songs. So, enter the complete lack of feel I and others observe/hear.
So, to me, Arnel represents what can happen when you have a lot of talent or intelligence and only combine it with rote repetition and imitation in the Asian tradition. Yeah, it's good or even great at times, but sometimes you just want
that soul that a true innovator or true vocalist will have. Arnel has not proven he can do that to me, and I don't see that changing in the near future.
If anyone plays the Asian race card on me, I'll butt fuck you til you're bleeding out of your eyes. It's part of their culture, and any Asian cultural anthropologist will affirm that.
I think all of us have been accused of that at one time or another by you and natalie. Hellooo, we are all free thinkers here on the board, if you haven't noticed yet 
