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By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net UPDATE: Editor's note: Corrected Neil Schon to Neal Schon. Thanks to reader Ana for the heads up. WHO would have thought YouTube would make for a good audition tape? As reported by Blabbermouth, the band Journey found a new lead singer in Arnel Pineda. Simple story, really. Arnel's band The Zoo posts videos of them covering Journey songs on YouTube, Neal Schon (guitarist for the real Journey) sees them and boom!, somebody's dream comes true. Here's the story in Neal's own words: "I was frustrated about not having a singer so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, 'he can't be that good.' But he is that good, he's the real deal and so tremendously talented. Spicing up the story further, it was one of Arnel's bandmates who saw Neal's message on YouTube and immediately SMSed him about it. Who would have thought, right? But they did fire Neil an e-mail and the rest is history. Arnel becomes the latest Journey front man after Jeff Scott Soto, Steve Augeri and of course, Steve Perry. The band is currently working on an album due '08. Check out this video of Arnel and his band during a local gig.

By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net THIS video made me relive my faith in the power of the T-shirt. Remember the days of rave when DJs wore T-shirts with cool designs? And you thought only punk-rockers can wear one with either Metallica (Beavis), Ramones (assuming the wearer actually listens to the band) or that signature Rolling Stones tongue-wag. Truth is, tees look great on DJs with enough club-swinging cred like Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay, the French duo behind Justice. French DJs, eh? Remember 90s-era Daft Punk (dudes with equally cool names Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter) or the more lounge-y yet swingin' Air? Gig theatrics aside (one lugs around a giant cross, the other wears astro-man helmets), Justice sounds more like Daft Punk, with heavy, guitar-churning beats. Not so much present in this song. (Is this their answer to DP's "Around the World"?). Nonetheless, consider Justice served.

By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net BOOKSALE rats may have found this already (and you must know it’s rare for magazines there to actually include promo CDs). The Spin Magazine July 2007 ish comes with a Smashing Pumpkins tribute CD courtesy of Myspace. Contemporary emo/alternative bands pay homage to some of Billy Corgan’s hit songs -- The New Amsterdams, The Bravery, Panic! At The Disco, Ben Kweller, etc. It does have some gems in it -- Panic! plays quite a gut-wrenching cover of "Tonight, Tonight" and an R&B-ish take on "1979." As a long-time SP fan, hearing the songs harks me back to my college dorm days, when everyone was head-banging to grunge staples Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains while I was commiserating with Billy’s endless whining. Steal this magazine for P130. If you’re not satisfied with the CD, then you at least get to read about Amy Winehouse. Her music (think 60s soul-jazz… Supremes!) is worth checking out, if you haven’t heard her yet.