Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Journey singer/songwriter/keyboardist Jonathan Cain reports the band is sticking by its new Filipino lead singer Arnel Pineda -- despite some racist responses from concertgoers when Arnel was introduced earlier this year.

"As much as we like to think we're this hip country, we're not," says Cain. "There are still a lot of backward people living amongst us and it's going to happen. But we're just going to have to roll with that. It's there, it's part of America but I'm just ignoring it."

Cain says he knew Arnel was The One when he discovered him singing Journey songs on YouTube. "This guy was meant to sing our music. He can sing it in his sleep. It was destiny and Arnel is no mistake. He fit in our camp
perfectly and we're really excited to have him."

The current incarnation of the classic rock band -- which also includes guitarist Neal Schon, bassist Ross Valory and drummer Deen Castronovo -- is set to head out on the concert trail with Heart and Cheap Trick July 9 with a kickoff concert in Denver, Colo., in support of the band's new release, "Revelation." They'll be performing two songs on Ellen DeGeneres' show Wednesday (5/28) with other appearances to follow.

Cain says the most personal song on the CD is "After All These Years." "It's just a love song from the heart I wrote for my wife," he says. "We're going on 20 years now and I got up one morning and wrote it in about 40 minutes. I got her in the studio and played it for her. I knew I had a good song when she was touched." The three-disc CD/DVD will be available at Wal-Mart stores June 3.

BOLDLY GOING: Speaking of Ellen DeGeneres, her recent announcement on her talk show that she and girlfriend Portia de Rossi plan to get married, now that the California Supreme Court has overturned the ban on gay marriage, could be the first of a string of high-profile same sex marriages around these parts.

Following in their footsteps is former "Star Trek" star George Takei, who just told fans on his website that he plans to marry his partner Brad Altman. The two have been together for over 21 years. We caught up with Takei not too long ago, and he talked about the restrictions he's had to face as a gay man: "I grew up behind the barbed wire fences of the American and German camps during World War II, but the GLBT community is confined behind a different kind of barbed wire fence," he noted.

As he stated on his website, he and Altman are "overjoyed" with this new turn of events. "Now, we can have the dignity, as well as all the responsibilities, of marriage. We embrace it all heartily."

TALKIN' TRAILER TRASH: "We don't know what makes a good trailer, but we know when a trailer sucks." So says comic and "Golden Trailer Awards" host Sinbad, who's become a bit of a connoisseur of the art of movie previews thanks to his latest gig. He's learned, "Every trailer company has one cat who's a visionary, a man or a woman, who really has the gift for it. One man drove an ice cream truck before he started doing trailers," he claims.

Sinbad says his personal favorite trailer on tonight's (5/26) "9th Annual Golden Trailer Awards," on MyNetwork TV, is the preview for "Pineapple Express" -- "It was slammin'. I can't wait to see the movie." The Awards show doesn't have anything in the way of production numbers, but it does have lots of comedians. "We had a chance to clown around a lot. Some of the funniest stuff was off-camera. I hope they can keep the looseness and fun they have," says Sinbad. "They're not like the Oscars and Emmys."

BOW WOW WOW BOW: Things are getting really ruff in the reality TV world. First, we have CBS' "Greatest American Dog" show -- think kind of a "Big Brother," only with contestants who go around naked on all fours without having had anything to drink first. Twelve dogs and their people coexist in a house and do challenges to try to win squeaky toys, treats and $250,000. That's due July 10. And now we hear the casting call has gone out for another network reality show, for dogs and their owners who need to lose weight. Ha! We thought that would give you paws. Producers on the show are looking for owners to be a minimum of 40 pounds too hefty, and their pooches must also be pudgy.

CASTING CORNER: Casting forces on Joel and Ethan Coen's "A Serious Man" have had an interesting task, looking for actors to play a Midwestern Jewish family -- not with an East Coast feel, they specify – including a fortyish woman who'll do full frontal nudity in the film. We're told they're saying to "think Anne Bancroft in 'The Graduate.'"

With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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