Homeland Star sings @ Home Team Home Opener

Sixteen year-old singing sensation, Charice Pempengco, from my homeland, the Philippines, had the honor of performing the "Star Spangled Banner" in front of 57,099 (the largest attendance ever) at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for the Dodgers' Opening Day pregame ceremony on April 13, 2009. A B2 Stealth Bomber flyover followed, and the Dodgers went on to demolish the SF Giants 11-1, which included two home runs from Andre Ethier, 11 strikeouts from pitcher Chad Billingsley and new second baseman Orlando Hudson, who hit for the cycle during the game -- the first Dodger to ever do so in 39 years!

- FROM THE LA TIMES SPORTS -
It was the best national anthem rendition I have ever heard, better than the game, Russell Martin said later of 16-year-old Charice. Tears in my eyes when she really gets going, Manager, Joe Torre said.

Todo Azul's "Santa Baby" - Tribute to Eartha Kitt

My niece, Czarina and her band, Todo Azul, performed their rendition of "Santa Baby" at Molly Malones, exactly a week before the sultry diva died at the age of 81 on Christmas Day. Spooky...tehnahnahtehnahnah...The Twilight Zone.

Prop 8 - The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Frank - R.I.P. - Left Behind

Frank, the wonderful husband of my Mom's youngest sister, had a heart attack last month. We were allowed access to see his unconscious body in the ICU at the hospital 2-hours away. He was able to hang in there until he passed away on All Soul's day. We went to the wake yesterday. I helped my Aunt fix his tie. It's been a long time since I've touched the cold skin of a loved-one who had gone before us. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the funeral services today. After my sister shared what my aunt was feeling inside, this sad song which seemed to convey her exact sentiments played in my head:

Rest in Peace, Uncle Frank.

One day more! - Les MisBarack

One Day More!


Do You Hear the People Sing?

Spring Awakening in the Fall

Each time I was in New York City within the past 2 years, I would always try to get tickets to the Broadway musical, "Spring Awakening", but it was always sold out. So I got excited when I found out they were coming to the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. The Sunday before the most historical U.S. elections, we went and finally saw "Spring Awakening", the 2007 Tony winner for Best Musical. It is the "Rent" and "Hair" of today's generation.
We really enjoyed the show and immediately recommended it to all our "cultured" friends (lol). (In fact, we went to see it again before the tour ended.)
The edgy themes of coming of age, sexuality, and suicide surely brought me back to the days when I was undergoing puberty, living away from home, in an all exclusive boys school, studying Latin in preparation for the priesthood, under the strict guidance of my religious superiors... :)

Last Dance as a 30-something

She has never admitted it, but my youngest sister, Sari's wish for her 14th birthday (aside from getting big boobs) was to have another brother. So God decided to truly bless her by sending me to this world a day before her birthday.

10 years ago, a week before both our birthdays (29th for me and 43rd for her), we had a family reunion in the Philippines to celebrate our parents' 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary. During the reception, all of their children and grandchildren rendered a song or dance number for the couple. Since the theme for telling their love story was "dance of the past five decades", Sari and I decided to represent the 70's (the decade of my childhood) with a disco swing dance number to the music of Donna Summer's "Last Dance", as our present to our parents.
If you wish to see what possibly could have been the inspiration for "Dancing with the Stars",
please click on the video below:
(Note to the judges/critics: This was choreographed and rehearsed in only one hour the day prior to the festivities and I had to be very careful since she wasn't wearing any panties...LOL)


By coincidence, exactly 10 years later, the only big show in town was An Evening with Donna Summer at the Hollywood Bowl. So my sister and I decided to celebrate our birthdays (39th for me and 53rd for her) by watching the disco queen perform live. Our poor respective partners, Bill and Richard, both disco haters, had to sit through the whole ordeal...LOL. Donna's finale song was naturally, "Last Dance". We had a blast!

A night with friends and the Lady Supreme

For the second time around, my friend Tom invited me to our friend, Nelson Lee's Annual Hollywood Bowl Party, where a bunch of friends of friends of friends (x 21) get together for a picnic prior to one of the hottest shows of the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. This is Nelson's 21st time to organize the event. Last year's party and show was South Pacific with Reba McEntire & Brian Stokes Mitchell. This year's show was Diana Ross: Lady Supreme. I have not seen her in person since Bill and I served as one of the several extras in her "I Will Survive!" revival with RuPaul video shoot shot in location at West Hollywood. (If you watch closely, you will surely see me wiggling on top of Bill's shoulders ... LOL).

Unfortunately, Bill was in Washington D.C. for a conference, so he could not join me to go to this gathering. Since it was a diva night, I invited some of my friends who I knew would surely enjoy the show.

or please click HERE for a bigger slideshow of the album.
If you prefer to view the thumbnails, please click on the link below:
21st Annual Hollywood Bowl Party & Diana Ross Night

HOME

"We're Brothers Forever!"

I had not caught up with my TiVo viewing,

so I did not get to watch this performance last night.

I started getting calls from some of my facetious

"politically incorrect" non-Asian friends,

to tease me that they saw me on American Idol.

I know "we" may all look alike in "your" eyes,

but that was not me ... that was my brother!

Damn him, I wrote that song on the boat on our way to America

and he stole it from me...LOL

Presenting Renaldo Lapuz and his audition song,

"We're Brothers Forever!":

Check out one of the several dance remix versions:

Philippine Idol

Forget American Idol, check this out!
For the sake of my non-Filipino friends and/or for those who were not aware of this,
I wanted to share two talented Filipino singers who have recently been discovered by America via Youtube:

Presenting Arnel Pineda! As the lead singer of The Zoo, a cover band from the Philippines, he was discovered by Journey's guitarist, Neal Schon in YouTube. Journey was in search of a new lead singer and flew Arnel to the U.S. to audition. In early December, the band announced that the talented Filipino is the new front man for the New Journey.
You'll be amazed at how he sounds so much like Steve Perry.
For more info, click on the band's website and here and here.
Here is one of their videos that helped Arnel be discovered:



Presenting Charice Pempengco, a 15-year old girl from the Philippines
performing at "The Ellen DeGeneres Show":

iPostcards from New York, NY - Winter 2007

Please click on the title or HERE to be directed to the posting.

Baby Got Back!

A few days before we left for NYC, while getting ready for work, I caught a glimpse of this couple on The Today Show giving a live performance of their first wedding dance, which has been a very popular video posting all over the web.

During the intermission of Legally Blonde, I got to chat with the lovely couple beside me. It was their first time to visit the Big Apple. When I asked what brought them to the city, I soon realized that they were that same couple on TV! The Today Show flew them in for an all expense paid trip to tour the city and to appear on their show. They were very nice and I could tell they were a fun couple, who knew how to laugh at themselves. My kind of people.

In case you have not seen the video, here is John and Michelle Brubaker and their wedding dance to "Baby Got Back," which has been seen by more than 3 million people on YouTube.

Oh what a wicked enchanted big hair week!

It really was not planned,

but somehow the first week of my favorite month

ended up to be one big musical extravaganza.
We went to see the following musicals all in one week:
Wicked, the Musical at the Pantages Theater,
Jersey Boys at the Ahmanson Theater,
HairSpray, the movie, and

South Pacific at the Hollywood Bowl.

If you are not familiar with these musicals,

I made a medley of a sample of their music:
Warning: This is so gay! LOL

iPostcards from New York, NY - Spring 2007

Please click on the title to be directed to the posting.