Translations: German / Spanish

DIAL…DIREK

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Then seemingly out of nowhere, a phone call. Would I be interested in directing a concert? Not classical, pop. POP. What the heck was that? Hey, a job’s a job, SURE! More than anything, though, I was curious about what this experience would be like. I had no idea what would hit me but hit-punch-smash-knockout me, it did. So this is catharsis.
Thus, it happened. The would-be World’s Most Fantastic Star Stage Performer left the building. My life changed directions and I became…a Director. Or as directors are addressed in the Philippines, Direk (di-RECK). Others preferred their own names but well, I liked it.

52. Jacqui Magno – Shoot The Moon

53. Joey Albert

- Valentine’s (Meralco/Manila Hotel)/Christmas
- Lifesize/Larger Than Life/Friday the 13th
- You Must Remember This
- Key To Joey/Best of Me
- Tell Me…Again

54. Louie Ocampo

52. Rico J. Puno

56. Girls’ Night Out
57. Raymond Lauchengco

- At Light and Sound
- UST/Iloilo/Daet
- Album One
- In Antique with Evelio Javier

58. Menchu Lauchengco

PASS THE MIC

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

In the mid-80’s, a horrible, horrible accident happened. Several members of Repertory Philippines were killed when a bus lost its brakes and smashed into their car.
It made headlines in both the papers and in our hearts. I was no longer a Rep regular at that time but I knew the victims, a couple of them very well (I speak of them in other blogs).
Shortly before this happened, Rep had gone into an agreement with aunts of one of the victims about putting up singer acts in their small lounge. The tragedy was stressing out everyone. Could I help them out and be one of the acts?
I could not say no. For the first time since I began directing pop concert singers, I would be, though on a much smaller scale, in their shoes. The enjoyment of singing was not all I discovered.

59. Tita Lola’s

60. Cafe Alvarado

61. The Dawn…and Dusk of Teddy Diaz

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

By 1986, I had become a full-fledged director, no longer regularly performing on any stage – proscenium, lounge or otherwise. It was then I was approached by a dear designer friend to direct the strangest, loophole-finding fashion show (more explanation in the blog) at the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. But like a final stepping stone before you reach the banks of a new land, this show brought me into a world that until today continues to affect my life. Heck, OUR lives. Technology.

62. Costumes In Concert

63. My One and Only
64. Sony in the Philippines
65. Sony in Asia
66. Sony in the World
67. Jose Mari Chan
68. Sony Voice of Asia
69. The Solid Group

- Book Launch/Kia/Destiny Cable

70. CTV

- SMPP/Warner Lambert
- Whisper/Safeguard

71. Vidal Sassoons

AND STARS ARE BORN

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

By the late 80’s, the pop concert scene was rocking. I was directing 20 concerts a year, double that in performances. The radio airwaves were dominated by pop songs from local artists who sang and spoke comfortably in English. These artists were well-bred, well-educated and fast becoming well-off. After all, looking Filipino but talking American was an image the masa (masses) found worthy of aspiring for.
But one talent manager thought a bit differently.
He asked me to coach his new talents into different if not better levels of artistry. Little did I realize this would lead to fairy tales for 8 Giants, a Rumplestiltskin, and the most glorious Cinderella in Philippine pop music history.

72. Regine Velasquez

- Regine at Rumors/True Colors/Tagala Talaga/Circus Circus
- Framed
- 1990
- Carnegie Hall
- Valentine’s with Ariel Rivera
- 15th Anniversary

73. Janno Gibbs

- Folk Arts Theater
- For Liza and Louie

74. Tux

- Tux At The Cusco/Coup de Tux/Tux At Birdland/8+44
- PICC!
- Tux For Christmas TV Special
- Sangkatu-Tux
- Tux Ate The CCP
- Stux On You
- T.U.X

75. Warm Hearts

NEW MUSIC

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Nobody cares how old you are, they only care how…new. Whether it be familiar faces singing new music, or new faces singing familiar songs, in pop culture, this principle doesn’t change. The element of newness is vital and despite my strictness with artistic integrity and all that blahblahblah, it did not take long before I began finding this out for myself.

76. NY Town Hall
77. New Attitudes
78. Gino Padilla

- Tavern On The Square/Rizal Theater/Triple Treat/Disappearing Act

79. Light & Sound

- Dyords and Lou
- Jam Morales/Joanne Lorenzana
- Amy

80. Ernie Garcia

- The Body…The Voice/The Town…The Brownout/The Colored Lens…The Artwork

81. Annapolis Concert Series

- Nasa Tono/Jaime Garchitorena/O.A./Hi-C

82. Kundirana

- At Meralco/At ULTRA

V IS FOR…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Of all the pop artists I have ever worked with, none compares with Gary V. Until today, he is the Philippines’ ultimate concert performer and his personality, both on- and offstage, can embrace you beyond words. I don’t know how much of his being is “manufactured” but in the factory of stars, they broke the mold.

83. Gary Valenciano

- At The Music Museum
- The Westin Plaza/Le Pavilion/Manila Hotel
- Araneta Coliseum/Unesco at Aguinaldo Theater
- In Tel Aviv
- In Greenlanes
- Interactive GV

JESUS CHRIST!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

That was an exclamation point, not an exclamation.

84. The Divine Revolution
85. Born-Again
86. Father and Son
87. A Dangerous Life

- Manila/Sydney/Sri Lanka

88. First Name, A New Musical
89. Joseph, The Dreamer, A “Coup” Musical

- Cebu
- Manila
- Diliman/Dagupan/Davao/Bataan/Bacolod/Iloilo
- ULTRA/Cuneta Astrodome/Cebu Coliseum
- Los Angeles

TRUMPETS

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

By 1990, the far-reaching success of our original gospel shows revealed the need for a very important item: An Official Receipt. Whatever this was that we had stepped into, it was turning out bigger than we could have imagined. A corporation was formed, what I believe to be the first professional Gospel Theater group in Asia.

90. The Triumphant People’s Evangelistic Theater Society
91. The Sound of Trumpets
92. Soul Brothers
93. Diabetes Melittus
94. Cantatas Uncanned/In Hymn
95. The Easter Hallelujah
96. Fables & Parables/The Happy Prince
97. Trumpets Playshop
98. So David…, A New Musical
99. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, A New Musical
100. The Little Mermaid, A New Musical
101. Godspell, A Renewed Musical

ULTIMATELY SPEAKING

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

As the penultimate decade of the last millennium picked up steam, so did one company that decided to dive into the pop industry with quite a bit of marketing bravura. It was also one of the very first show buyers in Trumpets history, affording us a professional and personal friendship that lasts till today.

102. Ultimate Entertainment

- Labing-Labing/Tuliro, Ngayon at Kailanman
- Stages of Love
- Fashion For A Cause
- FAMAS TV Special
- Visit ASEAN TV Special
- Home Sweet House TV Weekly Cooking Show
- Musikatbp. TV Weekly
- Save The Children Telethon
- Batang Kampeon Contest TV Weekly (with Charice Pempengco!)

103. Lloyd/Joey/Tux/Pilita Valentine Shows
104. Pilita Corrales/High Time!

THEM KIDS

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Like 8-9-10! 10! 10 billion others, I grew up a major fan of Sesame Street. For one hour every afternoon, it was “a lovely 11 morning”. Thankfully, my professional career would have me picnic with ladybugs (12!), house pets, vegetables and aliens on more than a few occasions.

105. Bata-Batuta Festival at the Folk Arts Theater
106. Yan Ang Bata! TV Weekly
107. Hello Kitty and Artie!
108. Nickleodeon Kids Choice Awards…and again

ALL JAZZ, THAT

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

For the most part, few jazz artists really need a director, their act is usually pretty much intact. But every now and then, even with the Pinoy’s voracity for all things pop, a producer would hone in on the niche jazz market and decide to finance a big production, something that would require staging, sequencing, design, technology, the works. I will forever be grateful that in some of these larger productions presenting jazz, whoever may have done the chatting or scatting, it was my name that came…up.

109. Bobby Enriquez & Annie Brazil
110. John Lesaca & Eddie K/Company
111. Tadao Hayashi

VERY SPECIALS

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Some shows, be they on stage or television, are always easy to remember if only for the uniqueness of their reason for being, or the unique things I had to do in them. In some instances, it would be the peculiarity of where they ended up taking me!

112. The (Only) Tinig Awards…at the Met
113. The 1st Awit Awards…at MM
114. CBN Luneta
115. The CBN TV Specials

- Mumbai, India
- Jakarta, Indonesia…Mikael
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia

GIRL AND BOYS

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The title is descriptive, just go with it.

116. Jamie Rivera Feat. Francis M
117. The NeoColours
118. Small Brothers
119. Boys Will Be Boys/Men and Music/After 6/AKAfellas

FROM FAR AWAY

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

When commercial sales of gospel recordings started to rise in the 90’s, Praise Inc., the gospel arm of the Philippine music industry, decided to bring to the Philippines a couple of their bestselling international gospel artists to perform live in Manila. They asked me, big fan, to stage these concerts on their behalf which thrilled me no end. Workload for me wasn’t much, but credentials were cool to read on the bio. Hey, a Grammy’s a Grammy and if this was the closest I would get to one, then, amen!

120. Scott Wesley Brown
121. Sandi Patti
122. First Call
123. David Pomeranz/Zsa Zsa
124. Fra Lippo Lippi

TO FAR AWAY

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

A Stage Director once turned to me at the end of a rehearsal I had dropped in to watch and declared: You are so stagestruck! I guess it shows all over my face. The instant something happens on a stage and I’m in front of it, poong!, my eyes light up, my jaw drops slightly and my ears turn frontwards like radars. I’m a firm believer in the Sponge Principle. You give out what you take in and if my career is at all to be considered blest, it is not just about the shows I’ve been privileged to direct, but the shows I’ve been honoured to see. Didn’t matter where I saw them, only mattered that I did.

125. So Glad We Met
126. So Glad We Bolshoi
127. So Glad We Colorado
128. So Glad We Broadway…and Broadway…and Broadway…
129. So Glad We West End
130. So Glad We D.C.
131. So Glad We L.A.
132. So Glad We Las Vegas
133. So Glad We Hongkong
134. So Glad We Japan
135. So Glad We Brunei
136. So Glad We Philippines
137. So Glad We China…Sort Of
138. And Then, There’s Israel

IT FIT

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Overweight, lethargic, diabetic – these could not possibly have been the criteria in selecting a director for a fitness program on television but, I like to think, God had something to do with it. After all, I never applied for this job, my friend offered it. Medically, I needed to turn my life around and what better way to inspire me to aim for physical fitness than to be immersed in it, right? It worked. Weeeeeelllll….sorta.

139. Slimmers World TV Weekly
140. Great Bodies Competition
141. Plilates (Not a Mis-spell)

FATHER’S PRODUCTIONS

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

By 1997, I was starting to become very uncomfortable with the Trumpets Board’s decisions to always stage family fare. True, this was marketing strategy at its most profitable and thanks to such decisions, Trumpets was always in the black. But the vision I had for Trumpets was that it would be evangelistic – hey, it was in the name – not be a presenter of Children’s Theater which Trumpets was becoming to be known as. I never thought children were the problem, I always felt it was the grown-ups that gave the world such headaches and I wouldn’t have minded doing the cheerful, value-laden children’s shows had we only, even just once a year, produced shows geared towards more mature audiences. Sigh. I found myself in the same dilemma as when I left Repertory over 15 years before. It wasn’t as if the leadership was doing anything wrong, in their eyes, I just felt I needed to do something else, in mine. The following year, I officially left Trumpets as its Artistic Director and became merely its Artistic Adviser (read: loud-voiced kibitzer). I still had my concerts, of course, but even in that field, I began finding stories that were just aching to be told. If it meant putting up my own production company to tell these stories, I did.

142. Eddie Mesa & Rosemarie Gil
143. Widows, Orphans & Wildebeests

VENUES AND AVENUES

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

There is no Art in the Bible. Let me expand that. There is no mention of the creation of Art in the Bible. Heaven and earth, sun, moon and stars, flora and fauna, animals and humans…they were all created by God Almighty. Not Art. So why? He couldn’t have. How can you create something that’s already a part of you? Art is His language. He SPOKE creation into being (“Let there be light!”) and until today, we don’t get two sunsets alike, two snowflakes alike, two PEOPLE alike. Biblically, the creation sequence is: house first, then occupants. Land first, then people. No wonder Architecture is considered the oldest of the Art Disciplines. Not a bad thing, too, that several cousins on my mother’s side are architects and engineers. From them I learned to grid-draw at the age of 12 (I saw their graphs when they weren’t looking). All that said, when come my way projects involving architecture or buildings or buildings with stages in them, I never say no. (Yup, all that story for that one punch line. Deal with it.)

144. Buildings/Golf Courses/Architects
145. The PICC Anniversary
146. The Glorietta Launch
147. OPM/FSP Awards
148. Philstage
149. Buhay!
150. Shangri-La Plaza

- Reading Lewis
- Ed, Eddie & Fred
- Tell Me On A Sunday
- The Bolshoi

151. My Centennial Date
152. Miong!, A New Musical
153. SubAC
154. Music Museum
155. Greenhills Promenade
156. Teatrino

CAUSE FOR CONCERT

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“I bless you that you may bless others.” From a biblical viewpoint, I read that to be the definitive purpose of/for prosperity: that it be shared. Admittedly, I’m not very good at that. On an individual basis, you can come up to me and I’ll do what I can. But come forward with a cause about something big and wide and encompassing and you lost me at hello. Thing is, it’s staggering just how many causes there are to work for in a developing country like the Philippines. The most verdant 7,000 islands when Christ was born, now with its remaining 7% of rain forests dying. Teenage pregnancies and teenage AIDS, all needing aid. Lepers in the streets, streetkids in leprous situations — the list seems unending. All worthy, all needy, and all I somehow got involved with. In the end, though, a bit selfishly, I only stuck to one cause for my personal advocacy but it reels the mind as to just how so much help is needed, always, by so many.

157. Earth Days
158. The UNDP World Population Reports
159. The Sex Convention
160. Sounds Family at the Folk Arts Theater
161. For Culion at the Dusit/The Worlds Aids Conference at PICC
162. The Ninong Program

- Mandarin Tango/Bolshoi Ruth Ballet

ALL STRIKES

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Some artists are just too surprising to forget, and whether those surprises come onstage, backstage, in studios or in bowling lanes, they make for some delightful reminiscing.

163. D’ Hello Tournament
164. Tony Lambino/Roselle Nava
165. Introvoys/Geneva Cruz
166. Carlo Orosa/Dulce/Jun Polistico/Nonoy Zuniga
167. Sheila Francisco/Ray-An Fuentes
168. Dyukbaks! at the Folk Arts Theater
169. Pops Fernandez TV Special
170. Martin Nievera
171. Chad Borja/Vina Morales
172. Verni Varga/Lani Misalucha

CHANNELING ENERGIES

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

My relationship with network television today is intermittent at best. But back in the 90’s, the medium and I felt pretty comfortable with each other. Not enough for me to want to stay – my life is Live – but enough for me to realize that someday, television would become this unwieldy, uncontrollable, unfathomable maelstrom of soap operas, sitcoms and reality shows. (What? You were expecting praise?) Not fair of me. I love TV. Watching it, working in it, working with it. And back then, it was mostly about the music. And sports. Let’s not forget sports.

173. Manilyn Reynes TV Weekly/Billy Joe Crawford
174. Ch.13 MTV’s/Disappointing Vilma/Rescue 9
175. The PBA Opening Ceremonies

LAUGHING MATTERS

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Laughter sells, period. But there were very few great stand-up comics in Pinoy showbiz during the 80’s and 90’s. Comic actors, our cups laugheth over, but solo stand-up? Sit down, it’ll take a while. However, two comediennes did stand up and did stand-up and people took great and lengthy notice. Haven’t stopped laughing since.

176. 2000 Lbs. with Mitch Valdes and Nanette Inventor
177. Nanette Inventor

- Nanette-At-Large
- Music Museum
- At The Westin
- In Davao
- Everywhere Else
- Oh, Man Oman!

178. In Kilitikal Condition
179. Onstage Opens
180. Ko-KORO-kookoo
181. Jon Santos