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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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ON TUESDAY, September 6, 2005, Madison Square Garden hosted, arguably, the biggest band in the world today – Coldplay.
The English quartet of Will Champion, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Chris Martin (The better half of Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow), is currently touring their new CD entitled XY, which already sold 1.9 million copies in its first week of release, and has churned out another hit single for the band called “Speed of Sound”.
Of course, I was there to see the show. How? Well, I bought 2 tickets for $70. Yes, $35 dollars each. It may be a bit too much for some, but hey, it’s the word’s hottest band and I was pretty sure $35 was a bargain.
Anyway, the show was unforgettable, to say the least. It was an audio-visual extravaganza unrivaled since U2’s monumental Zooropa tour in the 90s. Laser lights danced with every note the band played out, and a giant video screen behind the stage flashed graphics and film clips, which were all complementary to the music being played.
There were giant yellow balloons falling from MSG’s rafters while the band was doing its first hit “Yellow”. It was an interactive concert that made us very happy.
I have been very lucky this year to see some of the best-known artists perform live onstage for reasonable costs. From The Indigo Girls and Weezer at the Roseland Ballroom for $30, Oasis at MSG for $35 to Ringo Starr at Bryant Park for free. My next concert playdate will be U2 this October, also at MSG.
It’s amazing how for a reasonable price, one could get entertained by these world-class artists. Of course, there are expensive seats in the house ranging from $85 to $300. But in my point of view, there’s really no substantial difference between a $35–seat and a $300 unless you came in to see Bono’s pimples up close and personal. But the sound quality and the total entertainment value are equal from both ends of the arena and price spectrum.
Having been entertained like such, I couldn’t help but ponder about the pricing of our local Pinoy entertainment here. Bamboo, the Filipino rock band, sold their Knitting Factory show for $35. The upcoming Introvoys reunion gig is being advertised for $45 a ticket. I heard Carmen Pateña’s gig was sold for $35, and the show featuring Rey Valera and the greatest hitmakers is up for a $25 price tag.
I don’t have any clue how to produce shows like such, and I admit that there are millions of reasons why these Pinoy shows’ prices aren’t that competitive. As a matter of fact, I give credence to these local producers for catering to the entertainment needs of Fil-Ams in dire need of a Rico Puno fix. But am looking at these prices with the eyes of a real music fan and they don’t look good at all.
Suppose I have $35 in my pocket right now and tickets for a Beatle show are onsale alongside tickets for a Dynasoul gig for the same price. What’s it gonna be?
Without even pausing to reflect on my shady sense of nationalism or think about the seating situation, I would go for the Beatles. I will do that for the simple reason that it’s the better deal. Not to undermine the Dynasouls’ talents but for heaven’s sake, they are up against the Beatles! And I sincerely believe that a 30- minute Beatles set seen from the far end of an arena will be much better than a front seat ticket watching their famous Pinoy impersonators.
Now, I have seen a lot of $40 Filipino concerts and I must say that the artists were good and never impersonate any foreign acts like my example above. And most often that not, the crowd gets satisfied no matter how horrible the sound sytem were or how ordinary the lights were placed.
But the best $40 Pinoy concert I saw, when compared to the Coldplay show I saw last September 6, looked like a darn rehearsal. The difference in the production value was heaven and hell. And that will stick into my mind because Coldplay has raised the standard of a $35-concert so high that I will definitely think thrice in digging deep into my pockets for a mediocre Pinoy show of the same price.
The Coldplay gig at the garden was actually worth more than $35, and I would have been willing to pay the additional after the show if they asked for it. The spectacular visual entertainment alone could rival a Disney world light show. The audio treat was full and complete it was like listening to their CD on very loud, crisp and clear speakers. Plus having the rare chance to see the biggest rock group belt out their hits and say hello to all of us was icing on the cake. Not to mention the yellow balloons, which were the cherries on top of the icing.
We should all learn a lesson from this because, I have.
As audience, we must be very critical of the quality of shows that we are given by producers. A mere itch for anything Pinoy should not be the sole reason for us to watch these costly yet medioce productions. We must raise the quality of the shows by demanding more bang for our dollars.
How do we doi it? We can do it by not watching shows which are obviously ill-produced thereby, giving pressure to producers to come up with shows with better production value.
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Dino Guevarra made it clear that he’s been looking forward to his annulment from wife Kim delos Santos. “Hinihintay ko muna yung annulment para mas ma-enjoy ko yung freedom,” he stated at the anniversary event of GMA-7’s “Bahay Mo Ba ‘To” where he is a mainstay.
The actor also denied that he has been living in with a non-showbiz girl saying “I can’t do that since hindi pa nga malinaw ang lahat at wala pang closure dahil hindi pa tapos yung annulment. Pag malinaw na ang lahat at wala na talagang negative repercussions, that’s the only time that I can talk freely about singlehood at puwede ko nang gawin ang gusto ko at manligaw ng iba,” he disclosed at the press conference for the said weekly sitcom held in Quezon City.
What the actor admitted was that he has been eyeing someone, he revealed.
“May mga natitipuhan naman ako; may gustong ligawan. I’m very much single at the moment and I’m happy to announce that,” he spoke to the press.
It is recalled that Dino figured in a scandal involving an alleged non-showbiz lover and his estrange wife, Kim delos Santos. The conflict eventually sent Kim to the States to get away from it all and consequently healed from the broken marriage.
Kim was recently seen on TV interviews where she said how she has been coping real well. The former teen star also revealed that she has finally moved on and now expecting better times ahead. “I have learned to love myself,” she told ABS-CBN’s The Buzz a few Sundays back.
For his part, Dino divulged how the separation has also worked best for him, he told the media in an interview.
“I’m having the time of my life right now. Masayang-masaya ako sa nangyayari sa career ko, especially sa success ng ‘Bahay Mo Ba ‘To’ and I’m enjoying the liberty of being very much single. Nakalimutan ko na ang nakaraan namin. Nakalimutan ko na siya (Kim),” he disclosed to the media.(MBE)
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Gretchen Barretto denied statements made by her younger sister Claudine Barretto about the real status of their relationship, as well as her relationship with Marjorie Barretto.
Gretchen was actually reacting to a story that came out last Aug. 21, 2005 which carried quotations by Claudine saying that she and Gretchen are okay now after they spoke in January this year and that she has invited Gretchen to her wedding soon. She also said that Gretchen and her other sister Marjorie “are okay now, too” which the article also carried.
In a letter penned by Gretchen’s lawyer Alma Fernandez Mallonga of the Siguion-Reyna, Montecillo and Ongsiako law firm, Gretchen’s camp explicitly said that Claudine did not invite Gretchen to the former’s wedding to actor Raymart Santiago set for January, 2006.
The lawyer said, “it is not true that Claudine has personally invited Ms. Gretchen Barretto to attend her wedding. It is highly unlikely, therefore, that Ms. Barretto would be part of Claudine’s entourage or that her wedding plans could be affected in any way by Ms. Barretto.”
On the claim made by Claudine that she and Gretchen have already spoken in January of this year, and that Claudine just didn’t feel the need to broadcast that conversation she had with her older sister when it happened, the lawyer wrote, “Ms, Gretchen Barretto and Claudine have spoken but once this year, on Jan. 11, 2005, between 4-5:30 p.m. In that conversation they had, it is true that Claudine asked it if was possible for Ms. Barretto to forgive her for certain actions she (Claudine) had done and statements which she had issued, all of which had caused much pain and anguish to Ms. Gretchen Barretto in large part because they were made in a manner calculated to seize maximum public interest and attention.”
“Claudine had assured Ms. Barretto that her contrition was genuine and would be accompanied by a public retraction and or clarification of the damaging and hurtful statements she had issued. To this date, this has not been done. Under those circumstances, Claudine’s announcement that everything between her and Ms. Barretto is ‘okay’ is a puzzling assertion, even as it is obviously incorrect,” the letter further stated.
Gretchen’s lawyer also denied that Gretchen and Marjorie are now in good terms, as Claudine told the press during the press conference held at ABS-CBN building for the press conference of her new movie “Dubai” with Aga Muhlach.
“Because Ms. Gretchen and Marjorie have not spoken since Feb. 2004, Claudine’s assertion that Gretchen and Marjorie are okay now, too is a statement mischievously devoid of any factual basis. It is moreover, an intrusive statement that Claudine should know she has no competence or authority to make,” said Mallonga.
The letter, which was also published on other major dailes said “for a long time now, Ms. Gretchen Barretto has purposely kept her peace and steadfastly maintained her silence in regard to any and all aspects of her relationship with members of her family. These, after all, are purely private matters that should not be fodder for gossip and cruel and misplaced, speculation.”
“Moreover, it is only through assiduous insistence on respecting the privacy of family relationships that meaningful disclosures on the present state of her relationship with her sisters Claudine and Marjorie, she is nonetheless bent on ensuring that she is not used to perpetrate any untruth, even halftruths which ultimately amount to the same thing. Being true to herself as well as honesty to the public to whom she owes much, are values that Ms. Gretchen Barretto has learned to hold dear to her heart, whatever the personal cost maybe to her.”(MBE)
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I did it for career growth,” justified “Pinoy Pop Superstar” champion Jonalyn Viray to Manila Bulletin when asked if she had a nose job in lieu of the release of her debut album “On My Own” under GMA Records.
Only 15-year-old Jonalyn is the second recent singing champion to admit availing of cosmetic surgery. Last year, “Born Diva” champion Raki Vega, along with other contestants, also consented to going under the knife on national TV in accordance to that show’s concept.
Jonalyn revealed that the idea was broached to her by GMA-7 shortly after she won. Though hesitant initially, Jonalyn finally gave her go signal upon being told that the job would be rendered by no less than the Belo Medical Group.
“It took just about an hour to do and has completely healed at this point,” she said.
When asked if it has affected her singing voice, she categorically said no and pointed to tracks in her album as proof. “I can still reach the high notes in ‘Run To You’ and ‘My Miracle’ and it has, I think, even helped my lower register as evidenced in ‘Di Na Mag-iisa,’ the theme song from ‘Darna,’ that starts out almost in whisper,” she said.
What else would she like fixed if given the chance?
“My height kasi flat five feet lang ako. Pero wala na yatang pag-asa yon kasi wala pang operasyon na naiimbento para pampatangkad,” she quipped sending press people into stitches.
Currently in the thick of promoting her first recorded output, Jonalyn is also banking on the music video of her carrier single “Close To Where You Are” to win the nod of people particularly the young music audience. Directed by Louie Ignacio, the video features a cameo by Asia’s Songbird, Regine Velasquez, who, by doing so, lends to speculations that Jonalyn has won the approval of being heiress-apparent to the superstar’s throne.
Other tracks in “On My Own” are “If We Just Hold On,” “Kung Di Mo Na Mahal,” “Hold Me Now,” “Get Here” and “It Might Be You.”(MBE)
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MANILA --- We visited the set of GMA Films’ ‘Lovestruck’ with Jolina Magdangal heading the cast of the eight winners in ‘Starstruck 1 and 2.’ We congratulated Jolina for the very high rating garnered by her performance in ‘Magpakailanman’ as the late singer, Tenten Muñoz, sister of her boyfriend Bebong Muñoz. Did Bebong get to watch the show? ‘No, kasi up to now, he just wants to think of his sister just being abroad and not having passed away,’ she says.
Her current appearance in “Extra Challenge” became controversial when Marvin Agustin was suddenly recalled by ABS-CBN. How did she feel about it? “Siempre, nanghinayang ako as we’ve already done three challenges as a supposed husband and wife team taking care of six poor children in a shanty on top of a raft na nasa ilog. But I cannot blame Marvin dahil naipit lang siya. Gulat na gulat din nga siya, e. I felt so bad kasi after he left, bigla akong naging single mother, so talagang pagod na pagod ako. Bale ba, pag-alis niya, biglang inanod-anod ‘yung bahay kaya nataranta ako.”
How does she feel now that Marvin is the father of two twin boys? Tetet Dy, the mother, gave birth to their sons in the US and Marvin is still there. “I’m happy for him. But we haven’t communicated since he left ‘Extra Challenge.”
What if Marvin would get her as their Ninang? “Okay lang.”
How is it working with the younger stars in the cast of “Lovestruck”: Mark Herras, Jennylyn Mercado, Yasmien Kurdi, Rainier Castillo, Mike Tan, Ryza Cenon, LJ Reyes and CJ Muere?
“They’re all good and dedicated sa trabaho kaya masaya kami lagi with our director, Louie Ignacio, who was also my director in last year’s ‘Annie B’. This is a fun movie. Kaya lang, lahat sila, may ka-love team. Ako lang ang wala.”(MNS)
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MANILA --- When it comes to being a professional, nobody can question Rachel Alejandro.
Only recently, Rachel once more proved her professionalism when she left for the US Friday for a performance on Saturday. Then she was back in the country Monday early morning for another commitment.
Said her talent manager Girlie Rodis (GR to her friends and fellow talent manager): “Grabe talaga ang alaga kong ito. Lumipad siya papuntang San Francisco on PAL noong Friday. Kasi, na-delay yung working visa ni Gen (Geneva Cruz). E, may show siya dapat sa Masonic Center in Nobhill sa San Francisco nung Saturday, so si Rachel ang pumalit.
“Isang gabi lang siyang natulog sa Sanfo. Kumanta siya ng apat na kanta sa show nila nina Jay R at Sweet (John Lapus) at habang patuloy ang concert, nagpahatid siya sa airport para ma-catch ang flight home.” (MNS)
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