Reunion Concert, Family Feud, and Miriam

Few months ago, Eraserheads staged a reunion concert in Taguig. As reported in the papers, they were supposed to perform 30 of their songs. After performing 15 songs (or after the first half of the concert), the band however was not able to continue because Ely Buendia, the lead singer, was brought to the hospital to be treated for his heart problem. Ely's sister apologized to the crowd and on the news days afterward, band members assured themselves that their audience understood. With that, maybe they mean the other half of the money paid for by the audience for the songs that were not sang was already forfeited in the their (band's, organizers', whoever) favor.

“ A love one's passing away causes emotional stress. This fact should have been enough reason to postpone the concert. They would have done a favor to Ely and the fans of Eraserheads. In the alternative, considering that Ely had undergone angioplasty surgeries, the foregoing circumstances should have prompted him, his band mates, his loved ones, or the organizers to prohibit him from staying until 3 am on the concert day to set up the sound system. ”

Before I proceed, I would like to make this clarification: I was not in the concert nor did I buy one ticket. Also, that I am a fan of Eraserheads as "With a smile," "El Bimbo," and others used to be my favorite guitar pieces.

Stress was the reason for the cancellation of the other half of the concert and the hospitalization of Ely. According to the reports, Ely's mother's passing away added to the stress Ely was experiencing in connection with the band's rigorous preparations for the concert. Ely must have been so excited for the concert when her mother died. It must have been an emotional roller coaster ride that would turn the stomach inside out.

Concert or no concert, what happened to Ely was very unfortunate. People were glad to hear the news he had recovered. We hoped he continues to get better and keep writing songs for the world to enjoy. However sympathetic I was to Ely's condition, I could not agree with the action the organizers had taken to address the crowd in reaction to what happened. I mean, I do not think apologies served as a balm to heal the crowd's disappointment for the abrupt end of the reunion concert they had so long anticipated and were so excited to participate in. I believe the organizer's should have either refunded one half of the ticket price, or advised the audience to keep their tickets for the concert to be used as a discount "card" for the next concert (of Eraserheads, should there be any in the future, or any band with the same organizers). And of course, the band members should have taken only half of the talent fee they ought to receive. They performed only half of the job, anyway.

I am sure what happened to Ely was not one of his choosing. But I am not sure if that event could not have been avoided. According to an Inquirer report, “He had a slight attack because of stress due to the recent passing of his mother (Lisette Buendia), and their sound check which lasted till 3 a.m. today (Saturday),” said MTV Philippines and Radiohead director for marketing Ronald Esguerra in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

A love one's passing away causes emotional stress. This fact should have been enough reason to postpone the concert. They would have done a favor to Ely and the fans of Eraserheads. In the alternative, considering that Ely had undergone angioplasty surgeries, the foregoing circumstances should have prompted him, his band mates, his loved ones, or the organizers to prohibit him from staying until 3 am on the concert day to set up the sound system. The second explanation is stupid and unprofessional.

***

The game show "Family Feud" aired by GMA 7 right before "24 Oras" would have been a boring show. The game staff asks a set of questions to 100 people before the show. The same questions are asked the contestants who would guess the first five or ten top answers with the corresponding points (I guess based on the number of people who answered the particular answer). The family who earns the highest point wins, of course.

“In one word, Richard was "refreshing" to watch.”

The contestants last night were asked about the things that could be found in a wake, the places where couple who dates for the first time go, and the most common things sold on board the passenger busses. I was not interested about the questions, neither was I interested about the answers. What was so interesting about them, anyway, and about the game show? The host, Richard Gomez. Richard was just having fun, as if he was not hosting at all. He was not at all nervous, giddy nor did he exhibit any body language that set my expectations high. In one word, Richard was "refreshing" to watch. So, I rode along, and before I knew it, the show was over and the Gatmaitan family had won 500,000 pesos.

***

“Not Miriam. She was as articulate as she was angry.”

I loved seeing Miriam Santiago on TV news lashing out against the Chief of Police and the head of the Department of Interior and Local Government. No one among the two officials could explain where such a huge amount of money the wife of Retired Police Comptroller dela Paz was carrying came from. Moreso, the two could not explain why dela Paz himself was not present but was instead represented by his counsel who objected to the power of the Committee on Foreign Relations to conduct the hearing. Indeed, as Santiago highlighted, dela Paz had many times assured the public through the press that he has nothing to hide, and that he would cooperate and be present in the Senate Investigations. Needless to say, he was absent time hearing came.

If people noticed, since this controversy erupted, Government Officials including Secretary Puno and General Versosa, had different versions of the story. This fact is very curious because, as far as I can remember, after the "Hello, Garci!" controversy, officials from the Executive Department had been synchronized. May it be in defense of the president or attacking her critics and opponents, they speak with one voice; and although with different words, they point to the same idea. But now it is different. I wonder if this is intended. People are hanging on to what they say, and as people get confused, they do not care anymore so the issue is forgotten. It is like going into a maze. When a person is tired figuring out the where he comes from, where he is going or where he is, he simply gives up.

Going back to Miriam, what amazed me was that, when she was angry, every one in the hall was still. She was not threatened by the officials in front of her. In fact, it was she who threatened them never to assassinate her character because she would defend it "to death". I had seen Jamby Madrigal angry. But when Jamby was angry, she could almost not speak. Not Miriam. She was as articulate as she was angry.

When the eye sees the beautiful

I first saw her at a restaurant beside the school. It was about one PM. Ian--a co-boarder and a classmate--and I were having our lunch when she went inside. Forgive the cliche, but I thought I saw an angel. She was just so astonishingly beautiful that, for a while, my eyes were glued on her.

I have never seen such beauty, or to put it in another way, I've only seen Kate Winslet on television. But, boy, this girl's real!!! Her eyes are like my eyes (as friends describe them) "solemn and beautifu". And her nose! And lips--great God, she's really an angel!

Numerous studies indicate that human beauty may not be simply in the eye of the beholder or an arbitrary cultural artifact. It may be an ancient, hardwired, universal, and potent behavior-driven, on a par with hunger or pain, wrought through eons of evolution that rewarded reproductive winners and killed off losers. If beauty is not truth, it maybe health and fertility: Halle Berry's flawless skin may rivet moviegoers because, at some deep level, it persuades us that she is parasite-free and consequently good mating material. Acquired, individual preferences factor, but research increasingly indicates that their influence is much smaller than many of us would care to know.

I later found out that she works (in) a bookstore nearby. So, I visited that bookstore always...or, I visited that woman in the bookstore always.

Landmark studies show that attractive males and females not only garner more attention from the opposite sex, they also get more affection from their mothers, more money at work, more votes from the electorate, more leniency form judges, and are generally regarded as more kind, competent, healthy, confident, and intelligent than their big-nosed, weak-chinned counterparts.

She is in charge of the school supplies. So I drew near her and asked for a number of things inside the glass cabinet, when the truth is: I just wanted to be near her, smell her, hear her voice.

'It turned out that the way an attractive female face differs from an average one is related to feminity,' says psychologist David Perrett of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. 'For example, female eyebrows are more arched than males'. Exaggerating that difference from the average increases femininity,' and in tandem, the attractiveness rating.

I don't know how she took my presence. But she made me feel as if the bookstore were my house and she my maid.

For psychologist Nancy Etcoff, (author of the 1999 book Survival of the Prettiest), 'female makeup is all about exaggerating the feminine. Eye makeup makes the brow thinner. It makes it look farther from the eye'. Which, she says, is a classic difference between male and female faces. From high hair to collagen in lips to silicone in breasts, women instinctively exaggerate secondary female sex characteristics to increase their allure.'

I was convinced that to know her name was really a must. But, every time I bridge our distance, I seemed to be levitating...out of myself.

As a rule, I never did approach anyone, when I yet can't figure (out) how I feel. In short, my heart never gave me the chance to at least introduce myself to that lady. Until...

'Human beauty really has three components,' says bio-psychologist Victor Johnston. 'In order of importance, there's natural selection, which leads to the average face and a limited age range. Then there's sexual selection,' which leads men, at least, to be attracted to exaggerated feminine traits like the small lower jaw and the fuller lips. 'Finally, there's learning. It's a fine-tuning mechanism that allows you to become even more adopted to your environment and culture. It's why one person can say, 'She's beautiful' and another can say, 'She's not quite right for me.'

One night, together with my friend, I saw an angel together with her co-workers waiting for a ride. On the very jeepney they took, we rode as well.

One by one, along the way her colleagues went down. Until, we were the only passenger left.

Before she could even step down from the jeepney, a friend went down ahead of her. And on that most beautiful night, we exchanged names.

Female preferences in male faces oscillate in tandem with the menstrual cycle, suggests a study conducted by Perrett and Japanese researchers published last June (1999) in Nature. When a woman is ovulating, she tends to prefer men with more masculine features; at less fertile times in her monthly cycle, she favors male faces with a softer, more feminine look.

When I told my girl friend that I seem to be drowning in her beauty, and I would like to make her my wife, she laughed at me and said, "women at that age (she's around twenty five years old) are looking for financial security. That's why she's working--but you? What are you, yet?"

Research indicates that, across the board in mating species, a non-good-looking guy can make up ground with status and/or wealth. Anthropologist John Marshall Townsend showed photos of beautiful and homely people to men and women, and described the people in the photos as being in training for either low-medium, or high-paying positions--waiter, teacher, or doctor. 'Not surprisingly, women preferred the best looking man with the most money,' Etcoff writes, 'but below him, average-looking or even unattractive doctors received the same ratings as very attractive teachers. This was not true when men evaluated women. Unattractive women were not preferred, no matter what their status.'

Nevertheless, I went to talk to her often, and later I learned that about a month from now, her baby will turn one.

It's all a bit bleak. Talk to enough psycho-biologists, and you get the impression that we are all rats--reflexively, unconsciously coupling according to obscure but immutable circuity. But beauty researchers agree, that along with natural selection and secual selection, learned behaviors are at least part of the attractiveness radar. In other words, there is room for individuality--perhaps even smattering of mystery--in this business of attraction between humans.

(Italicized portions are excerpts from Brad Lemley's "Isn't she Lovely?" Discover magazine, February 2000)

This article was first published in the Mediator, the official student publication of the College of Mass Communications, West Visayas State University, La Paz Iloilo City, August 2000 issue.

Christian Bautista

Nestor Torre, The Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist and critic, once wrote why "fans" should send comments and reactions to the "performers" if they want the entertainment industry to improve.

One of the TV programs that indirectly supports the cause Mr. Torre is pushing forward is the most popular talent search show in the world, The American Idol.

What makes this show a great watch is the fact that it doesn't only show how bad-mannered and weird some of the American youths auditioning for the Contest are and how talented those who really have the talent, but most especially because, by merely watching and listening to the judges comment on every performance, the viewer picks up and learns a lot about how a song should be sang, what is a boring, edgy and original performance, etc.

So, whatever I shall be saying here against Christian Bautista are the product of every thing I learned from the American Idol show, and my guts to write and publish it right here is born out of the sincerest hope that by doing so, I am contributing to the Entertainment industry of my Country, and not just to criticize Christian whom my girlfriend loves so much.

For the sake of transparency however, let me state on record, that somehow, I have an ill feeling towards Christian Bautista for having Rachael Ann Go as his girlfriend. Rachael is another of my crushes aside from my girlfriend. This may also be another reason for this article.

I do not usually listen to the radio because my training at St. Pius X Seminary in Roxas City made me appreciate more the value of silence. There are times of course that silence is satiating, like everything taken monotonously. Furthermore, there are places where a person has no control with what he hears.

This afternoon, I manned the store next to the bakery of my Tita. While the bakers were mixing the flour salt and water, they were listening to an FM radio station, while I drowsed in my chair.

After a song, the DJ announced that the next song is one rendered by Christian Bautista. "Ok, " I said to myself half asleep. "The Christian Bautista whom my girlfriend has so much crush on. The same guy who has Rachel Ann Go for a girl friend."

But as soon as he sang the first line of the stanza composed and first sang by David Pomeranz, "Oh, my God! What happened to Christian Bautista? If he were auditioning for the American Idol show, will he ever be accepted with the way he is rendering 'Got to believe in Magic'?"

He is obviously out of tune with some notes which seemed so low for his voice. And the whole song seems to be half heartedly sang. It seems that when he sang it, his mind was somewhere else. Or that, I imagine, he recorded it in front of his fans with whom he was busy waving and smiling that he forgot to pay attention to the details of the song and how it should be sang.

If the song were bread, I was made to eat a stale one.

Just imagine my disappointment.

Because I was so disappointed, I picked up a pen and begun writing the draft to this article.

All the while, I thought I lost Rachel Ann Go to a deligent man who is not only an architech but also is very popular because of his cool voice and handsome face that even my girlfriend comes to love.

But no. Based on his performance on that song, Christian is not as deligent as he used to be. Because if he is deligent, he should not have forgotten that when you sing a song, you sing it with all your heart and soul. In short, with all your attention. And before he recorded, or if that was a live performance, before he decided to perform that song, he should have at least made sure that he could reach the lowest notes.

Yes, the lowest notes.

I can only think of one theory that explains what is happening to him, and that is, Christian is beginning to sit on his laurels. He is handsome, he is an architech, he has a cool voice, he commands audience, why bother about the songs he sings or the way he sings them?

Correct! Christian Bautista does not have to bother because indeed, to the unthinking audience, every song is a beautiful song if sang by him, no matter how it is sang and no matter what song he sings.

How about us, Christian? How about us from whom you stole our girlfriend's attention? Isn't it but fair that you at least pay attention to the songs you sing and how you sing it? Isn't it but, for the interest of justice, you at least sing well in exchange for taking our girlfriends (and Rachel Ann) away?

I hope he listens to me and stop singing like the way he sings the David Pomeranz song. I would even suggest that, again, in the interest of justice, he at least removes that song from the airwaves. By playing that song he does not only remind me how less handsome I am compared to him (that is why, instead of my girlfriend having a crush on me, she is having a crush on Christian), he also pollutes the world.

Otherwise, I'll just sit here and die of envy because, as I said, to his unthinking fans, every song he sings is beautiful no matter what song and how it is sang. So his income may not be affected.

There is a twist however. A twist which is goodnews to me and bad news for Christian.

Few days ago, his valentine concert with Rachel Ann was aired on TV. My girlfriend says, after hearing Christian sing the first song, she went to bed.

She went to bed not because she wants to imagine Christain with her on the bed. Very, very, very, very, very far, far, far, far and away from that.

OK, Christian. Keep on singing the way you lousily sang that David Pomeranz song. I don't care about your money anyway since you will not give me any. Promise I will not write an article as lousy as this again also. But thank you in advance because, it seems that my girlfriend is beginning to hate you already.