WE FILIPINOS are suckers for noontime shows. Noontime shows are the biggest daily event in our lives. A carenderia, a clinic, a bus terminal, a barbershop, a police station, a barangay hall that doesn’t have a TV set on at noon has a PR sense of a toad. We wonder how dull life would be without noontime shows to make us laugh, cry and look stupid.

Surprisingly, of the thousands of self-help books in the local market today, there’s not one on how to create a top-rating noontime show. So as a sucker for noontime shows myself, I wrote this initial draft on a book I will call “Act Stupid, You’re On Some Noontime Show.”

Read More Here…

( Last of two parts )

THE story of Arnel Pineda (pre-YouTube years) is typical of rock musicians who are in a band for economic rather than artistic reasons. Playing originals doesn’t put food on the table, while doing certified Bon Jovi monstrosities can at least land you a contract in Japan.

This is understandable, especially in the case of Pineda, who spent two years of his childhood out on the streets of Manila collecting empty bottles and metal scrap, and discovered his voice as his only way out of this poverty. Thanks to his mother who taught him Barbara Streisand songs when he was a little boy. (I’m not kidding.)

Read More Here…