How about Charice, Lani and Erik?

ABS-CBN has this title for an article posted on December 14, 2014 on their website: “WATCH: Sarah, Lea, Martin in hair-raising performances”

Hmmm... but...BUT! There are 6 talents, not only 3, in the video! Is it intentional or unintentional to disregard the names of the other half on the ABS-CBN Christmas Special stage? Professional or unprofessional?

ABS-CBN, when you feature a video of the acts of your 6 established artists but mention only 3 names in the title which connotes that only half of them have delivered hair-raising performances, something is very wrong. No, nothing is wrong with the performances. Nothing is wrong with the artists. Nothing is wrong with the audience and those who have commented in your Facebook page. There's definitely something wrong with the idea that the title wants to convey and it has sparked the long list of comments. There's definitely something wrong with the network's way of highlighting and promoting its seemingly favored artists. Why not uplift, in an honest and non-downgrading-others way, all of your Kapamilya artists? I believe that's the best and ethical way to go, especially for the benefit of all of your talents and of your own network as an influential institution.

I admire the talents of all of the 6 artists. I appreciate what all of them have accomplished and what they do to continue improving their craft. I respect their talents and reading the said title just gives me a good reason to voice out what I think and feel towards the idea that the writer, editor and ABS-CBN have allowed to be posted for the public to read.

Well... I don’t know about you, but for me, if you can’t even spell the name of your own artist correctly, something must be really, really wrong. It should be Erik with a K! 

Thank you again, Charice

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Thank you, Charice.

In at least two previous articles, I mentioned a number of reasons why I am thankful to Charice. I have also made tweets and posts on Facebook stating some of them. This particular blog post is about another reason why I am thankful to her.

ABS-CBN has started airing the blind auditions for The Voice Kids Philippines. And many of the kids have fantastic voices. Not only can they sing, they can perform! They can touch the hearts and souls of the audience, including myself.

We often hear the statement—They're just kids.—in our everyday life. Yes, they are kids, but not just that. The participants' being kids adds to my amazement of how awesome they are in the blind auditions. They're simply great! And I'm not kidding! Most of them not only blew me away (and the coaches—Sarah Geronimo, Bamboo, and Ms. Lea Salonga), but reminded me, once again, of the so many great singing talents in the Philippines waiting to be discovered.

It would be unfair to the God-given talents if I would name just a few, or more so, just one. So, please check out the ABS-CBN videos of the blind auditions. As of this writing, the list of videos is incomplete because two more sets of auditions will be aired this coming weekend.

After having said the above, about fairness or unfairness, let me lead your attention to the one performer in the video below. No, I am not being unfair to the other kids. I just want to share my experience that triggered my writing this particular article. The 13-year-old girl, Giedie, started singing The Power of Love and before the last few lines of the song, my reactions were similar to that of the other kids' great talents. But when she ended the song with that high note on the word love, suddenly, there was something there, an impact on me that I could not explain.

Video from The Voice Kids Philippines YouTube Channel

Unconsciously wanting to satisfy my quest, I watched Giedie's performance on YouTube a few more times. At the end, when she expertly orchestrated her singing voice in the final drama with the musical accompaniment, she made the undeniably-in-perfect-timing hand and head gestures, complete with powerful facial expression. Then, at last, I realized where the impact, on me, was coming from.

Giedie's performance reminded me of Charice. Let me stress here that I am in no way comparing Giedie and Charice. No. I am simply saying that my experience of watching Giedie's performance brought me back to how Charice influenced me to appreciate, again, great performances. I believe the choice of song, The Power of Love, (Charice has sung this song many times) and the gestures of the younger artist made me subsconsciously try my best to find out what actually stimulated the delight in my heart and soul. Giedie made a connection with her audience. I was glad to have watched her performance when it was aired on TV for the first time. For me, it was a privilege to be part of her audience. She is a representation of all the great kids, in the Philippines and elsewhere, whose talents should not be missed.

Have I mentioned that there was a time when I stopped listening to songs on the radio and refrained from buying any artist's albums? I also had few chances to watch TV shows. When everyone at work would talk about this or that song by this or that artist, I could not relate. Well, except perhaps for one or two. The airing of the Little Big Star (LBS), where Charice was one of the contestants, was within this period. I discovered Charice five years after LBS. Yes, right. Where was I all those five years! After discovering Charice, something changed. I now even know some artists that could have escaped my attention if I were still my 'old self.' I am thankful to Charice for bringing music back into my everyday life.

Here, I am stating one more reason why I am thankful to her. Charice made me reverse gear and go back to being an audience to budding musical talents on Philippine television. It would be a mistake not to give my heart and soul the chance to flow with the beautiful music coming freshly from the kids who I now consider kids no more in the art of music. I am fortunate and thankful that I have discovered Charice before the airing of the The Voice Kids Philippines.

Now, go ahead and enjoy watching their awesome performances!

The time I got disappointed as a Charice fan

Yes, I'm a fan of Charice and I was once disappointed.

It was in 2010 during the David Foster and Friends (DFF) Concert at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila. It was my very first time to watch Charice perform live. I was a new fan then. I had seen a lot of her videos on YouTube, though. I actually learned about the Manila leg of DFF from a posted comment for one of her videos. I immediately told about it to a colleague who was also a fan of Charice. We decided to meet up the following day to buy our concert tickets.

Like many newly-born Chasters, I had spent sleepless nights watching one video after another; reading an article that would lead to other write-ups about Charice. I was overwhelmed by the numerous links that Google was so generous to provide me with. And boy, they were not in chronological order! So, the "circuits-in-charge" in my brain had to re-arrange whatever information and performances that were already occupying a no minute part of my 3-pound gray matter. Little by little, I came to know Charice. And unconsciously, I was already craving for more of her amazing performances. [Chaddiction activated!] I didn’t mind watching and listening to the same song repeated in another DFF concert. It was not performed in exactly the same way, I rationalized. Okay, fine. I'll go ahead and share with you one symptom of my Chaddiction. I watched one of my favorite Charice videos over and over again, like ten times (conservative number, maybe) in one night. Sounds familiar, Chasters?

Now, where am I leading you to? Oh! My disappointment!

There were videos where Charice would dance and move to the beat of I Love You Remix and a few other songs. And oh, that Pyramid video that went viral! I noticed how her arm and head movements seemed to shout that she wanted to dance. The "circuits-in-charge" reminded me that her first love was dancing. She had wanted to be a dancer before she wanted to be a singer. Then, my brain brought me to her impromptu Billy Jean performance during a rehearsal with David Foster for a benefit show. Yep! Charice could dance!

YouTube video from gerlyngay channel

Aside from the anticipation of hearing Charice sing live at the Araneta Coliseum, there was my expectation that she would sing a fast song and show her moves to the live audience, and that audience would include me, of course. Gonna be awesome, right? When I thought that perhaps, David Foster would choose I Will Survive as one of the songs for Charice, I was thrilled. You see, one night, while watching a video of her performance of that song at the Mandalay Bay in 2009, like a reflex, I stood from my chair in disbelief of what I had witnessed. Charice ran from one end of the stage to the other while singing flawlessly. How did she do that?

Clip from a YouTube video by Peter de Giua

At the Araneta Coliseum, I was enjoying the performances of the friends of David Foster. I joined the crowd in singing along with the artists while they were performing their hits. That night, Charice performed right before all the friends' group number, an encore, actually. It was an honor to be the finale performer, right? I was happy for her. The anticipation of her performance, although exciting, was killing me. Yes, I was having fun but at the same time, I was experiencing the agony of waiting.

Then, I knew Charice was going on the stage very soon. My "circuits-in-charge" actually took note of the artists who were done performing. Finally, David Foster started giving clues in his introduction of the next friend. I think I was smiling all the time and my neck had reached its stretch limit. I heard his now very familiar manner of calling to the stage the artist that I had been waiting for. Charice was called in. Yehey!

I excitedly searched the stage for her, not knowing which side of it she would be appearing from. Soon, the crowd went really wild. From the right side of the stage, Charice came out wearing a fuchsia mini dress, tailored-fit cut that defined her young blossoming figure. Her dress was matched with a pair of 4- or 5-inch beige high heels. The moment I saw her outfit, I got disappointed. I didn't mind her long brown curls, but I was disappointed with what she was wearing. Don't get me wrong. She was gorgeous in that outfit. She was fabulous and confident in carrying herself and walking to the center of the stage where David Foster and his grand piano were waiting. But. BUT! How could she dance in that dress? How could she make the fast foot moves with those heels?

Yeah, right. Like you, I've seen dancers move with their high heels on, but I've also seen how natural and comfortable Charice was in her low-heeled boots and in her sneakers like at the Mandalay Bay in 2009 and during the impromptu Billy Jean performance.

I've also seen a video of her at the End of Summer Block Party in 2010 where she expressed to her audience the discomfort her high-heeled footwear was giving her. She said, "...these heels are killing me!" She must have felt real pain during her final song Pyramid Remix. In the middle of the song, she hunkered down for some good seconds, like a little girl who got tired of standing and waiting for the school bus to arrive.

Clips from YouTube videos by ChariceTVCrew

I've also seen a video of her walking barefoot on what looked like a parking lot. It must have been after a performance [She wouldn't make her feet dirty before a performance, right?] and she must be giving her feet the relief from wearing heels. Her brother Carl was walking with her and was carrying her pair of heels. Charice treated the fans present there to a little dancing while barefoot.

YouTube video from koolerbeans channel

Back to the DFF Concert at the Araneta. Before Charice could sing her first note, I told myself to stop expecting that I would see her make any dance moves, the unrestrained dance moves, that night. David Foster did let her sing a fast song. She sang her original song Pyramid. Two young female dancers complemented the music of her hit single with their moves.

Clip from a YouTube video by chariceconcerts

After all that I've shared here, I'd like to make something clear. I enjoyed and cherished every minute of her performances at the Araneta Coliseum that night in 2010. I finally had my most-awaited chance to listen to her incredible singing voice live. I felt the emotions she put into the songs. I wasn't just reading the awesome experiences in the comment sections of YouTube because I was not in front of the computer. I was present right there at the venue itself. It was an amazing experience. No regrets at all.

Oh, well...there was one. I regretted that I had expected her to do some dance moves at the DFF Manila. I shouldn't have. As they say, expectations can lead to frustrations and disappointments. So, I made it a dream, instead of an expectation, that Charice would show her moves in her future concerts.

In her Power of Two Concert with Aiza Seguerra in September last year, Charice showed some moves. Currently, Charice is on World Tour which kicked off in Los Angeles, California on March 15 this year. The LA concert videos showed the singing and dancing Charice. She sang with her powerful voice to express herself, to communicate the messages of the songs, and to entertain the audience. Her unrestrained dance moves added the exclamation point to the whole concert. As they say, dreams do come true.

On Charice-Rex Smith Incident

Let me start by saying that I am a Charice fan. I also like the songs Simply Jessie and You Take My Breath Away although I did not know the name of their singer—Rex Smith—until the incident during a sound check for a corporate show at a hotel in Cebu on February 11, 2014 came up in the news last week.

Another thing, I was not there when it all happened … and neither were you, dear readers, unless you are Smith or the musical director of Charice. I wanted to say, "or Charice" but one report claimed she was never there.

The fact that I am a Charice fan may give the impression that I am biased in this post. Maybe I am, but maybe I am not. My thoughts and opinions here are based on what have been shared to the public by both camps of Charice and Rex Smith.

If you have already read the news reports from ABS-CBN and Manila Bulletin and the official statement of Ovation Productions, you may opt to scroll down to the sub-heading "My Thoughts."

ABS-CBN News

ABS-CBN online news reported in the afternoon of February 13, 2014 that Rex Smith insulted Charice while she was rehearsing for a corporate show in a hotel [Radisson Blue Hotel] in Cebu.

In an interview, Charice's manager, Glenn Aldueza, told ABS-CBN, "We went there on time (2 p.m.)" and that Charice was doing the sound check with her musical director [Troy Laureta] when suddenly a foreigner [Rex Smith] went up the stage and pointed a finger at Charice and said, "Can you please stop what you are doing." Then Smith argued with Laureta because the latter said, "Can't you see somebody is rehearsing?" Aldueza added that when Smith left the stage, he said the F-word.

Charice's manager noted that the singer was shocked saying that no one had done that to her, especially American artists who have high respect for her.

According to Aldueza, someone from the Ovation Productions [the outfit in charge of the corporate show] apologized to them and said that Smith would personally say sorry to Charice but Smith's apology did not happen.

Aldueza also said that Charice did not want to make an issue out of it, but as a manager, he thought they deserved an apology.

ABS-CBN updated their report in the same news post later that day, February 13. They added the statement of Renen de Guia of the Ovation Productions.

According to De Guia, it was a case of misunderstanding. He said that Smith was not even aware that there would be another act [Charice] before him. He narrated that Smith entered the backstage, went straight to the stage and made a comment about the set-up. "He was suddenly shouted at by this guy who turned out to be Charice's Fil-Am musical director," De Guia said.

De Guia added, "Rex loves Filipinos immensely and Filipinos love him back. I went to Charice and her group to sincerely apologize about the incident and we really didn't know that she was doing a sound check."


Manila Bulletin News

On the same day, February 13, 2014, Manila Bulletin online news ran an article with the heading, "Rex Smith's camp refutes singer insulted Charice."

Danee Samonte, Smith's Asian manager, spoke on behalf of the singer. He said that Charice was not there. He told Manila Bulletin that there was a heated argument "but it was guy-to-guy" and not with Charice and insisted that she was never there.

From the narration of Samonte, they were informing the technical crew about a problem with the setting of the drums on stage. Smith was concerned about it so, he went to the stage. Samonte added that he went with the singer and therefore, he was a witness to what happened.

Samonte continued saying that there was a man on stage who was adjusting something on the keyboard. Smith went up the stage, thinking there was no one doing a sound check. There was a minus one playing and Smith said to the man, "Can you please turn the music down? I want to talk to the technical people." Samonte noted that the man turned out to be Laureta. He continued that Laureta told Smith "point blank" with the line, "You are disturbing a sound check, get off my stage!"

According to Samonte, Smith was shocked at Laureta's outburst and the two had an argument. He said he pulled Smith to avoid it from becoming worse. Samonte added that he later talked to Laureta to say it was a misunderstanding and that he said sorry to Charice's musical director.

In the news article, Samonte denied the occurence of Smith's insulting Charice. He said partly in Tagalog, "To what was said that Rex insulted Charice--there was no one there... Rex will never do that because he's a perfect gentleman. I've been working with him for 10 years, he's never (shown) any attitude like that."

Although Samonte admitted that Smith made a mistake (in going to the stage), he said that the yelling of "Get off my stage! Get off my stage!" by Laureta ignited the argument. Samonte reiterated, "but the argument was between two guys, because Charice was never there."


Ovation Productions Official Statement

At 11:19 p.m. on February 13, 2014, Ovation Productions posted its official statement on the incident on its Facebook account. Below is a copy of the statement, captured from the FB page.

My Thoughts

This is a matter of "He said. He said. He said." Yes, there are three versions of what happened. One version is from Charice camp courtesy of Glenn Aldueza and two versions are from Rex Smith camp courtesy of Ovation Productions/Renen de Guia and Danee Samonte.

The two camps' statements were contradicting in their information on who provoked who, and who went overboard during the incident. This is something that only those present at the scene would know for sure who was the cause of the untoward incident.

There is, however, one disturbing "how-could-it-be" detail. I call it "how-could-it-be" because the statements of the two representations of Smith are glaringly contradicting each other. Based on this one detail, even if I was not a witness to the incident, I could easily choose which side to believe.

Was Charice present or absent at the scene?

    1. Ovation Productions/De Guia: "He was suddenly shouted

        at by this guy who turned out to be Charice's Fil-Am

        musical director. We were all shocked! It was only then

        that we realised Charice was having a sound check."

        

       "...we really didn't know that she was doing a sound 

        check."

        So, CHARICE WAS PRESENT THERE.

    2. Samonte: "but the argument was between two guys,

        because Charice was never there."

        So, CHARICE WAS NOT PRESENT THERE.

How could Charice be present and absent at the same time, at the same place? These contradicting statements came from the two representatives of the same camp—the Smith camp. So, how could I believe their camp with this huge inconsistency?

Reasons / Motives

But just the same, after reading their versions, I tried to give the Smith camp the benefit of the doubt, so, I asked myself one question. What could be the reason or motive of Charice's manager for telling ABS-CBN about the sound check incident? Could it be to put the public attention on Charice because she has upcoming concerts? I do not think so. She has the Sunday noontime show ASAP and guestings on TV and radio programs that are already giving her the airtime for plugging them. To my thinking, she does not need this kind of news-turned-controversy. Now, if —I said "if"—Aldueza had any ill-feelings towards Smith or anyone in his camp, I do not think he would use Charice for his own personal gain. I believe that Aldueza only wants the respect that Charice deserves be given to her.

As for the reason or motive of the representatives of Smith for their versions of the incident, my thinking was that they wanted to save his reputation after the ABS-CBN news came out in the afternoon of Feb 13, 2014. They had to defend their artist. Netizens had started making hate posts against Smith most especially because of the reported pointing of a finger at Charice. It also happened in the Philippines and the reported person in the wrong was a foreigner. So, Smith's camp had to put the focus away from Charice. Samonte even said that she was never there. Next, they emphasized that Smith was a perfect gentleman. Having Charice in the scene would be a slap on his most-guarded image. So, they made her musical director, being a guy involved in the incident, the focus and the one that should take the blame for the untoward incident.

Note: In the Philippines, pointing a finger at someone is a big no-no. Pointing a finger is not a degree less than derogatory remarks. Sometimes, it is taken as worse. It is an outright insult and disrespect. It is rude.

My admiration and more questions

It was admirable of Samonte for doing his job as Smith's Asian manager. He must be attending to all of his artist's needs. He even went with Smith to check on the set-up on the stage. He also made sure that the argument would not become worse so he pulled Smith away from the scene and then, personally said sorry to Laureta.

That was admirable of Samonte for apologizing to Laureta even if for him, the latter started it all. The same goes to De Guia who went to the group of Charice to explain about the misunderstanding and to say sorry. 

I have some questions, though. Why would Samonte and De Guia apologize if Laureta was the one to blame for the untoward incident? Why would Aldueza think that Smith should apologize to Charice when it was Laureta who started it all? If Laureta, who is part of the team of Charice, started it all, why would Aldueza initiate bringing the matter to the attention of the public via ABS-CBN news? Did he not consider that the Smith camp would eventually react to the news? If Charice was never there, Aldueza should have asked Smith to apologize to Laureta and not to Charice. 

Little details

1-- In the ABS-CBN news article, Aldueza said, "We went there on time (2 p.m.)"

It seems that the time of the incident was significant. I wonder why Aldueza had to make mention of the time (2 p.m.) and that they were there on time. Was there any problem/misunderstanding on the schedules of the sound check/use of the stage for rehearsals? Did Smith think it was his turn to use the stage that was why he asked Charice to stop what she was doing?

2-- In the Manila Bulletin news article, Samonte said Laureta shouted, "Get off my stage! Get off my stage!" while in the official statement of Ovation Productions, Laureta shouted, "GET THE FUCK OFF MY STAGE!" 

Why, again, were there different details in their statements? Was Samonte being polite in the interview and opted not to use the F-word or did Ovation Productions add the F-word? 

3-- De Guia said, "He [Smith] was not even aware that there will be another act featured before him which was Charice."

Although both Samonte and Ovation Productions did their job in protecting the image of Smith, they failed in one department—letting their artist know what was going to happen outside of his own act. They did not inform Smith that another international singer would be performing before him. Did they not consider it vital in their own artist's act? I could not believe that Samonte and De Guia, being not new in the business and actually having years of experience in handling professional/international artists, could make this kind of oversight.

Philanthropy and Gentleman

Both Samonte and Ovation Productions/De Guia emphasized that Rex Smith was a perfect gentleman and had an immense love for the Filipinos. They added the information that he was in the country to raise funds for the supertyphoon Yolanda victims.

I cannot question his charitable causes and I am thankful to him just like I am thankful to all, public figures or not, who have given their help in terms of finances, goods, services, and prayers to the Philippines. But his being a philanthropist does not have any bearing on the Cebu hotel incident, unless, one sees all this as a why-put-him-in-a-bad-light-when-he-gives-donations thing.

I have doubt, however, about his being a perfect gentleman. On February 14, at 8:24 a.m. PH Time, hours after Ovation Productions had posted its official statement on Facebook, Rex Smith made the tweet below.

I could have let this tweet pass if there was no recent incident made public through the broadcast and online news to which netizens had poured in their reactions, and if there was no official statement from his camp that was also made public. Smith's use of "Official" comes to me as a mockery, especially because he added "You may now return to your regularly scheduled life...."

Valentine's Day had just started in the Philippines and had not in the USA (where he is from) when he tweeted the above. So, what was he referring to with his "You may now return to your regularly scheduled life...." line? 

If you can consider this tweet as an act of a perfect gentleman, dictionaries should be re-written and families, schools, and societies should re-teach the children (and adults) the acceptable decorum associated with the term, complete with its "leniency."  These must be done so that we can all have the same understanding of what a "perfect gentleman" really is. Let's avoid misunderstandings. 

---------------

Note: One anonymous reader has pointed out, in the comment section below, what he/she thinks about Rex Smith's tweet above. So, may I add the following statement to my post:

If the above tweet is not at all a mockery, then, I apologize to Rex Smith and to the readers of this post for my misinterpretation of the said tweet.