Linked: Leasalonga.net

One of my posts was linked to at Lea Salonga's site. Cool. :-)

Concert Pics: Lea Salonga, Your Songs

 

The concert was held at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel, last January 10th, 2010.

 

I found out that our seats were closer...but had a smaller viewer angle as opposed to the stage. (Actually, the people at the balconies (Php 500) had a better view, albeit they were farther away.)

 

We got there about an hour early, 'cause one of my titas mentioned that people had already started lining up, and since it was "free seating", we had to be early to get "the best" of the Php 900 seats.  (My cousin Chris and I(in this picture) amused ourselves by taking pictures. He didn't get to bring his SLR, though, which I think, he regrets up to now. haha.)

 

Ooh...nice jacket. :-) This chic lady was in the Php 3500 seat...way up front. The lemon yellow was very noticeable, so Cory and Noynoy. 

Lea Salonga, in the flesh. 

She really is as good as they say... :-)

You know what, she had a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall, daw, and since we can't all be at Carnegie Hall, this is the closest we can get to. When I found out that she was performing just a 3 hour ride from where I was (and I was off-duty at the hospital), I just jumped at the chance. 

Her brother Gerard Salonga, the musical director is an absolute musical genius. He was as impressive as her, when he was conducting the orchestra from his post. He had sheets and sheets of music in front of him....pounding on the keys and in crucial moments, would stand up and wave his arms powerfully to and fro, directing the orchestra (FilHarmoniKa). Props!

So, it's pretty understandable that I would be watching in rapt attention in my seat. But of course. :-)

(Alternately, I would watch, then take pictures, then take a video, then watch, then sing along, then take more videos...but mostly, I just, well, marveled.) :-)

She also performed a tribute to Michael Jackson, singing "Gone Too Soon", and calling him as The Greatest Performer that ever lived". :-)

Comedienne Ai Ai de las Alas was there too, and she really got things going. My cousin said that before she was there, things were more sedate, but when she came on stage, you could feel the room come alive. :-p  That was the first time I saw her perform live, and she really is hilarious.

(Extra: Two spotlights. One for you, and one for me...)

(....Or would you prefer we get two each? haha.)

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As I had previously mentioned, I hadn't watched Lea Salonga's concert the last time (regrettably), so I was really happy that I got to have the chance this time around. I've always been a big Lea Salonga fan (as I am of musicals and theater), and although most of my singing is relegated to choirs and the bathroom, she is just a joy to imitate (or at least dream about imitating, haha).

She's got great pipes, that's a given, but what I also like about her is that she is very articulate and smart. Her in-between-songs mini-speeches and anecdotes were well-timed and very entertaining. I always liked listening to her talk.  She's really pretty, too.

My favorite part was when she did her songs from her musicals, especially On My Own, and I Dreamed a Dream, including that very vocally acrobatic song from Wicked. Totally amazing.

The song I liked most, though was the one she serenaded her husband Rob Chien with (it was their 6th year anniversary) that night. It was a beautiful song, really. Very...gentle, and was about constancy in love, and not having any regrets. at all. :-) Trust me, it was very nice.

It was a great experience, really, well worth the wait. :-p The initial disappointment of just Almost  getting to watch her from two years back, when I was still in Iloilo was totally forgotten. After the concert, I walked around like a goofy fan, repeatedly saying, "Wow...".

Anyway, I have duty tomorrow, so it's an early bedtime for me. I hope you guys enjoy the pics. :-)

Love,

~ S.

Today's 10 (With Lea Salonga at the Bottom)

    Last weekend at BookSale, I checked out this thick, hardbound textbook, a manual on writing (American) which had a chapter on a technique called "Freewriting".

    Freewriting is a prelude to writing (the real thing), where the writer puts his or her thoughts together before collating and then editing (and then re-editing, followed by more editing).

The book said that he best ways to do it would be either of the two:

     1. getting a blank sheet of paper and a trusty pen, and just writing out whatever random thought or idea comes to mind, OR,

     2. Sitting in front of a computer, turning it off, and just typing away on the keys, letting ideas flow, without seeing them.


     (I actually attempted to close my eyes while writing this. LOL.)



      It's actually hard to just free-write. For most active netizens, who regularly post online, it's probably always something of a challenge to come up with something novel that they can share with the general public, or of those in their reader lists. It may be occasionally hard to shake off the feeling of having an audience in mind. Subconsciously, you are tailoring your words for a bigger audience, so there will be editing (and reediting) even before your words come out onscreen.

I read Kurt Vonnegut, and he said in the first few pages of one book that he  actually thought of his mother when he wrote a book (he said, and I paraphrase "Good writing is accomplished with an audience in mind.")

( But seriously now, who wants to read what I've "freewritten" anyway?  :-p (No, it's ok, you don't have to tell me. haha) It's not edited, it's mainly a list, and may not be as ZEN-like an experience if it were more well-thought of, but just in case I won't have time to write another one, this'll have to do.

     At any given time, I usually have a thought, or a memo or a little note that I want to remember, or an idea that I want to talk/write about, but I usually don't have the time to do everything, so they get lost to oblivion...or maybe to the Dream Library. *wink, wink* (NB: The Sandman, Neil Gaiman)

    "He who does not have a good memory puts it down on paper...", so went Dr. Juvenal Urbino in GG Marquez' book, "Love in the time of Cholera". And so, to be quick, I've decided to list down 10 thoughts...

1.   For the best massages and ambience, you should all try the  Royal Spa,  near St. Paul's...the place is nice, has a minty smell, has swell Lazyboys and has quite a good price (although, Ma paid for mine. LOL)

2. I don't like massages as much as my Ma does, 'cause I tickle easily, especially at the lumbosacral area and my thighs. Instead of "relaxing", I "tighten" up and try to not "wriggle around" too much instead and have to bury my face in a pillow to keep from laughing out loud, or giggling.


3. Reflexology hurts too. Ick. I'm not a big fan, although my cousin swears by it (my aunties with him).

4. I had a fun conversation with an old lady patient at rounds last night, after I was done examining her, I stayed a few minutes more because she was quite an interesting old lady, well-traveled and poised, she told me that she used to write articles for the Philippine Free Press and was currently writing her memoirs. She told me that she had won their provincial christmas 2009 party's "Best Dressed Senior Citizen", and that she had had a long full life (she was 82) and was ready to die anytime.

A very groovy granny, mind.

5. I want to see more Glee.

6. " Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature do not alter its course." - Kahlil Gibran, The Broken Wings.

7. I'm reading two books today, I started "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown on the bus this morning, and I just finished "The Broken Wings" by Kahlil GIbran. The former is so factual, while the latter is thinner and more whimsical, but nevertheless, I was blown away by the picturesque speech (as usual). :-)

8. This work of Kahlil Gibran, called The Broken Wings, is something you want to read when you're fully awake, sated with food and water, non-skeptical, open-minded, and optimistic about love and falling... because you would want to take his prose in deep.

His words and lines were so simply written but hauntingly beautiful. (I was reading on the dining table earlier, my favorite spot to read because it is just ergonomic, and I can take out my journal and fountain pen or just copy down a few of his beautiful phrases and rhymes just so I could marvel at his exquisite sentences... Like for example, he was talking about a sunset the first time he saw her to  seen his paramour Selma, and he went like this, "The day passed fast in that garden, and I could see through the window the ghostly yellow kiss of sunset on the mountains of Lebanon." I read that out to Ma, and I sighed, because I liked how he used his metaphors and similes. Just exquisite...but there's more, of course.

9. On the right-hand side of this page, there's a Mar Roxas ad that's been amusingly "Facebook-ified".  The campaign slogan is so cheesy, really, because they tried to work the popular facebook games such Mafia wars and Farmville into it... i.e. "I'm Mar. Not exactly a Farmville fantasy but will work for a better economy. And no more to Mafia Wars-like crimes and deals."  The dude has a point, yes, but it STILL is a corny slogan.

10. I'M GOING TO SEE LEA SALONGA'S CONCERT IN CEBU ON SUNDAY!!! FINALLY!!! :-)

     The closest thing I got to seeing a Lea Salonga concert was way back in January 2008, when I was still doing my clerkship year (4th year) in Iloilo City. She was going to perform at the Centennial and tickets were selling at 1500, 2500, and up. I figured I'd get the cheapest one and just go anyway, so I saved up for it some days before the thing. When I went to the ticket place a couple of days before the event to get a ticket, i was told that they didn't have any more 1500 tickets left....2500 na lang daw.

Hu Hu Hu. I didn't have the heart to ask a loan for something quite as trivial as a concert ticket. And so... here I am now, watching two years later instead. :-p

(Actually, it's funnier if i tell how it went in my own dialect, because this retelling just makes me look pathetic, but hey, you get the idea. I was thisclose that time... but now, it's a sure thing, so it's all good...:-p)

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Everything in its own good time, I suppose. That last time, none of my friends/housemates wanted to go, I think, so I was probably going to hack it alone if I got to go then. This time, I'll be going with my two Titas and cousin Chris, so it's more fun... the timing is just perfect.

(Ecclesiastes is the "BomB-Diggety". LOL)

~

S.