HBO enters the concert scene

It is a concert that is not too different from what we usually get these days. Director is the famous Martin Nievera, who also topbills the show. Joining him will be Zsa Zsa Padilla, Jaya and Side A. It will be held at the Tanghalang Francisco Balagtas or the Folk Arts Theater at the CCP complex on May 13 before going off on tour to Cebu on June 3 and Davao on July 1.

What makes the concert different from others is that aside from a few of their own hits, the performers will do mostly songs from famous movies like The Mask of Zorro, You've Got Mail and The Wedding Singer. The reason for this is because the show is HBO in Concert and is therefore an HBO presentation.

If I am not mistaken, HBO stands for Home Box Office, the cable channel that plays movies 24 hours a day without commercial interruption in many parts of the world. What we have in the local cable circuit is HBO Asia, the pay-television service of HBO Pacific Partners, a joint venture of Time Warner Entertainment, Paramount Films of Southeast Asia Inc., Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Studios Inc. HBO Asia programs and distributes HBO, HBO2 and Cinemax.

Now what is HBO doing presenting a series of concerts here with Filipino talents? This is not to say that the channel is a stranger to music. I recall the HBO played a big role in bringing Michael Jackson's HIStory concert tour to Asia. The channel also shows concert films occasionally and a most recent one was that of the Backstreet Boys. But the real reason though for HBO in Concert is that it is HBO's way of saying thank you to its subscribers in the Philippines.

As per a statement from Mr. James Marturano, senior vice president, sales and marketing, HBO Asia: "This is a very special occasion for HBO to thank all our subscribers for their strong support to HBO over the years. As a socially responsible company, we believe that it is important to try to give something back to the local communities that HBO Asia operates in. Thus, we are hosting HBO in Concert to recognize the very talented performers in the Philippines as well as to raise funds in aid of KAME Foundation."

KAME Foundation was founded by presidential daughter Jackie Ejercito-Lopez. The proceeds from HBO in Concert will help build more schools. The reasonably priced tickets, which range from P250 to P2,000 at the FAT will enable many of us to watch these famous artists live in concert. And the letters HBO will be on the mouths of many because of the event.

What I would really like though is for HBO to film this concert and show it all over Asia. Can you just imagine what exposure like that will do for the Filipino artist? Well, maybe not this time, but I really would like to see our talents performing on HBO.

From the mail: Bong Tan of the Bacolod-based group foodshelter & clothing sent in this message regading Dave Stewart to make sure that there are no misconceptions going around that he is the "Andrew Ridgeley" of Annie Lennox in the Eurythmics. As some of you doubtless remember, Ridgeley was the other half of the duo Wham. After a couple of hits, it turned out that he was only serving a "decorative" purpose in the famous pop group and had no contribution musicwise except to dance and look good on stage. Here is Bong's message:

I just wanna correct the popular notion especially in these parts that he (Stewart) was like the "Andrew Ridgeley" (HaHa) of the duo. Perhaps U were aware of his amazing production work from the '80s with such big names as Daryl Hall, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan as well as his more notable work in the '90s with Texas (Say What You Want), Jon Bon Jovi, (Destination Anywhere), All Saints, Alisha's Attic ,Hothouse Flowers, etc., which now makes him like one of the most sought-after record producers in the UK, well, next to William Orbit I suppose. Also he did release two locally-released albums with his Project Band, The Spiritual Cowboys, as well as one solo album, Songs from the Gutter, which features guest spots from Lou Reed and Bootsy Collins. Finally, he did the music score for the film Lily Was Here with sax player Candy Dulfer, and Joel Schumacher's Flatliners.

So there, a lil sumptin' for EM trivia geeks.