Kuh conquers Southeast Asia

Curtain-raisers:

• After spending almost one year in Vancouver as plain housewife (Mrs. Ronnie Miranda), Alice Dixson is back to resume her showbiz career. She will be announcing her formal reentry into showbiz any time now.

• The Shaggy concert (slated Nov. 29 at the Big Dome) has been cancelled. For ticket refund, go to the Araneta Coliseum ticketnet from Dec. 1 to 15. Or call 911-55-55 for details.

• Could it be true that there will be seven, instead of the usual Magic 5, entries in this December’s Metro Filmfest to accommodate First Son Mikey Macapagal-Arroyo’s movie? Oh, well, what is he in Malacañang for?

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Guess where Kuh Ledesma was yesterday afternoon when her Republic of Malate (ROM) was burning (razed in only several minutes)? She was at home in Pasay City taking a nap. When Kuh and company reached the fire scene, ROM was a giant ember. Years back, Kuh’s Music Museum also burned down (and has since been rebuilt by other people).

The fire came only several days after Kuh came home from Indonesia where she represented the country in the first ever Divas of SEA (Southeast Asia), a TV special that brought together Asia’s top divas in one concert. The show was hosted by Indonesia and broadcast over Indonesiar, the newest and biggest TV network in Indonesia. It will soon be aired in neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

Among the featured divas were Malaysia’s Fauziah Latiff, Sheila Majid and Siti Nurhaliza with Indonesia’s TT DJ, Vina Panduwinata and Kris Dayanti. They performed duets, grand production numbers, and solo spots of their respective countries’ biggest hits.

Kuh wowed the Indonesian audience from the start as she sang the opening notes of One Day I’ll Fly Away, dressed in a Rajo Laurel gown. She then joined voices with Malaysian diva Fauziah Latiff in a duet, and Indonesian diva TT DJ in a production number.

But the loudest applause was reserved for Kuh’s rendition of Anak, the global OPM hit by Freddie Aguilar. The audience went wild when Kuh obliged with a song, Antara Dan Jakarta, in their own Bahasa Indonesia language.

After a series of shows in Asia and the US, Kuh will prepare for her year-ender concert. Dubbed Kuh On Higher Ground, the show is set for Dec. 28, 29 and 30, 9 p.m. at the Music Museum. (For details, call Headline Concepts at tel. nos. 551-7252 to 55.)

Lance larger than life

You, too, must have been wondering, intrigued no end, by that huge (as in HUGE!!!) billboard towering over the Blue Building at Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City, showing the well-chiseled and beautifully-sculptured (yes, it looks as if it’s "sculptured") physique of Lance Raymundo who is clad in a revealing, half-buttoned leather trousers (by Alcs Porras) and an open shirt, hardly leaving anything to the imagination.

That photo of Lance, taken by Raymund Isaac, has been a real traffic-stopper since it was unveiled recently. If you happen to be driving in that area, do look up and gasp at the sight of that smiling hunk. (Move over, Diether, Piolo, Jericho, Carlos and Bernard?)

Now, is Lance advertising any product, anything? The billboard, which carries only the name Lance Raymundo, doesn’t say so and that’s what makes it intriguing. But, yes, Lance is keeping motorists and passersby guessing what he’s endorsing.

Clue? Well, Lance’s body is the product of a three-week "wonder" program by Joey Luna, a fitness trainer whose credit includes such beautiful bodies as Nicole Kidman and ex-husband Tom Cruise, Madonna, and many others.

Based in the US, Luna travels back and forth to Manila and accepts clients for personal training whenever he’s in town. It was Lance’s manager Angie Magbanua (Luna’s former teacher at La Salle) who requested him to "sculpt" Lance into that beautiful body he is now.

Sweet Trio meets again

Although they move in the same circle, seldom do local showbiz’s "sweet trio" Susan Roces, Boots Anson-Roa and Charo Santos-Concio find themselves in one affair. If memory serves me right, the last time they were together – all three of them, that is – was a few years ago at a bienvenida dinner for L.A.-based (ex-)movie writer Baby K. Jimenez, the only person who can bring them together.

It was also a "BKJ affair," in a way, where I saw the "sweet trio" together – at the wedding last Nov. 16 of BKJ’s lawyer-nephew, Gary Tan Gana Jimenez and Patricia Luisa "Pepper" Geslani, at the St. James the Great Parish in Ayala Alabang. Or, to be precise, at the Alabang Country Club where the reception was held in a romantic, fairy-tale ambience. Charo was one of the principal sponsors, while Susan and Boots were among the choice guests.

Somebody suggested to Charo that she, Susan and Boots should star in an episode for her (Charo’s) ABS-CBN show Maalaala Mo Kaya. Although Charo has been mulling over that idea, she said it would have to remain "an impossible dream" for the meantime.

At the wedding, when the song haunting You and I was being sung, I saw Susan’s eyes turn misty with poignant recollection. I asked Susan what her and FPJ’s theme song is and she said, "When Ronnie was courting me, it was Look To Your Heart. When we got married," Susan smiled, "it was Somewhere in Your Heart, And then, other songs followed. We’ve been married for many years (their 33rd wedding anniversary is on Dec. 25) so you can just imagine kung ilan na ang theme songs namin."