Kris & Joey: Have they or haven’t they?

Curtain-raisers:

• Condolence to Annabelle Rama and her uncle, Nap Rama, on the death (Tuesday, Aug. 20) of Annabelle’s father and Nap’s older brother Laurente, 85, in their native Cebu where the remains lie in state. Annabelle and Eddie Gutierrez, together with their children (Ruffa, Richard, Raymond, Elvis, Rocky and Ritchie Paul) should be in Cebu by now for the wake. Laurente, who was bedridden for more than a year, will be buried on Thursday, Aug. 29.

• Taking a "leave" from choreographing, Maribeth Bichara is enjoying her stint as one of the co-hosts of IBC 13’s noontime show Lunch Break Muna. Maribeth is not new to hosting, having done so on the defunct ABS-CBN dance show Keep on Dancing (and other shows before that).

• The gap between MTB hosts Ai-Ai de las Alas and John Estrada is getting wider and wider. On screen, they are civil to each other but off screen, they ignore each other. It all started when John cautioned Ai-Ai against spreading the word that she and John had an "affair." Of course, Ai-Ai didn’t like it (hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, remember?). John and Vanessa del Bianco, another MTB host, are as specially-friendly as ever, kaya sorry na lang Ai-Ai.

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Tulak ng bibig, kabig ng dibdib.

Is that what Kris Aquino is doing?

Yesterday’s paper reported that Kris and lover boy Parañaque Mayor Joey Marquez have decided to "split up." Well and good. But showbiz insiders only took that piece of good(?) news with a shrug, maybe because they know better. Yes, tulak ng bibig, kabig ng dibdib.

Funfare DPAs swore that the same night after Kris made the "split up" announcement early that morning at the Manila Memorial Park during the commemoration of the 19th anniversary of her dad Ninoy Aquino’s death (could he be growling in his grave?), she was seen at the Essensa Condo at The Fort (Taguig), owned by Sydney-based Via Marquez-Hoffman who entrusted it to her younger brother Joey. Was it possible that the lovebirds spent the time, uh, only crying over spilled milk?

So, have they or haven’t they – broken up, that is?

Funfare’s guess (and that of those-in-the-know) is that they haven’t. Neither are they "cooling off." They’re just, you know, "laying low" – the better to mislead the public, my dear? But can they "lay" that "low" while Joey and estranged wife Alma Moreno’s annulment case is pending in court?

What if, just if, Kris gets attracted to another, also older man? Name one? Well, there’s Vic Sotto (over whom Joey got jealous) who was once upon a time romantically linked to Kris while they were doing a Regal movie. Vic could be Mr. Right because, unlike Joey and Kris’ former home companion Phillip Salvador (father of Kris’ love son Joshua), he’s eligible, legally free to marry Kris or anybody because his marriage to Dina Bonnevie has been annulled.

Stay tuned how the Kris-Joey-Alma teleserye/telenovela will end. The twists and turns are not over yet, I warn you, and there just might be a surprise in the plot soon.

Don’t mistake the "cliffhanger" for the denouement.

Aiza will wear a gown

On Sept. 27 and 28, Aiza Seguerra will mount her 19th-birthday concert at the Music Museum, which promises "a night of great music, revelations and surprises." The concert is entitled A First, staged-directed by Aiza herself, with Noel Ferrer as scriptwriter and Ric Mercado as musical director.

Why is the concert so titled?

Well, maybe because for the first time, Aiza will be wearing a gown – no, not just one gown but two, to be designed by Larry Espinosa who actually did three sketches for Aiza to choose from. Can you imagine Aiza, with her spike hairdo, wearing a gown and moving with the daintiness of the dalagang Filipina that she is (whatever other people suspect)?

When Aiza had her debut last year at Villa Escudero in Quezon, she did so in an informal, casual style by the waterfalls, with her and her well-wishers dressed in denims (long and short).

But as a child, however, Aiza used to wear gowns as a contestant in Eat, Bulaga’s Little Miss Philippines contest. The last time she wore a gown was at Lindsay Custodio’s wedding where Aiza was a bridesmaid.

Aiza in a gown is one of the reasons for you to watch her 19th-birthday concert, a production of Vicor Music Corporation in cooperation with Manila Standard, Gift Gate, Landbank, Dulcinea, Don Henrico’s Goldilocks, Aquasafe, UCPB, Yes-FM 101.1, Love Radio 90.7 WRock, Kool 106 and 93.9 I-FM.

(Tickets are now available at the Music Museum Ticketron, ticketworld outlets at major National Bookstore branches, Tower Records Makati and Alabang, Robinsons Department Store in Galleria and Malate. Prices are P1,000, P700 and P500.)