Sweet John is a man after all!

John Lapus (of The Buzz fame) is a confirmed gay. He is unabashedly proud of it. In fact, he is so proud of it that he shouts it out to the whole world which has come to know him more for his monicker Sweet than for his real name John Lapus (from the famous Lapus showbiz clan, headed by the late Tinno Lapus of Eskuwelahang Munti of yesteryear).

And because he is 100 percent gay, Sweet John prefers only men, right? In a way, yes. That was until he started shooting his latest movie, Viva Films’ bittersweet dramedy Masikip sa Dibdib (topbilling Rufa Mae Quinto who’s also the co-producer) directed by Bb. Joyce Bernal.

In the movie, John plays an offbeat role as a man – yes, a straight man – the drug-addicted brother of Rufa Mae who’s the breadwinner of a dysfunctional family composed of a hypochondriac mother (Gina Pareño) abandoned by a womanizing husband (Bernard Bonnin), an alcoholic sister (Sunshine Dizon) and a drunkard Lolo (Tita Swarding, also playing a "straight-man" role).

As a womanizer, Sweet John has love scenes each with three Viva Hot Babes (Andrea del Rosario, Gwen Garci and Ella V). And that’s when Sweet John discovered to his pleasant surprise that he can be a man, after all.

In his scene with Ella V, Sweet John got "the works" from the Viva Hot Babes and even before direk Joyce Bernal could shout "Cut!!!," Sweet John found himself responding to Ella V’s "machination" (you know, touching him in sensitive parts, etc.).

"I stood up to the situation," revealed Sweet John who remained unperturbed when, one time, his good friend Kris Aquino stripped naked in front of him while changing clothes at her dressing room. "Puwede rin pala ako sa babae!"

No problem? Guess again.

Ella V seemed to have been so fascinated with Sweet John that she has reportedly actually started "courting" him.

"I’m in a dilemma," said Sweet John. "Kung sasagutin ko siya, paano ang mga boys ko?"

It’s a real "dilemma," indeed. Isn’t it?

Marc Leviste left out of Funfare list

I bumped into Marc Leviste at the ABS-CBN Studio during a recent airing of The Buzz and he teased me for not including him on the list of actors running in the current elections. Yes, Marc, son of Conrad Leviste, twin brother of Tony Leviste who is the husband of Vice Presidentiable Loren Legarda, was once a member of the ABS-CBN Talent Center. He’s running for Board membership in Batangas.

Here’s Marc on himself:

I am 26, currently working in our family business as an administrator of LPL Compound, Lipa City (where Mayor Vilma Santos is running for her third and last term) and a marketing manager of the Leviste Group of Companies. I also teach at the De La Salle Lipa, Tertiary School (Product Management). I am the second of three sons of Conrad and Patsie Leviste. My father is a real-estate developer and former governor of the Board of Investments (BOI) while my mother is a philanthropist.

For your information, I am seeking a provincial board seat to represent the Fourth District of the Province of Batangas. Previous to this coming elections, I was elected Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) councilor from 1996 to 2002 and have been active as Chairman for Youth Affairs of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and as Youth Representative of Luntiang Pilipinas, the environmental organization of Senator/Vice Presidentiable Loren Legarda.

During my college years, I regularly appeared on television and participated in various events/shows. I used to be an active member of ABS-CBN’s Talent Center and Cal Carrie’s International Models, Philippines. I recently appeared as guest on the GMA sitcom Nuts Entertainment.

Pinoy band doing well in New Jersey

Pinoy talents are making great waves all over America and not only on the US talent-search show American Idol where two Filipinas, Camille Velasco and Jasmine Trias, are competing with 10 other finalists for the grand prize in the current weekly elimination episodes.

Camille and company (including Mark Mejia who topped the Star Search hosted by Arsenio Hall and Harlem Lee who won the Fame search) are US-bred Filipino talents.

Not many Filipinos know that a rock ‘n roll band called The Pin-Up Girls, now making good in New Jersey is composed of homegrown (meaning "bred in the Philippines") Filipino talents. The band has hit No. 1 in New Jersey with the first printing of its international CD sold out. The band has been getting rave reviews from US critics, according to Funfare reader Franz Cruz and their songs are being played in radio stations not only in New Jersey but in other parts of the US.

More information about The Pin-Up Girls furnished Funfare by Franz Cruz:

* The Pin-Up Girls is the first Philippine-based band to be signed up by a US label. The band was formed in 1996 while vocalist Mondo Castro was hanging out at a bar with guitarist Pamela Aquino and bassist Jeng Tam, former members of the all-female punk powerhouse group Keltscross. The pub was playing one ’80s New Wave classic after another, inspiring the trio to form a new group. Guitarist Ryan Nachura and drummer Noel Garcia eventually joined the group which got its name from a Bettie Page T-shirt Jeng was wearing. Page was one of the famous Pin-Up Girls of the ’50s.

* The group raised money from a garage sale to record its self-titled first album, Hello Pam, released in July 2001, with its single Witching Hour staying on No.1 for seven weeks on Manila’s veteran alternative rock/New Wave radio station NU 107.

*Even if the group was gaining a cult following, labels in the Philippines gave them the "cold-shoulder" treatment, until one of NU 107’s broadcasts landed in the mailbox of Michael Sutton, an early NU 107 fan and lifelong New Wave devotee who was also the A&R representative of Know-It-All Records in Tacoma, Washington.

*Sutton asked his friend Denis Batungbacal to randomly tape NU 107’s regular programming for him. It so happened that the Pin-Up Girls’ A Cold and Better Place was recorded from one of the NU 107 broadcasts. As it unreeled on his stereo behind him, Sutton stopped typing and listened to the world-weary, unspeakably sad vocals crooning through his speakers and the pensive loud-soft dynamics of the guitar-driven music. He was mesmerized, continually stopping the cassette, rewinding it and then playing the song again and again.

*Sutton asked his Wavelength group if they knew who the Pin-Up Girls were and assigned Maryrose Romero, the Manila representative of Know-It-All Records, to track them down. On June 26, 2002, the Pin-Up Girls became a part of Know-It-All Records alongside their idol, Peter Coyle of the Lotus Eaters, and entered the rock ‘n roll history books.

What should I say? May their tribe increase!

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