Zsa Zsa recalls Tavern days

This year, Zsa Zsa Padilla is celebrating two milestones in her life and career.

Aside from hitting the big 40, she is also celebrating her 21st anniversary in showbiz. While other stars would go to great lengths to hide this, Zsa Zsa does not.

After all, as her billboards for the Belo Medical Group (and her new cover pictorial for InMall Net glossy mag) proudly declare and show off; 40 never looked this good.

Indeed, Zsa Zsa, is in "her most heavenly shape in years," as the InMall cover story expressed so aptly.

She can put to shame bombshells two decades her junior. But Zsa Zsa also admits she cut her teeth as a live performer in the original Tavern on the Square in the heady ’80s.

It was an intoxicating, exhilarating era, Zsa Zsa recalls her Tavern days.

"Those were the days when we can do anything," she pipes in.

She fondly calls Tavern her "training ground."

Young and reckless, she tinkered constantly with her repertoire. "I experimented with songs," she reminisces. "I even sang songs that were not commercial, material we couldn’t do anywhere else in our other gigs. Songs that were not even played on the radio!"

It was a halcyon time, a time of learning and discovery.

"I didn’t care if other people have not heard of it," she quips, "I would insist on singing it because I liked it. Later on, of course, I realized that I couldn’t do that all the time. It’s important for the audience to be familiar with your songs. As early as the first few notes, they’d be swooning already! Because it’s their favorite. It’s their theme song."

Needless to say, she learned a lot in the Tavern laboratory, as directors Chit Juan and Sandra Chavez would describe it.

"When I was a newcomer, I only did songs I liked doing," Zsa Zsa owns up. "Later on, I came to accept that the show was not only for me."

It’s a precious lesson she benefits from up to this day.

"Until now, I’ve noticed in my shows that no matter how beautiful a song is, if it’s not popular, it would rarely work," she points out.

Revisiting her Tavern days also makes Zsa Zsa nostalgic, especially when she performs with fellow Tavern babies Kuh Ledesma, Gary Valenciano, and Randy Santiago on the Sunday noontime musical-variety show ASAP Mania on ABS-CBN 2.

"It reminds me of being with my contemporaries," she says wistfully. "And growing up with them. That’s why every time I see Gary, I feel like a kid!"

It’s instant flashback every time.

"Like when Gary, Randy, and I did Mambobola and Babaero on ASAP," Zsa Zsa recounts. "We had so much fun. And Gary was making it so campy. And I was in a mini-skirt! We had a blast. It was like I was back in the ’80s. I really miss those days."

If there is one thing her stint in Tavern and her 21 years in showtown has taught her, it is to always move on. "To never feel complacent in one’s comfort zone," Zsa Zsa explains. "To never be satisfied with what works and to always try new things."

Yes, experiment and to innovate, which is what Tavern was all about then. And now.

Now, a new breed of performers and bands are wowing crowds as they hone their talents on the Tavern stage. For August, such bands are booked at the new Tavern on the Square, on the second level of Greenbelt 3, Makati City: Freestyle on Mondays; Escape on Tuesdays; Side A on Wednesdays; Wise Guys on Thursdays; Route 70 on Fridays; Art ‘n’ Soul on Saturdays. On Aug. 14, there will be an Acoustic Night with I-Magician at Tavern on the Square.

It is safe to say that these (veteran and up-and-coming) bands will be the future stalwarts of the music industry. After all, the Tavern name has become synonymous with discovering and developing fresh talents.