A talk with a gifted kid

On Homeboy, my morning talk show, I spoke to Reven, 10 years old, incoming Grade 5 student at the Geronimo Elementary School in Balite, Montalban, Rizal.

Reven is a gifted child. Name any country, he’ll tell you its capital. Ask him to enumerate the regions of the Philippines with all the provinces and their capitals – he will do it with ease like a young boy singing Bahay Kubo. Reven is awesome.

Reven comes from a very poor family. Nanay is a housewife while Tatay is a granite installer. Reven’s family stays in a shanty without electricity. But this has not hindered the boy from topping his class since kinder to the fourth grade.

Reven is a voracious reader. He would ransack the neighborhood junk shops for used, worn-out books. He devours them like a ferocious hungry lion would finish an itinerant deer. He likes Geography, Math and Science.

"If you were president of this country, what would you do?" I asked him.

"Pagtutuunan ko ng pansin ang Edukasyon. Ito ang pinaka-importante para sa akin. Bibigyan ko ng komportableng silid-aralan ang mga estudyante para ma-engganyo silang mag-aral. (In jest, "di gaya ng school namin"). Nasa kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. Kami ang susunod na henerasyon at magpapatakbo ng bansa kaya dapat kami ang pagtuunan ng pamahalaan."

After the show, he came to me for an autograph. I told him, one day, people will ask him for his autograph. I have this feeling that someday soon, Reven Gibaga will be a very important man.

Cutting-Edge Productions

"All the world’s a stage," Shakespeare once wrote.

But not too many shows create impact these days.

This is the reason why Golden Earth Events Management and Marketing (GEEM) Corp. thought of creating a company that would provide cutting-edge productions – from the nitty-gritty details to the actual event itself. Think of a hotshot wedding coordinator who takes care of all the wedding details – from the invitations, to the flowers to the wedding souvenirs to the seating arrangements of your guests.

This is how GEEM Corp. works. The planning, managing, packaging of the whole show prior to the pre-launch up to the execution of the main event are all tackled meticulously by a team of production specialists.

From initial concept development, the production team will conjure the right blend of artists (personal chemistry included), as well as define the type of performance based on the target audience.

They also think of the sponsors whose products or services are fit for the show.

The group also understands that for an event to be successful, it must rely heavily on integrated media communications as its strategic approach. They call it intelligent marketing.

Take The Engineer and The Vamp, the pre-Valentine show they did at the Makati Shangri-La. It wouldn’t have been a successful show if it were not for the magical combination of Leo Valdez and Verni Varga.

Given the numerous competing Valentine shows (by both local and foreign performers), the show could not have been noticed if it were not for the integrated media campaign used for the show’s pre-launch. Add to that Leo and Verni’s vocal prowess and bravura performances.

Inspired by this success, GEEM Corp. brings back Leo and Verni, this time with US-based musical director-arranger and piano wizard Toti Fuentes in The Engineer, The Vamp & The Maestro, a magical fusion of performers which goes on stage on June 3 at the Pacific Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu, and June 10 and 11 at Onstage Greenbelt.

Also to be staged by GEEM Corp. is The Soul Sisters Act, the first team-up of Best Actress Grand Slam winner Ara Mina, Marissa Sanchez and Jessa Zaragoza. Show dates are on May 18 and June 2 at the Metro Comedy Bar along West Avenue and on May 20 at Café Lupe in Guadalupe.