Valentine with Paul Williams & Dennis Lambert

(Just An) Old-Fashioned Love Song
We’ve Only Just Begun
I Won’t Last A Day Without You
Rainy Days and Mondays
You And Me Against The World
Let Me Be The One
Baby Come Back
I Live For Your Love
And the list goes on and on…

The list, of course, refers to the dozens of beautiful and unforgettable music created by two of America’s greatest and most successful composers and lyricists which inspired some of the most popular and best-loved hit songs of the ’70s.

Performed and recorded by some of the 20th century’s best artists and talents, these songs have gained the admiration and acclaim of millions of fans worldwide, attracting sold-out audiences on concert tours and shattering sales charts of their records.

Paul Williams and Dennis Lambert, the renowned composers and songwriters of these pop classics, will serenade Filipino fans with their interpretation of their own musical creations when they perform during a Valentine’s spectacular to be held on Feb. 14, 8 pm., at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Dubbed as Great American Songwriters Series, the one-night musical event (to be mounted by Renen de Guia’s Ovation Productions) will showcase an awesome repertoire of some of the outstanding products of contemporary music penned by the two American music icons.

For the benefit of the new generation of music lovers, here’s a backgrounder: Williams is recognized as one of America’s most prolific and gifted songwriters and composers who is responsible for a number of enduring pop hits from the ’70s, including (Just An) Old-Fashioned Love Song, a US-Top 10 hit for the band Three Dog Night in late 1971; and a number of The Carpenters’ hits, most notably We’ve Only Just Begun which has since become a cover-band standard.

An Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe winner, Williams is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a recipient of the 2004 National Music Publishers President’s Award.

His songs have been performed by both pop and country music artists. His standards have been recorded by such diverse music icons as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, David Bowie, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughn, Johnny Mathis, Bing Crosby, The Carpenters, Luther Vandross, Mel Thorme and Diana Ross.

Among the country legends who have favored his songs are Chet Atkins, Kris Kristofferson, Charlie Pride, The Dixie Chicks, Crystal Gayle, Anne Murray, Lynn Anderson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Diamond Trio and Neil McCoy.

Williams considers as his favorite song The Rainbow Connection (from the children’s classic, The Muppet Movie) which is one of his two songs that grace the American Film Institute’s list of top movie songs of all time. The second, Evergreen, is from the award-winning Streisand/Kristofferson remake of A Star Is Born.

"It’s a thrill to hear my words interpreted by such inimitable talents as Sarah McLachlan, Willie Nelson, Kenny Loggins, Judy Collins and Kermit the Frog!," he said.

Other song scores include the cult favorites Phantom Of The Paradise in Ishtar, as well as The Muppet Christmas Carol and Bugsy Malone. Williams also penned the lyrics for the blockbuster hit The Sum Of All Fears.

For the season finale of Ally McBeal, he offered the touching I Know Him By Heart, recorded by Vonda Shepard.

He recently teamed up with legendary songwriter Carole King to write the song Stand Back (sung by Joan Osborne) for Raising Helen and wrote the music and lyrics for the Gary Marshall musical Happy Days.

Although TV audiences came to know the witty Williams as one of Johnny Carson’s recurring favorites on The Tonight Show or as an actor in dozens of films, television comedies and dramas, it his musical legacy that continues to inspire.

We’ve Only Just Begun, Rainy Days And Mondays, You And Me Against The World, An Old Fashioned Love Song and Let Me Be The One remain pop classics and are among the 22 tracks on the November 2004 Hip-O select release Evergreens: The Very Best Of The A&M Years.

Also released in 2006 was the AIX DVD audio/video disc, I’m Going Back There Some Day, featuring Williams and special guests Willie Nelson, Melissa Manchester and Gonzo the Muppet. The full-featured DVD includes stereo and 5.1 surround recordings of some of Williams’s favorite songs, complete video of the sessions, interviews and concert footage of recent performances.

Following a successful tour with Melissa Manchester, Williams has since performed his classics in venues from New York City to Los Angeles.

On ther other hand, Dennis Lambert is an acclaimed songwriter and producer who gained recognition for his consistent hit-making and songwriting in every style of music throughout a successful musical career that spans four decades.

He has written almost 600 songs to-date and produced close to 100 full-length albums, which have generated sales in excess of 100 million and earned multiple Grammy Awards, American Music Awards and BMI Awards.

His body of works has remained relevant and innovative, from the fable-like, anti-war protest hit, One Tin Soldier (The Legend Of Billy Jack) in 1970 to the sophisticated hip-hop of TLC’s Unpretty remix in 2000…from the campy Do The Freddie in 1965 to the anthemic We Build This City in 1986.

He maintained this hallmark of excellence with the pop standards Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got) and Don’t Pull Your Love in the early ’70s and the R&B classics Nightshift and Don’t Look Any Further in the mid-’80s.

His credits also include the songs Dream On (The Righteous Brothers), It Only Takes A Minute (Tavares), Baby Come Back (Player), She’s Gone (Tavares), Stormy (Santana), The Moment of Truth (Survivor), Sara (Starship), I Live For Your Love (Natalie Cole) and Love Music (Sergio Mendes & Brazil 77).

Although he has written many hits performed by other big name artists, Lambert is very popular in the Philippines for the songs, Ashes To Ashes and Of All The Things, both of which he wrote and sang.

As a producer, he enjoyed a successful run working for the ABC-Dunhill label during the ’70s, where he and his partner Brian Potter helmed hit records for the Four Tops, Dusty Springfield and Glen Campbell, among others.

Their biggest smash hit came in 1975 with Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy LP for which they also wrote four songs. The label that the duo formed, Haven — which became the mid-’70s home of The Righteous Brothers — achieved its greatest commercial success with one-hit wonder Player’s Baby Come Back.

After a brief respite in his songwriting and producing activity in the ’80s, Lambert occasionally resurfaced to work with the likes of Natalie Cole and The Commodores.

(Tickets for The Great American Songwriters Series concert are priced at P3,000, P2,500, P1,500, P800 and P300, and are available at Ticketnet outlets at SM Department Stores and at the Araneta Coliseum box-office. For inquiries, call 991-5555). >

Kasal grosses P139-M, overtakes Enteng (P129-M)

As of yesterday, Star Cinema’s Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo has grossed more than P139-M, thus overtaking M-ZET/OctoArts Films’ Enteng Kabisote which has so far earned more than P129-M.

The people behind the 32nd Metro Manila Film Festival (which officially ended on Jan. 7) may have unwittingly created a controversy when they named Enteng as First Best Picture on the strength of its having been the top grosser during the first five days of the filmfest. Kasal finished Second Best Picture (Gatpuno Antonio Villegas Cultural Award) and Regal Films’ Shake, Rattle & Roll 8 Third Best Picture.

Meanwhile, here’s another letter (the final say, hopefully) from Malou N. Santos, managing director of Star Cinema:

Dear Ricky,

First of all, Ricky, thank you for all the help your column provided in the 2006 Metro Manila Film Festival dilemma. By airing all sides of the issue, you helped the concerned industry stalwarts and the moviegoing public judge for themselves.

The artists have spoken, the industry opinion-makers have spoken, and now the moviegoers have spoken. Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo is officially the Metro Manila Film Festival Top Grosser for 2006. For us, it is the best award ever because it comes from the Filipinos themselves. It is a validation of our hard work, heartaches and concern for the industry.

We dedicate the victory of Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo to the moviegoing public, and we share it with the filmmakers who still care for cinema, not just as a business but also as craft and an art. We hope this "happy ending" restores everyone’s faith and renew their conviction that the Filipino film industry still has a place for their vision.

We also hope that the turn of events as an eye-opener for our festival leaders to re-study the system. Only with a set of criteria that is beyond question, devoid of political interest and respectful of the integrity of cinema, can we have a Metro Manila Film Festival that can stand tall in the eyes of the rest of the country and the rest of the world.

Very truly yours,

– MALOU N. SANTOS

Managing Director

Star Cinema

Fr. Joey Faller’s healing schedule

Here’s the out-of-town healing schedule of Fr. Joey Faller:

• Jan. 16, Tuesday, 6 p.m., San Ildefonso Parish, Guiguinto, Bulacan

• Jan. 17, Wednesday, 2 p.m., St. Francis of Assisi, Cabuyao, Laguna

• Jan. 18, Thursday, 7 p.m., Mary Immaculate Church, Zamboanga City

• Jan. 30, Tuesday, 7 p.m., San Pedro Cathedral, Davao City

• Jan. 31, Wednesday, 8 a.m., General Santos City

Regular healing masses:

• Every Monday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m., Kamay ni Hesus, Lucban, Quezon

• Every first, third and fifth Sunday, 8 a.m., TV Mass on Channel 4

• Every first Sunday, 9:30 a.m., SM North EDSA

• Every first Wednesday, 12:15 p.m., SM Megamall

• Every second Friday, 5 p.m., St. Francis of Assisi Church, Sariaya, Quezon

• Every third Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Buklod ng Pagibig Healing Center,

• Every second and fourth Sunday, 9:30 a.m., SM Bacoor (Cavite)

Starting tomorrow, every Wednesday there will be a Mother of Perpetual Help novena and healing mass aired on RPN 9 from 8 to 9 a.m.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])