Why Mon David won’t be home for Christmas

One of the pleasant surprises I had when I was in L.A. last month for the Enchanted junket (interviews with its stars Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams) was meeting Mon David, a “bagong salta” in the States. The meeting was made possible by immigration lawyer Jemella Nettles who happened to text (you know, how are you, etc.) while Raoul Tidalgo (who flew in from New York to visit his relatives) were browsing at Borders, our favorite bookstore, in Beverly Hills, a few blocks away from Beverly Hilton where our host, Walt Disney Pictures, booked us for three nights for the duration of the TV-print interviews.

“What a coincidence,” said Jemella during a celfone call. “I am in the vicinity. I am with Mon.”

Mon who? We asked.

“Mon David.”

Oh, fine. Maybe we can have a quick lunch together?

In a jiffy, Jemella, with Mon in tow, picked Raoul and me at Borders and brought us to a cozy Japanese restaurant a few turns away. We took a table at a corner. We soon spied a familiar face two tables away, with three companions. Yes, of course, it was Chad Lowe, former husband of Hilary Swank.

I said “bagong salta” (newly-arrived) because Mon was exactly that in L.A., having just migrated on the strength of an extraordinary-ability visa processed by, you guessed it, Jemella whose other clients include April Boy Regino (and his family, who have relocated from L.A. to Las Vegas), Marco Sison, Jolina Magdangal, and Dingdong Avanzado and his wife Jessa Zaragoza.

Over sushi, shrimp tempura, and miso soup, Raoul and I would learn that Mon and Jemella have been friends for years, starting when they were working at the Development Bank of the Philippines. Then already a law graduate, Jemella managed one department. She and Mon were members of the DBP choir.

“I thought it would take years for my visa to be approved,” said Mon. “It took only five months.”

His having topped an international jazz competition in London last year weighed heavily in Mon’s favor. The competition started with more than 120 contestants but only six made it to the finals, none of them British. Besides Mon, there were two Americans, two Australians and one German.

A member of the now-inactive Angfourgettables (with Dyords Javier, Bimbo Cerrudo, Pinky Marquez and Isay Alvarez), Mon has been pushing for Kapampangan music (and has six albums to show for it), an effort he is determined to continue even now that he is in the States.

“I include Kapampangan songs in my repertoire. I notice that the audience loves it, even those not from Pampanga. When I did a show in Hollywood, the faces of those in the audience lit up when they hear me sing Ati Cu Pung Singsing.”

At the time of our interview, Mon said he was rehearsing for a jazz festival in Hollywood slated first week of December.

“I will sing more Kapampangan songs in that event,” promised Mon.

Asked how was it adjusting to life in the States, Mon smiled, “Hard.”

But things are made easier by the fact that he is with his family (wife Ann and their children Paolo, Nicole, Carlo and Mikaela).

“Actually, I wasn’t in a hurry to come to the States. I was biding my time because I thought it would take long for our visas to be approved. I was surprised when we got them so quickly.”

Like everybody else newly transplanted in the States, the Davids had to start from scratch.

We asked Mon if he and his family were going home for Christmas but he said he doubted it (even if he had a standing offer to perform at a countdown show on New Year’s Eve at a five-star hotel in Manila).

“We are putting things in order,” he said, “so we might have to spend our Christmas away from home.”

Putting up a new home “away from home” is not that easy because it drastically and radically changes everything that one has gotten used to.

“It’s going back to basics. We had to look for a decent apartment. Then, I had to apply for a driver’s license which I got only after taking two exams. The drivers here are disciplined. They follow traffic rules and, especially in California, it’s seldom that you hear motorists blowing their horns. In the Freeway, if the sign says the speed limit is 60 miles per hour, the motorists really obey. Otherwise, if you violate traffic rules, before you know it a traffic cop is driving beside you and issuing you a ticket. I appreciate this kind of discipline.”

It was easy to see why Mon had decided to move to the States.

“I want to try it here,” he said. “I feel that my kind of music can be appreciated by more people here.”

Like other artists, one goes where his art leads him.

As we left that cozy Japanese restaurant, close on the heels of Chad Lowe (we regretted not having dared to approach him for a “souvenir shot”), I could hear Mon singing to a bigger crowd, more appreciative than any he ever had.

But home will always be in his heart.

“I can always go home if I get a good offer,” he said.

But for the time being, America is his second home.

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