Neil Sedaka at the Big Dome May 17

Stupid Cupid you’re a real mean guy, aren’t you?

Mention the name Neil Sedaka and we baby boomers go “stupid Cupid,” don’t we?

Okay now, confess: How many of you out there have fallen in love to the tune of You Mean Everything To Me, fallen out of love to One Way Ticket to The Blue, split up with your beloved to Breaking Up is Hard To Do, blown candles to Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and, hmmmm, lost your innocence to Stairway to Heaven?

Yes, Neil Sedaka will always be in our hearts, part and parcel of our beautiful past. Neil will always be the “Little Devil” and the “King of Clown” of our lives, won’t he?

The good news is that Neil is coming back (he was here ages ago!) for a concert at the Araneta Coliseum on May 17, so it’s time for us to dust off those Sedaka albums and replay them all over again. Better still, let’s all watch him sing live and relive those happy days when we were younger, less burdened with cares and worries, and more light-hearted than we are today.

More on Neil Sedaka in a future issue.

(Note: Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits is produced by Concertus. Tickets are priced at  P5,250, VIP; P4,725, Patron; P3,675, Lower Box; P2,625, Upper Box A; P1,323, Upper Box B; and P525, General Patronage. For inquiries, call Ticketnet at 911-5555.)

1st Misses Island Philippines named

From Funfare Update’s “beauty experts” Felix Manuel, Joey Cezeare, Gery Yumping and Francis Calubaquib, this brief report:

The glittering 2008 Miss Island Philippines coronation night was held at the SMX Convention Center (beside the Mall of Asia) in Pasay City last Friday, April 4, hosted by Johnny Litton and 2008 Miss Global City Philippines Hemilyn Escudero.

The grand winners were Karen May Manalo (#22), named the first ever Miss Island Philippines Tourism, and AJ Surjani (#14), the first ever Miss Island Philippines Bikini of the World. Karen will represent the country in the Miss Tourism International contest in Malaysia and AJ in the Miss Bikini of the World contest in Caracas, Venezuela.

Members of their court are Natalie Alvia (#21), first runner-up; Kristalyn Engle (#9), second runner-up; and Atheena Taccad (#23), third runner-up.

Rosita de la Vega may not sing again

Regular followers (this one included) of Tia Dely’s Saturday night program on dzRH must have missed Rosita de la Vega on the show’s Serenata Kumbidahan portion (which features veteran singers like Boy Cadelina, Lola Sela, et al). The reason was that Rosita suffered a massive brain hemorrhage the day before while singing I Like It at a birthday party, which was also the last song she sang on Tia Dely’s show Saturday last week.

Now in her early 80s, Rosita was declared brain dead by the doctor and transferred from the ICU to a regular room at the Manila Doctors Hospital (on UN Avenue, Manila) where she was rushed.

“She was suffering from hypertension and she forgot to take her medication for three months,” said The STAR’s Remember When? columnist and art patron Danny Dolor whose Tribung Pilipino Foundation honored Rosita with an afternoon tribute in 2006. “I was told that Rosita was very happy during that birthday party, as usual singing to her heart’s content and much to the amusement of those present. She didn’t finish the song. Basta na lang siya nag-collapse.”

Danny informed Funfare Update that Rosita was the Queen of Philippine Novelty Songs of the ’50s. According to the souvenir program (for the tribute) given to me by Danny, Rosita de la Vega’s original first name was Rosario, given to her by her parents who were of Ilocano stock. Her father Luis, who had a good voice, courted her mother Consuelo by serenading her.

Rosita finished high school at Arellano and got her first break from Lou Salvador Sr. who hired her as an “intermission” singer in stage shows at Cine Strand. Then, she transferred to the Life Theater where she performed with the likes of Katy dela Cruz, Rogelio dela Rosa, Sylvia La Torre, Dolphy and Chiquito.

From 1950 to 1953, Rosita recorded no less than 48 songs under eight recording studios. Among her famous songs were adaptations of American songs like Sa Liwanag ng Buwan (By The Light of the Silvery Moon), Kung Ikaw Ay Akin (Oh My Wonderful One) and My Love (Since You Went Away). The late National Artist Levi Celerio wrote most of local versions of the lyrics. Rosita’s novelty songs made her popular and controversial.

Rosita has nine children, 27 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Danny Dolor and Rosita’s family and friends are requesting Funfare Update readers to pray for her recovery. 

What’s up?

• Here’s Leo Navarro Valdez reacting from Australia to the news of Toti Fuentes’ death in Chicago last week: One cannot but shed a tear when a person who has somehow touched and enriched your life has moved on to the Great Beyond. It is with great sadness having just read about Toti Fuentes’ passing on. He was my musical director in a few of my shows. His immense gift of music that he so generously shared and the goodness of his person will be terribly missed. In 2003, while visiting briefly from London in a grand family reunion when my nephew got married, I asked Toti to accompany me on the piano during the wedding ceremony. I didn’t know that he was already very sick then and I even complimented him on how he had trimmed down so amazingly. He just smiled and never said anything, and played wonderfully as he had always done. Once, he told me that playing and performing was his “medicine” which made him forget the pain. And play beautiful music he did until the end.

• Oops! One of the principal sponsors in the 1987 wedding of Pilar Pilapil and Michel Ponti (who separated after only one year) mentioned in a recent Funfare Update item was the late Dr. Constantino (not Manuel) Manahan.

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