Turning back the hands of time

Remember when skinny jeans were called baston? When shoulder pads were as cool as today’s latest iPod model?
Back then, girls screamed themselves hoarse to Gino Padilla’s Close-up theme song Closer You and I. Randy Santiago and his omnipresent shades lorded it over the airwaves with the naughty Babaero and the suave Di Nagbabago. The shows to watch were Lunch Date and Penthouse Live.
Louie Heredia and his mestizo good looks stole colegialas’ hearts with the hit song Can Find No Reason. Another mestizo, Raymond Lauchengco, threatened to steal the thunder from Louie via Bagets, movie theme songs and ballads.

As if that wasn’t enough, the war between Pepsi and Coke intensified their rivalry. The county’s top singers belonged to either Pepsi or Coke, and just like today’s raging network wars, stayed away from enemy camp even if they longed to go there.

Oh, during those pre-piracy days, singers had their heyday, and the airwaves were bursting with OPM hits like Gino’s Let the Love Begin.

Today, those original songs are as few and far-between as estranged lovers’ sweet nothings. The shoulder pads have been thrown to the waste bin and baston now goes by the name of skinny jeans. And Randy, Gino and Raymond are proud fathers. Louie, for his part, has made a 180-degree turn. He is now an accomplished chef who can whip up an appetizing meal in no time at all.

But that doesn’t mean all four can’t go up the stage and perform together — just like in the good old days. They did, and they will do it again in Greatest Hits of the ‘80s on Aug. 8 at the Aliw Theater.

Now that the rivalry is gone and the four have nothing more to prove, Randy, Louie, Raymond and Gino can just be themselves, let their hair down and perform the soundtrack of their lives all over again.

Time has not diminished their cool, soothing voices. Gino does it by sticking to clean living. Randy continues to perform before Filipino communities abroad. Raymond just released his album, Full Circle. And Louie breaks into song while whipping up pasta in his Quezon City home.

“The audience has grown up with us,” Raymond observes. “Those who watched us in the ‘80s are now bringing their children along.”

The sight of a seven-year-old girl calling Raymond’s name out after seeing his face on the poster warms his heart like no other. Unbelieving at first, Raymond later took this as a sign that the new generation is still open to him and his music.

He and the rest of the gang must grapple with one thing, though: Their schedules.

“Our skeds are so varied,” Gino relates. But nothing is impossible if your heart’s in it. And theirs is. The fact that their upcoming show (for the benefit of the Philippine Foundation for Tomorrow’s Children) is a repeat shows how much the audience lapped up every number in their ‘80s repertoire (e.g. All Night Long, Rhythm of the Night, Dancing in the Streets, Nag-iisang Ikaw, etc.).

The four will also dress the part. They will slip into several costume changes that will see them sporting the baston and the shoulder pads of the ‘80s. Serenity, Randy’s band at his 12-year-old music venue Ratsky, will accompany the foursome.

There seems to be one cog to the machine, though: Sharon Cuneta will also hold a concert at Araneta Coliseum that very day. This bit of news comes like a lightning bolt to the foursome, who swear they never meant to compete head-on with Sharon.

Turns out the news came when the preparations for the Aliw show have already been laid out. And it was too late to change plans.

How can Gino, for instance, dream of competing with Sharon, when she was kind enough to produce Hands on Time, Gino’s new album for Universal Records?

The die has been cast. The show must go on, the way it will go on, this time in US cities starting next month (Aug. 31 in Reno, Nevada; Seattle on Sept. 6; Las Vegas on Sept. 13; Houston on Sept. 19; and San Diego on Sept. 20).

As they always say in the beginning of a battle: May the best performer(s) win.