A run to help

On Sept. 18, the first in a series of fun runs titled Run and Help will start at the Piazza at Venice McKinley Hill Village Fort Bonifacio. There will be three distance categories — 3 km, 5 km and 10 km. The event is organized by one of the best Marathon organizers in the Philippines — Mar Sports. It is also the group behind the annual Bull Run of the Philippine Stock Exchange and Solar Entertainment Corp.’s Earth Run. For the Run and Help fun run, registration fee is at P550 for all the three distance categories. Each runner gets a dri-fit shirt, race bib and race details upon registration. Targeting a minimum of 3,000 runners, the fun run is for the benefit of Cancer Warriors Foundation (CWF).

 Runners may register online via the official online registration partner www.runnersrunner.com/runandhelp. Registration is also available at Chris Sports SM Megamall, SM North Annex and Glorietta 3. For those in the Taguig area registration is at Recreational Outdoor Exchange (R.O.X.) at Bonifacio High Street and proceed to the registration booth of Runner’s Runner 4 to 9 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday.

Run and Help is made possible by Moringa-O Skin Multi-Vitamin with special thanks to Chris Sports, R.O.X., Delos Santos Megaclinic, Phil Care and Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill.

What showbiz has taught Erik

Eight years in the business has taught Erik Santos a lot about nurturing his craft which includes striking a balance between using intelligence and instinct when making career decisions.

Although criticized by some in the beginning for sounding like his musical influence Martin Nievera, Erik has moved on to establish a distinct identity in the music scene. This he did by coming up with original hits that showcased his own style, and by taking on projects that challenged him.

Meanwhile, whenever he’d do covers whether in shows or on record, he would insist on having the musical arrangement deconstructed then fashioned differently from the original so as to “own” them.

“But I’m not saying it’s wrong to emulate your idols in the beginning. It’s natural for any newbie to do that. What would count as a mistake is to stay there and refuse to grow as an artist,” he said.

Erik has his thoughts on how difficult it is for recording artists to sustain a career these days. He said that aside from the covers trend, promotional songs are not played on air as often as they used to be played in decades past.

“In the ‘80s, a single stays on air for as long as two years! No wonder that many singers then have become iconic. The singers and their songs have stayed in the mind of music lovers,” Erik noted.

The Prince of Pop added that though today’s undiscovered talents seem to have it easier because of the popularity of talent searches, many of its products end up enjoying just 15 minutes of fame. Erik believes this is so because some of them win for the wrong reasons; for their back stories or due to text votes.

“I wish there’d be more real singing contests,” said he. “Yung lulutang ka dahil talagang magaling ka at hindi sa kung anupaman na dahilan.”

Erik speaks from a place of authority. Not only did he, himself, come from a singing contest (search for the Star In a Million, 2003) but he has hosted a talent show recently (Star Power) along with Christian Bautista and Sharon Cuneta.

And, of course, Erik has propelled his career to heights many singers could only dream of so, really, this guy can talk.

On Aug. 13 and 18 at the Music Museum, Erik will hold his two-night concert titled PowER IKons. His first major solo concert this year, the singer pays tribute to icons here and abroad including Elvis Presley, Martin Nievera, Basil Valdez, Michael Jackson and Gary Valenciano. Erik’s special guests in the concert are Angeline Quinto (Star Power grand champ), Stephanie Reese (who played Kim in Miss Saigon-Germany) and Pops Fernandez.

PowER IKons is presented by Record Breaker Events, Core Events and La Carmela de Boracay. Directed by GB Sampedro, the concert is written by Senedy Que with Homer Flores as musical director.

Oh, and another mark of success: Erik shares his blessings. PowER IKons is for the benefit of Bosom Buddies Cancer Foundation. More power, Erik!