How tweet it is to be lashed by you!?!

Curtain-raisers:

• Did Daniel Matsunaga (photo) rush home to Brazil because he had been receiving death threats? “Not true,” said his manager Jonas Gaffud. “Daniel is vacationing with his family for a month and he will be back soon.” Daniel’s fellow Brapanese Fabio Ide also denied the yarn. “If there is such a threat,” said Fabio, “Daniel should have told me.” Another Brapanese, Akihiro Sato, is also in Brazil not for an R&R. “He’s helping in his family’s restaurant business at a resort,” said Jonas.

• Lou Veloso’s (photo) Mobile Theater Foundation (Manila) is staging Martir Sa Golgota at SM North on Palm Sunday, April 1; at Plaza Hugo in Sta. Ana, Manila, on Holy Wednesday, April 4; and other venues in Manila. Lou himself is directing, with Migui Moreno and Jojo Riguerra alternating as Jesus Christ, Don Umali as Pontius Pilate, Ces Aldaba and Archi Adamod alternating as Caiphas, Andy Bais as St. Michael, Heidy Ariana, Artitha Angco and Mira Hipolito alternating as Virgin Mary, Arkin da Silva as Judas and CJ Mangahis as Mary Magdalene. (For booking, call 527-5221 or 527-1685.)

• Barely one-season old, Today With Francis hosted by philanthropist Francis Padua Papica (photo) has been attracting such a considerable following in Naga City that GMA Life TV has picked it for airing worldwide starting on April 21. The show has a magazine format. Francis heads his eponymous foundation which has been supporting scholars, one of them Miss Universe fourth runner-up Venus Raj who graduated from a university in Bicol. Francis hails from Goa, Camarines Sur.

*    *    *

I’m glad that I don’t have a Twitter. Neither do my friends Ronald Constantino and Cristy Fermin. I guess we three are, uhm, semi-computer-illiterate and we’re not ashamed of it.

Like Ronald and Cristy, I’ve been victimized by idle minds who created fake Twitters in our names and started hitting stars below the belt. For the nth time, we’ve been warning people about the scam (it is, isn’t it?) but the fake Twitters remain, until my computer-whiz friends created a real one (therealrickylo) for me to bump off the fake ones… half-successfully. I haven’t been uploading.

I’m mentioning this because of the current cyberspace bashing and lashing about stars including Sharon Cuneta (who continues, even if she should not, to engage her and daughter KC’s detractors in a name-calling war), Regine Velasquez (who is lashing at tweeters who uploaded unflattering descriptions about her and Ogie Alcasid’s baby Nate) and Angel Locsin (who trend-set a wrong reaction against Arnold Clavio, calling him “racist,” when actually Arnold was not criticizing the Azkals not for not being Filipinos because they are even if “only half,” but for their seemingly un-Filipino upbringing vis-à-vis the sexual-harassment case Cristy Ramos filed against some Azkals).

Who was the young Hollywood actress who said that the Twitter and Facebook are some of the dangerous inventions of modern technology? I agree with her. Through the Twitter, anyone can shred anyone’s reputation to pieces, so beware!

So what am I driving at?

This: If you don’t want to be bashed and lashed (at), don’t tweet. If you do, then you be ready for the backlash and don’t cry “Ouch!!!” You don’t jump into the fire and not get burned or jump into the pool without getting wet, do you?

Moral of the story?

Tweet not so that you won’t be tweeted.

Okay, any other star crying “Ouch!”?

Get MAD For Music at Big Dome March 29

MAD For Music features (top to bottom, from left): Jeffrey Hidalgo, Pops Fernandez, Billy Crawford and Nikki Gil... The Rage band, Basil Valdez, Kuh Ledesma and Spirit of ’67... and Kris Lawrence, Isabelle Gonzalez, Geneva Cruz and Grace Lee (host). Below: Freddie Santos, director of the concert.

On March 29, 8 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, a real star-studded all-OPM concert called MAD For Music will be staged, starring (at random order) Basil Valdez, Pops Fernandez, Billy Crawford, Nikki Gil, Kris Lawrence, Geneva Cruz, Jeffrey Hidalgo, Kuh Ledesma and daughter Isabella Gonzalez, the Rage Band and Spirit of ’67, with Grace Lee as host.

MAD stands for Make A Difference.

Directed by Freddie Santos, produced by ALV Events International and presented by Ateneo Law ’88, Inc., the show is for the benefit of WaterHope and the scholarship programs of Ateneo Law School and Ateneo Law Alumni Association, Inc.

It’s definitely a not-to-be-missed show that brings together veterans and new blood in the industry in a nostalgic night that will see the blending of sentimental ballads and easy-listening pop (from the senior singers), and hard-driving rock ‘n roll, groove-inducing disco and contemporary R&B (from the junior singers)

“It’s a dream come true,” said show organizer and Ateneo Law Batch ’88 spokesperson Raul Gerodias who added that he has been listening to the music of Basil, Kuh and company through law school and beyond.

Proceeds from the concert will go to Batch ‘88’s social outreach programs, foremost of which is a partnership with WaterHope, a collaborative social enterprise that teams up with NGOs and private groups to provide affordable clean drinking water to the country’s poor, provide sustainable way of delivering community development services and empower the entrepreneurial poor by giving them access to water-related livelihood opportunities.

(For tickets to MAD For Music, call Ticketnet at 911-5555.)

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)