The Everly Brothers almost came to Manila in 2006

MANILA, Philippines - “I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine, anytime night or day, only trouble is, gee whiz, I’m dreamin’ my life away... dream dream, dream dream, pom pom pom pom pom, dream dream, dream dream, pom pom pom pom pom, was I dreamin’, or were you really there, was I dreamin’…” Sound a bit confusing? Maybe it does because it’s actually two songs melded together — The Everly Brothers’ All I Have To Do Is Dream and the Cascades’ Was I Dreamin’. This medley has been a Cascades concert staple since 2006 and will be performed for sure when the Cascades did their May 2014 tour. John Claude Gummoe, lead singer/composer/founder of the Cascades, has always been a big fan of The Everly Brothers and who isn’t? They were idolized even by the Beatles and inspired thousands of singing careers. 

My fascination with The Everly Brothers started in my teen years. I’d listen endlessly to their long-play album at my neighbor’s record player until he got so tired of it and sent me home. They came to Manila in 1966 and performed at the Araneta Coliseum. Because I couldn’t afford the ticket price, I just stood beside their concert poster on concert night and imagined they were performing live and dreamt that someday I would watch them live.

When I became a DJ in 1968, their songs were a staple of my playlist and my fervor to watch them perform live intensified. I silently wept when they split up in July 14, 1973 at the historical Knotts Berry Farm gig where Don threw his guitar on the ground after arguing with Phil onstage and declared he was through being an Everly Brother. After being on non-speaking terms for 10 years, they decided to reunite, hit the road and record two albums. The reunion was a fragile one that was on and off. During one of their rare tours, I got my chance to finally see them live when my compadre Ambassador King Aguiluz was successful in scoring tickets to their sold-out three-week concert at Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. They were already in their mid-60s but their harmonies were still fabulous and they hit those high notes effortlessly like they were still in their 20s.

After the concert, I made plans to bring them back to the Philippines. It was almost mission impossible because they rarely toured. I kept pestering their manager and broke through when they booked a week-long engagement at the Royal Albert Hall in London back in 2006. They accepted my offer and would do my five-city Asian tour after the London engagement. They haven’t been to Asia in decades where they have a tremendous following. Therefore, it was a walk in the park to book them in Manila and other cities that included Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. I mobilized my partners and pooled our finances for the 50-percent downpayment. A week later, after the booking agent received our downpayment, the contract arrived with the technical rider.

Upon reading the technical rider (a technical rider is a list of the artist requirements that includes musical instruments, sound equipment, transport requirement, hotel type, meals, etc.), I found it a bit strange that it specified Phil and Don should not sit together on the plane, have separate limos, individual hotel suites in different floors, individual dressing rooms and absolutely no sound check together as a duet. I surmised they probably treasured their privacy a lot. When the initial press release for the forthcoming Asian tour came out, promoters from Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand called me and requested they be included in the tour. Altogether, 10 cities wanted to be added to the current five cities for a total of 15. I was seeing big dollar signs in commissions alone. I excitedly called their manager and proudly informed him it was going to be a 15-city tour instead of five. Normally, managers would be ecstatic with the news but I was perplexed with the cold remark that emanated from his lips, “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Next day I was floored when the manager said, “I regret to inform you that the Everly brothers decided to cancel all engagements after the London shows.” I got so depressed and didn’t know what hit me. It was months later I found out the reason why the Asian tour was canceled from Matt Monro Jr.’s road manager Gus Douglas who worked as tour manager with The Everly Brothers in the past. The reason for their acrimonious relationship is too personal and it won’t be a good idea to put it on print. Even when entering the stage, they were never together. One entered stage left and the other stage right. Luckily, my good friend and poker buddy Lito Domantay did a great Everly Brothers tribute together with his partner at his club so I booked them as the opening act for the Cascades concert. Incidentally, they called themselves the Elderly.