Sometimes I am a scene-stealer!

Be playful at times. In a circle of friends – or even in the company of a crowd – do not be square. I always remind myself that the best defense to anything – be it sickness or stillness, boredom or broken-heartedness – is laughter. And I laugh even if I’m alone.

It sounds silly to laugh alone but I found myself in stitches the other night when I was all by myself in the house, reminiscing some crazy things I did in the past. I must admit, that night, when everybody else was out celebrating Valentine’s Day, loneliness was knocking at my door as an unwarranted guest. For a while – that was about 12 minutes of pondering – I allowed myself to be lonely. But my lonesomeness ended where my conscious effort to be happy began. To begin with, I am basically a happy person so loneliness, like a good guest who knows the time when to leave, left me alone. Then I found a great company in myself. And what a wacky company it was!

Did you ever experience laughing so hard that it already gave you gas pain? Did you ever laugh so mirthfully that tears already rolled down your cheeks and it was so uncontrollable that your nose cried, too? Did you ever laugh your head off and felt a liberating kind of pain like you just won from a bloody boxing match?

I almost knocked out myself that night. I was alone but every punch of laughter I relished was so hard to the stomach I could hear the air pushing out of my chest. And I was blaming the concerts I saw some moons back. Concerts? Yes, some of the wackiest moments of my life came about in public musical shows.

Take for example the show of Freestyle at Onstage in Greenbelt 1 a couple of years ago. It started so late that in the middle of the show I was feeling restless already. I was on the verge of falling asleep when I heard the guitarist strummed a familiar song. It was a Rick Segreto ditty – Don’t Know What to Do. I cringed. Memories zoomed in my mind like a crashing jet plane. I remembered my great crush in college. And as we put it in the ’80s, I was kilig-to-the-bones when I heard the band beautifully sing that song. The song ended. There was a great applause. The band did another Segreto signature: Loving You, my favorite among the late singer’s songs. The crowd was singing along with the lady lead vocalist. But I was not to be outdone. I was also singing at the top of my voice. The lead vocalist stopped singing for a while, went down the stage, and surveyed the crowd in search of someone who could do a duet with her. I was coy at first but my friends – all four of them – were unrelenting in egging me to join her. Finally, she waved at me – the kind of come-to-Momma wave. I was hypnotized by her charisma. I gave in and the lady singer and I met halfway the concert hall.

She soulfully sang the first part again: It’s been quite a while/ You’ve really kept me wanting you/ You’ve got some style/ so unique/ You’re beautiful/ so warm/ so deep.

While faking that loving look – because how could someone "fall in love" right away with someone she didn’t know from Adam – she passed me the microphone. While trying to evade her eyes, I sang to the delight of the crowd: Stay with me tonight/ Let me know the kind of love/ that will remain forever be/ A dream that had become reality.

Just when I thought she would allow me to sing the chorus alone, her right hand, urgh, slightly grabbed my left hand that was holding the microphone. So there we were still in the middle of the crowd, her right palm touching the knuckles of my left hand. Somehow, we managed to situate the microphone barely away from our cheeks. We sang the chorus together. Then we alternately used the microphone singing the first part of the song again. This time, I was already devoid of shyness; no single molecule of inhibition could be found in my face. The crowd rooting for my kagagahan was simply intoxicating. I was just enjoying my few minutes of fame.

I didn’t know how it happened that there was a prolonged instrumental before we hit the chorus again. As the band played, the crowd rambunctiously shouted:

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

The lady singer was pretty all right but I didn’t know if she would like for some stranger to give her a peck. But I know in my heart it was fake prudery that I felt. For how could I kiss her without having to think of the alaska (bantering) I would receive from my friends. The audience, however, was dying for me to kiss her, the way the Romans were dying to see blood between two gladiators fighting in the Coliseum. Instead of giving in to the pressure of the crowd, I grabbed the microphone from her hand and sang the chorus all by myself. Not only that, with two spotlights speckled on me, I lovingly left her in the middle of the crowd and joined the band on stage. Up on stage, I sang the chorus: Ohh, loving you/ wohh, is such an easy thing to do/ Though you never know/ It’s driving me crazy ‘cause it grows and grows/ But I won’t let it stop/ No, I’m not giving up/ Loving you/ Ohh.. loving you/ is just a bit too much.

The members of the crowd couldn’t contain their hilarity. I was simply enjoying playing gaga. The lady singer conveyed an expression that bordered in disbelief and wonder; the smile on her face was indelible as I did my antics on stage. I kept singing, the way Ariel, the Little Mermaid, did when Ursula asked her to keep singing under the sea.

When Loving You was over, I told the crowd I was not yet finished performing. I wanted to sing more. So I sang another Segreto song. When I was finished, I thanked the crowd.

"Thank you for coming to my concert," I said.

They laughed and shouted for more.

But there were no more encores from me.

I went down the stage and gave back the microphone to the singer.

The crowd, apparently very entertained of what I did, shouted again:

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

This time they won. I gave in to their demand and kissed the singer on her cheek.

The crowd was thrilled. If only they knew...

(The world needs to laugh. Next time, I’ll tell you about the crazy things I did at the concert of the CompanY and how I shouted "Stop the wedding!" at my friend’s altar date. Please share with me your laughter at bumbaki@yahoo.com. If you find the fantastic Freestyle performing anywhere else, please snail mail me at The Philippine Star c/o Allure Section, Roberto Oca corner Railroad Streets, Port Area, Manila. Have a Sunday filled with laughter.)