A star-studded night

Hotshot stars descended from their glitzy firmament to support a worthwhile cause at the one-of-a-kind Dish half a full moon ago, dahlings. That fantastic, super popular radio station, 105.1 Crossover hosted a benefit special entitled A Night with the Stars.

Some of the country’s top models, designers and celebrities gladly took time out to wait on tables and serve as bar attendants, cajoling the jam-packed crowd to have their fill of beer that night. Each beer bottle cost P100 and the total amount earned went to the Luis Punzalan Villar Sr. Foundation which aims to provide scholarship grants to truly deserving college students of the UP College of Music.

A flashback, dahlings: the late well-loved and respected Luis Punzalan Villar Sr. headed the Mabuhay Recording Company (MARECO) which became synonymous with the golden age of Filipino music. MARECO started producing records as early as 1949 and launched the careers of local music icons Sylvia La Torre; Ruben Tagalog; Diomedes Maturan; Pilita Corrales; The New Minstrels; Ric Manrique; Jun Polistico; and Basil Valdez. MARECO also held the exclusive license to produce records for over 50 major international labels, palanggas. That included hot, hot names like RCA and Columbia Records which boasted of high-caliber artists like Trio Los Panchos; Los Indios Tabajaras; Jack Jones; Jerry Vale; Joni James; and Vickie Carr.

Don Luis Punzalan lives on through MARECO Broadcasting Network, Inc. which operates 105.1 Crossover-Manila; 99.1 Crossover in my City of Smiles, Bacolod; 93.1 Crossover at the Star City, Cebu; 93.1 Crossover-Davao; and 105.1 Crossover-Baguio. Don Luis and his la simpatica wife, Doña Charing Rojas-Villar raised their children well: Malou Villar-Chipeco; Christine Villar-Pineda; Louie Villar Jr.; Elaine Villar-Rivilla; vivaciously adorable Saripaz Villar-Tan; and Karen Villar-Fuentebella. They also have grandchildren who are now managing the network and are all involved in the foundation.

According to the foundation’s spokesperson and Don Luis’ granddaughter, smart lawyer Tricia Villar, the family members were inspired to set up the foundation because they wanted to continue Don Luis’ strong desire to support and promote the local music industry in every possible way. She added, "We are happy and grateful that these models and celebrities readily said ‘yes’ when we invited them to join us in this project. This is just the first of a series of projects that we hope to do in the near future to help deserving Music students."

Super hot stars like vivacious and witty Nanette Inventor; Marc Nelson; Frederick Peralta; delicious looking Angel Jacob; attractive Phoemela Barranda; world-class Knit Queen Lulu Tan-Gan; top couturier and Southern boy Randy Ortiz; fashion-forward Vic Barba; Jackie Aquino; Jed Maddela; exotic beauty Rissa Samson; Bench hunk Robby Mananquil; Patrice Ramos-Diaz; Aliyah Parcs; Ryan Villareal; Paolo Paraiso; and Reggie Curly were just some of the celebrities who donned apron and table-hopped while eagerly offering beer to the fun guests, palanggas.

Two star-struck ladies who badly wanted to kiss Marc Nelson dared to shell out P1,000 each for a precious kiss. Marc, naturellement, was happy to oblige and gladly passed on the money to the foundation.

There was a souvenir booth where the guests had the chance to have their picture taken with their favorite stars. Each photo was worth P100 and the proceeds also went to the foundation.

Gorgeous superb hosts Caren Bayhon, Ria Vinzon and Jackie Castillejo kept the swinging crowd in high spirits in between sets from the R&B band, Escape and the country’s premier band Side A who sang chart-topping hits in a special back-to-back show.

Fabi song goddess Lani Misalucha, Queen of Soul Jaya and her mother, the inimitable Elizabeth Ramsey, jammed with the bands and had the Dish crowd not only up on their feet but asking for more! more! more!

It was definitely a fantastic happening for a super good cause, palanggas.

Hi-tech mobile phones

The surprise night was as exciting as the futuristic invite that came in the form of a microchip facsimile. And just as intriguing, dahlings, because when we arrived, it seemed like we had been ushered into another sci-fi dimension!

Meeting us the door were "aliens" who glowed and stamped us with their luminous ink. We then went through an eerie dimly lit tunnel covered in mist. Then the fun began at the exit, palanggas.

The invitees were greeted by gyrating men and women enclosed in time capsules and wearing body paint which had everyone taking a second look. Philips Consumer Electronics top-of-the-line general manager Angelo Valenton grinned from ear to ear while watching moi pal, the lovably incorrigible Johnny Litton, admiring the color screen of the fantastic, new Fisio 820 phone beautifully launched that night.

Business unit wireless marketing manager Tetet Songco was here, there and everywhere, palanggas, acting as the perfect hostess. One also couldn’t miss Philips’ brilliant mega president and CEO, popular Pratt Hsu, no less, nodding approvingly while chatting with executive assistant/ PR lady/superwoman Maria Santos, and fabi ABS-CBN newscaster, a slim and trim Karen Davila who checked out the new Fisio 820’s jpeg color photo applications.

Looking great in a black trench coat and face paint was tall, handsome TJ Manotoc who superbly emceed the program. Whispers came moi way that Cupid’s arrow found its way into his heart at last. No wonder moi noticed a certain twinkle in TJ’s eyes.

As moi circulated, all I got from the top Gatchie Agency, super smart PR lady, Jeannette Reyes was a Mona Lisa smile and a promise to introduce me to the cause of TJ’s twinkling eyes one of these days. Anyway, TJ then introduced the top honcho and Man of the Hour Bob Pillay, magnum GM for Philips Consumer Communications South and S.E. Asia/Taiwan/Pacific, who jetted in from Singapore just to make a presentation that evening.

Apres the program, dahlings, everyone crowded around the booth to get a feel of the Fisio 820, Fisio 620 and 120/121. We caught the fabi F gals Cher Calvin and Angel Aquino asking sales managers Clark Popple and Ben Valencia about the blue tooth capability of the Fisio 820. Daphne Oseña-P. and her husband Patrick Paez, on the other hand, wondered which colors of the Fisio 820 that they like best–the Mars red, the crystal ice blue or the Sahara gold.

Top professional race car drivers Kookie and Menchie Ramirez, meanwhile, tried out the Fisio 620’s speaker phone capability.

As always, the turnout exceeded expectations, palanggas, and among those moi zapped on enjoying the yummy buffet and open bar were Carat Phils. GM and mega man Resti Reyes; DDB Phils.’ Gil Chua and Manny Gutierrez; Deco Centrum GM Mitos Juarez and assistant Mina Umali; Philips loyalist Eric Dimsun; Ackers Phils. SVP Paul Wee; Mega Cellular prexy Ferdy Buensalida; Wintel VP and GM Chris Uyco; Semicon VP for sales Felix Villalon; Globe’s John Santamaria; Mike Macatangay; Digitel’s Maricris San Diego; Junrex owners Jun and Rex Yap; First Asia Mobile marketing manager Joyce Divinagracia; and ADI Telecom COO Jaime Alcantara.

With much reluctance, the successful night drew to a close. But we knew that with the internationally renowned, world-class Dutch name, Philips’ technology in mobile phones, we can all look forward to a more colorful tomorrow, palanggas.

Precious wedding moments

Wedding bells don’t only ring in June, they ring most often in the Philippines in December and January. Before you blushing brides and dashing grooms take that trip down the aisle to exchange "I do’s," don’t forget to make that special day picture-perfect with rolls of that ever reliable Kodak film.

The loud buzz is that Kodak has brought to the Philippines yet another brilliant innovation that will definitely add fun and thrill to your wedding day. It’s the "Kodak Wedding One-Time-Use Camera Pack" which consists of not just one but four (!) Kodak One-Time-Use Pocket Flash Camera Wedding Edition.

Each camera is loaded with enough Kodak Max film to take 27 great pictures to cherish forever.

As an added twist for the wedding reception, it would be great to place one camera on every table together with one of the five tent cards that come with each pack providing your invitees with information on how to use these fun cameras. It also has a space for the names of the guests whose pictures are taken, plus a master of ceremonies script to remind the invitees to use the One-Time-Use Cameras.

That makes for an interactive wedding reception. You can let your guests take the pictures themselves (like what the guests of Oliver and Peaches Tiu did in their wedding), unless of course you have an excellent wedding photographer like our very own palangga, Alex Van Hagen who, by the way, dahlings, also relies on Kodak films whenever he’s working behind his camera lens.

Sounds ultra fun, doesn’t it? Just don’t forget to flash those pearly whites and you’ll surely have wonderful memories to share with your grandchildren, as captured by Kodak, no less.

Kasal.com sponsored the Kodak wedding pack is used by STAR ace society and wedding photographer Alex Van Hagen. The good news is you, too, can conveniently purchase these wonderful packs on line! Just visit http://ww.kasal.com or call the tel. no. 415-9249, or do drop them a line at [email protected] for more details.

Check it out! It’s new and it makes a difference!

Have a super weekend, palanggas, but always remember to drive safely.

See you!