That Towering Feeling

The Tower Club might have been called The Power Club, it being the meeting place of the country’s top financiers, tycoons, taipans and business executives. Another name could have been The Towering Club because International Managing Director Helmut Knipp literally towers above all its members.

At any rate, one gets that "tow’ring feeling"–to borrow the words of a song from "My Fair Lady"–each time one visits the club. I momentarily had that feeling when Arthur Lopez, CEO and president, graciously took me on a guided tour of the club shortly before its formal opening. Later, we then sat down to a superbly epicurean luncheon with Tower Club Founding Board of Governor’s Vice-Chairman Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Mr. Lopez himself and a few other VIP’s.

During the tour of the Tower Club, which has since then been described as "the domain of the privileged few" or "an exceptional venue for industry leaders", I admired the boardroom with its doors and chairs of leather (just a grade lower than the leather material used in the White House), the high-ceilinged corridors of Murano glass from Italy, and not the least, exquisite pieces of glass sculpture by the country’s pride, the famous Ramon Orlina.

In the Baron’s Bar, the staff can concoct the martini of your choice from a variety of 30 recipes, and its "silver bullet" was enjoyed by such assorted celebrities as Churchill, Hemingway, Bogart and, yes, James Bond! I dared not drop in at the Fitness Center (gym) for fear that members could be in varying stages of déshabillé while doing the yoga to achieve inner peace and tranquility. In the gym, you can use computerized machines which will monitor your heart and pulse rates as you exercise. Imagine that!

As for other attractions, including cuisine in the Taipan Restaurant (Chinese) and the Continental (Western), GM Soeren Hansen assure members of "a special surprise for everyone, everyday". Tower Club habitues from the diplomatic corps are Ambassadors Theo Arnold, Julio Cardenas, Ray Inije and Christian Krepela. Presumably, they have that "tow’ring feeling" each time they step into The Tower Club.

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Audiences certainly had a "tow’ring feeling" at the Hall of the Masters concert celebrating the centennial of the National Museum. Held under the auspices of the Foundation for the Musical Filipino headed by Jul Dizon and Guillermo "Willie" Soliven as president and vice-president, respectively, the evening featured our very own towering pianist Raul Sunico. With awesome virtuosity, he interpreted Liszt’s fiendishly challenging legends St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds and St. Francis de Paul Walking Over the Waters.

The listeners’ "towering feeling" was enhanced by the sight of the Spoliarium–Luna’s huge, bigger-than-life painting which won the first prize in the Paris International Exposition of 1898–providing an incomparable backdrop for Sunico’s performance.

Fr. Gabriel Casal, who was retiring as director of the National Museum, had a "tow‘ring feeling", too. The concert, in a way, was a tribute to him and his landmark accomplishments during his tenure (1987-2001). These were, in effect, a towering achievement.