Fahrenheit 007: The warmth of unconditional love

NOT ONLY ARE CONCERTS IN THE LOCAL SCENE TODAY PUT UP MERELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES. THEY HAVE STARTED TO BE DRIVING AT A HIGHLY COMMENDABLE GOAL OF BEING IN THE FOREFRONT OF "AUTHENTIC HUMANISM". After the tremendous success of the Sinulog Bisrock Rakrakan initiated by 93.1 Smash FM and backed by LBC Hari ng Padala and Globe Telecom, station manager Marit Stinus Remonde and "BisrocKabataan" hosts DJ Ram Dizon and Bré Ambungan turned over last January 26 the amount of P15,000 raised from the January 18 concert to its beneficiary, Boy Scouts of the Philippines - Cebu Council. The donation was received by BSP Cebu council chairman Hernando Streegan and BSP executive officer Buenaventura Romeo.

Also last week, Sigbin Haus Inc., the organizer of the 12th Bob Marley Day Festival, announced Albert Schweitzer Familienwerk Foundation Philippines, Inc. along Escario Street as its beneficiary for the "High Noon on the Road to Zion" concert on March 24 at Paseo Mall in Mabolo. Organizers emphasized that the foundation best serves as an exemplar of community involvement by providing a package of social work interventions and other services to children, women, families, the elderly and differently abled persons needing special protection, care and rehabilitation, as well as depressed communities by building capabilities enabling them to become self-propelling, self-sustaining and self-reliant.

Picking up the momentum this week are the organizers of a concert scheduled this Friday, February 9 at the Handuraw Events Café to raise funds for Don Bosco Boys Home in Cotcot, Liloan. The event is dubbed "Fahrenheit 007: Bandang Sugbuanon alang sa Batan-on" with Marinel Velmonte, Genry Christian Gabayan and Maria Rosanna Catingan doing the legwork in band coordinating; Anacelle Narca is in-charge of advertising, and Gian Marko Enfectana for design. Fahrenheit 007 is endorsed by the rector of the Don Bosco Boys Home, Fr. Lambierto Paradiang, Jr. SDB, and Jason Baguia, UP Cebu instructor and core adviser.

The band showdown was supposed to kick off last February 2, but was moved due to pending negotiations with other bands invited to play sans compensation, and other matters relative to preparatory plans/contingency measures.

During this stage, it was heart-wrenching to note that Gabayan met a band that turned down their invitation, saying "P6,000 gyud mi bai. Fixed price na ma-fundraising ang purpose o dili." I mean, how could such a band be so mean by dropping a statement like that when it wasn't even so hard for super-busy-bodies-fresh-from-nursing-board-exam Kabobo to give their nod amid the fact they won't be taking home a single centavo. To think that Kabobo are thrice as important as the members of said band with a "fixed six-K fee". You can never really tell what "virtual hydrocephaluism" can do to some people you have helped catapult to the Bisrock pedestal. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

Newayz, to those who committed to be part of this work of mercy (of which I am very grateful of because I was the one who provided Genry with a list and I'm not sure that time if the organizers would get a whopping 99.99 percent pledge from said people), I doff my hat. Had I only gotten the talent myself I would be more than willing to step on the platform and forget-for a moment-about how to pay for a ride or how to ease hunger pangs as there are other forms of sufferings in this world worse than what we are going through. Being spared from such, that we should thank high heavens for!

Besides, it's the love month! So what better way to serve than to sing sans counting the talent fee. To whom much is given much is expected, ayt?

Back to Fahrenheit 007. So the bands on the run to Handuraw to rock and roll and do the roots, rock, reggae on Friday, Friday 9, from 9 pm to 3 am, are Incoherent, Butterfly Effect, Sinfilled, Yesteryear, Ashtrid, A Thousand Reasons, Kabobo, BMW, Republika, 3Chordschoir, Toysouljahs, Soul Brothers, Giluk No Jutsu, Jaime and Twinkle Dudu-a convergence of Bisrock, reggae, punk rock, post hardcore, emo punk and screamo.

"Radio jock and UP campus personality Chassy Mae Cortes will host this evening of pure entertainment together with University of San Carlos student and Bosconian alumnus Marlon Ardiente," this was stated in a dossier Genry e-mailed late last week.

Further, the press statement read that "Fahrenheit 007: Bandang Sugbuanon alang sa Batan-on" is one of the flagship projects of UP-Cebu College student councilors Genry Christian Gabayan and Marinel Velmonte. It is also the UP Centennial offering of the UP Cebu Class of 2007 that said student councilors represent, and is the prelude to this year's UP Cebu College Days celebrations.

The concert is co-organized by Don Bosco Boys Home. The Salesians of Don Bosco, a worldwide Catholic religious congregation, runs the said institution, which will benefit 100 percent of the project's proceeds. Don Bosco Boys Home shelters more than 200 underprivileged children and youth.

The Union of Progressive Students, a 17-year-old student organization based in UP-Cebu and advocating the principle of authentic humanism, is also co-organizing this event. Concert corporate sponsors include Tubig, Ahongs, San Miguel, M. Lhuillier, and Citigym. Broadcast partners are Smash-FM, GMA and ABS-CBN. Ticket, available at the gate, is pegged at P80 with a free beer or a slice of the Handuraw pizza. Meanwhile (let this serve as a teaser), in recognition of the "colossal, humungous and magnanimous" contribution of novelty icon Max Surban to the Bisaya music scene, lemme just serve as town barker for a concert on the 24th in Lapu-Lapu City. Bisrock band Ossified will perform "Sa 14 Pa Ako", which is one of Max's certified hits, so will Agipo led by Jorge "Bisoy" Tapales and What's The Frequency headed by Ramil Dizon. This has been conceptualized by a student organization of the University of San Carlos, says Ram in a text message.

So watch out for more developments. Stand tall, stand proud as a certified Bisdak. You are your kind of song!