Gabby Concepcion’s second wind

One of the prodigal sons of Philippine showbiz, Gabby Concepcion, is back home and receiving some sort of wild reception that surprises even him. It surely helps that he’s still looking every bit of the matinee idol that he was in the 1980’s. And he couldn’t have come at a better time, though. KC Concepcion, his daughter with ex-wife Sharon Cuneta, is currently hot showbiz property.

One really late night a couple of weeks ago, I caught Music & Lyrics on cable TV. This movie, which put Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore together in a love team for the first time, follows the post-fame life of 1990’s pop star Alex Fletcher (Grant) as he attempts to revive his career by writing a hit song for a new teen sensation. Desperate, he elicits the support of Sophie Fisher (Barrymore), a former creative writing student and current insecure writer who, in a meet cute, comes to his apartment to water his plants. Alex is on his second wind.

In one of their exchanges, Alex tells Sophie about his comeback. He describes how, after his group disbanded, he tried to establish his own career as a solo artist. It didn’t go well, and he coasted along, until one day years later, he was invited to perform in a small party. He said some of his fans, now considerably older, received him very well, and from then on, at least when it came to smaller venues, it was as if he was never gone.

It was this exchange that came to my mind when I read in the newspaper that one of the prodigal sons of Philippine showbiz, Gabby Concepcion, is back home and receiving some sort of wild reception that surprises even him. His main reason for being here, he says, is to be here for his ailing father’s birthday. But it surely helps that he’s still looking every bit of the matinee idol that he was in the 1980’s.

Gabby couldn’t have come at a better time, though. KC Concepcion, his daughter with ex-wife Sharon Cuneta, is currently hot showbiz property, and he’s gained back a little of the Filipino audience’s respect, thanks to the power of blogging. If you can recall, he hurriedly left the country after his already shaky career went pffft! because of that 1994 Manila Film Festival scam, a.k.a. “Take it, take it!” A short time later, he made the headlines again as he split with his then-wife Jenny Syquia, who alleged that he was abusive towards her.

When KC met up with her estranged father for the first time a few years ago, she wrote about their tearful reunion in her blog and posted some of the photos she took. Her blog entries were quoted heavily on print media. The effect was, if KC was okay with Gabby, whom she had referred to as just her “biological father” at some point, then the Filipino audience should be okay with him too.

I was never a fan of Gabby—he was too old for my generation to pine after because we were kids when he was at his most popular; mine was more of the Ang TV and Gimik era, though we could relate to the That’s Entertainment and even the Bagets crowd. I can probably appreciate him better now that I’m 30 and his age, which is 45, isn’t too far off.

I caught him for the first time on Rated K over the weekend. In his interview with Korina Sanchez, he talked about how his first phone call with KC went and he was a little bit teary-eyed. It hit me how handsome he really is, with his baby face and red cheeks and all. In fact, I think he can give Aga Muhlach, who’s one of the very few active ‘80s stars left and is currently being paired with today’s hottest young stars who’d otherwise use po and opo with him, a run for his money.

It’s also apparent that Gabby’s on the mend. The years away become him, and maybe we can see added depth into his art. He was a fine actor. He could be even better now that he’s experience a lot in his life. I hope it’s all uphill from hereon.

There’s one more person who’s on his second (or better yet, nth) wind—the current mayor of The City of Manila. Mayor Alfredo Lim was also at the helm of the Metro Manila Film Festival during the 1994 scam. Mayor Lim will be heading this year’s MMFF too. Then again, it looks like with Gabby’s contract with ABS-CBN, he’ll be seen more on TV than on the big screen.

Let’s see what ABS-CBN and GMA Films have in store for him. After the dust clears on the latest issue hounding him—that of his signing contracts with both media giants.

P.S. Speaking of second winds, the New Kids on the Block are getting back together again. Donnie Wahlberg has lost his boyband looks, but everybody still looks pretty good. They’re pushing 40, so they’re not new kids on the block anymore, though.

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