Chicago! Chicago!

The city...Chicago. The date... October 7, 2006. The event... "The Martin Nievera-Pops Fernandez" concert. Gateway Theater in Lawrence Street was filled with mostly Filipinos that made one feel to be in Cubao or even perhaps at the old Cebu Coliseum, instead of Chicago.

On occasions like this, it would not be a surprise if one meets old friends and acquaintances or relations one has never seen for decades. The hair tinged with gray where the "just for men" hair color failed to cover or simply faded; the face showed deep wrinkles that could no longer be hidden by countless repetitive applications of Clinique clarifying lotions and creams.

I am sometimes amazed about getting and being old..."I looked at myself in the mirror and find an image of an aged man but amazed that I still possessed the exuberance of youth." But then the hand of time finally catches up as it finally will, though not making us necessarily wise, for in this life there are aged people who are as foolish as the young. But foolish or not, life goes on with the tick-tock of the clock.

There was Ben Mercado Alfon, first cousin of the mother of the Jose Mari Chan and a nephew of the late movie director Fernando (Nandoy) Alfon who was a contemporary of the legendary Talyux Bacalso. In their time, Nandoy and Talyux directed movies in Cebuano that captured the imagination of Cebuano-speaking movie-goers throughout the Visayas and Mindanao. Mutya sa Saging Tindok, Ligid sa Kapalaran and Remember Erlinda were just some of the noteworthy productions emblazoned the local movie scene. The names of Virginia Solis, Caridad Sanchez, the husband and wife team of Mat Ranillo Jr. and Gloria Sevilla and the comedian Kadyo Roma may not ring a bell in today's generation, but back then in the 50'sand 60's they were the stars. Now, it is Martin Nievera and Pops Fernandez.

With a full band behind them, and with the superb audio and lighting techniques, the duo catapulted the audience into the realms of what a concert should all be about. Lights! Sound! And lets rock and roll! Martin and Pops are really stars in their own rights! The weaved through notes in their unique interpretations of songs, blending with the beautiful orchestration...mesmerizing everyone and making them forget the exigencies of living for a suspended. At that time, nothing mattered but a song. And there was Raymond Brul of San Francisco whose talent showed at its best during the early part of the show. The concert was produced by Ivee Frasnoza and Bernadette Poniente-Mercado of Los Angeles and was ably sponsored and coordinated by Gina Go (formerly of Cebu) in Chicago.

And then, the show must end, as in life all must end sometime. The crowd had its fill, the echo of the applause reverberated only in the memory, and who knows that perhaps in another time, in another place Pops Fernandez' rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight" could be heard once more.