What’s John so excited about?

John Lapus is excited these days. Why? Because on July 3,4,5 and 6 at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute of the CCP, Madiraka Events & Services (where John is a talent) will stage for the first time the theatrical adaptation of Joey Gosiengfiao’s cult classic Temptation Island.

In a nutshell, Temptation Island is about an interesting and hilariously decadent era – the crucial transition between the ’70s and the early ’80s. Temptation Island is a film that has created a cult following.

The movie is about four beauty pageant contestants, four drop-dead gorgeous hunks, an artist gay, and a crazy girl Friday marooned in a deserted island. What happens in the film is a series of hallucinations of giant fried chickens and humongous ice creams on cones, sizzling sexual escapades and cannibalism scored with the Matt Monro classic Somewhere.

This funny yet extremely pseudo-realist world created by Joey Gosiengfiao, entitled Temptation Island... Live! for theater, will be recreated to perfection down to the minutest detail by award-winning playwright/short film and theater director Chris Martinez along with some of the country’s finest and most respected theater actors like Romnick Sarmenta, Tuxqs Rutaquio, Peter Serrano, Ricci Chan, Raymond Sydney, Face Sales and John, among others.

The twist, however, is that the unforgettable roles played by the likes of Deborah Sun, Bambi Arambulo, Azenith Briones and Dina Bonnevie will be played by gay actors. Prof. Tuxqs, for instance, will play the role of Dina, the breathtaking ingénue who steals the heart of yummy Alfredo played by the late Alfie Anido. John will play the role of Azenith. To make matters even more exciting, some of today’s hottest hunks – like Christian Vasquez, Reggie Curley and Neil Ryan Sese – will play the male partners of the marooned beauty queen wannabes.

(Tickets to Temptation Island… Live! are priced at P300 and P500. For reservations, call Ticketworld at 891-5610 or the CCP Box Office at 832-1125.)

Fun with Kenny Rogers

Shooting a commercial is fun. Shooting for the Kenny Rogers commercial was a fiesta.Tin-Tin (Kristine Hermosa) was a joy to work with. She arrived on the set on time, she knew her lines and was shimmering at 8 a.m. With or without make-up, Tin-Tin is beautiful. Then we started to shoot the "interview" scene you see on TV. It was such a breeze because it was as if we were just doing a conversation in one of my shows. After all, I’ve done numerous interviews with Tin-Tin. The only difference here was that we were talking about Kenny Rogers and, of course, the heavenly corn muffins.

It’s really fascinating that I am endorsing Kenny Rogers because a couple of years ago, when "Kenny" was new in Manila, I had my regular dinners at Kenny Rogers on E. Rodriguez Ave. and, yes, I craved for the corn muffins. And when I was building my house in Lipa, and we had no kitchen yet, food was "take-out" from Kenny Rogers Lipa.

Thank you, Bernadine Sy of Kenny Rogers and Bingbing Legaspi and, of course, merci beaucoup to the power ladies of Campaigns & Grey, Marilyn Villapando and Yolly Ong.

Wow Cookout!

RX 93.1 held its annual Summer Cookout called Wow Cookout! at Fort Santiago in Intramuros which was transformed into an outdoor party place by Monster Radio RX 93.1 and Wow Philippines!, the Department of Tourism’s Visit Philippines 2003 Program.

The old fort was jampacked with young party people who enjoyed the cool outdoor breeze as they grooved to the music of Parokya ni Edgar, Barbie’s Cradle, Mojofly, Sandwich, Sugar Free, Bent, Session Road, Stone Free, and many more. DOT Secretary Dick Gordon went on stage as the night’s special guest to talk about Wow Philippines!.

In true RX Cookout tradition, food stalls serving delectable grilled food and refreshing drinks surrounded the main plaza.

As the second half of the year unfolds, the party public can look forward to more exciting Monster Radio event like the RX Back-to-School Party, The RX Concert Series at the Mall, Cotton USA and RX 93.1’s Express to Impress competition semi-finals are going on. For free invites to these events, listeners can tune in to Manila’s hottest radio station Monsters Radio RX 93.1. Likewise, talented, unsigned bands can start to prepare their entries for the upcoming RX Band Breakout 2003!