IC is a wonderful gay

I know that damage has been done, and apologies have been made and accepted, but let me provide some footnotes to the IC Mendoza bashing incident courtesy of a young, fledging, seemingly impertinent boy who I hope doesn’t go around town heckling gays. His name is Mike Tan. I haven’t had the chance of being whistled at by this boy for it does happen, God bless him for I will sashay like Ana Bayle, so hard like a violent hurricane that the mermaids of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean will join me in making Mike Tan understand that like him, we gay people have a reason to live, love and sashay for all we want – for as long as we don’t violate other people’s rights.

IC Mendoza is a wonderful young gay man. He has dreams like everyone. But unlike everyone, he has Inday Badiday for his grandmother. And who is Inday Badiday? Well, she paved the way for many of us in the talk industry. She has helped numerous writers, directors – some of whom Mike Tan will perhaps work with. She was here ahead of us. We are where we are because she dared to be risqué and made showbiz exciting. No one perhaps understood showbiz better than Inday Badiday. She was showbiz royalty. But I’m not saying Mike Tan should kiss the ground IC walks on simply because IC is the grandchild of Inday Badiday. But it’s important that Mike Tan knows. It’s also important that he understands what respect is all about. Especially for someone like him whose body of work is hideously negligible.

But there must be something behind the behavior of Mike Tan toward gays. I’m having this researched. I want to understand where he is coming from. Why did he treat IC the way he treated him? What have gays done to him and vice versa? Where did he grow up? How was he raised? What about his exposure to the gay community? I want to understand his condescension to IC and to gays. Maybe someone out there can enlighten me so I would understand Mike Tan’s behavior. Does he treat every gay he meets the way he treated IC? Does he have gay friends? Or is he so straight as a rod that he borders on homophobia? The questions are infinite. But let’s find out so that we can help young gays like IC and young men like Mike Tan understand the world better. I’m looking forward to discovering the many stories about this young man that may lead to a better understanding of people who malign, abuse, bash gays in this world. Abangan!

Beach Boys Live In Manila

The Beach Boys, the international rock and roll band which took America and the rest of the world by storm for its hit singles, Surfin’ USA and Good Vibrations, will visit Manila on Oct. 7 for a performance at the Araneta Coliseum. Billed as the Beach Boys Live in Manila, the one-night concert produced by Renen de Guia’s Ovation Productions and Solar Entertainment is part of the Beach Boys’ on-going world tour that covers major European, Asian and American cities.

The Beach Boys’ influence on the musical landscape has remained intact throughout its musical career that spans 40 years.

Headed by lead vocalist and Beach Boys founding member Mike Love, the five-man pop group will showcase the unique blend of harmonies, musical arrangement, and timeless lyrics that have placed its music among all-time favorites around the world.

Among the songs which have become eternal anthems of the American youth and elsewhere in the world and mostly written by Mike Love are Surfin’, Surfin’ USA, Fun, Fun, I Get Around, California Girls, Help Me Rhonda, Barbara Anna, Good Vibrations, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Rock and Roll Music, Kokomo and many more.

Aside from Mike Love and Beach Boys veteran Bruce Johnston (vocals/keyboards), other members are Mike Kowalski (drums), Randell Kirsh (guitar/vocals), Chris Farmer (bass/vocals), Tim Bonhomme (keyboards/vocals), John Cowsill (keyboards/vocals/percussion) of the Cowsills and Scott Totten (guitar/vocals).

The musical story of the Beach Boys began in the early ’60s as a regular late-night singing sessions among brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson with their first cousin Mike Love – in their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, California.

It took, however, the song, Surfin’, penned by Mike Love for the musical career of the five youngsters to take off when it reached the Top Three on L.A. radio hit lists that eventually led to a recording contract with Capitol Records in the mid-1962.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Tickets priced at P3,500, P3,000, P2,500, P1,500, P800 and P300 are available at Araneta Coliseum box office, SM Department Stores and Ticketnet (tel. no. 911-5555). For details, call 532-8883.

One: The World Tour

Richard Gomez is the special guest in One: The World Tour, a concert topbilled by Faith Cuneta and Juaquin Garcia which opens tomorrow at the Music Museum. Other performances are scheduled on Sept. 22, 23 and 24. Produced by JLF Productions, One: The World Tour is directed by Rowell Santiago with Louie Ocampo as musical director and script by Noel Ferrer.

For tickets, call 891-9999.