Village People also coming for show

Like this year (which closes with the concert of The Stylistics end of this month), the 2006 music scene will be made more exciting by more foreign acts led by the Backstreet Boys in January and the Village People on Feb. 14 and 15 at the PICC Plenary Hall. Both are produced by Viva Concerts & Events.

Of course, we remember the Village People, the early-’80s six-member macho group behind such enduring hits as In The Navy, Macho Man, Can’t Stop the Music and YMCA, which inspired similar groups (clones – not-so-reasonable facsimiles thereof?) around the world, including our very own Hagibis (did they really sing their songs or did they have ghost singers?) and latter-day groups like The Hunks (Piolo, Bernard, Carlos, Jericho and Diether), The Masculados, Viva Hot Men and Barako Boys (Luis Alandy, Jay Manalo, Christian Vasquez, Paolo Paraiso, etc.).

But as they say, nothing like the original.

During its heyday, the Village People sold more than 65 million recordings (according to the 1987 Dance Music Report) in an era dominated by the disco sound (it has never left the scene, has it?), even starring in its own cult film called Can’t Stop The Music in 1980.

Several big-name artists have front-acted for the guys, including Madonna and Joan Rivers, in their gigs in Las Vegas. They also drew SRO crowds to the Madison Square Garden (New York), Budokan (in Japan), Hordem Pavillion (Sydney) and Greek Theater (in Hollywood).

The Village People took a short break in 1986 and some of the members explored individual careers.

The guys have regrouped, with themselves as their own managers, under the banner of Sixuvus (Six of Us) Ltd.

The members (who will perform in Manila), known simply by their first names, include Ray, David, Felipe, Jeff and Alex, with Eric Anzalone who replaced original member Glenn (Hughes).

So, brace yourselves and put on your dancing shoes.

Okay, play it again, Village People: Macho, macho man. I wanna be a macho man!

(Note: Tickets to the Village People concert are priced P2,500, Flat Area; P2,000, Level 3; P1,500, Level 2; and P750, Balcony. For details, call SM Ticketnet outlets at 911-5555, National Bookstores Ticketworld outlets at 891-9999, PICC Box Office at 551-6296 or Viva Concerts at 687-6181 local 620 or 715.)

Maximo Oliveros faces stiff competition at Sundance Filmfest

The award-winning indie/digital film Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros) is up for stiff competition when it joins the Sundance Film Festival slated early next year. The said annual event (brainchild of Robert Redford) served as launching pad for the international careers of several now-famous directors, one of them Ang Lee.

Here’s the complete list of Sundance films in competition, furnished Funfare by Maximo Oliveros director Auraeus Solito:

• 13 Tzameti – France (Director and Screenwriter: Géla Babluani) – Sebastien has decided to follow instructions intended for someone else. When he reaches his destination, he falls into a degenerate, clandestine world of mental chaos. North American Premiere.

• Allegro – Denmark (Director: Christoffer Boe; Screenwriters: Christoffer Boe, Mikael Wulff) – After a long absence, a famous amnesiac pianist returns to his native Copenhagen where he is contacted by a mysterious messenger who leads him back into his forgotten past. North American Premiere.

• The Aura – Argentina (Director and Screenwriter: Fabián Bielinsky) – Espinoza is an introverted taxidermist who secretly dreams of executing the perfect robbery. On his first-ever hunting trip, in the calm of the Patagonian forest, his dreams are unexpectedly made reality with one squeeze of the trigger. North American Premiere.

• The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros – Philippines (Director: Auraeus Solito; Screenwriter: Michiko Yamamoto) – Young Maxi’s unquestioned devotion to his family of small-time criminals in a Manila slum is undermined when he is befriended by a principled, young policeman. US Premiere.

• Eve & The Fire Horse – Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Julia Kwan) – Eve is a precocious nine-year-old growing up in a Vancouver Chinese immigrant family where Confucian doctrines, superstitious obsessions and divine visions abound. When Buddhism and Catholicism are thrown into the mix, life for Eve and her prim authoritative sister, Karena, escalates into a fantasia of catastrophe, sainthood and cultural confusion. US Premiere.

• Grbavica – Bosnia-Herzegovina (Director and Screenwriter: Jasmila Zbanic) – A chilling story of a woman and her daughter as they fight to survive in the painful aftermath of the recent Balkan war. World Premiere.

• The House of Sand – Brazil (Director: Andrucha Waddington; Screenwriter: Elena Soarez) – The story of a woman across three generations. In the remote dunes of Brazil, Maria spends her life while an entire century passes by her, her house and sand. US Premiere.

• Kiss Me Not On the Eyes – Lebanon (Director and Screenwriter: Jocelyne Saab) – An educated young Egyptian woman defends her artistic integrity as a dancer and her social independence in the midst of modern Cairo’s culture wars. US Premiere.

• Little Red Flowers – China (Director: Zhang Yuan; Screenwriters: Ning Dai, Zhang Yuan) – A parable about the nature and complexities of being compelled to "fit in" to a regimented society set in a post-revolutionary Chinese orphanage. World Premiere.

• Madeinusa – Peru (Director and Screenwriter: Claudia Llosa) – Madeinusa is a sweet girl who lives in an isolated, religiously-zealous village in mountainous Peru. Everything changes when a geologist from Lima arrives and unknowingly reshapes Madeinusa’s destiny. World Premiere.

• No. 2 – New Zealand (Director and Screenwriter: Toa Fraser) – Nanna Maria’s family has forgotten how to party. She’s going to change all that, make them come alive with the heat and passion of the South Pacific. World Premiere.

• One Last Dance – Singapore (Director and Screenwriter: Max Makowski) – An assassin is hired to kill the men responsible for kidnapping an important man’s son. With every death, the killer gets closer to the last kidnapper’s name – his own. World Premiere.

• The Peter Pan Formula – South Korea (Director and Screenwriter: Cho Chang-Ho) – An adolescent boy confronts premature independence as his mother lies in coma and he experiences the first tugs of sexual desires with an older woman. North American Premiere.

• Princesas – Spain (Director and Screenwriter: Fernando Leon de Aranoa) – The story of two women who form an unbreakable friendship despite their differences as they fight to make ends meet in the big city. US Premiere.

• Sólo Dios Sabe – Brazil/Mexico (Director: Carlos Bolado; Screenwriters: Carlos Bolado, Diane Weipert) – On a lark in Tijuana, a young Brazilian art student crosses paths with a roguish Mexican journalist, sparking a cascade of events across both Mexico and Brazil. World Premiere.

• Son of Man – South Africa (Director: Mark Dornford-May; Screenwriters: Mark Dornford-May, Andiswa Kedama, Pauline Malefane) – A gripping journey of love, deception and betrayal, Son of Man translates Jesus’ life to modern-day South Africa, where a new politics of compassion incites revolution during a military dictatorship. It is the next collaboration from Dimpho di Kopane, a South African lyric theater ensemble whose U-Carmen garnered last year’s Berlin Golden Bear. World Premiere.

Briefly noted

• Scheduled to visit the Philippines from Dec. 11 to 25 is 2005 Miss Republic of the Philippines-USA Ronamae Panganiban, daughter of Romeo Panganiban of Batangas and Marilou Santos of Pagsanjan, Laguna. Only 16, Ronamae stands 5’7". She’s acting as Ambassadress of Goodwill of Filipinos in California. Her discoverer, beauty-pageant impressario Ferdie Villar, plans to enter Ronamae in next year’s Bb. Pilipinas contest.

• The National Press Club will present a fashion show called Allure on Friday, Dec. 16, to raise funds for its Christmas projects, featuring models Thea Robles, Jasmine Tolentino, the Play Girls & City Dolls and other sexy ramp models. Venue is the NPC Bulwagang Plaridel. Stand-up comedian Wilson Go will perform. Director is Mak de Leon; showtime is 8 p.m. For tickets, call the NPC Secretariat at 301-0521, 301-0522 or 521-9300.

• The University of Santo Tomas, in cooperation with ABC 5, will stage its third Christmas concert, entitled Yuletide Tunes: The UST Christmas Concert, tonight and tomorrow night at 6:30 at the UST Chapel. Featured are pianist Dean Raul Sunico of the UST Conservatory of Music, the multi-awarded UST Singers, soprano Rachel Gerodias, tenor Lemuel dela Cruz, the UST Symphony Orchestra, the UST Symphony Band, Coro Tomasino, Liturgikon Vocal Ensemble, the UST Percussion Ensemble, Salinggawi Dance Troupe and the UST Grade School Choir, plus surprise guests. The concert will be aired as a TV special on ABC 5 on Dec. 22, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

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