Lara airs side on Wowowee issue

A few issues ago, Funfare bannered a story that Precious Lara Quigaman was “fired” from or “eased out” out of Wowowee because she violated certain rules, including one that frowns on hosts bringing their boyfriend/girlfriend to work.

Lara was pulled out from Wowowee on May 15, followed by rumors that started spreading on the Internet, in local tabloids and even in the much-read broadsheets.

Here’s Lara (with the help of her manager Rowell Octavio) answering the issues point by point (with Funfare making no further comment):

• There was no written rule or even a rule at all about bringing a boyfriend or a companion to Hawaii. I asked one of the staff of Wowowee before leaving if they were indeed not allowed to bring anyone along. The staff told me that it was okay as long as it will not affect my work and as long as we just won’t be seen until after the show’s activities. My mother and my boyfriend  accompanied me to Hawaii, contrary to false information that it was only my boyfriend who was there. We were never seen until the day we were to leave for the airport to the Philippines. They did not even watch the show at Aloha stadium. They did not accompany me to the rehearsals, presscons, radio and TV tours. I never missed a rehearsal, meeting, press-con or any activity in Hawaii. I was never late or in a hurry to leave rehearsals or go back to the hotel. I did what I had to do.

• My mother and my boyfriend paid for their own airfare, arranged their travel papers on their own. The production was never involved with their travel arrangements in any way. The artists, specifically the co-hosts, were not given plus ones. It’s up to them if they want to bring a companion, as long as they pay for their own expenses.

• I never declared this statement: “You can cancel my ticket if you want to!” (kung hindi puede isama ang boyfriend). It is not in my character or personality to say these words.

• My boyfriend has never been seen in the studio, has never watched an episode of Wowowee live, has never loitered inside the dressing room. (Note: Funfare misquoted the source who later clarified that Lara’s boyfriend would only drive Lara to and from the studio and never set foot in the dressing room. — RFL) My boyfriend has his own schedule every day and is only taking the chance to fetch me in between his scheduled meetings. Guards are stationed at the doors of the dressing rooms and no males are allowed to go in. Not even my  little brother was allowed to stay inside.

• I was never in a hurry to leave rehearsals or work except when I have  to leave AFTER WORK to run to another commitment.

• On my rumored “attitude” and “pagmamaldita”:

In That’s My Doc – about the  do’s and don’t’s. Watch the show and find out for yourself if it is true that I don’t let the leading man, kiss, hold my hand or hug me. The production staff and the executive producer of the show can confirm that I am always punctual and cooperative, and that I never complain, as I always am with my other commitments, guestings and projects.

Regarding the Bb. Pilipinas “issue,” the “headache” I gave the Bb. Pilipinas people may be the way I exercise my right to refuse an offer to pose for an alcoholic beverage calendar/poster which they had committed to without my consent or knowledge.

• Up to now, the Wowowee people are still unsure of the exact reasons why I was pulled out of the show. The only explanation management can give is that I broke the rule that no companions were allowed to accompany artists.

• I can still be seen every Saturday, starting at 6 p.m., on the ABS-CBN sitcom That’s My Doc as Aga Muhlach’s leading lady.

* * *

Afterwards, there’s a bottleneck in the lobby of the theater. As everyone shuffles slowly toward the doors that lead to the mezzanine above the casino, someone in the crowd starts singing the Nah nah, na nah nah/Na na na nah nah refrain from Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’, the last song of the night. (It’s the one song in Journey’s catalog where you can most clearly hear the Sam Cooke mannerisms in Steve Perry’s delivery, and Pineda nailed it — an Asian guy imitating a white Californian imitating a black guy from Chicago, on a stage in a Las Vegas hotel with “Hollywood” in the name. The mind reels).

Then, as if the air-conditionining has started pumping karaoke spores, other people join in and start singing Nah nah, na nah nah/Na na na nah nah, too. It only lasts for a few seconds, but those seconds are maybe the most sincere moment of community I’ve experienced at a rock show in a long, long time — and they feel like proof that the Pineda-fronted version of Journey has succeeded in giving people the kind of life-affirming Journey experience they were looking for.

That’s how the latest issue of GQ magazine described the recent Journey show at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas in a six-page story exclusively about Arnel Pineda. The Vegas show was Arnel’s second outing with Journey (the first having been in Chile) since he  joined the group as vocalist late last year.

That Arnel is proving himself to be a worthy replacement for Steve Perry is obvious in the GQ article by Alex Pappademas, even if, “as far as Journey’s fans are concerned, there is but one true Journey vocalist, and his name is Steve Perry.”

Before Arnel was discovered by Journey through the YouTube (showing Arnel singing Journey songs like Faithfully), two other vocalists tried to step into Perry’s shoes. When Journey lead guitarist Neal Schon saw the YouTube clip, “The hair stood up on my arms,” he told GQ, adding that what grabbed him about Arnel was “his range.” Recalled Schon, “I got off the computer and told my girlfriend, ‘No way — this guy sounds too good. I don’t believe it.”

Schon went for a motorcycle ride. Thus are important rock-star decisions made. When he got back, he watched the clips again. Then he started calling his band. “I said, ‘I found the singer.’” Schon says. “And they go, ‘Where is he?’ And I’m like, ‘He’s in Manila!’

“And they go, ‘Great — so you found a singer who can’t speak English’.”

Pineda’s English is actually fine.

 The GQ article described Arnel’s life story as “Dickensian” — you know, like Oliver Twist’s. As Zoo and Journey fans know by now, Arnel lost his mother when he was 13 and while his siblings lived with relatives, he collected scrap metal, bottles and old newspapers and sold them. He was earning 35 centavos a day. And he would sleep at the Rizal Park.

 His friend Monet Cajipe played guitar. Sometimes when Pineda wasn’t working, he’d go over to Monet’s house and they’d sing songs together. “He would bring me to his family,” Pineda says, “and say, ‘Come on, give some food to my friend,’ because I was starving. They would make me sing, and then they would feed me. They would just bribe me with food.

At 15, Pineda tried out for a band called Ijos, earning P35 a night (his share after the members had split their pay). Later, he joined another band, New Age, with Cajipe as guitarist, and they played in Hong Kong where, according to the GQ account, “he wrecked his voice,” prompting a doctor to tell Pineda to retire. He was 27.

He came back to the Philippines and, “learned to sing again.” Then he joined Zoo. It wouldn’t be long before his “Journey” of a lifetime began.

Up to now, Arnel, who’s turning 41 this year, still pinches himself. “My life is a fairy tale. But I’m awake, and I’m dreaming it,” he says.

As the Journey song goes, Don’t Stop Believin’.

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