Goodbye to the Black Eyed Peas for now

Fergie called it a graduation. If it were, then it could be said that the Black Eyed Peas passed with honors. Everybody had a blast at the concert held at the Mall of Asia grounds last Oct. 26. The organizers, Futuretainment Inc. and Music Management International, were glad the heavens cleared up and it did not rain. Parents were thankful that there were no untoward incidents. Maybe a pocket or two were picked and some of those who came are now missing celfones, but the kids who went to party came home safe and happy. As for the Peas, they are now a step closer to a long vacation.

They only have one more to get through, a fundraiser for military families that will be held on Nov. 23 in Florida. After that, they will all be free of commitments. Free enough for Fergie to start a family with husband Josh Duhamel. That they said is the main reason they are taking time off. will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo call Fergie their sister and they want her to be happy. In turn, I guess they also wanted apl.de.ap to be happy which was why they made the Manila leg the final stop of their last international gigs.

One of my memorable moments while doing this column concerns the Peas. I recall listening to a copy of the new CD Elephunk and hearing Tagalog words and hints of a familiar melody in the cut titled The Apl Song. The guy apl.de.ap must be Filipino. It turned out he was Allan Pineda, born in Pampanga but relocated to the States at the age of 14 where he met William Adams, who became will.i.am in school and they had been rapping together since.

That might not sound like big news nowadays, what with Bruno Mars and Charice and other Filipinos doing very well as international music artists. But it was big news back in 2003 and I still remember the good feedback the column got when I wrote about it. Since then apl.de.ap has gone on to bigger things with the Peas and he has also kept on rapping with words like bebot bebot and mare mare and others in their hit albums. And thanks to all the good things he has chosen to do for kids around here, the other Peas now refer to apl.de.ap as king of the Philippines.

That must be why he got the Peas to stage this very important final concert here. I do not think there was much resistance to the idea though because the other three Peas are so at home with things Pinoy that I am sure they really wanted to visit again. This was their third time in concert here. They spent a lot of time in Glendale in California early in their careers and obviously did a lot of eating in Filipino homes. will had a Filipino girlfriend. He lost the girl but gained a family. So he had to buy a barong for his Lakay back in the States and to meet his Tita Susie while here. Taboo is married to a Filipina and has been appointed Mexican Ambassador to Gawad Kalinga. Fergie knows lumpia and pancit and was looking forward to adobo from Pampanga and a lot of hopefully undisturbed sightseeing. She describes apl.de.ap’s success story and all that he is doing for Filipinos as amazing.

It was great to have the Black Eyed Peas out here again. But more than all the music, all the dazzling display of state-of-the-art technology on stage, I like having them around because they are such wonderful role models for Filipinos. And I do not mean just the kids although I hope lots of Peas’ goodness will rub off on them despite the violence, the corruption and the poverty around them. None of Peas were born privileged but they turned their lives around through hard work and are now giving back to others in need.

 I like the way they put it. Why wait for a disaster to happen before you open your wallet, do it now. That is why will.i.am pays off the mortgage for jobless people in danger of becoming homeless; why Fergie lends her support to the anti-breast cancer cause and other charities; why Taboo will be building homes for Gawad Kalinga; and why apl.de.ap is now spearheading a campaign to build classrooms, not only in Pampanga but also around the Philippines.

As you can see they will not really be lying in a hammock with a good book and a huge drink while on vacation. They have big things to do. They also intend to continue creating music. Who knows they might just kick off their next tour in the Philippines.