MANILA, Philippines - I coughed, wheezed and gagged all throughout two sold-out Air Supply concerts (Nov. 20 in Davao and Nov. 21, Apalit) with a fever and body aches to match.
The crowd euphoria on both concerts sort of alleviated the pain and lifted my spirits. I normally don’t work during my birthday week which falls on the fourth week of November so that I could celebrate with family and friends. This year, I had lots of work. As the Village People were being escorted to the departure area of Terminal 1, Air Supply was queuing up for immigration processing on Terminal 2 to transit to Davao.
Air Supply is one of my favorite artists not only because I love their music but because they have been close friends through the years. I’ve always marveled at their ability to perform almost flawless concerts day in, day out almost every other day of the year. Air Supply does an average of 130 concerts yearly worldwide which means more than one third of their year is on stage and the rest is spent traveling on planes and sleeping in hotels.
When the sold-out concert of Air Supply ended at the ADD convention center in Apalit, Pampanga, I heaved a sigh of relief and thought work was over for a few days when my wife suddenly appeared and declared Air Supply’s manager Sparky was fuming mad and wanted to talk to me. “Oh no! What could the problem be,†I said to myself.
I entered the Air Supply dressing room with a long face expecting stress but was immensely relieved when Air Supply’s entourage of 11 and my associates and friends all shouted, “Happy birthday†and started singing. I suddenly blushed as everyone hugged and kissed me. These people traveled to Apalit and timed it at exactly midnight. What an overwhelming feeling when big stars like Air Supply and my Steve O’ Neal family connived to assault me with a birthday surprise. I felt even better when I found out they bought a cake in faraway Angeles for the surprise. How touching. It was a feeling worth all the riches in the world.
The surprise next day was a semi surprise because I caught my wife texting my friends through my cellphone about a birthday dinner three weeks ago. I just played along for a few days until it was time to choose the menu. I told my wife, “Thank you for planning the surprise dinner but I’d like to lend a hand in choosing the menu at my favorite restaurant Lolo Dads in Glorietta.â€
My birthday fell smack on Thanksgiving day so it was just appropriate to have celebrity chef Ariel concoct a menu that featured turkey. The menu had Roasted Butterball turkey with foie gras and chestnut stuffing with a choice of three sauces and cranberry jelly. Semi soft and soft French cheeses and Spanish meats and hams for starters followed by Portobello mushroom soup, Caesar salad and thin crust Carbonara pizza then decadent cheesecake for dessert. In attendance were my long time barkadas Greg and Myrna Garcia and Baby and Booma (Mike) Enriquez; Boss man Ramon and Frannie Jacinto; compadres and comadres Bobby and Moleen del Rosario, Kenneth and Jolly Mau, Long Tall Howard and Cecil Medina, Renen and Cel de Guia; and my sister Vangie Samonte. Close friends Rudy Rivera, Dusit F&B Gilbert Uy, Manila Bulletin’s Badette Cunanan, Barbie Atienza, Adrian Curimao and Grace Fernandez. My sons barista extraordinaire Silvester and Steve O’ Neal productions VP Steven together with my two lovely daughters Sarah and Russell were also present. The dinner started at 7:30 p.m. and almost ended at 10:30 p.m. but my compadre Joey de Leon pulled a fast one. He dashed from his London flight that arrived at NAIA Terminal 1 with lovely wife Eileen and son Jako direct to Lolo Dads to gift me with fresh white truffles which he hand carried from Europe. Joey is much aware of my addiction to white truffles since he has shared countless white truffle dinners with me in our past travels to Italy, France and Spain. At 12:30 a.m., we took pity of the waiters and waitresses who were yawning as it was way past closing time so we had to bid our goodbyes. Indeed, I was one year older and hopefully wiser.
I was in tears when I checked my Facebook account and saw over a hundred greetings from friends and relatives whom I haven’t seen in ages. Some even took the effort to create elaborate greeting cards and photo collages. To all of you who remembered, my fond thank you and I love you. My fervent wish is to have a big celebration in 2013 with more friends and relatives. I think I’ll have to start saving now.