Shameless plug
No, I haven’t run out of things to say — about everyone else. Let’s just say that it’s time for a shameless plug, an auto-promotion that’s not exactly about motoring, albeit one that should still serve to promote other artists and culture mavens — which heaven knows are what make our environment an electrifying one.
About a year ago I embarked on assuming a persona as TV talk show host, on the GNN Channel courtesy of Global Destiny Cable. Oh, and on the instance of undeniably persuasive manners as exercised by good old friend Harry Tambuatco.
Had it not been for the BTV or Basketball channel, I would have happily remained a Sky Cable loyalist. But missing out on the NBA games is a fate worse than dragon’s breath, and so it didn’t take long to find out that a happy co-existence between the two major Metro Manila cable-TV providers can be guaranteed in one’s bedroom, with the use of a simple P150 device called an A-B switcher.
One can actually subscribe to two cable TV providers, and switch from one to the other just to get either of two heretofore exclusive channels: BTV on Destiny and ANC on Sky.
Only recently, Sky has also offered BTV per special arrangement, with the installation of a Digibox that adds it and five other new channels to the Sky Gold package, for an additional 130 pees. Never mind that one has to punch in a very high number, 149, to view BTV. At least it gives me a backup should Destiny go on the blink, as occurred quite a bit immediately post-Ondoy.
And never mind the intricacies of befuddling decisions by head honchos on where to place a particular channel. For the life of me as a couch camote, I can’t understand why Sky’s arrangement for BTB also apparently affected my fave channel’s placement in the Destiny roster. Now it’s not alongside other sports programs like ESPN, Star Sports and Solar Sports anymore, but occupies the edge of satellite ether, at No. 80!
Oh, well, In any case, let me get back to the shameless plug department. When I acquiesced to former rocker, pizza parlor and jazz bar operator Harry Tambuatco’s request that I join our common buddy Gerry Cornejo on the airwaves, it was on the presumption that anything Gerry could do, I could do quirkier. And so I acceded to occupy a Monday-night slot on what was then called Talk News TV or TNT, to complement Harry’s own nightly talk show program.
My hour naturally inclined towards art and culture, for perhaps the simplest reason: that I would find it easy to twist arms in acquiring an endless supply of guests, from among age-old friends or newfound acquaintances — in the fields of literature and creative writing, publishing, the visual arts, theater and film, song and dance, and other related life-enhancing fields.
I became privileged to have as guests a predominance of fellow writers, who within an hour were given the opportunity to share or talk about their latest works or attendance at this or that literary event, local and international.
Rowena Tiempo Torrevillas, Susan Lara, Marjorie Evasco, Jimmy Abad, Angelo Suarez, and visiting poet Sarah Gambito read their poetry and/or spoke about their environmentally conscious work habits. Palanca Awards director Sylvia Palanca Quirino guested together with Miguel Syjuco, 2008 Palanca grand prize for the Novel awardee. Yes, the young and good-looking whippersnapper from Montreal who pipped me for the MAN Asia Prize last year, after I had already sung his praises in my show — for his writing and arm tattoo both.
(These kids have all the gumption. And the brimming talent, admittedly. But if he didn’t happen to be a respectful Atenean courteous enough to share a bottle and a smoke with me in the past, I swear, he’ll get what’s due him when we join a forum together next week, with senior writers Jimmy Abad and Butch Dalisay as fellow provocateurs. Billed as “Global Pinoy Writer” or something, as organized by the National Book Development Board, it’ll be conducted at Filipinas Heritage Library on Nov. 24, starting at 5 p.m.)
Alternatively, cutting-edge visual artists such as Césare A.X., Jean Marie, their daughters Maxine and Mickey Syjuco (a family that’s also a much-hailed underground collective as poets, painters, rockers, performance and new media artists, and a jewelry designer), also became guests, in tandems and separated by weeks.
So did my ever-dearest little sister Agnes Arellano the sculptor, the young painters Camille dela Rosa and Batanes surrealist Awee Labrador, film director and filmfest organizer Tikoy Aguiluz, photographer and rock star Wawi Navarroza, pyrographer Edison Billones (who wound up burning images of LeBron James on wood, per my personal commission), and a National Artist named BenCab who spoke on nudity, er, his book on nudes.
Then too there were book publisher Marily Orosa and her son B.G. Hernandez as graphic designer, and the distinguished paradox, er, pair of docs, the illustrious Bedans Dr. Mon Arcadio, UP Manila Chancellor, and Dr. Serafin Hilvano, PGH Surgery head, not to talk about boils and sutures but the heritage of art in UPM/PGH’s hallowed grounds. A jazz guitarist named Aya Yuson also played solo strings rather memorably for his old man’s special Christmas presentation.
But it became difficult to air live on a weekly basis, especially since at that time my Ateneo class was on a Monday. The show took a hiatus of a few months, after which a new arrangement was made that would allow pre-taping. It was revived in a big way, I must say, because now the weekly interviewing tasks are shared with a co-host, Trix Syjuco, lovely poet on both page and stage.
The show also has a new name: Illuminati with Krip & Trix. Yeah, sounds pretentious, right? But in a moment of lunacy I managed to convince program manager HarryTambuatco that Trix and I would seek to enlighten or illuminate viewers on the state of the arts. So, no, it’s not a conspiracy thing involving angels and demons, unless the co-hosts are seen to represent such stereotypes.
Taping a show in advance makes it easier. If tight skeds or out-of-town trips don’t allow a weekly appearance at the studio in Solid House building on Pasong Tamo Extension, why, we could even arrange for a double-taping and have a reserve episode.
Our pilot episode aired on Oct. 5, with guest Patrick Rosal headlining and representing the episode title: “Poetry: Page & Stage.” Like Trix, Patrick performs his poetry with mesmerizing flair, besides committing it to paper. He did two poems in his typically rhythmic B-boy cadence. I treasure the DVD copy and will only allow for a limited pirated edition. The author of two award-winning poetry collections, Patrick has since returned to New Jersey after his four-month stint here as a Fulbright scholar hosted by Ateneo de Manila University.
On Oct. 12 we featured “Pinoy Komiks” with guests Boboy Yonzon and Edd Aragon, the latter visiting from Sydney where he’s a top draw as an editorial cartoonist. The show helped promote the First Philippine International Cartoons, Comics, and Animation (PICCA) Festival organized by Boboy, as well as the coffee-table book The First One Hundred Years of Komiks and Cartoons, written by Dr. John A. Lent and published by Yonzon Associates, which was launched as a festival highlight on Oct. 16.
On Oct. 19 we had “A Family of Artists” with co-authors Dr. Mario Miclat and Alma Miclat and their daughter Banawe Miclat, the superlative actress and singer who’s based in New York City but is home with us until yearend. She sang a couple of arias rather divinely during the show.
On Oct. 26, our topic was “Another Golden Age for Pinoy Films?” with guests Tikoy Aguiluz and Ronnie Lazaro. Tikoy thus became the first repeat guest, counting the show’s previous incarnation. He spoke on the latest edition of CineManila at Taguig, where the multi-awarded actor Ronnie served as a juror. It was particularly heartwarming to hear Ronnie recall his early association with Trix’s folks, when she was but knee-high. Well, Ronnie’s and my knees, which are generations apart as they are.
We had the most difficulty in executing a game plan that would feature Cosplayers for our Nov. 2 episode, right on All Souls Day. It was sem break, and so the cosplaying divas and princesses all seemed to be out of town. To the rescue came the trio of Lyron Aquino, Marlon Lapada and “Don” Robert.
These kids are something else. In their early 20s, they’ve trained themselves to craft their own costumes and intricate props, working on rubber sheets on their own budgets. But Lyron has become so adept at it that his expertise now earns him funding for his next Cosplay or Cosvent participation.
Trix came as Lady Gaga for the show, with a blonde wig. I suppose I was Lady Marmalade with a flowing orange one, at least for the first half, since it started to itch and I appropriated a Lyron mask for the second.
Last Monday, our topic was “International Writers’ Festivals” with Sarge Lacuesta and Joel Toledo as guests. Fiction writer Sarge had just come back from participation in the Ubud Writers and Readers Fest in Bali, while poet Joel had recently been invited to the Delphic Games (a sort of Olympics of the Arts) held in Jeju, South Korea.
Our seventh episode airs tonight on GNN Channel 21 at 7:15 p.m., with a replay at about 10 p.m. We have a father-and-son tandem as guests, the painters Nunelucio Alvarado and Burog Alvarado, talking on “Negrense Artists” who open an exhibit today at the Ateneo Professionals School at Rockwell, as well as an upcoming exhibit, starting on Nov. 24, showcasing the works of Nune alongside those of three sons and a daughter.
We’ve already taped our eighth episode that will air on Nov. 23: “The Pinoy as International Sculptor” — with Florence-based sculptor Duddley Diaz as solo guest. He just had a 24-year retrospective exhibit at the UP’s Vargas Museum, where a book on his art was also launched, authored by the formidable critic Dr. Alice Guillermo.
For future shows, we hope to get Sen. Edgardo Angara to talk on all the arts and culture initiatives he has undertaken in terms of exemplary legislation. And it’s time to invite theater personalities and dancers.
And so we do our bit for the arts. We... uhh, illuminate. Trix has been a boon and a salve, an effervescent partner who not only does her homework that results in intelligent questioning, but also provides the substance as a compelling complement to my own strength, which is simply to serve as eye candy and a foil to her angelic qualities. Watch us, so you’ll know what I mean.
