UPDATED: Visit the new Pinoy Idol blog.
December 11, 2006– Results Night
Mau Marcelo is the First Philippine Idol! Congrats Mau! You deserve it. Your fans made it possible for you to win. View Photos of the First Philippine Idol Results Night and blog entry Mau Marcelo, A Philippine Idol Cinderella Story.
(ME,Jove, Bridget, Jher, Patty and Pamy who took the photo)
A meeting of Philippine Idol bloggers just before we went inside the theater. Jove Francisco (to my right), a popular Philippine Idol Blogger and ABC reporter told me that Philippine Idol bloggers built up Philippine Idol’s popularity. Maybe it’s true that bloggers contributed to the popularity of Philippine Idol. I remember when I first blogged about Philippine Idol. There were not many readers reading my Philippine Idol entries compared to recent entries. I notice that commercial breaks are getting longer indicating that there are more advertisers. The presence of celebrity guest in tonight’s show compared to the past show a vote of confidence for the Philippine Idol shows.
Tonight’s Big Band Night was such a refreshing change. Philippine Idol felt so alive and exciting. The top 4 [tag]Philippine Idol[/tag] finalists sang songs from the Big Band Era. The elegance of the production design and the songs made me want to dance with my husband. I am such a sucker for old standard music. It might seem boring to the younger crowd but it’s soothing and relaxing. Big bands makes all music sound great.
Gian measured up to the international standards of Big Band music. He was meant to sing this kind of music. I am not too confident if Mau can warm up to western audiences during the competition of a “World Idol”.
Who will be Philippine Idol’s Top 3? My prediction is:
Pow Chavez gets the boot but this is not the end of her journey.
What touched me was her good-bye speech that made me tear and everyone else in the audience: (thanks Jove for the transcript)
Pow Chavez: (before the announcement)
““Gusto ko lang magpasalamat sa lahat ng taong tumanggap sa akin, ah, iyun pong dalhin nyo ako sa stage na ito malaki na pong karangalan sa akin!”Pow Chavez: (teary goodbye)
““Baka hindi na ako makakanta (pause) di ako umiiyak (pause) ah gusto ko lang pong magpasalamat sa (pause MR C hands her a hanky) mula po sa puso ko (pause) nagpapasalamat po ako tinanggap ninyo ako at nakarating ako ganito kalayo (pause) di po ako sumasali sa mga singing contest kasi natatakot ako na baka hindi nyo ko tanggapin, isang taong kagaya ko, pero kaya po ako narito kasi po gusto ko kumanta….
Of course, we accepted her for who she is. It’s just people like old school [tag]Philippine Idol[/tag] judge, Pilita Corales who insist on seeing her wear a dress. Forunately , Lea Salonga is more open minded and advised Pow that a dress doesn’t suit her. But Pow was game, she wore a dress for her movie clip (View Youtube video of her movie)
There may still be homophobics in the Philippines but when they see raw talent, they forget their homophobia like the homophobic parents of this blogger
My mom voted for Pow for all the weeks that she was competing. A huge feat for my mom given that she and my dad are majorly, majorly homophobic. Ang lungkot di ba? My parents are so homophobic but Pow somehow managed to win over my mom while I’ve been trying to get their tiny approval for years. An average of 75 votes kaya siya per week!
Pow has a strong fan base to keep her in the music industry. After every show, a crowd of adoring fans gather around her just to take photos with her. She is humble, charming and likeable to her fans taking time to thank them for their support after every photo ops. You don’t see a lot of fans hover around Miguel and Jan , the weaker performers but these two have powerful voting blocs. Pow wanted to stay in the competition while Miguel was lukewarm about his stay:
Ryan Agoncillo:
““Miguel for the past two weeks you’ve been scratching your head after results night kinakabahan ka lagi especially last night, it struck me when you said -I’m ready to go-. Gusto mo pa ba mag continue sa competition na ito, Miguel?”Miguel Mendoza:
““Oo, if there are people who will still vote for me, okay lang, okay lang din hindi”
He tears after every results night. Maybe he is sad that the better Idol Finalists leave before him knowing they are so much better.
Haay naku. But that’s life. Life is unfair but it doesn’t have to be unfair forever. It is not the end of the road for Pow. We will be seeing more of Pow in concerts, album launching and tours.
More POWer to your future . You have a lot of fans, Pow.
To read more about Pow’s elimination, read fellow blogger and ABC insider, Jove Francisco’s entry. If you missed Pow’s performance, here is the youtube video (below) of her song in the Movie Themes portion where she sang “So Far So Good” and the YouTube video “I’ll Give my Life for you”
Read More »Pow Chavez eliminated from Philippine Idol
(Updated November 13: Mo Twister spared from wearing a dress)
Controversial DJ Mo Twister vowed to wear a dress for one week if KEN DINGLE continues to stay on as a [tag]Philippine Idol[/tag] Finalist. When asked by Ryan to choose their top Idol finalist, Mo blurted out his fearless forecast that it is Ken’s time to go. This announcement brought so much laughter from the live audience. I think I might have laughed too much. My husband and daughters teased me that my wish might finally come true. Ryan Agoncillo mentioned that they will have a dress on standby in tonight’s results night, if Ken manages to stay in the competition. Mamita will even provide the dress and dared Mo to don a mini-skirt. Mo Twister then ran up the ramp to rehearse his catwalk in case he needed to model the dress. Sometimes I think some kind soul is voting for Ken like crazy just so Philippine Idol comes out controversial. Controversy=More talk. More talk=Higher ratings. But this is getting ridiculous. Ken sticks out like a sore thumb among the more talented Idol finalists. Much as I want to see Mo Twister prancing around the ramp wearing a mini-skirt, I ‘d rather see Ken out of the competition. Glancing at Ken during the closing of the show, I noted his sour expression as if he had drank some vinegar earlier. I can’t blame him for looking that way after the way the audience guffawed over Mo’s declaration.
Don’t I look tacky posing with my top 3 Philippine Idol finalists? I’m not really a showbiz person or a huge fan of any music artist except for the Idol reality TV shows. Since I’ve watched Philippine Idol from the start, I might as well see how far these talented singers go. They can’t be called Idols if fans don’t pose with them. The photos will speak for itself. My husband and daughters are rooting for Pow because she has such sweet vocals that shows clarity and wide projection. I love Pow, Mau and Gian. I ‘ll just see how they perform in the next 5 weeks. I need to sleep.
(Photos from left to right: Posing with Gian, Mau and Pow)
Read More »Mo Twister will wear a dress if…(Philippine Idol Alert)
You all know that I watch Philippine Idol as part of the live audience, at least in most of their shows. I take photos as I view the show because I blog about Philippine Idol. Let me give you a brief background on my reasons for blogging Philippine Idol. I am an avid fan of American Idol ever since Season 3 and have blogged about it since then. Excited that Philippine Idol finally reached the Philippines. I also blogged about it. I didn’t know that Google loved that entry so much . I found my Philippine Idol Blog ranking no 2 or 3 with “Philippine Idol” keyword. By sheer coincidence, my husband announced that we have tickets to all of the Philippine Idol shows because of his friend in Freemantle (the franchise owner of the Idol concept?). Since then , I have been watching the live shows.
Since it’s my daugher’s semestral break the past two weeks, I dragged them with me. Knowing they could be a snob to Philippine showbiz, I assured them that they will be entertained. Anyway, I know there are other bloggers who watch it live. One of my favorite Philippine Idol blogger is an ABC reporter, Jove Francisco because he reveals juicy insider tibdbits. Although I hear some gossip inside the studio , I keep mum about it.
After I uploaded my photos and wrote my entry, I visited Jove Francisco’s Philippine Idol Dance night entry and I was caught by surprise:
I also enjoyed the company of this great woman. Magkasundo kami sa comments, and it was as if, magkakilala kami kahit hindi. I know she blogs though, I read her kasi, all the time! Good thing siya nakatabi ko. (One forum guest noted na ““parang galit” ako last night sa upuan ko, my seatmate can attest to the fact that I wasn’t, ang saya saya nga namin eh, hehehe)
Could that be me? I clicked the link and lo and behold, it was my Philippine Idol Photo Blog. Talk about mutual admiration society! I didn’t know he sat beside me. (see screencap below) Haha, it’s a good thing I didn’t make a fool of myself or else Jove Francisco would have blogged “…There was this crazy woman seated beside me bouncing on her seat and waving her camera all night .” I am just kidding. Of course he wouldn’t do that. I wrapped some glow sticks around my wrist that night and clapped and danced on my seat as the Idol performers crooned and cavorted onstage. You must know that as live audience and especially those that are seated right across the judges, are told to do the following:
1. Look cheerful and energetic. Don’t look bored. Frowning is a no-no.
2. Clap everytime the show goes live after commercial break.
3. Don’t talk to your seatmate. Don’t text.
That night, the ticket ladies assigned our seats right across the three judges . I didn’t want to complain because earlier, I had whined over our initial seat assignments. It wasn’t the usual center seats. They gave us side seating arrangement but changed their minds as we weaved ourselves to our assigned seats. My two daughters didn’t want to be caught live on TV and requested back seats. In an earlier episode, I didn’t know that we would get panned by an inconspicuous camera set behind the stage. Horrified, I saw myself during a replay the next day. There I was oblivious of the cameras, snapping photos while my husband had this dropped jaw look. How embarassing. Talk about another one of my misdaventure as a photo blogger Part 3! Conscious of the cameras, I resolved to take photos only during the performance and quickly tucked the camera under my shawl when the judges started their critique. My husband straightened his jaw as the cameras panned towards him.
I can still feel my heart pounding–kabog-bog-bog. My husband and I were seated at the left side of the spectacular [tag]Philippine Idol[/tag] stage, just below Mel Villena and his band. Gosh, the bass sounds made my heart go thumpity-thump after the show and my throat searing with thirst. As a live audience we are constantly reminded to continue the rooting, raving and cheering throughout the show. I don’t think we have to be reminded as the fans were screaming their heads off. The Wildcard performance photos will explain more on the inside story of the live show as I am already sleepy and tired.
My favorites are for the girls:
IRA and MAU while for the guys, it’s GIAN and ONYX
View the behind the scenes Philippine Idol Wildcard Performance photos and if you missed watching it, here are some youtube videos
Read More »Philippine Idol Wildcard Performance & Results Night
So my husband and I watched the selection of the Top 4 male finalists as part of the live audience in SM Megacinema 3. I… Read More »First Final 4 Philippine Idol Male Performers
What an exciting night. Tonight was the first semi-finals of the [tag]Philippine Idol[/tag] Top 12 male performers which was held at SM Megacinema 3. Watching it in a live studio setting is definitely a change over watching it live on the TV set. It’s a different form of entertainment. It’s not the same as watching a concert or a movie. This is reality TV entertainment. So my husband and I kept an open mind to this new adventure.
I noticed a number of ABC 5 staff swarming all over the place. Fans are holding banners of their favorite Idol contestant. Heavy muscled bouncers were stationed at the start of the queue. When the door opened at 7:30 PM, the guard disallowed me from entering because I had a digital camera. Ugh, I wanted to sneak in photos so I wasn’t about to give up my camera. I let the crowd pass before I made another attempt at another guard. Hehe
I didn’t expect much of the Philippine Idol last sunday night . I thought our Filipino contestants were subdued compared to their American Idol counterparts. If you followed the past American Idol seasons, the audition is the wackiest part of the show. The [tag]Philippine Idol[/tag] Season 1 proved to be just as funny and entertaining with certain quirks that is peculiar to the Filipino culture.
That [tag]stage mother[/tag] in the photo must be so proud of [tag]Erika Jill Bautista[/tag] . As Erika sang, the mom engaged in small talk with Ryan Agoncillo. Sometimes, she listened through the walls. Erica has an hearing impairment (35 decibels) in one ear that she has to wear a hearing aid. Inspite of her hearing impairment, she sings pretty well.
That’s why the judges called the mother inside so she could hear the good news. The look in her face is magical just like any proud mother would react to a daughter’s achievement.