Andy Warholism

Papaya Update

Good friend Elmer Mesina of Philip Morris is an avid collector of vinyl records and he has a 45 of "Papaya." It was recorded in 1973 so that settles the issue about the date, Edu M.
The "plaka of Papaya" of the other E.M. is in mint condition and he wouldn't part with it. One of these days, we will ransack Elmer's collection. Ito, meron ka?

Hoy, Your Papaya is Polish!

"Papaya" is ubiquitous now in the Philippines, thanks to Edu Manzano and his program. Marcos babies like me knew Papaya in their childhood but can't exactly point where the papaya tree came from. A Pinoy homeschool teacher pointed out that it was a Groovychick's remix of Urszula Dudziak's song. Dudziak is a Polish jazz vocalist and was a great scat artist with a five-octave range. The Encyclopedia of Popular Music noted that "Language barriers hold no problems for her, as she customarily eschews words in favour of a wordless vocalizing that is far more adventurous than scat." She recorded about a dozen albums but even Edu is not sure on what year "Papaya" became a hit. I had a feeling that "Papaya" was included in her album entitled "Urszula" because this album was produced by Arista Records in 1975 and she was 31 then. She later became a vocalist of Vocal Summit group, together with Jay Clayton, Jeanne Lee, Bobby McFerrin, Norma Winstone, Michelle Hendricks, and Lauren Newton so that must be the ultimate vocal gymnastics team. "Although her remarkable talent is worthy of greater exposure, Dudziak's chosen style has meant that she has remained relatively unknown except to the cognoscenti," EPM wrote. How ironic that a country like the Philippines, where the musical taste of the common person is the opposite of cognoscenti, would champion Urszula.

Ike and Tina: The Continuing Saga

Didn't you know that Tina Turner guested in Joe Quirino's Seeing Stars with JQ. A proud moment in Filipino TV History but the nadir in Tina's career because that was the time when she was escaping from Ike's clutches, being a beaten wife and all. She gave away Fita Biscuits and Nagaraya Nuts to JQ's guests! And now that Ike is dead and Tina is the Grandmother of Rock, New York Post gave us this funny/terrible headline.

Roland, This Should Be Included in Our Book!

The Rodriguez Sisters in Seeing Stars With JQ 1974. That couldn't be the Aldeguer Sisters unless Gus decided to go trans that early. Is that Jean Saburit at the back because I have a strong feeling this was the show when the indefatigable Joe Quirino made the famous faux pas: "We'll be back ngarud with Jean Saburat."

Randy Jones!

This is just to inform you that Randy Jones, THE COWBOY OF VILLAGE PEOPLE, emailed me to say Thanks and that he enjoyed my blog. I plan to go to Wright Park and go horseback.
Here's the message from Randy:
Hello Frank,

I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your blog entry below. It was humorous and gave me a good laugh. Keep up the great work.
God bless,
RJ

Be Very Afraid

Joe Quirino: "Sharon, are you familiar with the current problems we have in the film industry?"

Sharon: "Sorry, Tito Joe, I'm afraid not."

JQ: "What about you Myra, what can you say?"

Myra Manibog: "Naku Tito Joe, I'm afraid also!"

And now, my friends, if you are curious about how Myra Manibog looked like, don't Google because all you'd get would be very, very bad images. As in naughty. As in with the late George Estregan?!

White Castle Whiskey

By popular demand, the 1978 version:

Macho Macho Man

The Village People. You danced with them and even did the YMCA with them (but you must have thought even then why the chorus is only "Young Men"). You now know that they are the gay icons of the 1970s. But then there is at least one of them who's not gay. Or that's what he said and no one disputed. Another one may also be straight but he's dead. Answer at the comment.
Anyway, after listening to Indigo Girl's Power of Two, a friend said, "That song is about their husbands siguro and them." I laughed. "Or boyfriends?" Another friend laughed harder. "E mga lesbians sila."
That's so easy. "Johnny Mathis," I said. "What about him?" "He's gay, too. And he ate monkey brains when he came to the Philippines," I told them. Actually it wasn't easy for Johnny to come out. Here was his reaction about being gay: "Um, it’s, uh, I don’t know, it’s very, it’s very unpleasant to even talk about because it’s, it’s such a small part of, of your life, you know. I mean, it’s a big part, but it’s, it isn’t everything, it’s just, you know, one aspect of your life." True, and don't you know even wiht his outing and all, his greatest hits collection is one of the best selling ever. For decades, it never left the Top 150.
Ani de Franco is gay but she's a damn good singer like k.d.lang and Marissa Etheridge who are also out-and-out. Janis Ian sang, "I learned the truth at 17 that life was meant for beauty queens" and we sympathized with her. We even gave her a Grammy. And then ten years later, she married a woman. Doogie Howser is gay. There's nothing wrong with that and it doesn't make you superior. Because here you are, a straight but has not done anything worthwhile.
Of course, I never said that to my friends. Our real conversation stopped at Johnny Mathis eating monkey brains. They asked me how he did it and all. I think they just lopped off the skull and picked on the brains while the monkey twitched his eyes depending on what neurons you popped in your mouth.

Classic Alma

Alma Moreno (wrapping up the conversation with singer Joey Albert during her "Rated A" show):

"So Joey, paki ulit muli yung concert mo sa University of Belt."

I would like to thank Jojo Devera for the Alma photo taken from the movie, "At Muling Lumaganap ang Dilim"

Pork Chopsuey

Ramon Zamora R.I.P.

American Pie

In Grade IV, I memorized all the lyrics of "Miss American Pie." not knowing fully well what they meant. I think I knew a bit of it now. And this YouTube attempts to be its concordance. Who is Miss American Pie? I think the documentor erred when he said she was a Miss USA candidate that Don McLean was dating. But the others were OK. McLean was selling newspaper the Day The Music Died and like Billy Joel, he gave us a capsule history of the music in the 1960s after Buddy Holly died.