In 1993, an English girl group named Eternal burst onto the UK charts with its debut single, Stay. It launched a career that spanned more than 14 consecutive Top 15 singles for the group, making it one of the most successful girl groups of all time. Sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett and school friends Kéllé Bryan and Louise Nurding (also known as Louise and Louise Redknapp), made up the group.

Stay peaked at #19 on the US charts, and was one of my favorite songs of 1993.

Lyrics to Eternal’s Stay, as well as ways to take a trip down Memory Lane and make a request for Tuesday Throwback, after the jump. Read more

While Filipino Manny Pacquiao knocked out Mexico’s Jorge Solis (article notes that Pacman is running for office in South Cotabato - I thought he pulled out!), Andre Agassi smacked his wife Steffi Graf in the face with his tennis racket.

That’s what you get for playing tennis while holding hands. Tsk tsk.

Violence all around, eh?

I visited a friend’s blog today, and he mentioned me in it. (The post was written more than four months ago; some friend I am, checking his blog three times a year.) This friend was a good friend of mine back in college for around three years, I think. We met up in my freshman year, he in his sophomore year, making our acquaintances in the college’s ROTC marching band. That was pretty much the extent of our relationship - we’d see each other every Saturday while playing marching tunes under the heat of the sun, and occasionally at school basketball games, where we would play inane cheer medleys. We weren’t close, but I considered it a friendship.

Now, his post talked about how he visited his old college haunt, which brought back a slew of mostly bittersweet memories for him. Near the end of the post, he wrote about the last time he and his friends were together, which was at the senior party. I was there, despite my being a junior, because the band I was a member of at the time performed that night. He had a few beers, got a bit wasted, and approached me. We chatted for a while, I think I thanked him for his friendship and tutelage (he and I were members of the cheering squad’s horn section), and wished him well. After a few more minutes, he came out to me, after which, he literally ran away.

I remember standing there, stunned. My own friends later on told me that it was no secret, and I guess that pretty much told me my gaydar was shot to hell. I didn’t speak to him for some time, partly because we weren’t that close and had no opportunities to really talk, and partly because I tried to deal with his revelation in my own way. The end result was “AC-DC,” a three-act play I wrote for a master’s class, staged twice. Writing that play was therapeutic in many ways, best of which was it allowed me to come to terms with accepting that this friend was my first friend to actually tell me to to my face that he was gay. Later on in life, I would eventually learn of many friends coming out, all well and good, but my friend Tyler was the first.

Why did Tyler’s coming out hit me so hard, anyway? I realize now that his coming out made me realize I, too, had to deal with my own concepts and struggles with sexuality. It wasn’t easy. Ever since I was a kid, a lot of people thought I was gay, and looking back, I guess I can’t blame them for thinking that. Society today isn’t as closed-minded as it was back in the 80s and 90s (imagine even further back!), and my mannerisms in high school and college didn’t exactly scream “jock.” Back in high school, for the first two years, I hung out with guys who were pretty much in the same mold, so I think that contributed to people thinking what they thought. Some of my students - whether at DLSU, Saint Scho, even PROSEC - thought I was gay. It bothers me because people were attaching a tag onto me that was not true. It makes no difference what the tag is. When someone labels you with something that’s not true, it can hurt.

I guess it bothered me because all my life, I always defined myself as “funny.” The nonstop talker, the entertainer, the sarcastic wit. I never included “gay” in how I saw myself, so it came (and still comes) as a surprise to me when people add that definition, because I never entertained the thought of having any kind of sexual contact with another man. Actually having the gay kiss in “AC-DC” made me realize that there really isn’t anything in being gay for me.

I actually see myself as Chandler Bing - the funny guy on Friends. It was always “funny,” “witty,” “entertaining.” Chandler, too, was also thought by some to be gay. Like Chandler, I was never gay, but people thought I was. Like Chandler, it bothered me that people thought I was. Like Chandler, I just learned to deal with it.

Other than my family, my high school buddies, and true college friends - Release and the LHC - the only one who really saw me for me - Chandler and all - was Cathy. When Cathy and I started dating, she looked beyond the corny jokes and the decidedly unmacho persona and saw potential. We could talk for hours, we were never bored, and she liked me for me. We had so much in common, and she didn’t care if I shrieked - that’s right, shrieked - at the sight of a cockroach or did a really good impression of Miriam Defensor Santiago.She is my woman, and I am her man. She made me want to be, not just a man, but the best man I could be. Now that God lent me a son, it is my responsibility to raise him to become the best he can be - and true to himself, whatever he may be or wants to be. I owe it to my wife and I owe it to my God, who made me who I am today, a person I can be proud of, regardless of what other people think about me.

Christian rock group David Crowder*Band’s “Foreverandever Etc.” was released last year, but is only starting to sizzle at modern rock radio. This inventive, highly amusing video accompanies this radio-friendly single involving animated versions of each band member up against angry squirrels.

Isn’t it fun?

Calling all Christian musicians, managers, A&R representatives, and label executives!

If you are an independent Christian musician looking to get your music out onto the Internet without losing copyright control, GannsDeen.com wants offers you an easy way to promote your music - at virtually no cost to you!

Other larger music websites like MySpace forever for your songs to stream to fans. GannsDeen.com provides a quick audio stream that loads fast and clear, offering potential fans a quick way to listen to your music!

If you are looking to build buzz for your new single, or an album about to drop, GannsDeen.com can post information about you and link directly to your website, helping you build word-of-mouth and giving people searching for info on you a place to go!

Plus, if I think you and your music can serve to edify Filipino youth, I may even arrange for an email interview to promote you more on my other Christian website, the Filipino-Christian youth magazine LIVEtheLIFEMagazine.com! That’s a lot of great online promotion for you - FOR FREE.

What’s in it for me? Nothing much, really. I’m just a fellow Christian musician looking to promote Christian music on the Internet.

(I won’t lie to you; not all songs sent to GannsDeen.com will be streamed. I tend to give priority to songs that, in my opinion, can find airplay on American Christian AC/Inspo charts. If I like your song, I’ll say so. If I’m not so much into it, but the lyrics and/or melody can serve to bless someone online in my opinion, I’ll post it anyway. If I really don’t think it fits the image or mood of GannsDeen.com, I’ll be sure to email you and hope you don’t take it against me.)

In exchange for all I’m to do for you, all I ask is a quick mention (and/or link) on your official website or MySpace page telling people they can listen to your song on my website. That’s all you have to do. One quick link.

If you’re interested, email me a short artist’s bio along with an mp3 of your song. I will never upload your mp3s onto any shareware for illegal download. I promise to get back to you within a week of my receipt of your song, regarding whether or not I will stream it on my website.

God bless your ministries!

This is Tuesday Throwback, a blast-from-the-past type of post entry that I’m going to make every Tuesday (obviously!), streaming you a hit from the best eras of music, the 1980s and 1990s! (Yeah, you 60s and 70s purists may leave now.)

For the very first song spotlighted on Tuesday Throwback, let’s go back to 1993, when a UK duo called Go West logged in an upbeat pop song that exploded across both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at #13 on the UK charts and #14 on the US charts. The track’s name was Faithful, and it was one of my favorite singles from 1993.

Lyrics to Go West’s Faithful, as well as ways to take a trip down Memory Lane and make a request for Tuesday Throwback, after the jump. Read more

Tomorrow, I’ll be submitting music and lyrics for a campaign jingle for a political candidate. The amount of money I’m charging for campaign jingles is literally 75% lower than the amount my other professional musician friends are charging for their campaign jingles, and yet the amount of work I’m putting in is the same amount of work they are. This isn’t a complaint, though; in this day and age, let’s face it, writers will take their rackets wherever they can get it, hahaha.

Writing political jingles is a bit of a challenge, significantly different from praise and worship, which comes a lot easier for me. One has to come up with a good hook, a good melody, and, at least for me, lyrics that are more than vapid repetitions of the candidates name. (There’s only so much you can do, after all, with a candidate, for example, whose family name is Batumbakal, Dimaculangan, or Offemaria.)

There’s also the copyright issue. I’m not particularly enthused about taking someone else’s hit song and generating different lyrics to meet their melodies. Aside from the copyright, there’s the ethical issue, and I, for one, am not enthusiastic about taking a song I didn’t write and giving it new lyrics without permission.

A campaign jingle is a luxury for most candidates, I imagine. Given the target market, I can see why it can be very important. It’s really a sad thing, honestly, when so much attention is given the fluff and not the vital issues.

So what’s the evil plan? I’ll take one of my original recordings and pop new lyrics in. Stealing from myself. I should be ashamed. Hahaha!

As an aside: Have you picked out your candidates? I’ve only begun to select, but this is my tentative 12: Sonia Roco, Manuel Villar, Francisco Pangilinan, Joker Arroyo, Ralph Recto, Miguel Zubiri, Noynoy Aquino, Chiz Escudero, Ping Lacson, Alan Cayetano, Ed Angara, and Loren Legarda. That’s 7-4-1 in favor of the opposition. My mayor is Jun Bernabe, my vice-mayor is Anjo Yllana (oi vey!), my congressman is Ed Zialcita. Yun lang po.

My thanks to the wonderful folks at Starmometer, who recommended GannsDeen.com as one of its seven religious blogs to visit for Holy Week. Truth be told, I visit Starmometer relatively often to keep track of what’s happening in Philippine entertainment. Between that blog and PerezHilton.com, well, I get my daily fix of voyeuristic, none-of-my-business content. LOL

Starmometer writes, “[W]hen you visit his blog, you will learn that it’s not boring to be a Christian and that gospel music is the best genre of music there is.”

Considering I’ve tried to keep the new website relatively clean of preachy content, choosing instead to focus on blogging about Christian music and how God works in my life, I am honored to be part of that list of seven. It’s definitely not boring to be a Christian; best affiliation I’ve ever had, I tell ya. As regards gospel music, well, to each his own. Personally, I love gospel music, but I’ve found God speaks to us using many genres; for instance, I remember having a particular epiphany while listening to to Sonic Youth’s I Am Hell from the Beavis and Butthead Do America soundtrack, and that sure as heck isn’t gospel music. LOL God can use a variety of mediums to speak to us; it’s up to us if we want to listen.

There are many great Filipino-Christian blogs out there, and you can find some of them in the sidebar to your right. For insightful, generally non-preachy content, try locals Tainted Song, RefineMe.org, and Roca Cruz (Kitchie Nadal’s manager); you may also find international blogs Journey Inside My Mind, Bene Diction Blogs On, and What in Tarnation fascinating reads.

Thank you again, Starmometer! Mabuhay kayo, at sana manalo ulit si Cheryl Burke!

He died, He rose, He will come again.

There’s a hailstorm of discussion circulating around the Philippine blogosphere, centering on a few individuals’ disappointment at the Philippine Blog Awards’ invocation. Specifically, Benj, an atheist, was extremely offended at the mention of Jesus Christ as a motivating factor for Philippine bloggers in maintaining their blogs. He was further offended by the response of “a lot of people” (in particular, this fellow) to his post, and has gotten a good round of discussion from Jorge, Tess, and Gail, who defended the organizers and initially encouraged Benj to join the group next year to ensure non-Christians’ rights would be represented better, but later took back the invitation.

(To Benj’s credit, he did say that the organizers were not to blame; to moot the point, he placed the blame somewhere else, when at this point, finger-pointing would not do the issue any additional good.)

Joni, coincidentally, asked me this morning what I thought of the ongoing flurry of activity. Initially, I thought to myself, this is not an issue I necessarily want to weigh in on, preferring instead to just let the issue die. As a self-professed Fil-Christian blogger for the past seven years, I think I should at least say something about how the situation may have been handled better by the Christians in the group, so as not to further stoke the flames of this ‘controversy,’ which may have marred, in one way or the other, the success of the Philippine Blog Awards.

First off, I want to say that Benj and I have not had the smoothest of relationships, thanks in large part to two things: a less-than-stellar-but-more-than-civil exchange of thoughts on PinoyExchange, where we first ran into each other, and a tendency to read too much into each other’s blog posts, hahaha. I have often said things that may have been offensive to him, and he has done likewise. What I think makes our online relationship work - and translated at least into a decent conversation at the BlogParteeh ‘07 when we didn’t kill each other - is a common respect for the other person’s beliefs. After all, it is expected and common that, in our individual web spaces, we call the shots. He has the freedom to delete/edit anything I say on his blog, and I on mine; of course, we don’t, out of what I hope is a respect for the person’s freedom of speech, and to my (not-so-perfect) recollection, I’ve never had to delete any of his posts on any of my Christian blogs. Occasionally, he’ll make a post that will push my buttons, intentionally or unintentionally, and I pray for the strength to just let it go. I’ve often apologized to him in public and private, and he has, too.

There is something to be said for an online relationship between a hardcore atheist and a Bible-thumping Christian, that we can have reciprocal links to each other’s websites, and what I hope is a healthy respect for each other’s rights as people.

The Philippine Blog Awards, however, was no longer just a webspace. It was a gathering of people, not all of whom share the same beliefs - religious, political, whatever. What should have united every person in that theater that night was a healthy respect for each other as individual bloggers, all coming together to recognize that we are all equal - as bloggers, and as people.

Despite my being a Christian, I feel very strongly about recognizing and acknowledging Benj’s point that a more universal prayer or moment of silence would have been more appropriate. There was a point in my life when I was on the other side of that fence, when I was just like Benj. There was a time when I denied the presence of God, and did my part in trying to convince others of my beliefs. I can understand why he feels the way he feels. I may not have expressed myself the way he did, but I can see where he’s coming from.

I definitely disagree with how Benj may have phrased his disgust disappointment with that prayer - especially since some have since interpreted his rather angry post in a negative way. That post was written for response and controversy; there’s no way organizers would have not reacted to it because Benj did throw a lot at them.

When a negative response to something is made, it’s human nature for the owners of that something to react in defense. Shari and and a few other attendees who found that prayer a bit disconcerting may have been left out, but Benj spoke out. Whatever results or changes he may have wanted for next year’s PBA, however, were probably diluted because it was so angrily said.

There are diplomatic ways to express displeasure, but in the heat of the moment… well, Christians and non-Christians can all lose tempers and say things they may end up later wishing they had not said.

Of course, the non-Christians aren’t as driven as we are to forgive. Nor are they as smug as we are because we are in the majority.

Frankly, we Christians in the Philippines do not realize how good we’ve got it, that we can pray in public and not be shot. That we can open our Bibles and read it on the subway. We don’t live in the minority, unlike the earlier Christians, or like Christians in other countries like China or Cuba, and as a result, we’ve become complacent, and almost snooty, just because most Filipinos know of Christ, and a few have active relationships with Him.

The problem with many Christians - and I can include myself in that list on several occasions, unfortunately - is that we tend to become almost elitist and high-and-mighty, knowing we have something in our lives that others do not. We forget it is still their freedom to accept the gift we have ourselves been given and accepted. We become so ritualistic that we forget about the non-believer whose impressions of God and Jesus is based on their interactions with us.

How is a non-believer supposed to know our own Jesus Christ - the person we acknowledge is the Son of God - hobnobbed with the huddled masses, the whores, and sinners? He accepted them for who they are, and (I believe) they changed in time because they kept company with Him. He influenced them in a positive way, and one day, that message of love made a difference in the lives of the people.

How can we reach out to these people when we offend them fresh out of the gate? How can we build relationships with them when we leave them out? And how can we expect them to understand Jesus’ message of compassion when we throw stones instead of bread?

My ending point is this: I personally don’t think a message of tolerance is necessarily a message against Christianity. If we automatically shut out people who do not share our views and faith, we would have lost sight of that which Christ specifically told us to do in Matthew 28.