Just like last year’s Ayiesha Woods, my favorite Contemporary Christian act for this year has racked up a Grammy Award nomination for Favorite Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. American Idol finalist Mandisa Hundley has been recognized for her spectacular debut album, True Beauty.

She’s up against some pretty stiff competition: aside from hugely popular band Casting Crowns (The Altar and the Door), she’s also competing against perennial Christian favorite Michael W. Smith (Stand), critically acclaimed hiphop gospel producer Kirk TobyMac (Portable Sounds), and tremendously talented worship leader Israel Houghton and his group, New Breed (Another Level).

It’s a great field - I love all the nominees - but, of course, I hope the men cancel each other out and Mandisa takes home the Grammy. Hahaha! (It was a really tough field, and some of the artists who I thought were deserved the Grammy nomination for favorite pop/contemporary gospel didn’t make it, including Jeremy Camp’s brilliant Beyond Measure, Reliant K’s Five Score and Seven Years Ago, or Chris Tomlin’s See The Morning. I wouldn’t remove anyone from the current Grammy list, so maybe it’s best to keep it this way. Shame, though: Camp really deserved a nod.)

Mandisa’s True Beauty also finishes at #43 on the Top Christian albums chart for the year, while Only the World, True Beauty’s carrier single, is the 17th biggest Christian song of the year and the 18th biggest Christian AC song of the year. In the latter chart, she’s the highest ranked solo female artist; in the former chart, she’s a couple of notches behind Sparrow labelmate Britt Nicole with You.

Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson was given the Herculean task of interpreting Somewhere from West Side Story for Movies Rock!, a television special featuring fresh performances of some of the more well-loved songs from cinema. Prior to J-Hud’s version, the versions of Somewhere I’ve heard include Barbra’s version sung at the end of her 1994 concert tour, and the Natalie Wood version in the film.

I think you’ll find this version a significantly satisfactory version. Woods’ version was a poignant one, given that the just-shot Richard Beymer was dying in her arms; her version was a wistful soliloquy on star-crossed lovers doomed to a tragic end. Streisand reinvented the song to become a celebration of the diversity of man; the lyrics are sufficient to be open to interpretation both ways. I imagine Hudson’s take on Somewhere was closer to Streisand’s, and with her bombastic voice ripping into the song with gusto, there was no doubt she would pull Somewhere off with a spine-tingling, hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck-standing finale that merited a standing ovation from the live audience.

Watch the video and tell me what you think.

American Idol Season Five winner Taylor Hicks is coming to Manila for a series of mall shows in TriNoma and Greenbelt, again courtesy of the folks at the Ayala Malls. Keep posted to this particular blog as I gather up more information about Taylor Hicks’ Philippine tour.

It’s that time of year again, folks. A week from today, I will announce the winners of the 2007 Superblessed Christian Blog Awards. In keeping with my tradition of honoring Christian bloggers who have superblessed me throughout the year, I will make a donation to a charity of my choice in the names of the winners.

Meanwhile, swing on by any of the winners of the 2006 Superblessed Christian Blog Awards.

For our fifth year wedding anniversary, Cathy and I enjoyed a gone-too-fast overnight stay at The Boutique Hotel in Tagaytay. The last time we enjoyed Tagaytay accommodations was two years ago, when we spent an absolutely idyllic third-year anniversary evening at the Discovery Country Suites, also along the National Highway in Tagaytay.

I discovered The Boutique Hotel, a Tagaytay bed-and-breakfast, on TripAdvisor. It got stunning reviews, all of them from couples who said the seven rooms at The Boutique were cozy and romantic. After finding several blog entries and press releases praising the accommodations of The Boutique, I decided to book a room there for our anniversary.

Here are the positives:

• The Boutique’s emphasis is on reconnection between two people. Based on everything I’d read, The Boutique is a premium hotel not meant for families or barkadas. Sure enough, everything is geared towards reconnection, from the room design to the amenities, from the bath facilities to the breakfast-in-bed options. It’s sensual, it’s textile, and it’s intimate.
• The homemade bath goodies were delightful. The Boutique experience starts with a trip to the The Pamper Me room, a cozy nook behind the front desk filled with homemade scents and goodies designed to contribute to the overall experience. The couple gets to select room fragrances, shampoo and conditioner, body lotion, and soaps in several fragrances, including peppermint, lemon, and rose. Lavender was our choice of fragrance for the room and Cathy’s soap; I chose an invigorating rosemary and tea tree soap; we also selected rich and comforting milk and honey for our shampoo, conditioner, and lotion.
• The room was lovely. We booked the I Surrender guest room, which was right beside the front desk. The amenities inside I Surrender certainly made our stay more enjoyable. The room has a relatively private patio with its own hammock, large rattan love chair, leather-upholstered divan, and table. The Samsung plasma television and the corresponding sound system was arguably the best of all the local hotels at which we’ve stayed. (We watched our own copies of “The Holiday” and “Barbra: The Concert,” as well as the hotel’s copy of “Transformers.” Their sound system is quite good for musical DVDs.) We loved the king-sized bed, the abundant number of pillows, and the quality of the mattress.
• The food at The Boutique was also quite good. Their Hawaiian Bar-B-Cue restaurant served a delectable baby back ribs – arguably second-best we’ve tried, after Racks – notable for its tenderness and flavour. We also had a very interesting appetizer of French fries and spam served julienne, served with caramelized onions and a tart-sweet pineapple-laced sauce. At night, we were served hot chocolate with churros, a lovely little counterpoint to the Discovery Country Suites’ tradition of milk and cookies.
• The breakfast-in-bed was inspired. I chose their Hawaiian breakfast, which featured homemade breads, marmalades, two Hawaiian burger patties, and a large Spanish omelette; Cathy selected the continental breakfast, which included mini-pancakes, hard-boiled eggs, and a fruit plate. A choice of one cold and one hot beverage each found us choosing a cappuccino, a hot chocolate with marshmallows, and two pink guava juices. There was also a mini-bar, and the prices weren’t half-bad.
• The view was breathtaking. Our patio opened onto the back of the hotel, which featured a lovely view of the mountainside. We got some awesome sky shots and some terrific mountain shots. The rooms on the second floor, however, probably had a better view.
• In general, front-desk service was good. From calling about the hotel to booking to in-room service, the service was generally good. We asked for a pillow turndown while having dinner; the staff replaced the sheets. Talk about going the extra mile.

Here are the negatives, coming from nitpicky me:

• Getting information about The Boutique – and booking – can be tough. The Boutique doesn’t have an official website, so most of the information I needed on the hotel, I gleaned from the Web. You don’t know what makes each of its seven rooms special; without much information, one can be at a loss as regards which room to book and what amenities are available in each room (for example, we didn’t know whether or not I Surrender came with a refrigerator, and I brought refrigerate-only caviar to enjoy with Cathy).
• Booking can also be tough. Potential guests in the Philippines looking to book rooms at The Boutique on their own may find the booking experience easier than those based abroad. Why? This Tagaytay hotel confirms bookings with minimum PHP2500/night deposits into its bank account. (To Tagaytay hotels’ detriment, though, the same can be said for Sonia’s Garden’s Bed and Breakfast, although Discovery Country Suites makes life a little easier by at least taking my credit card number as booking guarantee.)
• White isn’t the best look for long-term maintenance. At night, The Boutique looks absolutely lovely; in the glorious Tagaytay sun, however, the flaws of the chic white of The Boutique, i.e. its propensity to get dirty, can be seen in stark reality. The dark streaks left by rain can mar The Boutique’s façade; inside, our patio walls were just as dingy.
• The rooms, surprisingly enough, aren’t that private. Book a second-floor room, if you can. Since the I Surrender guest room is on the first floor – and right beside the kitchen! – you can get a little concerned about privacy because you can hear voices through the bathroom walls and see sunshine shadows on the patio curtains of people walking by. The second-floor rooms have their own concerns, too, though; apparently, guests on the ground floor can see into their baths.
• There may be a couple of cleanliness issues. There was a foldable wooden table underneath our bed for the breakfast-in-bed; when I took it out to examine it, underneath it were dried-up rose petals and little black pellets I realized were mouse droppings, indicating the floor underneath the bed mayn’t have been swept prior to our check-in. The next morning, we awoke to find said culprit mouse had helped itself to our leftover churros, as well as the peanuts and chocolate in our mini-bar.

Despite these negatives, overall, we found our stay at The Boutique a pleasant one. The in-room amenities, homemade bath products, and food were the highlights of our stay; the discomfiting thought of people seeing or overhearing us, as well as the rather dirty walls of the outside façade, were the low points.

Photos here.

The Ganns Guide has a post on The Boutique Hotel in Tagaytay. Cathy and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary there tomorrow. This bed and breakfast in Tagaytay is one of the most romantic hotels in the Philippines, and I got to book their I Surrender room last-minute (thanks, in large part, to co-owner Melon Santiago and guest relations specialists Lynlyn and Joy).

Trust that we will have a ton of photos and stories - I’ll try not to be too graphic - upon our return.

We’re so psyched. The Boutique Hotel in Tagaytay! It’s gonna be LEGENDARY!

Last week, Victory Christian Fellowship - Greenhills worship leader Novie decided to include Fire Burns by Jon Owens in the roster of songs for yesterday’s Sunday service, and assigned me to its solo parts.

!!!

I was honored but very concerned. Fire Burns is a spectacular song, admittedly, and I was worried about doing this worshipful anthem justice. Adding to my trepidation was Owens’ throaty rendition was such a far cry from my typical boy band delivery, I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. (Not helping was a sore throat and a stomach way-too-full from a delightful meal at Mario’s Restaurant Quezon City.) Nevertheless, Novie trusted me, and I gave it my 100, leaving it to the Spirit to move in the congregation.

I don’t honestly know how I did. I tend to be very hard on myself when I critique myself post-service, and after the first service, I was concerned some may think I overdid the free worship on Fire Burns (and a little too much dancing on the praise songs, but that’s another story; I blame the Pony sneakers - I love to dance praise in these shoes!).

Later on, a gentleman I did not recognize approached me and encouraged me, saying to me, “that is your song.” Confused initially, I said, “No, I didn’t make that song, Jon Owens did.” He laughed and said, “No, I mean, that is your song. You sang it.” The impact of his words then sunk in, and I thanked him profusely. (I thanked God, too, that I got through my first Greenhills worship service without much negative feedback.)

I know I have much to learn from VCF-Greenhills’ leaders, especially since it’s quite a far cry from VCF-Fort. Coming from the latter’s R&B/gospel inclinations, it’s taking this old dog a while to learn the new tricks of the Hillsong United-esque alt-rock guitar-driven fixins of Greenhills. Parang feeling ko, antanda ko na. It’s so not comfort zone-y. But it is a privilege and honor to worship in the presence of the Lord and to be considered to sing with these amazing worship leaders, so I take each week as it comes.

God continues to mold me - through the pastors and Novie, of course - into the artist He envisions me to be; it’s just my job to let myself be molded. While I’d prefer to be behind the scenes, writing the music, right now, He’s called me here, so I just say, “Yes, Lord, thank You, here I am, whatever You want, Lord, Kayo na po bahala.” And He provides everything, including the courage to get through each nerve-wracking minute on-stage.

Your fire burns within me
Burn within me with Your fire

Not by my own power, or my own will, but Yours, Lord, may these all be accomplished.

Photos of yesterday’s service here. (I am never wearing those pants again! Gosh, I’m so big onstage.)