---today marks the 16th birthday of libera's beloved boy,joshua nathan madine. we all remember him as the boy who has the first intro on their leiden-dvd..."hello, i'm josh and we're called libera"...and we also remember him celebrating his 15th birthday here in manila last year as they held their first ever concerts at the PICC and cebu.
---i was not into josh so much because the first voice i heard was that of thomas cully on their "eternal" CD. then after viewing the leiden DVD, the image of that cute boy (next to tom) caught my attention. he had this wonderful smile even while singing and his restlessness caught my attention, too. in one number, he was shifting his foot, in another he made a side glance towards prizeman, as if asking for a cue. at some point, he had this serious look but even then, the faint smile was still there.
---i recall after their concert last year, quite a number of fans acknowleged joshua's talent and face (face value, as i referred to it). it made libera a solo madine group - which left the other boys with less or no fans at all. from the shrieking fans in cebu to korea, indonesia, singapore and malaysia, clearly those teenaged girls were captivated by the angelic face of joshua madine.
---funny, but my first encounter with a libera fan was simply that of a madine pic which she didn't want to share, pfffft! then came april when it was an opportunity to meet all the boys of libera. it was magical - seeing and hearing them was entirely different than being close to them (an arm's length, actually) and the second batch was even more exciting because josh was among them. and it was my turn, an autograph, a smile and a handshake. he looked up to me, said his famous line, "thanks for coming" and looked at me in the eye - i swear he had brown eyes that moment!! and he smiled. and i can't keep my eyes off his face, searching for those famous moles, hah hah he was in his element during the meet and greet. he knew he was "famous" but didn't show off. neither did he had air. he was just pure mr. smiley face.
---another round of josh was after the RCBC concert. it was again an opportunity to ask for his autograph (from him and liam, actually). this time, i had the courage to ask him and liam to write down my name (specifically dedicated to me). liam didn't have a problem spelling out my name (wonder of all wonders, why my name is always mispelled here in my own country, hah hah). when it got to josh, i was just starting out to spell my name - T-H... and he scribbled it fast, nah, didn't miss any letter.
---i've started calling him "sunshine boy" because his smile radiates warmth and sincerity. he doesn't fake it. maybe if he's not in the mood, sick, angry or whatever mood he's in, there is always a ready smile for everyone.
---they say at 16, a member of libera is "retired". josh is 16. and they say "lullabye" could be his swan song. whatever, what a fitting song for a retiring libera boy. josh's voice was extraordinarily haunting yet angelic. but we're hoping he could still stay on with libera for at least a year or until their next concert here in the philippines.
---happy birthday, josh. and with that goes all the wishes of your filipino fans and we hope to see you around sometime soon.
