MITCH & ANDY

the two most important men in my libera life....

RFO,THE MAN BEHIND LIBERA

MR. ROBERTO DE OCAMPO


i knew him from years back. he was secretary of finance. i was with NEDA (national economic & development authority). i was secretary to the then ADG then later on DDG of planning (that's asst. director- general then became later deputy director-general). i think i must have spoken to mr. de ocampo a couple of times on the phone. or maybe handed out some important documents to him at our board room. he was soft-spoken, and quiet.

so it came as a surprise that he has left the government service and is now connected with the british alumni association.

thank you, sir, for bringing libera and introduced their kind of music to us. it's very surprising that libera caters to the young esp with their kind of music that's entirely different with that of the hip-hop sound now. you & libera have given us an early christmas treat through this concert.

KEN MADINE

KEN MADINE

let me open my article with an apology to mrs. madine. mam, this is just pure joke between me and the teenagers whom i befriended here on facebook. they're all my friends and fans of your son, joshua. we're all fans, by the way. but my personality is by far a distant from my age. being 53, i blend well with the teeners whom i met starting in 2009 when i declared myself a fan of libera.

admittedly, i'm more of a thomas cully fan but joshua is one boy you can't miss esp if you play their angels in concert DVD. he has the looks and the voice. he warms the heart of the fans, the ladies specially. there is something in his smile that endeared him to the filipino fans, of course he has a good voice, too. and in one of our forums, i gave them (tom & josh) two titles befitting them. tom, the heart of libera and joshua, my sunshine boy.

late 2009, somebody forwarded me a picture of mr. madine. i showed it to my husband & commented that josh took after him. it was at this point that these girls were scrambling to get to josh - going to each and every site just to discover if he was indeed the real person who owned that account. it was mayhem on the internet! and i found it so awkward to join the melee. i figured, how can a woman my age go after josh?! so i told them, i'll leave josh to you, just give me the dad because he is my "crush" - OF COURSE IT WAS SAID IN A JOKING MANNER!!! i'm not a stalker and i don't intend to be one. i have high respect for myself and the madines so i told the girls and boys it would be embarrassing if somebody will spill out this silly joke.

then last tuesday's concert, somebody tipped off that mr. madine was there! i was kidding my daughter & those around me, finally, i'll meet my "crush". silly! i went up to mr. madine and told him how lucky he is to have 2 beautiful and talented sons. i asked if his wife was with him to watch the concert and he said she was left back home to be with their daughter. he thanked me. (thanked those around him) for coming to the concert. he obliged for some picture taking with me & the other fans.

seriously, i have high respect for the parents of the choristers. it's very difficult to entrust your children, traveling miles away from you for even more than a week - some as young as 6 yrs. old (?). of course there's always ms. barbara to take care of them and the other staffs, like ms. lewis. but i know, young as they are, they miss home. but josh and matthew are lucky to be with their dad and so are the other boys whose parents i heard flew just in time for the concert here and cebu.

thank you, too, mr. madine for "borrowing" you and made you up with our silly joke. you & mrs. madine are blessed with intelligent, talented and beautiful kids. may you all be continually blessed.

THE BIG MAN, ANDY WINTER

ANDY WINTER

i actually do not know him because based on what i heard (since i became a fan of libera) his name is synonymous to siberia...cold, harsh). you can never go near any libera boy without going through mr. winter. and mr. winter's word is always final. he is mean, stern - almost like a block of ice (well, ice is winter anyway. otherwise, if his family name was summer, that's another story).

anyway, i will not elaborate on the incident anymore as all was already forgotten & forgiven. i will choose to close that chapter in the book forever close. now, i stand corrected. the cold, mean guy had a good side too and all those talkies about him suddenly made me think were just out to destroy his personality. he explained his responsibility to each and every member of libera. those boys' parents trusted their sons to him so it's his responsibility as stage manager/security to take care of those boys. i must admit all members of this choir are all exposed to the "elements" in each country they performed. okay, i will be blunt - there are the gays, the pedophiles, the obsessed stalkers. nevermind those screaming teenage girls but the three categories i mentioned are by far the scariest. and mr. winter (big as he is) is the right man to protect these kids from them.

fast-forward to last sunday's meet and greet at d'block. mitch was nowhere & didn't have the intention of going to SM. he was on duty (being a male nurse at the ortho hospital). he seemed not to be interested anymore. so i kidded AW was looking for him. he followed during the 2nd batch signing. i told him now was the time to "meet & greet" mr. winter. either we get a friendly gesture of a cold shoulder, it doesn't matter, as long as we face THE man.

we waited. out came andy. we greeted him and just as we introduced ourselves to him, he readily recognized us. this was the most exciting part of the meet & greet of libera for me. of course, it was exciting to see the boys again, both old and new but meeting andy made it ever so memorable.

after the PICC concert, i sought him out to have my programme signed. he obliged and drew a picture of a CAT..."orangecat", he said as this is my username here in my blog. i was a picture of happiness at that moment. andy isn't mean. behind that big shadow of a mean guy is a man with a heart - ever protective of his boys and true to his responsibility to protect our choirboys. thank you, andy. you have friends here - me and mitch.

LIBERA MEN IN MY LIFE....

i should not have made that a title, otherwise, people reading my blog will have total misunderstanding about the word MEN. but it leaves me no choice - these three are so far the significant people that happened in the two years of being a fan of libera.

MITCH YOUNG

as far as my memory (gap) can remember, i met mitch aka chukkoi through his videos on youtube. i was impressed particularly the one done where he was in that after-signing event right after libera's concert at the PICC. that was in 2009. thomas cully (my ever so favorite libera boy) was still with the group. chukkoi tried to let him speak a few words for the camera - i think it was liam who did the talking for him. this earned a lot of anger from libera fans saying chukkoi went "over the line". but at least his video was the ONLY clip showing tom upclose (nevermind if he didn't utter any word. at least he made all cully fans happy).

to cut the story, we became instant friends on facebook. he called me "auntie" because calling me "tita" was rubbish-sounding. then came april 2010. libera's summer promo tour. chukkoi had access to ABS-CBN, being formerly employed by this premier network- libera would guest in a noontime show "showtime". with camera on hand, he was able to access their dressing room, taking photos of how these boys were in "real life" - he took note of the robes, the scattered polos, shoes, bags, books - it was some sort of a documentary. again, he earned the ire of the fans - or maybe the staffs & crews of libera. he did. all eyes were on him - red eyes, with fangs now out.

chukkoi is very showbiz having been on television as a host several years ago. so events like this would make him go back to his passion, camera and hosting ergo libera was an exciting guest to show & introduce to the filipino people.

next blunder - the after-concert signing at the RCBC plaza. he wanted josh madine to greet us - oh, please, this thing is very common among showbiz circle - you start by greeting your family, friends, relatives, relatives of the nearest degree, your neighbors, hairdressers, seamstress, drivers, yayas & maids, and even the family dog. well, depending on how popular you are, you extend your greetings overseas - that would repeat the cycle of the people you'd greet - why, you can even greet the president of whatever country or even the queen! and it excites us that a celebrity (josh) would greet us (for all youtube & facebook to see)! nah, a big, burly guy in black blocked chukkoi & muttered something that started a "word war" of some sorts...

CONCERT M& G/AUTOGRAPH-SIGNING

i so love this part of the event where anyone mingles with just about everyone! it was surprising to see the long line of people just to have the boys' autograph. we were having second thoughts but carmela already had the intention of seeing her favorite boy, cassius. i wasn't used to wearing high heels, my feet ached so much!! that was just "borrowed" from my daughter, hah hah after endless goodbyes with lala (hah hah and i'm literally laughing while typing this!), we ended up in huddle to have our "borrowed"/already signed from the previous CD signed again. doris solidum was kind to have lent lala one of the 3 CDs she bought for herself and friends. i had my "over-signed" CD with me LOL!! one needs to have a CD and poster in order to enter the line where the boys were seated. but i'm getting ahead on my story, i'm missing the juicy pieces..

while deciding should we queue for the autograph-signing, sofia tipped me that josh's dad was mingling with the crowd. wow, an opportunity to meet & greet him!!! so i approached yuki's group, introduced myself to mr. madine and complimented him about how beautiful & talented his 2 boys are. he was friendly, ever-smiling, accommodating, quite shocked why we were all over him! LOL!!! maybe, it still didn't sink on him why we were requesting to have our pics taken with him - sorry about that, mr. madine - we're overwhelmed, excited and good to see the father of the "star" of libera. but thank you for graciously being game with the fans for a photo session, it made you even more popular than josh now, hah hah

after my line with the boys, of which i didn't stay long, though - i left carmela doing the video. i had the opportunity to call mr. andy winter, approached him and requested him to sign my programme. he obliged even took time to draw a CAT and mentioned "that's orangecat"! wow andy, you really read my blog (that's my username). i wanted to strike a convo and mention terry chubb's name to him but these pesky teeners literally pushed me aside, asked for andy's autograph then asked him "who are you"? duh!!! did i hear you replied "i'm a nobody here" - something to that effect???? but it made my night complete and i will always cherish my signed programme. thank you very much.

then the boys stood up and made a dash for the exit. oh, they all looked tired! jude collins requested for a "time-out" during the signing, poor boy! i understand the situation of these boys. why, they're supposed to be in bed around that time! my apologies to their parents but this happens once in a blue moon so please bear with us, your loyal fans. we were prevented to pass to where they exited so my daughter & i waited for the last crew to pass. then we made our way to our car parked where their bus was also waiting - funny but their bus won't start! hah hah
we were hoping to get a last glimpse but that's too much already. it took sometime before they could board the bus so we went ahead.

thank you libera boys for visiting the philippines once again. you're family to us already. you made it more special for being so warm and accommodating to your fans. my special thank you to mr. andy winter, ms. barbara geraghty, steven geraghty, ben crawley, ms. eleonor lewis and the rest of the crew and staff involved in making these concerts possible.

thank you, too mr. roberto de ocampo who introduced and brought libera to the philippines. your presence during the M & G and concert makes it even more special to the fans.

the events people, security-detail - hello kuya dondon again! good to see you! who protected and escorted the boys everywhere they went. good job!

and lastly, mr. robert prizeman, the genius behind libera. your music will forever be remembered for all generations to come.

MABUHAY LIBERA!!!

THE CONCERT (PART TWO)

i'm using libera's programme as my guide now (thanks to lala (again!) for buying our souvenir programmes & poster. they started off with "JUBILATE DEO" with a medley of 'LIBERA'. it was very good, i knew we're off to a very good start. i must admit i'm not quite familiar with the new boys, unlike last year when a libera fan provided me with pictures along with the names of the newbies (cassius was one of them). their repertoire consisted of x'mas songs from their new CD (jubilate deo, joy to the world, still, still, still, veni emmanuel, carol of the bells, sing the story, and in dulci jubilo). the rest from their past CDs (song of life, sanctus, salva me, exultate, gloria in excelsis, the fountain, eternal light, ave verum, glory to thee and how shall i sing that majesty).

as always, the sound of libera filled PICC with angelic-like voices. the little ones were so precious! did i see one boy yawned? it was now their time to shine - matthew rangel-alvares, luke collins, cassius and the newer ones made the older boys proud - in what used to be josh & liam's glory during their younger years. i almost cried when liam made his short "speech". he briefly told the crowd his stay with libera up until now that he's with the lower voices, along with josh, jonathan, tiarnan, and alex. oh liam, everyone loves you with your version of "libera" (leiden). the boys who made their "little speeches" got a hearty applause from the crowd. cassius and another newbie had the most earned-applause! cassius is such an adorable darling!! while he was the "nervous" one in last year's concert, he now gained a lot of self confidence & really won the hearts of libera fans.

they ended the concert with "how shall i sing that majesty". but we wanted MORE!!! so they obliged us with another x'mas song "white x'mas". whoohoo! effortless! and we wanted MORE! MORE! we anticipated for "bayan ko" but mr. prizeman's intro was far different and this left us all guessing - it was a tagalog x'mas song which they all started humming - ralph did the solo, "himig ng pasko" which lala shared the title with us. imagine, she's from san francisco, USA and yet she knew the title of this song while we're not familiar with it - embarrassing!

and they made their traditional bow. mr. prizeman went up the stage to take a bow, too. endless applause. and they all disappeared from the stage. and we scampered for the after-concert signing... this is the exciting part, hah hah