Sometimes he rants, sometimes he smiles. Sometimes he jokes, sometimes he sighs. Sometimes he's happy, sometimes he's sad. Sometimes he's good, sometimes he's bad. Sometimes he's there, sometimes he's gone. Sometimes he stalls, sometimes he's done. But whatever Marcelle says, whatever he'd do, you can be sure, it's true! It's true!
Wow. 2008. I mean, I don't even know where to begin here, because it was such an eventful year, to say the least.
First of all, considering I had my Masters to do, and I decided to leave Reedley at the end of the schoolyear, which was one of the most difficult decisions I had to make. Going over my lettersto my studentsin Reedley, I actually felt a tad choked up, which is probably the first time I got misty-eyed while doing this retrospective while not reading an entry that involved My Beloved. And yes, she still figured very significantly in my blog in 2008.
Let's face it: she figured in my blog significantly since 2007, and even if I hardly wrote about her from 2010 onwards, there's no denying how much she still figured. I guess that's how it really works when someone is your once in a lifetime...
But anyways. This was the year when I was, for all intents and purposes, balancing my Masters with apparent unemployment, relying on purely magic shows to make my money, which was made possible thanks to Sir Freddie of Neutral Grounds and Ms. Heidi of Big Red Balloon (Formerly Balloon Creations.). I definitely managed to make a name for myself, and I even capped off a highly successful year of magic with an awesome show helmed by Kel and Jay, Wanlu the Ventrillusionist, and of course, the lovely Giselle Sanchez...
And then I learned the value of buying longer pants...
But while yes, you have the awesome mentalism, among other things, and you even have so much going on for you, this was really a year that marked the fact that I simply could never quite just go and leave radio. Campus 99.5 came on the airwaves, and I jumped onboard!
Still, I had an especially soft spot for 2008 because in August, Rick Astley actually went to Manila. That was one of the biggest highlights ever, in my book. I met him in person, then even had some of the best seats in the house during his actual concert. Hard to complain about that, really.
Having said that, with a year of magic, music, mentalism, and My Beloved, it was definitely one of the most challenging years of my professional life, seeing as I had to pay for my own M.A. through my gigs, since I didn't have a regular paying job to speak of.
Ironically, that year may very well have been the most profitable year of my life, seeing just how many shows I ended up doing. I practically completed my Power 9 cards during 2008, give or take maybe a Mox Emerald and Pearl. Of course, I could be mixing up my timeline, but whatever.
It's happening, and it's all for a good cause! Hope to see you guys there! :)
Saturday, November 27, 2010
.:My Idea Of A Perfect Christmas Show!:.
We're baaaaack!
Kel and Jay are back for their annual fundraiser show, and like always, we're pulling out all the stops as we conquer Votre Bar along with Comedy Cartel's Richie Fernandez and GB Labrador, and world-class ventriloquist and Talentadong Pinoy's second hall of famer, Wanlu and his puppets! Yet another night of laughs and gasps, as can be expected only from an ensemble cast like this!
It's happening this December 3, 8:30PM, in Votre Bar, corner ABS-CBN, right beside East of St. Louis. For the benefit of the Real Life Foundation, tickets are only 200 each, inclusive of a consumable drink.
No question about it: this is My Idea Of A Perfect Christmas Show. Now, if we could only get Jose Mari Chan to perform...
October 23: The second Kel and Jay megashow has just wrapped up, and it was one awesome show for the ages. What started as merely a brainstorm for something bigger and better ended up becoming a reality, and one that we certainly will be pulling off yet again sometime next year.
Getting The Pieces Into Place
Oh, yeah...
The date of the show was set up since March of this year. We wanted a sequel to “Laughs And Gasps”, and we wanted to make it a bigger and better show.
Initially entitled “Music and Misfits” because the original concept was music and magic, the predictable departure of a rather disappointing cog in the machinery ended up with us looking to take the show in another direction. After a while, it all made sense: the show will be called “Bound and Gagged”, and will feature escape acts and the top ventriloquists of the country, thus indicating the main thrust of the show.
That was well and good, because I’m on fairly good terms with two of the best ventriloquists in the country, sir Ony Carcamo and sir Wanlu, who are definitely amazing performers in their own rights. Wanlu was also part of last year’s show, and is now a hall of famer in TV 5’s “Talentadong Pinoy”, while Ony is actually Wanlu’s mentor, and is someone whom I personally believe would be recognized as a National Artist sooner rather than later.
So it was all well and good, and we wanted a comedian like Giselle Sanchez to complement the show. With Ms. Sanchez booked in Hong Kong on that date, there was no way we could get her, so we had to look for the likes of Ms. Tuesday Vargas or even the controversial Ms. Candy Pangilinan. All things considered, things didn’t pan out too well in the comedy department – until the Comedy Cartel came along.
You see, I’ve already known the Cartel for a while, but I haven’t really had the opportunity to pick their brain, only getting snippets of their show mostly through my good friend, Stanley Chi. At some point in April, I got into standup comedy myself and I ended up feeling that hey, this show can carry itself without necessarily having some super name value. That’s why I ended up getting one of the pioneers of Philippine standup comedy, Mike Unson, and the winner of the Tawag Ng Tawa, Richie Fernandez. As a huge fan of comedy, I knew I could count on Mike and Richie to deliver the goods.
The last thing we wanted to consider were special musical guests who could enhance the show. It was an easy choice for us initially. We wanted Project 2 and Grin Department. Unfortunately, Project 2 disbanded, but in their stead was one of the cult favourites in the local music scene, Giniling Festival.
We were hoping to get the Itchyworms at the last minute, but their volatile calendar prevented us from doing so. Next year, just you wait... heh.
The Buildup
Rope a dope! LOL. I love being the writer of these recaps.
The sponsorship process was long, and arduous. In the end, though, we can’t thank enough Geiser Maclang, C2, Granny Goose Tortillos, Jack n Jill Potato Chips, E-Games, and Goldilocks for helping us make this show happen. The bulk of my thanks though is reserved for the last-minute miracle courtesy of my bosses at Nuffnang Philippines allowed me to actually make the show happen without me having to go through last year’s expensive lessons. All in all, the sponsors helped us majorly, and even our media friends, TV5, NBN 4, and Hero TV, were more than enough help.
I even went on to do radio tours and stuff to promote the show. From RX to WAVE to Magic to RT (Where I now sorta regularly go on air, thanks to King DJ Logan.), things have been going just peachy. All in all, I was grateful that my friends on radio really pulled through and helped me promote the show as much as they could. It’s hard to find friends as awesome as these guys are. We even had people walking in on the day itself just to check out what’s going on.
The people at PETA Theater are also nothing short of wonderful guys to work with, too. They were there, helping us out at every step of the program, and they really supported us all the way. I couldn’t be any happier about how well they treated us if I tried. Seriously, these guys are pros.
On the day itself, we were rehearsing all our stuff like crazy. It wasn’t easy, but we definitely made it work, and Brenda’s role in the finale was something we couldn’t take for granted. The guys from The Story Circle really made sure that every single detail about the show was running in top form, and even my mom got into the act, making sure things were ironed out perfectly. I was the producer, the marketing guy, the promoter, the stage director, and the performer. It was going to drive me crazy if i didn’t have any help at all, and these guys really came through in a pinch.
The First Half
Annoying pose, isn’t it?
The show opened with a bang, as Carl Quion, the youngest stage magician in the country, performed an amazing routine that just made people’s jaws drop. Carl helped us out immensely in preparing for the show, so there was no way I could refuse when he volunteered to be an opening act for the show.
It was great, as Jay and I went onstage and started talking to the audience. It was funny, really. We had a captive audience, and I even ended up squeezing in a bit of my standup as we needed to buy time for the first band.
The contrast is umistakable. Photo courtesy of Lei.
In all the merrymaking, Giniling Festival then stepped up and really got the crowd going. I was a bit worried about two kids in the audience, but it seemed that Giniling Festival wasn’t going to cause much grief for them at all, and their segment actually went over pretty well.
Again, courtesy of Lei.
Anyways, after Giniling got the people going, Jay and I went back up and performed Gypsy Mystery, emphasizing that one of the first things Tito Lou Hilario gave us as advice about the routine is to never perform it with two men. Clearly, we listen to such sound advice.
(W)hoops! Yep, still a picture from Lei.
Things were happening on full clip because we wanted to cram as much fun as possible within three and a half hours. Richie Fernandez then took on the role of doing some really great standup as he regaled everyone with his unique spin on comedy to the delight of the audience.
After this, it was my turn, as I performed a David Copperfield classic: the Slo-Mo Dove special. It was, without a doubt, one of the most embarrassing but memorable parts of the night, particularly since I danced “Nobody”. Twice. Once in slow motion.
It was good clean fun, and we wanted to end the first half of the show with a bang, so...
Wanlu and Manny Pexman never looked better together. Also from Lei.
Wanlu’s set featured multiple puppets, talking masks, and even a marionette. There was no question about it, really: Wanlu was the perfect act to cap off the first half of the show, as we knew he was going to really get the crowd on their feet. Needless to say, he hit one right out of the park, and we were heading off into intermission with a lot going for us.
The Second Half
I wanted them to be the main event of the show, but they were a bit reluctant since they had a gig in Bicol the next day. As such, we had them open the second half of the show.
Now, I’ll be honest with you: with the kids in the audience, maybe Grin Department wasn’t the smartest choice for entertainment that night. Their very loud, off-color, in-your-face style of music certainly isn’t meant for kids. Their notorious reputation for giving the fans more than their money’s worth isn’t without basis, too. What was supposed to be a five-song set became a five-medley set that had audience members polarized but reacting throughout the entire time.
Regardless of how you see them, though, they are legends in their own right.
Yep. Lei took this photo, too.
To me, it was an amazing moment to see Grin Department really just tear it up on the stage, and they were well worth the extra cash I had to cough up for going overtime. I had to manage my audience, though, and a quiet moment where I performed metal bending for the kids in the audience who had to leave the show really made me feel that as crazy as things were going, we were still on the right track. I was worried about time, but the remaining acts were going to really step up the tempo of the show. If this show would run for five hours, it better be the bloody best five hours they will ever go through, and I’d like to think we achieved that.
Jay Mata was up next, and in true form, he proved for a second straight time why he is one of the premiere mentalists in this country.
You just had to be there. Seriously. Picture from Lei.
He did what he did last year, with one key difference: when he had a volunteer step on his back and face, he withstood what must have been unbelievable pain and held off for at least fifteen seconds. While last year, the volunteer, Mike Abundo, was indeed tall and not exactly a light person, the volunteer this year was noticeably heavier. And Jay survived it.
The lighting at this point was perfect. We wanted to convey a moody atmosphere, so instead of having the goings-on projected on a huge screen, we instead asked the audience to gather closer to Jay so they could see for themselves what he was doing. It was eerie, it was unbelievable, and it was just... surreal.
Afterwards, the audience was still in for quite a treat. My personal favourite standup comedian, Mike Unson, was next.
Ang galit na nauwi sa WALAAAAAA!!! Photo from Lei.
The audience was laughing like crazy at this point. There’s a reason why Mike Unson, in my opinion, is one of the best Filipino standup comics ever, and he proved it that night. Every single joke was met with raucous laughs and heartfelt applause. And he did all of this in record time, being the consummate professional that he was. He was just on a different plane that night.
And the thing is, when you step the game up like that, you just know that with a show like this, there was no way things would go on a downward trend. Ony Carcamo followed things up with an unbelievable set where he used only one puppet, Mr. Parley, but he still managed to get people laugh non-stop for what seemed like hours of non-stop entertainment.
I won’t spoil anything here. You should’ve been there. Pic by Lei.
What really amused me was how Ony actually referenced Mike in his set and it was just so natural and hilarious. The whole “this is PETA theatre” bit was just awesome, and I couldn’t think of a better one-two punch than Mike and Ony performing and just really taking everyone’s breath away. This was grade A comedy, and I was just so proud to have been witness to it.
And then came the finale. Naturally, that meant we had to Rickroll people. Again.
You know the rules. And so do I. Pic by Lei.
Paying tribute to the Pendragons for our last act, Metamorphosis is often regarded as “the fastest illusion of all time”. Behind the choreography and dance steps, it was a matter of doing something so fast, that anyone who’d so much as blink would regret it.
Not pictured: Brenda is in that box. Picture by Lei.
... And we pulled it off. Brenda was in the trunk one moment, and the next, she was outside of it, leaving me inside the trunk.
But it wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.
Throughout the night, you see, Jay was on the receiving end of my jokes and ribs. He vowed revenge, and promptly knocked me back into the box to lock me in there until he saw it fit to release me. He even started to thank everyone for going to the show and was sending them on their way, what with me trapped in the box and all.
That’s why I had to tell him off right then and there.
From the balcony.
Yep. You read that right. Ever heard of the Transported Man? That’s sorta what happened right here. And it was a success. A tremendous finale that we worked on for weeks, and it paid off in the end.
The Aftermath
Well, the show happened, and I couldn’t thank the people who went enough, especially my friends from Ditzy Diner and the Laffa 2 guys, as well as Jeff Tam and the other people from IMC. Things would’ve been perfect despite Grin Department going a tad overtime if it weren’t for one thing, though...
Some rotten soul stole my cellular phone off the stage, and even stole a lot of other stuff backstage that night.
It was sad, really, as this was a charity event, and this was the last thing you’d expect from an event like that. Nonetheless, I’d like to think that the world has a way of balancing itself out, and the good we’ve done for this night cannot be outweighed by the bad things that may have happened.
Oh, indeedy. You can be sure we’ll be doing this again next year.
Thanks for the support, one and all, and we’ll see you again soon for the third Kel and Jay megashow!
.:In Lieu Of A Post About Last Night's "Bound And Gagged"...:.
... I'd like to offer an introspective look at the one sore point of the entire night.
You see, that night, my cellphone got stolen.
Now, you've all heard this before: it's not the phone, it's the contacts, the memories, and everything that matters.
Considering that my phone is a cheap but trusty Nokia phone, that couldn't be any truer, to be sure. That phone was great mainly because it allowed me to store a lot of stuff, but not because it was a high-tech, high-end phone.
It's a bit appalling and disheartening that a thief would ply his trade in a charity fundraiser, but what can we do? These things happen, and sometimes, all you can do is to look at the bright side of things...
I'm an emotional packrat. I try my best to archive anything and everything. I keep count how many standup sets I've had, record practically all of them, make sure that everything is accounted for. I blog autobiographically because I believe that if I don't, a simple human being such as myself would pass on, leave this world, without a trace.
But it's not just about my legacy. That's not the thing I'm concerned about, really, in being an emotional packrat. It's how I deal with arguably my greatest fear, to be honest...
... I'm afraid of Alzheimer's.
I'm afraid that at some point in my life, I would end up forgetting everything. I would lose myself and no longer know who I even am. I would look in the mirror and wonder who I'm looking at, what he did in his life, what his triumphs were, what his failures were.
I blog because I want to still know who I am when my mind can no longer allow me to remember. That someone would tell me, "Marcelle, this is your blog. This is a reflection of who you are."
And yet, no matter how thoroughly I blog, no matter what I do, it would never be more than just a Cliff Notes version of my life. Who I am and what I stand for can never quite be encapsulated by my blog alone. I am more than the sum of my parts.
Which leads me to my phone. Truth be told, it's difficult to restore all the contacts I lost, all the memories I lost, and perhaps most of all, the ideas I had for my standup comedy. I kept a lot of my undeveloped jokes there, meaning to just sit down and develop them with other comedians when the opportunity presents itself.
With Laffapalooza coming up, I was really hoping to do that. I didn't want to come to the contest bereft of good ideas. With what happened, though, I guess I'm genuinely worried about coming up with something new for it by then.
.:Stop There And Let Me Correct It..:.
... I wanna live my life from a new perspective.
Despite all those rather disheartening losses, I know that not only will I survive, but as much as that cellphone did represent a hefty chunk of my life, it not only fails to represent the entirety of who I am and how I think, but it also has managed to represent a side of me that perhaps, I am better off no longer seeing.
It's a forced spring cleaning, so to speak. Longstanding grudges, arguments, reminders of ill feelings, were actually kept in that phone. If I had a very vicious argument with someone via SMS, you can be sure it was going to be there. I kept mementoes of people I should learn to let go of and not bother anymore, for one reason or another.
Yes, I'm an emotional packrat, but maybe I should learn to let go of memories that actually do me no good. Maybe it's high time I allowed the whims of the universe to unpack my baggage for me when it sees fit, although perhaps I should mitigate its effects more next time (Actually, except for the standup ideas, I sorta did. At least 60% of my contacts are on Excel somewhere.).
I'm afraid of losing sense of who I am when my time comes. I'm afraid to forget, I'm afraid to no longer be the only sole reliable witness to my life at this point.
However, I'm far more afraid of witnessing the wrong things, of dwelling on what went wrong rather than what I did right.
"Bound and Gagged" was an excellent show for the ages. I can safely say that it was something that served a worthwhile cause, and something everyone present will remember for a long time to come.
I may have lost a cellular phone, but I gained so much more. I gained a profound appreciation for the people who watched the show (And didn't steal anything... heh.), and I cannot thank enough the performers: Carl Quion (His opening act really energized everyone), Giniling Festival (They were a taste of things to come.), Richie Fernandez (Who had the people rolling in the aisles), Wanlu (Whose puppets really were a sight to behold), Grin Department (Who went a wee bit too long, but really brought their A-game to a very appreciative/shocked audience), Mike Unson (Need I say more about one of the funniest human beings alive?), Ony Carcamo (Who had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand with his unbelievable set.), and of course, my partner, Jay Mata, who is the undisputed master of pain endurance, not only for his feat of walking on broken glass, but more so for putting up with me.
This show also made me very grateful to my sponsors: C2 (Drink of the night!), Jack n Jill Potato Chips (Yum!), Granny Goose Tortillos (Always a favorite of mine), E-Games (Those booth people rock!), Geiser Maclang (Been supporting us for two years now), Sheero Media (KelnJay.com wouldn't exist otherwise), and of course, Nuffnang Philippines (Who really made the show happen with their help). Normally, you thank them just for paying up, but I thank them for not just doing that, but for also being instrumental to helping out a very worthy cause, The Real Life Foundation. I lost a phone, but some people lost far more in Ondoy and Pepeng. It's the least we could do.
How can I even neglect to thank all the people who went in greater detail? From people who listened to the radio when I dropped in yesterday morning, to the walk-in people, to the media friends who covered the show from Hero, NBN, and TV5, to the bloggers, the friends, the family, the TSC magicians, the IMC people, the standup comedians, all of whom I may have failed to mention, we thank you for making the event a grand success.
Thank you, one and all, I'll blog about the actual event next time, but you know Kel and Jay will strike yet again sometime next year. You just know it.
If there is one thing I hope to never forget in time, it is my capacity to be grateful.
It’s still on, guys, and now the stakes are higher!
In light of the recent typhoon Ondoy, the fact that this show is happening for the benefit of The Real Life Foundation could not be more timely.
This is a show for a cause. A show meant to entertain people who want to see magic, comedy, ventriloquism, mentalism, and even music in one excellent package.
You get the magic of Kel and Jay.
You get the ventriloquism of Ony and Wanlu.
You get the comedic genius of Mike Unson and Richie Fernandez.
You even get the musical stylings of Giniling Festival and Grin Department.
Again, this show is a benefit show for the Real Life Foundation. Happening on October 23 in PETA Theater, you can enjoy and help a good cause at the same time. This is not a show for profit, but a show with heart.
This is “Bound And Gagged”, the sequel to last year’s “Laughs And Gasps”.
Thank you for teaching me how to love Showing me what the world means What I've been dreamin' of And now I know, there is nothing that I could not do Thanks to You
For teaching me how to feel Showing me my emotions Letting me know what's real From what is not What I've got is more that I'd ever hoped for And a lot of what I hope for is Thanks to you
No mountain, no valley No time, no space No heartache, no heartbreak No fall from grace Can't stop me from believing That my love will pull me through Thanks to You
(Adlib)
There's no mountain, no valley No time, no space No heartache, no heartbreak No fall from grace Can't stop me from believing That my love will see me through Thanks to You Thanks to You
For teaching me how to live Putting things in perspective Teaching me how to give And how to take No mistake We were put here together And if I breakdown Forgive me but it's true That I'm aching with the love I feel inside Thanks to you Thanks to you
.:Gratefulness:.
There have been a lot of things to be grateful for, and I must say, that last Tuesday’s Toblerone event really brought all of it to the fore.
Admittedly, I usually reserve my gratefulness near the end of the year, but it wouldn’t hurt to thank a few people, as we enter the very crucial month of October, where we’re going to be having the highly-anticipated sequel to last year’s Laughs And Gasps, Bound And Gagged!
Firstly, we’d like to thank our blogger friends, such as Jane, Jonel, and Jonas, all of whom really ensured that the word is out about the upcoming show. We pulled out all the stops, and with a winner lineup of comedians (Mike and Richie), magicians (Kel and Jay), ventriloquists (Ony and Wanlu), and musicians (Giniling Festival and Grin Department), you just know you’re in for a treat.
Secondly, we’d like to thank some of the sponsors who have come in to help us, such as Nuffnang Philippines, URC, and our upcoming media partners, TV5 and Hero TV. Hero TV already interviewed Jay and myself for their network, in fact, and I know more things will be coming in as the days go by.
Much love also has to go out to some of the friends who have been helping us out, such as the Story Circle, the New Worlds Alliance, and Cosplay.ph, all of whom have been more than gracious in extending their assistance to the show in any way they can.
And of course, our beneficiary, the Real Life Foundation. We can’t thank you guys enough for allowing us to share all these blessings with your worthy cause.
As a special note, I’d like to thank my dearest achie Rochelle, who has been my source of sanity at this insane point in my life.
I’m excited about this show, no question about it. I hope you guys would be there, because we’ve prepared for a really long time for this one.
I saved my last bit of thanks for last: thanks to Geiser Maclang and Sheero Media for having sponsored this endeavour for the second straight year. You guys rock, and Geiser generously invited yours truly to the launch of the National Thank You Day campaign by Toblerone.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t say it enough. If you can’t either, join not only the people who celebrated in Fiama, but the rest of the nation as we all express our gratitude. Don’t miss out on the chance to thank the people who need thanking!
1. Had one of my better standup sets last Friday 2. Wordcamp happened 3. Project 2's last gig ever 4. Had to perform magic for a tough crowd in Shangrila 5. Ran into some TSC people while in Trinoma 6. Cancer Warriors Foundation gig
And yes, tickets for Bound And Gagged are now available. Just ask me for details!
I experimented with some new jokes and setups for my standup last Thursday night, and I must say I strictly prefer my old premise for N.U. The new one just takes too much time, and uses too few punchlines.
There's still room for loads of improvement, and really, that's what open mics should be about. I'm really happy the Pokemon jokes are getting a lot of mileage, though. It's something I didn't quite expect.
.:Your Moment Of Zen...:.
I bring you.... Nomnom!
What is Grimace doing to that kid?!?
.:Enjoy The Long Weekend!:.
It's a very brief post, I know, but given how hectic this week has been, I guess it makes sense. Nonetheless, I think it's time we stopped beating around the bush and got to the news...
.:Project 2 Is Disbanding!:.
One of my favorite indie bands, Project 2, is unfortunately disbanding. ::sobs::
I know most of you probably realize they were supposedly booked to perform in Bound And Gagged, so you just know how disappointed I was to find out that due to unforeseen circumstances, the band will be parting ways,and their last gig will be in Route 196 this Saturday night. They will be missed.
.:Having Said That...:.
... JP from Project 2 has kindly allowed me to get in touch with an awesome band to take their place.
For those who don't know, we will be replacing Project 2 with Giniling Festival for the October 23 show. I'm definitely excited about this prospect, as this turn of events was unexpected but certainly a good thing. Here's to a successful "Bound And Gagged"!
Well, this will be my third guesting for Ruffa and Ai, as we'll be taping the episode this coming Wednesday, but I'm still kinda left wondering, really, as to what to do, since it's mainly kid-friendly magic I'm supposed to perform, for none other than Santino of May Bukas Pa fame.
I'm a bit excited, but currently, I've no idea when they'd be airing the episode. Most likely Thursday, I was told.
Well, hopefully, Santino would enjoy the performance for his birthday. It should be amusing, to say the least, although I'm honestly a tad nervous about it all.
.:October 23: The Sequel To Laughs And Gasps, Coming Up!:.
We're baaaaacccckkk!!!
They said it couldn't be done, but we sure showed 'em.
Hot on the heels of last year's successful show, "Laughs And Gasps", our heroes of mind and magic, Kel and Jay, are back for a second helping of mirth, magic, and mentalism, but this time, they're coming back with more than just a little bit of help from their friends.
"Bound And Gagged" is coming this October 23 in PETA Theater, featuring the unique stylings of Kel and Jay, and a special showdown between the Ventrillusionist, Wanlu, and the country's Premiere Ventriloquist, Ony Carcamo. Special guests include the Comedy Cartel's Richie Fernandez and Mike Unson, as well as special musical guests Project 2 and 90's legend, Grin Department.
This event will feature Kel and Jay demonstrating death-defying escape acts, paying tribute to some of their greatest influences; including Copperfield, Houdini, Derren, and of course, Penn and Teller.
If you're interested to help make this event a success, you can reach us via marcelle.fabie@nuffnang.com for any queries about sponsorship packages and the like.
Ticket prices are currently pegged at 200-300 per ticket depending on if you're seated at the balcony or orchestra, and proceeds will be donated to The Real Life Foundation. As always, tickets are available at the gate.
We're back, and we're upping the ante. Catch you on October 23!
It's been a long time coming, but the first true-blue Kel and Jay performance happened just last September 27 for the UP Circle of Entrepreneurs. While Jay and I have been performing with each other for the longest time, this was the first time we had a full-fledged show based on our interactions, rather than just one of us performing onstage at a time. Seeing as how this event happened so close to the conclusion of the UAAP Basketball Finals, it was natural that much of our ribbing would involve how ADMU beat DLSU in the finals. After all, I'm from ADMU, and Jay's from La Salle... heh.
The night was a perfect stage for Jay and I, as we performed for them amid amazingly great gourmet food that are actually outgrowths of various kinds of street food. Hence, the term st+ritz. The pictures do more justice to what I mean than anything else...
Yummeh.
In any case, we had this event scheduled for a long while already, and we really wanted to floor the audiences with a lineup of magic, mentalism, and of course, comedy. Naturally, the stark contrast between my presentation style and Jay's yielded a lot of good moments as well, seeing how serious Jay was amid my insistence on poking fun at him throughout his act. Nonetheless, the audiences were definitely impressed with Jay's daredevil routines, including the infamous game of Russian Roulette which had members of the audience screaming.
Do not try this at home!
I naturally did my favorite routine of shackles and rope, and for the most part, the audience really got into it, and I managed to pick the perfect volunteers for my routines. It was also cool that we didn't particularly need a microphone as the sound carried over well enough for us to perform without too many hitches...
The rope of doom!
The audience received us very warmly, and it was really fun, as I personally love having an excuse to perform in my white suit and all that... at the same time, it got me to thinking that while Jay and I are admittedly not the most skilled magicians in the country, we make up for it by our ability to connect to our audience in a very unique and interesting way. I'm sure some purists disagree with this approach, but Jay and I build a rapport with our audience to the point that they're less likely to remember the things we did that night, and more likely to simply remember the two of us as performers who amused and entertained them.
Furthermore, the Kel and Jay dynamic is really something that hasn't been quite explored by most other performers. Normally, it's easy to do magic or even mentalism when in a group, assuming you don't have to really interact with the other performers with you. The minute you have to do something as a tandem, the whole dynamic changes, and you have to find a way to reshape your approach at performing, and you have to ensure you don't overshadow each other. It's a delicate balance you have to strike out, but Jay and I have been working on it, and we'd like to think that it's quite a unique selling point, especially since our performance styles, while obviously an outgrowth of our influences (Bing Lim-It, Derren Brown, Richard Osterlind, Penn and Teller, etc...), has taken on a life of its own.
The boys are back!
After our onstage performance punctuated by a mind-boggling display of mind reading, we moved onto doing some good old table-hopping, as Jay treated them with mentalism and card shark techniques, and I took things in the traditional magic direction. It was really cool having the audiences interact with us, because they were very appreciative of our show. It does the heart good when your audience is all smiles and is clearly grateful for seeing your show... =)
In any case, thanks to Brenda, Annelle, and the rest of UPCE for having Kel and Jay over last September! Here's hoping we can entertain you again soon!
For the coming year, you can expect bigger and better things from Kel and Jay. We have a lot of things cooking, and after Laughs And Gasps, Stritz, and countless other endeavors, things can only get more exciting. In fact, the next things we have lined up might void our insurances altogether... heh.
P.S. Yep. That shirt was pink. Or was it purple? =P
Kel And Jay, the incorrigible magician and mentalist duo, are at it again! Catch them LIVE this coming Tuesday, 16 December, 2008, on unTV on Cable for "Good Morning Kuya!" with Kuya Daniel Razon at 7AM.
This promises to be a pretty fun episode, to be sure. :)
Tuesday must've been one of the fullest non-work-related days I've ever experienced in my life, what with finding myself completely swamped with stuff that just really made for an overall awesome experience...
.:Unang Hirit, Part 2!:.
I didn't sleep anymore because I knew Jay and I were going to guest for a second straight time on Unang Hirit pretty early in the morning. I had to meet up with Carl from TSC just so I can learn the levitation routine, and I didn't catch a wink when the service fetched me at 2:30 in the morning.
When Jay and I got to GMA, we found ourselves surrounded by other magicians, one of them who happened to look suspiciously like Manny Pacquiao. At the same time, it was my first time to meet Mr. Rannie Raymundo in person, so admittedly, it was quite an honor for me and Jay, to be highlighted the way Mr. Raymundo was in the throng of other amazing and skilled performers that day, mostly members from Magfi.
We had the chance to perform our Gypsy Mystery escape routine, and it was quite a hit with the live audience. It was also quite hectic backstage, as since it was an anniversary show, Lyn Ching's birthday, and a live show in their new studio, we had to squeeze in time to actually rehearse Lyn Ching for the levitation since she might panic and break her trance.
This was of course a perfect opportunity to carry Ms. Ching in my arms, hehehe. She was rather light, actually.
Unfortunately for us, we didn't have the time to perform the levitation. Too many elements in the show were going on all at the same time, so we ended up having to parlaying into a third appearance for Unang Hirit in the near future...
I personally can't complain, truth be told. That's yet another opportunity for us to strut our stuff at the show, and they've been nothing but gracious to us. The hosts even remembered us as the mentalists from the previous week!
I was going to be late for a meeting with a client due to the guesting, but thankfully, contact person caught me on TV, so they understood why I was late...
Much thanks and love to Unang Hirit for having us over again!
.:The Superbowl Of China Experience:.
The same night, I went to the Yehey event for Superbowl in Trinoma, where we discovered just how amazingly cool this restaurant really is.
I mean, granted, the food is a given, from the awesome Lemon Chicken to their Dimsum to their Yang Chow, but what really rocked about the event was the kitchen tour. We met the head chefs of Superbowl, and they graciously explained to us why the kitchen was set up the way it was. Everything from the way things were set up in the entire kitchen, to the high flame, to the “squash wall” for frying rice, was just amazing to witness.
The Marketing Manager, Bob, was really gracious and fielded our questions about the restaurant, including a really nice anecdote involving Greenbelt 3 and their other brand, Big Buddha. Nonetheless, it was definitely a really cool night, and we can't thank Yehey and Superbowl enough for giving all of us a great night of food and information.
.:Route 196's Rick Astley Night: Not So Rick Astley...:.
Immediately after the Superbowl event, I headed off to Route 196 for the Rick Astley night, with Halik Ni Hudas, Project 2, Roots Of Nature, and Ciudad.
Admittedly, with only one Rick Astley song per band, this was really not much of a Rick Astley night, to begin with. Despite that, it was still fun, considering how much the four bands performing that night had to offer.
I mean, a lot of people pretty much know how great Ciudad is. One of the bands that performed at Elbert's surprise birthday party a couple of years ago, they're a really good band, and tonight was no exception. Plus, they sang “Cry For Help”! How can I not love those guys?
Roots Of Nature was just awesome melodically. They played music that really brought the crowd to quite a frenzy, and their remake of “Shout” by Tears For Fears was really stupendous. If you ever get a chance to run into these guys perform, don't miss out. They are such a treat, to say the least.
Halik Ni Hudas was a tad amusing, but they got the lyrics to “Never Gonna Give You Up” wrong. Booo! Hisss! Lol. Seriously, they're cool, though.
Well, having said all that, I must say that the band of the night, in my humble opinion, was Project 2. The lead singer called themselves “Ang pinagsanib na pwersa ng mga bandang hindi sumikat.” and they were funny throughout the night. Wearing really short shorts and poking fun at themselves especially with their song that they made for Acebedo Optical and their rock version of “Sexy Back”, everyone was rolling in the aisles.
I dunno about you, but I wanna see more of these guys. They're funny, they're witty, and they don't take themselves too seriously at all.
It was great the first time around, but now, they want us back! As part of the anniversary special for Unang Hirit, Kel and Jay will be back on the show, this time, performing magic instead of mentalism.
For the anniversary special, we plan to do something rather special... maybe even... uplifting. ;) http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3857574 So if you want to catch Kel and Jay in action, watch them this coming Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, around 6-7 AM on Unang Hirit! (We're unsure of the time, since last time out, we were scheduled at 6:30 AM, but ended up onscreen at around 8:00...)
.:Kel's Street Magic Teach-In, On Myx This Friday...:.
About a week ago, I had a special session for The Hilt, where I had a great street magic session for a small group of people whom I taught the basics of street magic to. I went and explained to them in brief why street magic became all the rage, its advantages and disadvantages, and by the end of the day, I think they all learned a thing or two they can show off to their friends next time.
The awesome thing is, Myx was on hand that day to cover the whole event. While I specifically warned them about showing any actual exposure on the air, they were awesome to share ideas with, and I guess you'll be seeing snippets of what happened that day on Myx this coming Friday evening. I'll let you know what time it is when I find out, but I think the show is entitled, "Where You At?"
Catch you guys around, and you never know, Kel and Jay just might show up again onscreen sooner than you think...
It's come and gone, but there's so much left to be said about last Saturday's event, touted as some to be the “Underground Magic/Comedy Event Of The Year”. It was a huge success as a crowd of bloggers, magicians, otakus, and so forth came together in an event that was done for the benefit of the Giselle Sanchez Scholarship Foundation.
The Dream And The Challenge
Kel + Kawaii = Disaster
For those who don't know, I was just a very mild magic hobbyist until I was introduced by one of my best friends, Estelle, to Jay Mata. Only then did I ever go professional with my craft, so needless to say, Jay was the guy who got me to turn pro in magic and mentalism.
When Jay and I first dreamt up “Laughs And Gasps”, it was originally just going to be a free blogger event with myself, my partner Jay Mata, and of course, our good friend, Stanley Chi. It was going to be a simple showcase of talent from the three of us, and we didn't have any idea what was going to happen for us after that.
Then some friends started helping us out in their own way. Originally, Juned and Jayvee were going to organize the event on our behalf, but the heavy preparations for The PBA meant this was too much to ask of them, but Juned had a brilliant idea... why not make the event a fundraiser for a cause?
As Stanley went on to find much success with his comedy career, Kel and Jay continued to be individual successes in their magic and mentalism. Aside from a few appearances in conventions like Mangaholix, the Philippine ToyCon, and the Music And Arts Festival, as well as a huge product launch for Panasonic, for the most part, it was Kel or Jay, but hardly ever Kel and Jay. The Mangaholix feature was a step in the right direction, though.
That changed when we saw ourselves performing for the U.P. Circle Of Enterpreneurs last September 27, for their “Stritz” event (Sorry about not being able to write about that yet. I know, soooo belated.). A few days after the conclusion of the epic Ateneo-DLSU Finals in the UAAP, we ended up becoming not just a magic act, but a comedy act that night as well. We had a very receptive audience, perfect volunteers, and everything about the night just spelled success for us.
From that moment on, the Kel and Jay dynamic really came to the fore. It was no longer two magicians doing their own respective things, but a tandem effort that wouldn't be complete without the other. From the ribbing to the antics to the routines, we knew we had a winner in our hands.
It was at this point where we finally settled on upping the ante for our show, which we moved from August to September to November... while opportunities to collaborate with Stanley Chi will still be there in the future, we wanted to take a stab at something big, and we ended up getting in touch with both our special comedienne guest and the founder of the very charity we are devoting this show, to...
To say that we were overwhelmed to find out that she was interested in doing the show with us is an understatement. I can't thank Dementia enough for helping us find the means of reaching her, and slowly but surely, we made what initially came across as a pipe dream become a possibility...
Bricks And Mortar...
Zen, zen, zen...
I was a bit brazen, but I went ahead and sent a text message to Ms. Giselle, proposing to her an event for the benefit of her scholarship foundation, and asking her if she'd be interested in taking part in it. Truth be told, that was quite ballsy of me, since it's not like Giselle knew us at all. Kel and Jay were relative unknowns, who may be a bit known in the blogging and anime community, but next to anonymous in the mainstream.
Imagine my genuine surprise when she replied via SMS that she was interested. It didn't take long before we got the ball rolling, and while initially, she wanted something super big, like performing in Mandarin Oriental or something along those lines, we settled on Vibal Publishing House, since it's Jay's family's building, and we were producing on a shoestring budget. The idea was to do that as a trial run of sorts for myself and Jay alone, then with a producer backing us, have another show, this time with Giselle.
We were genuinely taken aback when Giselle Sanchez said she'd still want to perform, and she'd help us promote the show to the best of her abilities. It was definitely amazing, to say the least, as I started running around like a headless chicken, trying to go and get people willing to help make this event happen, on such short notice.
Shortly while brainstorming in mid-October, the name for the show hit me like a ton of bricks... it was just... perfect.
Thus we called our show, “Laughs And Gasps”. We wanted people to laugh, to be shocked, but overall, to be entertained. We had what it takes, with Giselle Sanchez providing comedy that just works, and the Kel and Jay tandem adding in a mix of magic and mentalism, what could possibly go wrong, right?
Then came the setbacks... and the little miracles.
Hurdles And Blessings...
Group Hijinx!
From a financial standpoint, this event came at a huge loss to us. Break-even would've been great, but we expressly pledged that the proceeds of the show would go to the foundation, so we just took the hit. Having said that, we can't help but be grateful to Geiser Maclang for being one of our sponsors, as well as individuals such as Janette Toral and Jill, via chip-in.
There were unexpected expenses here and there, truth be told, and I guess the crash course on events management given to us by Azrael, Markpoa, and Juned definitely helped us get our act together despite setbacks that came along, including a certain surprise that cost us much more than anticipated, plus an incident where we misprioritized something that resulted in a financial loss that would've instead helped us break even at the end of the day.
Never again, I tells you.
Of course, I'd be remiss to not give much love to Gail and Marc and the rest of Sheero Media, who provided us with an awesome website. It's a work of art, and definitely something that would find itself the site of interesting developments for Kel and Jay...
Leave us not forget the video coverage and sound system provided for us by our client and good friend, Mr. Dexter Andrada and MITE Asia. That was three hours worth of video, all captured on tape, and you couldn't find a nicer guy to work with.
Our gratitude as well to The Story Circle for coming out full force to support myself and Jay, despite not being certified members. I know they've been our guinea pigs for our new routines for the past year, but they really showed a lot of appreciation for the event that night, even participating as dancers/volunteers that night, livening things up like anything.
Of course, this event had a lot of help from my brother, Francis, the self-proclaimed “Fabieoulous” member of our family of two at this point. He was our photographer for the promotions of the event, and I'm sure you've seen some of our really snazzy photos online at some point already.
Leave us not forget the massive contribution of Coy, whose video skillz made our finale just that much better... we'll get to that in a bit.
As Jay and I kept on updating a shortlist of routines we wanted to perform, crossing things out as we found something better to work with instead, we realized we had pretty much enough material for four rotating shows of this type, lasting about an hour and a half each...
It was at this point we both agreed we wanted to perform one set each that wouldn't necessarily count as magic. Jay's girlfriend was livid at the idea of him doing what he would end up doing. Very few people knew what I intended to do, and admittedly, seeing as I haven't done that in... oh, a year or so? Not to mention the fact that this was prolly going to be the only venue I know of that would allow us to pull this stuff off...
Whammies And Dummies
Old age? Eh bakit yung kaliwang tuhod ko, di magkasakit? Magkasintanda lang yang dalawang yan... (Courtesy of Azrael)
While I was promoting the show to friends, I surprisingly got an offer from Wanlu that he would perform for us for a steal, since it's for a charity event. We went and jumped at the chance right away. Kel and Jay, Giselle Sanchez, and Wanlu? We knew we had a winning formula for the night, as my experience with Wanlu's performances has always been one of sheer bliss. The man is a total entertainer, and a class act. Known as the Ventrillusionist, his combination of ventriloquism, magic, and humor really gives him quite the reputation in the magic industry.
It was especially heartwarming as well to hear kind words of encouragement from legends like Tito Bing Lim-It, my mentor (As well as Jay's.); sir Ony Carcamo (Wanlu's mentor.); sir Sonny Minoza (One of our personal heroes in mentalism in the Philippines.); sir David Elefant (Yet another one of our personal heroes in mentalism in the country.); Doc Ronnie (An institution, period.); Anthony Billan Co of Mindbender fame; and even Erik Mana. While Jay and I are not as active in the magic community, we were met with nothing but encouragement from those people who have gone through this long before we even dreamed it up.
Of course, we're left wondering who the Hades this guy is, and why he wanted to perform during the show, but I guess them's the breaks... heh.
Hype And Tripe
Y So Srs?
As the big night grew closer and closer, we had a lot of hype about the event. Considering how we had to do all of this on such short notice, I was mildly surprised that word got around fairly quickly. Things were going pretty well on the publicity front, albeit admittedly, we didn't really have enough time to plug the event, since we only had a little under two weeks to pull it off.
Nonetheless, people expressed interest in the event quite far and wide. You had people who even dedicated a 25-KM run all the way in Davao for the cause, among other people who were excited for the event, and the show itself was transformed into TSC's official weekly gathering, adding to the pressure on myself and Jay, since now, we'd be performing for actual magicians as well. A lot of people from the blogosphere were also quite optimistic about the event's chances, despite the admittedly short-notice and guerrilla blitz promotion we were forced to employ.
Both Ms. Giselle and Wanlu also promoted the show every chance they got, particularly when they got on television. I personally went through the radio stations I'm in good standing with, and personally promoted the event both on-air and off-air, resulting in two spots where I guested for the Brewrats... heh.
“Hello... gus2 ko makapag-aral, sana bkas ang puso na tulungan ako taga cotabato po ako.”
Touching, I'm sure, but the fact he has a cellphone does make one think twice... but hey, it's such a refreshing change of pace from all the people who wanted to be “text pals” with Giselle Sanchez... heh.
Anyways, the promotions we made did get a few people interested about the event, and we're definitely banking on being able to make this show happen again in the future, or even on a regular basis, if we would be so blessed.
Having said that, it was time to get the show on the road.
Time And Tide
Or is it, time and tied?
I had a show before this actual one, which sort of served as my dry run for Laughs And Gasps. I ran into Honey, Kathy Chua's cousin, and a good friend of mine, and I convinced her, JC, and the celebrant's mom to actually go to the event for the night. It was a pretty fun gig, mind you. I had to perform magic for kids in such short quarters, and it was then that I realized that I really was lucky I wasn't an illusionist... that was one time where I couldn't imagine an illusionist fitting all his stuff in for a full-scale show.
Having said that, the kids loved the show, and using the Blindfolded Rubik's as my finale really works wonders with them, especially with the way I finish the routine.
We started a bit late, but it was all right. We almost got a full house, and we were pretty excited with all the preparations going in. Jay and I unofficially opened the show by handing out a bag that ended up in Doc Tess's hands, and then we went backstage.
The show was opened by Giselle's band, Souled Out, and they got the crowd going with a very lively opening set, before they introduced us and we finally came out to really start the show. I believe at this point, My Beloved left the show, since she couldn't really finish the whole thing. It was sweet of her to stay on for as long as she could, though, and for even driving me to the show itself.
We got on stage, and we introduced ourselves a bit, and reminisced about how a certain politician calls himself the “Barack Obama of the Philippines”, and how this is tantamount to some arrogant magicians calling themselves “The Penn And Teller Of The Philippines”. The nerve, right?!? Soon enough, we introduced Ms. B.B.B. (Beauty, Body, and Brains), and it was time for Ms. Giselle Sanchez to take the stage!
Jokes And Folks
Beauty. Body. Brains. (Courtesy of Azrael)
The minute Giselle took to the stage, she really got the crowd on their feet. It was an amazing spectacle of music and comedy, not to mention a dance-off that was one for the ages, and a hypnosis gag involving Azrael.
To say people were really entertained would be an understatement. Even the front row, composed of a rather conservative crowd, couldn't suppress their chuckles at Giselle's humor, which wasn't exactly free of off-coloredness.
In fact, why don't we let Doc Tess's video do the talking on this one, as three bloggers, namely Azrael, Manolo, and Mark Cerbo, plus three TSC members, Nomer, Sam, and Cakit, just danced off for a chance to win a 20,000 gift certificate (valid for one day only) from Funeraria Paz!
After the dance-off, she got people rolling in the aisles with her fast-hitting comedy style. It was the classic comedy approach, really, quite a change of pace from the standard “observational comedy” stand-up style we've grown accustomed to the past few years. I especially loved the joke where she had to say “something patriotic” after every announcement when she was in NAIA.
In any case, after she emphasized that she was actually “only opening” for us (Biggest compliment of the night!), she introduced the “David Copperfield of the Philippines”, yours truly...
Black And White
I scratched my head over the introduction, since even I wouldn't consider myself a “David Copperfield”, far be it for people to believe I do stage illusions. In any case, Jay and I bantered a bit, poking fun at each other, before I went off to do my now-infamous Shackles and Rope combination...
It was pretty good, especially since Jay and I managed to improv some gags along the way, when I was trying to escape from the shackles, so it was all good. The Rope routine with JC was really fun to perform, because I really managed to get a good groove for it, but I was really just pacing myself so that when Jay gets to his bit, it really floors them...
I suggest you not bend over like that... (Courtesy of Azrael)
When Jay got onstage, he really had a presence that made him seem like the authoritative one. He performed a color effect that really worked beautifully, as Ernest from TSC chose red, and while Jay's initial “prediction” was received with chuckles, when he finally revealed “red” behind the illustration board, he definitely stunned people.
Had you going for a moment there...
He then followed it up with a lie detector game. He forgot a few bits, like actually offering money to motivate the people to lie better, and the girl in the group had a hard time following directions, but at the end of it all, he got things right down to pat, and nobody was the wiser how close he was to losing his money, had he gone in that direction. Heh. Sometimes, you just take a chance, and it pays off...
Pomp And Circumstance
It wasn't long before we got to the part where Wanlu just really blew the crowd away, not long after a very interesting introduction by Jay. Wanlu really knew how to work the audience, although he had no choice but to go wholesome when he saw there were a few kids watching, so we didn't really get to see his full-scale adult show.
Despite that, it was still a great bit from him, as he turned Bessie-Moo Estelle and Carl into human puppets for his ventriloquism finale, which was an excellent follow-up to Don Dominador. He then capped off his amazing segment with one of the best illusions I've ever seen, bar none.
Anyways, catch a snippet of his amazing ventriloquist act, courtesy of Jonel!
After this point, we had an intermission, and we prepared for the next half. The Laughs were done with... now came the Gasps!
Glass And Pizazz
“Kel, do you wanna go solo from now on? I can jump...” (Courtesy of Azrael)
When the people piled on in, they realized that a subtle change in the atmosphere meant we were serious about splitting the show into “Laughs” and “Gasps”.
Jay was already wearing something... brighter, to say the least, but it actually was for a reason. While it appeared to most that both of us merely swapped color schemes, our wardrobe changes were actually meant to prepare us for the dangerous things we wanted to do for that night...
You see, Jay went on about how pain is a subjective thing, and that there is a way to suppress pain, to an extent. He then asked Ada to take his pulse, and from there, meditated. Ada was shocked to notice that Jay's pulse slowly faded away, until she couldn't even feel it anymore. Jay then shockingly stood up and proceeded to prepare himself to walk on the broken glass he laid out before beginning his meditation. People in the audience were free to verify that these were indeed broken shards of glass, and not merely sugar glass or some other prop.
What happened next? Well, you just have to see for yourself, courtesy of Doc Tess...
Yes, that was indeed Mike Abundo who stepped on Jay's back and face, and he was even more worried than I was, although he quipped to me while I was briefing me that if I “wanted to go solo”, I can ask him to just step extra hard or something. Always a cad, that guy.
Nonetheless, it takes a man with a lot of guts to actually go and walk barefoot on broken glass, and Jay definitely got huge reactions from the people that night. What they didn't see though was that Jay started bleeding after the show. Talk about a delayed reaction, and the things we do for our craft...
Hellfire And Brimstone
You know the rules, and so do I. (Courtesy of Azrael)
I haven't done poi in a year or so, and it was only through Peppy's help that the poi was prepared properly before my performance. Unfortunately, I had lousy safeties, as Jay didn't really know the first thing about putting out a kerosene-soaked kevlar-fueled fire. Nonetheless, the crowd seemed to like the performance, even though admittedly I was treading carefully with the poi, since I was using Kathy's snakes, which I've never tried before. Unlike regular poi, the kevlar was longer than the chains, so it was easier to get torched by snakes. When the music began, the audience groaned because they realized that they just got Rickrolled.
Afterwards, I took a single monkey fist poi, and wanted to do a sorta drunken-master style of spinning, but the already-wet floor, caused both by frantic attempts to put out the fire of the snakes and wetting my hair to prevent it from catching fire, kinda limited my range of motion, albeit enabling me to do the moonwalk. I was a bit alarmed when I did my wraps and I hit my face with the neck wrap, as the poi went upwards instead of around my neck. Nobody noticed it, but I had a faceful of fire at one point, but I shrugged it off, and just tried to do the between-the-legs spin, but the wet floor beat me on my first try. I got right back up, found a dry enough spot, and did it on the second try...
I was still catching my breath when we had to move on to the finale...
Collection And Selection
We called Doc Tess on stage and handed out some magazines to three ladies: Ethel, Cakit's girlfriend, Louanne, a cosplay organizer, and Shari. While the people up front frowned over our choice of reading material, I proceeded to explain what our finale was about, and what we intended to do.
Soon enough, after a magazine was picked, we attempted to select a page to work with, but the first page we picked didn't exactly yield the expected results...
Whoops! We wanted actual words, not... what was I saying again? (Courtesy of Azrael)
The second attempt was better, though, and what I didn't know was that despite all our psychological bullying, there was still a slight chance that Doc Tess wasn't going to end up with what we wanted all along... she could've gone with “slated” or “complicated”, but she instead ended up with “selection”, which was precisely what we wanted.
Kel: So you chose a magazine, you chose a page, you had it torn into small pieces, and you chose one of those pieces, and then you chose a word. Was this fair?
Doc Tess: Yes.
Kel: No! It's not fair! It's inevitable!
Was your word, “selection”? (Courtesy of Azrael)
Not only did we end up showing that we predicted the word, written behind a whiteboard in full view of the audience before the show even began, but we even proved that the magazine really contained the word!
Clearly predicted! (Courtesy of Azrael)
But Jay wasn't to be outdone, since he wanted to make it clear to everyone what was going on. He actually showed to everyone that throughout the night, he planted little messages here and there to get the point across, and Coy shot all these juicy bits and played them back for everyone to understand that practically every word we said, was carefully chosen to psychologically force someone to have no choice but to choose FHM, to choose page 103, to choose five pieces of paper to remove from the pile, and to choose the word “selection”, from a staggering range of thousands of words across three magazines.
At this point, we ended the show on a high note.
Props And Slops
The feedback about the show has mostly been encouraging, and a sequel with a similar formula is nigh forthcoming in the middle of next year. Nonetheless, it was a great honor to perform for the people who were there that night, and I was especially grateful to Haido for the really awesome carrot cake they gave me and Jay that definitely lifted our spirits even further.
I can't thank enough the people who went last Saturday. They made the show a success, and they definitely helped out the beneficiaries of the foundation in their own way.
Obviously, there will always be room for improvement for a future show, but you can rest assured that we're working on it as we speak.
And now, a few words about the show, and well, Kel and Jay, in general...
“The Penn and Teller of the Philippines!”
- Sonny Minoza, leading Philippine mentalist
“Congratulations to Kel and Jay! More power to the both of you!”
- Bing Lim-It, our mentor, and shop owner, Abrakadabra, Shoppesville
“Kel and Jay are the most awesome performers ever! Especially Kel, he's just a phenomenon!”
- Francis Fabie, Kel's (very biased) brother
“Sino nga sila ulit?”
- Giselle Sanchez, singer, actress, and comedienne
“Ewan ko rin, Giselle.” - Wanlu, the Ventrillusionist
“Who the hell are these hacks calling themselves the 'Penn and Teller of the Philippines?!?'”
- Penn Jillette, one half of the Las Vegas-headliner duo Penn And Teller
“...........”
- Raymond Teller, the quiet half of the Las Vegas-headliner duo Penn And Teller
“Hey, guys, you're not going to use my name to promote my show, right? 'Cause seriously, if you do, I'll sue!”
.:Kel And Jay On Unang Hirit Last 17 November, 2008:.
This is it! The mentalism feature on "Unang Hirit" had Kel and Jay on hand as their guests. Pardon the video quality, but it was a pretty good appearance, and guess what?
We'll probably be back on the show next Tuesday, 02 December, 2008! Wish us luck! :)
To get everything you need to know about Laughs And Gasps, just check out KelnJay.com. Yeba!
.:The Kapamilya Fair!:.
It was Jay's anniversary that day, but he still went. I hope he pulled out all the stops to make it up to his girlfriend afterwards. Heh.
Anyways, Kel and Jay were seen last Saturday at the Kapamilya Fair in World Trade Center, performing just a simple teaser for their magic and mentalism act, which they will showcase in full force this coming Saturday, at Laughs And Gasps.
It was funny en route to the venue, really. We had to pass through Sta. Mesa, and Jay had to take a turn into one of the motels there, which made me look at him *really* uncomfortably, until he made it clear that it was a shortcut. Heh. As we rushed to get to the venue, we were preparing a few things that we would be showing to the crowds to really grab their attention.
So we met up with Giselle Sanchez, and it was pretty cool, since she was going to talk to them about business, and when she went up there, she did it with a lot of humor and pizazz, and even hyped our act up as “magic na pang-mayaman”, telling the crowd that a “mentalist” is a really posh way of saying “magician”, which amused the crowd and by the time we appeared onstage, we were just playing it off.
We went up there and poked fun at each other, and then segued straight into my Shanghai Shackles routine, which got a lot of laughs. The crowd was really amused by my quick but intriguing display of escapology, and by the end of it, we had the audience in stitches.
Jay followed this up by stopping his heart, and a doctor actually went up onstage to verify that he managed to pull it off. The audience was too stunned to react, until Jay managed to get up, still visibly shaken, and take a bow.
All in all, not a bad effort to promote the show, really. I think the crowd was really entertained, and if all goes well, we've piqued their curiosity enough for them to want to see more.
.:Unang Hirit:.
We got a last-minute call from Unang Hirit yesterday to guest on their program as a pair of mentalists, and I was immensely grateful that for some reason, we were the only mentalists they managed to find on such short notice. This meant that we had a perfect opportunity to promote our show, and Kel and Jay as a tandem, rather than just individuals who both did mentalism. We had that chance before on NBN-4, but now, it was going to be live and on GMA-7, no less.
Jay and I were fetched by the network's service, and we arrived in the studio way earlier than the appointed 6:30AM. Unfortunately, last-minute scriptwriting meant that we were to expect ourselves on TV at 7:00 in the morning, at the earliest, and we even ended up going on air at around 8:00. Nonetheless, it was all good, as we were introduced to the two people who would interview us, Suzy and Lyn Ching. My Beloved was texting me off the bat that it was probably a dream come true for me since I used to have a crush on Lyn Ching.
Having said that, the interview was very brief, mainly about what mentalism is, and how it works, vis-a-vis standard, rudimentary magic. Jay did most of the talking, but when we were asked to demonstrate, I opened with Liquid Metal. The people in the studio were fairly impressed, and Jay only added to the tempo with his Osterlind Breakthrough Cards demonstration. In under eight minutes, we gave them a good handle on what mentalism was about, and even managed to really showcase some of the strongest points of the art form in a hard-hitting, fast-paced manner.
This was a very eventful way to start off the week, no doubt. With our show coming up this Saturday, a TV appearance like this definitely yielded us a lot of good.
We'll put the video up when we manage to upload it to YouTube already...
Yep, we'll be featured tomorrow morning on GMA's sign-on show, Unang Hirit. Jay and I will be there to demonstrate mentalism, and hopefully get people interested in the upcoming Laughs And Gasps event, happening this November 22.
We'll be at the studio around 6:30 in the morning, so expect us to go on air thereabouts. :)
Hey, guys! Jay and I will be at World Trade Center today, doing a bit of performing and promoting at the ABS-CBN Grand Kapamilya Fair. Ms. Giselle Sanchez will of course be there, and you can be sure that it's going to be a ton of fun.
.:Laughs Ang Gasps Is Coming!:.
You know it's just one week away... Laughs And Gasps is a night of magic, mentalism, music, and mirth. From the one-of-a-kind ventriloquist act of Wanlu, to the wit and beauty of Ms. Giselle Sanchez, to the crazy surprises up the sleeves of Kel and Jay, you can be sure that this is 250 bucks well spent.
Proceeds of the show will go to the Giselle Sanchez Foundation, a foundation established to give scholarships to brilliant but underprivileged students.
The venue is pretty easy to find: it's the Vibal Publishing House rooftop, at Araneta Avenue. It's beside a Shell gas station, and is pretty near the intersection with Quezon Avenue. Yes, it's sorta near Pegasus. Here's a map.
And of course, some shenanigans we were up to during the photo shoot...
And, the final poster...
We have a few other pictures to share with you, but that'll suffice for now. Heh. :P
