Ivy Violan on a night of love, rhythm and variations
Last Saturday, Sept. 10, an enchanting indoor concert with a profusion of unique talents in the musical world of songs, settled briefly at the Envision Center in Van Nuys, California….
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Sen. Manny Pacquiao: ‘Public service is my calling but boxing is my passion’
BEVERLY HILLS — The essence of boxing is what we seek to capture and record. It might be the decisive moment which makes the bout last in your memory, or…
A paradise for the misbegotten
LAS VEGAS — On a hot, dry day in September, the whole city was breathing and heaving like a tired beast. On the street that controls all the luxurious hotels,…
The emperor of maladies
What gives cancer its awful power? No one can explain why a malignant tumor strikes one and spares another. Anyone whose been to Cancerland is familiar with the scan: They’re…
The agonizing malady of a writer’s block
How strange, this demented feeling gives me when I realize that I have spent agonizing days before a pen and a notebook, with nothing better to do but jot down…
The intimacy of women columnists
TODAY, more women are writing columns than before. But as the women’s movement took hold, traditional limitations on them began to dissolve, and they’re now writing about politics, government, finance,…
Of healers and scribblers
Everyone pretty much agrees that if you exercise, eat right and don’t smoke or drink, you’ll never die. I have been told that by my internist, cardiologist, psychiatrist and all…
Bob Shroder’s perfect, graceful fusion of musical past with contemporary musical world
At the recent FASO’s Summer Family Concert, you’d think that time honored, phrase “Maestro, at his best!” says it all.. But there is more between fresh observation and stale clichés…
NOSTALGIA Beatles: Let it be
I AM one of those who freely and ungrudgingly takes great interest in my friends’ pleasures, in what they relish and what they become anxious about in the world of…
The delicate dance of a publisher and an advertiser
“…That if all Printers were determin’d not to print any thing till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed. I consider the Variety…
Dexter Grey: Rebellious audacity and improvisations highlight latest concert
There was nothing in Dexter’s Grey ancestry, background or environment to suggest he would become the greatest living interpreter of the work of Frederic Chopin. It was all there, when…
The power of tourism for Bicolandia
In Bicolandia, the renowned Mayon Volcano towers majestically at 8,000 feet from the base to its pointed tip, with its crater a mere 1,640 feet across. At dawn, mists bank…
The anguish of a love gone wrong
Romanced by fantasies, terrible things are done in the name of love. And when love goes wrong, it could be the most intensifying and painful experience of a lifetime. Secrets,…
Coping with the new forms of journalism
On blogs, cable news and radio, they take aim at the print. They provide people with social media tools to gauge the trustworthiness of specific news outlets and individual stories,…
Hermilando Mandanas: the people’s governor
LOS ANGELES – On a recent evening, summoned by invitation, about 20 or so distinguished guests arrived at the palatial home of Rupert and Grace Mercado, a haven that flattered…
Jed Madela, the voice
Interviewing Jed Madela is like having a fun conversation at a party with someone you may never run into again. It is filled with the possibility of random pleasures. It…
The glass of fashion
There is an endless fascination about the people who make fashion, rather than just about fashion. Described as graceful, they can be an alluring information prose that serves as a…
Sonata for fatherless daughters
He left me a houseful of daughters — very young, and adorable, with the world on their side. In the face of adversity, we are not permitted to ask “why…
Aboard a floating carnival
The most notable about one’s time during an ocean voyage is that it is so purely relative. We sailed in the lightness of an early summer, the sky a fresh roseate, the…
A night at Dodgers Stadium
It was one of those Padres-Dodgers slugfests — where 43,588 people in a wave of blue collectively sent out ear splitting displays of offensive chants throughout that evening at Dodgers…
Farewells never need to be rackety, just heartfelt
LOS ANGELES — Farewells are always both sad and bright like after the rain. June has been a string of goodbye parties for LA Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim Out of…
Summertime in Las Vegas
Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport was crowded with people determined to get an early start on the long weekend rush. Las Vegas is already hot — it is 103 degrees in…
In praise of the Los Angeles Philippine Women’s Club
They are daughters of dramatic journeys and fantastic tales. Proudly carrying their heritage and stories like treasures, they came to America amid colonial romance, hope, despair and misfortune. But they…
Age and guile cannot beat an old scribbler
It is said that no people on earth are more fearful and anxious when written about, than the members of the press. Think about why doctors are known to be…
A gathering of courage and determination
The Southern California Filipino Dental Society (SCFDC) is a world unto itself. As the energy level started going up and up, the dentists moved, talked, laughed and think — and…
The right protection for women
At the level of daily life, we learn by experience, how to protect ourselves by learning many strategies. Perla Santos, the mother of MOTHER, or the Movement to Help End…
Honor thy father
My father is the kind of man I’ve always dreamed of: kind to the weak, fierce to the arrogant, generous to those who loved him, ruthless to those who will…
The gift of service
There is in all work of service a deep soul — something that has called those who participate in it and sustains it. Tangible and visible, whose objects had been…
Hollymont Castle is ready for more Chopin concerts
Hollywood—Peerless on its grace and splendor with changes subtle and grand, noble and patriotic this unending testimony of class, tradition and old world elegance has left even the most eloquent…
Vacations fade fast
VACATIONS are nothing more than series of moments that you remember between all the exhaustion, moving from one place to another. It’s the special times obliterated by little things that…