MIKEWEEK BULLETIN 209

Sadie Christened, Jon & Mae Married (again) Mike & Vince reunited, Keith Richards Life, Many Photos and more...

Manila, Philippines — Your humble reporter was able to flee New York’s dreadful winter and reunite with Vincent in the Philippines for what is to be my longest stay in his country yet. I guess I must have looked like I knew what I was doing, because not one, but two fellow air passengers asked me where to go, when we landed in Tokyo, for the stopover on the way to Manila.

Milestones: Many were in the works this trip and the first happened only a day after my arrival when we all headed to a grotto in a local church for the baptism of Sadie, who is the daughter of Vincent’s sister Mae. She endured the ceremony with amazing grace and her older sister had great fun, running back and forth through the little cave the church set aside for family baptisms.

One of Vincent’s great Aunts tells me, Filipinos eat five times a day, and like New Orleans, much of the day and any celebration revolves around food. After the holy event, we all repaired to a wonderful restaurant called ADARNA which served historically correct food and like Antoine’s and Arnaud’s in New Orleans—even maintains private rooms-one dedicated to carnival, decked out with old carnival announcements and Filipino carnival gowns; while the second is reserved for stars of local stage and screen.

Next up on the agenda, was Mount Pinatubo. Bulletin readers, with very ample grey matter will recall on our first visit, we mounted very small horses to climb the Taal Volcano.

Apparently, climbing a volcano is one of the things visitors are supposed to do, so this time we tackled Pinatubo. No horses this time. Instead, an intestine juggling ride across rocky terrain and streams until you got to the base of the Mountain and started climbing.

With Vince and me for this journey, were Jon—Mae’s soon to be re-wed husband, his parents: Margo and Chappy, and Jon’s brother and best-man—Josh. Once there Jon’s family swam the waters of the crater and then we began the long trek on foot and jiggling 4x4 back to civilization.

A day or two later, we all awoke at 3AM to head to the resort island of Boracay (pronounce-Bah-rock-cai) for Jon and Mae’s wedding. Careful bulletin readers already know that your correspondent stood witness to Jon and Mae’s civil wedding, at the Bronx courthouse some years ago.

This was to be the big deal wedding for family and friends. Thankfully, the Vince’s family had just started a taxi business, and we were able to commandeer a small fleet of the taxi cabs to whisk us all to the airport.

We flew Air Philippines to Boracay, a small airline which I heartily recommend. Actually we flew to a lovely little town called Kalibo, and then took a ferry to Boracay where we all crammed into a small van, whose roofline was clearly designed for small Filipino’s; meaning people who stand five feet or shorter. It was a funny ride to our budget friendly digs, aka The Boracay Hideaway Gran Prix Hotel.

The rooms were clean, the staff helpful and cheery and what the heck, breakfast was thrown in for good measure. The Rehearsal dinner took place right on Boracay’s main beach, which is highly acclaimed worldwide and Vincent’s favorite. Because the average guest was traveling ten thousand miles plus, the wedding party was limited to about 45 people---which turned out to be a wonderful size, because we all ended up having a bit of time to spend with one another.

As one would expect, for such a milestone event, Jon and Mae stayed, and the ceremony itself was held at somewhat more elaborate digs than our hideaway hotel—it took place at Shangri-La Boracay. Jon and Mae had honored me with the roll of being emcee for the reception, so Vince and I were around for the behind the scenes, regal treatment of Mae and her entourage as they were made ready for the wedding.

The ceremony itself was lovely—presided over by a local mayor, whose grasp of English contained certain gaps, so he referred to Sadie—as SAAA-DEE and Jon as JUN-na-thon. I was half expecting him to make mincemeat of Marriage, like the character in the Mel Brooks movie who keeps saying---Maa—wige. After the mayor resealed the deal for Jon and Mae, there were cocktails on the beach and extraordinary group of local fire dancers that featured a rather stellar drag queen.

Filipinos like to joke about most everything, and since I did not know any local jokes, I decided the best way to get a laugh as emcee, was to try to throw a few Filipino phrases into my commentary. I am still not sure whether it was my awful pronunciation, or the way I looked in the local wedding garb-the Barong; but, I can report that I was able to spark a few chuckles during the course of the evening.

Dinner took place in the grand ballroom, followed by dancing, where Vince was instrumental in tearing up the carpet. The next morning we all enjoyed swims on Shangri La’s secluded beach.

PHOTOS: You can see lots more photos of the trip---to date---at www.flickr.com/mlcliff (BTW...flickr has this annoying habit of loading everything backwards, so you will see the wedding first and the beginning of the trip first—someday I will find the time to get them in order. For now, what the heck, use your vivid imaginations).

Short Takes: We are in and out of internet contact here, so just go the news Hosni Fled Egypt. I think my short line was two weeks…which seems to have just about panned out right. We did not get to watch the Superbowl for breakfast—turns out the local satellite company put it on a pay channel this year, so we had to content ourselves with occasional updates via internet. Fox did not even stream the game on its own website…not a fair more for those of us in the Asian sticks.

Current Reading: Keith Richard’s Life…a Dad pick, doled out to all Longman brothers at Christmas. Well worth the read, and as dad comments, he really explains the whole process and art of making music.

Work: The news service which is my main gig, has been most supportive of my reunion with Vince..even though it means five weeks away from the states. I turned my first story this weekend, and expect to turn several more over the course of the trip. I have co-producers at the ready, should a story come in that requires a quick turn-around, while I am working long distance, on stories where there is enough advance warning, that I can work around the 13 hour time change to New York and 15 hour difference with Nevada…Yikes!