When BB East meets BB West–what a raucous pair

BB WEST (Bernardo Bernardo) and BB East (Bessie Badilla) square off at the columnist’s book launch in New York. Photo by Francois Medina

NEW YORK — Two of Philippine show biz’s — and Facebook’s — most colorful and visible personalities, nicknamed BB West (Bernardo Bernardo) and BB East (Bessie Badilla), met again after five years and made quite a raucous pair of hosts at the recent New York launch of my first book, “My Filipino Connection: The Philippines in Hollywood.”

The two BBs, among the talents based in the United States and Canada who are featured in the book, delighted guests led by Consul General Mario de Leon, Deputy Consul General Theresa Dizon-De Vega and community leader and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis at the Philippine Center. The LA-based Bernardo was supposed to be a surprise guest—although we had a hunch he would show up—but the warm weather outside forced the versatile performer to come inside the Fifth Avenue venue early.

In his usual colorful language, the witty BB West told us about calling off the surprise because of the heat outside.

Later, things got even more interesting when there were not one but three BBs in the gathering—with the arrival of Boots Babushka, the renowned Pilita Corrales tribute performer who has been based in NY for over two decades now.

Elton Lugay, who graciously organized the book launch with Bessie, was originally set to co-emcee but asked Bernardo to do the honors instead.

BESSIE’S Brazilian band. Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

Besides trading puns and mock haughty supermodel glances, the BBs sang—BB East with songs from her hit “Brinoy” CD and BB West with a medley of songs, including “Ocho Ocho.”

The conventions of a book launch were turned upside down again—as they were in the recent LA launch of my book, hosted by Ted Benito, Prosy Delacruz and Rocio Nuyda.

Fil-Am Ali Ewoldt took everyone’s breath away with her stirring rendition of “Somewhere,” which she performed as Maria in a US national tour of “West Side Story.” Three other subjects in the book graced the affair: Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, Ramona Diaz and Isabel Sumayao Henderson.

FROM left: Momar Visaya, Bessie Badilla, Consul General Mario de Leon and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

By a stroke of good luck, Anna Maria only had a matinee performance of “Godspell” that Wednesday, so she was able to attend, straight from the theater.

For her performance in the musical revival that earned critics’ praise, Anna Maria is nominated as a best featured actress in a musical in the 2012 Theater Awards of BroadwayWorld.com. Readers interested in voting for her may log on to the popular website.

It was good to see acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ramona Diaz again since we first met in Sundance several years ago. By coincidence, Marty Syjuco, whom we got to know along with Ramona in Sundance, also came.

Ramona’s recent triumph is “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey,” her docu on Arnel Pineda and Journey which got great reviews. She told us that she’s coming to the Philippines in August to shoot her next project, a docu on the controversial RH bill.

After that, she will do the film version of Rafe Bartholomew’s best-selling book, “Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin’ in Flip-Flops and the Philippines’ Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball.”

ALI EWOLDT. Photo by Francois Medina

MARTY Syjuco and Ramona Diaz. Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

Ramona is the executive producer of “Give Up Tomorrow,” Michael Collins’ docu on the controversial rape-double murder case in Cebu which Marty produced. The film’s latest laurels are the Human Rights Award and the Audience Award for documentary film in the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Festival. Marty and Michael received the awards in person.

I was also fortunate to have as guest Isabel Sumayao Henderson, a post-production supervisor who used to be based in LA but now lives in NY. I pay tribute to Isabel and Maricel Pagulayan, a visual effects producer, in the book for holding key behind-the-scenes positions in fields dominated by men.

I quoted Isabel in the book about working with a fellow Filipina, Maricel, in Tom Cruise’s “Valkyrie: “I didn’t give it much thought in the beginning. But at some point… I realized how cool it was that the two people who were to a large part responsible for overseeing the day-to-day progress of the film were these brown-skinned Filipinas amid a sea of white men and women. Someone called us the ‘Pinay mafia.’ I thought that was funny.”

BOOTS BABUSHKA. Photo by Francois Medina

This time, I made it a point to gather these talents featured in the book for a group snapshot. Some of them met each other for the first time. Toward the end of the launch, they were engaged in discussions. We hope the networking will lead to more breaks and opportunities for more of our talents.

As for me, I met many folks for the first time and saw old friends. I thank the volunteers, media folks and food sponsors for helping make the event a memorable night in New York for us.

(E-mail the columnist at [email protected]. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben)