Northern California's largest Filipino American newspaper in circulation since 1990, the Manila Mail is the Bay Area's most read Fil-Am weekly publication distributed free in major cities of Northern California. Community is a B Section page that contains the weekly column of Bradford Adkins 'SCENES in the city'. The column features include: the issues and events, the individuals and organizations moving the community.
Manila Mail's Photo Journalist Richard Lao (rightmost) with (L-R) Hollie Cavanagh, Heejun Han, Phillip Phillips & Elise Testone at the backstage of HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA last Sunday, July 22, 2012.
Superstar Nora Aunor, for the very first time in her career, and for the very first time in Philippine movie history, will have 2 movies ("Brillante Mendoza's "Thy Womb" in the Main Competition and Ishmael Bernal's "Himala" in the Restored Classics categories, respectively) to be shown at the oldest festival in the world - the 80th Venice Film Festival.
American Idol Season 11 Runner-Up Jessica Sanchez performed live last Sunday at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
American Idol Winner Philllip Phillips with San Jose's Elizabeth Chua-Drechsler last Sunday at HP Pavilion.
San Jose's Most Fashionable Philanthropist Susan Pacifico, right, was greeted 'Happy Birthday' in person by American Idol Finalist Heejun Han in San Jose's Silver Creek Country Club recently.
The PISTAHAN recently had a Photographers' Orientation Meeting held at the SB40 Restaurant in downtown San Francisco, attended by Al Perez, Gerry Panglinan, Rogelio 'Yong' Arcega, among others. The Pistahan festivities will be held on August 11 & 12, 2012 at the Yerba Buena Gardens. The Annual Pistahan Parade will be happening on August 11.
Dubbed as the 'Flying Squirrel' , gymnast Kyla Ross, (her mother is Filipina-Puerto Rican) was seen in San Jose, CA during the Olympics tryouts and is currently competing in London. She also appeared with the other members of the 2012 US Gymnastics team on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine.
The highly-successful (in terms of tickets issued) Gilroy Garlic Festival was held last Saturday, July 28, 2012 as witnessed by attendees (R-L) Dublin's Michael Borgonia & wife, Apple, 2013 Miss Teenage San Jose Alexandra Drechsler, San Bruno Businessman Archie Dayan and a friend.
Lou Miranda Concepcion of San Jose, CA recently opened PADZKY, a new Fil-Vietnamese Restaurant located at 52 S. Abel Street in Milpitas, CA
(L-R) Mary Ann Laurel, Au Mendoza & Aileen Layante at the Boulder Ridge in San Jose last month during Christia-Derrick Nuptials.
AMERICAN IDOLS LIVE IN MANILA – SEPT 21
(The AI Season 11 Finalists took HP Pavilion in San Jose by storm two Sundays ago)
TO-BE SEEN IN THE CITY
Jessica Sanchez, Phillip Phillips, Heejun Han, Colton Dixon, Joshua Ledet, Elise Testone, Skylar Laine, Holile Cavanagh, DeAndre Brackensick, & Erika Van Pelt – all Top 10 American Idol Season 11 finalists, will be traveling to the Philippines to perform live at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, September 21, 2012. The show is being produced by Renen De Guia of Ovation Productions (he also handled the 2011 AI Tour last year). The Philippines is the only country outside the US that the AI finalists will be performing at, as of presstime. It will also be their last city tour.
This Columnist had the closest encounter with all of the AI Top 10 finalists last Sunday, July 22, 2012 when they performed infront of almost sold-out crowd at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA (their 11th show) as part of their 45-city US Concert Tour (see accompanying photos).
Worth mentioning are: DeAndre, being a San Jose resident was most applauded by the hometown audience, together with Phillip (the eventual winner; I personally love his version of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” with Elise), Jessica (runnerup; the only Fil-Am finalist) and funnyman Heejun Han (he was a standout in the “Party Rock Anthem” number).
Here are the remaining AI Tour Dates/Venues:
8/2 Orlando, FL Amway Center
8/3 Sunrise, FL BankAtlantic Center
8/5 Duluth, GA Arena at Gwinnett Center
8/6 N. Charleston, SC North Charleston Coliseum
8/8 Washington, DC Verizon Center
8/9 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Center
8/11 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
8/12 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
8/14 Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
8/15 Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena
8/16 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
8/18 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
8/19 Worcester, MA DCU Center
8/21 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
8/22 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
8/25 Portland, ME Cumberland County Civic Center
8/26 Providence, RI Dunkin Donuts Center
8/28 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
8/30 Albany, NY Times Union Center
9/1 Bridgeport, CT Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard
9/2 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
9/4 Syracuse, NY War Memorial at OnCenter
9/6 Wilkes Barre, PA Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
9/7 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall
9/8 Reading, PA Sovereign Center
9/10 Cincinnati, OH US Bank Arena
9/11 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
9/21 Manila, Philippines Smart Araneta Coliseum
Grab your tickets early before they sell-out, like Phiaphia (@phia5354 on Twitter) of Singapore who is flying with friends to Manila just to watch the show and meet Heejun Han in person!
SEEN IN THE CITY
Introducing Olympian Kyla Ross, 15
Born October 24, 1996 in Honolulu, Hawaii from a black and Japanese father, Jason Ross and Filipina/Puerto Rican mother, Kiana, Olympian Kyla Briana Ross, now 15, auditioned for the nationals in San Jose, CA not too long ago. Her intense trainings persevered and luckily, she got picked as one of the members of the Artistic Gymnastics team that represents the United States in the ongoing 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Together with the rest of the US Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team, Kyla Ross was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated on its July 18, 2012 issue (Olympic Preview). Apparently, this is history-making as this is the very first time an entire Olympic gymnastics team had been featured on the cover of the widely circulated sports magazine.
Kyla has has two younger siblings. The family now lives in Aliso Viejo, CA.
Shorts and Briefs
Join the Public Square Rosary Rally on Saturday, October 13, 2012, (12:00 Noon) at the St. Maria Goretti Parish Church located at 2980 Senter Rd San Jose, CA 95111. Also on the same day at 7:30 P.M is the procession and mass for Our Lady of Fatima at Our Lady Of Peace Church in Santa Clara, CA in honor or the last apparition of Our Lady Of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. Visitors as far as Los Angeles and other areas, will attend this celebration in buses.
"Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us who have recourse to thee."
Click 'Like'
The Miss Asian America (together with the Miss Asian Global) Beauty Pageant, being produced by Ms. Rose Chung, is happening this Saturday night at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA.
Belated Happy birthday greetings to Susan Pacifico of San Jose, CA (July 11) & Mildred Monsada (July 30) of Las Vegas, NV.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Oh my gosh, I love the crowd. I walked in and shock went right through me. There were so many people and the crowd was just so loud. I was so thrilled to have everyone there watching the meet, but especially my friends and family. I had huge support behind me and was so happy that all of my teammates could come, and that my family could come watch me. A lot of my family from all over the country came." – By 15-year old Gymnast, Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, CA (she has Filipino blood from her mother) now competing in London Olympics, during her San Jose, CA national tryouts. After hearing her name called as one of the successful ones to be a member of the team that will be sent to the 2012 Summer Olympics, she further said, "This is the most surreal feeling. Hearing my name called, I couldn't even believe it."
This article also appears online at www.FilAmnation.com and http://sites.google.com/site/adkinsmmcevents/Home/ with readership in 159 countries now (& still counting!) according to the latest Google Analytics report.
Do you have any personal or community events you want announced or published? Just email them to bradford_adkins@yahoo.com
Follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/bradford_adkins)
"Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us who have recourse to thee."
Click 'Like'