Category Archives: Entertainment

FOREIGN CONCERT ARTISTS UNITE TO BOYCOTT THE PHILIPPINES

July 23, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

LOS ANGELES, California (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Foreign concert artists continue to run afoul of the Philippines’ strict moral and other standards, and they are uniting to skip the country for their world music tours.

In 2012, a Lady Gaga Manila concert attracted widespread protest due to supposedly anti-Christian lyrics in one of the singer’s hits. And earlier this year, two members of One Direction paid bonds of roughly $4,500 before their performance in Manila, due to their casual admission of marijuana use in a video released last year.

This week, Grammy Award winner Chris Brown was barred from leaving the country after a one-day concert in Manila because of fraud charges brought against him by an influential church group. The charges stemmed from the singer’s non-appearance at a New Year’s Eve concert at the Philippine Arena, owned by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ).

Earlier today, Madonna, who had just announced she has chosen the Philippines as the only country in Asia that would be included in her Rebel Heart Tour, said she decided to cancel her February 2016 concert at the Mall of Asia in Manila, in solidarity with Brown.

The boycott could either deprive Filipinos of the chance to see their favorite international artists, or possibly enhance the careers of local singers and performers. After all, Filipino artists are among the best in the world.

Entertainment, Music, Travel

SINGER CHRIS BROWN HELD UP IN MANILA, LEARNS HIS LESSON NOT TO MESS WITH FILIPINOS

July 22, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Grammy Award-winning singer Chris Brown has been in trouble many times before, but this time around, he chose to get in trouble in a country that would not put up with his shenanigans.

Brown was barred from leaving the Philippines because of a contract dispute, the official Philippines News Agency reported Wednesday.

Brown was stopped Wednesday morning while preparing to depart on a private jet from Manila’s international airport on his way to Hong Kong for a concert, the news agency said.

The Philippine Department of Justice said that an order had been issued Tuesday night to stop any attempts by Brown, 26, to leave the country.

Brown performed in a Manila concert that evening as planned, but the order was put in place to compel him to pay back money that promoters said was owed to them after he failed to appear for a previous appearance scheduled for last New Year’s Eve.

Encouraged by the departure hold order, promoters of the New Year’s Eve concert amended their complaint against Brown, asking the Department of Justice that they not only be paid what was owed to them but an additional 50% interest compounded monthly.(We’re not good at math but we suspect that with now almost six months since Brown incurred the “debt,” it could mean lots and lots of money for the aggrieved promoters.)

The promoters have the full backing of Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares whose agency is sure to benefit from taxes that will be collected from promoters if and when they get paid by Brown.

Rumors are circulating that Brown is currently detained in an airport holding cell and is being fed rice and chicken adobo three times a day. He had earlier requested for a McDonald’s cheeseburger but the request was denied.

It wasn’t clear how long Brown will be held in Manila but he certainly has learned the lesson of his lifetime: not to mess with Filipinos!

Entertainment, Music

TOP TEN REASONS MADONNA’S PHILIPPINE CONCERT WILL BE A FLOP

July 21, 2015 Pol Pinoy 2 Comments

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles®) – It’s official! The Material Girl is coming to Manila.

Madonna will hold her first concert in the Philippines on February 24, 2016. It is the only country in Asia that is included in the Queen of Pop’s The Rebel Heart World Tour which kicks off in Montreal, Canada this September.

Tickets for the Manila concert go on sale starting July 26.

Already, both fans and critics are predicting that the concert will be an absolute flop, and here are the top ten reasons why:

Filipino Millennials don’t know who the 56-year-old Madonna is; they only know Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus.
Religious Filipino Baby Boomers know only one Madonna, the one enshrined in their Catholic parish church holding the baby Jesus.
The cheapest concert ticket will sell at P3,150 ($72). That would be six days of work for minimum wage earners.
The most expensive concert ticket will sell at P57,750 ($1,313.) That would be 117 days of work for minimum wage earners.
The venue at The Mall of Asia seats about 20,000 people. Imagine all the empty seats at this one-night-only concert because of Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 above.
Most Filipino concert goers will have to take Manila’s Light Railway, the MRT, to get to the Mall of Asia. Most will not get there on time because of the long lines to get to the trains, not to mention expected train breakdowns along the way.
Madonna herself will show up late for the concert. Her limousine will be stuck in Manila traffic. Existing law prohibits celebrities and politicians from using car sirens (‘wang-wang’ in local parlance) to get through traffic jams.
It is much cheaper to buy a Madonna DVD. All members of Filipino families and extended families can watch it for a single price.
Madonna impersonators abound in the Philippines. And they give free shows all the time. Filipino Madonna impersonators do a better job than Madonna herself.
Madonna Concert promoters will have a very small profit margin, after the Philippines’ Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue Kim Henares will have collected tax from the ticket proceeds.