Bamboo kissed Maxi

I had a rare birthday treat last Thursday. What was planned to be just an afternoon in the mall and seafoods dinner turned out to be filled with music and fireworks -- literally.

Bamboo, the rock star who looks like a wayward brother of Sen. Chiz Escudero, was holding a rehearsal at the makeshift stage at Mall of Asia ocean drive. It was only 4:30 p.m., and people in that part of the mall was scarce. That's until he began singing. In dark shades, white cotton shirt and black pants, Bamboo slowly gathered up the crowd. When he hoohooed the chorus of Alleluia, the people went wild. Then he left.

Three hours later, Isay Alvarez and Robert Sena were already doing the front act. They had beautiful, fantastic voices, but Vangie and I agreed that they didn't hit it off with the crowd. With repertoire of standard classics and broadway ditties, the crowd got obviously bored prompting Sena to jokingly tell them ``Don't worry, lalabas din si Bamboo.''

They could have chosen less snobbish FM radio songs and even Filipino hits, the better to click with the generally masa crowd who were there for the love songs. The girl who sang before and after them got a bigger applause just by hitting the first notes of The Greatest Love of All.

Then Bamboo arrived. He sang two songs we're not familiar with, probably cuts from his new album we don't know about. On his third song, he jumped off stage, went to his right, scanned the delirious crowd -- which included us standing by the railings -- and went straight to us. At that moment, my theory is confirmed: The glare of the spotlight plus Maxi's megawatt smile could steal anybody's attention. He stood there in front of Vangie and Maxi, and made a salute, while me and Mavi extended our hands unnoticed like the rest.

You see some months back when Bamboo performed for the office anniversary, he also bounced into the crowd and sat beside Vangie. Now for a while there, it got me curious. Could it be that he recognized Vangie from the thick crowd? That Bamboo could have the hots for my wife?

Things went so fast I wasn't able to pull out my phone to record the entire thing. He held Maxi's -- and not Vangie's, thank God! -- hand and kissed it. Then ruffled her hair before springing back to shake the hands of the rest of the adoring crowd.

Later, when we were washing hands for dinner at nearby Dampa, Maxi asked me to soap her hands well because she said she doesn't like the smell.

But that, of course, is jumping ahead of the story and is by no means the highlight of this blog entry.

By the time Bamboo blasted off with the first chorus of Alleluia, the sky began to light up. Massive sparks of different colors and speed flew into the night sky and opened up the bay with furious blaze. The crowd went crazy. It was as if we're inside a movie which was rolling to its rousing finale. It got into Vangie, Mavi and Maxi who kissed me and greeted me happy birthday.

Crab-and-shrimp dinner: P1,000
Concert: Free
Birthday Experience: Priceless