“I’LL never go far away from you/Even the sky will tell you/That I need you so/For this is all I know/I’ll never go far away from you.”
Thanks—or no thanks—to Bea Alonzo, that song has been my LSS—Last Song Syndrome—in the last few weeks.
This phenomenon began on August 28, 2023, yes, during Cagayan de Oro’s fiesta. A friend’s lunch invite lasted till 5 pm, after which I went looking for MiMo Café’s booth at Centrio Mall’s Higalaay Food Fair.
Since I’m used to research as a columnist, I opted to search for the booth without asking the café’s owners—my nephew and niece-in-law—about its exact location, until I saw a huge crowd at the event center. Curiosity made me ask an audience member, Who’s there? She replied, Si Bea Alonzo.
Bea Alonzo?! And there she was, singing Erik Santos’ “I’ll Never Go.”
I’ve been an avid fan of John Lloyd Cruz ever since I saw him as Popoy Gonzalez in the 2007 movie “One More Chance.” Alonzo was his co-star in that film, playing the role of Basha Eugenio who uttered that famous line: “Sana ako pa rin. Ako na lang. Ako na lang ulit.”
Sigh.
Lloydie wasn’t with Alonzo at that mini-concert. Where was he? Hmmm. He has moved on. Haha.
Lloydie and Alonzo ending up as a married couple would have been the perfect scenario in the real world after being the perfect love team in the reel world. But since fairy tales only happen in Barbie Land, Lloydie is now a dad to Elias, his son with Ellen Adarna, and Alonzo is engaged to Dominic Roque.
Since it was the city’s Fiesta Day, Centrio was busy, and I did wonder if people were there to watch Alonzo. But after leaving the event center while Alonzo was still performing, there were many other people at the mall, shopping, window-shopping, eating, and strolling around like namamasyal sa Luneta, seemingly unaware of her presence. Or they were not curious enough to see who was there. Or they didn’t care. Or they were hoping for a miracle—Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour.”
And miracles do happen. With Swift excluding Pinas from her concert itinerary, the Pinoy Swiftie has made a celebrity out of her Pinoy impersonator, Taylor Sheesh. A.k.a. the 28-year-old Mac Coronel who has been copying even Swift’s concert outfits. When reality is not happening, fantasy is always there to keep people hopeful.
Sheesh doesn’t look like Swift at all but once the hair, makeup, outfit, and talent are on, her concert’s venue morphs into an “Eras Tour” when she’s there.
The song that I like now, though, is Miley Cyrus’ “Used to Be Young”: “I know I used to be crazy/I know used to be fun/You say I used to be wild/I say I used to be young/You tell me time has done changed me/That’s fine, I’ve had a good run/I know I used to be crazy/That’s ‘cause I used to be young.”
But there’s one love team that has remained young and sugar, spice, and everything nice: Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo. He’s 28, she’s 27. Hmmm. It’s time for them to level up to something real.
