“SO THERE was a red pick-up truck, and then my friend, Bernard, I asked him to drive, and then at the back of the truck, doon ako nakaupo, looking under the stars. Hugging, embracing the woman I love the most, in the whole wide world. And at that moment, I didn’t even realize yun na, yun na, yun na pala yung moment ko in life. Yun na talaga yung moment.”
Then Ian started to sing “Forevermore” by Side A. “There are times, when I just want to look at your face with the stars in the night. There are times, when I just want to feel your embrace in the cold of the night. I just can’t believe that you are mine now.” This suddenly gives one a tingling sensation, super kilig!
Ian also remembers his particular visit here in Baguio with his family, his sister, when he was about 9 or 10 years old. While he was roller skating, he remembers he was a “hopeless romantic little boy when he sees an angel, a girl in white jeans, with long hair, sobrang ganda”. Ian relates that later on, he came to know that his sister and this girl belong to the same school.
Ian eventually attempts to reach his crush through the phone but is taken aback because of a strict mom who answers the phone. Then Ian goes back to a performance mode on stage and this time sings, “If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys”. “Some people want it all but I don’t want nothing at all. If it ain’t you baby. If I ain’t got you baby. Some people want diamond rings. Some just want everything. But everything means nothing, if I ain’t got you, yeah.”
Ian, an actor, was inspired to pursue a singing career in 2017 when he had a role of a composer in “A Love to Last”, a drama series under ABS-CBN with leading ladies Bea Alonzo and Iza Calzado. Ian had a series of concerts in 2018 then. He plays both the guitar and the piano. Among his songs was an original composition “We’re all Alone”.
Ian said he has fond memories of Christmas and Summer here in Baguio with his family. He especially remembers horseback riding and Burnham Park. To him it was always a joyous occasion to be here in Baguio.
He indeed shared the night with all of us and simply made us enjoy the music. There were about more than 20 songs which were more on love and relationships. Both English and Filipino songs from the 70’s to the early 2000’s like songs of Toto, Phil Collins, Bill Withers, Peter Frampton, The Commodores, Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Mr. Big, Eric Clapton and Elton John, Nina, Eraserheads, Side A, and Apo Hiking Society among others.
Thank you to Gen Bautista of Waltrix Productions and Topher Entertainment Production! Looking forward to more of these concerts here in the City of Baguio. See more of Ian in his official FB account, Ian Lopez Veneracion.
(drbrendaleeavillanueva@ymail.com).