I was excited when Carla Dunareanu invited me to join her and Boom Gonzalez to their booth last Monday, not only because Dia Frampton was performing live, but also because I am a fan of On Demand on Magic 89.9.  Arriving early, I got to enjoy watching Boom at work with his toilet mix which is always a treat.

There was a hint of nervousness in the air as Dia was slated to visit a couple of other stations before joining us and the busy schedule could cut her guesting short, if traffic made her late.  Fortunately, traffic cooperated and Dia arrived early.  Boom had great questions for Dia and she in turn answered candidly and the entire guesting was just awesome.  Dia also performed three songs (even if she was slated to do just two).

The one thing that worried me was that Dia was doing guestings non stop that even her manager Mike was beginning to worry about her health and fatigue.  After the show, Mike invited me to join them for lunch.  I suggested Pipino, a vegetarian restaurant owned by friends Chef Ed and Alessa, along Jupiter St.  If Dia had a long day ahead, it would make sense to feed her well, right?

Food was of course great and Dia enjoyed the Pumpkin Soup and Watermelon Steak.  While waiting for the food, she was still working, signing CD covers.  Apparently, Dia was not only talented, nice and smart (as I said in my previous posts), she was a trooper as well.  Her fatigue was beginning to show and I asked her about it.  She woke up with “a scratchy throat” and the beginnings of a cold, she said.  Then she quickly lit up and smiled, “But it’s not food related,” remembering my joke about how I worry about my clients until the next day whenever I serve them food. Tired and sick, yet still funny.  Basically, you know, stuff of legends.

Apart from business, we got to talk about other things as well, like how guitarist Danny Bemrose who is also lead vocalist of Scars on 45, used to be a pro football player. Huh. That piece of info may be useful if I join Jeopardy! They were also discussing cutting short some of Dia’s commitments, both for that day and the day after, but it seemed, at least to me, Dia was unwilling to forego any guesting, lest she disappoint people.  As it turned out, she did all her guestings that day, including the RX Concert Series, where she sang and interacted with the audience brilliantly.  I heard she had to cancel the guesting on Tuesday, and as unfortunate as it is for her fans, she really needed her rest.

Dessert was on the house, courtesy of Chef Ed, and soon Dia, Mike and Danny were on their way again.  I had to say my good byes as I had other things to take care of and I know it seems silly, but as they were thanking me, I was thanking them too.  I never got to express it properly, but I was indeed thankful that they let me in on their Philippine experience and hopefully, I did my part in making our country memorable for them.  It’s always my honor to show off our country and our food and doing so for one of my favorite singers, who has become one of my favorite persons, was quite an experience.  They did promise to come back, so there’s that.  I’m experimenting on new vegetarian dishes as we speak.