SariSariShots

South Border in Chicago

"A Song and a Prayer." South Border band members pray with their manager at the green room of Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge, Illinois moments before curtain time on Saturday, April 22. The band was in the Chicago area as part of their first U.S. tour.

Images from the South Border Chicago Concert with Jasmine Trias. April 22, 2006. Photography: Armand B. Frasco with Jaime Palanca. All Rights Reserved. Special thanks to LLG Productions and Ian Bajamunde for the  access. 

View the photoset @ FLICKR.

Related links:

South Border on Friendster
Jasmine Trias.

A special shoutout to EvilAsh and all our friends at the South Border Message Board 

Shooting Stars

“Stay in your designated spots, always wear your IDs and do not make any sudden moves!” the burly Secret Service agent barked out orders from inside an incongruously  bulky trench coat on a sweltering July day.   

Covering presidential visits and papal audiences have their own quirky requirements.  The wait can seem endless and the anticipation, especially for the uninitiated like me, almost unbearable. This isn’t my day job (thank God, the pros tell me all the time) but there is something about shooting VIPs that always gets a photographer’s adrenalin pumping and makes it almost worth it. A name-dropping session this certainly is not but here’s a disclosure for context. Through the years I’ve covered a Playboy heiress, a basketball legend, and football and baseball superstars among other Chicago notables. 

Then comes the Pinoy celebrity – a totally different breed and journalistic challenge.  Their entourage of groupies, yayas, taga-plantsa, taga-masahe and personal manghuhula in tow is a show in itself. 

At first, this spectacle gave me that provinciano’s excited shiver. Born at a time and place when appearances by actors and actresses from Manila were infrequent, I hogged the concert circuit like any other star struck fan shooting hundreds of rolls of film at stage fronts. In time reason, coupled with job shifts and other constraints curbed my enthusiasm. Or perhaps it was the National Geographic pin I always wore to these events – a talisman against mediocre photography. It was taking its effect and backstage beckoned.

My first “real” Pinoy celebrity assignment was Martin Nievera and he was a revelation. Sans makeup and overprotective crew in a quiet green room awaiting curtain time, we struck up a conversation that I remember to this day. Mundane, yet it will remain off the record as with some of my images. I believe that good celebrity photography is a delicate balance between respect and responsibility to the job and your subject.

I did many more concerts after Mart (first-name basis with celebs = priceless) but few approached the access I got that night. Years later I covered a couple of divas so close I could smell their perfume yet they remained distant, engrossed in their own worlds.

I too am often absorbed in my world once creative flow starts. I admire the bravado (not to mention boundless energy) of young artists. IBU left me puffing and panting in a nice sort of way. Freestyle and Side A had my phone and ears ringing for days. I could feel myself regressing as Geneva, an erstwhile favorite minor, pranced at an APO concert, who were still a riot after all these years. To me an all-access pass is not only a ticket to great images but also an opportunity to know the celebrity as a person. When you’re out of the spotlight and standing outside in the cool early summer breeze, speaking to the real Leah Navarro (or Regine or Gary) is a rare treat.   

I will never be paparazzi – fast driving and fence-climbing scares me. But the satisfaction of having conveyed a performer’s emotion and personality with minimal duress is fulfillment enough.

Documenting the visiting Pinoy pop idol is both a joy and sweet sorrow for we know that once that euphoric trip down memory lane is over, the curtain drops and the lights go out, they will be on their way home and we are not.

"Shooting Stars"
Photographing the Visiting Pinoy Celebrity
A.B.F.

Download .PDF of this article.

Backstage with Leah Navarro

The stifling heat was almost unbearable at times but weirdly familiar. The air-condition was out of commission at last Saturday’s “Jukebox Queens” concert at Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge, Illinois but the crowd heroically stayed on. It felt just like home. As playbills-repurposed- as-fans swayed with the rhythm of the four divas’ numbers I clicked away, sweating like a dog from the sidelines. After months of hiatus, this was my first coverage and like perspiration I was flowing.

The ladies had made a guest appearance at a function I covered the night before and I had established some rapport with Leah Navarro, initially because she spoke our dialect. She also struck me as an intelligent, sincere human being. After doing this for a while, believe me I know how to spot the real ones.

I caught up with her as she was coming out of the huge open backstage door during a break. We started with light industry talk. “Fans complained that it was almost impossible to find songs from the Metro Pop Music Festivals (in the waning Marcosian years) and finally they’re back.” I made a mental note to self to get a copy. Also, to check out “wayang kulit” as I snapped the colorful Indonesian puppet theater-like silhouettes on the curtain. 

“No matter how many times you have sung a particular song, I always make it a point to do my best each time for that somebody in the audience who may be hearing it for the first time.” Her eyes glowed with memories of past glories as we talked of how her music is an important connection to the past to many in the audience. “A lot of them are not able to travel home often and through my songs I hope to lessen their loneliness.”

Producer Bobby Milagrosa

Our short tête-à-tête covered such minutiae as her former boyfriend (whose relatives incidentally lived next door to us back home) and her misfortune of having bought a digital camera which turned out to be a display item with dead battery.

A gaggle of young autograph-seekers approached us from behind. Time to resume my role as a photojournalist and clicked away as Ms. Navarro took time to meet and greet. To those who have counted off these performers as “has beens”, here’s photographic proof otherwise. No shrieking fans here though but another generation of those who appreciate the enduring artistry of Leah Navarro.

The evening wore on without relief from the heat. I heard the producer mumbling about refunds as I hurried to stage right in time to shoot a few frames before Ms. Navarro’s turn. She was seated behind the curtains, smiling calmly as she surveyed the night’s proceedings a noisy fan blowing at her feet.

I wondered what was on her mind. Then just as I was getting lost in my own private thoughts the stage manager came. Smiling in the semi darkness towards my direction she got up and I did the same. Its show time!

ALL ACCESS: The Jukebox Queens Photo documentary by Armand B. Frasco

[Reprinted]

Daisy's Day

I once went with her on housecalls deep in Chicago’s notorious South Side. I remember how we would keep the engine running and cellphone on, just in case. I learned a big pharmaceutical word from our exploits: “VANCOMYCIN”.

When not on medical safaris we would inspect Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, The Container Store, et cetera with the zeal of majority stockholders. “ Chic simple “ was (and still is) our mantra. And she lived it. Daisy laughed heartily and worked tirelessly. Yet, despite her carefree nature, it never occurred to me that deep inside, she quietly longed for love. After all they called her “Crazy Daisy”.

For a while things simmered. She went her own way and I on mine. Then one day last summer I got a call. It was Daisy. She said she was getting married. “Are you crazy? …Daisy?”, I gasped in disbelief. But no, she was serious this time. “Will you take my pictures?”, she asked. How could I say no.

Aside from the “official” color glamour shots, I took my own personal black-and-white documentary of the proceedings. I called it “Daisy’s Day”.

ABF

[Reprinted]

Martin & Regine World Tour 2003

Diva's Deadline
A peek at Regine a few minutes before curtain time.

A Prayer Before the Songs
Martin leads the prayer before the concert.

Pagkatapos ng Palabas
Louie Ocampo leaving the stage after another successful gig.

"Time-Travel Photography"

Last weekend’s assignment to cover the Martin Nievera and Regine Velasquez concert was akin to stepping into a Star Trek Transporter. Not only did it feel like going back in time, it felt like going home. At least for a couple of hours it did. Not since my design job at the Field Museum’s Centennial Exhibit had I seen more brown skin. The cavernous Arie Crown Theater was literally filled to the rafters with a mostly black-haired audience. 

Pinoy gatherings like this invariably remind me of a fiesta, and indeed it virtually was as we met several groups of concertgoers in Chinatown right after the show. It was a dizzying montage of frantic cell phone calls to locate a missing barkada in the crowd, last minute panic over a misplaced ticket and saintly restraint, as seats were unintentionally misappropriated.

It was also a reunion of sorts, Martin and I having met on a gig several years back. He recalled teasing me as my flash misfired while trying to take his picture as he walked, backlit through a narrow corridor leading to the stage. That technical glitch resulted in one of my most memorable silhouette images – a rare moment alone as a celebrity prepared to meet his audience.

This was my first meeting with Regine. “Miss Velasquez…” I stammered the first few lines of my self-introduction. At minus 9 minutes before curtain time she patiently listened as I explained what the shots were for. She must have done this a million times and amiably thanked me. I’m happy, she’s happy. It’s show time!

A Barry Manilow medley, hits from the ‘70s and old O.P.M.’s - the retro numbers spoke to me better, not being that current musically. But this was still a job and there was work to do. At just a couple of meters away from the stage, their duets became an accompaniment to my own picture-taking ballet. Crouching and leaning, I was lost in image-acquisition heaven.

Suddenly, it was all over. Martin’s “One More War” snapped me back to the tense present. Indeed there are battles being fought somewhere and a real life to be lived. As we enjoy our travel issue this month, let’s remember the places we’ve been to or would want to go. Timbuktu? Junquera? Or Kyoto? Or have you been to a lover's heart and barely made it out, gasping but alive? As always, you are welcome to share personal stories about journeys within and without. Then we will all be reminded that harmony, like conflict, flow in mankind’s veins.

ABF

Martin Nievera & Regine Velasquez
World Tour 2003
Chicago

[Thanks to Mr. Danny Tinimbang. Reprinted]

Diva's Deadline
A peek at Regine a few minutes before curtain time.

A Prayer Before the Songs
Martin leads the prayer before the concert.

Pagkatapos ng Palabas
Louie Ocampo leaving the stage after another successful gig.

"Time-Travel Photography"

Last weekend’s assignment to cover the Martin Nievera and Regine Velasquez concert was akin to stepping into a Star Trek Transporter. Not only did it feel like going back in time, it felt like going home. At least for a couple of hours it did. Not since my design job at the Field Museum’s Centennial Exhibit had I seen more brown skin. The cavernous Arie Crown Theater was literally filled to the rafters with a mostly black-haired audience. 

Pinoy gatherings like this invariably remind me of a fiesta, and indeed it virtually was as we met several groups of concertgoers in Chinatown right after the show. It was a dizzying montage of frantic cell phone calls to locate a missing barkada in the crowd, last minute panic over a misplaced ticket and saintly restraint, as seats were unintentionally misappropriated.

It was also a reunion of sorts, Martin and I having met on a gig several years back. He recalled teasing me as my flash misfired while trying to take his picture as he walked, backlit through a narrow corridor leading to the stage. That technical glitch resulted in one of my most memorable silhouette images – a rare moment alone as a celebrity prepared to meet his audience.

This was my first meeting with Regine. “Miss Velasquez…” I stammered the first few lines of my self-introduction. At minus 9 minutes before curtain time she patiently listened as I explained what the shots were for. She must have done this a million times and amiably thanked me. I’m happy, she’s happy. It’s show time!

A Barry Manilow medley, hits from the ‘70s and old O.P.M.’s - the retro numbers spoke to me better, not being that current musically. But this was still a job and there was work to do. At just a couple of meters away from the stage, their duets became an accompaniment to my own picture-taking ballet. Crouching and leaning, I was lost in image-acquisition heaven.

Suddenly, it was all over. Martin’s “One More War” snapped me back to the tense present. Indeed there are battles being fought somewhere and a real life to be lived. As we enjoy our travel issue this month, let’s remember the places we’ve been to or would want to go. Timbuktu? Junquera? Or Kyoto? Or have you been to a lover's heart and barely made it out, gasping but alive? As always, you are welcome to share personal stories about journeys within and without. Then we will all be reminded that harmony, like conflict, flow in mankind’s veins.

ABF

Martin Nievera & Regine Velasquez
World Tour 2003
Chicago

[Thanks to Mr. Danny Tinimbang. Reprinted]

Freestyle & Side A

Video screengrabs from Fresstyle & Side A

"Back to Back" Concert
October 2003

Courtesy of Gina Go, Felica Productions

Ledesma & Padilla

Kuh and Zsa Zsa
Diva2Diva Concert 6.28.03
Chicago, IL.

[Thanks to Mr. Dan Gawat]

Welcome to SariSariShots!

 "Sari sari" is Tagalog for "various kinds" and describes the diversity of items you can find in those ubiquitous sundry stores that abound in the Philippines. SariSariShots is my photographic "take" of the word - images of Pinoys everywhere and how they have adapted to the faraway places they now call "home".

SariSariShots will feature a sampling of my commercial assignments as well as personal images and that of my friends and colleagues.

This website is dedicated to all Pinoys; in celebration of the Filipino diaspora, our resilience, our joys and continuing struggles.

Dahil sa inyo.

Armand Bengua-Frasco

4.30.06

Chicago

About me:

I'm originally from Dipolog City, Philippines and now based in Chicago. I have had a one-man show entitled "Stuffed Bananas on the Windshield", depicting the lives of Filipino immigrants in America. I have done documentaries for commercial and pro bono projects. I was part of the initial design team for the Philippine Centennial exhibition at the Field Museum. When not shooting stars I'm busy tending to my blogs, my sampaguita and kangkong.

Photography is my passion. The interrogators at a military stockade in  Cebu where I was brought after being arrested for taking pictures of a coup attempt can attest to that.

(A little more about me here and here. On FLICKR)

Equipment:

I use professional NIKON digital SLR cameras and CANON video. I also use Polaroid and Diana.

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