VJ Drei in the MYX

Gab Fab

Jet Valle

Every day, Andrei Felix, aka VJ Drei, takes us on a journey. On radio, he brings his avid listeners inside his mind as he rattles off his views on different issues that affect his listeners in between playing the latest music on Maxx FM. On TV, he takes us inside the court as he reports statistics and other basketball-related stuff in the National Collegiate Athletic Association on Studio 23. Meanwhile, on MYX, he dishes out the latest music happenings in MYX News and takes us back in time in MYX Backtrax.

If you think his days are a whirlwind from the preceding bits, his work is just a small reflection of his own personal journey. He started out as a bright-eyed young show-biz hopeful and met his girlfriend not long after. But his show-biz career got stalled and his relationship unraveled. For a while, he was lost.

Now he’s back as a radio DJ and a MYX VJ.

I know you’ve long dreamed of becoming a VJ. Is it everything you imagined it to be?

Yes. I’m so happy with my job right now. It’s like my radio work but with a camera, and I’m just having so much fun. I’ve been able to meet a lot of people who have become part of my family. Now I have my real family, my radio family and my MYX family.

You got your MYX gig by joining their VJ hunt. What do you think was the deciding factor that the judges picked you?

My joining the VJ hunt of MYX was my fourth time actually to try out. During my first auditions, I was really overacting and was so hyper because I really wanted the job. But then I decided to become more laid-back, be more myself, actually, and then a few days later I got the call that I was a finalist. During the search itself, I just decided to have fun and hoped that the viewers-voters and the judges would appreciate that quality.

What is the best thing about being a VJ?

I am doing something that I love to do, which is hosting. I also get to travel and meet all my music idols. I even get the opportunity to go out of the country to interview music superstars. It’s really a great job.

But is VJ-ing the only thing you want to do?

Of course I have a number of aspirations. Eventually I want to host something hard-hitting. Maybe something like Larry King Live. I also like to have my own show like Ellen (DeGeneres). And host the Binibining Pilipinas—although I know the contestants would tower over me! (Chuckles)

You started out as an actor. Any plans of pursuing that any further?

Why not? Although I want to establish myself as a DJ and a VJ first, I would love to come back. I miss portraying characters, being something that is totally not me.

Since you’re a VJ and supposedly an authority in music videos, I’ll name a feeling and tell me what music video is best watched when you’re experiencing it. Like when you’re happy.

An offbeat video. Something like the videos of Parokya ni Edgar.

When you’re sad.

Something by Coldplay or Dishwalla’s “Every Little Thing.”

When you’re in love.

There are a lot of videos for that! There’s Ronan Keating’s “When You Say Nothing At All” from Notting Hill. From Serendipity, there’s “The Distance” by Edwin Mc Cain or “Say It” by Voices of Theory. Actually any song attached to a romantic movie would be good to watch.

When you’re feeling angry?

Rock, of course! Urbandub or something heavy like Rage Against the Machine or Metallica.

What’s the worst thing said about VJ Drei?

That I’m cocky and mayabang.

What about the best thing said about VJ Drei?

The opposite. That I’m a people person and down-to-earth and easy to get along with.

LEA SALONGA

Fairy Tale Continues

‘It’s a very humbling experience.” And so goes Lea Salonga, winner of the 1990 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Musical, along with, a year later, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award, all for the same category, all for the Claude-Michel Schönberg-Alain Boublil blockbuster musical Miss Saigon, produced by theater impresario Cameron Mackintosh.

Gab Fab: VJ Drei in the MYX

Every day, Andrei Felix, aka VJ Drei, takes us on a journey. On radio, he brings his avid listeners inside his mind as he rattles off his views on different issues that affect his listeners in between playing the latest music on Maxx FM. On TV, he takes us inside the court as he reports statistics and other basketball-related stuff in the National Collegiate Athletic Association on Studio 23. Meanwhile, on MYX, he dishes out the latest music happenings in MYX News and takes us back in time in MYX Backtrax.

Show & Tell:

She was focused on the show

THE recent verbal skirmishes among sexy stars in one of the usual disrobing events produced and organized by a men’s magazine got our attention. Well, they do this all the time anyway, the usual catfights that lead to instant publicity.

More on Christian Bale’s ‘family feud’

THE British press is spinning like a top: Not only is The Dark Knight (with an English director and a Welsh star) making history at the box office, now it has two tawdry off-the-screen subplots. Heath Ledger’s overdose death in January would seem to have very little to do with Christian Bale’s recent family feuding, but not according to the Daily Mail Online.

Fermentations:

Wrestling with Riesling

FIRST, there is the bottle, long and tapered unlike the usual wine bottle with “shoulders.” Then there is the low alcohol level with some examples just batting at 7 percent, giving the impression that the wine is wimpy and bland.  And then, because the wines are virtually oak-free, they are deemed “unfashionable,” swimming against the current tide of rich, buttery whites that have had time in new barrels. Though still misunderstood and bypassed in favor of the wines made with the more familiar Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling is considered the noblest of all white-wine grapes. Here is why.

Finally, we were all seated together, red wine poured out in the ready, and Chef Roxs, coming from his kitchen dish in hand, was headed our table. The rib eye steak from New Zealand, which he had spiced up and grilled, was going to go “under the knife.”

Learning Curve: An evening with Mega Mom

I’VE always been, unabashedly, a Sharon Cuneta fan and meeting her was such a thrill. I mean, I grew up with her—through her songs (from the time she first appeared as a 12-year-old singing “Mr. DJ”) and her movies (from her lovable cheesy Viva Films stuff with Gabby Concepcion to her more mature roles), and through her life’s many phases. And now, through her real-life role as midlifing mom to three beautiful daughters, her all-too-real struggles with her weight, her work-life balance, and her continuing efforts to improve herself as a person and as an actress. Did I mention that, being almost the same age, I also went through the same hairstyles and dress sense as she did?

Something Like Life:

Having it all...or not

Women have come a long way from the time of our mothers and grandmothers. We can choose to be anything we want to be. Go anywhere we want to go. But perhaps it is time to sit back a bit and realize that we cannot do everything.

Tea, the British Way

ALEXANDER PUSHKIN found “ecstasy” in a glass full of tea. Chinese sage T’ien Yiheng drunk the brew to “forget the din of the world.” And Queen Victoria demanded hers be served, along with a copy of Times, the moment she ascended to her throne. In the days of yore, tea was the drink of nobility, philosophers and luminaries of the literary world. Since its discovery in China 5,000 years ago, it has built empires, smoothed diplomatic relations, and fueled the obsession of more than a few nations. Perhaps no other beverage is as steeped in historical, spiritual and ceremonial significance as tea. And now more than ever, it is embraced by young and old alike for its many health benefits.

Zara Jane Juan could have been anything she wanted. A former Miss Hawaiian Tropic International finalist and Bb. Pilipinas, she is beautiful and statuesque—the kind of person you would expect to be gracing the covers of fashion magazines, and hosting glamorous events.