LAS VEGAS businessmen Neal Stuckey and John Maher

Two American businessmen from Las Vegas, John Maher and Neal Stuckey, chief executive officer and vice president for operations of Synergy Medical Products, respectively, have expressed genuine desire to produce a concert in December for the benefit of indigent Filipinos suffering from diabetes.

And knowing that the country’s concert king Gary Valenciano is himself a diabetic, they’d like him to be the main performer of the concert.

In fact they’ve sent feelers to Gary’s wife and manager Angeli Pangilinan-Valenciano about this project and “we hope he’ll be interested enough to accept our offer,” John told us during a recent intimate interview at the Executive Lounge of Mandarin Oriental Manila.

John stressed the fact that there are now at least 248 million people worldwide who are suffering from diabetes and that the disease has also affected a lot of Filipinos. It is for those poor Pinoys who can’t afford the high cost of maintenance medicine for diabetes that inspired them to produce a concert for their benefit. “This is an expensive disease, and we’d like to do our share of charity work for those who can’t afford to buy medicines to control their ailment.”

They also are interested to get Gary V’s services an endorser for their product, Synergy Massage Insoles which is the latest invention of John Maher. He has 52 approved patents, which are the products of a lifetime research and his inventive mind. If you remember the movie “Back to the Future,” John Maher was the inventor of the sunshield that Michael J. Fox used. Most of his inventions are medical devices. Many of these products were on TV shows including the first episodes of “ER” and still appear in movies and TV series, in particular the Cover-all full face shield used by pathologists.

The Synergy Massage Insoles (which we now use and which we could attest to its efficacy as it has helped us ease the pain in our feet, joints, neck, knees, and back) has glycerin fluid which mimics the body’s protective fatty pads that maximizes the shock absorption at the heels and balls of the feet.

This reduces the stresses and forces on the boners, joints, and muscles of the feet. The feet will feel younger, and foot and leg fatigue and pain will subside, he said. “The glycerin fluid also balances and re-distributes the body weight evenly on your feet placing your spine and lower back in its natural alignment.”

The Synergy Massage Insoles will soon be available in the Philippines, the first Asian country where it will be distributed. Synergy Medical Products operates in North America from its headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada and Asia from Guangzhou, China.

Interestingly, Neal Stuckey was a former singer from Iowa who was the lead vocalist of a five-member band called Shotgun. They hit it big 15 years ago, but after five years they disbanded and each went different ways to pursue different goals. Neal headed for Las Vegas and there established his own business. It was also there where he met John with whom he forged a friendship that led to their getting into business together. “We shared fantastic ideas, we work well together… and we’re now a team,” Neal said. He is now being enticed to resume his singing career since his beautiful voice is still intact. He is seriously considering to give it one more try, but of course Synergy will always be his priority now, he said.

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Meet the six finalists  to GMA-7’s ‘Are You  the Next Big Star?’

As it winds up for its final episodes, “Are You the Next Big Star?” becomes even more interesting as the remaining finalists gear for the grand prizes. Two winners will be chosen and each will receive P1-million cash from SM Supermalls and a condominium unit from Avida Towers New Manila.

The two grand winners will also receive an exclusive GMA Management contract and a recording deal from GMA Records.

The six finalists are Alex Castro, Geoff Taylor, Jay Perillo, Camille Cortez, Frencheska Farr, and Zyrene Parsad. They survived 16 weeks of rigorous training, workshops, and weekly live performances before a panel of judges and the entire Filipino audience.

Almost in a uniform statement, each of them said that they are preparing themselves towards the finale and be on top.

Francheska Farr, 5’5” and 16, is a 1st year college student at the San Beda Alabang where she is taking up International Studies. “I’ll do my best,” she said. The song, “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” has been a winning piece for her.

“Text-voting is my weakest point,” she said. “Because we are not that rich enough to campaign for the electronic votes.” She however expressed confidence that she would not disappoint the audience and the judges.

“If I win the P1 million, I will continue the construction of our house,” she concluded.

Alex Castro described his rivals as excellent. A municipal councilor in Marilao, Bulacan, he said: “I’ll keep part of the P1-million and spend the other part for the improvement of some schools in my district. It is his first term as councilor. Earlier, he was the SK president.

Only 23 years old, he is now in his 4th year taking AB Masscom at the Far Eastern University.

Zyrene Parsad said the daily activities of the show “has made me mature enough, and learned my limitations. I do not mix private life with showbiz.”

For the next couple of weeks, the six finalists will face-off in a three-way showdown: Alex vs Geoff vs Jay Camille vs Francheska vs Zyrene.

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Tidbits: Happy b-day greetings today, Aug. 16, go to opera singer Evelyn Mandac, singer Gigi Posadas, Ms. Baby Rodriguez, Ma. Esperanza Lee, Richelle Santos, Maricris Sarino, Ivy Leah E. Mendoza, Raquel Villavicencio, Michelle M. Gerilla and Rod Nepomuceno…