He said he is happily married (to his second wife who will soon be giving birth to their second child), but David Osborne, dubbed “Pianist to the Presidents,” has a mistress,  this he admitted at a press conference held last Friday at the Tap Room of The Manila Hotel.

But this should not make his wife jealous, because the mistress he was referring to is his music. Music will be his mistress forever, he added.

David Osborne is in town to do a concert, billed as “The Keys to Your Heart,” which is slated tonight at the Fiesta Pavilion of The Manila Hotel. The concert, which will also feature John Lesaca, Eddie Katindig, Pinky Marquez, Fame Flores, the Angelos, Kris John Paul Gonzales, and Manila Hotel Pres. Atty. Joey Lina, will be preceded by a healing mass to be officiated at 5 p.m. by Fr. Fernando Suarez. Dinner will be at 6:30, and showtime will start at 7:30.

This is David’s first trip to the Philippines although long before, he has met and made friends with some Filipinos in the US. In fact, it was his good friend, successful and famous architect Nestor S. Mangio who was instrumental in his coming over for a performance. David said he met Nestor in l996 while he was still performing at the Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. (He now performs at the Bellagio Resort and Casino where a Filipino pianist, Norman Bito also performs.)

“Another Filipino, Al Rivera, was my boss when I was still performing at the Marriott Orlando Center,” David said. “He told me he worked for the Manila Hotel’s Champagne Room before going to the US. But he is now retired.”

Nestor Mangio, a collector of CDs (he has about 10,000 CDs in his collection which he is now in the process of downloading into four iPods, each of which could carry 30,000 songs), sought him out in Caesar’s Palace when he learned he was playing there. “I got hold of his first CD called ‘Introducing David Osborne’ and fell in love with his music. I wanted to buy more of his CDs so I surfed the Internet and found out he was performing at the Caesar’s Palace. My wife and I went there, introduced ourselves and since then, we became friends,” Nestor said. On their first meeting, Nestor gave his Sony mini-disc recorder to David because he was so curious about it.

Nestor (who is chairman of the Clark International Airport Corp. and chairman/president of Central Country Estate, Inc. and The Lakeshore Resort in Mexico, Pampanga) and John Lesaca (who is the musical director of “The Keys to Your Heart”) are now collaborating on a new David Osborne CD which will be distributed in Asia and some other countries.

Amazed by Filipino talents

He has heard about the great musicality of Filipinos (Charice, among others, truly amazed him, he said). In the 85th birthday party that he is organizing for former US Pres. Jimmy Carter (to be held on Sept. 27 at the Rylander Theater in Georgia), a choir from California composed of Filipino kids from St. Genevieve High School will be performing for the first half of the program. David has also invited the Angelos (Miguel Aguila, Louie Abaigar, Paolo Libiran and George Sison-Tagle) to perform at the event.

David also organized Pres. Carter’s 75th birthday party in l999. Among the presidents he has performed for in the White House, it was Carter and his wife Rosalynn with whom he developed close association and friendship after a chance meeting in a bookstore in Orlando, Florida in 1988.
David said he has performed in about 300 weddings and another one was just added when he played at the wedding of Nestor’s son Michael to April Santos last June 20 at the Lakeshore Tent City.

By the way, proceeds from the dinner-concert at The Manila Hotel will go to the construction of the La Scala Santa Chapel in Monte Maria, Batangas, a project of Fr. Suarez.

“The Keys to Your Heart,” produced by Beth Sison-Tagle of Newsmakers with Al Quinn as stage director and Nestor S. Mangio as project director, is presented by The Lakeshore and Manila Hotel with support from Philippine Airlines, Jam 88.3 FM, Yupangco Group of Companies, San Miguel Corp., PLDT, and Absolute Distilled Drinking Water.

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Could Vicki Belo do it?

I am reluctant to give more time and print space to an issue that has obviously been milked for all it is worth, but I find it absolutely perplexing why anyone would pinpoint or even consider Dra. Vicki Belo as the so-called mastermind behind the uploaded sex videos of Hayden Kho. Let us remember that most of these videos were taken while she and Hayden were still in a committed relationship – in other words, they are documented evidence of infidelity, shame, and betrayal. So why would any woman – more specifically, a Filipina woman – display her moment of disgrace for all the world to see? It just doesn’t make any sense, both intuitively or logically.

She may be misunderstood, but the overwhelming consensus about Vicki Belo (even from casual acquaintances) is that she epitomizes the phrase “what you see is what you get.” Considering everything she has been through, she has remained extraordinarily truthful and straightforward, sometimes to a fault. When the NBI asked the entire “video group” (Belo, Kho, Eric Chua, and Bistek Rosario) to submit their affidavits, she was the first to do so. When the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) asked the three doctors involved to shed light on the situation, she personally attended a three-hour session. Even Dr. Bu Castro, PMA spokesman, commented that “the PMA is highly appreciative of Dra. Belo’s willingness to cooperate with our ongoing assessment. She has demonstrated genuine sincerity in helping the PMA evaluate this matter with integrity and fairness”. Just examining those facts, that sounds like a woman with nothing to hide.

Moreover, looking past the dimples, Atty. Adel Tamano made some excellent points. The Belo lawyer pointed out that Eric Chua’s affidavit (curiously, submitted more than a week after Belo submitted hers) was full of inconsistencies as it was empty of evidence. Even addresses and dates were incorrect, prompting Tamano to wonder if Chua waited for Belo to submit her affidavit, study the salient points, and modify his story to somewhat match. At the end of the day, however, documented evidence seems to suggest that Chua’s recollection of the fateful night was inaccurate: Log-book entries from a security company states that he was left all alone in Belo’s house for a good hour and a half. This clearly contradicts his testimony that he left Belo’s house before she did. Plus the sworn statement of witnesses who saw him in Serendra, reportedly handing a DVD to Belo.

All this reminds me of a very wise saying: “A lie does not only conflict with the truth, but with other lies as well.”

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Tidbits: Happy b-day greetings today, June 21, go to former Ilocos Sur Gov. Chavit Singson, Louie Ocampo, Ruby Tuazon, Al Santos, Edgar Allan, Merlina Merton, Janet Martinez, Princess Lizette Villegas, Australia-based Dinia Diosay Entrata, former child actor Jun Jun King Austria, Baby Avenido,  Jonniel Caadan, Emily Matias-Mendoza, and Margaret Ong… Happy wedding anniversary to Boy and Carmen Soingco; and Rollie and Auring Suclad…