But then, schedule and money didn’t work out. We were going to try and get a few of the more well-known musical acts. And some of these local musicians have played in the show bands and disco bands of the late 70s, early 80s….like Music & Magic, New Minstrels, Something Special, Click. They know folks and are a part of the very rich Filipino and Filipino American music scene here in Southern California. So I just worked with them in trying to find people, working within our budget. And they said, “We know everybody!” because they had booked everyone from VST and Boyfriends and Rico J.

I asked them, “Do you guys have some connections to some talent, Filipino talent….in L.A.?” I was just going to try to focus on L.A., see who was based here, because of our budget. They started back in the late 70s and were one of the top and most popular show bands in the Philippines. Jet is one of the original members of Music & Magic, Kuh Ledesma’s original band. Then I discovered this company called Creative Concepts International, led by Jet Montelibano and his wife Edith Montelibano. Or whose names they might have heard but whose music they had never actually listened to- Hot Dog, V.S.T. They could add a kind of authenticity while also really shedding light on Filipino musical artists who maybe younger generation Filipinos in the U.S. My thing was: it would be nice to kind of have some of the legends, or at least some of the performers who lived there and performed it or who were in show bands during that time. She approached us about a year ago, or less, and said, “Let’s do a show.” And I said, “Great! What do you mean? (laughs) Like a concert? Like bring all these people?” And she said, “Just get a band together.” I’m thinking “Oh, this is like a Filipino version of ‘ The COMMITMENTS’. Then she came up with the idea of doing a show for this year’s summer schedule. That’s my friend.” So they were kind of talking back and forth about it. She was Facebook friends with Rani (de Leon) and he said, “Hey, I know the guy who did that (mix). So I put together some of the “danciest” Filipino records that I had, which were from the 70s and early 80s-the Manila Sound era-and I did a mix called “DiscoManila.” About a year and a half ago, Leigh Annek Hahn from Grand Performances posted the mix on Facebook.

I collect records, Filipino records mainly. Joel (JQ): Well it pretty much started a few years ago. SuperAstig (SA): Tell us the story behind the genesis of this project.

Vst & co members