Jim Ayson, PH Internet champion, logs off at 53

MANILA, Philippines — Local Internet pioneer, startup advocate, and prolific chronicler of the Philippine IT history Jim Ayson has succumbed to heart attack evening of November 9, at age 53.

His wife Chette Soriano-Ayson confirmed on Tuesday morning the news on her Facebook page saying: “My husband, my best friend and love of my life Jim Ayson joined our creator last night.”

Local social media communities lit up up with shock and grief after news spread of the unexpected passing of Ayson, who is an active and outspoken voice online and has forged various digital partnerships, both local and foreign, in his work for Smart DevNet.

Ayson’s record of the pivotal moments in local IT history, such as the time when the Philippines first went online, is often cited in various publications as key source material.

A man of many hats, Ayson also championed the cause of Original Pilipino Music (OPM) and was partial in particular to Pinoy Rock and alternative independent musicians. To this end, he founded PhilMusic.com, a website devoted to articles about emerging and established OPM acts.

PhilMusic was a strong online presence in the pre-social media days and later embraced social media network sites like Facebook and Twitter which Ayson tirelessly maintained until his death.

Ayson personally covered several musical events armed with his laptop and handheld cameras as he immediately uploaded photos to PhilMusic just shortly after taking them. A musician himself who played drums, Jim was also invited to write about both music and technology for several online and print publications, most notably the now defunct, The Reviewer where he was a columnist and music editor.

Ayson is survived by his wife Chette and their baby daughter Gabby.

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source: interaksyon.com

Regine Velasquez-Alcasid highlights musical on upcoming concert

MANILA, Philippines – Regine Velasquez-Alcasid is back on doing concert series with “Regine at the Theater.”

“Ang concept is theater, so it’s all musicals,” she said about the concert. “So marami kaming Broadway pero mayro’n din kami OPM, kasi nga musical siya.”

Regine added that this is somehow a way to celebrate the growing popularity of musicals here in the country.

So aside from the Broadway songs she usually perform, she’ll be doing Ryan Cayabyab pieces and songs used on local musicals.

The planning of the series concert has been for a while now but didn’t push through because of some factors.

“Never naming nagagawa kasi first ‘yong venue, we want to find a really nice venue na pang theater talaga, given the title. So we want a nice, beautiful theater,” she explained. “Also my schedule, kasi no’ng time na nakahanap kami ng theater ako naman ‘yong…I had a hard time singing pa.”

“So ngayon naging perfect na ang mga situation kaya tinuloy na namin, finally,” she added.

Aside from doing a series concert, it has been a while since Regine starred in a soap opera. Her last TV series is “I Heart You, Pare!” in 2011, which is the same year when she got pregnant with her son Nate.

“‘Yong pag-arte, kung mayro’n talagang magandang project siyempre gagawin ko naman ‘yon,” she replied when asked if she has given up acting. “Naghihintay ako ng magandang proyekto. Ayaw ko naman gumawa ng hindi ko mapapanindigan.”

“Since I have more time, parang gusto kong kumanta muna. Kasi ‘yon naman talaga ang first love ko, ang pagkanta. So I just want to go back to singing first,” she added.

Also part of the “Regine at the Theater” concert are Jonalyn Viray and Aicelle Santos who will alternate in the two set of weekends, and Audie Gemora who’ll be present in all of the shows.

It will happen on November 6, 7, 20 and 21 at The Theater in Solaire Resort and Casino. Tickets are available at SM Tickets.

source: philstar.com