ALMOST AN EVENING WITH FRANCISSCA

It has a been a long while since I attended any Gregorian New Year do. After a few years of New Year's Eve listening to Johnny Tillotson singing "Its Bitsy Yellow Polkadot Bikini" etc. and thereafter watching fireworks from my balcony, I thought I should break away from routine. The opportunity presented itself when Mimi spent a considerable amount of her ang pow money to buy tickets to a New Year Eve do at Holiday Villa, Subang where Francissca Peter would be the main act. Mimi remembered that her mother is a great fan of Francissca.
The theme of the night was "Enchantment of The Sea" so Vintage Ballroom had all kinds of styrofoam fish dangling from the ceiling including menacing sharks. Guests enter the ballroom through a boat wreck and waiters had an apron painted with luminous mermaids. The centerpiece on each table was a vase made of shells. If ever I lecture on "Special Events & Risk Management" again, I would have lots of examples to cite.
First in the program was dinner. Only dinner was not served. It was a buffet. The food was good. I enjoyed the butter prawns, the oysters, the beef stroganoff and the potato salad. My only complaint was too dark to see the food. The dance floor was bright though. Many would prefer the food area to be brighter than the dance area.
The first act on stage was the Sound Stream. Somebody told me that they were Filipinos. Could have fooled me. They sang souls like they were black. They tried to sing a Malay song and a Mandarin song but I think they did "Mamma Mia" and the Shakira song better. And I could not understand why one of the girls wore shorts on stage.
A Lucky Draw followed. We did not win anything. That was the luck of the draw. I do not think being at table number 13 had anything to do with it.
The Kong Brothers made us forget the Lucky Draw. Their slapstick "magic tricks" and acrobatics had the audience in stitches. After their performance, I met the shorter half of the two brothers outside the Washroom. I learned that they are from Penang and started over 20 years ago performing in circus. They have performed in Hongkong, Taiwan and Japan.
At around 11.00PM, after the Final Lucky Draw, which we also were unlucky, Luciana Francissca Peter(bet you do not her full name) finally appeared. She sounded more confident than before and "Sekadar Di Pinggiran" as well as her other trademark songs sounded just as sweet, if not sweeter. She did justice to a Teresa Teng number (in Mandarin) and she joked with a part of the crowd in fluent Cantonese.
We left after the countdown was over because Francissca's show was over too. We left the Dinner & Dance without dancing. At least we ate. We enjoyed the evening and went home to a new year with the Kong Brothers memorable quote bringing a smile to our face.

Kong (to a guest dragged onto the stage) Where you come from?
Guest: I come from Melaka...
Kong: Good, good. I come from my mader.

Labels: Francissca Peter, Holiday Villa, Kong Brothers, New Year's Eve