Fr. Mimo Perez is going to have a concert from March to May in some states there. He was my former JVP supervisor in Mindoro, and believe me... he was a factor in making that year one of my happiest and fulfilling ever.
He writes great music. Not the kind that makes you go, "wow! what a beautiful voice!" or "what a spectacular arrangement!" What makes his music great is it lets you sit back, relax and let your heart listen to the Gospel in music. His songs really make you feel loved by God. And he does not only sing, his spiels are stories of his own life and his own experience with God. Not the usual I am a priest, the God send way... but rather "I am a sinner myself, and I have gone through many struggles with God, and in the end God woos me back." That kinda story telling.
So after all these years, I run to him all the way to Tagaytay just for a quick talk and bear hug. To listen to him deal with his getting to know God, and at the end of the visit, I am spiritually refreshed.
Here are several versions of his song, "Buksan" sung by someone else (used in Ligaya ang Itawag Mo sa Akin, i think). I don't really like this version because of the kulot-kulot diva-like version, but at least they lyrics are there. This one is closer to the original version.
And another one by a youth band. Needs a little work, but I like the attempt to "band it." Hehe! He was unaware that it was circulating in youtube. By the time we saw each other in Tagaytay, he's fully aware already. Hehe! He also wrote the second place song "Way of Love" during the World Youth Day '95 here in the Philippines. "Tell the World of His Love" by Trina Belamide took first place, if you remember.
Below is his schedule in the US, and way below that is his e-mail. For those who are interested in watching him, just forgive his delusions of looking like Sam Milby, Piolo Pascual or Patrick Dempsey. He even used to claim to be Rico Yan look alike until the poor boy's demise. I guess, we are allowed to be crazy sometimes. Hehe!
FR. MIMO’S US GOSPEL CONCERT TOUR ITINERARY
March 13 Departure from Manila direct to Las Vegas via San Francisco or LA.
March 16 Concelebrated Masses in 3 parish churches in Las Vegas 20 minutes:
promotion of Acoustic Gospel Music, 5-minute video presentation about the seminary vision and fund campaign - "1,000 Friends of SAS"
St. Bridget: 2:30 PM
Martin Luther King: 5:00 PM
Our Lady of Las Vegas: 6:30 PM
Organizer: Fr. Rey Salditos (702) 870 2767 or (702) 335 3205
March 17-23 Holy Week / Meetings with Filipinos/Mindorenos in Las Vegas
March 24-30 Los Angeles, Glendale, San Francisco
FREE SLOT (March 25-28)
Being worked out: March 29-30 Meetings & Intimate Concert with the members and friends of the Association of Calapenos in Northern California.
March 31-April 7 Los Angeles, Lancaster
Being worked out: April 5 Los Angeles Concert with OMASC officers and members with Bishop Oscar Solis' support.
Definite: April 6 Lancaster Mini-concert
Organizers: Jun and Tess Madrigal / Edgar and Gloria Camago)
FREE SLOT (April 8-13)
April 14 Chicago
April 16 Intimate Concert with CTU faculty and Filipino students
Organizer: Sr. Araceli, OSB
April 19 Concert at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit run by the SVD missionaries / 2001 Waukegan Road, Techny, Illinois
Organizers: Chicago-based SAS alumni Weng Cosico (773) 403-7549 & Jess Deniega (773) 418-1033
April 21 New York and New Jersey
April 24 Mini-concert being arranged in the house of Dr. Alex & Tita Mila Cueto-Tolentino
April 26 Concert at Our Lady of Lourdes Church / 500 Green Tree Road Glassboro, New Jersey
Organizer: Fr. Danni Quiray (609) 271 9154
Being worked out: Concerts in New York c/o mindorousa.org headed by Tita Juliet Payabyab
FREE SLOT (April 28-May 12)
May 14 Mimo's Departure from New York to Manila, Philippines
NB. This itinerary has been last updated January 24, 2008. For inquiries and suggestions please contact Fr. Andy Lubi (063-928-376-9132) or Fr. Mimo Perez (063-928-505-6941).*
His e-mail:
Hi! I am writing to you as a dear friend to inform you of the latest, unbelievably bold and faith defying undertaking of mine. I am having a two-month concert tour in the US from March 15-May 15. Yep! I know it sounds a bit outrageous but if you are indeed a friend you should be familiar by now with my brand of courage which indeed far exceeds my talent (if there’s any!).
Anyhow, in case you have friends and relatives in the states or cities mentioned in the itinerary I am attaching here, please invite them to my acoustic Gospel concert. No, don’t just invite them, force them, bribe them or beg them to come. I will be forever indebted to you if you do that because I will be assured that at least five (or three?) US based Filipinos will be there in every concert venue, never mind if they are asleep or busy texting the concert away, at least me audience (utang na loob ko ‘yun sa ‘yo).
On a serious note, this concert tour is an official trip, with no less than my bishop sending me with two other priest-formators to help raise funds for our seminaries. In case you do not know, for many years since its beginning, our diocesan seminaries have been operating, thanks to generous benefactors, mostly Europeans, whom we have inherited from the SVD missionaries, the ones who started to develop the local clergy of Mindoro.
Fast forward from the late 60’s to the present. Foreign aid is fast drying up and unless we do something about it, we run the risk of closing down the seminary, not a very good thing especially now when we have invested so much on reviewing and updating the priestly formation program side by side with on-going efforts to intensify the recruitment among the young who might be interested to follow God’s call to the priesthood. This is a major, double-edged challenge that keeps life for me and my colleagues constantly intense yet hope-filled.
As S.O.P., a priest who does “mission appeal” (an ecclesiastical term, which is a dignified word for BEGGING), usually says mass in a First World catholic community, then recounts his tales of woes in some forsaken Third World parish or diocese then simply pleads for monetary aid. This always works and truth is, there is really nothing wrong about this as those who have been blessed with more are morally obligated to give more to the less fortunate. However, we thought that in exchange for the aid that we stand to gain from this US mission appeal, we would like to give something substantial in return, ergo, the gospel concert.
Know that I am sincerely grateful to you for spreading this info to your US based friends on behalf of our seminarians who all come from poor families and are unable to support themselves financially in their many years of priestly training. The only thing we promise in return is to remember you in our daily prayers.
Kasama ko sina Fr. Andy Lubi at Fr. RV Villavicencio sa mission appeal na ito. Sana, magtagumpay kami sa aming pakay dahil kung hindi baka magsimula na kaming tumanggap ng labada sa susunod. God bless you, my friend. Me pasalubong ka pagbalik ko, promise… isang napakatamis na ngiti at istampita na me litrato ng Santo Papa!
Keeping the faith alive,Fr. Mimo
