
Tomorrow, February 5, we celebrate the 63rd birthday of the selfless “Concert King” Martin Nievera, and mark 30 years since the launch of “ASAP.”
Tomorrow, Feb 5, we celebrate the 63rd birthday of the most selfless artist in Philippine show business, “Concert King” Martin Nievera; and it is during his birthday 30 years ago that we started the longest-running and still existing weekly musical variety show – “ASAP” which Martin spelled out as “All Star Sunday Afternoon Party.”
As a gesture of gratitude and thanks, we scribbled 5 — among the many — lessons we learned in “ASAP” and from Martin to mark this milestone celebration.
In “ASAP”
1. It is such a major commitment doing a Sunday noontime show. We learned to hear the anticipated mass on Saturday evenings, as our call time the next day would be as early as 8 a.m. (and we would go on doing “Mel & Jay” and “The Sharon Cuneta Show” right after – so there goes my Sunday really)!
2. You have to treat and consider your workmates as family because you will really spend a lot of your family time with them. (Our closest friends amongst the OG ASAP cast were Martin, Ariel Rivera, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Richard Gomez and plus Homer Flores.)
3. Maintain high standards in the quality of your work, uphold strong work ethics, and foster deep friendships among colleagues. Our “ASAP” co-workers remain dear friends to this day — we even have our Fat Tuesdays lunch group, which includes Rizza Ebriega, Erick Salud, Biboy Arboleda, Winnie Mariano, Bec Lami, Joel Siervo (RIP), and many others. Our writers’ group was close-knit: Enrico Santos, the late Deo Endrinal (RIP), Rondel Lindayag, Jillmer Dy, Rackie Sevilla, Victor Villareal, and others who joined later. We were a solid team, built on trust and mutual support. We each took responsibility for our segments — like “POPS in Concert,” “SayawNara,” “OPM Ala Nievera/Rivera,” “Pare Ko” and later, “The Hunks” and “Star-In-A-Million.” We always felt like we were part of something much bigger.
4. Think current, relevant and out of the box always. “ASAP” was always the precursor of new trends in music, dance, fashion and anything pop culture, and at the same time, the standard for excellence in terms of tributes to the best of Philippine entertainment and society always. We need to research and learn more about our audience and our community.
5. Stay dynamic. Keep evolving and reinventing. Know when segments and talents are not working anymore, and change those with better creative content that will excite the audience more. Our greatest competition is not GMA’s “SOP” or “Party Pilipinas” or “Sunday All Stars” or “Sunday PinaSaya” or “All Out Sunday” or TV5’s “PO5” or “Sunday Noontime Live” (SNL), it is complacency which we were all reminded of from the very start!
From Martin Nievera:
6. Treat every performance as if it’s your last. Give it your best. Treat it as something new always. Your audience, the people deserve the best of you.
7. Be honest and sincere. Your authentic self will always come through. With the “Concert King,” what you see is what you get!
8. Treat people well. Regardless of position and status in society, you treat everyone with kindness – consistently.
9. It’s not about the money. Primarily, it is making people feel better. Fulfilling the purpose is first and foremost, the reward will follow.
10. Be selfless. It is not about you. It is about the audience, about the people you serve. Martin Nievera is selfless and generous to a fault. As a performer and as a person, it is Martin’s being so giving that has become his trademark. That’s the reason why he is continuously blessed and loved.
We will be forever grateful to Martin and ASAP. HAPPY 30th “ASAP” & 63rd Mart!