WRITING ABOUT VINCENT BUENO, THE NEW CRUSH OF 2008

(Photos courtesy of King Bueno shown here from top to bottom: Vinz with mom, dad and sis Maricel; Vinz with beloved Mom; Vinz with Austrian girlfriend Barbara, Uncle King and his wife Marie Gay; Vinz in his first TV appearance that took Austria by storm; Vinz has it all: the looks, the move, the voice)

I was the first person to break the news to the Philippines (and to the world in the English language) about Vincent Bueno.

I had watched Vinz’s beginnings at the Musical! Die Show via http://www.digitalpinoy.org/, the website maintained by his uncle, King.

From there, I was so impressed by his inherent talents and looks and couldn’t satisfy my cravings to get to know more about this new star in the making.

Checking out http://www.youtube.com/, I had seen video clips of Vinz posted by King which were pre-Musical! Die Show and those were during his younger years.

I was particularly impressed by that video clip when he was 4 years old, doing the moonwalk.

I said to myself, this is the only proof that no doubt shows that Vinz’s talents are really crude.

I am a mother of two so I definitely know the child’s motor skills from the time he/she was born and as far as having two children, I can say that a four-year-old couldn’t dance like Vinz at that age, if there’s no in-born talent.

I mean the way he dances naturally but with such grace and rhythm, as if it was choreographed.

And from watching other clips from Youtube, one will see that Vinz was able to develop his skills furthermore in front of an admiring and ever supportive Filipino audience.

How I wish I could have been part of the Pinoy community in Vienna who had seen Vinz perform all these years.

I would have loved to see his transcendence from a normal, young break dancer/pop singer to a mature all-around, total and versatile performer who has revolutionized the broadway musical world.

At one clip, when he was called onstage for a duet with Pops Fernandez, you could hear the audience screaming and loudly applauding.

And then, out of the blue, King had asked me if I can do something for him and that was before Christmas.

Two weeks before that, King and I (not the broadway musical) had gotten ourselves busy with the launch of DigitalPinoy’s Holland site http://www.holland.digitalpinoy.org/ which I was asked to maintain.

After the New Year, King asked me straight if I can write an article on his nephew.

To start with, King has already been bombarding all the DigitalPinoy sights with stories on Vinz’s success in all the elimination rounds and even campaigning for support from visitors and Pinoys all over the world, giving them specific instructions on how to send their televotes.

King has used the Internet and such is a mighty tool to spread the word.

I was just honored to have been asked to write the first news article about Vinz.

It was like a wish was just granted.

Vinz has already impressed a big Pinoy following in Austria even before Musical! Die Show because his parents Tony and Cora have exposed him to the social life of the community at an early age.

The pair’s involvement with the Couples for Christ had also influenced the somewhat down-to-earth, humble personality of Vinz.

Whenever there were Pinoy gatherings, Vinz was the star performer where he has learned to adjust to the special treatment from the Filipinos and at the same time become a very responsible person.

In fact, he himself organized kids’ dance numbers as part of the program.

One of his biggest supporters in the community is a priest who had also become a sort of spiritual adviser to him.

Fr. Ron Sandoval is Vinz’s close buddy who had been guiding him especially during the Musical! Die Show days when life for the star has become stressful and hectic.

No wonder Vinz’s feet stayed on the ground even when it has become obvious that whether he wins or not in the Musical! Die Show, his fame has already a blueprint.

Even his family still couldn’t taste that Vinz’s popularity that has penetrated all barriers in Austria.

Until now, they still couldn’t feel the whole Vinz Mania because they still see him as their Vinz, who has remained the same person that he was before and after being elevated to his celebrity status now.

Vinz continue to do what he loves most, apart from his musical interests and that is to bond with his family, a trait he received from his maternal genes.

Mrs. Mendoza-Bueno is the pioneer of the Mendoza/Bueno clan which count about seventy heads now in Austria.

She helped the heads of the families come from the Philippines to Austria.

She loves to organize weekly family get-togethers even if she finds it laborious to cook for such a big family.

So that’s where Vinz gets his sentimental, caring side.

Vinz also loves his younger cousins so that each summer, when he doesn’t have any engagement, he takes care of them or takes them out.

He’s also very close to his grandmother, his lola called “Nanay Leoning” who lives in New York.

In fact, the Bueno-Mendoza clans are so tightly knit that they had already planned a grand family reunion even before Vinz won the Musical.

It will be a big one since relatives from the Philippines and the U.S. are scheduled to go to Vienna.

For the moment, they have already tasted the sweet victory but they are still downplaying Vinz’ glory and prominence.

They can only be too happy that he won and are very ecstatic that so many people from all over the world have supported Vinz and that the kinds words, greetings and fan mails are steadily pouring in.

But after everything that has happened at such a very fast pace, Vinz will still be that energetic handsome Vincent Bueno, the people’s boy that is homegrown to Austria and a native of the Philippines.

And what a better way to start the year…when Vinz is already dubbed as the “new crush of 2008!”