LIVE CHAT WITH THE APO HIKING SOCIETY ON SEP 21ST
CyberSpace.
September 14, 1999. When web-based chatting was still unheard of
on the Net, Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo of the Apo Hiking Society
experimented on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and gave an online interview
with the Canada-based community newspaper, FILIPINO TODAY, using that technology.
The other member of the group, Danny Javier, didn't have an Internet account
then and was not part of that interview.
"This is a thrill!", Jim told his online interviewers at that time, "Ulitin natin 'to! (let's do this again)".
Three years after that historic chat session, Jim and Boboy are coming back for the promised encore. This time, Danny will be joining them to complete the group and their fans will be invited to participate by sending in their questions for the group to answer.
The one-hour chat event is sponsored by the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (http://www.newsflash.org/) in cooperation with RealPinoy.Com (http://www.realpinoy.com/) and will be held at the PHNO's Chat Room at the TalkCity Network (http://www.talkcity.com) on September 21, 1999 at 7:00 PM (Pacific Time). While it is possible to join the chat session using an IRC software (such as mIRC, IRCLe, Pirch, etc.), Internet newbies who are not conversant with that program can simply logon to the session by using their Java-capable browser (such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer version 3.0 or higher). Owners of the free Microsoft Chat software can also use that chat program for the Apo session. For people who have not been to an online chat session before, PHNO has prepared a Primer at this website address: http://www.newsflash.org/chat/talkprim.htm.
To complete the chat reunion, the session will be hosted for PHNO by Marc Ballesteros, a Filipino-Canadian entertainer based in Toronto, Canada (http://www.interlog.com/~elman/). Marc was part of the Filipino Today crew who hosted the first online chat interview of the Apo last October 27, 1996.
The PHNO Chat room will be moderated which means people in the chat room will be able to read the conversation between the Apo and the session hosts but will not be able to talk in the room. They can however send their questions to the Apo by sending them to a Question Room that PHNO will designate during the chat session. A Question Moderator will sort through the questions and select the ones that will be fielded in the PHNO Chat Room for the Apo to respond to.
The Apo is busy preparing for a Singapore show this week for the Philippine National Bank. They are scheduled to do a repeat performance of their 30th Anniversary Gratitude concert at the UP Theatre on October 24, 1999 as well as in Davao and Ormoc City within the next couple of months. "These are mostly what keeps us busy aside from promoting our new album via TV/Radio visits and guesting," Boboy told PHNO. "The little spare time we spend by ourselves, Danny and I play golf as often as possible and Jim goes out of town in search of new dive sites around the country."
Online references:
1. Chat session's website address: http://www.newsflash.org/chat/apochat02.htm (official transcript of the session will be posted at this address as well).
2. The Apo Hiking Society's official homepage: http://www.skyinet.net/~apojim/
3. TalkCity's Chat Room HELP Page: http://www.talkcity.com/help/
4. Show sponsors website address:
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE: http://www.newsflash.org/
REALPINOY.COM: http://www.realpinoy.com/
5. Transcript of Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo's October 27, 1996 Chat session for the Filipino Today Newspaper: http://www.newsflash.org/chat/apochat01.htm
6. APO: Thirty Years and Still Hiking (article from Philmusic.com)