28 November 2003

sOmE oLd fRiEnDs, a cEbUaNo bAnd, aNd tHe sOuTh AiR.


2AM in henlin alabang.. on the table you have two orders of siopao, one order of siomai, and three cups of soda. two guys and a girl, talking about the problem of getting managers or handlers both for the music and film industry, and how indie is really the way to go. one guy is the lead guitarist and vocalist for mayonnaise, the other guy is one of the newest, most promising djs of groovenation, and the girl is a part-time events host-slash-model and a director in training.

take this exact shot with the same elements in it but move back to four years ago. there would still be the dimsum and the sodas, the two guys and one girl. the topic of conversation would be about the next uaap game where they're about to perform for half time, and what gimmicks would be cool to do. one guy is the head of the band of the cheerleading team, one guy is the head lifter of the team, and one girl is the choreographer of the team.

hhhay, how time flies. four years ago, who would have thought we'd all end up this way?! the three people in the table, in order, were monty macalino, jippo cervantes, and well, me. it was an impromptu but more than pleasant bonding session. hay, it just reaffirmed how much i miss high school. it also made me aware that i miss the south*! i study in the north**, i work in the north.. not that i have anything against the north - i love the energy it gives me - its just that i do miss the steady feel of the south. there's just this familiarity and sense of home that i feel here? maybe that's why i love all my loser days. because i get to breathe south air. :)

...

so how did i find myself there? i was on my way home from makati, and jippo had been texting me about hanging out at rock radio cafe in alabang. apparently its a bar where they broadast 106.3, but sorry! only for the south people.. hanggang nichols tollgate lang ang abot niya. (well i was also told na abot siya hanggang taft kung maganda lang antenna mo, hehe.) so there, i met up with jippo, my friend since high school who i've missed so dearly, and we hung out there. (libre niya P150 entrance ko! salamat jip!!) as he put it, "support pinoy rock!"

first band up was mayonnaise.. after many revamps in the line up, monty's music quality is still as amazing as i remember it to be. they had this "hit song" in zobel, the title was "my name is ginno". it was the trippiest song and tune i've ever heard. i got their sampler disc last night, but they're coming out with a self-produced album in january, so that'll be good! monty was making kwento na indie is really the way to go, cause what's the use of getting signed if all you'll get is 10% of sales (after all the cuts for managers and tax and whatever), tapos hahatiin mo pa yun per band member.. hay. its really, really such a shame. hay. anyway. may gig din daw sila in araneta soon.. wow! jippo whispered (well, more like screamed, sobrang ingay kasi) to me while they were performing, "its great seeing monty do what he really wants to do." and yep, it was. we couldn't be any prouder as batchmates and friends.

next band up last night won best song at the nu rock awards. WOW. all the hype that jippo and my friend xeng (one of the best make up artists sa pinas!) gave them, wala, no comparison. hanep sila grabe! they are urbandub, and the first song they played, "come" totally blew me away!! they're a cebuano band that made it big here in manila, and boy do they deserve it! too bad though last night, they were selling only their second album, not the first that has that song i like, but i bought it anyway. their sound is so unique! as jippo put it, mas reggae ang scene sa cebu, at mas experimental ang studios nila dun.. the result? unique rock blends. super hanep, hayop, lahat ng maiisip mong h, yun yun! wow.

diSc-A-wEeK pRoGrAm.


i'm putting myself through a disc-a-week program, in my attempt na i-career ang music education ko. if this week, its pink floyd, next week, it'll be urbandub. (sayang naman diba, para ano pa binili ko yung disc, hehe.) my only problem will probably be my criteria for choosing what disc to do next.. hmm..

what is the disc-a-week program? no, i won't naman listen to it every single minute of the whole week.. its more of getting myself familiar with the music, the beats, the sound, the lyrics. my problem usually is that i can't decide what kind of music i'm in the mood to listen to.. the changer in my car has super different discs, now its chicane, then pink floyd, then a hiphop compilation, then the beatles, then the romeo+juliet soundtrack, the 187 soundtrack, then matthew sweet.. basta! parang safety so that any mood i'm in, i have the appropriate music.. hehe. so hopefully, this will also increase my visual sense.. cause now i'm trying to see if i have that gift of hearing a song, then seeing it in your head? i have that sometimes, but i wanna develop that too.. so there!


south - noun. refers to the area from merville down to alabang and way down south super.
north - noun. everything from magallanes, makati, pasay, pasig, quezon city, and all of the above (literally).

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