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[ about me ]
I am twisted.
I am a paradox.
I am who I am.
- Get Your Own[ my webbie ]
[ other people's lives ]
[ my internet radio ]
[ where i like to go ]
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[ shout-outs ]
[ the past ]
[ tag me! ]
After a couple of movie trailers and previews, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire started. I was immediately transported into his magical world. Although the movie lasted for two and a half hours, I felt like it ended too soon. There were no boring moments (for me, at least). And not once did I ever glance at my mobile phone to look at the time or check for messages (consequently I had 5 missed calls and 12 messages when I looked at my phone after the film, but I digress).
I was happy with how Mike Newell directed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I have heard some people compare it with the artsy way the Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by this guy behind Y Tu Mama Tambien whose name escapes me right now. Anyways, I dunno... but I kinda liked GoF more than PoA. Although my all-time favorite book in the Harry Potter series still remains to be PoA. Couldn't decide whether I like GoF or the Half-Blood Prince more. But I digress again. Oh well...
Even though I was really happy with the outcome of GoF, I just wish that...
**sigh** I cannot wait for the next one. Word's out the next movie won't be ready till 2007 and the last book will be out hopefully by next year. That is if Rowling feels like it. Hmph.
Anyhoo---after HP4, I killed time at the gym. Then afterwards, I met up with Mario and Chito for 6cyclemind's album launch at Mugen Bar in Metrowalk. It's for their second album Panorama.
As usual, we were there early. I saw A LOT of familiar faces and chatted with some of them. The place was packed! Grabe. Especially when the boys began their set. It seemed as if the people were like mushrooms. They appeared out of nowhere and multiplied like crazy. Midway through the set, I felt suffocated and felt the need for fresh air. So Chito and I went out and just settled for "sound-tripping" outside the bar.
It was a star-studded album launch. A rundown of the peeps who were there: Raimund, Myrene and Mike D of Sandwich, Buddy of Cambio, Jason of Twisted Halo, the Protein Shake boys, the Blue Ketchup boys, Arnie of Milk N Money and Ebe of Sugarfree. I wanted to take pictures but y'know, it just felt weird. All of them there were people I used to work with. And I didn't exactly want to appear masa. So yeah... No photos for me. Boo hoo.
Oh and... Jimmy Bondoc was there too. Haha. Right. I think he was just in the area and saw the Sony-BMG big bosses outside Mugen (his home label as well) and passed by. Well, that's what I heard him say. Not that I really cared.
The set ended at around 10pm and we stuck around just to chat. We congratulated Darwin and the boys. It was, I felt, a successful album launch. Lots of people, lots of press, and most important of all... they sold a relatively decent number of records that night. Cheers mates! =) Hehe.
Around midnight, Mario and I decided to have a late late dinner and ended up at Behrouz. We stayed till 3am and bumped into Darwin and Ney and the Soupstar staff having late dinner as well. We chatted again for a bit and ended up leaving Metrowalk around 4am. I got home half an hour later.
So there. Long day, huh?
UP Naming Mahal
One Thursday afternoon, I found myself with Mikko and Mona en route to our alma mater UP Diliman. We all came from Makati for that thing we're doing for erm... someone. Anyways, a feeling of nostalgia swept over me as we approached the Oblation. The feeling escalated a thousand times when we approached my college (and Mikko's too).
The College of Mass Communication. Plaridel Hall. CMC. The place I spent four of my best and happiest years. The place I considered my second home when I was in college. I think I actually spent more time there than at home, especially when I became SA for DZUP.
God, I miss those times. I was the happiest there, I swear. I wish I could go back.
Anyhoo--it's been almost ten years since I set foot in this institution. Ack! Ten friggin' years. Bleh. It hasn't changed much. Some of the equipment have been upgraded but the TV prod classroom looked pretty much the same to me.
The spinners' booth -- the room I spent most of my time in during production classes looked exactly the same. I was the resident spinner of the class, you see. And this was my turf.
I asked to be brought to DZUP and was disappointed to learn that it's been moved to the new media center at the back of CMC. The old DZUP has been transformed into a recording studio.
Note to Kuya Arnold: They use ProTools now! The students make their own musical scores now and stuff. Kakainggit!
We were told that UP bands are normally allowed to go there to record their demos. Astig! Why wasn't that possible when I was there?!?!?
Back outside, we saw that he manang who sold banana cue, camote cue, carioca and other kakanins was still there. Maybe it's a different manang. But still...
Of course, UP wouldn't be UP without the fishballs.
And the dirty ice cream and more kakanins.
Was supposed to tour the media center but in between chatting with old professors and other support staff, we found ourselves staying too long. We still had a lot of ground to cover and so we left... but made a promise to ourselves to go back again one day and visit the college where we all felt at home.
ultraelectromagneticjam!
A couple of days after visiting UP with Mikko and Mona, I found myself back there again with Anna for the Eraserheads tribute concert ultraelectromagneticjam! The Eheads was THE band while we were growing up. Anna and I used to be their groupies (hehe) following them in as many gigs as possible. Especially if the gig was at UP... saved me from lying to my mom about my whereabouts.
Anyways, this was an event both of us couldn't pass up. And so, we met in Ortigas and then met up with the Sony-BMG folks and all together we went to UP to witness another milestone in the Eraserheads' story.
As always, the program started late. Anna and I, together with Mario, Chito and Darwin stayed backstage while waiting for the show to start. A little after 9pm, the lights were off and the whole theater screamed. That was our signal. Anna and I ran back to our seats and waited with bated breaths. Soon after, an AVP was played and a snippet off the Heads' "With A Smile" video. The crowd went wild. It was so surreal. Anna and I were screaming our lungs off together with everyone else.
Then the lights onstage turned on and the band began playing to more deafening screams. First band onstage was South Border with "With A Smile".
If not for Jay Durias, their rendition would have sucked.
Vince and Duncan didn't know the lyrics. Duh! I mean, c'mon... who hasn't memorized the Eraserheads' songs? And this was "With A Smile", one of their most popular ones. I don't think age is an issue here because I know this certain batch of high school students from Assumption Antipolo who knows the Heads' songs by heart. Besides, they recorded this for the album so it just follows that they should've learned the song, right? Ah well... As Anna would say, "Dinaan sa R&B pakulot-kulot shit".
Next up was Kitchie Nadal with "Ligaya".
I personally don't like Kitchie. I don't like her music, except for "Same Ground", which I can somehow tolerate. But I am not prejudiced when I say that her version of "Ligaya" is just not good. Even Anna thought so too, and she likes Kitchie. And based on the crowd's reaction, they didn't thought highly of it either. As we used to say (when I was still part of the music industry), "mabigat yung song". And as I told Anna, "Masyadong nagpaka-artistic ang lola Kitchie!"
The next band was the biggest disaster of the night. And I am not just saying this because I don't like them. I am saying they were disastrous because they were. They majorly sucked!
I am talking about none other than Cueshe.
They sang "Hard To Believe" and all the while, I was thinking it's pretty damn hard to believe (pun very much intended) why they were there at all! The two singers Jay and Reuben were both offkey. One guitar was offkey, though I couldn't pinpoint whose it was.
They plainly sucked. It was like I was back judging this Battle of the Bands at Assumption Antipolo a couple of days back. Actually, there were two bands there who sounded a lot better than Cueshe. It's really a wonder why they have gone as far as they have. Kudos to the person responsible for the marketing and promotion of this band. And I actually know who he is and without him, I'm sure we wouldn't have heard about Cueshe at all. (Hmmm... now that I think about it, that would have been much better! Waaah. Mario!!! Kainis ka! Hahaha)
One of the best performances of the night (or I dunno if Cueshe just really sucked big time that whoever followed them would have sounded really really good) was from Spongecola with "Pare Ko".
It was a noisier and dirtier version but it really sounded good. The crowd seemed to like it too. By this time, some people were already on their feet. I wanted to stand and jump up and down too like we used to do when watching all those rock shows. But I was at an area of the theater where all the "oldies" were. Y'know, those Eheads fans who grew up with them... just like me. Hehe. Yeah, I was in the "tamer" part of the theater. Much too tame, if you ask me.
Anyhoo--Spongecola did great and frankly, I am quite surprised. Hehe. =)
Up next was Isha with "Torpedo".
Her version sounded so much different from the original. And she offered a refreshing break from all that noise (and Cueshe's boo boo) the bands before her dished out. Anna couldn't believe it when I told her that Isha is actually our batchmate Pearlsha Abubakar.
I've always known even when she was just starting her music career. But I wasn't sure if she remembered me so even when I saw her gig one time at the Podium, I didn't walk up to her. I guess I was shy. Haha.
Then came Imago with "Spolarium".
Although this song wasn't much of a big hit, it's one of my all-time favorite Eheads songs. I feel like it's hauntingly mysterious... or maybe it's just because of the supposed backstory behind it that I heard about when I was still with BMG. **shrug**
I loved Imago's version. Can I just say 'ang galing mo Aya! astig!'
When I saw who the next band is, I started screaming like crazy. Hehe. I. am. a. fan. =) Sugarfree took the stage with "Tikman" -- remember that song from the Burger Machine commercial?
I like "Tikman" but I hoped Sugarfree was given a much more popular Eheads song to cover. I dunno... that's just my opinion. Hehe.
Ebe eerily sounded like Ely and once again, the thought that the Eraserheads will never ever play together saddened me. It took all my willpower to get back on track and concentrate on Sugarfree's performance.
Another of the night's best performances belonged to 6cyclemind with "Alapaap".
Before they began, I was worried that Anna and I guess, the crowd would be too critical about their rendition. This was "Alapaap". It's one of their all-time major major hits. Although I've already heard 6cm's version once before and actually liked it, I was thinking that most people's expectation of them for this song would be really high. But judging from the reaction of everyone, 6cm was able to meet this expectation, if not exceed it.
They brought the house down! Half the theater got on their feet. Everyone was singing along.
Then came Paolo Santos with "Magasin". As soon as he came up on stage, Paolo addressed the crowd and asked them to join him in welcoming his new friend who will jam with him for the song. It was none other than Marcus Adoro!
The crowd literally went crazy. Everybody stood up and cheered. The screams were deafening and the theater actually shook with excitement from everybody in it. There was a minute and a half-long standing ovation for Marcus and the people just couldn't stop screaming. Eventually, the screams died down... not a hundred percent but enough to make Paolo, Marcus and the rest of the musicians to start.
The crowd went wild again during Marcus' guitar solo towards the end. As Anna would say, "kilabot factor".
After that well-applauded performance came Barbie Almabis with "Overdrive".
I liked her version too. It was noisier than the original but still it maintained the lightness and humor of the song.
"Bagay kay Barbie yung song", Anna told me. I nodded my agreement. I couldn't have said it any better. =)
MYMP took the stage next with "Huwag Mo Nang Itanong".
This is another band that I don't really like. So maybe I am prejudiced when I say that I don't like their version because Anna told me it wasn't so bad. To each his own, I guess. But their version was much too laid-back. I know that they were told they can arrange it in such a way that would fit their image and their signature sound but it just didn't work for me. I'll take the original "Huwag Mo Nang Itanong" anytime.
The funniest and one of the most interesting performances of the night goes to Radioactive Sago Project with "Alkohol".
Lourd came on stage holding a bottle of what appeared to be whiskey (or maybe brandy)? In between stanzas, he would take a swig from the bottle, resulting in the crowd's most deafening cheers again. Radioactive Sago owned the song. For a while there, I even forgot how the original "Alkohol" sounded like. Astig!
At the end of their performance, Lourd led a chant of 'Alkohol', which the crowd gamely followed. It was really funny and crazy. Hahaha.
And then it was time for the last band for the night... Orange & Lemons with "Huwag Kang Matakot".
I don't know why they were made last. In my opinion, they don't deserve that spot. Don't get me wrong... I am not dissing Orange & Lemons. It's just that I felt the last spot should've been given to a much more established act. Or if not, a much more popular song. "Huwag Kang Matakot" was a minor hit. It was one of the last singles the Eraserheads came out with.
Consequently, after Orange & Lemons' performance, the feeling emanating from the theater wasn't that of awe. It felt like everyone wanted to ask, "Okay, what's next?"
Another video presentation was played with "Para Sa Masa" as scoring. Again, I felt really sad. For me, "Para Sa Masa" was one of the signs that the band was about to break up. I was still with BMG when that was recorded and then eventually released. The moment I heard the song, I knew it won't be long before the four went their separate ways. And that being the last song for the so-called tribute concert just reiterated the point again and again that the Eraserheads is gone. That Ely, Buddy, Marcus and Raimund will never ever again play on the same stage. Just writing about it now makes me sad again. **sigh**
The Eraserheads will always be my all-time favorite local band. I survived my youth because of them... no kidding. Like dear friends, their songs kept me company and kept me sane while I was growing up. And then I finally got to work with them when I worked at BMG... that was one of the grandest times of my life. I will never ever forget that.
Till next. I'm outta here.
It seemed appropriate to end with this...