Why I Want to Be a Professional Gig Watcher

{ June 1, 2009 @ 1:59 am } · { Music }
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I am not, have never been and will never be a dance club/bar type of person. The one time I went to a club, I had fun for like 10 minutes, then the suffocating feeling quickly followed. I charged my way through the crowd and spent the rest of the night in the coffee shop beside it. Call me a killjoy, but it is totally not my scene. Maybe it’s the fact that I can’t dance to save my life, or the idea of sweaty people trying to dry hump each other, or the simple fact that I hate techno/dance/house/trance music or whatever you call it

Now bring me to a bar with bands and that’s a whole other story

The past two weeks brought me to three of the most famous bars in the city (Mag:Net High Street, Route 196 and Saguijo), and I got to listen to more than twenty bands all together. And I know I’ve found my true calling: to watch bands play night after night after night

I could care less if we’re packed like sardines, or if the air smells like stale smoke and sour beer, or if you barely have room to breathe. As soon as the first guitar note plays or the first drum beat swells, the music takes over and nobody cares anymore about anything except the band playing in front of them.

And unlike big, concert venues that makes your favorite band look and sound like ants, these places make them more accessible to the adoring crowd. I just had to stretch my arms and I could (but didn’t, of course) touch the vocalist’s face, you could feel their sweat drop onto your skin, you could hear their music resonate throughout the whole cramped area

Be it pop rock, alternative, glam rock, dance rock, shoegazer, tech rock, or whatever genre the band plays, the language remains the same: music at its finest, livest, rawest (and yes, I am probably inventing words here)

My personal favorites of the past two weeks: Techy Romantics, Taken By Cars, Up Dharma Down, Sleepwalk Circus, Out of Body Special, Pedicab, Salamin, Chilitees….I could go on, and on, and on…..

Now if only I could find a way to live on just becoming a professional gig watcher….

saguijo 01Minette, Monica and Me in the middle of fully packed Saguijo

Pop Culture Round Up # 1

{ May 20, 2009 @ 9:56 am } · { Movies, Music, TV }
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STAR TREK 

“Live long and prosper”, as my favorite Star Trek character goes. I am not a Trekkie. I just remember reciting the famous “Space…the final frontier” speech when I was young and of course doing the Vulcan salute every chance I got (trivia: Zachary Quinto glued his fingers together for the salute in his audition for Spock because he couldn’t do it on his own). But even if I wasn’t a die-hard fan, this movie was a truly enjoyable experience. JJ Abrams, you are truly a TV god! It had all the elements of a good swashbuckling space adventure; humor, romance, a creepy villain (Eric Bana! I didn’t even recognize you!), amazing special effects (Battlestar Galactica! I miss you so much!) and unexpected cameo  appearances (Winona Ryder, Jennifer Morrison, Amanda Foreman, even Greg Gunberg’s voice!). So, even if you’re not a fan of sci-fi or Star Trek, do check out the movie

sylar-as-spock

LOST SEASON FINALE

To explain the story of Lost to someone who stopped watching by Season 2 is an almost impossible task. All I can say is that the show has evolved into so much more than just a “they crashed on a mysterious island and they have to get off said island” kind of show. Season 5 delved into time travel and all the paradoxes attached to it, deeper into the faith vs science argument, that the characters weren’t just random passengers on a plane, emotional entanglements (Sawyer and Juliet, or Suliet, who would have thought?) and Egyptian hieroglyphics even played a prominent role in the finale. And now we have to wait almost 8 months to find out what happened to our beloved Losties

locke-leading_l

THE DAVIDS LIVE IN MANILA

I don’t know if it was because I don’t like him and his music or if he was just a really boring performer, but I found myself bored to tears during the David Archuleta part of the concert. I have to admit, he has a really good voice and he is cute (if you like the jailbait look) in a Zac Efron-ish way, but he has a long, long way to go before becoming a performer that can command the audience, even though half of your songs are unknown. And of course, I am a huge David Cook fanatic, so I guess you could understand why I kept yawning and looking at my watch and cellphone all throughout Archie’s performance. And when THE American Idol finally came on stage, he charmed, electrified and amazed the heck out of the crowd. Or at least, the people who came to see him. Of course I heard some “bored” comments from the Archie fans. To each his own I guess. But how can you not feel your blood pumping when David sings “Come Back to Me”? My only regret was that we were in nosebleed seats, but then again, I got tickets for free so who am I to complain?

davidcookdavidarchuletamanila1photo grabbed from here

AMERICAN IDOL FINALS

While my heart will always belong to Kris Allen, I know that Adam Lambert will be and deserves to be the American Idol. But it will surely be a very interesting finals between the theatrical Adam and the folksy Kris. And I am so looking forward to the results show, because we get to hear from my “fallen” favorites: Allison, Anoop, Alexis. I just wish I don’t have to listen to Danny caterwaul

krisallisonadammy three favorite Idols of this season

What is your favorite song of all time?

{ April 15, 2009 @ 12:42 am } · { Music }
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That is probably one of the most difficult questions anyone can ask me.

It’s like asking me how many breaths I take per minute. Yes I could answer it if I really stopped and counted how many times I gulp air and time it. But again, difficult.

For someone who has 8,000 songs on her ITunes and has 8,000 more burned in CDs scattered around her apartment and for someone who goes crazy if she doesn’t listen to at least 20 songs everyday, indeed it is almost impossible to answer that question

But I love asking people that question because I believe that your answer reveals your soul’s deepest desires. Okay, not really, but it’s close to the truth

For example, if you say that your favorite song is “Is It Okay If I Call You Mine’, then I could say that you are a very mushy person who is not afraid to admit and say so

Or if you say that it’s “Age of Aquarius”, then you probably are at least a hundred years old. No offense. Octagenarians are cool, in my opinion

If you say it’s Dashboard Confessional’s Screaming Infidelities, then you probably got cheated on more than once or else you just want to be emo all the time. Again, no offense, because the right kind of emo is still pretty cool for me

So you get my point right? Tell me what your favorite song is and I will tell you who you are. Or at least who I think who you are. I may be wrong, but it’s fun to guess and create stories around people. You can correct me if I’m wrong

As for me, it took me two whole years to finally give my answer. And it’s Indigo Girls’ Love Will Come to You

And I wish her insight to battle loves blindness
Strength from the milk of human kindness
A safe place for all the pieces that scattered
Learn to pretend theres more than love that matters

Now go and start analyzing who I am. But tell me yours okay?

Favorite Song