random joys
2nd month
caveat: cheezy post ahead
ikaw ang iniisip
tuwing ngumingiti ako
- malikmata by up dharma down
love, thank you for the laughter, for tolerating my kajologanz (with a z. ay, zay. haha), for the beautiful words, for inspiring me to become a better person, for always talking some sense into me, for being my source of strength, for not getting tired of listening to my horror law school/OLA/psycho client/muntinlupa hearing stories, for heeding my call when i got locked in the restroom, for all the love. (yihee haha) =)
we weren't able to take a pic yesterday, so i'm just posting this pic of mark and his mini me nathan last friday, at uncle ernie's birthday (where i stuffed myself with lotsa food and successfully evaded the magic mic. =P ) love the first candid pic even if nathan couldn't stay put. haha.
best.shirt.ever.
i just got the barops shirt last week, which sold like hotcakes (or, as melanie marquez would say it, "selled hotcakes"). i already got a barops shirt in white last year, so i decided to get a black one this year. unfortunately, they ran out of size medium. i didn't want to get the large one because it looked awkward, so i tried my best not to look like a suman in bought a size small. sorry, makapal talaga mukha ko. the material is stretchable anyway. one more reason to add to my "why i should go to the gym" list. apart from "ang laki na kasi ng mukha ko" says my dad.
i showed the shirt to my dad, who was utterly pleased and said, "ang ganda!". he thought that i was finally beginning to warm up to the idea of loving my school. until he saw what was actually written on the shirt:
and with that he goes, "haha! ang gago. sinong gumawa niyan??" (i'm actually not sure. rich, sino nga ba? but whoever did it is brilliant. dapat meron ding "i *heart* OLA" for the seniors.)
last saturday
'met up with gia and weki, had dinner at mong kok and then went to bagaberde to watch up dharma down and paramita. it was another sponsored event by oggs' frat. and we got 2 free tickets thanks to oggs. the gig would've been great if the people actually knew the bands. i think UDD wasn't playing with much enthusiasm after seeing that half the crowd left while they were playing. shucks. but they were still great nonetheless. oggs was kind enough to cover our bill (salamat ulit oggs!). jenn and mark-tisoy (to distinguish him from mark-tsinoy hehe) also came and took advantage of the unlimited beer. some of our professors were also there. oggs and i were contemplating on having a make up class there with one prof who has been missing in action for weeks. (no, we didn't have class. hehe) i didn't even greet the prof. it would pain me too much if he returns my greeting with a blank stare, followed by the question, "are you even my student?"
inxs concert
i know this is long overdue. we watched the inxs concert last august 15. wow, my second major concert for the year! the event wasn't publicized much, and the ticket prices were a bit steep, so araneta coliseum wasn't as crowded as expected. i actually had remlaw class that night from 6-8 pm, and the concert was supposed to start at 8 pm. i literally dashed out of the classroom the second we were done with the lecture. much to my disappointment, mig ayesa was still onstage when we arrived. hehe. he wasn't so bad though. but i'm still glad he wasn't chosen to become the new inxs lead singer because he just isn't rock star material. he would do better in the theater biz. i was a bit surprised when he announced, in all his feeling-rocker glory, "my yaya's here!" haha. 'didn't expect him to be so pinoy as to actually have a yaya. yaya must really be proud that totoy is all grown up. =P
we didn't have to wait long until inxs came on stage. yeah, we didn't know 80% of the songs, but it was okay. i could only make wild guesses as to which songs were taken from the new album/the old ones. they didn't even play "elegantly wasted", the one song that became popular when i was in 2nd year high school. but i enjoyed even the unfamiliar ones. their songs are all diverse and powerful. i noticed though that JD looked out of the place beside the lolo band members. haha. the lighting effects were nice as well, 'reminded me of the DMB concert last june. JD was gyrating onstage like a resident dancer from adonis (not that i have seen a gyrating resident dancer from adonis. =P ). which was rather inappropriate especially since there were two grade school children in front of us, dragged by their rock-loving parents. haha. the kids were pretty game at first, but got tired after a few songs. and the mom was adamant to exhibit her dance moves because her daughter was pulling her from her seat whenever she would attempt to dance. the band was great, and i love the fact that JD attempted to establish a connection with the audience (although at some point, such "connection" would mean throwing a used up, sweat-soaked hanky to the audience, which was caught by some, um, guy). anyway, "afterglow" and "pretty vegas" were, of course, the two highlights of the night. when afterglow was played, i was paying more attention to the boyfie singing along beside me. (yihee ulit! haha). and then they sang "new sensation" for their grand finale.
i was a bit surprised that the concert turned out to be pretty decent. no people throwing bottles or yosi butts. it was a far cry from the dmb concert. but then again, that was in the US.
in re. my sister's comment that "inxs is evil": i recently saw an old gothic video of inxs (circa 80's), and i think they had a complete image overhaul since then. especially since they got a new lead singer.
s.p.i.t. midterms over
no results yet, but i'm glad that we're done with the tax midterms. hay nako. i'm praying the results won't be disastrous. x_x
and now i'm taking the week slowly. aside from the muntinlupa hearing on wednesday, i have no deadlines/exams this week. yay!
oh, and to all those taking the bar next week, GOD BLESS!!! barops na kami on sat.! at pag natapos niyo na yung bar, kami na!! waaaahh!!!!Labels: gig, mark, random
the dave matthews band concert!!
fyi, i could've taken an earlier flight home to the philippines, but i decided to extend my vacation and leave the fate of my school registration [which was scheduled june 7, philippine time] in the hands of my blockmates just so i can watch the dave matthews band concert [june 7, US time] here in ohio. i was beginning to think that watching the dave matthews band live won't be worth it, if it means that i'm going to miss out on enrollment and will be restless for a whole night [being the worrywart that i am], wondering what schedule i got and calling up my friends long-distance, trying to arrange my schedule.
but then i figured that this opportunity might not come again. the concert is only incidental to my trip; i didn't purposely fly to ohio just so i could watch the band play. sakto lang yung timing & lugar ng concert. it would be hard to follow them to whatever state they will perform in next. also, i might not see the US for a long time after this trip [because of school, the bar, blah blah]. and considering the fact that traveling to the philippines from the US is a non-insurable risk by some companies, i don't think the band will even consider performing in our country. [even the band slipknot chickened out at the last minute]. plus, thankfully, my blockmates were able to arrange a good schedule for me [thank you oggs, daisy, nico and mitch for helping me out. sorry for harrassing you every minute. hehe. i feel so helpless here and paranoid about my sched. patay tuloy ako sa phone bill nito. hehe! :P]. moreover, the concert itself proved that extending my stay here is worth it. and with the recent disastrous events in my life [such as finding out i got two 3W (three "warning") grades in two important subjects, one of which is a 5-unit subject (pulling my grade down to the lowest it has ever been), thinking too much again about certain things that do not merit much attention, finding out that the school reg. is on a first-come, first-served basis, blah blah], the concert is really the highlight of the week and shifted my attention to something else, even for a few hours.
we arrived at the germain ampitheater at around 5:30 pm, after we dropped off sophia at my sister's friend's house. it was raining [darn], so we had to buy a $5 raincoat each and use our umbrellas to shield us from the rain. at around 7 pm, the band G love and special sauce performed. i haven't heard much from them lately, but i'm familiar with their song "rodeo clowns" which became popular when i was in college. [weird, i get confused with that band and jack johnson, although they have obvious differences.]
surprisingly, it wasn't crowded much while g love was playing. after their act, however, people came flooding in the field. we were searching the crowd for asians, but all we could see was a stream of white american faces. there were only a few asians, much less filipinos. actually, aside from us, there were no filipinos at all. we weren't able to check the front seats though [the covered part of the theater. we were on the lawn together with more than half of the crowd. ubos na yung tickets sa harap :P]. the rain stopped for a short while, but began to pour again just as dmb was about to perform. i initially thought the rain would drown the crowd's spirits, but i was proven wrong. if anything, i think it even made them more hyper [what is it with the air here? hehe].
anyway, dave matthews band performed 40 minutes after the opening act. i swear, i have never seen a band perform with so much energy!! ang galing talaga! you would think that all attention will be centered on the lead singer, but each band member had an equal share in the limelight. there were a lot of instrumental acts which we really enjoyed listening to. i like it when they would try to prolong each song with the instrumental parts and play them differently from how it was played in the album. even the lights and the live videos were beautifully arranged. i couldn't believe that i was actually watching them live. i still felt like i was seeing them on a recorded gig on mtv. they mostly played their more upbeat tunes. i was so happy when they played "crash", which, i believe, is their most popular song [it was also the only song my sister and brother-in-law recognized from the whole set hehehe]. and i was also glad that a handful of songs came from their album "crash", which was the only album of dmb i have [the rest i downloaded on limewire. shame on me]. so at least i recognized a lot of the songs. i just realized, that album came out 10 years ago! i've been a fan of the band for so long. the band's songs are timeless, and there is reason to consider the group as one of the most respected bands in the rock industry. from the concert, i liked "so much to say" and "too much". after the whole set, of course, the crowd asked for more, so they went back on stage and sang two more songs. i think that part where they pretend that the concert is over is part of the playlist already. wait for 10 minutes, wait until the crowd cheers for more, get back on stage, play a mellow song and then end with a loud one. i know, it also happened with incubus and jars of clay. i didn't recognize the mellow song, but the finale is one of my favorites - "tripping billies". i accidentally discovered it on limewire while i was looking for one of their songs i didn't know the title of [which i found out later on is coldplay's song "one i love". hindi pala dmb ang kumanta. hehe]. it was one of the songs in the "crash" album that i wasn't paying much attention to. i was disappointed though when they didn't play some of their mainstream songs, like "where are you going" [popularized by the movie "mr. deeds"], "american baby", "satellite", "grey street" and "#41".
so yun. it was all worth it, and i really had fun despite the rain, the mud, the mud-soaked flip-flops and jeans, the drunken teenagers all around us, the unnecessary pushing and shoving here and there, the making out couples, the wildly gyrating people and the strange smell all over that definitely did NOT come from yosi. it was the first time that i ever got to watch a concert in the US, so i was pretty much shocked by the behavior of most of the kids. we felt like the stiffest people in the concert. hehe.
by the way, we weren't allowed to bring cameras/videocams, so i was stuck with my camera phone:
So why would you care
To get out of this place
You and me and all our friends
Such a happy human race
'Cause we're tripping billies- tripping billies, dmb
Labels: gig, ohio, trip
good things...
good things......do come my way sometimes
these are the top 5 things that made me smile for the past week.
- the supreme court song. [ not that it's a good thing; but it did make me laugh and be amused for a few days ]haha. yes, there is such a thing. there was this talk at the slowly decaying malcolm theater last monday which we were required to attend in lieu of our labor class. since all the seats were occupied by the supreme court justices, the court of appeals and regional trial court judges and court employees [ not to mention the supreme court choir which sang the infamous "supreme court song" ], we decided to leave even before the lecture started. gawd. i can't get the damn song out of my head. it seemed like it was lifted from a decision penned by justice cruz with all the unnecessary dramatic quotes.
- lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events, the movie. this movie is great [ walang kokontra. hehe ]. i don't think they could've done a better adaptation of the books. i love the graphics, the surreal, anachronic setting, the sounds. i like how the actors/actresses really breathed life into the characters of the story. they were all appropriate for the role. and i love sunny, her wit and cuteness reminds me of my niece, sophia. i've already watched the movie twice, by the way, and if anyone asks me to watch it with him/her, i'm up to the idea. i'm definitely buying the dvd when it comes out. i wonder when they're leasing the next movie installment?
- ultimate disc. i played at the beginners' night in san lo two mondays ago, played in a pick up game last wednesday and then joined the "plastic virgin" beginners' tournament last wednesday at the international school in the fort. it was a whole day event, from 9 am till [ gasp ] 6 pm. i had to re-apply sunblock with spf 45 every 15 minutes or so [ para namang may iiitim pa ako hehe ]. apparently, the other "beginners" were not beginners at all, as most of them regularly play in pick-up games in san lo or in UP, so i was, i think, the only one running around the field cluelessly. i was randomly grouped under donald's team [ was named "donald's ducks" ]. we were the overall champions but i didn't play in the finals game [ i developed a terrible headache thanks to the intolerable heat; plus my right leg hurt ]. i was also the little freerider in the 4 games i played - i never actually touched the disc the whole day. hehe. all i did was mark my opponent, and my opponent is always a beginner like me who almost never touches the disc as well. it was fun though, despite the heat and the physical torture and the fact that i didn't know much people there. at least i was able to take home a can of pringles and a small water jug as prizes for being "champions". mwehe.
1. the team in action at the finals [ or at least i think that's them.. ]; 2. view; 3. the coaches [ donald is the one at the far left with the afro hair hehe ]; 4. sunset view
my parents are home. my parents are finally back from the rotary event chu chu in the states. happiness! at last i don't have to eat all alone anymore during breakfast or worry about budgeting my limited cash. being home alone has its drawbacks - the silence and the unnecessary thoughts that creep through my mind are almost deafening i couldn't take it anymore. plus, i'm now richer by one new canon digicam [ the really small one ], two discs, a pair of old navy flip flops and a book on artists' journals [ most of the stuff were donated by my sister hehe ].
whee i now have a glow in the dark disc. if only i know how to toss decently
- the jars of clay concert. i've loved jars of clay since i was 14 [ yes, that was almost 9 long years ago ], when their song "flood" came out on the radio. they were the first contemporary christian band that i ever knew of. it's the only rock band i could listen to back then without feeling guilty [ because they say rock music is evil. hehe ]. last night was their concert at the araneta coliseum, and i can honestly say it's the best foreign act i've ever seen in my life [ no exagg ]. and i've already seen silverchair, duncan sheik [ it's top 2 on my list ] and incubus. i just find it nice how they were able to play their songs well, incorporate such inspiring message in their music, and actually relay such message to the audience. i like how they were able to establish rapport with the fans [ unlike when i was watching incubus, it was like watching an mtv for two hours ]. i was disappointed at first that the stadium wasn't filled up - we could see a lot of empty seats from where we were seated. [ well, at least we were upgraded to better seats. ] i was concerned that the concert won't be as loud and lively, and that the band would be disappointed with the low turnout. well, the whole thing still turned out to be a success, everyone was having a great time jumping [ albeit lightly ] in the moshpit and waving their brightly lit cellphones during the senti songs; the band played a lot of songs that i grew up with; barbie's cradle also rocked [ they opened for jars of clay ]; we saw some celebrities [ donita rose and alex compton haha ]; there was this guy from the audience who sang "unforgetful you" and proposed to her girlfriend on stage [ he probably had a deal with the organizers ]; some were so into the message that they were even raising their hands like they do in church; and dan haseltine [ the lead singer ] sincerely expressed his gratitude for such a wonderful crowd. ang galing talaga. i was actually screaming my lungs out [ which only happened during uaap games hehe ]. i felt bad when they were down to their last song [ "flood" ] 'cause i didn't want the concert to end yet. i didn't even care if i've been standing in the moshpit for almost an hour amidst the crowd. i just love their music and their message. i admire the way they profess their faith and how effectively they express it. and i want to buy all their cd's [ i lost their first album. darn. ].
thanks to the concert too, i got a free copy of fish magazine, and i discovered the edge radio. la lang. nakaka-inspire tuloy magpakabait. [ i know i will get raised eyebrows with this line. hehe. ]
Labels: books, disc, gig, random
Jars of Clay Live in Manila and Cebu
Jars of Clay Live in Manila and CebuI got this from the lomomanila e-group. wow i can't believe they're coming here!! jars of clay is my favorite christian band [ at least until switchfoot stepped in ]. i've been listening to their songs since i was 14. it's such an inspiring group and they just play really well.
i like the way the e-mail sender had to explain how popular the band is, at least in our generation. hehe. we really are getting old.
Manila is on March 2 while Cebu is on February 28.
MANILA ticket prices (araneta)
- PATRON A P2350
- PATRON B P2050
- PATRON C P1650
- LOWER BOX P1450
- UPPER BOX A SPECIAL P1250
- UPPER BOX A P 950
- UPPER BOX B P 500
- General Admission P 300
Labels: gig
christmas is a time to get fat and be merry
christmas is a time to get fat and be merrywith everyone giving us christmas goodies in the form of sweets, the gym closed until the 4th of january and not enough stress to make me lose my appetite, i have no choice but to devour everything in sight and bum around the house the whole day, surfing from one channel to another. law school worries are buried somewhere underneath the mental christmas lists and the schedule of [ rare ] get togethers with friends/family that only occur during the holidays. [ although i dreamed the other day that i was making a reviewer for civpro. well i intend on doing that in the days to come, i just need a few more days to rest.
last saturday, i ate at gayuma with the harkadah [ minus jenny and penny ]. pat's home! one good thing about having a friend based in a far away place is that whenever he/she comes home and he/she arranges a lunch/dinner, everyone comes. at least, everyone tries to come. under ordinary circumstances, no one has the initiative to go out kasi wala lang. there always has to be a compelling reason. anyway, i was glad to see everyone else and to hear about each one's update on her life. we watched tanghalang ateneo's lam-ang starring jonel as lam-ang himself. [ which i watched for the third time already. at least i watched it for free on all occasions. and it still cracked me up everytime ]. we got the front row seats so we could distract jonel as he made the [ supposedly ] sexy dances. hehe!
there's jonel singing and dancing in the middle
and this is jonel before he took off the make up. hehe
the harkadah [ minus 2 ] taken by cesar.
we ate at world topps afterwards with wex, jonel and cesar, then wex and i ran to the podium to watch maksim in concert. we actually thought it was going to end at 10 pm, which was a pretty good deal, considering it was for free [ well, you can sit up front if you buy a cd, which weki and i did ], but it turned out the concert lasted for less than 30 minutes. we liked the concert anyway; the pieces were powerfully played. the recorded orchestra/techno music also helped a lot. the whole cd is reminiscent of robert miles, actually. afterwards, we ate at nypd [ pizza ] at podium with nico and his friend [ they also watched the concert ].
i had nothing better to do while waiting for the concert to start, so i just took pics of the christmas decor and the eager audience at the podium
hooray for my 10x zoom camera. we weren't seated as close as this picture shows us to be
maksim in action
this wasn't taken with the zoom feature. we really were this close to him. i was taking a picture of him while he was signing my cd. i didn't have one with him facing the camera because we weren't actually allowed to call his attention to have his picture taken or have our picture taken with him because it would take up too much time.
wala lang. vanity. hehe.
* * *christmas blues
lately, i've been getting surges of random memories of christmas past. and they usually get triggered by the most unlikely stimuli. like one time, slipknot's song, "wait and bleed" was played on the radio [ which became popular around december of 1999 ], and i suddenly remembered giving out gifts for my freshman blockmates 5 [ wow was it that long? ] christmases ago. another time, i was thinking about what to get my parents for christmas, and i suddenly thought of those times my family, especially my sister who's now in the states, and i would go to glorietta/some mall in makati on the 24th and buy gifts for each other at the last minute. and i realized how much i miss those times when we were still complete as a family here in the philippines. given the proximity, we had reunions every week. of course back then i didn't appreciate those times as much as i do now, and i probably took them for granted, thinking that they would go on and one for years. but, things change and that's that.
i'm almost done with my christmas shopping, and i swear, trying to buy all the gifts on my list was NOT easy. yesterday, after i had lunch with my parents somewhere in manila, i headed to glorietta to buy gifts, although i'm not very familiar with the place [ i'm more of a shangri-la, galleria and sm fairview person ]. bayo has a new line of clothing/accessories for children, so i went there to buy gifts for bianca. after that, i tried to look for a bookstore to find patti scrapbooking materials [ which she wrote on her wishlist ], but i kept on finding myself on the same area [ where the "kids of bayo" store was located ]. it was twilight zone. i was afraid that i might end up dead due to exhaustion, sprawled all over the floor while oblivious last minute shoppers irritatingly try their best not to step on me. after circling the same areas several times, i suddenly saw a familiar store, "in style", the only distributor of old navy/gap products in the country [ excluding the export overruns at greenhills and surplus shop of course ], so i just proceeded there and bought myself a shirt. i was finally able to get to a powerbooks store where i got patti her gift. good thing it was right next to the exit.
greenhills wasn't any better. i went there earlier today with my mom. there were a lot of good stuff, but it was so crowded and inconvenient. everyone was trying to push everyone else, and stopping to smell the flowers is a crime, unless you want people to cuss at you or worse, forcefully push you aside. i was able to buy two pairs of nice white shoes for 400 bucks each. i had to try on different sizes and decide which one to buy in less than 5 minutes because i was blocking the way. mama was able to buy something also, but we had to leave early because she didn't feel so good anymore.
anyway, so far, that's what's happening in my life. in less than an hour, i have to dress up since we're going to attend a relative's hawaiian themed debut and i still have to find something to wear.
Labels: christmas, gig, harkadah
mabuhay ang opm
i may not have gone to the beach or flown to the states or worked out in the gym consistently as initially planned, but i was able to watch at least one gig. last saturday, neil and i [ me the pathetic band fanatic ], went to the admit one 3rd anniversary party at freedom bar. we had dinner first at gayuma before the concert. we were actually one of the first ones to arrive at the venue [ aside from the bands. but doh. ], being the dorks that we are. the doors weren't even open yet. but at least we were able to get good seats and we found a good parking space downstairs without any hassle. we had a good time anyhow despite the fact that we left early. we got to see some of the best bands in the lineup. i wanted to capture the whole atmosphere, but the best i could do was to take pictures. i liked the effect of the lighting on the pictures - it looked as if the whole stage was on fire. anyway, hairy dawgs was the first group to play. for those unfamiliar with the band, it's a purely instrumental group which uses only drums of different sizes plus some tambourines and whatever to add to the beat. they played on for more than 30 minutes [ their arms probably hurt like hell afterwards ]. we also got to watch dicta license, which i haven't seen in a long time [ they rarely play since the lead started with law school in ateneo. damn law school. hehe. and unlike me, he's probably happy with it ]. galing. too bad they don't do covers of songs by incubus/a perfect circle anymore. i liked their original tagalong song, which they played for the first time also last sat. [ the only tagalog song they ever composed ]. sun valley crew was there. if i'm not mistaken, i think they're the same hip-hop group that sang "a lighter shade of brown" back when i was in 6th grade. i used to like that song [ well, along with "heaven knows" by southern sons among others ]. being the "hip-hop" group that it is, it seemed surprising that svc was actually in the lineup when all the other groups are rock bands. i guess the "hip-hop vs metal" war of the mid-90's is finally over [ bwahaha. it's probably the silliest conflict i could recall ]. i think the rock band actually complemented the hip-hop vocals. giniling festival was a disappointment [ my apologies to fans of this group hehe ]. they played rock, jumped around the stage, acted like idiotic drunks and made no sense at all. i think they were trying to be funny, but it didn't work [ at least on me ]. i don't know why, but parokya ni edgar carries idiotic acts pretty well. hehe. imago played also! i was so ecstatic to have finally watched them after failing to watch the album launch. they played 30 minutes earlier because cambio wasn't able to play. they sang one of my favorite filipino songs at the moment [ "taning" ]. i think it's the only serious/[ emo? ] song they played for the night. their other songs reminded me so much of no doubt's first album [ all perky and hyper ]. i like how the lead sometimes yodels their songs. there was little yodelling at the concert though. they had the energy level of b-52's at the time and sounded less like cynthia alexander, as in their previous album. happy meals played as well. 'haven't seen this band for quite a while. the last time i watched them [ also at freedom bar ], the lead singer wasn't around and some guy who doesn't know how to sing at all took his place. 'got mesmerized with the way the bassist handled the guitar. basta, galing. i wish i could hear them do a cover of dmb - the vocalist sounds a lot like dave matthews.
click pictures for bigger view:
gayuma
freedom bar
i just love pinoy bands. watching such great talents and witnessing their many supporters make me more proud that i'm filipino. i think we will be self-sufficient even without the influx of foreign bands. but of course we still need them for influence. hehe. wala lang.
we met weki in the middle of the show. too bad we weren't able to watch sandwich, twisted halo and sugarfree. :( but watching half the show was worth every peso anyway. i also got myself a sandwich shirt which was bright yellow and has a spoof of the skyflakes logo in front. i wanted to go shirt and indie [ hehe, fave word ni neil ] cd shopping, but i only had 200 bucks left in my wallet. i think the anniversary has a second part at saguijo cafe in makati on nov. 20. i hope i still have time to go out on that date.
* * *siyangapala pasukan na bukas..
in around 12 hours, i'll be back in law prison, lugging around the same books, being humiliated by professors, confronting grades of 3's and 4's in my card once again. the funny thing is, i am not alarmed by the imminence of reality. instead of fixing my stuff and having panic attacks, i'm here, happily surfing the net and blogging as if i'm still halfway through the sem break. gawd.
at least i got to buy six more boxes to fill with cases and stack in my room. hay.
Labels: gig, pilipinas
fete de la musique
another kamalasan story brought to you by the harkadah
it was our first time to watch fete de la musique [fyi, it's an annual music event where artists from almost every music genre converge and well, play music]. last year, it was held at el pueblo. this year, it was at eastwood. most of us went there for the rock bands, which were playing at the parking lot. there were a LOT of people, some of which i recognize from college/law school. everything was going smoothly, until we arrived. i arrived at around 10 pm, and we were still fortunate enough to hear twisted halo and cambio play. i met up with di and weki, who got there earlier. we decided to wait for the others first. after we met up with jonel, that was when the rain poured. we were stranded in front of chicago grill, where we spent most of our time. we decided to go upstairs at chicago and we just ordered some drinks. later on, we found out that all the outdoor concerts were cancelled. AGH. there were still some bands playing in indoor establishments [reggae, jazz, etc] but there were just too much people that they couldn't accommodate us anymore. and so, we just left at around 12 am. kainis. it was my first time to go out with the harkadah and the damn rain ruined everything. as if that wasn't expected yet. hehe. 'still had fun with them, nonetheless.
this was where we got stranded 'cause of the rain
cesario's notebook pose
radioactive sago project was playing on this stage when the rain poured and the stage cover collapsed.
the culprit. hehe joke!
at chicago grill
ang model hehe
Labels: duh, gig, harkadah
last friday was the..... INCUBUS CONCERT!!!!
can i just say, INCUBUS [for lack of a better term] ROCKS. i'm glad they didn't chicken out the same way limp bizkit or goo goo dolls or any of the bands who backed out in the past did. and the whole concert was peaceful and civilized - no flying bottles or cigarette butts or anything [unlike the feedback i've received from the RATM concert back when we were in high school. but then again, that's RATM]. no persons getting stabbed either [unlike in the UP fair...]
i went to the concert at the CCP grounds with neil, weki, ivan, trina and derek. there were a lot of people [i heard there were 22,000], 'saw some friends and acquaintances. we were on the 16TH ROW. and i'm very happy about it, since the 40+ row, where we were originally seated, didn't have such a good view.
as expected, everyone was swooning over brandon boyd. but of course what makes incubus' music so great is the whole band, not just the lead singer. i guess i just appreciated the band more collectively during their concert and didn't single out brandon boyd as much as i used to before. so, they started the concert off with megalamonia, which is the kick off single from their latest album [which i've been listening to every single day since the concert hehe]. the pace of the whole concert was fast, and a bit disorganized, since they kept on jumping from one album to another. but the whole effect was ok anyway. i didn't know half of their songs, which was disappointing. i thought i was the biggest and oldest incubus fan i knew [i used to have the nick ^iNcUbUs back when i still chatted on mIRC, like 6 years ago. hehe. and people didn't even know who they were back then. tsk tsk.], until i saw almost everyone at the concert actually singing to all their songs. there were people behind me who even recognized songs from the s.c.i.e.n.c.e. album [their first one]. and i don't even know what that album loooks like. shame, shame. and yeah, they sang 'wish you were here'!! for their finale, they sang 'are you in' and 'pardon me'. i was shamelessly jumping around and shouting like i do in UAAP games. hehe. and i was also singing [well, shouting] pardon me with the band and the whole crowd. i can't believe i actually spent some time to learn the lyrics of that song back in first year college. hehe. i just LOVE that band to bits. it's one of those timeless bands that people never get tired of, like dave matthews band/coldplay. maybe what would account for that is the fact that they have versatile songs - one album has an entirely different theme from the other [make yourself had a techno-ish style, morning view is a bit mellow, and a crow left of the murder is more hardcore.]. i really hope they hold another concert here.
after the concert, we stayed in the place for a while. we waited till the traffic subsided. and we had to rest - standing up for two hours was tiring. 'saw tessa also.
by the way, i have a new favorite song from incubus: "here in my room". it's also in their latest album [a crow left of the murder] it's supposed to be a love song. i swear, if my hypothetical s.o. would sing or at least dedicate this song to me, i'd literally cry tears of joy. hehe.
if you look close enough, you will see brandon boyd singing his heart out. hehe. he actually looks like jesus christ. complete with the illuminating light. hehe. i can still hear him say, "salamat" with the accent on "sa". hehe. he should've said "mahal ko kayo", that would've stirred more intense reactions from the female crowd. but then, dao ming tzi also said that in his concert so forget it. hehe. [why do i know that?]
neil and me, before the concert
WISH YOU WERE HERE! hehe. during the concert :)
haaa.. kakapagod. after the concert.
uy, si brandon boyd! ay si ivan lang pala. hehehe.
wexter! sayang hindi na pang-brandon boyd yung buhok ni wex. sana napansin siya ni brandon. tsk tsk. di bale happy naman si wex kasi nagtanggal ng shirt si brandon eh. hehe!
ivan and wex (pagod na hehe)
Labels: gig, harkadah
on a high
last night, i watched the..... *drumroll* duncan sheik concert!!! it was the second time in my lifetime i've seen him perform live, the first time was six years ago. needless to say, i've become obsessed with him all over again. i bought his new cd this morning and i've been listening to it the whole day.
before we went to the concert [ which was held at aliw theather in star city ], we [ weki, vinci, pat and aikee ] met up first at vinci's condo at robinson's place. we had dinner and then met di and bj at the concert. we saw a lot of ateneans there as expected. ela was there also. everyone was dressed up, some were even wearing semi-formal outfits. i really felt underdressed in my normal shirt, jeans and flip flops. i've just been used to the idea of dressing casually during concerts because i always associate it with large crowds and yosi and chaos. i forgot that the duncan sheik concert was going to be a mellow one. anyway, it was probably the first time in months i've seen such a large number of people in their gimmick clothes. [ 1. i don't actually go out much 2. i've been so used to seeing the dressed down UP crowd that seeing dressed up people is such a novelty ]
the concert was great, as i anticipated, from paolo santos' to stephen speaks' to duncan sheik's performances. we just had to sleep through some parts of stephen speaks' act because we are just so tired of 'passenger seat'. duncan sheik generally looked the same since i last saw him at his concert in star cafe 6 years ago. he only changed his image a bit. the crowd was ok also. they're all game. some guy at the back kept on screaming 'pogi'. hehe. we were already standing in front, less than a meter away from him during the last two songs. there was even a time when pat and i actually ran to the middle aisle just to take a picture of him. we must've looked really desperate. hehe. we were all laughing at ourselves for being jologs, but who the hell cares anyway.
it was fun hanging out with the harkadah again. we were just exchanging jokes the whole night, laughing at people, catching up on each other's life, trading sentiments on the good old college days and how much we really miss it. i remember last friday, i met up with jenny and penny at e-telecare during my 4-hour break. [ apparently, "arn-arn" didn't assign much readings so i need not use the break to cram ] whenever i'm with them, i just feel like i'm immersing myself in a different time frame. despite the changes we've gone through individually, we still have a common ground. we can still relate with each other as if we never graduated and separated. and it just feels so good.
i guess i have to study now. vinci made me realize how much of a slacker i've been when he told us about his study habits in UP med school. no wonder i've been getting really bad recitations for the past week. heehee.
Labels: gig, harkadah
