Friday, July 30, 2004

Dear Me

Got a letter from myself today -- "like a morse code message was sent/ from me to me". Actually, it must have popped up in my Inbox last Monday, but I haven't been checking that address very regularly. Apparently sometime near the end of last April, I was distracting myself from the things I should have been doing, as usual, and I ended up giving this a try.

(this message was composed on Wed, Apr 28, 2004)

Dear Me,

Happy Birthday! While it may seem mind-manglingly pathetic to be greeting your own damn self on your own damn birthday, I'm pretty sure that by now, you have already been greeted by a veritable plethora of friends and family members. If not, it is time to kill yourself. Thirty years is a pretty good run, anyway.

Ha ha! Just kidding. Hope you didn't follow those instructions before reading this second paragraph. If you did, you're even stupider than I am now.

Cheers,
Me


The tone of mocking contempt disturbs me. Now I want to go back in time and kick my own ass.

Lots of good stuff coming up, musicwise. Yvette will be glad to know that kd lang has a new album out, a concept-type thingie that's a tribute to Canadian songwriters. And while that sounds slightly painful, it must be noted that said Canadian songwriters include Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Jane Siberry. Joni Mitchell herself has just released another anthology, Bjork is coming out with her Medulla, and Tears For Fears, suddenly realizing that they're mostly useless without each other, have reformed and completed their new album, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. I loved Seeds of Love so I'm looking forward to that one.

Am wondering whether to drop by this Deadpan Society gig later. Bagetsafonik, Boldstar, The Late Isabel and, um, Stonefree are playing. Still don't know how to tackle the Stonefree article... which is already a week late, according to our new schedule. Perhaps going to BSM later will help me sort it out. Or just choke me with cigarette smoke 'til I relapse. ;p

PS. Noticed the new Morrissey album on your desk. Excitement! Let's all do the Morrissey dance!

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Whiskey Tango Ghosts

Tanya Donelly's new album is out today.

Oh my God.

Please stand by for further announcements.

Turning

Thanks, Kristine! And thanks to you and Margie for everything else: the visit, the late-night nachos, the music, your company, and of course, all the fish. :) The occasional suicide attempt aside, Inky, Blinky and Clyde seem to be doing fine. They don't eat much though; the slice of pizza I left in their bowl yesterday is still there. On the other hand, they love tequila.

(For the benefit of any members of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Fishies who may be reading this: I'm kidding).

Oh, and thanks for the link! When I first discovered the Hitchhiker's "trilogy," So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish was my favorite. I've lent out all those books so much that I don't even know where my copy is anymore; good to be able to reread it online.

Yesterday I put together a mix CD -- to mark the occasion, I suppose, and also because I've been meaning to put together a nice feelgood set of songs for July for a while now. July's almost over, of course, but am hoping this mix carries over and becomes a good soundtrack for future days of hanging out, catching up, accomplishing things, and so forth. Am pretty happy with it so far; tried to put songs that I'm not overly familiar with, but that make me feel good nonetheless. It's got Built to Spill, Boldstar, Magnet, The Decemberists, Teenage Fanclub, and so on. Not relentlessly cheery, but mostly upbeat. Will make copies for you guys. :)

Worst musical moment on my birthday: Stonefree mangling one of my favorite U2 songs, "All I Want Is You," live at Tapika. Sorry, guys. But it's just wrong.

Best musical moment on my birthday: Sitting in your car with you and Margie, parked in front of my house, listening to the last strains of REM's "At My Most Beautiful" and all of "Nightswimming." :)


Somewhere tonight the stars still shine
somehow I've got to re-align
fuelled by the promise of the sun
pulled by the charm this night has spun

-- "Near You," Teenage Fanclub

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Dreams of Purplechickens

You and me, both. I've been thinking a lot--well, okay, some--about my life and career lately, not least because I'd been invited by an old friend to come speak during Career Week at the school where he's serving as principal. I've also invited K2 to come along, by the way, and you should see the amount of work she's put into preparing for tomorrow's 15-minute speech. Two solid days of work, reams of research, and even handouts. Me, I haven't even pinned down what I should say to these kids, so they wouldn't tune out and/or start pelting me with their shoes.

I suppose I could just talk about A Career In Writing, which I should be qualified to give, but how many of those 60-70 kids are actually going to want to go into our line of work? Two years ago, when I showed up at the same school to talk to that batch of high school about-to-be-graduates, I ended up talking about Doing What You Love and How it Could (Possibly) Make You a Good Amount of Money. My point was simply that it does no harm to dream. And besides, the people who make scads of money at their job tend to be very good at what they do, and you have a better shot at being very good at something you love doing.

I don't think I'm going to come in there this year and hand them the same line. It's not original, first of all, and it's harder to tell people about dreams when times are so tough and the kids who're using their college degrees to answer phones in call centers are the ones making tons o' cash. And it's not like I love everything that I do, these days. My wings feel a little cramped, even here at the luxurious quarters we call our office.

There's something Neil Gaiman wrote on his journal that I like, though, the bit from his speech at the Harvey Awards where he gives advice to other comic book writers. He says:

I've learned over the years that everything is more or less the same amount of work, so you may as well set your sights high and try and do something really cool.

There are other people around who can do the mediocre, meat-and-potatoes work that anybody can do. So let them do that. You make the art that only you can make. You tell the stories only you can tell.

As a solution to various problems you may encounter upon the way, let me suggest this: Make Good Art.


Right now, I'm listening to your Purplechickens CD, Luis (stolen from your desk again--sorry!), thoroughly enjoying the music and, yes, wondering what the hell is up with that lead singer. Why persist in taking the mic when, um, you might not be the best vocalist out there? For the first time since I heard this band, now I think I know why Aldus is singing: because he's making the art only he can make. Granted, it's sometimes off-key, sometimes annoying, not-so-pretty vocal art, but hey, it's his. Besides, his band's doing great behind him--it sounds like they're doing what they like best, too.

Anyway, that's my thought for the day. Maybe one day, I'll find fulfillment doing something else, and I can balance the account only I can balance, make the business plan only I can make, answer the phone query only I can answer, or even flip the burger only I can flip. But right now I'm listening to music and writing the thoughts only I have, and it's okay. I'm hoping to improve at this, of course, because there's always room for improvement, even in the things we're uniquely suited to. But the important thing is to do it.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Oh, great. Now whenever someone searches for 'Purplechickens' on Google, our blog's going to come up."

Sunday, July 18, 2004

"To all those people who believe in crazy, stupid ideas"

July mixes? Count me in. I think I need to listen to, and compile, some hopeful music. I do hope the Long Dark February of the Soul really is coming to a close now.

Been thinking a lot, lately, about the kind of life I'm leading and the kind of life I really want, about all these unfinished bits of business and loose ends and persistent regrets, not to mention quasi-plans that I haven't quite gotten off the ground yet. I love writing about music for a music magazine, obviously, but I always feel like there's more I want to be doing, both within my job description and outside of it. Am always putting things off, it seems -- getting buried in the everyday. Going along with stuff. Watching episodes of CSI. Not that I plan to stop doing the latter.

It was nice to learn about someone who doesn't seem capable of distracting or second-guessing herself into inaction. Of course, she's young yet. ;p

Remember R.K. Millholland and how he managed to get his Something Positive readers to "employ" him to create comics for a year? Pia's story is kind of like that. For various good reasons, she really really wants to go to this World Youth Festival in Barcelona. Trouble is, she had no money. But she figured: if only 200 people gave me only P300 each, that would be P60,000 -- and I'd have enough for airfare, registration, etcetera. So she posted her offer on her blog: for P300, she will do a good deed of your choice (plant a tree, donate books, help the aged, etc). In two days, 80+ people had pledged about P25,000. Gasp! Now, if only I could get people to give me money for a not-so-worthy cause. Like so that I could buy CDs. Or comics.

Found out about her through Kidlat; we're thinking about documenting the whole thing, and maybe making a short film out of it. Which is nice, because it would be like one dream leading to another -- I've always wanted to work on a film with Kidlat, we just never came across the appropriate subject matter.

Got a printer cartridge yesterday, will finally be able to print covers for my mix CDs again, yay! Found some nice graphics that will go well with the compilations I'm making for my brother's store. Theme music for today: "Everyone Says Hi" by David Bowie, "My Best Friend" by the Incredible Moses Leroy, "In the Afternoon" by Narda. Happy, hopeful stuff. For all its doubts and questions and insane hectic-ness so far, here's hoping July turns out well for us all.

Saturday, July 17, 2004

The Mix You Make

I'm sorry for not posting in a while. I was caught up by your thoughts re: "Music to Shop By," and I got paralyzed, having much too much to say on the topic of mix tapes.
 
The first mix tape I got was from my friend Bob, who had, back when we were new friends early in college, promised to make a cassette copy of a Pearl Jam b-sides CD he'd gotten. I badgered him for weeks about the copy--dude, how long does it take to copy the EP?--until he finally said, "You can't hurry these things! Making tapes is an art."
 
I must've gotten mix tapes from other people prior to that, but I just thought of them as samplers. As in, "Here's some music that you might like. I put it all on one tape for your convenience." But Bob made me rethink mix tapes. There was an art to it? Cool.
 
That first mix tape is still in my shelves somewhere, but I have to say that Bob has made many, many cool mix tapes since then. We were inseparable friends throughout college, so he made tapes that I've come to think as soundtracks playing over the mild dramas of those years. When he moved back with his family after college (his dad was working in Vietnam), we would send tapes to each other along with our letters, and the mixes were partly music he'd discovered and wanted me to hear, partly songs that were "Well, this is what's happening to me now," and partly "So this is what I think you must feel like, so here's a song for you."
 
Bob's since moved back to the Philippines, and we haven't traded mixes in a while. But I've made mix tapes (and CDs) for other people since then, some of whom were mix virgins before then, and who have since taken it up as a full-blown preoccupation. ;) If there's something I hate about my job, though, it's the way it intimidates people from making mixes for me. I'd make a CD for a new friend, then I'd hear how much s/he likes it, but when I ask when I should expect mine, they beg off. If I had a peso for every time I've heard, "I can't--you're a music guru! It's intimidating!"well...I'd have four or five pesos. But still. (Wow, I'm a music guru!)
 
Thankfully, it doesn't take people too long to figure out that I'm really not intimidating, or that I'm not too much of a music guru, either,  so they eventually get over it and hand me their homemade CDs, sometimes complete with their own cover art. Recently, I've had an extraordinary run of good mixes, due largely to the fact that my friends and I went through a period of personal upheavals that began last February. Mostly turbulence of the romantic sort, which as you know, always makes for good mixes.
 
Different people, different styles. Conch's mix was a mostly calm, intuitive compilation of songs, with one or two blades hidden in the middle to rend your heart when you least expect it. Thor gave me a narrative mix that was sad, emotional, and also--because that's how we deal with things in real life--with a lot of wry humor. Margie's was fun, which is a weird thing to say about something that dealt with some difficult times. But her mix was a good jumble of musical styles and moods; it felt, I guess, not like the other mixes where I felt I was sitting down with my friends and hearing them tell me about their lives, but I felt like I was watching a movie of her life, and this was the soundtrack to it.
 
All of the mixes were cathartic for us; the difference in styles is just our different ways of dealing with personal crises. We're all in recovery now, thank God,  if not completely there yet. February was a long month that lasted all the way to June, and despite all the good music it's given us, I don't feel any regret saying goodbye to it. We're now working on our July mixes, which if nothing else, will be full of hopeful songs.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

One-Hit Wonderland

Last Sunday was a good day, a day of flying kites, tossing frisbees, eating sandwiches and muffins, and hanging out with wonderful friends. You know this, of course; you were there. :) And as you know, I ended up asking ten year-old Zo what his favorite band is. "Weezer," he said. (Whoa, I thought). What about your second favorite band? "Manic Street Preachers," he answered. And the third? He thought for a moment, then decided: "The Beatles."

I was impressed. If someone had asked me the same question when I was ten, I probably would have answered: General Public, maybe Spandau Ballet, and finally, probably A-ha (bands that, as we all know, have had a deep and lasting influence on popular music and are still extremely relevant today -- har har). Not half as nice a list. Of course, Zo has the advantage of having a mom with cool listening habits. :) Or, to put it another way, he has a great tour guide.

I remember that when I first started buying music on my own (or rather, when I first started telling my parents what I wanted -- I was not earning my own money then), I had this sense, of music having a geography of sorts. There were fairly well-defined areas, and places to visit. My brother and I lived in Pop City, where all the music of the moment was broadcast, all of the 80s cheese and glory, from Madonna to Michael Jackson. Over there was Beatles-land: a very popular location, almost a tourist trap, but no less a must-see for that. (Kuya and I eventually traveled there via Beatles Ballads, not a proper album but still containing enough good songs to make us staunch admirers). Our parents lived in the Old Music, a place we would visit by listening to their tapes of Frank Sinatra and Manhattan Transfer and the Ray Coniff singers when they were at work. In the distance were islands belonging to the Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Who, the Rolling Stones. I always meant to explore those places more thoroughly, but I ended up spending more time hanging out in the realms of Queen and David Bowie.

The Music World, as far as my young self could see (and hear), was, ultimately, manageable. I think I believed that I would eventually get around to hearing everything worthwhile. As I got older, though, listening to music -- along with everything else -- got a little more complicated. Bands came and went. Different genres and subgenres (and their attendant subcultures) reared their heads. Not everything good led to an island or city or state, sometimes a captivating tune just led to barren wastelands. (One started to define a personal One-Hit Wonderland, where one could confine all those misleading songs). I was probably in college when I figured, what the hell, it was no use mapping the world of music any longer. I would never see (or hear) all of it in my lifetime. I just had to trust that my travel guides -- music magazines, music video shows, friends' recommendations -- would keep me informed of any areas that deserved my attention. I had to accept that it would always be a world of fragments, and not the neat consistent landscape I once imagined.

Anyway, speaking of my bro, I've been putting together some mix CDs, for his store. It'll probably be a series instead of just one disc... KYCSmix.one will contain upbeat indie-pop stuff (Death Cab for Cutie, Stars, Shelleyan Orphan, Narda, Boldstar, etc), the second will have a soul/hip-hop selection (The Roots, India.Arie, Common, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, etc), the third will have dancey, happy stuff (B-15 Project, Daft Punk, The Avalanches, Basement Jaxx, etc), and I'm still thinking of what the fourth CD should have. Four or five CDs total should be good enough. I'm not sure if the music will induce massive spree purchasing amongst customers, but maybe at the very least it'll cause them to linger a little longer in the store. :)

Friday, July 09, 2004

Music to Shop By

"Hey, can you make a CD of music to shop by?"

That was what my brother asked me, via text. He needed background music, for the fun funky clothing shop he co-owns with his wife Sarah, KYCS (plug plug). I was only too happy to agree to do so, but since I was losing my mind all last week with preparations for Pilipinas, I only got around to starting on my "shopping mix" now. "Sige. Anong gusto mo?" I texted back. "Britpoppy stuff, American alt-rock, synth-based pop stuff, hip-hop flava, chillout?" "Kahit ano!" he texted. "Lahat!"

Ah, a challenge. I thought about the kind of clothes Kuya Che and Sarah offer: colorful, fun, young stuff, from bikinis and board shorts to bags and patterned sandals and baggadocious pants. I miss their line of Hawaiian shirts for guys -- I had about three or four of those, and wore them to death. They tend not to repeat designs though, as they're always following their fashionable noses in whatever new direction they find interesting. So I'm thinking: happy, accessible, not-so-mainstream. Maybe Cibo Matto, Luscious Jackson. Maybe Ladytron, at a stretch. Or something from Erykah Badu's Worldwide Underground. Or even Stereolab! Emperor Tomato Ketchup might make for pretty good music to shop by (and may Stereolab and their fans forgive me for just writing that). Suggestions? :)

It's fun, to be thinking of a CD mix with a theme again. I used to be part of a group that would meet every month, to exchange mixes, and decide on the topic of the next mix. We did "Happy Wake-up" CDs, and "Great Cover Versions," and we were about to do "Deadly Sins" when the whole thing kind of bogged down. I think perhaps we took on too many members. We should have kept it to ten or less. :p Anyway, that's something I always thought we should do, at the office. And Kidlat and G have been wanting to do something like that too. Of course, if we do end up doing that -- what with our jobs, this blog, and everything -- we may finally make ourselves well and truly sick of music, or at least of thinking about music, once and for all. Then we will have to go and get jobs in the meat packing industry.

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Playing Favorites

Today has been a day for favorites, old and new-ish. On the way to Ortigas, I was listening to Sugarfree, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (“Maps” and “Date with the Night” remain my favorites, but am really getting a kick out of “Y Control” and “Pin” now, as well), and Thrice (I never thought I’d be so into a “Joey band,” but “The Artist in the Ambulance” and “All That’s Left” are excellent). Listening to Thrice is a slightly dangerous proposition when you’re walking around, not just because it’s noisy enough to block out a lot of the background noises that help us navigate ourselves, but because sometimes it makes you want to punch someone -- not out of hatred, you understand, but out of sheer energetic glee, if that makes any sense.

At the office, aside from of course attending to my work (har har), I ended up playing a game of sorts with Joey, Dave, Denise and Cait. It started when Joey wondered out loud, who’s better looking, Barbie Almalbis or Kitchie Nadal? A real stumper, that one; I’m still stuck on it. Kitchie is Joey’s choice, unless, he specifies, we’re talking about the Hungry Young Poets-era Barbie with long hair. She was at her peak then, he says. Denise and I disagree, and say that short-haired Barbie is way cuter. This led to a rapid succession of other compare-and-contrast questions, some less shallow than others. Which is the better band, Bamboo or Rivermaya? “Are we talking about Rivermaya with Bamboo, or what?” Cait asked. Because otherwise, she and Denise vote for Bamboo, whereas the boys opted for Rivermaya (without Bamboo), as long as we’re not talking about the most recent album.

Masta Plann or Sun Valley Crew? Dave and Joey turned out to be big Plann fans -- am not familiar with MP’s stuff, so I will reserve judgment (though I do like SVC’s new CD). Avril Lavigne or Nelly Furtado? Nelly took most of the votes, with one vote for Avril (from Yvette, who had joined in via phone). What about the Eraserheads? We couldn’t think of a single Pinoy rock band that the Eraserheads would not completely blow away, at first, until I thought of bygone decades and suggested Juan dela Cruz versus E-heads. Joey voted for Juan dela Cruz. I think the rest of us remained undecided.

It soon degenerated into the merrily ridiculous (Voltes V versus Voltron, Superman versus MacGyver, Jack the Ripper versus the Headless Horseman), but no matter what two entities were being compared, relevant qualities were discussed with as much, er, intellectual rigor as possible. (“Voltes V is better because they didn’t have a stupid love angle,” Yvette insisted, while Joey rated Voltron higher based on a vaguely politically incorrect U.S. versus Japanese rationale). “Tom Cruise or Ira Cruz?” Joey queried. “Ira,” sighed Denise and Cait.

Later, inspired by our E-heads comparisons and a nice memory of the ride home after the Ink anniversary, I ended up playing most of Disc 2 of the Eraserheads Anthology, including “Huwag Kang Matakot” several times. What a great song, Dave and I agreed, nodding our heads in appreciation. It makes me happy just to hear it.

I also ended up trawling through the mp3s on my Mac, and reacquainting myself with stuff that I’ve loved for years: Teenage Fanclub (“The Concept,” “Alcoholiday,” etc), The Waterboys (“Fisherman’s Blues” and “World Party”), and, of course, The Sundays. I didn’t really get much work done tonight, but it’s always good to just wallow in audio bliss for an hour or two or more, to remind oneself why music is one of the best things ever, and why we’ve got a pretty good gig going, for the most part (payment and management issues aside).

Joey’s playing Masta Plann now. Hey, it’s pretty good. :)

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

The After After-Party

While you were having fun at the Megastrip stage, I was stuck at the Podium with--crap, what were those bands? I'd like not to speak ill of those who were gracious enough to accept our invitation to play at the MTV Ink anniversary party, but being at the "for the sponsors" party with the "for the sponsors" bands (i.e., the show bands, the acoustic acts, and our foreign-act headliner, Bellefire), I had to console myself with lots of whiskey.

As it turns out, the bits in the script that I wrote had to be excised, because Ate Glow had a personal emergency and left Marc Abaya with solo hosting duties on the Megastrip. He did rather well, I thought, and after a slow start (Pasig Day, just our luck our party had to be on a non-working holiday) he got the crowd going. Patty Laurel, hosting the Podium event, was such trooper, too: this is the second time we've worked with her, and I've yet to meet a more professional, more gracious events host.

I'll skip over the various nightmares that went on backstage, since they're far too painful to relive--let's just tip our hats to Conch, Caitlin, and Denise, who took the brunt of it so that we could all have a good time--and let's just say that I'm glad that it's all over. Whew. Now on to the business of actually running and producing the magazine.

Saturday night, I went with Conch to a thank-you dinner with guys from Warner Music and MTV, along with various friends, hangers-on...and Bellefire! I got to sit next to Ciara, the youngest of the lot, and their manager Kirsty. And oh, they're so unbelievably nice. It almost kills me that their music doesn't do much for me, either, because they're just so lovely and enthusiastic and sincere. They'd just come from taping shout-outs (well, whatever the technical term is for when people get in front of the cameras and yell, "Hi! This is ! And you're watching MTV Pilipinas!"), and they were jacked up from that experience.

Well, at least I don't hate their music as much as I do 6cyclemind's. Yes, I hear they're also great people to work with and talk to, but something about their music just turns me off, and something about their video actually repulses me. Bellefire, I don't have anything against their music--their voices are good, their originals are pleasant enough, and their choices of covers are tasteful--but they haven't done anything great so far. Maybe it has something to do with age; maybe they just have to live some more to get that edge to their music.

I hope they make it, though, like I wish 6cyclemind would, too. Good luck! I like it when good guys finish first. I mean, they don't all have to be Billy Corgan-like prima donna geniuses, do they?

After MTV

Hey, thanks a lot, Kristine! :) Thus endeth about a month and a half of meetings, writing, revisions, and last-minute requests, as well as inexplicable apparitions and sudden disappearing acts. Thursday was frustrating, fun and frenetic -- as I described it, "headless chicken time, backstage at the Ultra." Excising and revising, coming up with new spiels on the spot, going over the scripts briefly with some of the hosts, running around to add the changes to the cue cards and the voice-over talent's script... it's not something I'd want to do every day, but it was a hell of a rush. And when the show itself was well underway, and things were more or less running smoothly (smoother than we expected, to be honest), there was a great feeling of relief (punctuated by "What the HELL did he/she say?!" moments, during the ad libs).

Being a scriptwriter is, for lack of a better term, a humbling experience; you learn early on that your vision of how things should proceed will always be second (or third or fourth) place to someone else's vision, and -- more importantly -- you learn to trust in the experience of others, that the only thing that matters is not whether it's well written or not, but whether IT WORKS. As you know, I may not have agreed with our director all the time, but I have to admit, he knew what would work onstage, and what wouldn't. (And thank you so much for that text reminding me 1. what my job really entailed, and that 2. we could always kill the appropriate people after the event. It bolstered me a lot). :)

Too bad you missed my favorite number: the Paolo + Nyoy + Jimmy Bondoc + Barbie's Cradle tribute/travesty (depending on how much of a purist you are). I know that the actual performances may not have been impeccable, but you could see that those people really loved the songs, and really loved what they were doing (you should see Paolo Santos' face when he's ROCKING OUT), and Margie says that being in the audience was even better: people were singing along at the top of their lungs, really getting into it. I had mixed feelings about Ely accepting the award -- of course, his achievements are numerous and undeniable, but that was a deliberately nasty little speech he made, and I think I'm beginning to understand why an E-heads reunion will not happen any time soon, or ever. Not that it should. I'm just glad they came up with the songs that they did.

As the awards and performances and interstitials rolled by, I found myself glancing at the show sequence posted beside the stage, and marveled at the fact that we were halfway -- no, two-thirds -- no, almost all of the way through, and no major disasters had occurred! "You're so lucky," Georgette said. "It's a sign!" For a moment, I thought, maybe she's right. Maybe I could work in TV. After thinking about it some more, though, I figured, it's something I could do, but I doubt I would be as happy as I am working in print. :)

Regarding the other performances, it was nice seeing how The Late Isabel handled a huge venue. It was also good to see the people going absolutely stark raving bonkers for Bamboo. To be honest, though, I enjoyed the performances the following night even more, at the MTV Ink Anniversary Megastrip stage. :) Drip was great (Beng's singing has, if anything, gotten even better, though I miss Rann's guitar bits and stage presence), Sugarfree rocked (am really looking forward to the new album), and Narda was fun as always (am really looking forward to their next release, as well). Waya and I enjoyed almost all the acts, with the exception of, well, "pogi rock" bands Stonefree and 6cyclemind (as we were leaving at the start of 6cyclemind's set, Joey saw us and started hooting, "Ang sama niyo! Ang sama!"). I hear they're really nice guys, but their music doesn't do much for me. Still and all, it was a good night with good performances and free junk food. But best of all was hanging out with you guys as you terrorized the Sushi-Ya staff afterwards. :)

Friday, July 02, 2004

WOW, MTV Pilipinas 2004!

Good job on the awards night script, Luis!

I really did enjoy the MTV Pilipinas Awards last night--the first time I really did. Last year's came close to entertaining me, if only it didn't run overlong and have those ridiculous ten-minute breaks in the stage action. Pilipinas 2004 was quick and well-paced, (almost) on time, and most of all, it was FUN!

Of course, as you said, it's all because of YOU! *laughs maniacally*

I was seated with Thor, Margie, their friend Bam, and Kristine. Poor Bam and K2 had to listen to our constant chattering and gossip during the show, although I have to say that things would have been much, much worse if any of us had had a few more drinks. As it was, we enjoyed the show, as did the audience. I actually envied some of the people in the section above us--some rowdy medyo jologs types (meaning, not quite like the people we see at the Summer Slam) who were treating the event like it was a spectator sport where you were, as a fan, obliged to cheer very, very loudly for the people you liked, and to greatly insult the people that you didn't.

In keeping with the New Agey hoodooo voodoo theme of the show, Margie and Thor decided at dinner to "foretell" the outcome of the awards:

Favorite New Artist: Bamboo*
Favorite Female: Sarah Geronimo
Favorite Male: Jay R*
("But Piolo, heart," Thor said, marking Piolo's name.)
Favorite Group: Bamboo*
Favorite Song: "Noypi," Bamboo*
Favorite International Video: "Where is the Love?", Black Eyed Peas (They originally thought "Toxic" might win, although they settled on "Where Is the Love" "...because it has a Pinoy in it.")*
Favorite International Act: Black Eyed Peas


*ding! ding! ding! you are correct!
NB: Jolina Magdangal, she of the backless dress, won Favorite Female; Maroon 5 (wooh!) won Favorite International Act.

I offered to buy them a beer each for every answer they got right, so now I have to buy a total of ten beers when we go out next time. I hope we go to a beer garden-type place where beers are, like, P15 each. Maybe somewhere sleazy with strippers. Although I suppose places with strippers have expensive drinks. Maybe Tequila Joe's, then, where beers are at P25. And they have margaritas, some of which I'm really quite allergic to. (Can't explain it: some of their drinks give me a rash.) But I digress.

I left early--it had nothing to do with your script! promise!--but everyone else finished the show in high spirits, having seen the head Mongol, Ely Buendia, on stage presenting, and backstage exiting. It was all Thor and Margie really wanted to cap the evening. Maybe next year we'll try to get into the mosh pit. I'll write "SOY BOMB" on myself, or something equally cryptic, and then dance like an idiot behind Paolo Santos. Who I will kill afterwards.

Tonight: the MTV Ink anniversary party! I won't tell you which parts of the script I wrote. Let's just say I was on a lot of medication at the time, and leave it at that.