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. :)