Pilipinas Pix; or, Why is Karl Roy Grinning?

We weren't able to take any pictures of the chaos backstage (or onstage, for that matter) at MTV Pilipinas. Luckily, there are some great ones over at Niña's LJ. :) Those looking for pictures of Juliana Palermo and Francine Prieto backstage, however, should contact the Furball people.

Wencing Cornejo; or, More Fun at MTV Pilipinas

Got a good laugh out of this entry over at Quark's LJ.

- HALE AND artofvalidation's all-time faves CUESHE PERFORMED ONSTAGE TOGETHER! holy moley! i almost wet my pants! and KC introduced their set by giving a definition of Pogi Rock. whoever wrote the show's script is a genius. does anyone have a pic of what Cueshe was wearing that night? brilliant! 'truly madly crazily' guy was wearing a trenchcoat and 'if you stay i'll understand' guy had A PIN ON HIS CROTCH. to quote GVSB, "amazing! sensational!"

- and then to cap it all off they both do a rendition of Pogi Rock Legend AFTERIMAGE's "we are next in line" and Champ was actually hanging his head in shame (i swear i have never seen him so wistful). the poor guy was wencing while playing the chords (wencing... get it? wency cornejo? no? fuck you.)

- Mitch said he saw Cueshe backstage and asked them if they were ok. and they said (well, according to Mitch) "siguro inaapi kami dahil mga Jeepney driver lang kami" whaat? are they inventing this whole 'jeepney driver' background to make people guilty about hating them?

BWAHAHAHA!!! :D In other news, apparently "SCREAMING ROOM is proud to present "Good Stuff"... a retrospective of music videos, short films, TV clips and other oddities by the recently awarded MTV VMA Best Director R.A. Rivera. Mag:Net Katipunan, Monday August 29 at 9pm. only 50 bucks to get in, and that's consumable." That's tonight!

Kristine and Luis are God

...well, okay, not really. But it was fun to be able to bend a stadium full of people to your will. Make fun of yourselves, Borgy and Georgina! Flirt with the Philippine Boxing Team, Phoemela! Dance for me, VJs! Make stupid jokes, hosts!

I remember sitting in the audience at the VJ Hunt, Luis, and you coming over once in a while to visit. I peeked at your script and was amazed to see how the words you wrote would actually come out (in slightly mangled form) of people's mouths onstage. Imagine--being able to get Sarah Meier to say a whole line about Wittgenstein.

Fortunately, I was able to share this power with you this year at the boxing-themed P ilipinas Awards. We were able to sneak in at least one Monty Python tribute (the other got cut), and got KC and Epy to poke fun at their receding hairlines. "If I've got a forehead, you've got a five-head! Or even a six-head!" I went to bed, about twenty minutes away from having my head explode from lack of sleep, still chuckling about the funniest parts of the awards script--which of course, never made it onstage. Why? Well, for common human decency, for one thing:

"For creating an entire career's worth of pop songs that stays in the heart of every Filipino; for his energy; for his integrity; for being an inspiration for us all, we present Mr. Gary V alenciano with...a cure for his diabetes! Just kidding. There's no cure for diabetes. We just have an award.

And speaking of diabetes, here to perform in a special tribute number for Gary--Sugarfree!"

We're kidding, of course. But you knew that, didn't you, discerning readers of this blog? The biggest frustration of the whole thing was having the cleavage-baring marketing team take a hatchet to our original script and fill it up with such helpful comments as "We're not sure what 'face-melting'means"[1] or "****WHY ARE WE WASTING TIME ON SUCH THINGS AS TOILET TRAINING AND FAKE MTV CERTIFICATES? THIS IS AN AWARDS SHOW, GODDAMMIT!!!!! LET'S FOCUS ON THE AWARDS!!!!"[2] and [3], (Come to think of it, it wasn't phrased like that. The original was much nastier, and had a few mistakes in grammar and spelling.)

I knew that we were going to have to compromise to make way for MTV marketing's wishes, of course, but I think things would have been much more pleasant had they just stuck to their jobs and left us to ours. Tell us what you want to achieve, and we'll do the writing for you, kiddies. That's why you hired us. When you try to rewrite entire parts of the script for us, the director just sends it back and tells us to put in the original. Look at all that wasted computer time and printer ink. Tsk-tsk.

Other than that, it was a great experience. It was wonderful to work with a talented professional like Kokoy Jimenez and his staff, and be able to sit backstage and see the entire crazy carnival before it goes and puts its makeup on. It was absolutely mindbending to see Champ of Hale conferring with Pepe Smith ("Tell me, Pepe, how do I get rid of my good looks and end up looking like a dessicated corpse like you to earn respect in this industry?"), or Francis Reyes standing straddle over Marc Abaya lying prone on the ground, or Radioactive Sago Project's brass section playing sexy-comedy music when Francine Prieto and Juliana Palermo walked by. Onstage, more presentors surprised us pleasantly than those who disappointed us. Hats off, in particular, to Phoemela Barranda for talking the entire national boxing team into doffing their shirts and training jackets; to The Late Isabel, for injecting so much sincerity into their presentation that what I feared would be an overly serious portion of the script became touching and memorable; to Parokya ni Edgar, for being able to pull it together despite being (as far as I could tell) very, very drunk.

On a more personal note, Lourd de Veyra came over to apologize for a little email tiff we had years ago (already forgotten, but it was classy of him to apologize anyway), Kitchie Nadal expressed surprise that I wasn't taller and more-evil looking than she envisioned, and Lizza N and Rico Blancoldplay exchanged a few words with me before they remembered that they hated me. In all, a good night.

Of course, like any great god-like power, it was not without its share of responsibilities and frustrations, but on the whole it was at least very interesting, if not 100% percent fun. Would I do that again? Hell, yeah. But only if you were there, too, Luis! YAY!

---

[1] A well-known term applied to really good rock guitarists, unknown only to people who don't know anything about rock. For example, the marketing people at M T V.

[2] Part of the beginning spiel, with a tiny bit stolen from Monty Python's "Fish License" skit. Apparently not funny, since, you know, what the hell do Monty Python know about funny?

[3]"Okay," I said, ever helpfully. "What do you want me to write in about the awards?"
Replied marketing woman, "That it's the coolest, hippest, biggest."
"Hm. How about something quantifiable? Do we give out the most number of awards? Is this the oldest awards show? Broadest?"
"Just write, 'coolest, hippest, biggest.'"

and the follow-up:

"We're the only awards show to honor music videos. Focus on that."
"I've been requesting a copy of the nominees reel. Can we have that? So we can write in a bit about the nominees?"
"That won't be necessary."

YAY! My brain hurts.

"Knockout Ito!"

"Joey "Pepe" Smith, Ely Buendia, Francis Reyes, Karl Roy, Nino Avenido, Mike Elgar, Wendell Garcia and Marc Abaya all jamming together on "Tao". HOLY CRAP." -- from a text message I sent to Yvette and some other people

Has it been over a year already? As I write this, the latest installment of the MTV Pilipinas Awards has just ended -- well, give or take a handful of hours -- and I'm tired but still sort of buzzed, and happy that it's all over and that things went smoothly for the most part. I had almost forgotten the excitement and frustration and exasperation and satisfaction that all comes with working on a big event. I really didn't feel that I was up to doing Pilipinas again this year, what with my gotta-wake-up-at-5:30 AM full-time job at the Supreme Court, but thanks for deciding to take the scriptwriting gig, Kristine, and for insisting that we do it together. :) Writing and rewriting spiels and speeches at the last minute and zipping around like a wind-up toy gone berserk would have been a lot less fun without you.

Will blog more about this night later. For now, the nominees, and the winners:

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS

FAVORITE NEW ARTIST
1. Hale - Broken Sonnet
2. Juan Pablo Dream - Nice Place
3. Kitchie Nadal - Huwag na Huwag Mong Sasabihin
4. Kjwan - Daliri
5. Urbandub - A New Tattoo

Who I thought should win: Kitchie Nadal
Who actually won: Hale

Had the Pilipinas awards been held a couple of months earlier, Kitchie would have ruled this category, no contest. But the pop-rock princess* has been overtaken, at least in this instance, by the relatively recent rise of Hale, a band whose popularity has the power to transform the crowd of a place like, say, Saguijo, into a bunch of frenzied screaming kolehiyalas.

*Earlier, we were discussing when this label was first applied to Kitchie. I thought Bernie came up with it for her Ink article. Am I right, Bernie? :)

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST
1. Arnee - Araw Gabi
2. Kitchie Nadal - Huwag na Huwag Mong Sasabihin
3. Kyla - If the Feeling is Gone
4. Nina - I Don’t Want to Be Your Friend
5. Rachelle Ann Go - Love of My Life

Who I thought should win: Kitchie Nadal
Who actually won: Rachelle Ann Go

Man, I'm glad I didn't place any bets here. I seriously underestimated the voting power of Rachelle Ann Go fans. I mean, seriously. She would have been my last guess to win. Well, her or Arnee.

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST
1. Artstrong - Jazzy Monday
2. Christian Bautista - Hands to Heaven
3. Erik Santos - Pagbigyang Muli
4. Luke Mejares - 214
5. Paolo Santos - Coffee Cup

Who I thought should win: Artstrong
Who actually won: Christian Bautista

Artstrong didn't win anything tonight, which is a shame, but that's okay, since I'm sure there's no room on his shelf anymore what with all the Awit Awards he won last summer.

FAVORITE GROUP
1. Bamboo - Masaya
2. Radioactive Sago Project - Astro
3. Rivermaya - You’ll Be Safe Here
4. Session Road - Suntok sa Buwan
5. Sugarfree - Hari ng Sablay

Who I thought should win: Sugarfree
Who actually won: Rivermaya

Big cheers from the crowd for Bamboo and Rivermaya, but as they say, there can be only one. Wish it had been Sugarfree, though. ;p

FAVORITE SONG
1. Rivermaya - Balisong
2. Sugarfree - Hari ng Sablay
3. Kitchie Nadal - Huwag na Huwag Mong Sasabihin
4. Dice & K9 - Itsumo
5. Sandwich - Two Trick Pony

What I thought should win: "Hari ng Sablay" or "Huwag na Huwag Mong Sasabihin"
What actually won: "Balisong"

"That's my ringtone!" host Karylle said, as she went up the steps and onstage to deliver her next spiel. Rico Blanco trivia learned from the hosts: Rico is, apparently, starring in an upcoming movie. He was also, apparently, crowned Prom King at some prom Karylle attended.

JURY AWARDS

BEST INDIE VIDEO
1. Monsterbot - Epekto
2. Valley of Chrome - Forever Young
3. Orange and Lemons - Just Like a Splendid Love Song
4. Juan Pablo Dream - Nice Place
5. Drip - Song No. 9

Who I thought should win: Drip
Who actually won: Drip

Yes! I kind of like the Juan Pablo Dream video too (fun song, funny cameos), but I really like the Drip video. My only small complaint about the video (which I believe Waya echoed, once) is that we should see more of Beng and less of the female extras lounging around the sala. Still, great song, great video, and, hey! free recipe.

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Boom Dayupay - Artstrong’s Jazzy Monday
2. Diego Castillo - Cambio’s DV
3. Marie Jamora - Kjwan’s Daliri
4. Pedring Lopez - Rivermaya’s You’ll Be Safe Here
5. RA Rivera - Radioactive Sago Project’s Astro

Who I thought should win: RA Rivera
Who actually won: RA Rivera

The sad fact is, I have yet to see the DV video in its entirety, but I hear good things about it. Was impressed by Kjwan's video too, but the serial-killer angle was perhaps not as interesting as it could be (great shots of the band in action though). Astro with its quirky cinematic humor is enjoyed by most sentient beings, and deservedly so.

BEST VIDEO
1. Radioactive Sago Project - Astro
2. Kjwan - Daliri
3. Cambio - DV
4. Artstrong - Jazzy Monday
5. Rivermaya - You'll Be Safe Here

What I thought should win: "Astro"
What actually won: "Astro"

See above. Isn't it strange when whoever wins for Best Director doesn't win for Best Video as well? That didn't happen this year. Yay!

Wolfmann, fondly remembered

My only substantial meeting with Wilfrid Hernandez--known to the music scene as "Wolfmann"--was a comedic pool table faceoff for MTV Ink, but since then he'd never failed to wave me over at gigs and exchange a few words. Wolfmann was, as Bernie texted me while she was at the hospital visiting him, a "good good guy."

We're going to the wake later today, to pay our respects. I've also written in a short bit in the MTV Pilipinas Awards script (more on that later) to give his fellow indie musicians the opportunity to salute him. I hope they keep it in.

Wilfrid also shares a couple of close friends with K2, and she sort of knew him from high school, and so we'll pay a visit together. She's put off breaking the news to their mutual friends (although Luis helped take the task off her hands), not knowing what to say.

Keep it simple, I guess. This short tribute from Myrene Academia of Sandwich, posted on their band's mailing list, is so touching and poignant because it's so simple and therefore so true. It's a good goodbye.

I want to start off by thanking everyone who came out to the Folk Arts Theatre to see Rockestra. Hope you were as thrilled as we were to be playing with the MSO on such a historic stage. we could feel so much love from the crowd. It was unforgettable and it was special. Thank you.

It's even more meaningful now that it was the last show that Wolfmann saw. It makes me smile to remember how pleased he was as he greeted each and every one of us as we came out of the theatre. we all take some comfort in the fact that we had the chance to share that with him, and that he was celebrating with us before things took that fateful turn.

What do i remember most about Wolfmann? That he loved music, and he was a generous friend. He was my Gameboy buddy. He was a member of Subsandwich--he played guitar for us once for a gig in Bulacan. He made fantastic remixes of our songs. He never turned down a chance to jam and he could play any song you can think of. And he would go to the ends of the earth to come out to see you play.

This weekend has been a rollercoaster of emotions for Sandwich, and all of our friends. I've been trying to write this post for the past couple of days but it's hard to get it down. It's a little difficult to express how in one minute you're heart is soaring and then in the next it's breaking. And after that your world as you know it is changed.

I will miss you Wilfrid. We all will. Rock on Wolfmann.

Bye, Wolfmann! I'll enjoy the thought of you in the Great Gig in the Sky, remixing the Buddha's original compositions and urging Jesus to come to your next gig. Save me a seat.

Orchestral Manoeuvres

M. on Rockestra:

Last night may have been the most musically moving experience of my life, which is saying quite a bit. This means that last night surpassed the Sting concert, which I watched standing on a rickety rattan chair, eight months pregnant and having contractions from the sound of the bass. Last night was more bittersweet and more poignant than watching Radiohead perform in a tent in Wales, with a husband who it turns out would leave me in a few weeks’ time. Last night, emotions surged and churned within me and I realized fully what inadequate forms of expression applause and screams and laughter and tears are.

(Read the full entry here).

Abusing Google, Part One: Stylistics

Betcha By Golly Wow:
The Stylistics as a Semiautonomous Discipline Beyond Normative and Prescriptive Descriptions of Styles and Towards an Analysis of Language

Treatises devoted to the study of style can be found as early as Demetrius's On Style (C.E. 100). The Stylistics, however, were formed in 1968, from the fragments of two Philadelphia groups, the Monarchs and the Percussions. At their peak, the Stylistics were perhaps the most consistent hitmakers in Soul Music: while most pre-twentieth-century discussions of style appear as secondary components of rhetorical and grammatical analyses or in general studies of literature and literary language, the Stylistics definitely staked out their own musical territory, largely due to the fact that they had the best producer in the business in Thom Bell, some of the most infectious material of the early 70s, and perhaps the smoothest falsetto lead vocalist in Russell Thompkins, Jr.

The appearance of the Stylistics as a semiautonomous discipline is a modern phenomenon, an ongoing development in linguistic description that is closely tied to the similar rise of literary criticism and linguistics as academic subjects and departments, as well as the American public's need for some sweet, sweet Soul music. The Stylistics first achieved some regional attention in 1971 with the simplistic “You’re A Big Girl Now,” most notable for its contrast to the luscious work they would record a year later with Bell. Whatever the limits of previous approaches to style, or the difficulties that have arisen from the practical application of linguistic methods to stylistic analysis, the desire to begin with a set of well-defined terms and procedures lies at the core of the initial formation of Stylistics as a discipline, not to mention a set of individuals possessed of sufficient talent and experience to deliver the goods to an eager listening public.

Their Avco Records eponymous debut was a masterpiece, containing marvelous compositions by Bell and co-writer Linda Creed that would become soul standards covered by other artists for the next 30 years. “You Are Everything,” “Betcha By Golly Wow,” “Stop Look Listen” and “People Make the World Go Round” all rocketed up the Pop and Soul charts, and immediately made the Stylistics the most sought after Soul balladeers. The group’s seamless harmonies and Thompkins' silky falsetto blended magically with Bell’s lush production. Such work in Stylistics reflected a larger trend occurring within literary criticism as a whole during this period: Riffaterre's particular interest in a systematic, formal description of literary style mirrored a growing awareness among literary critics in general of the possibilities provided to literary study by trends and theories available from formal linguistic study, as well as the infectious Philly Soul sound.

Material for this nonexistent term paper was stolen from here, here and here.

The King of Nothing to Do #8

Yes, it's time once again for my twice-monthly column to come out in today's Manila Bulletin! (Assuming you're reading this on Wednesday, August 17). What happened to #6 and #7, some of you may ask? Well, my full-time job happened, is my reply. While those installments did come out in the paper, I didn't have the time to blog about them. :p Anyway, #6 was basically a reworked version of my "Imaginary Indie Awards" post, and #7 was about "the internets" and how it's changed our lives without our really noticing it. For reals!

The more observant amongst you may wonder why my column is coming out on the 3rd Wednesday of August, since it's usually scheduled for the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of any given month. All I can say is, life can be confusing sometimes. And so we just shrug, saunter down to the newsstand, buy the Bulletin, turn to the "i" section, read my column, and trust that the old schedule will be reinstated next month. Today's theme is, oddly enough, Men's Fashion, and the title of today's column is "Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion; or, The Cartoon Bear Wears No Pants".

You know how in cartoons or comic strips, everyone always has the same outfit, day in and day out? I mean, Charlie Brown always rocks his jagged-stripe T, Bab of Pugad Baboy always has his amusingly outdated peace-symbol necklace and sleeveless thingie ensemble, and Winnie-the-Pooh has no pants. There was a time I wished that was the norm: not the pantslessness, but the idea that each of us could somehow determine a single outfit that best represented us, and wear just that, perhaps with minor variations in color or cut, day in and day out. No more fuss or bother or fashion faux pas: just the everyday paradox of an individualized uniform.

I was not alone in harboring this notion: in fact, a couple of people I know took it further, into actual practice. J., a college friend of mine, had a closet full of plain navy blue T-shirts. He claimed that every morning, he would just reach in, pull one out, and pull it on: no thought, no worry. He could then free up his mind for other, more important stuff, like trying to guess winning Lotto numbers or fooling girls into going out with him.

Yay Comics!

1. Sir, step away from your nut sack
2. I drink because I'm too scared to kill myself by traditional means
3. The gang was so close back then
4. OMG I [HEART] SURPRISES
5. Is it truly as erotic as advertised?
6. You ain't got to imitate Jack White
7. Don't make me count to three!
8. Someone owes science an apology

Faded Bowie

Here's a sad panel from Peter Milligan's Shade, the Changing Man #50. May this, or something similar, never happen to any of you, or to me, for that matter.

Songs to Make You Smile

Maybe their stuff is too fluffy and sugary-sweet to hold up under repeated listens, but somehow I couldn't suppress a smile while listening to The Simple Carnival's show tune-like "Super Robot Toy". (Those who are put in mind of childhood Transformers yearnings will be gratified by the squelchy Transform-ing sounds about 01:22 minutes in).

More musical goodness with the jangly-guitared harmony-happy Magic Numbers, and the driving poptastic rock of The Deathray Davies (scroll down for the link to their song "Plan to Stay Awake"). Yay!

Musical Games with Neil and Clive

Here's something fun from a Clive Barker interview by Neil Gaiman (from the anthology Shadows in Eden: a most informative, entertaining, and gleefully twisted volume -- thanks to Anna E. for helping me make my mind up about buying it, lo those many years ago):

BARKER: I have a game I play with dear friends. It's a great game, you need to be slightly drunk to play it. All you say is, "Do you trust me enough to tell me the truth?" and they say, "Yes" and you say, "I want you to play for me (you're in this other person's house) the song, or the three songs, that you only play when no one else is in the house; the three songs you are so ashamed of liking or being moved by that you have to be in a state of inebriation to offer up the truth to the rest of us playing here." It's a very telling game. It's a great game and great way to cut to the chase as far as emotional responses are concerned. You find people will suddenly admit to liking John Denver or something wholly outlandish...

[A lengthy digression by interviewer and interviewee concerning such musicals as It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman!, Paint Your Wagon, Camelot, South Pacific, and Guys and Dolls has been deleted here in the interests of street credibility.]

Reading about this game, I realized that even someone with a well-documented love of the Pet Shop Boys' oeuvre (i.e., me) still has music-listening secrets to hide. ;p

Half past two and it's raining and lovely outside. Have to get up in a couple of hours but who cares; not as if my new job requires me to be quick-witted or even fully conscious. Listening to a Nina Simone remix and enjoying the moment.

Luis is Reading

Been reading through local music news bits. Some random thoughts:

1. Rockestra could very well turn out to be an amazing show, or, conceivably, the musical equivalent of the Hindenburg disaster. In either case, it'll be a gig to remember. I, for one, want to be there. Who's with me?

2. Following the departure of hypno-guitarist Jerome Velasco (not to be confused with the Hypno-Hustler, from Spectacular Spider-Man #24), The Mongols have renamed themselves Pupil. While there are certainly worse names for a band* than "Pupil," I would have to say that "The Mongols" is not one of them.

*For example, Hoobastank. Or Fulflej. Or Penis DeMilo. Or Shitty Shitty Band Band. No, wait. Shitty Shitty Band Band actually sounds like an act I'd like to see.

3. Am looking forward to the release of Parokya ni Edgar's newest album, even if "First Day Funk" makes me want to take a claw hammer to my skull whenever I hear it. After all, Bigotilyo was a lot of fun, arguably even brilliant, so maybe the PnE peeps made their deodorant-shilling single irritating on purpose: as a way of making a point, perhaps, as a comment on the whole idea of selling out. Maybe.

On a somewhat related note, thanks, Kristine, for pointing out that a photocopying shop near my house is named "Pakopya ni Edgar". He he.

4. Somebody please explain 'soul siren' Nina's chart domination to me. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the woman, and I think she's a good performer, and is probably kind to children and kittens and all that. But why does she outsell everyone from fresh-faced pogi rock bands to novelty popsters to a legion of other sirens who also possess a tragic tendency to cover jeepney classic love songs? Am reminded of that scene in the movie "Revenge of the Nerds" where the nerds run a pie-selling booth that enjoys phenomenal sales despite the fact that their product is basically just a mass of whipped cream, because underneath the cream is a photo of a hot topless woman. Not that I'm comparing Nina's music to whipped cream, or implying that lifting her CD from its jewel case tray reveals a picture of her topless. No, it's probably just free LSD tabs tucked into the inlay card.

5. The first time I watched Mojofly's retro new (retro new -- whatta concept) video, I had no idea that people actually did have drag races in front of the Greenhills Shopping Center back in the 80s; I thought it was some odd James Dean movie tribute. Of course, in those days, I was more concerned with Chrishareth's and Filbar's than flashy clothes and fast cars. (The most embarrasing thing about the previous sentence -- which, by the way, still holds true today -- is that I'm secretly proud that it sort of rhymes).

Funny thing is, I don't think I've ever seen the new Mojofly live, but Adam and I did get to watch vocalist Lougee Basabas two years ago at Mayric's, when she was performing with her old band Superlooge. If I remember correctly, our assessment of her then was: not quite there yet, but not bad. Also, cute.

And now, time to sleep.

Before I get back to the business of blogging...

...first, a commercial break. More CDs to clear from my shelves (having cleared out the last of my stuff from my former table over at Pulp/MTV Ink, now also known as Wolfram & Hart). Real blogging to follow soon.


ALL ORIGINAL, ALMOST-NEW CDs P150 – P200

12 GIRLS BAND, Romantic Energy (Pop-Classical, Traditional Chinese) P150

THE BARBS, Lupine Peroxide (punk) P150

BATTERY, Battery (Hard Rock, Hard-to-find) P150

BOY2, Biyaheng Reggae (Reggae, OPM) P100

BILLY CRAWFORD, Ride (Hip-hop) P150

CHICOSCI, Icarus (Rock OPM) P150

FEEDER, Pushing the Senses (Britpop) P150

GHOST 13, Ghost 13 (Rap OPM) P100

HEFNER, The Fidelity Wars (Indiepop, Hard-to-find) P200

JA RULE, R.U.L.E., (Rap) P150

JESSE MCCARTNEY, Beautiful Soul (Pop) P150

JOHN LEGEND, Get Lifted (R&B) P150

LILLIX, Falling Uphill (Rock) P150

MATILDA, Matilda (Alt Rock OPM) P150

MUDVAYNE, VCD: Video clips, “Dig” Video, Live at The House of Blues (Rock) P100

NEWFOUND GLORY, Catalyst (Pop Punk) P150

NINA, Live! (R&B, Pop OPM) P150

PEPE SMITH, Idiosyncrasies (Rock OPM) P150

SIX O FOUR, Bringin’ It (R&B, Pop OPM) P100

SKRAPE, New Killer America (Nu-Metal, Hard-to-find) P150

VELVET REVOLVER, Contraband (Rock) P150

COMPILATION ALBUMS

ACOUSTIC BREAK compilation album, with Mute Madness, Migs, Jaycie & Honey, Mac, Project Fusion (OPM Acoustic) P100

THE CHILLOUT PROJECT House Sessions (chillout, electronica), P150

GRAMMY NOMINEES 2005, songs by Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, Evanescence, Norah Jones & Ray Charles, U2, Seal, Alicia Keys, etc. P150

NEW (STILL SEALED)

EVERLAST, White Trash Beautiful (Rock) P200

HALE, Hale (Alt Rock OPM) P200

FAITH EVANS, The First Lady (Pop) P200

FILTER, The Amalgamut (Hard Rock) P200

GHOST 13, Ghost 13 (Rap OPM) P150

ROK ON: MUSIC INSPIRED BY RAGNAROK ONLINE, with Moonstar 88, Kamikazee, Kjwan SVC, Typecast, 7 Shots; includes installer disc for Ragnarok: A tale of two cities P100

NU 107 SUPERSIZE ROCK compilation album, featuring Kjwan, Kitchie Nadal, Rivermaya, Orange and Lemons, Urbandub, Sandwich, etc. (Alt Rock OPM) P200

SIMPLE PLAN, Still Not Getting Any… (Pop Punk), P200

SLAPSHOCK, Novena (Rock OPM) P200

SPAN, Mass Distraction (Hard Rock) P200

VIENNA TENG, Waking Hour (Pop, singer-songwriter, piano) P200

P25-P50, OR FREE FOR EVERY THREE CDs PURCHASED

AIKEE, Ang Bawat Bata (Rap OPM), P50
BLUE, True Blue Quiz installer CD (computer game), P25
GENERATED X-ED, Protest and Survive (Rock/ Electronica)
SPIRITUALIZED, Pure Phase (Rock/ Electronica)
SQUEEZERS, Scramble (OPM, demo) P25
VELVET, Velvet (OPM, demo) P25
WILLIAM HUNG, Inspiration (w/VCD), P50

ALPHA MUSIC SAMPLER 2005 Vol 1, with Bayani Agbayani, Session Road, Najah, Aikee, Mac, Project Fusion, Ronald Navarro, Pseudo Echo, P25
ALPHA MUSIC SAMPLER 2005 Vol 2, with Pepe Smith, Baywalk Bodies, Session Road, Acension, Retrospect, Migs, Jaycie and Honey, P25
ALPHA MUSIC SAMPLER 2005 Vol. 3, with Session Road, Jhego, Selina Sevilla, Aikee, Baywalk Bodies, Pepe Smith, Mac, Retrospect, P25
MULAWIN: Songs Inspired By Mulawin, with South Border, Jolina Magdangal, Lani Misalucha, Jennelyn Mercado, Dingdong Avanzado, Janno Gibbs, Tux, Sipol

Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells!

Have been asked to write an article on the influential, now-defunct local music magazine known as Jingle. Way before PULP and Philmusic, Jingle was warping the minds of a generation, steering them away from the pitfalls of profitable careers in actuarial science and towards New Wave and punk and heavy metal and music writing and misheard lyrics. Like myself, many of you probably have fond memories of that publication.

The problem is this: I don't know who the editors of Jingle magazine were, much less how to contact them. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Other Stories

"When oh when is your next book coming out?" That question, from a comment on my last post (hi Corinna!), is something I've asked myself a lot since the turn of the millennium. My first book was basically a gathering of the least embarrassing stories I had written since my teens, almost none of which were produced with an eye towards a possible future collection. The second one is taking a bit longer than I thought it would. Maybe I'm dreading the legendary sophomore slump that can strike writers, bands, directors, and basically anyone who ever made a fairly well-received anything. Of course, looking at it another way, I'm very happy to be in the position of dreading a sophomore slump at all.

I have a good idea what the second book will look like (see cover study, above), but the problem is coming up with more of the other stories referred to in the title. I do know that I want it out soon, perhaps even by the end of this year. While some works may be ruined by rushing them, the same result can come from lingering too long on something, revising and revising it until it's spoiled. Perhaps a Clive Barker-like writing frenzy will overtake me -- I remember reading somewhere that he wrote the Books of Blood in an astonishingly brief span of time. (I may be misremembering, though). Subterrania should be markedly different from Happy Endings -- otherwise, what's the point -- but exacly how different and in what ways is something I'm still figuring out. But anyway, thanks to Corinna and other friends (and some strangers, bless them) who have been interested enough to ask me the question that begins this post.

"I do have a specific way of writing, in that I put it off as long as I can and make it as difficult as possible for myself before my impending deadlines force me to overcome my self-loathing just enough to sit down and write something. Once I’ve started writing, though, I’m always surprised by how engaging it actually is." ~ from an interview with Allan Heinberg, writer for The O.C., Sex and the City, and Young Avengers