A Very Pretty 6-Minute Song

"I See You, You See Me"
by The Magic Numbers, from The Magic Numbers


I never wanted to love you, but that's okay
I always knew that you'd leave me anyway
But darling when I see you, you see me
I asked the boys if they'd let me go out and play
They always said that you'd hurt me anyway
But darling when I see you, I see me

And it's alright
I never thought I'd fall in love again
It's alright
I look to you as my only friend
It's alright
I never thought that I could feel there's something
Rising, rising in my veins
Looks like it's happened again

I never thought that you wanted for me to stay
So I left you with the girls that came your way
And darling when I see you I see me

I often thought that you'd be better off left alone
Well throw a circle round and ... with broken bones
But darling when I see you, I see me

It's alright
I never thought I'd fall in love again
It's alright
I look to you as my only friend
It's alright
I never thought that I could feel there's something
Rising, rising in my veins
Looks like it's happened again

You always looked like you had something else on your mind
When I try to tell you, you tell me "never mind"
But darling, when I see you, you see me

I wanna tell you that I never loved anyone else
You wanna tell me that you're better off by yourself
But darling when I see you, you see me

Oooh, oo-oo-oooh...
This is not what I'm like, this is not what I do
This is not what I'm like, I think I'm falling for you

This is not what I'm like, this is not what I do
This is not what I'm like, I think I'm falling for you
(repeat)

I never thought
This is not what I'm like, this is not what I do
I never thought
This is not what I'm like, I think I'm falling for you
(repeat)

I never thought that I could feel there's something
Rising, rising in my veins
And it looks like I feel there's something
Rising, rising in my veins
Looks like it's happened again

Isn't It Ironic?

Last week, in my En210: Language and Literature class, one of my classmates reported on Verbal Irony. Today, Luis and I Spoke briefly about self-aware superheroes. Hey! That's a non sequitur! you might say, hoping to impress us with your knowledge of Latin expressions. Well, we're not impressed, particularly because you would be wrong in thinking that the two sentences aren't related to one another.

Behold, The Hero Santon, my favorite self-aware superhero ever, from the self-titled but woefully short-lived comic strip on Salon, taking on Irony. (How does this relate to music? Because the cartoonist was listening to Pavement while he drew this strip. And also because of Alanis Morissette, of course.)

Click the image for a larger, perhaps easier-to-read (but not any less ironic) version. Click here for The Hero Santon archives.

The Rain, Darkness, and DVDs

So it's been raining nonstop here since yesterday, and I'm thinking, screw work. If floodwaters are rising outside my very doorstep, it's probably a lot worse over in farflung Padre Faura, and I'd rather not risk getting drowned, or stranded, or eaten alive by other stranded people driven to cannibalism by hunger and desperation. Admittedly, the last scenario is somewhat fanciful, given that I work near several decent Italian restaurants. But you just know that when the calzones are gone and all the carbonara is used up, my fellow strandees are going to look at me and think, hmm, that's enough meat to sustain us for a good number of days... So I'm staying home, and working on an overdue freelance writing gig -- a gig which, by the way, I would have finished last night, if the power hadn't gone out.

Strange to think that blackouts used to be such a regular thing in our lives. When I was a child, we always used to have a stash of board games and candles ready, but we didn't even have to use the candles much: when the power went out, my father would hook up a flourescent light to a car battery and give us decent illumination for however long the darkness lasted. Last night, I was alone and sitting in the sala when everything went black. Immediately I remembered every Japanese horror movie I had ever seen, and sat there quietly going insane for a few minutes before stumbling around and somehow finding a box of matches. Every time I lit one, though, the howling wind would blow it out, as if I were starring in some black comedy routine that would eventually end in my evisceration. Even when I managed to get a candle lit, it didn't help so much -- I imagined crouching, skin-flayed fiends in every corner a shadow danced. Yay.

And speaking of music, which I wasn't, Yvette and I bought a bunch of music DVDs recently -- a live performance by the Pixies from last year, a couple of Joni Mitchell docus, and Tears for Fears' Scenes from the Big Chair, all great stuff. Also, a collection of Sonic Youth videos and a set of performances from The Old Grey Whistle Test, but I haven't gotten around to those yet.

More than ten years after they broke up, the re-formed Pixies are still amazing -- all visibly older, of course (except for Joey Santiago -- yay ageless Asian genes), but still able to floor an audience with a tight, heartfelt performance. Kim Deal looks so cute and happy. Frank Black looks so fat and sweaty. All together, they, undeniably, rock. I wanna grow up to be, be a debaser! (Debaser).

Joni Mitchell rocks too, in a completely different way. She rocks because she's so smart and articulate and brave and artistically uncompromising, and watching her early life unfold on that biographical DVD almost made me want to cry, for all the hardship and tragedy she endured as a young woman. I'll never listen to "Little Green" the same way again.

As for Tears for Fears -- the DVD contained a docu from the 80s and a concert from the Seeds of Love era, which was late 80s/early 90s, and it was interesting to compare their live performances from the time of Big Chair, when they were still years away from breaking up, to the later stuff, when Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith never nod smilingly at each other or even, apparently, make eye contact, through the course of an entire concert. Also, funny how you can watch the whole docu and never quite figure out what Curt Smith contributes to the band -- Roland is obviously the main songwriter, and the more powerful singer -- but as any fan knows, the past decade or so seems to have proven that they're kind of useless without each other. Together, they had a certain chemistry, and watching the docu reminded me how much I like so much of their output. Made me want to listen to my copy of their recent reunion album, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, again -- maybe I missed something.

And now, back to work. Not work work, but myother work -- well, you know what I mean.

PS. The new installment of my column, The King of Nothing To Do, should be out in today's Manila Bulletin. I know, it's usually Wednesdays, but they're still retooling the 'i' section, I think.

PPS. Happy birthday, Kitchie! :)

Convergence/Divergence

This may not have anything to do with music, but it looks like a good exhibit (hi, Tita Pep!), and besides, I know that many of you are tired of having Karl Roy's leer be the first thing you see whenever you visit this blog. ;) From the press release:

Convergence-Divergence
Recent works by Pep Manalang and Datu Arellano
September 13 to October 1, 2005

Pep Manalang and Datu Arellano merge their contrasting styles in their first exhibit together, titled Convergence-Divergence. Featuring their recent works in mixed media and in acrylic and modeling paste on canvas, respectively, the exhibit is on view at the West Gallery in West Avenue, Quezon City from September 13 to October 1.

Pep Manalang, who has been exploring textural possibilities in her abstract works, thinks it is quite interesting to do a show with someone whose style is so different from hers. She also likes the idea of collaborating with a younger artist, one whose point of view is different as a result of varying backgrounds and influences. She loves working spontaneously, and even finds that the act of painting itself can be so emotionally charged, especially when she just lets the elements fall into place. "I try not to think [so much during the process]," notes Manalang. "I want to try something different, see how paint settles, and then find a structure or framework to hold the paint."

Datu Arellano, for his part, draws his ideas from cluttered university bulletin boards. He collects as many magazine cutouts and book pages as he can, and composes them into a 'chaotic' collage, sometimes even adding his own drawings. Then he leaves the collage for a while until he decides on which elements to leave as they are, keeping only a few of them visible. He challenges himself even more by working on Pep Manalang’s unfinished pieces. Manalang has done the same to Arellano’s collages, resulting in a total of six collaborative works. "At the end you get something more interesting," observes Arellano, upon seeing what Manalang has done to his unfinished collages. "One similarity we have is that we both give importance to the process."

West Gallery, now part of the new Mary Santos Artcade, is at #48 West Avenue, Quezon City. For inquiries, call 411-0336.

West Gallery's website: www.westgallery.org
Datu's website: www.datuarellano.com
Pep's website: www.geocities.com/artlife98