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

Happy Birthday to Me

For another hour and a half, at least, as I write this. Thanks to alla youse who texted or called with greetings! Special thanks of course to Yvette my love, who I was talking to as midnight came and went, and I turned a year older.

Couldn't sleep last night -- had a lot on my mind; too many changes going on it seems, what with the new job and the possibility of moving out of the house I've lived in for almost a decade -- and at around 4 AM I decided I wanted to listen to some music, to start the day off. But I was just tired enough to not want to have to choose it myself, so I set my Winamp player on random, loaded all my mp3s, and pressed Play.

Many of us like to read significance into the random, try to divine some meaning or guidance from a throw of dice, a spread of cards, or a book flipped open, a set of words jabbed at blindly. I thought: this will be my musical version of "Book Magic," as we used to call it back in high school. Somehow the first five songs Winamp chooses will contain some sort of message for me. So here they are, unchanged, uncensored: the First Five Random Songs Winamp Played On My Birthday, 2005, at 4:14 AM:

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
The Strokes - I Can't Win
Ciudad - How Did You Know?
PJ Harvey - This Mess We're In
R.E.M. - At My Most Beautiful

Since I silently promised myself that I would blog honestly about my Birthday Five, you don't know how relieved I am that nothing really embarrassing popped up out of my music files... Um, not that I own anything really embarrassing, having impeccable musical taste and all that. Yeah.

The fact that song titles like "I Can't Win" and "This Mess We're In" came out of the shuffle is kind of alarming, though I take comfort in the fact that I actually like those songs a lot. I've only recently started listening to Nick Drake, thanks to a CD from Indira, but "Pink Moon" sounds pretty good. Ciudad, of course, is always a hoot. And "At My Most Beautiful" is just beautiful; funny, as I celebrated another orbit (as Kidlat would put it) last year, I was listening to R.E.M. too, as I recall. I like to think that the five songs taken together can be said to possess an overall mood of guarded optimism, with the notes of dark anxiety being balanced by notes of happy romanticism. It's not a perfect or even a particularly bright world, these five songs seems to say, but what the hell, there's fun and even love to be had. (No Bowie or XTC in my Birthday Five, but still, not a bad way to start the day).

The Imaginary Indie Awards

The imaginary crowd gathers for the Imaginary Indie Awards! (Actually, a photo from the MTV Hits Cebu event)

First of all, welcome back, Kristine. :) Yay!

Last Saturday I was at La Salle, having been suckered -- I mean, persuaded -- by my sister to deliver a lecture on writing scripts for events and AVPs, to an org called the Green Media Group. They were a smart, fun bunch, and I'm not just saying that because they're young and net-savvy and will probably stumble across this blog someday while running searches on their own org name.

I was reluctant at first to lecture on scriptwriting because I always feel that the only subject I can talk about with any semblance of authority is fiction, but then I realized that in the past year alone I've written full scripts for at least three major live events (MTV Hits Cebu, Pilipinas '04, and the VJ Hunt), lots of bar tour and campus tour thingies, countless plugs and numerous AVPs, so what the hell. I like to think that I'm not the kind of teacher that can actually cause an audience to become more ignorant, as their brain cells commit mass suicide to escape the boredom -- so at the very least, I wasn't going to be doing any harm.

I kicked off with some footage from this year's MTV VJ Hunt, that being the only event I've written of which I actually have footage. While that was playing, I wrote down an outline of the usual stages an event script goes through: from the conceptualization to the working out of such details as hosts, performers, sponsors and presentors, to the writing of the sequence, and of course the researching and writing of the actual script. I also warned them about the many many things that can and do go wrong on the night of the actual event, such as absent performers or presentors, tantrums and tirades and last-minute changes backstage, and, um, wardrobe malfunctions. One event I wrote required a quick reassignment of lines because one of our lovely hosts couldn't go onstage for fear of suddenly flashing an audience of thousands.

Since the lecture was almost a whole-day affair, I had to do something interesting to fill up the hours, and so I proposed that they conceptualize and write an event of their very own -- I said, let's do an awards show, since it incorporates a lot of elements: performances, presentations, host banter, etcetera. So, I asked them, what are you guys interested in? Music, was the answer. I was pleasantly surprised by the Green Media Group's passion for local music acts, and their avowed support for independent efforts: and thus the imaginary GMG Indie Music Awards show was born.

We hammered out five categories, with five nominees each (we had to disqualify certain favorite acts like Pedicab and Sugarfree, as they couldn't be considered 'independent'), and came up with presentors for each category, as well as a set of four hosts, from their org's own 'hosting pool.' I separated the class into five groups of three (I had them count off by threes, until a sharp-witted student pointed out that they should be counting off by fives instead, to make five groups -- and me a former Math major!), assigned each group to write two segments, and at the end of it all, we had a run-through of the whole thing, with the hosts delivering the spiels and an announcer announcing the winners. The hosts were game and talented, and some of the spiels were quite well-written -- in short, it was a fun way to end the session. As I recall, the winners were:

Best Live Act : Brass Munkeys
Best Video: The Late Isabel
Best Student Act: The Bloomfields
Best Album: Imago
Best Act: Urbandub

Performances for the imaginary show included numbers by Narda, Bubble Band, and the Brass Munkeys. The SuperFoodBand -- composed of members of Sandwich, Mayonnaise, Cheese, and the Happy Meals -- started things off, and a world/hip-hop hybrid of SVC and Pinikpikan provided the finale. It was really great to see the students all excited about homegrown music: at one point, I overheard one of them reminding her enthusiastically-arguing groupmates that "Guys, it's not a real event." Be that as it may, it sounded like a show I would have very much liked to see.

This is What the World Looks Like On Sugarcoated Ecstasy Pills

"Winners" by 7 Seconds of Love. Which features the lyrics, "Who's winning?/ We're all winning!!" Winners. 7 Seconds of Love. And a video that stars a kitten.

Goddamn, this is the happiest fucking thing ever. I am not sorry at all to announce my return to the blogosphere with this craptastic entry and a link to the video. Woo-hoo!

The King of Nothing to Do #5 / Gaiman Hangover

"I don't remember ever having felt so loved by so many people." -- from Neil Gaiman's blog

I talked to Neil Gaiman. I gave him a copy of my book. "It means so much to me that I can give you this," I told him. "If not for your work, I probably wouldn't have survived my college years." He looked me in the eye and solemnly shook my hand. Am still quietly overwhelmed.

Neil Gaiman has been and gone, and I've spent the whole morning jumping from blog to blog, reading about other people's Gaiman experiences, friends and strangers alike. There's Gerry Alanguilan, who lined up for ten hours just like everyone else, despite the fact that he's a major comics artist and internationally respected and everything. There's Waya and Lala, whose entries I love because they're so emotionally upfront (and yet still funny and well-written). Quark found himself "overcome by this feeling of happiness." Therese has Neil to thank for "the most gratifying and humiliating moment" of her life. Gabby recalls how she first came across his work, and explains why she's a fan -- among other reasons, "Neil Gaiman taught me to write something I wanted to read, and not something my teachers wanted to read, or my friends wanted to read."

Thor admits that, like many of us, "There was also a time when I felt too cool to like Neil. Everybody else was suddenly deconstructing the Endless, some columnist began painting her face like Death, and I didn't want to be mistaken for jumping onto the bandwagon. It's just the way it is. When someting underground becomes mainstream, the purists who don't even pee in the shower ;-) start searching for the next big thing." But of course, in the end, we all come around -- "And fuck it. Fuck the coolness. Fuck the cliques. Fuck the exes who memorized lines. (Well, not really.) Mr. Gaiman wrote and continues to write great stories." Something Thor wrote about the Writers' Forum being like a reunion made me smile. Yvette and I ran into so many friends, so many writers and artists and musicians, and I just thought, if this were an actual reunion, what an incredibly fun, horrifyingly insane school we must have all come from. The College of Gaiman. Hey, I'd enroll.

All of us gaimanerds (to steal a term from Lala) are indebted to Charles, who transcribed the entire Writers' Forum talk, and Astrid, who recorded the radio interview. And finally, more links and thoughts on the whole thing at Click Mo Mukha Mo.

There are, of course, many many more Neilstruck blog entries out there, but if I linked to them all, I wouldn't have time to tell alla youse to go out and buy the Manila Bulletin, because "The King of Nothing to Do," my twice-monthly column, has another installment out today. An excerpt:

My friend Kristine Fonacier once asked me who my favorite interview subject was -- at the time, I was working with her on the staff of a music magazine, and I had interviewed such people as Justin Hawkins (the lead singer of The Darkness), a pre-solo fame Kitchie Nadal, and great bands like Narda, Sandwich, Sound and Parokya ni Edgar. All of them made for good, fondly-remembered interviews, and any of them would have made for a decent answer to Kristine’s question. After today, however, I think I have a clear winner. Rock stars are all very well and good, but Gaiman’s stories of lost souls and lovers, of devils and dream kings, filled with dark humor and quiet tendernesses and epic adventure, and charged with something that no reader should be too embarrassed to call magic, changed -- if not in some way saved -- my life.

Yes: I got to interview him! That undoubtedly ranks as one of the most memorable lunches I've ever had. It was somehow mind-blowingly surreal and utterly, wonderfully ordinary at the same time. By "ordinary" I just mean that he was so casual and friendly and laid-back and all-around nice that one could almost forget that one was sitting next to, well, Neil Gaiman: Neil Gaiman, creator of the amazing stories that got me through some of my darkest days, and Neil Gaiman, trying out adobo flakes and longganisa, and not being upset at all when the dalandan juice he ordered never arrived.

My column today is only partially about Gaiman, though; am still transcribing (and processing) that amazing hour of my life. But anyway, my editor tells me that the "i" section is going to be a Neil Gaiman Special today, so there should be lots for gaimanerds to read.

"But thanks again to you all. And yes, I do want to come back." -- from Neil Gaiman's blog, again

PS. Just got my copy of the Bulletin, now. The ENTIRE "i" section is devoted to Neil Gaiman! Interviews and columns and everythang. GET IT!

PPS. [Added July 14] I was going to post some crappy, fuzzy pix I took at NU on the morning of the radio interview, but you know what, these are much better. Thanks to Francis and Niña!

PPPS. [Added July 15] I love how Quark put it: no matter how everyone says "it's so hyped" and "my god there were so many posers yadda yadda yadda" it was just so exhilarating seeing people scream and cheer for someone whose contribution to the world is... words :)

Musik and Gaiman

Just caught the last half of this local music show on channel 5 called Islamusik. Not bad, not bad at all. Am not sure if they always focus on a particular genre*, but this episode was all about the hip-hop scene here: they interviewed a bunch of artists (DJ Arbie Won, SVC), showed some cool videos (Mista Blaze, Artstrong, DJ Arbie Won and the United Freestyles), featured one of the regular hip-hop venues (Club V), and basically did a pretty good job. It's scripted in a pleasant conversational Taglish that conveys info without being stilted or grating. Plus I have to admit that, even though her Penshoppe ads kind of irritate me, host Ala Paredes was very good: engaging without being annoying, casual without being pa-cool, and comfortable with the language.

Some bits, like their man-on-the-street interviews, could be improved (perhaps musicTrip could be done away with altogether, or at least revamped), and some of the cameos -- the Itchyworms? Random members of Sound? -- were puzzling, but admittedly amusing. And speaking of sound, the sound on some of the videos (particularly Artstrong's "Jazzy Monday") was muffled to the point of being unlistenable, but am not sure who's to blame for that. In any case, was happy with their choices of which videos to show; I've never even seen Mista Blaze or Arbie Won's stuff on MTV. They also exercised good judgment regarding which artists to interview (of course, I wish there had been a few more, but then again am sure they were constrained by time and budget). All in all, am looking forward to catching Islamusik again next Saturday at 6, should I happen to be home. Am wondering what they'll cover next (that's another thing: they should have a NEXT WEEK teaser). Channel 5 seems to promote its other Saturday shows more aggressively though, like the bizarrely titled Mr Fighting: Fight For Love, which seems to be a live-action showcase for fisticuffs, anime hair, and bad makeup, and some local music/variety show type of thing that has Tim Yap involved somehow -- tonight's episode features Kyla, Chynna Ortaleza and Mojofly; might check it out later out of curiousity.

Change of topic. So -- all you people who attended The Gathering at Rockwell today -- how did the Neil Gaiman lovefest go? :) Some people I've talked to about Gaiman's visit have found themselves less enthusiastic about it than they thought they would be, given their avowed fanhood, and the reason for that is that the thought of sharing him with hordes of other fans (as one wit put it, a "nerd frenzy") makes them go bleah. There's an element of interior cringing, of elitism, involved: "These people are Gaiman fans too? Jesus." I've felt this myself to some degree, but I'm not going to let it stop me from seeing one of my favorite authors in person, this Monday.

Aside from a distaste for the idea of an uncool local Gaiman horde, there's also the somewhat related trepidation of not wanting to disappoint him, as Waya and I talked about. We want him to be impressed, we want him to have a great stay, we want to read his blog entries afterwards about how great it was here. We want to ask really intelligent and insightful questions, even though we will all probably just devolve into gibbering hero-worship (or the equally annoying flipside: needless snotty impertinence). Anyway, will be checking fellow enthusiasts' blogs later for their accounts of the day.

*Just found their Multiply page: apparently they do.

Isha (and Mishka)

So I missed NINJA KISS 6, much to my regret. Blame a sleepless Friday night, and a hectic day shopping for my pamangkin Kaya's birthday, as well as attending, albeit briefly, said pamangkin's party. She is five, and will conquer the world (or at least the Philippines) in a decade or two, so it's best to be on her good side.

Anyway, check it out: ISHA's first solo gig at 70s Bistro is tonight, at 9:30 PM! Isha is, of course, the singing/songwriting, piano-playing, insanely talented (and, in many ways, just outright insane) former PULP Managing Editor, Peach Abubakar-Quebral. As she says:

"i'll be playing with the legendary simon tan on bass and the great jayvee torres on drums (the best ititch!). if you're into jazzed-up new wave, nina simone, bananarama, tori amos, joni mitchell and senti torch music you might enjoy the sets. plus i'll be debuting a few of my latest originals!"

Peach's special guest for the evening is MISHKA ADAMS -- caught the last part of Mishka's 2nd set at Mag:net Katipunan a couple of weekends ago, and despite talkative bastards, too many smokers, and too many people singing along (hey, wannabe vocalists -- we didn't squeeze our way in here to listen to you perform), it was well worth seeing.

70s Bistro is located along Anonas Road, Quezon City (tel # 4343597) -- just a trike ride away from where I live, yay.

Finally, listen to Wolfmann's remix of NIN's "Only." It's pretty cool, and in the running for this contest on myspace, so rate it and make W. happy.