Chapter 2: Panaginip

It was Sunday night and I felt like I was in Madonna's "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" video while Aileen, Maysh, and I walked along Marikina Riverparks as we searched for the stage where they're supposed to play. "Dun tayo sa may sapatos na umiilaw", says Maysh in reference to Allan's instructions but then again there was no noise whatsoever near that fluorescent giant shoe that we spotted.

So we ended up following where the people went. We eventually found this stage where some band was doing a hideous cover of "It Ain't Got You". Later on we found out that there was no backstage whatsoever. People started throwing us some glares as they got alarmed by the guitar that I was carrying, aside from Aileen sporting her SCQ look. So I asked the girls to walk around the park with me while we were waiting for the other Moonstar people.

I swear to god that setting was just so creepy. The place somehow gives you the impression that everybody's drunk and they're gonna lunge at you at any moment. I tried to convince the girls. "Mukha namang safe eh," followed by a whispered "Chos!"

Thanks to Bayani Fernando, there were seats available for the public near this boat that they converted into a food kiosk. I pointed out to Maysh, "Mare, san kaya napupunta yung mga liquid wastes nila?"She replied, "Saan pa eh di sa ilog din" Major eeeeeeew! Later on the foul stench of the river smothered our noses as we had some chicken and pizza. Hahahaha!

And so it was time for M*88 to play. Some hilarious requests: Tabing-Ilog, Huwag na Huwag Mong Sasabihin, Apoy. Hahaha. Anyways, I'm so falling in love with "Panaginip":

Sakay sa daang papuntang langit
Ngunit puting damit di na magagamit
Bulaklak at singsing nawala sa aking paningin
Ang simoy ng hangin na kay tamis
Ngunit luha ko'y walang kasing pait
Damdaming di na yata matatahimik
Pagkat ito'y isang panaginip

Maysh sings it with such conviction. Now it has become one of my favorites along with her rendition of "Bata", and "Sa Langit".

It was a looong long night. Jal dropped us at home and eventually met Cody. The next morning... Jal and I were locked inside the house...Bwahahahaha!

Chapter 1: Akap

Since I'm too lazy to file for a vacation leave and my vacation leave credits are not enough anyway for me to have enough time off from work, I have declared numerous numbers of days to be my personal holiday. Just when I thought I'm gonna be enjoying that free time with myself and my baby Cody (the adorable brown labrador), I now have some respiratory infection plus frequent nosebleeds. Great!

Of course that wouldn't stop me from going out. Last Saturday, I went out with Chill and Mitch and checked out the Imago listers night at Saguijo in Makati. It's a small, cozy place situated in a residential area with a nice botique upstairs called the "I Love You store". Initially, I had personal objections of going to that place since it was so crowded the first time I went there with Maysh and watch Admit One but later on it turned out to provide us an intimate setting that perfectly fits the music of the lined up bands.

After checking out the art gallery upstairs and watch the audience wait in stupor while the hosts were giving out Imago bootleg vcds, it was time for SVC to perform. I never really took the time to watch these guys but dude they made me earn a new respect for hiphop/rap music. Galeng! I even ended up chanting "It's the reee-yuhhhl, Hiphop myuuuzik!". And I have the new love of my life, Ryan Ventura, the bassist, whose face is gonna appear soon in my new lj layout. Woo-hoo! Paging Kai: pityurs! pityurs!

When it was Imago's time to perform, we made our way to the front in such a way that we were standing just a few meters away from Aia. They started out the set with three songs from their first album: "Alay", "Idlip", and "Rainsong". One thing that I really admire about them is the evolution of their music. They were able to reinvent themselves. Except for the lyrics, those three songs don't even sound like the original anymore.

Before she proceeded to singing "Akap", she said her thank you's and talked about the struggles of indie artists. "Dahil indie po kami, wala pong label na magbabayad ng payola para ipatugtog yung kanta namin. Salamat sa inyo, parang kayo na rin ang nag-payola para sa min"

One thing that makes Aia's songs unique is her unusual play of words. Nobody really knows what exactly the song means but somehow it works. Come on, what can you make out of lyrics like "Look away/See it coming/Grey skies/Grey skies/See it coming/Cool my fire"? Worst thing is the words are sang in reverse. Haha! But like I said, who am I to argue when it actually works. :)

"Pikit mata kong iaalay, buwan at araw, pati pa sapatos kong suot" When she sings these words she makes an immediate connection with her audience. Somehow it felt magical watching a small lady belt out tunes and wonder how that voice comes out of her.

Another superduper emote song was next, "Taning", which ended with the audience singing with Aia. It was followed by "Phoenix", then Raimund Marasigan and Diego Castillo joined them and performed "Gratitude", "Reset", "Bihag" (hanggang dito na lang, sa huling baitang) and the last song for the night, the uber danceable "Anino". At the end of the night, I ended up listening to their cd over and over again. Haha!

One Last Rant

Remember that Sex and the City episode where in Miranda got enlightened by Carrie's boyfriend, Berger, about how a guy "is just not into her". Today, I finally had that realization.

The kid has been keeping me hanging. I told him to give me a definite answer when I asked him, "Di ka naman interesado sa kin di ba?". All he could give me was, "Di ko alam...hindi ko talaga alam". Later on, a good friend revealed to me that the kid "likes me but not the way that I want him to like me".

That was all I needed. Now moving on...

Kanta na lang tayo. Constantine Maroulis, pasoooook!

Turn down the light
Turn down the bed
Turn down these voices inside my head
Lay down with me
Tell me no lies
Just hold me close
Don´t patronize
Don´t patronize me

´Cause I can´t make you love me if you don´t
You can´t make your heart feel something it won´t
Here in the dark, these final hours
I will lay down my heart
And I'll feel the power
But you won´t
No you won´t

Someone's gonna love me
:=]