Issues at Sonic Boom's 4th Anniversary

I wasn't even planning on going in the first place. Yet my cousin successfully dragged me to WhiteSpace Makati with hopes another epic night much like what happened to the 2nd (Rico Blanco's first ever solo gig) and 3rd (Sheila and the Insects' reunion) anniversaries -- I wasn't there for the 1st one.

I also had hopes of changing my opinion about Franco, a "super" band fronted by Franco Reyes. I say super band cause they're made up of 2 Urbandubs including frontman Gabby Alipe, Parokya ni Edgar's Buwi Meneses, Queso's 8 Toleran, and of course Franco himself. I also used quotation marks cause after hearing their album, I honestly thought they could've done better (or could they).

Franco has 3 guitarists and they never fully utilized them. All you hear is a bunch of over distorted guitars on top of each other and minimal guitar riffs. I'm not a music genius or anything, but I know great guitar playing when I hear it. And mediocre guitars from 3 guitarists who come from 3 separately successful bands is just not acceptable.

My cousin probably gave me the best excuse so far, baka minadali kasi yung recording kaya ganon. At some level, I believe him. The recording process is very tedious and hard. I know this because I recorded a song with a professional friend of mine, and it was no joke. I mean, I only did the vocal parts and it still took a lot from me. However, for 5 very experienced music veterans, I don't care if you've had time constraints, you should've been able to produce a great guitar solo during the writing process.

Anyway, that's just me bitching and moaning cause I'm really disappointed and a bunch of my friends really like them. Which is cool, cause we're allowed to have our own music preferences and whatnot.

I can't believe I just used 4 paragraphs to explain why I don't like Franco. Moving on...


Here are my other issues, in bullet form:

• It's in WhiteSpace. Too far.
• No Nictynasty, which is one of the really underrated local bands.
• Paolo Valenciano cut off his 'fro. What, is he trying to look pogi? Cause he already was with the 'fro and all. Lol.
• Marc Abaya is becoming a really big douche with the way he performs. Not saying he's a douche, only when he performs. Sobrang rockstar niya, ok.
• Taken by Cars is losing their mojo. People were literally sitting down during their set. How disappointing was that for them?
• Typecast's played a half-hearted set. I still love 'em though.

My last legitimate beef, is that nothing special happened that night. Last year, I discovered a nice, down-to-earth, Singaporean post-hardcore band (A Vacant Affair) which triggered my desire to move to the mighty mighty SG. I think 3 foreign bands played last year, plus a tear-jerking reunion set Sheila and the Insects. Two years before that, Rico Blanco's first solo gig gave me the chills. This year, this year was mediocre at best. They didn't even have Faspitch.

I wouldn't leave you without highlights:

• My friend Jewel was one of the two hosts and she was amazing. There were technical difficulties at some point in the middle of the event (the other stage wasn't working), and no dead air in between. Which made me realize that hosting these events is much like improv.
• The Line Divides set was amazing. Their singer is how every singer should perform. Also, they were flying to Davao after the event for another event. Now, that's what I call lagare.
• Salamin also had a nice set.
• My friend Goldie was there. She was so pretty that night. Too bad she has a boyfriend lol.
• My cousin introduced me to this really hot model friend of hers. Hot hot hot. My only words.

In retrospect, if my cousin, whom I haven't seen in a year, wasn't going, I probably wouldn't have gone as well. I'd have been at Last Home for another friend's birthday gig, or at Cubao X. However, my only regret was wasting 500 bucks for it.

A Mark Zuckerberg Post

(Dude, this is Blogspot. What are you doing writing LiveJournal titles?)

As many already know, Mark Zuckerberg is Facebook's creator, owner, and whatever-it-is-as-long-as-the-word-facebook-is-in-it-thats-him.

I recently learned, though, that he recently made himself un-blockable on his site.

What a douche.

So, I Facebook-searched him with the hopes of adding him or just find out for myself that he can't be blocked. Turns out, he can't be added either.

Seriously, Zuck? Seriously?

Since I can't do much about it, I just examined his profile. So, like everyone else, I go to his photos first.

What a self-centered b-tch. Random Press photos? Who manages his Facebook account, his mother? Believe me, only mothers, and to a small extent, fathers, takes clippings of his son's press photos. I know this cause it kinda happened to me. Back when I was hosting a children's show, my parents, when they'd introduce me to somebody, would tell these folks that I'm hosting X show and doing Y thing. It was crazy.

***Funny how the way they express that they're proud of you, is also the most embarrassing thing they do. Don't worry, they don't read this. Lol.

Next: About Me

Dear Zuck, your bio sounds like a mission/vision statement. Also, if the word bio means life, does this mean you're trying to make every thing public? Are you trying to uncover the secrets of the White House?

***President Clinton: Just had amazing head from Nicky. Lol.

And now that you've launched Facebook places, the world seems to be getting smaller and smaller, Zuck.

You know what my theory is? My theory is that Zuck is trying to get revenge from the people who've rejected him during his formative years. You know, jocks, cheerleaders, every cute girl ever, and he just wants them to know how successful he is right now. So he's using whatever information former-highschool-crush-who-didn't-want-to-go-out-with-him-cause-he's-a-geek puts in her Facebook to his advantage. Like if she has kids, he kidnaps them. Or if captain-of-the-football-team-who-humiliated-him-in-front-of-everybody ever goes to work (at the gasoline station), he sends in his Facebook goons to beat the guy up to a lump.

I bet that's what's happening here. Cause, hey, if I manage to turn a college thesis into a global success, I'd do it. I'd rub it on everybody-from-my-highschool's face. It's revenge of the nerds, billions of dollars edition.

P.S. Mark Zuckerberg, if you've accidentally stumbled upon this site after your mother sends you the link after googling your name, please know that this is just fun. Nothing serious. I love Facebook (cause I'm totally doing every thing in that paragraph). Please don't kick me out of the internet.

The Moment Everything Stopped and Continued in Slow Motion

Tumigil ang buhay. Parang slomo, makulay.


Arguably my favorite lyrics ever, by one of my favorite local indie acts, Ang Bandang Shirley.

It's hard to keep chasing something that don't want to be chased. Think of it like a dog chasing a mechanical rabbit. The dog, well, he just wants to catch that rabbit. I don't care what it wants to do with the rabbit, but you can really see the determination the dog has for the rabbit. The rabbit, meanwhile, is mechanical, thus, don't feel anything, except where the control takes it.

While I learned this a few years ago, I'm gonna tell you a story, about how the world stops, turns upside down, goes in slow motion, and finally decides to go back to the speed of things, leaving you with a mild concussion. Actually, I'm gonna tell you a story of when this happened to me. Which is why those lyrics have become so dear to me.

It was noon. A lot of people going to and fro and I was one of them. There I was, my mind wandering with my feet, like a bottle floating in the sea, I didn't mind where the current takes me. Anyway, while I was staring blankly to a sea of people, a proverbial lady in red appeared out of nowhere. And just like in The Matrix, Morpheus (my attention) called me out for wondering about the lady and when I looked again, Agent Smith (shock, awe, whatever) is pointing a gun at me, as time froze.

And I wondered: was it really her? Somebody I haven't seen in months, but still manage to catch my attention even with the last strand of hair? It was her. Oh my dear crap she's so pretty. So, do I chase her and have small talk? IT REALLY IS HER! WHAT TO DO? WHAT TO DO?

After about 8 seconds of standing in the middle of a crowd, I find myself some place else like I was narcoleptic or something. It was really weird, what happened.

Alas, a few months later, I learn she's a lesbian and dating another girl. They're pretty serious right now, so there's really nothing much I can do about it but to accept and let it go and keep walking in a sea of blurred out people until I find another woman in a red dress.

*sighs*

Vacation Week

The past week in bullets:

• Monday - did nothing.
• Tuesday - did nothing
• Wednesday - watched Mad Men. Did nothing
• Thursday - played badminton with my youngest brother under the rain. Stayed there maybe for an hour and finally sighed, "I'm too old for this shit."
• Friday - this day deserves sub-bullets
• Met up with my high school teacher and classmates
• Realized once more that I've changed a lot.
• Brought a striped hoodie out of impulse; seriously, never do that.
• Met my bestfriend's wife. Meh.
• Saw his son's pictures. Yeah!
• Had dinner with other highschool batch mates. I wasn't surprised at all that they all own motor bikes. My bestfriend didn't like the idea of me getting a vintage scooter. She thinks it's stupid making me realize again how much I've changed.
• Went back home to Cubao and arrived at around 12am -- an hour before my friend's farewell party in my former office.
• I took a nap, and missed it by 4 hours.
• Saturday - well the last two bullets were on a Saturday.
• Saturday night - one of the best nights ever!
• Sunday
• swore to clean my room.
• I didn't do it. Instead, watched some more Mad Men until I caught up with the current season.
• Cheered Don Draper.
• Wished the week didn't end cause I'm going back to work on Monday.

Charles, the Happy Fan

On my way home from Tapsi ni Vivian last night, I kept thinking about how I was going to write about the events of the epic epic night. The night has been marked in my calendar since I first saw this poster and have been looking forward to it like a spoiled brat waiting for Christmas.

Anyway, the bottom line is, I can't put anything to words. Amazing would be an understatement so I'll just post some pictures.

If there is one thing I really love about Ciudad, it's that they never changed since day 1. Their first single gets on top of the charts, they're still the same. 10 years later, they still set up their own gear, add you on Facebook instead of sending you a message to like their fan page instead, and since that album is no longer available, they burn copies and give them out for free. I think I just described what an Indie band is.

Why I Don't Have a Child Yet

Charles Dumaraos, 2009

Why don't I have a child yet?

I'm 25 years old

and I still don't have those little bundles of joy

40% of my old classmates have at least one

braggig their moments, stories, and pictures

while I have none

My mother has been going crazy on me

Pressuring me to get her a grandchild

But all I can do is smile and try to ignore her

because right at this moment, i'm thinking-

this idea is wild!

Sure, babies are cute

Until you wake up 2 in the morning

and clean up their poop

Crying tirelessly like there's no tomorrow

By the end of the night, you wish there's

Somebody's time you can borrow

Then on Saturday and Friday nights

You can't go away

To party, get drunk, have fun and play

Because of your little darling who

Can't feed itself and will probably pee itself

you need to stay

And now you wish you had a condom when you got laid

after 3 or 4 years, somehow, you get past that

by now, you're praying this child won't turn into a brat

because this toddler will ask for everything

from barbie dolls to spiderman action figures

all harry potter books and stephenie meyer releases

an annual party and inflated allowance daily

and everything they don't have

that their classmates do maybe

such a pain in the rear, these children are

when you travel by commute

or even when you have a car

it's like two pet mice

got out of their cage

and you're trying to put em back on the leash

to shut down the chaos and rage

when they grow up tp be adolescents

full of angst and rebelious thinking

reminds you of yourself, when you were a teen

but probably a lot mellower or maybe the other way

you also won't know what they're up to

despite the internet superhighway

thinkin bout drugs and sex and crume and such

they might end up using a crutch

and that's not all, it's not all

if somehow you keep them off these bad things

you still need to worry about the direction and path they'll take in life

what are they good at?

what could they be?

where could they enlist?

be a doctor, a teacher or a scientis?

or maybe the worst profession of all,

become a non-profiting kind of artist

and your job as a parent doesn't really end after they graduate

or when they have a career of finiding guys, for a fee, to felate

you need to keep supporting them

and teaching them

until the day you die

cause you want to make sure on your funeral

somebody will at least cry

anyway, you probably think i'm selfish

a pessismist and my reasons are all absurd

i just don't like the idea of bringing an infant into this world

a world of pollution, corruptness

and war and hatred

a world where crume is happening

right in our basements?

a world without cory, jacko or freshly squeezed lemonade

a world of peer pressure, hipocrisy, and electrolit powerade

so right now, i'd rather live by myself and die alone

without anybody to see whenever i go home

but at least i'm doing the world a favor

and i hope that everybody realizes and see

that i didn't have a child because i don't another one of me

Everyday Drive

This Sheila and the Insects song will forever be etched in my mind and my heart. I will tell you why exactly.

It all started when I was on my way to work, on my last day there (Thursday). I restively woke up in the bus a few seconds before my stop. I promptly got up from my warm seat, and walked the isle that lead to the bus door, wobbly. While I was standing there, waiting for the bus to stop, I felt a man behind me, so I instinctively frisked my hind pocket to see if my wallet was still there.

"It's still there. Nothing to worry about." I claimed to myself.

As I stepped down the foot of the bus, the music stopped. "Coming home one day I'd have to go, like everyday" ended. Yes, Everyday Drive was the last song I heard on my iPod.

Apparently, the guy behind me swiftly took my iPod while I was stepping down. Professionals. Basta, a professional pick-pocket jobbed me, and that's all I'm gonna say about this incident. It's really too hard and too painful to talk about it. This iPod was the thing I bought for my very first bonus check and I thought I was gonna have it for the rest of my life. Well, maybe my life ended that day.

Fast forward to Saturday: the Sheila and the Insects in Manila gig. After an emotional, 8-song set, Sheila played Everyday Drive. While I was singing and dancing to the song, I'm thinking about Karla. I'm thinking how my rhetorical future offspring could inherit this from me and learn how awesome their dad's music taste is. I'm thinking about the countless times it has accompanied me during lonely travel times to the office or everywhere else. I'm thinking about the times when I study music for a song idea. I'm thinking about all those times while Everyday Drive was being performed.

Anyway, I'd like to think that I made a family happy that night. Somebody brought home the bacon. Somebody's stomach got filled with cheap pancit. Somebody's debt got fractionally paid. Somebody didn't have to worry about rent.

This is how I'll remember Everyday Drive for the rest of my life.

P.S.
After the show, I got to hang out with the band. Bisoy (Orven, the singer) told me that they weren't full-time musicians anymore and they crammed 3 hours of re-learning their songs and how my video helped them. Ian (the lead guitarist) who was really drunk, started comparing the letters to Cubao and Cebu. Jai (the drummer) who answers "ho!" (Jai-ho, get it?) every time his name is called. Sorry Gaizka and Marty, you guys should have stayed a while longer.