Aptly titled The Reunion, the Eraserheads’ concert at The Fort Open Field last Saturday was an experience of intense nostalgia – the good and bad times, times when you got silly drunk singing “Pare Ko,” your high school and college girlfriend/boyfriend, learning to play the guitar for the first time, those crazy road trips while playing “Overdrive” and a lot more.

The importance of the Eraserheads in the Philippine music industry can only be understated. To many, they are the most significant Filipino band ever. While my knowledge of Filipino music is limited to those that I got to hear (a tad of 70’s, the 80’s to present), this much I can tell you: Eraserheads was my generation’s voice. Of all the Pinoy music acts that have come and gone, it’s only Eraserheads that I can say was spot on in speaking of my youth! The rest were off by a huge mile.

Eraserheads’ music was Pinoy through and through minus the dramatics that Pinoy music seems to get saddled with by default. And like I told Marcus as we walked back to the parking lot: We may not yet fully understand how great the Eraserheads is coz we were part of their music and we’re part of that generation which they represented. The next generation will be the ones who will get to fully understand their greatness. But we, we are the ones who will have the stories to tell of each of their songs.

Most of the Eraserheads’ fans comprise of the young professional workforce who during the early 90s were in high school struggling to find their place in the world and in most cases afraid of what the world has to offer them. Like a time machine, the concert transported me to those times of fear and confusion peppered with zits and a pathetic fashion sense. Many years after, having transformed into a corporate drone, I find myself listening to the same music and telling myself, “Holy f*ck, this feels so unbelievably good!”

The last time I saw the band live was during those times when small talk in between songs was something that they reluctantly and awkwardly did. Those times, Ely’s vocals was borderline whiney, pitchy and sometimes off-key. That night though, it felt as though I saw them in their best form. The guitar works, the drums, the vocals – everything was just on the spot.

We missed the first three songs but not without a purpose. While we squeezed ourselves in the mad sea of crowd, the band burst into “Hey Jay,” to which I turn to Marcus and say, “Geezuz! They’re singing my song!” We snickered.

And then, the rest of the night was bliss. 1. Alapaap 2. Ligaya 3. Sembreak 4. Hey Jay 5. Harana 6. Fruitcake 7. Toyang 8. Kama Supra 9. Kailan 10. Wag Kang Matakot 11. Kaliwete 12. With A Smile 13. Shake Yer Head 14. Huwag Mo Nang Itanong Sa Akin. (15. Lightyears, too but can’t remember which part)

With a fist raised high I found myself singing along with the band and surprising myself that I still knew the lyrics to each of the songs they played. It felt so frikkin good, I almost burst into tears when they sang “With A Smile” remembering my college girlfriend and how I played the guitar for her while singing this song.

By the time they played “Huwag Mo Nang Itanong Sa Akin,” I was so pumped that I was literally screaming for more of the hits of my youth: Pare Ko, Magasin, Huling El Bimbo and Minsan. Alas, they put out a 20 minute countdown screen signaling the end of the first set. After the 20 minutes have transpired, which felt like forever, Buddy came up on stage with Ely’s sister Lally who read a statement saying that Ely had to be rushed to the hospital due to fatigue and stress. Last year Ely had to undergo an angioplasty procedure and two days before the concert he lost his mother to heart failure. Compounded by the physical stress from the rehearsals, Ely experienced chest pains after having done 15 straight songs.

I guess that’s how things really are: sometimes we can never have too much of a great thing. The greatest trip down memory lane took all of 15 songs – enough to remind us that there’s more to look forward to and as we go along, we will always have Eraserheads’ songs to remind us that once upon a time we were just kids playing the guitar in the footsteps of some high school somewhere.

Postscript:

On the way to Cuisine for a few drinks:

L: Dude, that’s like total rockstar drama! Imagine, collapsing or dying in your own reunion concert!
M: I know! If he’s gonna go, this is probably the best time for him to go. Right smack in the middle of his own concert!
L: Morbid, but I hear ya! I don’t understand, he’s too young to be this unhealthy, man!
M: It’s lifestyle, dude. That’s some wake up call for everyone. It’s funny how this concert seems to be like the story of my life, too: Full of promise, but always falling short of expectations.
L: Or in my case, being in a seemingly good place but not really coz there’s too many wrong things inside. Hmmm, let’s go get some drinks!

Ely’s fine and is now under observation. Photos courtesy of Kim.

10 Thoughts after Hubad

1. (After the screening…) Why are all these people applauding this movie?

2. Hubad? Idea of honesty and taking off your masks. Oh wow, how original.

3. Did we really have to see Peque’s ass?

4. Nice bed scene with the 2 couples making synchonized bed movements. Asleep.

5. Did the camera work need to be all too gulo just coz it’s “indie”?

6. The dialogues. The dialogues were just too much. Even for me.

7. I wonder if Martin’s “My Fake American Accent” is any good.

8. Nice to see the CCP again.

9. I’m starving.

10. Jessica Zafra needs to see Philippe Tordjman.

Had a great Saturday. Started Friday evening — Sat am technically with some Jack D’s at Jack’s Loft with the I-Team. It was someone’s birthday but the celebrant didn’t show up. How weird is that? Noontime went to meet up with C, J and K at Dencio’s for a few drinks and then BSA Suites for more inuman at B’s place with cuz U, A, J and S. Finally talking with S again. It’s about tiiime! Alcohol again and noontime partying ghad! But been behaving well naman, teehee!

After Makati went off to my place with J and A. Such sweet friends, for watching over me. Thanks for the water and chewy chewy! Partied till about midnight then heaaded over for some comedy thing in a place that shall remain unnamed. Hehe! Met D, AD, M, M2, A2 and a lot more. Oh met H, too! Teehee! Somebody send me over the pictures!

Headed back to my pad for some more Vodka. AYLABBIT! Good times with friends. Ahhh what relief!

This afternoon will see the Cinemalaya films in CCP. Thanks C for the tip! Parties and Culture! Hmm, looks like I am back to the grind again finally! Lovin it much!

Well this afternoon I forgot my lighter. So while walking along Eastwood I was frantically looking for smokers to perhaps borrow a light from. From a distance I saw a lady holding her hand in front of her face, and I thought: here’s a smoker!

When I approached her, she wasn’t holding a cigarette. Instead she had her thumb against her index finger and was seemingly making a round motion.

Pucha, kala ko nagyoyosi, nangungulangot pala! And that thing she was playing with her thumb and index finger was a binilog na kulangot. Gross!

Once again, I’ve outdone myself. Last Sunday night I completed the Wimbledon men’s singles final by LISTENING, yes LISTENING to the entire match.

On Saturday night, an Indian channel was showing the ladies’ singles final so I assumed that if they will show that, then there’s no reason why they wouldn’t show the men’s singles final on Sunday. (I only have Destiny cable in my building and Star Sports is a “Premium Channel” so I get scrambled signal.)

But come Sunday night, they were showing cricket THE WHOLE TIME. Too late to go to Makati. So I closed my eyes and listened to the balls being hit. Come to think of it, based only on the grunts, sound of the balls flying off the players’ rackets, and crowd cheering I can tell the exact score ahead of the umpire announcing it.

And the nerves that I have? Oh, wow! Never been so nervous listening to a tennis match. If last year I was smoking a cigarette every time Rafa would serve, this year I was regulating my breathing pattern — exhale only when Roger is hitting the ball to reinforce the power of his shots and inhale when Rafa is hitting the ball so suck the power in his shots.

It didn’t work. Rafa won. But that was a glorious match — as far as I can hear. Could have potentially given me a coronary if I’d seen it. No difficult feelings for me. Rafa deserved it. And kudos to both for a classic match that we shall forever go back to and watch on DVD. The scoreline says it all 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7.

I might have to see my doctor though coz I’m afraid that I may have caused permanent damage to my breathing. Darn!

You are most like Prometheus, and you probably knew that before you even took this test. You probably aren’t deliberately altruistic, but you still tend to do things that benefit everyone, even at great expense to your health and personal relationships. You aren’t ruled by your emotions, but you still have a strong sense of justice. You make good descisions, but they can sometimes backfire (and this isn’t due to a flaw in your reasoning, but due to faulty premises instead).

You are very reasonable, you understand systems, you can quickly pinpoint flaws and you know how to correct them. You pride understanding and knowledge above everything else, and your greatest fear is to appear to be incompetent. You tend to be contemptuous of authority, but you don’t accept leadership roles yourself until everyone else has demonstrated their own incompetence.

You’ve built a very specific skill set. You know exactly where your strengths and weaknesses are, and you pride yourself on this kind of self-knowledge. You distrust tradition, which you see as arbitrary, and you rely instead on your own judgements. You also pride yourself on your pragmatism. You’re also a very private person.

Most of all, people think you’re arrogant, but screw them! They’re the ones who benefit from your ideas and discoveries, and if they took the time to understand why it is that you say and think the things you do, they’d realize that you only appear arrogant because you are exactingly precise when it comes to your area of specification, and most of all because, when you don’t know something, you don’t have an opinion about it (unlike most of the loudmouths that you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis).

Relationships are your kryptonite. It isn’t that you don’t want them — in fact, you would very much like a very close relationship with someone who understands you. They’re just the one thing in the world that you’re naturally bad at.

Famous people like you: Niels Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Werner Heisenberg, Issac Newton, John Maynard Keynes, Erwin Schrodinger
Stay Clear of: Apollo, Icarus, Hermes, Aphrodite
Seek out: Atlas, The Oracle, Daedalus

==========

http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-greek-mythology-personality-test

from Cliff’s

I always seem to associate Bill Pullman with the 4th of July, that’s perhaps because I have been harboring this theory that we were really first freed by extra terrestrials before any of those shitty colonial wars happened.

But there are many other things that I associate with the 4th of July. For example, there always seems to be a lot of interesting Wimbledon matches during this day. Last night, there was Roger Federer’s clinical demolition of the consistently fascinating Marat Safin and Rafa Nadal’s win over Schuettler. It will be Federer and Nadal again in the final for the 3rd straight year.

But going back, there’s also the holiday that comes along with it. Which is mostly spent at the beach. Bear with me while I try to make a horribly contrived “relevant” post.

Ok, I give up.

Last night I dragged M with me along Eastwood in search for a bar that has Star Sports. I love my new place to bits but I hate the fact that my building only has Destiny cable which doesn’t carry any of the Star channels. Going back, after all the walking, we ended up at Gweilos to see the last point of the Federer-Safin semifinal. Now the problem: Sunday would be the finals. Either I head all the way to Makati to see it or hope that Gweilos is open on Sundays and M had already warned me that some of the bars are closed on Sundays. Why am I stressing over this? Well, just coz.

On a side note, we caught 6Cycle Mind and had a chat with Darwin (their manager) and found out that the reason Tutti wasn’t there was coz he is getting married today. Congrats Tutti! You’re famous now, I only get to see you on MTV and well there was that time I saw you at the airport on your way to Bora in one of my business trips to Cebu. We should hang soon. Ria insists! Hehe!

And again we go back, moving here in Eastwood was a tough decision coz it’s too far from the comforts of being in Makati. It does mean however, that I’d cut down hours of travel time everyday which is a big thing considering that I am now officially a carless indio commuter. Must really get a new car soon before a total degeneration happens.

Oh let’s discuss commuting. A few weeks ago I found myself inside a police wagon coz of freakin smoking in a cab. Horrors! Was in total panic with all the wang-wang shit and getting pulled over and asked to go the fuckin police station. I know it was not allowed in Makati to smoke in a car and shit but heck, I thought that was a bit of an overkill to actually have me ride their scary wagon along with four other policemen. Martial Law much? In the end they gave me a ticket which they could have done without traumatizing me to the ends of the earth. Lesson learned: commuting can really suck marrows sometimes. Teehee!

And along the lowlife experiences I had the past few, I just have to mention that I actually walked through flood water because of peer pressure. Aaaack! The grossest thing, I swear!!!

On the other hand, when you’ve got a Melrose Place kinda circle it’s realy hard to say no.

Picture this: S and P are bestbuddies. S loves J. S is with D. J seems to be fallin for S. P gets jiggy with J. And then P gets jiggy with S, too. P hates D. J supports S and D. P screws A. A bitches that J knew about it. P plays with U. U is cousins with B. G likes B but B is playing with L whom P also kinda got jiggy with.

Shoutout to C (Grace if you may), miss you hun and I know I promised we’ll go out of town again soon. But this kid has been busy much the past few.

Live it! Live it out loud!

Happy 4th of July. Will try to blog more soon! Apologies for an outright incoherent post.

I read this article last week that suggests that AI is rigged. And that the producers are prompting judges to diss particular contestants to lead to a sensational David vs David finale.

Well what do you know, Paula Abdul could have been really drunk or was caught getting confused with the notes that the producers passed on to her. Watch the clip to understand what I am saying. But this whole judges’ blabber has just lost a lot of credibility.

I suspect that they have been trying to take Jason out of the competition coz if Jason gets to the top 3, boy, he could very well be a darkhorse and get in the way of a David vs. David finale. So maybe they want Brooke to be in the top 3 where they would make sure she screws up like never before to ensure a David vs. David finale.

I really thought that Jason’s songs tonight were good. But the judges were all blech to him.

Here’s the suspicious clip:

So I stayed true to my promise that I won’t spend even a second being online on Sunday. I’m writing this a few minutes before 1 am on a Monday just to make a quick wrap of what I had done on one of my less sedentary Sundays.

Charlie Rose — I have discovered Charlie Rose’s interviews late last year when I was looking for old interviews of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in YouTube. There are loads of Charlie Rose interviews in YouTube and most of them are full length uploads so that’s some nice treat in itself. What I found most impressive is how Mr. Rose is genuinely interested in the people he talks to. And he seems to have an affinity to people whose work, profession or careers I sincerely admire. For quite some time now I have saved some of the interviews but haven’t had the chance to really watch them. Some of the interviews I’ve seen Sunday were of:

* John Grisham — as a teenage fan then, I never really thought I’d see him in an interview. I’ve always thought that he was a reclusive writer and never really knew much about him as a person other than from whatever I could get with how he wrote his books. During that time the internet was not readily available even to do research on him online so it was a real treat to see how he speaks — he has a distinctly southern accent and he grew up in Arkansas pala. He was talking about his first non fiction work and I kinda sensed what a real neat person he is. I first thought he seemed like a republican until I saw a clip of him announcing his support for Hillary. Anyway, I should get that book about a wrongfully accused man who was sentenced to life and was later on found not guilty but all in his life had been lost already because of how the US legal system works.

* Ang Lee — made during the height of Brokeback Mountain’s release. He really seemed like a shy and reserved person or perhaps guarded is the more appropriate word. I just didn’t feel he was able to really let loose with Charlie during the whole interview. They talked about Hulk, his frustrations (he seemed a bit defensive about the whole Hulk project although you can tell he didn’t particularly feel proud of the outcome.) Second half of the show was with…

* Heath Ledger — three words: what a loss! Heath seemed like a really intense actor whose career’s longevity could have rivaled that of Tom Hanks’s.

* Ian McEwan — it was almost a vicarious experience when I imagined that I was Charlie Rose asking those questions. Let me paraphrase a line from Catcher in the Rye, you know that feeling when you had just read a really splendid book and you wished that the author was terrific friend of yours?… Ah, I just wished that I’d be able to sit with him and interview him so it kinda works too that Charlie Rose was asking the questions that I would have asked. It was apparent that Mr. Rose was also a fan of Ian McEwan’s. There are three episodes with him on the show but I watched the one where he was talking about Atonement.

* Anthony Minghella — 2 episodes. For Cold Mountain (with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law — who seemed bobo) and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Now I admire Anthony Minghella’s work after seeing The English Patient. His adaptation of Michael Ondatjee’s Booker Prize winning novel was just AMAZING! What I discovered during the interview was that he seemed like he was a fun person to hang with plus he spoke very well and he is no doubt very intelligent and adores his craft.

* Leonardo DiCaprio — from whom I got the phrase “profound waste of time” which I laughed at realizing how guilty I am of that a lot of times. This interview was done during the promotion of Aviator. Filmmaker na rin pala sya na ma co-consider! He was executive producer of the movie and he seemed really devoted to filmmaking and has a real relationship with Martin Scorsese — another director that I admire!

For fans of Mariah Carey’s there is also an interview with her during her “Rainbow” promo pre nervous breakdown time. I also got to see interviews of George Michael’s and Robbie Williams‘ albeit non Charlie Rose. I now declare myself a fan of both no matter how f*cked up their lives seemed. Their music are just great! English musicians R-O-C-K!

And then I also watched Annie Hall on DVD. Man, you just gotta love Woody Allen’s work. Timeless talaga and yet another love story set in New York that I fell in love with. See, I’ve always maintained that New York is the center of the universe of romance.

I also re-read parts of Atonement and also T.S. Eliot’s Waste Land. Love it! I also love of course re-reading The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and man, I can do a neat reading of that but I preserve that during the first post union nights with my real special someones! But that book of mine is now with an ex-lover though.

Roger also seemed to be back in form although he lost to Rafa in the finals! All in all not too shabby for a Sunday. Spent just the way I would have always wanted. I guess this is where I really thrive and where I feel most comfortable in. I loved this Sunday!

Now this was some diversion from a sucky day. Bless YouTube and whoever posted this.