Video Capture Pictures

the video caps from Pasig Bistro's Jam



I like video captures since it gives me that picture that would otherwise be difficult to capture in a still camera, although the resolution sucks, well it's much like my music's resolution so everything is well matched.



long time friend and fellow musician Jun San Pedro is ageless as far as playing the guitar is concerned. He is a partner in Pasig Bistro and takes care of the band line up for the club as well as plays awesome guitar for the Black Boys.

I met Jun SP through our Marginals keyboardist Tony Robles and he was the one who introduced me to Jun Domingo. We formed a jam group named Roadhouse, a Saturday jam and drink session group where I played drums. We eventually took to the road for a short while and eventually split up.

Jun and I played a gig with only the two of us in 2001 at the time when I was midi crazy which allowed us to experiment with computers and the advantages that the new tech allowed us. Prior to this, Jun invited me to be part of Nueve de Sais, a group managed by Heber Bartolome and was lined with some of the most talented players in the industry like the late Flor Mendoza (drummer for the Jerks), Gerry Torre, a damn good saxophonist or any instrument that runs on air for that matter, famed Nosi Balasi composer Henry Cabatingo on bass, Jun SP on guitars while I did the shouting and the lousy guitar parts.

I consider myself lucky that I've not made a career out of music, meaning that I don't rely on it for my needs. That basically means that I have more freedom to play what I want and play when I want, or when my schedule allows...

bass guitarist Ding Salvador used to play with Emil Sanglay of PENPEN fame and I met him through Jun San Pedro. On the other hand, I've known drummer Aji Adriano since the late 80's. A percussion teacher at Yamaha School of Music for twelve years and drummer for WUDS. We used to see each other when our bands would perform together at the old Club Dredd, Scout Tobias in QC formerly known as Red Rocks or at Mayric's Folk House along España Street in Manila plus some out of town gigs

another one day trip

I wasn't really that enthusiastic about this trip the Chairman scheduled for Cebu. In the first place, the root cause of the trip was the same problem I earlier blogged about that almost cost one of the managers his livelihood. And since I had marketing activities scheduled for the latter part of the week, I felt that I did not have the energy to spend a night in Cebu. But as the Chairman puts it, my presence is supposedly important to facilitate a better discussion over some issues in the branch. And for that, he made me promise to everyone that I would make myself available for a couple of days every month for a branch visit and bonding session.

I must admit that I did miss the people there since I use to spend a lot of time in the branch and i did have to explain the state of affairs of the company to the Cebu-based employees. So these days, I will be looking forward to my Cebu trips... bonding and drinking sessions with the staff and a slow re-incorporation of the branch into the mainstream corporate culture of the company.

jam night @ pasig bistro

It was a Saturday and I just came from a batch meeting, as I was heading back to the office, our old guitarist from roadhouse days Jun San Pedro calls up and tells me that there's a newly opened bar and ajmming place in Pasig. So I committed for a visit and a jam. Aji Adriano, drummer for the WUDS was there for the gig and bassist Ding Salvador of PENPEN was also there.

it was a pretty cool place with a wide LCD TV showing oldies rock and remakes and it felt a bit out of my genre but it was all together a great jam for me, having missed playing with seasoned players.

I was always introduced by Jun as "batch '84" since most of the patrons, as well as the owners were from Batch '71 to '73. What I most liked about the place was that there was no conservation in sound volume... the place was quite loud and I thought that heck, I hope that I would be as cool as these guys if ever I do reach their age.

Childhood memories

Yesterday was the feast day of Sta. Martha, my hometown’s sub-patron saint (?), since we are still called San Roque Parish. But I heard that yesterday’s celebration marked the so called changing of parish name to officially make Sta. Martha the patron saint of the town.

It is the first town fiesta since my present employment that I’ve actually stayed in town, since we do have work on Sundays and the fiesta always falls on a Sunday. This year, I simply decided to stay at home and be with my relatives and friends on this day. Seven years of absence from a family gathering is simply too long a time, so I asked my best friend and my driver to drink with us yesterday.

The previous years, we’d have to wake up early and prepare so that we can inch our way out of town before the procession starts in the morning, and made sure that we stayed out late so that the roads would have been cleared by the time we got back to town.

The day started with a late lunch at my “Ale’s” (the one person who acted as my second mother and later my mother since nanay's death in 1994) house with my favorites “calderetang itik” and “luto sa pinyang manok”. The drinking was the same simple gathering at the “dirty” kitchen area as the kids played. My son of course was the most active of the lot and it reminded me of the opposite of myself when I was his age. I was shy, I was fearful of everything and I was frail.

I guess maybe my driver having only been with me for a little over a month, was quite amazed listening to stories my cousins were telling about me in my early years and how quite unthinkable that I have become what I am today. I was admittedly quite elated and embarrassed at the same time…

I am starting to miss my town… I haven’t been “here” for the longest time as I have “lived” somewhere else making a career and a life for myself.

The devotees dance along M. Almeda Street en route to barrio Aguho for Sta Marta's festivities in July 1969.

included in the book of Regalado "Ricky" T. Jose, "SIMBAHAN", (1991) p. 16 The devotees sways the pandango, a dance of devotion to Sta Marta during her festivities in July 1969 in Barrio Aguho, Pateros, Rizal ( photo collection of the Ayala Museum)

the 2008 Town Fiesta

Remembering Tracy Chapman

there was a time when i went gugu over Tracy Chapman. Her first album was simply GGGRREATT! and i always thought that she was a guy. those were the days when buying a cassette album was a luxury i could only afford if i skipped meals.

the 2nd Amazing Show Golf Tournament

It's a BIRDIE!!!! 70++ competitors, lot of prizes, good fairway. I must admit, it must have been the best golf day of my life. Not because my score was good, of course it was still shit, but because it was just fun. I was in the same flight as the chairman, his son, and my admin director. Now I seem to owe everyone for drinks to celebrate my first ever birdie on the field. 1 on, 1 put! yeahhh!!! I was so happy I could have passed out!

P.S. thanks to the management of Royal Northwoods for the venue, the good food and the good service. I lost my wedding ring last time I played there and it was returned to me immediately by one of the staff. I left my video cam in my cart, and that was promptly returned as well even before I noticed it was missing.

Why I even bother…

There are some things in life that advertently reflects on the amount of perseverance a person has over the desire to come to a conclusive point of harmony. My former boss always speaks of that beautiful word “harmony”. Ah… that magical word that surmises the relationship between life and a certain state that we may perhaps call happiness. That delicate balance between people and the world around them… an equilibrium of some sorts where a conformed co-existence allows one to both give and take…

So what the fuck am I really taking about…?

Simple case in point; one, it does not exist. No matter the amount of argument based on reason, fact is that harmony only exists because a certain amount of effort is put into the achievement of such state. Therefore, that amount of effort is tantamount to “work” and is therefore concluded as part of your daily stream of just coping.

I believe that real harmony is effortless. Of course that sounds utopian and will be dismissed by many as a whimsical cry from beyond what is achievable so allow me rephrase my earlier statement… I believe that harmony could be achieved with a sensible amount of effort. Sensibility therefore is dictated by an individual’s capacity to judge what is sensible and what is not. In my case, I would like to limit my parameters to what I may judge as “tolerable”. I’ve mentioned in the past that my threshold for pain and suffering is slightly higher than the average… but it does not mean that it is constant. There are good days and there are bad… same applies to all.

So why do I even bother writing something as whimsical and utterly useless a piece of crap as this scribble? It is because this is perhaps the point in my life where I question why I even bother making an effort to achieve harmony in some parts of my life when the effort always turns out to be an exercise in futility...

excerpts from what i wrote november 10, 2008 ... just wanted to record what was on my mind