she will be loved... the very fast jam

let's see if we can get it (speed) right next time around...

MAMAW

we decided to change the lyrics of narda to mamaw to better suit us...

amazing philippine theatre employees' band

jimmy lachica on vocals
casie villarosa on guitars
eugene baroña on bass
alvin estudillo on guitars
gil montano on drums

audio and video tech by santos soriano a.k.a. shanquiao
post production editing by casie villarosa

mamaw (bubble gang remake of a kamikaze song)

evolution

the studio re-patching thing started out as an endeavor after my boss told me that we (the executive management team) should do something a bit wacky this coming christmas party to make the event a tad more fun as well as to boost morale of the employees given this tight economic bench vice we are in. so i got to preparing my studio in my 4th floor office so that we may hit the keys in time for the party.

by accident, as i had to test the patches we made, i needed some players to fill in as band members so that we can preview the studio's direct-to-disk recording capability... from there, i got an idea to involve the staff as well so i told my administration director to assemble people from within the company and let's go make a band for the party representing the spectrum of employees.

so during the first rehearsal, i called everyone in and we didn't know exactly what to play... i'm no big fan of the current local songs but i know that my boys are, so we decided on a familiar tune from kamikaze... narda.

this was the first rehearsal, and the reason i'm posting it is because i want to track the evolution of the "band" and find out if we can sound decent in time for the party... and damn, this first jam was really bad... see for yourself. later, i'll post the 2nd rehearsal we did yesterday and you'll see a remarkable difference as we changed the song from narda to michael v's mamaw...

1st rehearsal... kamikaze's narda

Studio patch testing

so our audio tech finally got to finish the missing cable requirements for the additional patches we were to make so that we can test if the system works. we only had two DI boxes to work with and that means two instruments patched into the console for a direct to disk recording capability. i can only spare two microphones for the drumset because i don't have enough mic stands. nevertheless, i still wanted to test if i could get a decent sounding jam which i would record.

unfotunately there were no players around. my admin director who plays bass was absent, so i ended up calling two engineering services personnel who played drums and bass to do the test with us. and we ended with this jam with no decent ending...

studio test jam

Re-Patching the rehearsal studio

pictures courtesy of my friend anna barrios... thanks for the photos anna!

i think that it'll be fun once again to play with other people. so after some time of neglect, my rehearsal and recording studio at the upstairs office had been re-patched to accommodate band practices. we spent an entire afternoon for this and we found that we were missing a few cables and patching wires. thanks santi (our audio-tech guy).

STING

The best break I’ve had for quite a while.

Seeing old friends… specially those that matters most to you is always a breath of fresh air.

I recently acquired the number of my long lost friend who was like a brother to me and he visited my office last Saturday. To say the least, it was a most pleasant reunion. I am just so happy that he will be part of my life once again after not seeing him for more than 12 years.

Thank you, Sting… for remaining a friend.

noli "sting" cuachon was a classmate from high school but we didn't exactly become friends until we made a band together with common friend carlo valdez when we were in college. sting did the drums, caloy on the bass and i did the shouting and the guitar playing on a band we called insurgency. later on he would be the drummer of the Marginals, my post skalawags band where he played drums on side b of the album. he also wrote some of the most meaningful tracks from the insecurities album.

the two insert pictures were taken the eve of my wedding. i actually spent my last day as a bachelor drinking gin with these guys in my room.

Career suicidal tendencies

Two months ago, I started writing a blog post about a song I was writing about tentatively titled “I’ve learned” about the usual emotional hoola-ballooo sentimental crap of a love gone wrong kind of theme. Of course, most likely as always related to my everyday currently mundane life. I never got to finish that post.

The past few days I’ve spent a lot about thinking a good succession scheme for this company. Perhaps mainly because that I am driving towards my obsolescence… not for anything else except for the fact that I’d want someone to take “sustainable” care of what would be left behind. Unfortunately, at the moment either someone has a plausible amount of care but lacks the capability, or may perhaps has the capability but lacks passionate and sincere care for this company.

I’ve always said that I believed in the “in vino veritas” concept and that is perhaps why I’ve been drinking up to my neck these days… maybe I just want to squeeze the truth out of myself as to what I really want.

Last Friday, I had the chance to drink with some of the employees along with some of my officers and also had a chance to gripe in front of them about the recent occurrences which led to the dismissal of ten employees. It was clear for everyone that it was of their doing but also can’t help the feeling of loss.

We got to drinking until the wee hours of the morning and I came out of it feeling pleasant and alive knowing that I have communicated a lot of points to everyone in attendance. As it turns out, I feel a lot happier hearing their sides as well… something that I haven’t heard for quite a while.

GO BIG or GO HOME

This is a re-print of another blogger's log on business attitude during hard times... I was searching this morning for "sense" as to what this company is doing when i stumbled upon this. It made perfect sense and it represents what I have been saying for the longest time as to why this company is not making it...

Even in a bad economy, one truth about marketing stands: you have to spend more to make more. By Robert Kiyosaki Entrepreneur Magazine - November 2008

A few days ago, I spoke at a luncheon with approximately 500 local business leaders. I began with these words: "I have good news and bad news. The good news is you will have fewer competitors next year because many of your competitors will be out of business. The bad news is you might be one of those out of business."

I then showed them my local newspaper, pointing to the headline "Businesses Are Struggling." I opened the newspaper and said, "I can tell you who will be in business." I pointed to a full-page ad for a local appliance store. "I'll bet money that this business will be here next year. Why? Because this business is advertising more aggressively than its competition."

In previous issues of Entrepreneur, I've written about the importance of advertising and promotion. I've shared my rich dad's lesson that when business drops off, many entrepreneurs listen to their accountant's advice and cut back on advertising and promotion. That's the worst thing you can do. When times get tough, your job is to promote more, not less.

Promotion is a six-week cycle. That means if I promote today, business increases six weeks later. Many businesses violate the six-week cycle. They promote for, say, four weeks, and because nothing happens, they stop. Two weeks later, there's a sudden increase in business. For four weeks, business remains strong. Then, just as suddenly, business drops off, because six weeks earlier, the entrepreneur had stopped promoting.

My rich dad's lesson was to never stop promoting: Promote whether the economy is strong or weak; promote even when you may not have the money. If you have no money, stand on a street corner at lunchtime with a sign hanging around your neck promoting your product or service. Not only will you meet new customers, but you might also save money on lunch, lose some weight and get a suntan.

Obviously, it takes more than just promotion to do well. To be successful, a business also requires strong fundamentals and a desirable product or service. During tough economic times, though, even some good businesses fail; some businesses shrink and others grow. When a business closes, its customers migrate to the business that fights hard and stays open. Businesses that promote while others cut their ad budgets have a better chance of getting bigger . . . even if the economy is shrinking.

______________________
Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad series of books, is an investor, entrepreneur and educator whose perspectives have changed the way people think about money and investing.

AMAZING SHOW CEBU

I recently visited the Amazing Philippine Theatre branch in Cebu for the purpose of video documenting the Cebu Show as well as celebrate our 5th year anniversary there. I have finally finished the editing of the show video and I also came out with the Amazing Show Cebu teaser video... enjoy!

Kumbento Boys '84 Graduation Song Video

Thanks to Sandi Martin for the photos from FLICKR, I was able to update the video and add some more materials. It's a work in progress and it still isn't finished yet since i need more materials to complete this.

Anyway, here's an updated repost for my batchmates.

Pasig Catholic College KB'84 Graduation Song video

file hosting problem...

I'm dying to post all the acoustic remakes I made over the last couple of years in this blog but I unfortunately have not found any file hosting site that accomodates cover versions of songs without issue over property rights...

anyway, not all of the songs are cover versions. I also made songs intentionally ala-scratch pad style and impromptu styles from original compositions recorded earlier... aaahhh.. the beauty of hard-disk recording...

but for now, i'll just post some original songs remade several times by myself.

From my 5th album called "under your shade", the title track performed live by myself and jun san pedro in pasig city perhaps nine years back. Damn Movie Scenes, originally from the same album that I remade into an acoustic song two years ago.

"Ikaw ba ay masaya?" from my album 8th nandito lang ako, which i recorded after downing a bottle and a half of bourbon. "You won't be there" from the same album but from another bottle of Jack Daniels.

As soon as i update my iLike page, i'd post the other remakes as well.

P.S. click on the 2nd play button to hear the music from this page. the 1st song button will bring you outside of this page onto the iLike song page.

• under your shade by casie villarosa

More casie villarosa music on iLike

• damn movie scene by casie villarosa

More casie villarosa music on iLike

• ikaw ba ay masaya? by casie villarosa

More casie villarosa music on iLike

• you won't be there by casie villarosa

More casie villarosa music on iLike

i wish...

I remember the usual question when one was young... when one had his future unknown to himself and to others... I was asked several times, "what do you want to be when you grow up?"... Looking back I should've just said, "I just want to grow up!". Hehehe... but i never did.

Last Tuesday, the Miss Earth Pageant fashion Designers' Show was held at the Manila Film Center as way of our company's contribution to environmental awareness. I'm pretty tired of pageants lately because we've just concluded our very own annual search for Miss Amazing Beauties 2008.

I remember instructing my Director not to have me ushered to the stage with the tallest of the lot but he still managed to give me a 6'1" and a 5'10" escort onstage and they were wearing heels. It looked as if they were escorting the prince of lililiput onstage. I suppose that it was too demanding of me to request for people of the same height as I am since the rest of the planet seems to be taller than myself. Grrrrr.... even the pageant winners whom I awarded were of course model-like tall. The Miss Earth candidates were no different except for Ms. Sweden, who unfortunately didn't win an award that day... dang!

ouch

I have always said that the best part of my job is hiring people to be part of this company...
the worst part..? well, you guessed it... so today is OUCH day.