Saturday, September 30, 2017
SEPT. 29, 2017 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE
Amusingly, my chosen favorite #7 just made it to last night’s eventual story, significantly with just seven guys (apart from myself) and a total of seven hours of interaction from start to conclusion. A relaxing and tame night but with full of surprises were to be the general description to last night’s Friday Jam gathering. With the traffic situation and weather not really posing problems to influence attendance, it definitely was just one of those days.
Gab Villanueva was, as always, the first to show up but arrived a bit later than his usual. Looking tired and weary from his full day of gallivanting, it was already a quarter to 10 when he arrived. Soon, dear old friends Jody and Badette Mariano walks in. What a pleasant surprise to see them both and finding precious time away from their busy schedules to visit. A friend since the 70’s, Badette, apart from her other bustling businesses, is a dynamic and vibrant producer of live musical shows both staged internationally and locally while her loving husband Jody, on the other hand, is a veteran honcho of the mainstream network ABS-CBN. Welcome back to the music room Jody and Badette. By the way, thank you both for the sumptuous boxes of pizza you shared with us. God bless you.
Next on the list to show up was keyboard wiz Atty. Pecky Casuela. Great to see him back, as well, as it had been a while since his last time over. As always enjoyable to jam with, Pecky’s song choices are always exciting and fun to do.
Another welcome surprise was house band rhythm guitar master Joaco Marco’s sought after presence. Ultra busy from his UBER and rent-a-car business, Joaco finally found and squeezed in time to drop by and jam after almost two months in absentia.
With the elusive house band drummer Bubui Colico arriving too adding to the roster and myself doing bass chores, we were all set and ready to roll.
Last to arrive coming from another gathering was Luisa Distor. Though an able vocalist herself, she did not sing but just opted to be on the side to help out in manning the camera. Thanks Luisa.
The jam was short but sweet with the band eventually recording two videos before calling it a night. With Pecky already on his way home, Bubui vacated his drumming then shifted to do vocals and actually made a good accounting of himself singing a popular Southboarder OPM tune with just myself and Joaco backing him up on guitar and bass. Good job Bubui!
We were indeed shorthanded on musicians but still managed to enjoy our time on stage despite the setback. The show must go, as the saying goes.
The stage was quiet and empty at 3:35am. Obviously much too early, comparatively speaking to our normal end time but it does happen once in a while. No big deal.
When the rest of the guests had left, shortly after the live music stopped, Joaco and I opted to stay a bit longer so that he can finish his beer and more chit chat at the outdoor lounging area near the entrance. The time was 4:45am, exactly 7 hours total from the time the first guest arrived. A calm but definitely a gratifying night it is, still. No reason to complain. Praise and thank God!
Let’s see how it goes next weekend. Till then…….
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!
Saturday, September 23, 2017
SEPT. 22, 2017 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE
Just when you had already concluded on the worst scenario, basing it on logical thinking, it suddenly reverses and changes for the better. Unpredictable as always, one should learn not to underestimate the outcome of each Friday jam night prematurely before it is totally over. Though I was almost guilty of the thought myself, last night was another proof of it’s perplexity. There always seem to be a light shining brightly at the end of the tunnel if we just wait and trust faith.
The evening started really slow with just balik-music room Jp Bugarin (who arrived at already past 9pm) and myself in the music room on our lonesome (a record breaker of sorts) technically the whole of Friday. It was already past midnight when bassist Rick Trinidad, the second person to arrive, showed up. With still no signs of any other guests arriving soon, it would seem that it was going to be only us the whole time. It was going to be a quiet night. If we did intend to even jam at all, we really had no choice but to settle with just the bass and guitar and maybe some vocals to compliment. Pathetic.
Well, less than an hour later, percussionist Vincent Garrucho walks in. Slowly the tribe was increasing and gaining ground with another personality to add to the roster. Then suddenly out of nowhere, lo and behold, house band main man Tinnie Esguerra walks in the door. I was so elated to see Tinnie back in the room. Having been out of commission way too long, i must say that the Tin Man’s presence was indeed sorely missed by all of us, his friends and band mates, alike. An amazing talent and friend that he is, he is the very soul and principal character of the Pete’s Place music room house band. Yes, the band survived without the man but never been the same without his valuable contribution and presence. Thank you for coming and welcome back to the fore my friend.
At this late hour, despite crippling some jammers supposedly on their way to the music room due to the sudden downpour and flooding, vocalist and PAL flight crew Papo Xavier, on the other hand, persevered and braved the floods arriving along with Arlene Zabala Pascua, Maryana Arinez and their new member Mylar Villarin of Marmalade whom he coerced to ferry from their gig in Q.C. With these talented ladies around, you can be assured of a great show. Welcome back ladies.
As expected, the jam progressed and shot up to high gear, each alternating roles with Arlene on the keys and vocals, Mylar and Papo on vocals, Tinnie on guitar and keyboards, Rick on bass, guitar and drums, Vincent on percs, guitar, flute and vocals, Monchie on vocals and drums and finally myself on drums and bass.
A variety of genres and catchy tunes were on the menu courtesy of Arlene and her band, gamely taking the helm, while the rest of us did back up. Everyone had so much fun that we could hardly decide when to actually stop playing. What a jam! Finally at 5:30am it was time to call it a night.
Our gratitude to all the other friends and guests who showed up as well. And so, what initially seemed to be a dull and insignificant night became an epic one. What can I say but…Thank and praise God!
See you all next week!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!
Monday, September 18, 2017
SEPT. 15, 2017 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE
The weekend payday “carmagedon” fiasco is not normally regarded as an issue to our Friday Jam nights having broken the pattern on a number of occasions in the past but seemingly the law of averages finally caught up on us last night. The usual early birds were no-shows and most of the musicians who had even planned to come will eventually not make it.
It was already a few minutes before 11pm that the first two guests finally arrives. Apparently, it took Jay Reantaso and his son Joko more than an hour and a half to get here from BF Homes, Sucat where they live. I heard that as early as late afternoon, it was practically gridlock everywhere. Thank God that it did not rain, otherwise it could’ve been total chaos.
Of course Joko brought along his guitar and gear but had to put it on hold temporarily as there was no band roster to speak of to even start a jam. It was already past midnight when house band bassist Rick Trinidad showed up. Only then did we have some semblance of order to start some noise on stage. With Joko on guitar, Rick on bass and myself on drums, we were finally good to give it a shot.
With Joko’s maiden record album already in the making with original instrumental compositions on its tracks and soon to be released, we tested on playing one of his work live for the first time. It will just have to be purely Rick and Joko in collaboration doing all the intricate instrumental details with myself just keeping time on the drum kit. Knowing my limitations on my meager musical skills to deliver, it was purely just for the fun of it for me. Please don’t shoot me. I'm just a trying hard wannabe.
At past 1am, house band vocalist Monchie Henares finally arrives after deciding on hanging out some place else on the way, while waiting for the traffic to subside. Luisa Distor who herself is a competent chanteuse, fortunately walks in the room, too, to add to the list.
When the Reantaso father and son tandem was about to leave as it was already past 3am, keyboard lord Kiko Montecillo timely shows up. Kiko usually comes late because of his Friday gig commitments. He will take over the keys with Monchie and Luisa on vocals and Vincent Garrucho (who also got in late coming from his gig as well) alternately on percussions, guitar and flute. Apart from singing, Monchie played the drums on some songs while I played bass the whole time. It was to be the Magic Hour for us playing a variety of songs and genres conceivable. As always a pleasurable experience.
We still played a good solid hour with Kiko till about 4:30am before we finally packed up. All’s well that ends well, as i always say. Thank and praise God!
And so, with practically just a handful of us in attendance for the night, it still was fun, fulfilling and all worthwhile, to say the least. That is indeed all that matters, is it not? C’est la vie.
Till the next time.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!
Saturday, September 9, 2017
SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE
If indeed last week’s festivity was serene in character, last night’s outcome turned out to be much tamer. Again, not many people showed up, even more so with the musicians jamming on stage. But as always, though unique every time, the fulfillment and uttermost joy of bonding and fellowship with friends still very much exists. That to me is exactly why we do it, crowded or not.
As always the early bird, Air Asia flyboy and guitarist Loren Orendain was as usual the first to arrive. Along with his trusty roady, he set up his gear, tuned and meticulously tweaked his amp and efx settings to perfection all ready and awaiting to play.
While waiting for the others to arrive, i grabbed my bass guitar and joined Loren for a sound check. Soon we were all set. Apparently, with vocalist Tony Tirol, acoustic guitarist Nicky Hidalgo and house band bassist Rick Trinidad’s arrival a bit later, we ultimately was to be the main guys on stage all evening.
Nevertheless, it is always a pleasure and a thrill to see good old friends in the house. Arvin and Cindy Gatmaitan was back in the room after some months in absentia. The sweet couple used to be a regular fixture on our Friday gatherings when they were still residing nearby. Music room old timer Jeffrey Tan, who is currently based in Davao, was also around. Jeffrey, was a music room regular, as well, when he was still living in Merville way back in the 80’s.
Arvin, who happens to be a music teacher, is a prolific bassist. Jeffrey, on the other hand, is a performer who sings and can play the drums as well. Both gamely joined us on stage doing their thing beefing up the band fondly reminiscent of the good old days. Good job guys!
The jam was short and sweet with just us on stage lasting a little past midnight. Time was mostly spent on delightful chit chat with the balik-music room friends, catching up on things with them. I must say that it was definitely all worthwhile. Thank God for true friends.
At past 1am, keyboard lord Kiko Montecillo shows up fresh from his usual Friday gig in Manila or was it QC?. With the stage already quiet when he arrived, it was not going to stop us from playing with the Catman even if just for a quick fix. And so we did. Tony sang his usual classics while Jeffrey even obliged doing his ever popular and most requested song rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody with Kiko manning the keys and myself on bass.
The jam finally concluded early at past 3am.
Presuming an imminent early closing, surprisingly some of the guys stuck around. Content on just hanging out, drinking beers and chitchatting for hours on end, we were surprised to find ourselves chatting away and calling it a night just a tag before 6am. Mission accomplished, as I always say. Praise God.
Thank you one and all for another interesting, unique and fun night! See you all next time!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!
Saturday, September 2, 2017
SEPTEMBER 1 , 2017 – FRIDAY JAM UPDATE
A crazy and unfortunate thing had just happened while I was copying the photo files straight from the camera to my computer. As I was pressing the control key and right clicking the photo files from the camera to drag to a designated folder on my desktop (which I normally do), instead of the files being transferred to that folder, it all suddenly and strangely vanished into thin air. No prompt on the screen whatsoever if you are to agree to continue with the delete process or not. It just vanished..period! Tried everything to locate where it could have possibly transferred to but to no avail. Totally unforgiving and frustrating to lose images from last night’s happenings to share, to say the least…ugggghh! The positive thing though is that i was able to spare and preserve the videos we took. Thank God for that.
Going back to our Friday update, unexpectedly, despite being a special non-working holiday for most, the evening turned out to be tame and uneventful in contrast to the previous weekends. Although there were still a handful of interesting personalities who made it over, the jam was not really quite as explosive and interesting at the start. With guitarist Loren Orendain, teen sensation and youngest Fender endorser Joko Reantaso, acoustic guitarist Nicky Hidalgo (who had his jam time as well), houseband bassist Rick Trinidad, percussionist & flutist Vincent Garrucho, vocalists Monchie Henares, Tony Tirol and Mark Ronquillo and a surprise visit of an old friend, fellow Air Force brat and music room pioneer Red Aquino plus myself to add to the list, there was indeed a respectable line-up to boast off.
The jam was mostly “free willy” and unorganized, seemingly strutting along just to while away the time, so to speak. There were even instances that the singers where just doing their thing where they were at without even making an effort to go upstage to use the microphones. It was a “backyard/ kanto inuman jam” sort of vibe. Totally crazy.
At the magic hour, the mood apparently shifted to high gear timely at the time when most of the other guest musicians had already left. It was just Rick Trinidad, Vincent Garrucho, Monchie Henares, Red Aquino and myself on stage. Rick played the guitar, drums and vocals, Vincent on percussions, flute, guitar and vocals, Red on drums, Monchie on vocals and drums, Tony on vocals and myself on bass, drums and vocals.
Immediately our moods changed from lethargic to pure bliss. We found ourselves having so much fun welcoming the “ber” months arranging mash-up Christmas carols with popular tunes and putting it together as tediously and meticulously as can be to make it sound fairly acceptable to our taste. I do hope the viewers will enjoy watching the end result as much as we enjoyed doing it as we intend to include it in our repertoire till the end of the Christmas season…hehe!
Well, what seemed like an early night at the onset ended eventually at our usual time at 5:30am. All’s well that ends well.
Thanks so much to everyone who dropped by. Special mention to Gab Villanueva’s contribution and effort. He did his share as our pseudo musical director and videographer while we were doing the mash-up thingy and to Mark Ronquillo for delivering the goodies straight from Vigan.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!
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