BIRTHDAY SALUBONG JAM - MARCH 28, 2018- Blowing of the Cake by the Birthday Celebrant

MARCH 28, 2018 - SURPRISE BIRTHDAY SALUBONG JAM & PHOTOS

A successful surprise salubong birthday hoopla for our dear house band bassist Rick Trinidad happened last night with hordes of friends and family in attendance to celebrate his 46th year in earthly existence. His ever-loving wife May had scrupulously planned a surprise party while collaborating with me just a few days prior to the date and was able to put things together well in time for the event.

Even on a solemn Holy Wednesday, a sizeable crowd from his family and friend’s side as well as his music room buddies flocked the place much earlier to converge and to surprise the celebrant who up to the very last minute still vehemently denies having been fooled of the surprise birthday bash set for him.

Undeniably looking thrilled and elated, nonetheless, upon entering the room, his wide grin and expression of bliss was unmistakably evident fooled or not. With close family and friends present and in unanimity welcoming and greeting you on your special day, who wouldn’t be?

Food and drinks were abundantly available for the taking, as well as the nonstop live entertainment. An awesome line-up of phenomenal talents performed on stage, in the likes of Xtine Mercado and Rj Pineda of Brat Pack and Kiko Montecillo of Mojofly just to name a few. It was a breathtaking all night musical extravaganza from 9pm lasting till past 3am, an absolute delight to everyone who were around to witness it.

Among the other exceptionally brilliant musicians who came over were Nitoy Adriano, Joko Reantaso, Bobby Alvarez, Tinnie Esguerra, Dolf Cruz, Pecky Casuela, Joaco Marco, Monchie Henares, Bubui Colico, Vincent Garrucho and Boots Bautista. Totally awesome line-up indeed.

In behalf of the birthday celebrant, we thank one and all for the outpouring of love and the sharing of precious time just to be around to celebrate. Our gratitude to each and every outstanding musician who performed on stage. Lastly, but definitely not the least, to Rick’s loving wife May, for unselfishly and painstakingly organizing this event not to mention the spread of delicious food and drinks she had prepared for everyone to enjoy. Surely, it was one successful birthday celebration.

And so, once again today, we greet Rick Trinidad a happy birthday and we wish him many more productive years ahead.

HAVE A BLESSED AND FRUITFUL HOLY WEEK TO EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at pete's Place - March 23, 2018 - with Joko Reantaso & Rick Trinidad (Chicken)

MARCH 23, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE AND PHOTOS

As was previously announced, last night was the pre-booked performance of a guest rock band in the music room, but due to some unexpected minor issues and subsequent cancellation, we were back to our usual regular Friday night.

Having anticipated a sizable audience of rock aficionados coming to watch i had released a notification regarding the development as quickly as i learned about the news, lest they come for nothing. If in the event that there will be a re-scheduling, we will definitely keep everyone informed.

The evening started relatively early with my dear sweet mother offering to keep me company while I waited for the guests to arrive. Soon, guitarist/vocalist Richard Parcia along with Erwin Dimaculangan, another talented musician, walks in to join us. A few minutes later teen sensation and youngest fender endorser Joko Reantaso and his dad Jay arrived next.

We quickly got up on stage and got the ball rolling, initially with Erwin on bass, Richard on keyboards, Joko on guitar and myself on drums. At this time versatile musician and percussionist Vincent Garrucho had arrived and had joined us. We ended up jamming some instrumental rock, funky and jazzy tunes with Joko doing his usual fiery delivery and virtuosity on lead guitar. Occasionally we would shift places interchanging instruments and just basically having fun interacting musically.

Later on, bassist Rick Trinidad walks in along with his newly acquired 6-string bass. He invited over a business associate by the name of Tony Intal, a filipino New York Wall Street Finance and real estate mogul who lives in New Jersey and now based mostly in the country as an expat who, admittedly, after five failed attempts had finally made it over to the room. The owner of 27 branded guitars and numerous other musical instruments and stuff in his collection, Tony has good guitar skills as well. He joined the jam and eventually stepped up his game as we went along. Admitting that he had not played the guitar in a while, it didn’t take long before he finally got warmed up. Soon he was able to scrape off the rust, so to speak, and felt more relaxed and into the groove. He played some Santana, Jeff beck, Led Zepellin and some other classics along with the band. Good job on his maiden stint in the room.

Just before closing time, Music room regular patron and good friend Nikki Segundo arrives along with balik-music room friend and drummer Boots Bautista. They invited two of their colleagues to check out the place and possibly to jam as well as one of them plays the drums. With most of the other musicians already gone, it was just Rick and Vincent left to accompany the new guest drummer. A pseudo jam then commenced with just the bass, drums and percussions. Surely, better than nothing.

After a few rounds of beers, the newbies had their fill and was ready to call it a night. Some of the other guests and friends who had hanged out at the smoking area most of the evening had already made a French exit. By exactly 3:45am we were done and locked up. All’s well that ends well, as I always say. Praise and thank God for another gratifying night.

In observance of LENT, the music room will be closed on Good Friday but will be open on Holy Wednesday, March 28th for the jam night instead. The invitation is strictly for all those who are available and are up to it. We hope to see you then.

HAVE A BLESSED HOLY WEEK AHEAD! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - March 16, 2018 - Pecky, Rick & me warming up (Seeing Is Believing)

MARCH 16, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE AND PHOTOS

Calm before the storm? Law of averages? Whichever you call it, one thing is for sure. Last night’s tale will definitely be written amongst the list of the most humdrum and futile jams in the music room’s history. If not for the will, determination and the love for music with the few musicians who showed up, there was nothing much to speak of.

Nevertheless, it was indeed a breath of fresh air to see versatile keyboardist Atty. Pecky Casuela in the room finding precious time to take a break from his busy schedule. Multifaceted musician and percussionist Vincent Garrucho was in the house as well along with bassist Rick Trinidad who arrived much later but did not really participate that much.

It was very tranquil in the room early on with just the house music playing and no jammers on stage. Consistent early bird Jp Bugarin and I were just chilling and chatting for a good few hours at the center table while waiting for the others to arrive. It was so calm that you can practically imagine hearing the sound of crickets stridulating and cockroaches prancing around in the room playing hockey. Talk about an appropriate description…hahaha!

When Pecky arrived, there suddenly came a glimpse of hope. Pecky and I were the only two guys on stage to start off, with the maestro on the keys and myself on bass. Vincent dabbled with the percs and drums occasionally while we did some popular jazzy tunes and some catchy OPMs. We just enjoyed the musical interaction with Pecky breezing me through the chord patterns of the songs we played. We did enjoy the jam despite being just us, one and a half hours straight at that as proof before we took a break.

After the break, Rick joined us and played the bass briefly while I played the drums. With no vocalists around to speak of, we ended up doing some simple instrumental chord progressions just to be able to record on video. Better than nothing, I guess.

Later on, music room regular patron Nikki Segundo walks in along with his son and a good old music room friend. Boots Bautista, a fitness professional like myself, is a professional drummer, as well. Having stopped playing drums for some time, it didn’t take long before Boots found himself back behind the kit. With Pecky already gone home, it was just Rick, Vincent and myself available to back him up. With no one else manning the rhythm section, Vincent had no choice but to play the guitar and do vocals. At past 4am, we had our fill playing, packed up and exited the stage.

After the jam, The rest of the guys still stayed around to chat, for some more beers and cigarettes at the smoking area. At 5am the guys were finally done and on their way home. All’s well that ends well. Praise be to God!

Next Friday, March 23, a newly formed group comprising of musicians from the popular bands Wolfgang, The Breed and Blue Rats, that was recently put together by renowned guitarist/vocalist and frontman Kowboy Santos, will be performing in the room for us next week. It promises to be another humdinger and epic night for everyone. So to all the rockers out there, it definitely will be something for you to look forward to. Mark that date.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - March 9, 2018 - Kazoomania (I Shot The Sheriff)

MARCH 9, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE AND PHOTOS

If there was a phrase to describe last night’s account, “delightfully full of surprises” might be a fair description. The festivity began to show signs of auspiciousness with the early arrival of first-rate musicians and a childhood good buddy who just flew in from abroad and some other special guests towards the end to complete the night.

Top notch musicians Anton Atengco, Dolf Cruz, Tinnie Esguerra along with Xtine Mercado of the famed Brat Pack arrived early. House band bassist Rick Trinidad, vocalist Monchie Henares and percussionist Vincent Garrucho were in the house as well.

Toronto based Air Force brat Freddie Gabor, whom I have not seen in years, made a brief surprise visit along with other childhood contemporaries from Nichols Air Base, namely: Aseana Captain Jet Bueno, Gen. Henry Zabarre (ret.), Deana Aquino and some other ladies from Basa Air Base. Unfortunately, Freddie and group could not stay very late and had to leave prematurely at past 1am to recoup with all the other pressing activities lined up for him for his short stay.

At the jam, the musicians got their precious stage time with Anton manning the guitar and Tinnie on keyboards while Jet took charge of the drumming chores. Unfortunately, Xtine, who is an exceptional vocalist and bassist, got too little of playing time before Rick jumped in to take over. Personally, I would’ve wanted to see her on stage longer as she is awesome to watch and rarely finds time to come to jam with her busy gig commitments. We’ll surely make up for it next time for Xtine.

The first wave of the jam was relatively short-lived, too, with the band opting to step down after the break to give way to the new set of musicians who just arrived. “Carousel”, spearheaded by a youthful guitarist /vocalist Pau Villanueva was the name of the band to perform next. A young and aspiring band that had placed second at the prestigious Wanderland music competition early this year, they came over straight from a previous gig engagement in Laguna just to visit and perform for us. They are billed to perform again today at the Wanderland Music Festival, a two-day/ whole day affair, scheduled this weekend. More power to these young breed of musicians.

It was only 2:30am when Carousel finished, comparatively much earlier as compared to the previous lackluster weekends we experienced. Was it going to be another early night? Well, not if we can help it.

After the guest musicians had left and still being much too early to close up, We needed to be creative to keep on going. With just us around, Vincent decided to take his new kazoos collection out of the bag, secured his and handed another to Monchie to try out. Disclosing to have the experience playing it in the past, Monchie was indeed a natural. As always adaptive, Vincent came to his own as well. It was then time to jam.

I played the bass, Dondon played rhythm guitar, Vincent and Monchie played the kazoo with both simultaneously playing percussions and drums respectively. It was dubbed as our kazoo version of the Magic Hour. The result was totally fun and hilarious. Watch out for the videos..Hahaha!

Special thanks to my wife Vicky, sis-in-law Ana Mara, Cali Tiansay, Luisa Distor, Arabelle Jimenez, Jun Bediones, Marc de Asis and Kikoy Ventura for joining.

And so we look forward to next week’s festivity. More surprises in the offing for sure.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - March 2, 2018 - Nick Mangubat (Waves)

MARCH 2, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE & PHOTOS

Deux d'affilée, last night was another one of those crazy nights almost identical to last week’s occurrence with the revelry starting early and concluding too soon. In contrast, the turnout of musicians was meager and discouraging without key instrumentalists available and just a few of us around to play. If not for the surprise appearance of one of the music room’s favorite performers and a seasoned solo musician, we would’ve all ended up counting sheep. Not to be denied, with resiliency and determination to cope, we just managed with what we had available. C’est la vie.

Habitually the earlybird, guitarist Loren Orendain, was the very first to show up. It was a special night for the Air Asia flyboy having completed his flight training course as a full fledged first captain of the Airbus 320 just recently. Congratulations and fly high Captain Orendain. Thanks so much for the gastronomic pizza treat.

Marc de Asis and Rick Trinidad arrived next followed by Jp Bugarin and Nick Mangubat. Coming straight from another gig committent, Nick immediately jumped up onstage and quickly set up his gear and went down to business. Nick sang and played rhythm guitar along with Loren who was on lead guitar and myself playing the drums. Rick caught up in the middle of the set, grabbed his 6-string bass and joined in.

Not too long after, our all-around guy and house band percussionist Vincent Garrucho arrives along with his balik-music room and Ilonggo good friend Tisoy Henares. A cousin of our very own house band main vocalist Monchie Henares, Tisoy was actually the very person who brought and introduced the room to Vincent some years back, now a regular and bonafide house band personality himself. With Tisoy was his loving wife Pop and his musically inclined son Iñigo. Welcome to the music room Pop and Iñigo.

After Nick was done and left, we were all by ourselves with no one to play rhythm. We had no choice but to improvise with Vincent playing the guitar, music room newbie Iñigo alternating on percussions and drums, Monchie on vocals and myself on bass. We actually struggled on completing every song and at times even having difficulty hurdling past the intro. I was hilarious and totally crazy at the same time.

Nevertheless, though not as productive as we would’ve wanted it to be, we still were not deprived of our weekly jam trip. Anyway, there will always be a next time to look forward to. No reason to complain. At about 3am the stage was already quiet and empty. Time for most of the guys to head for home.
As usual, some who were left stayed a few minutes more at the smoking area until about a quarter to four. Time to close up.

My thanks to all the guys who joined us, most specially to balik-bayan Cris de Leon, my wife Vicky, sis-in-laws Ana and Tin, to Cali Tiansay, Belette Hillerstam, Maricor Olsen, Luisa Distor, Nikki Segundo and his sidekick Jun, Max Garrucho and the rest of the other guests who were present.

As always, I praise and thank God for each and every Friday Jam Night, be it busy or slow, packed or just a few of us. Each and every experience is indeed a blessing. Steadfastly, we eagerly look forward to each and every opportunity.

Till the next time.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!