Jam at Pete's Place - Oct. 26, 2018 - Rick Trinidad (Jump)

OCTOBER 26, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE & PHOTOS

Last night was a success, to say the least, with a more intact house band around to play. Picking up to where it left out two Fridays ago, it was exciting to re-experience the familiar passion and effort of the guys while learning new songs to perfection just like we used to before. The thrill of accomplishing something good before the night is over is indeed much fulfilling and gratifying, kudos to house band honcho Tinnie Esguerra for spearheading the comeback.

An added treat for the evening was the impromptu 47th birthday celebration of good old friend and Air Force brat John-John de Leon. Contemporaries Paul and Nomy Diano, Rico Tayko and some of his other close friends joined him to celebrate.

Music room regulars were a handful as well. Among who came were Beth Marquez and talented daughters Michelle and Kate, Nando Alberto, Mayette Alberto-Clemente, Ryan Nacino, Pierce de Guzman, Nikki Segundo, Randy Soliven, Raul Julian, among others. On the other hand, Tinnie Esguerra, Vincent Garrucho, Bubui Colico, Anton Atengco, Dolf Gruz and Rick Trinidad comprised the house band who made it over.

The live music started at past 10pm and persisted all night till 5am. At the onset, early birds Rick and Ryan joined me on stage and we jammed a few hours while waiting for the rest of the house band personalities to arrive. The guys purposely come in late so as to give leeway for the youngsters and other guests to jam before the house band eventually takes over. Just as expected, we finally got on stage at past midnight. It was totally fun from then on.

House band drummer Bubui brought with him his nifty Roland electronic drums system and set it up to try it out, curious of how it will eventually sound like with the band. We were astonished! We all didn’t realize that the acoustic and the electronic drums can favorably complement each other very well. It was totally a revelation. The combination of both instruments playing together made the sound a lot fuller and richer. If it will not only be too much trouble for Bubui to bring it over every time, it will be a good enhancement for the band’s over all sound.

At the magic hour, we finally were able to learn and play some new tunes, songs that we previously discussed about. We recorded and videoed most of it for posting purposes till the camera eventually ran out of battery on us. Still having fun, we finally had to stop playing at the stroke of 5am. It was time to pack up. Awesome job guys!

In closing, i would like to inform everyone that on Friday, Nov.2 (All Souls Day), the music room will still be open for our usual Friday Jam Night. Hope to see you all then!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - Oct. 19, 2018 - Johnny Sarmiento w/ Tintin Mara-Reed (Corner of the Sky)

OCTOBER 19, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE & PHOTOS

Unlike before, it might still be premature for me to expect total guaranty every time from the house band to show up to the Friday jams after a couple of weekends intact. After two consecutive Friday nights with the house band back on stage, it is quite understandable to go through a feeling of longing and impatience to relive those glory days. Slowly but surely we will get there. Patience is all it takes.

The evening started slow with just Ryan Nacino and myself in the room. This was almost 10pm. Minutes later bassist Rick Trinidad followed suit. It was just the three of us on stage performing. Obviously still nursing a musical hangover from last Friday’s epic jazz night, i just wanted to experience it once more.
With myself doing the drumming, Rick on bass, Ryan on keyboards and later on Ryan Pineda, we ended up doing familiar chord progressions to warm up but with a bit of a jazzy flavor in interpretation and texture to add. Well, I guess we pretty much achieved a semblance of what we had intended to do. No complaints.

In the meantime, great friends showed up as well. My Air Force brats family in the personas of chef Raymond Donesa, Deana Aquino and her talented grandson Fonz Cabal, Johnny Sarmiento and Rico Tayko were present. My sis-in-laws Ana Mara and Tintin Mara Reed, niece Tina Mara, good friends Cali Tiansay, Ging General, Raul Julian, James Orros and Geebee Casiano were around too. Incidentally, Geebee paid us a surprise visit to deliver 2 sd cards addressed to house band comrade Richard Parcia to be picked up anytime he is around. It will be kept in safekeeping till then.

Good to see Gina Sevilla-Mendoza making it over. She came with her children Nacho and Daniella. Gina earlier arranged a meeting with me to specifically do an ocular of the place along with her daughter Daniella who is soon hosting a birthday party at the room at the end of the month.

Much later, visibly tired and exhausted, house band vocalist Monchie Henares just caught up with us being busy from work. The busy bee seems to be quite in demand, nowadays, with so many events he needs to attend to and can hardly find and squeeze in time to come and jam. No vocal stimulation for Monchie on stage this time though, but ended up playing drums instead. A welcome relief for the band being already under manned at that time.

Overall, the jam was great despite the dismal turnout of musicians. We even had a special treat from a Pete’s Place female newbie vocalist (wasn’t able to get her name..my apologies) at closing time. Also happy and grateful to see lap steel guru Haro Echter back in the room and onstage with us. His sound is always amazing and totally soothing to the ears. Indeed, just as i told him that it made us all sound a lot better. Well done guys! Thank you all!

And so another evening comes to pass. Another evening full of joy and blessings with friends and family to last us another week. I praise and thank God for the opportunity.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - Oct. 12, 2018 - House band w/ Mayette on lead vocals & Nando Alberto on background vocals (Rock With You)

OCTOBER 12, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE & PHOTOS

It was quite a feat and a struggle, not to mention severe pain, to even survive last night’s festivities with a fresh lower back muscle injury i sustained at the gym while doing my core workout yesterday. The discomfort and difficulty on certain body movements had to be dealt with and endured to be productive at all. Anyone who had experienced lower back injuries knows exactly what I am talking about. Notwithstanding, struggle or not, the Friday Jam will not be denied. The show must go on. Talk about dedication or should I say passion.

Barring my condition, what a better time for the house band to finally be revived and rejuvenated after missing the group for quite some time now. I was particularly delighted upon house band front man Tinnie Esguerra’s declaration at our chat earlier on putting the band back together, something I had been hoping for for quite some time now. Spearheaded by the man, i am confident that this will be a jumpstart of better things to come for the group. Let’s do it.

Along with Tinnie, among the other house band guys who made it were amazing guitarists Anton Atengco and Dolf Cruz, bassist Rick Trinidad, percussionist Vincent Garrucho , vocalist Mayette Alberto-Clemente and, of course, myself on drums. The jam was totally satisfying and invigorating with all the songs we played. It was total bliss for me to finally experience the jazz vibe we had been missing all this time. I hope the rest of the other guys in the roster will take the queue and show up next time, as well.

As far as the overall turnout of guests in comparison to last weekend, it was quality over quantity. Great to see a lot of good friends around to join us. Old friend (emphasis on old…hehe!), high school batchmate and music room veteran Allan Flores was in the house along with his Australian based sister Anne who is in the country for a short visit.

Air Force brats arrived in abundance, some I had not seen for a long time. Among the familiar faces were siblings John-John and Jonathan de Leon, Japan based Ken Ebuen, Rico Tayko, Deana Aquino with her grandson Fonz and a few other military brats along with them. Nice to see you back, guys!

As expected, the house band dominated the stage all night with just short respites in between. The jam was great for the masters lasting till 3am. Now that the guys are getting together, there will be priorities and set of rules to follow. In lieu of this, the youngsters who would want to jam will have their stage time only when the house band are on break, a new system agreed upon and to be adapted from now on. With the house band converging usually late at night, the kids then are encouraged to come early so that they can hug the stage and jam until the elders arrive. As a general rule, the stage should always be available for the house band whenever it is needed. And so, to all concerned, please be guided accordingly.

My special thanks to Rick for assisting me in doing the lifting and driving when we went out for a beer run. Much appreciated my friend. To the house band honchos who showed up and participated, to the youngsters who jammed in between sets and to all the other guests and friends who dropped by to party, thank you one and all!

See you all again at the next Friday Jam!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

Jam at Pete's Place - Oct, 5, 2018 - House band (Cause We've Ended As Lovers)

OCTOBER 5, 2018 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE & PHOTOS

It was another jam packed Friday night at the music room with even more guests and musicians in attendance compared to last week. A combination of the young and the vets flocked the place in huge numbers starting at around 9pm till a little past 4am. The energy was high from the onset to conclusion with the stage abounding of musical talents performing non-stop while the rest of the merry makers watched, drank and partied all night.

 

The merging of both the new crop of Pete’s Place regulars and pioneers hobnobbing in one place was a joy to see. Some old-time friends, based overseas, along with some of their family members showed up. Air Force brats and childhood friends Red Aquino and older sister Deanna’s presence and company was indeed a pleasant surprise. Red came with his two children, Caroline and his youngest son Makz. Deana, on the other hand, tagged along her grandson Rafael. Rafael was a revelation to us when he nonchalantly displayed his guitar talent onstage at the jam. Caroline and Makz did their part being productive with their participation and was great in managing the bar as bartenders. Awesome job guys!

The music was great with most musicians definitely undeprived of some stage time. Even the house band managed to squeeze in 2 sets for themselves, something i absolutely made sure to happen. Surely, i wouldn’t want the momentum of the house band be disrupted after its recent resurrection. Among the house band guys who participated were Tinnie Esguerra, Loren Orendain, Rick Trinidad, Vincent Garrucho, Dolf Cruz, Nitoy Adriano, Pj Cura, Tosho Murayama, Mayette Alberto-Clemete and myself. Also around were the talented Adriano sisters Michelle and Kate.

At least 3 bands from the youngster’s congregation converged and performed at last night’s jam highlighted by Diesel band front man Justine Lim who was, in fact, celebrating his birthday in the room. It was a mighty good turnout of support from Justines’ birthday well-wishers. Thank you all for coming.

Among the other music room friends and familiar personalities who made it were Nando Alberto, Beth Marquez, Gab Villanueva, Nikki Segundo, Pau Villanueva, Ryan Nacino, Rj Palma, Ryan Pineda and Gav Sabalburo. Our gratitude to the hoard of guests who came to greet Justine and to all the other guys who showed up randomly, as well. Thank you one and all!

It looks like we are still on a roll to progress. I do hope and pray that this pattern continuous unabated most specially for the benefit of the house band, whom i’ve been longing and eager to be revived back to serious action. God willing!

And so once again it comes to pass, the story to last night’s festivity foretold. As i always say, all’s well that ends well. We now look forward to more exciting weekends to come.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!