SEPT. 16, 2016 - FRIDAY JAM UPDATE

Last night turned out to be a special one. It was to be Gabby Villanueva's actual birthday. It wasn't last week, as i had mistakenly declared but yesterday, September 16th. The celebrant surprised me when he walked in the music room early, beaming and with him a big box containing food preparations, drinks and party utensils. It was then when he finally announced that it was in fact his birthday. Hmmm..No wonder he was placid and unresponsive when everyone was greeting him last week. And to think that he had been misjudged that he was stingy about celebrating with us. Shame on us! Happy birthday Gab!

While the food and drinks were being set, the guys slowly trickled in. Luisa Distor, Marc de Asis, Tinnie Esguerra and Rick Trinidad were the early birds. Pretty soon we had enough musicians to start the jam. And so we did. First batch on stage were house band honchos Tinnie Esguerra on the keyboards and acoustic guitar, Rick Trinidad on bass, Vincent Garrucho on percussions and myself on drums. When guitarist Anton Atengco arrived, the jam warmed up quickly starting with some catchy jazzy tunes with Anton familiarly showcasing his musical wizardry with his insane adlibs and licks on his electric guitar. As expected, the acoustic guitarist complemented the string ensemble to a "T"(innie)..hehe! The bassist did his job while the drummer and percussionist grooved along. 

Balik-music room Meg Serranilla shows up and gamely stepped up on stage to join the band, entertaining the crowd with her nifty vocal performance and at times even playing along on the acoustic guitar, something we had not seen her do on her last stint at the music room. Great job Meg! 

Soon more musicians arrived. It is always a delight to see Tetel Serra around. With her musical talent and charm, she lights up the stage with her cool vocal renditions of popular tunes while playing the ukulele. A consistent crowd pleaser and an accomplished singer herself, she can be diverse with the songs she can actually sing. A perfect ingredient to the house band indeed.

Next on the list was keyboardist Kiko Montecillo. When Kiko is in the house, you are in for some awesome musical experience. With so many tunes he can play, everything and anything goes. He even put aside the keyboards for awhile and played the guitar on some of the songs requested. And guess what? He proved that he is a great guitar player as well. Definitely a multifaceted guy. 

Vocalists Tetel, Monchie Henares, Michael Puyat, Marc de Asis, Mark Longos, Meg Serranilla and even Ferlin Hicarte had a field day singing song requests all night. With drummer Bubui Colico catching up later on in the evening, he was able to jam even for a short while with the gang. It was so much fun that despite the late hours, we were still at it. We actually had to stop ourselves from playing because it was already past 5am. 

Finally at exactly 5:40am (already daylight), we all packed up and called it a night. I actually had to leave Tetel and Ferlin (who had to stay around and kill more time before they travel northbound back home ) behind while i closed up the place. I hope they got home safe and sound. We hope to see the couple again very soon.

Special thanks to Arabelle Jimenez, Nikki Segundo, Selo Cruz, Nitoy Adriano, Ed Evangelista and Bubui's older brother (sorry..don't know the name) for their presence as well.

And so another recharging and fun filled Friday Jam Night is over and done with..thank and praise God! Looking forward to the next time. Hope to see you all again! 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!