DEC. 9, 2016 - PRIVATE PARTY AT PETE'S PLACE UPDATE

A highly successful and entertaining Friday night took place at the music room last night celebrating Celso Villegas' 65th birthday. Rarely will anyone find one's self in an exclusive party on a regular jam night but certainly was an exception for my spouse's dear friend Jenny's husband. About a couple of weeks in preparation, i had gladly authorized the event to take place to accommodate a plea from my wife Vicky. It was mostly from the celebrant's DLSU (DLSC at that time) batch'74 group mates that had showed up to the party. Welcome to the music room fellow LaSallites.

The first wave of guests arrived unexpectedly (as early as 6pm..can you believe it?) and surprised me, caught me off-guard while i was still doing my rounds preparing. Still raggedy and sweaty (definitely not stinky..excuse me) in my gym attire, i welcomed and ushered the early birds to the room to settle while i tidied up. Soon Celso and Jenny finally arrived. With them was an overflowing supply of sumptuous food, beverages and hard liquor all nicely prepared for everyone to partake and devour. An open bar system for the beer drinkers was also applied. What else can you ask for? It was time to party.

Among the green blooded gentlemen who came were co-birthday celebrant Nonong Santillan, Butch Araneta, Patrick de Borja, Mike Jose, Nick Reyes, Jerry Lapuz and Joaquin Hagedorn. Strictly a closed in exclusive affair, the regular house band members graciously got invited to join to provide the live music specially requested by the celebrant. A non-obligatory open invitation to the musicians who are able to make it. No problem for me, as i was definitely glad to oblige.

Unsure on who among the band mates will eventually show up and at what time, the show must go on. Sooner or later we had to start the ball rolling before the guests starts to leave. And so we did. It was just Rick Trinidad and I on stage at the start. We performed 3 songs just to warm up the crowd before handing over the mics to the guests to get involved. Without the band, the ladies had wanted to sing Karaoke. Each took turns singing along minus-one to their hearts content until they had their fill. 

By this time, vocalist Monchie Henares, guitarists Joaco Marco and Nitoy Adriano had arrived. Nitoy was God sent and was absolutely timely for the band, playing tunes the guests are familiar with...him being of the same age range. Finally, percussionist Vincent Garrucho arrived completing the cast. Come to think of it, if keyboardist lord Kiko Montecillo did not get himself tide up somewhere and did show up as planned, it would've been absolutely perfect, in my opinion. But then again, it wasn't God's plan. I'll take it any day. He knows what's best.

At the jam, the oldies and their guests had a blast singing along at times in unison, non-stop with the band longer than most anticipated. Expecting an early start and finish for the seniors, the group surprisingly hanged around till past 2am. A record of sorts for most of them. When the birthday party officially ended, the regular guys still stayed longer as it was early by our standards. We actually jammed some more before we finally packed up and called it a night. By the time we finished and closed up it was already 4:30 am. Another super successful event in conclusion! Praise and thank God! 

Next Friday, Dec.16th, will again be a no go for the regular Friday Jam Night. Instead we move to gather on Saturday, Dec. 17th, for our 2016 PETE'S PLACE MUSIC ROOM CHRISTMAS PARTY. It promises to be another humdinger of an event! Don't miss it! See you all then!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!