More than 3 decades in existence, this institution is a weekly gathering of friends and music lovin

Saturday, July 21, 2018

JULY 20, 2018 - JAM AT PETE'S PLACE & PHOTOS

With consecutive storms (more coming) battering through our shores this past week combined with heavy relentless torrential rains causing flooding and chaos all around the metropolis, it was quite expected that our Friday jam’s turnout and spirit would somehow be literally and figuratively dampened and affected. Thank God that last night’s weather cleared up and calmed a bit giving everyone respite from its fury and calamitous onslaught.
Even the music room was not spared of trouble when a busted gutter leaked a heavy volume of accumulated rain water through the ceiling and caused a bit of flooding inside the room. With the problem already addressed and mended in time for the weekend jam, we were good and ready to get back to normal.
As anticipated, only a few friends and musicians arrived at our venue. It was around 10pm when the festivity began. Ever loyal friend, house band honcho and all around guy Vincent Garrucho was the very first to show up. Similarly to last week, my wife Vicky, sis-in-law Ana Mara and her daughter Tina along with good friend Raul Julian (who stayed around till closing time) all came for some night cap and kept us company coming straight from their usual Friday cocktails at their favorite café nearby. Soon, kumpadre and house band vocalist Monchie Henares along with Arabelle Jimenez walks in to join.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Shanghai based Tosh Murayama back in the room. Straight from the airport, Tosh never fails to make it a point to show up to jam every time he is in town. It’s amusing how his travelling back and forth to Manila makes it seem like China is just on the other side of town. I definitely have no complaints though. Welcome back to Manila Tosh.
Clearly short on the list but not to be denied, Vincent, Tosh, Monchie and myself will have to do the jamming for starters. As always, the effort exerted by the band was fun and sweet, definitely good enough to get us through the yearning. Vincent played guitar, sang and played drums on some occasions. Tosh took turns playing the guitar, vocals and played drums too, while I played bass. Monchie was at his usual element doing vocals.
Before closing time, about half an hour after Monchie and Tosh had left, guitarist Reynald Perez made a preannounced appearance via his fb messenger and eventually making it at around 3am. Despite just Vincent, Reynald and myself around on stage, we were still able to enjoy and continue playing till 4:30am. Who says we can’t have fun and pull it off? As resilient as we normally are, we just have to manage and make the most of what limited resources we have available.
After the jam, Vincent, Reynald and Raul still stayed around to chill a bit before heading back home. At exactly 5am, it was about time to call it a night. All’s well that ends well. Praise be to God!
Hope to see you all next week!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!

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