At the onset, it was quite perplexing to call the night as to how it will eventually turn out being a long weekend as some regulars and guests might have had made other plans to go out of town or whatnot and couldn’t make it over. It was also payday for most employed and so anything can really happen. It was a wait and see scenario.

The evening started at past 9pm with just a few of us elders on stage, handicapped and just struggling to make it work. It continued on unabated with more and more musicians joining in and ended much earlier than usual at 2am, concluding with us stepping down and the younger generation now in total dominion. As you can already imagine, after us, the music pursued predominantly rock in genre and unrelenting chord progressions to boot that seemed to last forever. At some point it even became a fierce face-off between the lead guitarists on board. It was totally ear popping and mind-blowing to say the least. A total contrast to the previous weekends we had experienced, genre wise.

House band percussionist Vincent Garrucho was the first on the list of arrivals followed shortly by balik-music room guitarist Reg Gutierrez. Reg was a regular guy on stage back in the day before he got hitched and relocated elsewhere distant. He now comes over to jam rarely being busy with family, work and because of proximity where he now lives. Nonetheless, it’s always a pleasure to have him around.

When bassist Rick Trinidad showed up, we were then good to jam. I had no choice but to take on the drum chores to fill in before house band drummer Bubui Colico arrives. It became Reg’s call on what to actually play as he was the lone rhythm section on guitar on board. He did vocals at times too. Hall and Oates ( excuse me please...not “Holy Notes”!) eventually became the menu for the day for us.

Monotones honcho Ryan Nacino and Pau Villanueva of Athalie and Carousel Casualties along with Mean Jay front man Joko Reantaso and his musician friend were in the house, comprising the roster of jammers who performed on stage.

Among the others who were present were Joko’s dad Jay, Gab Villanueva, Nikki Segundo, John Sarmiento, Luisa Distor, Reynald Perez and Raul Julian. Thank you one and all.

After the jam, when most had already left, Rick, Jay and Joko still hanged around to unwind while having a few more beers and some chit chat till past 4am. All’s well that ends well…praise and thank God!

And so we look forward to the next jam night. December is now upon us. It’s the best time of the year for me. Looking forward to more blessings to come for all of us.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! GOD BLESS US ALL!