A Tale Of Three Gigs

Mick Jagger? Paul of Coffee Break Island, Green Papaya Art Gallery, Kamuning, Quezon City, May 6, 2009

Wednesday, May 6, 2009. More than a year ago, I was in Jed Escueta's photo exhibit Escuebaks at Big Sky Mind. Many months, blog posts, and exhibits later and we were back together. This time, Jed featured the rowdy guys of Coffee Break Island.

It was my first time at Green Papaya. The place, I was told by a friend, was once a house where she stayed in for a few years. The place was filled up when I came in, and Coffee Break Island was already dishing out familiar songs off their repertoire at the ground floor of the gallery, much to the delight of the crowd. Beer was all over the place, and in the bloodstreams of most people in attendance.

Upstairs was where the actual exhibit was located, showcasing the band at various stages of their career. Very interesting.

Jed, consistently the reticent one, was at the background as always. He was one of those familiar faces I haven't seen in quite a while. Glad to see those faces once again. Yup, in spite of the rains raging outside that night.

*****

Joe Jackson? Emil of The Marcos Cronies, Sazi's Restobar, Espana, Manila, May 9, 2009

Saturday, May 9, 2009. Hilboy of Bisikleta Productions was putting some finishing touches on the tickets while awaiting the matinee crowd. Ah, but it does take a bit of getting used to matinee shows. Maybe Saturday is not a good day for a matinee. At any rate, when people started pouring in some two hours after the supposed sched, they really poured in. Pretty soon, Sazi's Restobar (formerly Mayric's) was filling up.

Bing showed up, of course, and was his usual bubbly self. The GoSignals played. So did The Marcos Cronies, Pink Cow, Rocketpunch, SMB, and essentially almost every band billeted that night. My bad, I did not get to see all the bands play and hence I could not give a fair assessment. I was doing a looooot of catching up with people and towards the tailend of the gig, I have to rush to another venue, which I will talk about later. All I know is, I had a good time talking to long-lost friends. (Or more like, I was the "long-lost" person, heheh.)

Sazi's (and this is just my personal opinion) has not changed much: the look, the mood still reminds me of Mayrics, but Sazi's is a little bit cleaner. It was little like time warp. Hopefully Sazi's eventually becomes another viable option for similar gigs in the future.

A little before 12 midnight, I was hitting the road again.

*****

Silenoz of Dimmu Borgir? Dagul of Shuffle Union, 1962 Tambayan, Sct. Madrinan, Quezon City, May 10, 2009

From Sazi's I went to 1962 Tambayan, a place once haunted (Don't we just love puns?) by news scribes and refurbished to cater for acoustic performances. That night, Shuffle Union and SMB (the boys were working double-time) were to perform acoustic sets.

I arrived and saw Arnold Morales jamming with JR and Dagul prior to Shuffle Union's set. The crowd was (obviously because of the acoustic sets) more laidback, and I actually like the way the sound bounces off in the venue. 1962 Tambayan is looking good as an acoustic gig venue, so far.

Shuffle Union, as far as I know, is presently preparing their EP which should be out anytime soon. If you were at the Louie Louie gig at Mogwai last February, you'd have a good idea how this album will sound. The boys and girls have retained the engaging trad-rocksteady quality of their music but added new elements to their sound making it a little different from how they sounded like four years ago. Now this is something to definitely look forward to, and I am personally glad that they are finally coming out with this album. I wish Shuffle Union all the luck in the world.

The night was not quite over yet for some when I left the tambayan. For me, however, it had just began. Up next, the playlist. Have a great week, people.