Lagare Nights Part 2: The Bing Austria Show, Sazi's Restobar, July 11 Saturday Night

Bisikleta Productions strikes again. Hilboy was talking about his future line-ups and plans the night we saw each other at Sazi's, all worth watching out for. For now, however, it's about this Saturday night topbilled by The GoSignals and participated in by a host of other bands. Gut Reaction, unfortunately, was not around.

Surf and garage muzak from Tango Bitoy!

My little surprise of the night was Tango Bitoy. It was my first time to see these guys. They do surf music and played some originals that night. Sy did fine with the four-string, Jerwin provided ample skins, but it was Rod Mijares' awesome guitar-playing that took centerstage. If my eyes were not fooling me, this lefty did not even bother to shift his strings, and for a very very weak guitar player like I am (*blush, blush*), that was truly amazing. Do try to catch these blokes.

Apostles of rockabilly: Pusakals

The Trend covering Third World Chaos

SDK: These boys pack a really mean wallop

The GoSignals: Mod galore

I got to see Pusakals play their rockabilly set, too: they opened the gig. Other bands that played included The Trend, SDK (really ferocious kids), and The GoSignals. Unfortunately I had to leave in the middle of the set to catch another gig, which you can read about in my 3rd installment of Lagare nights. My apologies to the bands that I did not get to see, it was nothing personal. :(

I was also the beneficiary of many a gesture of generosity that Saturday night. I got a shirt from Pau of Pink Cow (and Life Without Francis, now that was clever), a CD from Knop Knop of Einstein Chakras, a ride to Timog Avenue from Mel of The GoSignals, and the usual niceties from Hil, Dennis and Bunek, Ish, Carl Simonon and Jumar Burns of t.R.A. Thank you very much to these people, from the bottom of my pineal gland. (Hehehe, go figure: it's not what you think it is.)

This was one of those nights when I wished I had the power to teleport from gig to gig and back, so that way I would have missed less. Hell, come to think of it, I have always wished I could teleport to the nearest virgin beach, to that country north of the Philippines which I love so dearly, to the other side of the world which I have always wanted to visit, to the moon, the stars, to another dimension of existence where no physical entry is possible. I. Just. Wish. I. Could. Yes. I. Seriously. Mean. It.

Scenes From Shit Me Not, And A Plate Of Irish Beef Stew

This should have better read "...and a bottle of Guinness". From the ashes of Purple Haze Bar in Tomas Morato St. in Quezon City rose a bar called Leprechaun, which I was told was owned by an Irish. Leprechaun Bar, like Sazi's, should be a welcome addition to the list of potentially reliable venues for gigs in the future. It was the venue of Shit Me Not, a collaborative effort of Bisikleta Productions, Dirty Shoes Collective, and Tae Productions, held last Saturday, May 23, 2009.

The bands that played, in order of appearance: Tolonguez Death Squad, Clockwork Spiral, Pusakal, Shuffle Union, Umble Uno, Tartarz, Earthlings, t.R.A., Disband, and Pink Cow.

Photos from the gig can be found below. As always, some random thoughts here:

1. I missed the performance of Tolonguez Death Squad, the first band to play that night. Sorry to Odel and company, but I was so hungry when I arrived, and when I am hungry, I am one possessed being. (And obviously, I had Irish beef stew. Sorry, no Guinness at the bar yet.)

2. All the bands were ok (even Tolonguez sounded ok from where I was, which was at the first floor). No band particularly stood out, probably because it was meant to be a light-hearted, fun gig, which is good. Sing when you want, dance when you want appeared to be the dictum of the night.

3. Interesting that Tartarz did a cover of Urban Bandits' "Modern Fishballs"; I actually did a double take.

4. It was a relief to see people dancing without getting unruly to the point of violence. I did not see anybody deliberately destroy things. Leprechaun folks (i.e., waiters) should get used to these gigs. *wink*

5. I just have to say though that the downer of the night was the erratic microphone. I saw frustration written on the faces of most vocalists.

This is the second (I think) collaboration of Bisikleta, Dirty Shoes, and Tae, and I am guessing this is not going to be the last. Good for us. Here's waiting for more gigs from the team.

Clockwork Spiral

Pusakal

Shuffle Union

Umble Uno sing-along

Tartarz

Earthlings

Carl Simonon of t.R.A.

Disband

Pink Cow's sing-along crowd