On Unfinished Businesses, The Resurrection, and Serendipity: At Long Last, A Playlist!

It is but serendipitous that the ninth day of novena for the late Je Bautista fell on an Easter Sunday. Personally, this is a very comforting sign, in more ways than one, and those who have been around and have cared for Je may probably look at this coincidence the same way, regardless of religious belief.

When Je was in the ICU, he was very restless. He was raring to get out and be transferred to a regular room where there is cable TV so that he can watch Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Food. He missed going online terribly: his laptop was on his bed but he could not catch a signal inside his cubicle. (His unspoken motto: No internet, no life.) So Je was stuck with Buy and Sell, bland hospital food (he was on a low-fat, low-salt diet), and a signal-less computer. His boredom was a bit alleviated when I brought him, upon his request, Pat Gilbert's book on The Clash, Passion Is A Fashion.

One of the fruits of Je's boredom is this rather "unfinished" playlist. (Beethoven would be probably squirming in his grave in reaction to this horrid pun.) Unfinished, because Je was not done with the mixing when he suddenly dropped on that fateful day (while still in the ICU) and passed away. Je was assuring me a couple of times that he was doing a playlist for me, which speaks tomes about his own kind of passion.

A few days after Je's interment, I found this list, which I completed mixing (yes, I do have many tricks up my sleeve too), and am now sharing with you. Oh, there are a few more of those "unfinished" playlists coming up soon.

This playlist is kind of long, but I opted not to trim down nor exclude any song. As you may have probably noticed, Flogging Molly and The King Blues are some of our favorites, but Je recently stumbled upon this artist named Adrianne, a lady who can play compelling acoustic-based songs. A must-check, if I may say so. Do take a look at the titles.

1. FLOGGING MOLLY - Requiem For A Dying Song
2. FLOGGING MOLLY - Wrong Company
3. FLOGGING MOLLY - Don't Let Me Die Still Wondering
4. THE KING BLUES - Hold On (Acoustic)
5. BILLIE HOLIDAY - Me, Myself, And I
6. ADRIANNE - New Kind Of Cool
7. BUNNY WAILER - Get Up Stand Up

I hope you enjoy this playlist. After all, it was Je who handpicked the songs. For me, Je had one of the most sophisticated pair of ears in the business. As such, his death is not just a personal loss, but a loss of the local music scene as well.

And for this reason, among countless others, Je Bautista is and will be truly, sorely missed.

(Frozen moment: Photo of Adrianne from her website. Photo of Je taken during the first matinee gig by A Happy Face Productions at Ten02 last March 1.)

...And Let Me Just Say...

Our post last November 13 titled "What If Punk Never Happened?" is linked to this site. King Blues Press contains bits of news on the band The King Blues. Do check out their blog site, will you? :) Cheers to The King Blues!

What If Punk Never Happened?

Hi all, the post you are to read below is written by the "friend" half of the Marika and Friends signature that I affix every time I write an entry in Trash Radio Manila. You see, Je should be doing this more often, being the far more talented writer that he is than I am. But you know how precious things are....

Je writes about a part of The King Blues' latest release, which contains "What If Punk Never Happened?", and how this piece struck him and inspired him to produce the mix that you are hearing on our player. Here goes.

(Photo credits: The King Blues from their MySpace site, Music Front from their MySpace site.)

Hello All,

I do not usually write for blogs. Editing and writing for other people being my main source of livelihood, I somehow find it difficult to write what’s in my own mind. However, things sometimes come from way out left field that they almost knock you down.

Special thanks are due Bisikleta Productions for knocking me down and bowling me over today. The guy behind the production outfit sent me an MP3 late this afternoon. It was a copy of The King Blues’ “What If Punk Never Happened” off of their latest release “Save The World. Get The Girl”. (Please get the album if you can.) To say my life has been changed again is an understatement. But the email made me remember many things. Many many things.

My first reaction to the song was that I had to get the lyrics. In the process of looking for them across the Net, I also stumbled upon a general invite from the band to remix the song.

It is past midnight now, and I have just come out from the studio. (Ok, it’s just the other room in my flat where I have my stereo. I merely hooked up my laptop to an interface in the stereo so that I can “remix” the song.) My bandmates do not know it yet, but I have mixed in one of our songs, “Let’s Dance”, to the spoken word version of “What If Punk Never Happened” and we now have “What If Punk Never Happened? Let’s Dance”, a cross-continental unauthorized collaboration between The King Blues and Music Front.

If The King Blues ask me to take it down, I will ask Marika to take it down. If my bandmates ask me to take it down, I will ask Marika to take it down. If they don’t, then well and good for all of us. We will keep the remix uploaded here on Trash Radio Manila for a week so download as you may.

“So shine your light so bright that all can see,

Take pride in being whoever the fuck you want to be,

Throw your fist in the air in solidarity,

And shout, ‘Viva la punk, just one life, anarchy’”

Be brave and wise,

Keep the faith,

Je

(Download mix here.)