~* BMR's [SOFT] ALBUM LAUNCH @ XAYMACA*~

ang iniiiit sa loob ng xaymaca. i swear.

The last time I've been to Xaymaca was last May for my sister's bday celeb. Last night, I came back to Xaymaca since it was Brownman Revival's soft launch for their album. Right now, their debut single Maling Akala (remake of E'heads hit) is making waves in MYX's countdown. Last night, their album "Steady Lang" was launched to the Xaymaca denizens.

The energy of everyone was high... it was supeeer hot and smoky inside... hehe, what else is new in Xaymaca? ;-)

I didn't want to lose the effects of the lights inside the reggae bar so I didn't use the flash of my digicam. The result were beautiful artsy blurry pics :)




alphy


dennis


dino [this one's my fave blurry/time lapse/motion effect thingie]



the horny boys: ambet, jayson and jojo


januarie

Our pictures...

me, my sister and lizzie


no, i don't smoke! 'just hamming it up for the cam ;) that's my sister's yosi...



me and my sis

Syempre, I had my album inlay signed. Huwaw. Since the band is composed of 9 guys + their band manager, it took quite some time for me to complete the signatures ;)

*click pic for larger view*
by row: signature of jotay the band manager; januarie - percussions; alphy - guitars; jao - bass; ambet - trumpet; jojo - saxophone; jayson - trombone; dennis - drums; kenneth - keyboards; dino - vocals

~* TERE's BDAY DINNER *~

* Today is Tere's bday!!! Happy Birthday dear! :)

Last Thursday night, Tere had her birthday dinner @ Big Buddha, Greenbelt. Teena, Hogi, Pau, Jhett and Red (i didn't know that red was still here pala! haha, so the first thing i said to him was "wow, you're still here pala?!") were there. Twas nice being with these Akakada bunch of friends after such a long time! I haven't been going to any of the 'fellas gigs and save for that Starbucks coffee'ing with Teena and Hogi months ago, I haven't seen them for a loooong time. My birthday gift for Tere even came with my Xmas gift for her -- that's how loooong we haven't seen each other :P

We were laughing all throughout dinner with all those crazy/funny stories we told each other. There is never a dull moment when Jhett (the jologs trivia champion!) is around. As Tere said, if ever she'd get stuck in an island with someone, she'd wish it was Jhett (that is, if Keanu Reeves was unavailable). I didn't know that Red was squeamish when it comes to gory/bloody/icky stories... he was covering his ears and humming while Tere was describing some vivid medical stuff. LOL. I was patting him while saying "happy thoughts, happy thoughts!" and Jhett adds: "think of fluffy bunnies... with pitchforks!".

After dinner, Tere, Teena, Hogi and I had coffee and talked some more at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. We were there til around 10pm!

*** I'll post pictures as soon as I get the night's pics from Tere and Jhett's digicam***

~* SEVEN THINGS *~

'Got tagged by Tere:) ...

Seven things that scare you:
1. flying ipis!!!
2. death of a loved one
3. never ever finding The One
4. ghosts, elementals and all that paranormal stuff
5. hyper kids (with dirty shoes) who might step on my suede shoes/white beaded flats
6. losing my job
7. my PC crashing and me not having backed up my mp3s and videos

Seven things you like the most:
1. music
2. digital photography/adobe photoshop artsy fartsy stuff
3. blogging
4. mushy movies that make me cry
5. my dearest friends
6. my family
7. going to gigs and having my pics taken with the artists/having them sign my CDs/posters

Seven important things in your room:
1. bed
2. CD collection
3. my beloved PC
4. stereo
5. kikay accessories
6. kikay shoes & bags
7. my sequined/beaded tops

Seven random facts about you:
1. I have a 3rd ear piercing on my left ear.
2. I used to be the vocalist of an all-girl rock band which my friends and I formed waaaay back in high school.
3. I'm a self-confessed drama queen.
4. I buy pirated DVDs. I no longer buy pirated CDs. I used to get the pirated one when I don't really like the artist that much or I just like one song from it or something like that. Now, if I just like one song, I just download the mp3. If I like the artist, I buy their album. I feel esp. compelled to buy the album if it's an OPM band.
5. I am quick-tempered. I curse when I'm pissed.
6. I appreciate a wide range of music. I used to listen to Enya and the Gregorian Masters of Chant. I've had various stages/phases in my choice of music: heavy metal stage... hiphop/R&B stage... a boyband stage... a chillout/trance stage... an acoustic stage... an a cappella stage... a reggae stage... now i'm in the pinoy rock band phase;)
7. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. So I stopped looking for now.


Seven things you plan to do before you die:
1. skydive
2. go to Palawan
3. scuba dive
4. go to Boracay again (the last time was back in the 90s)
5. bungee jump
6. have a hot air balloon ride
7. go to Puerto Galera

Seven things you can do:
1. Do artsy fartsy stuff using the brushes in Adobe Photoshop
2. Clone/Dodge away zits, eyebags, sweat stains and other unnecessary stuff in digital photos
3. Take digital videos with one hand and drink San Mig Strong Ice with the other hand during band gigs
4. Do Olive's "Oh, Popeye!" voice
5. Plan the OC-way for product launches and marketing events
6. Sing, sing, sing! But not in a diva kind of way. More like the Alanis Morrisette and Stone Temple Pilots kind of way.
7. Color-coordinate my accessories, clothes, shoes and bags

Seven things you can't do:
1. play the guitar or drums
2. hold off my pee for a long time. I am such a CR queen, I swear. But I don't have bladder problems accdg. to my past medical check-ups.
3. do choreographed dance steps. as in the missy elliot kind of dance steps ha.
4. learn Macromedia Flash
5. forget about certain someones. yeah, with an "s".
6. cook super complicated stuff like kare-kare or something like that.
7. get my mouse off the internet

Seven things that attract you to the opposite sex:
1. eyes, shoulders, lips, butt
2. good-natured personality
3. crazy sense of humor
4. honesty
5. the lambing factor
6. swoon-worthy singing voice
7. intelligence/being street-smart

Seven things you say the most:
1. *Awww*
2. Oh f#%^.
3. Ah $h*t!
4. As in...
5. Like...
6. Super [insert adjective here]
7. chuva

Seven celeb crushes (whether local or foreign):
1. Brandon Boyd
2. Scott Speedman
3. John Cusack
4. Gael Garcia Bernal
5. Yael
6. Champ
7. Sheldon

Seven people you want to see to take this quiz:
1. Abbie
2. Mitzi
3. Charo
4. Tin
5. Ivy
6. Fay
7. Ivah

~* YOU DON'T SEE THESE EVERYDAY... *~

jolly champ.lol. champ shared this picture of his in hale's egroups :) so cute!


a native dog with an amazing balance.saw this as our family was driving home from tagaytay. i was extremely amused that i asked my mom to take a snapshot of it with my celfone. the dog would fidget and move its feet once in a while to keep its balance. hanep. even if the tricyle driver hit the break one time, the dog never lost its balance. and take note, the tricycle was driving fast ha.

~* SPONGE COLA & SUGARFREE @ HARD ROCK *~

Went to Hard Rock last July 22 (FRI) to watch Sponge Cola and Sugarfree. Twas such a rockin' combination so I didn't want to miss the gig. I managed to drag one of my college friends Rose to join me. While we were eating dinner, I got a call from Abbie. Funny coz we were just talking about her... Rose wanted to borrow my He's Just Not That Into You book but I said it has been with Abbie for the longest time. 'Turned out that Abbie saw that Sponge Cola and Sugarfree were playing at Hard Rock so she had a hunch that I was there. She joined us for dinner but left shortly after Rick (another college friend of mine) arrived.

Sponge Cola performed first. They just came from the Meg anniversary party at Rockwell so they only got to start playing around 9:45pm. Yael apologized for being a bit late. They opened with Partisan. They played Lunes, Neon, Gemini, Jillian, Crazy for You, KLSP. At some point (I'm not sure if it was during Lunes???) the guitar of Yael got disconnected or something so there was no sound coming from it. Rayms (band manager) quickly tried to fix the tech prob. Since Jillian was Chris's song, he and Yael switched places --Chris on vocals and guitar, Yael on drums. Before the song's last stanza, Chris broke into the first stanza of Foo Fighters' Best of Me and then switched back to Jillian. If I remember it right, their last song was Jeepney wherein Yael put down his guitar and concentrated on just doing the vocals.

sponge cola

gosh and chris


chris, yael and armo

yael (vocals/guitar)

armo (guitar)
chris (drums/vocals)


rayms (band manager) and gosh (bass)


After their performance, I went to the side of the stage to have my Palabas CD signed and have some pics taken. Chris kinda laughed when I handed him a CD jewel case with the Palabas CD and the Dramachine inlay. During gigs kasi, I don't want to bring the original jewel case of the album for fear that it might get broken or scratched. Had to explain that too to Yael when he was amused at the Palabas/Dramachine combination. As usual, I requested Rayms to be my ermm photographer since I left Rose and Rick at our table as Sugarfree started with their set. *** Super thanks Rayms!!! *** I was about to leave the SC boys but then I saw this bunch of SC posters on their table. So I asked Yael: "How do I get one?" and he went "Umm... like this... (smiling while giving me one)". Hehe. Awww. Cute. *** Super thanks Yael!!! *** While Yael was signing, I asked why they don't play Una live. It's one of their best Tagalog tracks in the album in my opinion -- i looove the vocal arrangement (esp. on the chorus -- the mix between Yael and Chris singing) and the musical arrangement (the sound of the classical guitar and samisen!). Plus, its lyrics was also well-written by Gosh. Yael said it was hard to play it live :p. Anyway, while I was talking to Yael, I also congratulated him for Gemini hitting #1 in 99.5RT after it was just released last July 15.



take 1: umm, gosh couldn't be seen so rayms took another shot

take 2: armo is really sleepy na. lol.
yael with his well-practiced pose as usual;)


my signed palabas cd

my SC poster courtesy of yael. armo left na so he wasn't able to sign it.


Sugarfree played after SC. It was my first time to watch them live, and can I just say, they're such a delight to watch! :) I missed a coupla songs coz I was still at the side of the stage with SC. They sang Burnout, Tulog Na, Prom, Kwarto, Telepono, Mariposa and Hari ng Sablay among others. Ebe Dancel was funny sometimes. Sugarfree broke into the intro of KLSP to kid Yael and the guys who hung out a bit during the first few songs of Sugarfree. During the last part of Prom (Parang atin ang gabi...), Ebe sorta missed a note so he did it again... sayang naman daw coz pumalakpak pa naman daw kami :p. And there was this funny part when he was greeting birthday celebrants from the audience: So there was this group of teens just behind our table who had a birthday celebrant named Jamie...

Teens: "Jamie!"
Ebe: "Jayvee?"
Teens: "Jamie!"
Ebe: "Jaydee?"
Teens: "Jamie!... M... Jamie!" (I was even helping them shout the name and doing an M sign ala-McDo over my head)
Jal does the McDo sign to Ebe too...

And Ebe exclaims: "Ah! J.M.?!"

ahaha :P

Finally, after quite a bit, somebody handed Ebe greetings to read and he read a bday greeting to that Jamie girl. And that's the time he finally got it! ehehe :p

After their performance, I managed to catch Mitch as he was about to leave. I asked him to sign my Dramachine CD inlay. And then I turned to the table where Jal and Ebe sat for their dinner. I asked them first if it was okay for them to sign and pose for a photo-op since I saw that Ebe had started to take a few bites from his dinner. Jal said it was okay, so there... :)


sugarfree

jal (bass)

mitch (drums)


ebe (vocals/guitar)

with ebe and jal...

extra brownie points for mitch, ebe and jal for their personalized autographs :)Since Mitch was the first to sign, he asked my name first... Ebe and Jal followed suit.

~* NOW PLAYING: KWARTO by SUGARFREE *~

I loooove this Sugarfree song. This was the song that made me *seriously* consider buying their album. I saw the video first (in time for Pinoy Blonde promotion since it's in the movie's OST) on MTV before actually hearing it on radio. Well I liked their breakout single Mariposa back in 2003/2004 but this current single is what made me love Sugarfree's music more. I surfed the net to find out more about them and it was this article that made me buy BOTH their albums: Sa Wakas and Dramachine in one trip at Tower Records. After listening to both albums, I thought to myself: "Now why didn't I buy these Sugarfree CDs sooner? It is sooo me. Drama at its best." I looove Ebe Dancel's songwriting. Every thought that has come across every lovelorn individual is echoed in Ebe's lyrics.

My fave tracks in Sugarfree's albums:

SA WAKAS: Burnout, Unang Araw, Mariposa, Telepono

DRAMACHINE: Prom, Kandila, Kwarto, Reprise [[try playing Kandila, Kwarto and Reprise in one go and you'll get an honest-to-goodness catharsis. P.S. Highly recommended for drama queens ;) ]]





Maglilinis ako ng aking kwarto
Na punong puno ng galit at damit
Mga bagay na hindi ko na kailangan
Nakaraang hindi na pwedeng pagpaliban
Mga liham ng linihim kong pag-ibig
At litrato ng kahapong maligalig
Dahan dahan kong inipon
Ngunit ngayon kailangan nang itapon

Di ko na kayang mabuhay sa kahapon
Kaya mula ngayon, mula ngayon...

May jacket mong nabubulok sa sulok
Inaalikabok na sa lungkot
May panyong ilang ulit nang niluhaan
Isang patak sa bawat beses na
Tayo'y nasaktan

Alaala ng lumuluhang kahapon
Dahan dahan ko na ring kinakahon
Natagpuan ko na ang tunay na ligaya
Lumabas ako ng kwarto't naron sya

Magpapaalam na sa yo ang aking kwarto...

~* ROCK TO SCHOOL CONCERT *~

Went to the Rock to School concert at Le Pavillon with Charo, Jako and Fay. Fay, thanks for the tickets! :)

Got there quite late with Jako and Charo. There were too many people inside Le Pavillon by the time we got there so we just stayed outside where the wide screens were. We met up with Fay there. Yey! I've FINALLY met Fay! She's a friend of Charo. Fay and I are both Morning Rushers and I stumbled upon her blog one time when she posted it on the Rusher's egroups. Such a small world coz it turned out that she was a friend of Charo. We've been blogmates since last year but it was just yesterday that I finally met her in person. (We were kidding na parang blind date kami *LOL*)

charo, jako, fay & me

'Missed SpongeCola's performance coz they were the first band to perform. Sayang, somebody in the SC egroups said that Yael was almost in tears when he was singing Neon?! Aww. We managed to catch Session Road (I still couldnt get over that Superdrag rip-off controversy re: Leaving You! I just stumbled upon that news last week. Couldn't get hold of that Garmonbozia song though...) and Kitchie Nadal (Abbie, I remembered you when I saw Kitchie... *LOL*). Didn't get to catch Bamboo though coz we left na and headed back to Makati.

Charo, Jako and I stopped by Starbucks first before going home. I finally tasted that well-loved Starbucks coffee jelly. Twas good :)