Music Man

Having been out of the blog loop for a time, this one’s taking me a long time to start. But what the heck, I’m back and that’s all that matters.

So, to all my blog pals out there who never fail to visit this site even if I have posted a lot of inane and insignificant material in the past months or have never posted at all, thank you very much for bearing with me. You know who you are. Peace.

It’s 12:51 in the afternoon and having just woke up a few minutes ago after another night of staying up late until the wee hours of the morning which was really the norm for me rather than the exception in this hot, hot summer of ‘07.

My mind is still foggy and I am still groggy not just because of that never-ending booze and plenty of that three-letter word (ha-ha) but rather more so of my disrupted circadian rhythm. To put it simply, I am still dazed and confused in my bed and have no desire to get out of it.

Anyway, in the next couple of posts I’ll be doing some re-programming and reformatting of this blog. Huh, ala- TV Network, eh?

You’ll see more of my crooked views often with some sprinklings of sane musings once in a while and I think I’ll leave the accounts of my “journeys and adventures” to my other sites which can be found in the Family Circle blog roll on the right side of this blog. In fact, I recently added another website in Multiply for my ever- growing list of sites that I am hoping to maintain now and in the near future. Of course that can only be made possible if the juices flow right and that old lazy bug doesn’t catch me napping again.

By the way, some friends of mine have kidded me that I have this affliction about concerts and live performances and have earned this mantra of “have ticket, will travel” even if it takes hours and hours and miles and miles of driving in unfamiliar roads and places.

I can only smile at them at the back of my head for they’re right in a way for I love going and watching live performances by different artists. In fact, my choice in music is quite eclectic and I think it will require a different post but allow me to say that I have a lot of stuffs in my growing collection--from Broadway shows to operas, from the classical to jazz to Gregorian chants, from standards to pop, from rap to rock to metal and so on and so forth.

In the past two months, I’ve been to a lot of live concerts but missed a lot of them too. Every concert is a different experience for me and will surely evoke different memories in the future--

My concert experiences, pictures and videos will be posted soon in my music blogs, Unchanged Melodies in Blogspot and Rhapsody in Black in Multiply.


This year I've been to Josh Groban, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Itzhak Perlman, The Police, America, Chicago, Deep Purple, Crowded House, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Poison, Great White, Dokken, LA Guns, 16 Frames, Ratt, Jani Lane and Bryan Adams.

I missed Nickelback, John Mayer, Evanescence, Stevie Nicks, Styx, Toto, Kenny G and a whole lot more.

I already have in my possession tickets to shows like The Rocky Horror Show, Beatlemania, The Bangles, Scorpions and Lea Salonga. Speaking of Lea, she’ll be having a concert at the Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, New York on November 2, 2007.

For my fellow Lea Salonga Fans- Leah and Gina, I think you can drive to the concert from Ontario. :) Hey, Teresa, it's just on the other side of the river, babe.

And I am hoping I can watch Velvet Revolver, Aerosmith, Genesis, Maroon 5, Van Halen, Hootie & the Blowfish, Ted Nugent, Ozzfest, Madeleine Peyroux and Mandy Patinkin if my work schedule and money err credit cards will permit me. Ha-ha.

Tonight will be Dave Matthews Band but I am still debating with myself whether to go or not.

Back in the Philippines, several summers ago, I used to frequent music hubs like Mayrics for The Dawn, Eraserheads, Color It Red and Rizal Underground; Hobbit House for Ka Freddie Aguilar and the like; Club Dredd for the then alternative sound and the one club in Quezon Avenue whose name escapes me now where Side A, Artstart and Tropical Depression used to play. I wonder if they’re still in business nowadays.

ex- Seminarian, Inquirer Lifestyle Desk Editor and Theater Blogger Extraordinaire Gibbs Cadiz a.k.a. GIBO in his past life even ordained me and James, his college friends to the world of laughter and music in that sanctuary of stand- up comedy called Basilica in Ermita which we enjoyed tremendously amid brown bottles of San Miguel and plates of peanuts and mushrooms.

Maybe it's his way of paying me back for taking him on the other side of the fence in one of those seedy girlie joints in Legaspi years back. Let me just put it this way, 'twas a show of daring acrobatic proportion that will put the famed Romanian gymnast and Olympic Golden Girl Nadia Elena Comaneci to shame and I can guarantee that Gibbs will never ever see one like that again. he-he.

I went back to Basilica a couple more times with some "old- fashioned" girl friends in tow and watch them in shock as the performers roasted and toasted each other and some daring members of the audience to the hall of shame.

When foreign singers and artists would have a concert at the Folk Arts Theater, a lot of times, me and my friends were there too, camping out outside the venue, munching on cheap peanuts and drinking pop content on listening to them sing their hit songs live but not seeing them perform in the flesh for in those times, we can’t afford the cost of show tickets which was priced way out of reach anyway for the typical “broke” students’ weekly allowance.

I had my taste of Fra Lippo Lippi, Def Leppard, Air Supply, Stephen Bishop, Michael Johnson, David Pomeranz and Toto this way. :)

So, it is of no surprise if you will see me in a concert rocking hard with black- shirted rockers in a Deep Purple, Poison and the Ozzfest concerts or singing in my seat in a rather more subdued Josh Groban, Chris Botti or Michael Buble soirees.

Yes, I am at home in any genre and crowd. I like to watch and observe people and experience the rush at the same time. I could head-bang with anyone, sway with anybody and sit in silence, alone and by myself if the moment calls for it.

Heck, I could even shout at the top of my lungs and play my air guitar inside my flat, sing a ballad in the showers or dance when I’m alone in my room with nothing on but the music in my head.

All these crazy things I can do for I got the music in me…