At last, Something To Smile About... (Part 1)

hello everyone!

last night was one of the most memorable and enjoyable gig night i had in recent memory...
yesterday, soft pillow kisses was slated to play two gigs. one at 6 underground in makati and the other one at mayrics in españa...
that afternoon, so many things happened that got me really tense going into both gigs... there were so many problems here, there and everywhere that led me to think that it wasn't going to be a happy year ender for me.
our backbeat secretary had texted me about a missing envelop containing a very large sum of money. worse, the "katiwala" at the office claimed that i picked it up yesterday afternoon at the office. how can that be when i was at home sleeping - by the time i woke up at around 4pm i was still so pre-occupied worrying whether arjay would show up on time or not - i have lots of money... not my problem anymore...
arjay did show up and i thought that things will go on smoothly from that point on... then another dilemna came up. one of our backbeat staff texted me that he could not make it to the m88 gig at 6UG because he was still nursing from a dislocated knee... this was a very big problem indeed because it somewhat disrupted my plans on how i were to handle both gigs at the same time...
then mavi texted me that she wanted to go to mayrics after her dinner commitment... this gave me an idea to let her manage the whole mayrics proceedings while i'm attending to m88 at 6UG... she agreed but she told me that she wasn't sure if she could make it by 10pm... so i thought of another option and jenny (gish's manager) was the best one. i wasted no time calling her and to my relief she happily agreed... i texted mavi that i already found someone to handle the mayrics gig and that there's no need for her to rush to mayrics...
still i had to look for roadies to attend to m88 at 6UG. i called up kel and he agreed not only to roadie but to act as road manager for m88 if ever the need for me to rush to mayrics comes. i had dennis assist him... so all problems solved at around 7:30pm we (charles, arjay, dennis and i) left the house for greenbelt 3 where we were to meet up with janpol and eloha. on our way, apol texted me that she wanted to leave her place early so i told her to meet us at m1...
i bought 3 cd's at m1. trembling blue stars' "broken by whispers", "lip's that taste of tears" and "her handwriting"... everyone was there by 9pm then we proceeded to 6UG via the walk way connecting greenbelt to HSBC... by the we got to the venue, me and apol were breathing our lungs out. i though i'd get cramps but... our real call time was at around 8:30pm. we got there at around 9:30pm and to my surprise... walang tao!!! i asked the venue coordinator, trish, if we could start playing na. she told us to wait for paramitha to be completed so we waited... during the long wait we spend our time smoking, chatting, eating the complimentary band meal made up of assorted pika-pika which was quite good. it was only apol who seemed not to be enjoying the whole proceeding because every item that she wasn't available so she settled for some nachos and this really spicy pringgles chips that was later confiscated from us... guess what? we even had time to do sound check... i received a text message from ayie of kings and pawns telling me that they'd be playing but will be coming in a little late because they had to wait for their bassist which was just coming back from the province. this got me excited and really smiling...
at around 10:30pm, soft pillow kisses came on stage. we started playing to about 30 people and by the time we finished our first song "bathing in the sun", the venue was already full... it was really a great set... the best we had this year only to be equalled by the one which we'll have soon after at mayrics. that one with apol doing the vocal chores... the crowd really liked us specially on the songs like "stay here for a while", "i was right", "it will never last (forever)", "wasting opportunities" and most specially "stolen flowers"... we were to play only 5 songs but the "feel" of that moment made me decide to let the people enjoy us a little bit more... we all left the stage in high spirits but i had to cut the euphoria short for i had to make them rush to mayrics with me just waiting for m88 to start their set. it was already 12:01am when i left 6UG leaving behind dennis and kel to attend to m88 them selves...
traffic was really heavy and it took me more than 30 minutes to reach mayrics...

i have to stop here muna... sa next entry ko nalang itutuloy... may mga bisitang dumating and i have to attend to them... cguro after putukan ko itutuloy...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!! GOD BLESS!!!

My First Step To... I don't Know Where?

hello! anyone!

we've all been very quiet lately, each of us have our own reasons for being so... i for one have been trying to deal with one of life's most cruel joke. sadly i am still failing... seems like everything is drifting away from me... do you know how it feels?

2005 started out for me like a drift in still waters. full of possibilities and promises. as days and months passed by, i suddenly realized that i was all ready in the middle of a big storm. being the optimistic fool that i am, i just laughed at it all. believing that for every bad thing that comes my way, something good will eventually follow. so there i was, greeting each trial with arms wide open. but everytime i get to jump a hurdle, it's either i get to land on the wrong foot or get rammed by a great big wall. that was how it was for me during the middle of this year... but i was still able to pick myself up and move on... by the last quarter of 2005, things were beginning to pick up and it seemed that the promise of a smooth sailing was there after all. so i tried to savor every bit of it ignoring some bumps and occassional mildly rough waters... then all of a sudden, without the slightest hint, i was drifting towards a very big waterfall... so i fell and what's worst about it is that i don't know how to swim... enough of that!

today is the 30th day of the last month of this very cruel year... hopefully, i wish to see an end to this string of unfortunate events. what better way to do it than to do something which i once enjoyed doing the most...

tonight soft pillow kisses will be playing at two separate gigs. one at 6 underground in makati at around 9Pm and the other one at mayrics... even this exercise have hang-ups which until now is still hanging in the balance... the first one is trying to get bands to perform for mayrics at a very short notice because the venue was also awarded to me just last monday. that one was settled just last night. also the dilemna of not having a vocalist during pillow's mayrics gig. that was also settled last night with me getting apol (original pillow vocalist) to practice at my place, a few songs for tonight's mayrics gig (eloha will be the one doing the makati gig)... the only thing that's hanging in the balance is arjay's (current candy bassist) commitment to be on time, specially for 6 underground which i think will be very strick in time slots alloted for bands.

if you're not doing anything tonight i suggest you pass by one of the venues...

6 Underground (C. Palanca, Makati City)

Imago
Moonstar88
Paramitha
Soft Pillow Kisses

Mayrics (España, Infront of U.S.T.)

Gish
Lila
My Science Project
Soft Pillow Kisses
Angus
The Cactus Garden
and many more...

Putang-Inang 2005 Yan!!!

ano ba ang mga nangyari nitong patapos ng letseng taong ito!!!

simulan natin sa mga di maganda:

nasira ang sapatos kong diesel sa opisina habang binabaybay ko ang kahabaan ng hapag kainan papuntang banyo

bumaluktot ang neck at nag-iba na ang tunog ng godan na gitara ko, pati jaguar ko nawalan mga mga piyesa...

nag-quit si ralph dahil sa isang post na ginawa ko... dalawa na tuloy ang kalbo sa candyaudioline...

muntik na ako ma-ospital dahil dati kong sakit...

dahil sa mga sakit, maraming times na tumugtog kami na hindi kumpleto...

maraming naging intenal problems sa banda this year...

nag-quit din si ayn dahil sa di na nya ma-take ang mga itsura ng mga bago nyang kabanda...

akala ng marami disbanded na kami pero ang di nila alam ay di talaga nila malalaman...

nag-karoon ako ng substitute bassist na sinungaling pa kaysa sa akin... yung pumalit snungaling din pero may poise at kapiranggot na kunsensya (one time sa sobrang pagka-guilty nya nag text sa akin ng pa-english-english pa!)

akala ni dennis ay may taning na ang buhay nya dahil sa dati nyang deperensya sa lungs nya...

di namin na-execute ng maayos yung mga kantang ini-record para sa compilation na ilalabas namin early next year...


eto naman yung iilan sa mga positive things na nangyari sa amin this year:

charles of popular days was always there to session for us during ralph's absence hanggang sa mag-quit sya...

tether was very instrumental for the very existence of candy during those very confusing months. nakuha ko si kel na ipinalit ko sa nag-mamagaling na si ruel, si dennis naman ay nag-pumilit na sumali sa candy to the point na ibinayad nya ang natitirang puri mapabilang lang sa bandang iniidolo nya dahil alam nyang kumakain kami palagi after a gig...

nag-simula ulit ang candy tumugtog sa mga outdoor gigs at malalaking venue...

kaya na rin nilang tumugtog na wala ako... (malapit na siguro akong mamatay kasi nung isang araw, nang kunan ako ni dennis ng picture, wala akong ulo)

nadiskubre ng mga kabanda ko kung ano si allan montero pag lasheng...

ralph was able to watch one of our recent gig and we're both in speaking terms again and also with ayn whom i had a chance to visit last christmas with charles and dennis...

actually until now, candyaudioline is still sailing very rough waters. hopefully we'll be able to work things out the soonest possible time...


here are some non-candyaudioline items that made the year that was for us all...

wala na sa candy si ruel!!! yeepeeee!!!

tether lost three of their founding members while in the process of recording their ep but were still able to get great replacements...

poopoovox went awol...

sunsetdrive for a while was reduced to a three piece but are playing as a quartet...

my science project has improved a lot...

may panibago nang regular sa buzz night at ito ay ang kings and pawns (destroy MY heart!!! dun dun dun... dundundunt)

populardays are still as manyaks as ever... si janpol happy na kasi may syota na. si erik naman, ayon kay charles ay nag-papaka-melancholy...

still on erick popdays... paganda ng panganda yung mga posters na ginagawa nya... parang sunsilk!!!

buzz night was featured in one of the big name mags but it was also that magazine's farewell ish...

some very good bands with really great stuff grazed this year's buzz night. to name a few, we had easy mersey, bagetsafonik, los chupacabras, nycty nasty, sugar hiccup, massive action, velvet, shimmer, luscious dreams, orf, helen, sofiabolo, einstein chakras and grasspipe...

crowd attendance has grown since the latter half of this year

pag kumakain kami sa marlets, may libre kaming balay ng liempo. yum yum yummy!!!

patay na ang timog food plaza...

di pa rin nag-tataas ang presyo sa mister kabab...

discoveries of the year!!!

kings and pawns!!!
may word pala na "papaya" si lyrics ng isang kanta ng popular days!!! haaa haa aaahhh...
ang mga salitang "suhi", mac doggie", "butterfly", "pampapogi" at "bungangain"....
si dennis at si charles ay magsing-lakas kumain
si kel nagbago na!!! (DAW)
si dennis ay suhi nung ipanganak...
si _____, tulad ni candy arjay ay sinungaling pala...
si ayn nagbago na...
si charles ay mamamatay pag mawala ang pulbos at conditioner sa mga pamilihan...
ayus pala sa eve's venom pero mas okey sa queen's castle sabi nung isang friend namin...

qoutes of the year:

"i love you gado!" - from an unknown buzz nite patron...
"eh di bu-bungangain ko nalang..." dennis of tether and candyaudioline
"hindi na ako tao ngayon, wala na akong pera" - charles populardays...
"patingin naman ng mga titi ninyo oh"- ex-candy bassist...
"nagbago na ako, ang misyon ko'y dalhin ang mga kabanda ko sa tamang daan" - kel ng candy
(habang nag-mamalinis sa harap ng gelpren nya)
"charles, ang ganda ng hubog nun ah, sakto, parang hinulma" - dennis dizon
"___________________________" - allan montero

Correction Please!!!

hello everyone...

first of all let me correct one entry that i made from my last post. it's not jigger (tether drummer) who was rushed to the hospital last night... it was his sister and she's suffering from dengue. sorry to hear that jigs, we hope she get's well soon...

hmmm... how should i begin?

not much action for candyaudioline these days except for that forgettable UST gig last december 7 and a very exhausting buzz night performance last december 10... we haven't been practicing for quite sometime now... we are all very busy again with our own separate lives... kel as far as i know is been going back and forth to manila and bulacan to attend to some chores, arjay is oftentimes spending quality time with his girfriend in dasmariñas, cavite whenever he (and kel) is free from any moonstar88 obligations... dennis on the otherhand will be partially sidelined due to a recurring lung ailment. selena has been very busy with her work and at the same time preparing for their company's christmas party on the 15th of december... i myself have a handful of concerns like looking for rackets that would help me raise money to fund my compilation project which has currently been put on hold because of unavailabitlity of studio time. atleast most of the bands are nearly finished. also we have been very busy at backbeat. kamikazee had just been taken up by Universal Records, moonstar88 had just finished recording their album, cheese as i've learned is very well on it's way too... and so is the youth who is also about to release an album and a video... aside from those, i'm also very busy concerning myself
dealing with life's oftentime cruel style of dishing out jokes... for instance, how it is very possible something so sure to happen would not come to be in just a blink of an eye. or why is it that the wrong people always get their way. on a personal level, why do positive things come in very short and almost ignorable spurts while bad things rule life like a never ending bad story...
most of my friends see me as a very cynical person, well i'm just living my life that's all...

on a positive note, there are still a lot of things for me to look forward to like, dale's return to manila, the december 17 gig at las piñas, future gigs for both candy and pillow and the rest of my scenemates, christmas, christmas parties, christmas bonuses, gifts, new year's eve, new year's day, the release of the compilation, the demise of bands who make their living by sucking from other bands, the death of music piracy (i buy pirated dvd's because most of what i want isn't available here), the improvement in the taste of our local audience, the improvement in the standards of living for all of our unfortunate countrymen, the improvement in the roads and traffic in metro manila and in other parts of the country, the execution murderers, rapist, kidnappers and other criminals who don't deserve to live, the extinction of corrupt government officials, dumbass sexy-stars, pa-cute and bakya artistas, jologs and concert gatecrashers, the execution via electricution of political personalities and other public figures who are so pasikat and papasin when in fact tae lang naman cla... i'm also looking forward to the day wherein there'll be another jaworsky, fernando poe jr. ramon magsaysay, gloria romero, diomedes maturan, eddie perigrina, tito, vic and joey, dolphy, effren "bata" reyes, gabriel elorde, francisco balagtas, jose rizal, fr. sonny ramirez, joe cantada, eraserheads, the youth and allan siegfried t. montero (seryoso ako ha!!! sabay ngiting demonyo) (",), icons who truly deserves to called as such...

also, i'm also looking forward to the day wherein the Philippines will be up there, side by side with other countries interms of economic stability, morality, politically secure, with respectable military capabilities, well educated healthy citizens who'll value and respect each other's rights and existance... hay naku!!! inaantok na po ako...

sa ngayon eto lang ang mga masasabi ko:

"pinoy ako, pinoy tayo... ang bababaw ng gusto... ang daling magpa-uto..."
"hugas kamay... ang pangit... wala na bang utak... hugas kamay, ang pangit..."

sa totoo lang, malungkot ako ngayon, in english "heaven knows i'm miserrable now"...

by ther way, seyoso na ito, i'm looking for someone (a girl preferrably) to play bass for soft pillow kisses...

May Tsismis!!! INATAKE DAW AKO!!!

WOW HA!!!

exaggerated talaga...nag-palpitations lang ako... dala ng sobrang tension at pagod... i was in laguna attending to my backbeat chores during a moonstar88 and kamikazee gig in san pedro last friday when all of a sudden i felt some difficulty in breathing... i decided to go back to the band area and there i started to feel a bit unconfortable as if something was bothering me... actually, work related yung mga factors eh... it had something to do with both my breathing pati na yung pananakit ng ulo ko na medyo lumala dala na cguro ng pag-akyat ko sa di namang gaanong kataas na hagdan na di pantay ang mga baitang... nag-worry yung mga kasama ko kaya pati ako rin medyo nag-panic so i decided to have my blood pressure checked... hayun 140/100... pero nakakatawa yung situwasyon habang kinukunan ako ng BP may mga picture taking pa. kung may opportunity ako, i'll have them posted here... i decided to have my BP checked again... hayun 130/90, meaning normal pa rin... kinabahan din ako pero wala lang pala... yun lang...

sobrang late ako nakarating nung saturday sa buzz night to the point na candyaudioline had to do two songs with me and arjay sidelined just to catch our breath after that very long 3 hour-sort-of-suicidal trip from nueva ecija to manila after candyaudioline, soft pillow kisses followed next (actually, last band up at wala na talagang tao except for my candymates ang some of the mayrics crew) we just did for song and hurriedly went our own separate ways... first time na walang post buzz night-chibugan blues in more than 3 years... nakakalungkot pero pagod na talaga kami... bawi nalang next time... sabi nila okey daw ang the cactus garden pero puro covers nga lang daw. i'm looking forward to catch them live one of these days... sana may mga compositions na sila by that time...

i'm looking forward to the December 17 gig at las piñas... sana masaya at sulit... i really miss spending time with my bandmates and fellow scenemates...

by the way, sonnet58 guitarist, soft pillow kisses keyboardist, and apple orchard señor glamour boy dale marquez will be back in manila to check on his many girlfriends este panganays este for a very short vacation stint... malibre ka naman!!!

updates about the compilation: fully-booked and studio so we have to wait until maluwag na ulit ang scheds... tapos na ang candyaudioline at kings and pawns (mixing nalang), soft pillow kisses ay nagdagdag ng isa pang song. ganun din ang populardays at superminty drums pa lang at bass. ang my science project at up perriscope ay di pa nakakapasok sa studio. apple archard will be giving me two tracks na ni-record nila sa states. tether has been having problems again... (tether drummer) jigger was rushed to the hospital last night. (tether and candyaudioline guitarist) dennis will be resting for 2 months due to a recurring lung ailment... hay naku, buhay nga naman...
i had a chance to listen listen to ex-candy ruel's band Scarlet Tears ep... okey yung packaging, maganda yung sound quality, magaling yung singer - very rich yung voice nya, okey naman yung mga songs kaya lang, nababaduyan ako sa guitar playing but if ever you get thru that, the ep is quite good... i highly recommend it to people (marami dito sa pinas nyan) who associate goth with death metal... congrats Scarlet Tears... Buti pa kayo. kaya nyong tiisin si ruel... (kamukha ni ruel si michael jackson sa in-lay ng ep nila)

better late than never

happy birthday to me!

-kahit late na ung post ko! sorry mga bandmates lalo n kay selena dahil hindi nya alam na bday ko, kagabi nya lang nalaman na birthday ko nung tuesday!

-last night we palyed at UST, duh! i should say that it was a disaster! c charles ang nagbass sa amin kc c rjay dumating na pagkatapos na pagkatapos naming tumugtog! sobrang pangit ng gamit! ROAA sucks! hehe! grabe! may nakita pa kaming maitim na nilalang kaya lalong nasira ang gabi namin! nyahaha! hulaan nyo na lang kung sino un!

-nagspend ako ng birthday with my parents sa bulacan, it was so hearthwarming
gusto ko na ngang umiyak kasi sobrang touch ako! love talaga nila ung bunsong anak nila! hehehe! then Deanna surprised me when she came! grabe lalo akong natouch!huhu! sorry bandmates kasi hindi ako nakapagcelebrate ng birthday ko with you guys! But i should say being a Candymate is a precious gift God has granted! God bless our band! thanks guys!

Buzz Night is on December 10!!!

hello mga peeps!!!

this month's buzz night will be on the 10th of december...
get tpo see the following bands in action:

candyaudioline
tether
sunsetdrive
populardays
kings and pawns
shimmer
soft pillow kisses
my science project
the cactus garden

see you at mayrics...

December Buzz Poster

Although, to be OC about it, the artists are not listed in alphabetical order. Hehehe... ;)

Thanks, Erick!

exodus

hi guys. it's either i'm free enough to be typing an entry right now or i'm slightly slacking off hwehehehe ;)

just some updates. our project has been going well, though it's on hold for a couple of weeks due to scheduling. so far, candyaudioline's output has been good (still needs tweaking, of course). we've been having a lot of gigs, too, to the point where i've been exhausted these days. well, to tell the complete truth, it's also because i've been having a lot of extracurriculars lately. been spreading myself too thin, to allan's dismay. sorry!

last monday, we had a gig at Simmerdown, the former Loft in Katipunan. I really like the place: futons on the floor, native sala sets around... just this really laid-back atmosphere. i think it's meant more for their tuesday reggae nights, but they also have rock fests there, and mostly unknown bands, which is good.

we played well, but weren't used to the place and flubbed quite a bit. some of it was my fault hehe and i'd been feeling irritable because of fatigue and kind of stepped on allan's gadget before a song for a joke heehee. that didn't do anything, but well... it was a pretty messed up set :D

anyway, what i really remember that night was the taxi ride to Simmerdown. allan was seated in front while us four petite kids were squished in the back.

dennis: allan, ba't bad trip ka ngayon.
allan: lilipat na kasi si selena sa pasay.
kiel and arjay: (eagerly) ah talaga? saan?
allan: selena, sabihin mo kung saan.
selena: sa ________.
arjay, kiel and dennis: (altogether, with different flinching, shocked reactions) HANAKUNGEGRABETALAGA?? shet!
kiel: (exaggerated) ay oo, tahimik dun!
arjay and dennis: ba't kasi dun?
kiel: (slightly relenting) hindi, mas grabe naman yung malibay. no. 1 yun eh... (pause) pero no. 2 yung ______! (laughing)

haha. shit. katakot.

but i'm optimistic about moving out of the house :) independence!