A LONG DAY, AND A LITTLE NIGHT OF MUSIC

I was working, I was singing, I was head banging.

Last night will definitely go down in my book as one of my busiest ever. It’s been a long time since I had fun checking out the different music spots, and boy was I amazed on how the local music scene has really improved.

I was having a long day at IslaMusik (they recently got me to head the show). I had to finish my script and supervise the voice-over of our host Ala Paredes. The girl’s cool by the way. I had the impression before that she was a little bit too stiff on t.v. But in person, she’s really not, she just have to be prepped up properly.

I had to listen to a lot of classical music because we’re doing a full episode on the genre. For that, I had to watch videos of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra to get the gist and feel of what I was writing.. It was a day of Vivaldi, Puccini, and the likes. I don’t even know these people but listening to them gave me the drive.

After working in the office, I went to the opening of my friend Marq's show. Kuh Ledesma and Zsazsa Padilla did their debut of Diva to Diva in Mandarin. The show kicked off with their own version of Vouge, and what an opening number it was. To label them GLAM will be an understatement. I always remember waking up Sunday afternoons hearing their voices on T.V. And believe me, seeing them in person and hearing them live, the experience is nowhere near it. These fortysomethings (sexy at their age mind you) definitely rocked all the chi-chi crowd in the venue.

I had to leave early to meet my friend Santi in Greenbelt. There was a launching of a new music spot there. Every Fridays, M CAFÉ is transformed to M HOUSE. House aficionados’ will have their fix with the metro’s top spinners.

Wanted to check it out but we had to go to Mayrics to check out the album launch of this new "sobrang makulit" band that I’m slowly becoming a groupie of. God, I haven’t stepped in Mayrics in ages. It was probably years since the last I visited the place. But the feel is still there, the rawness, the testosterone-filled, indie feel still resonates in the air.

When we got there, BAGETSOFONIC was still finishing their last set. The teenagers were having the time of their life playing to the equally responsive audience. Then a guy dressed up in a spiderman costume went onstage and started playing the drums. The hypnotic beat ushered in an uproar. KIKO MACHINE played their slowly-becoming hit TAKESHI’S CASTLE and the crowd love them. Everyone went wild. I, the ever-proper Paolo totally lost it and started banging my head to the beat. I was in trance.

Nope, my night didn’t end there. My friend Cindy called me to remind me that SPY will be performing in BIG SKY MIND. So off we went there to check out the final gig of the day. The place was crowded. At 2am people from the indie scene, yuppies, the artsies, the chi-chi crowd and (strangely enough) even people from the mainstream showbiz were dancing their night away. Sammy Asuncion of Pinikpikan fame was on command.

The crowd adored him, the folk rock meets jazz meets heavy rock was another creation of the genius that is Sammy. I was a fan of him even from before. I use to force my old group to check out Pinikpikan every time they had a gig years ago. Then, Sammy, out of the blue started singing a few lines of Carpenter’s “A Song For You”. The crowd didn’t know how to react. Was he joking? Was he tripping? Was this a part of an act? Then his group backed him up, what followed was probably the tripiest, the best cover version of any Carpenter song that I’ve heard. It was like listening to James Brown doing Carpenter and what an aural delight and sight to behold. Trully immaculate.

I was so tired, was so drunk, but I never had so much fun. This was truly a Friday night to remember. From Classical, to Pop, to Electronica, to Alternative Rock, to Folk Rock to Jazz, to Fusion, I had everything covered just in one night. Beat that.

Oh God, I love Filipino Music.