ETO NA ANG PINAKAHIHINTAY NATING MGA ERASERHEADS FANS!  I cannot explain how I feel right now but I am super f*cking happy that I’ve actually held the Eraserheads Boxed Set! Karla and I rushed to Juned’s house earlier at 10 pm just to personally see the the entire Eraserheads The Heads Set (the official title). Apparently, Greenwich had an event earlier and raffled off some of these (I think it’s 5) to the press and bloggers. Our good friend, Juned, was one of the lucky winners of this and Karla and I didn’t think twice to invade his house at this hour. Hindi kami fanatic no?

It’s not ours but we already have already asked the other blogger winner to reserve it for us because we will buy it. We wanna be one of the first ones to have the heads set before it’s actually released in the market.

The Eraserheads The Heads Set contains:

• 11 CDs 10 cds - all the albums of the Eheads plus the Pop-U-Mentary (DVD) and Dirty Little Treasures (compilation of all the Eheads songs that were not included in any albums like ‘Casa Fantastica’, ‘Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka’, etc…
• The Eraserheads Heads Set T-Shirt – this is free size
• The Eraserheads Heads Set book

According to our blogger friends who were there, you may get The Heads Set at a lower cost if you purchase something from Greenwich. It’s not confirmed yet on what you need to purchase and how much the entire set will be when it’s already sold in the market. I’ll definitely update this blog post when I get the details.

Also visit Karla’s blog about this exciting news! She’s got more pictures but I got the video. Hehe.

*** UPDATES! *** The Limited Edition Eraserheads Boxed Set will be released on SEPTEMBER 6, 2010 on SELECTED GREENWICH OUTLETS IN METRO MANILA. I repeat, this is only LIMITED. You may have to purchase 6 boxes of pizzas to get the Boxed Set for free.

I grew up with the 90’s music scene and one of my favorite bands during this era was Gin Blossoms. I bet you’ve already heard the news that they’ll be coming to Manila and Cebu but all I can say is… wahhh!!!!! I wanna watch! They’ll be performing at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu on November 19 and will be at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila on November 20. How I wish I can watch. I wonder how much the tickets will be? No details on the price of the tickets but definitely will update this blog post when I get to know how much it’ll be.

It’s back to the 90’s!

Whenever I hear Gin Blossoms, the movie Empire Records definitely comes to mind. Who would not forget the song “Til I Hear It From You”? I even learned to play this with my guitar and jammed with my friends. I definitely want to hear this live. Here are the other songs that I wanna see and hear live:

• As Long As It Matters
• Hey Jealousy
• Found Out About You
• Follow You Down
• Allison Road

I heard they’ve got a new album coming up entitled “No Chocolate Cake” which will be released on September 2010. I bet they’ll be performing some of the new songs when they come here. You can listen to the clips of their new songs here.

It feels good that more and more 90’s bands are coming here in Manila. Hope there’s more!

Colgate and Rock Ed just recently awarded Php 50,000 each to youth groups who had creative ideas that will help their respective communities.  The winners were awarded at the Encore Superclub last July 6th and these fresh projects are:

• Rover Palengke Programe (University of the Philippines Diliman)
• Bantay – A – Bata (San Beda College)
• Pag-asa sa Pagbasa  (University of Southern Philippines)
• Magic School Bus  (University of the Philippines Diliman)
• Art Camp (Karatula)

The winners were very enthusiastic to receive the grants given to them by Colgate. It’s nice to see that at their young age, they are already thinking of ways to help the community. “Tayo ang gagawa ng magandang balita”, the song is right. Be a catalyst for change.

Fresh U Project is a project between Colgate and Rock Ed Philippines. I was glad to see Rock Ed people again after Tech Tanod (a project of the Philippine Blog Awards and Rock Ed) a few months ago.

Gang Badoy of Rock Ed

Bands that joined the awarding were Paramita and Itchyworms. Both of the bands also performed during the Fresh U concerts before in UST, Eastwood Central Plaza, UP Diliman…

Surprisingly, I saw Julie Pacanas, former roadie of Eraserheads and now with Itchyworms. I’m glad to have a quick chat with her while the band was performing. She still remembers me as the kid whom she always sees in Eraserheads gigs.

Of course, Billy Crawford and Nikki Gil were also there as endorsers of Colgate. They sang the Fresh U theme song “Sana Bukas” with Paramita.

]]> http://www.rockerfem.com/colgate-fresh-u-grant-winners/feed/ 0 http://www.rockerfem.com/win-the-philippine-new-wave-book-signed-by-the-directors-themselves/ http://www.rockerfem.com/win-the-philippine-new-wave-book-signed-by-the-directors-themselves/#comments Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:56:43 +0000 Sharlyne Ang http://www.rockerfem.com/?p=1821

Do you want to be one of the three winners of the Philippine New Wave book signed by all the directors involved in it? All you have to do is to write an essay and answer one of the two questions below:

• Who is your favorite director from among those featured in the PNW book? Why?
• What is your favorite digital film from among those done by the directors featured in the PNW book? Why?

Send your entry to mabie.alagbate@gmail.com. Essays must have at least 1,000 words. Submit in a word file (Times New Roman 12, double-spaced) on or before August 1, 2010. Autographed copies of the Philippine New Wave will be given to the writers of the top three entries.

* Book launch will happen on July 14, 20 2010 at the CCP at 5 pm. Each book costs Php 700.

PHILIPPINE NEW WAVE: This Is Not A Film Movement

Edited by Khavn De La Cruz with Dodo Dayao & Mabie Alagbate

Introduction by Bienvenido Lumbera

Profiles by Chard Bolisay, Oggs Cruz, & Dodo Dayao

Published by Noel Ferrer, Instamatic Writings, & MovFest

Book Design & Layout by Gerard Lico

A few weeks ago, I was at the Globe Flagship Store Launch at the Ayala Museum. This was the official launch of Globe’s renovated store in Greenbelt 4, with a more customer-friendly atmosphere. Glad to see fellow bloggers there but I got more excited to see Taken By Cars, which to my surprise, was the band who will be performing during the event.  Only Karla and I were glued to this band while everybody was busy with their own thing. Well, I just said to myself, this isn’t Saguijo.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen Taken By Cars perform live. I’m glad I heard some new songs from them and even a cover of U2’s “With or Without You”. I guess Sarah’s vocals can’t be like Bono’s. I wonder why they performed that song? Found out from their Facebook that they’re already recording for their sophomore album. At least I got a dose of what I can expect from the new album. I hope it turns out well like “Endings of a New Kind”.

Greyhoundz and Slapshock are known to perform hard metal music but this time, they toned down their amps for the Splintr Unplugged gig held last night at the Teatrino, Promenade Mall Greenhills. This is actually the 2nd part of Splintr Unplugged, last week it was Sino Sikat? and Typecast. I heard they were awesome as well but I was after the hard metal bands to perform unplugged.

Reg Rubio and Audie Avenido of Greyhoundz

Greyhoundz with Ian Tayao of Queso and Enrique de Dios of Brigada

The show started at around 9:30 pm. Teatrino is an ideal venue for this intimate, unplugged performance because of its small audience capacity. When the red curtains rose, Greyhoundz was onstage. Reg and Audie were seated together in a sofa while Nino and TJ were seated with their respective instruments. There was awkwardness at first with Reg, I guess because he’s seated and not very used to that, but eventually he pulled it off. He openly admitted that he was nervous. The unplugged sound of Greyhoundz was supported by piano accompaniment courtesy of Enrique De Dios of Brigada. The highlight of Greyhoundz set is performing “Taking It U High” with Ian Tayao of Queso, Jamir Garcia of Slapshock and Bugoy of Zoooom. That was so awesome!

Jamir Garcia of Slapshock

After Greyhoundz, there was a 15 minute intermission then it was Slapshock’s turn to showcase their songs unplugged. The interesting part of Slapshock’s set was the violin accompaniment. It added to the mysterious goth effect in their songs. My favorite Slapshock performances are “Agent Orange”, the violin intro was hair raising and their last song “Carino Brutal”, Jamir made the crowd stand up and finally released their inner urge to headbang (like me ). Guitarist, Lean Ansing, suddenly left the stage and his acoustic guitar then re-entered the stage with an electric guitar. Can’t stand to go unplugged, e?

Lee Nadela of Slapshock

I am glad that Splintr does gigs like this. It’s very interesting to deviate sometimes to what the band usually does. Congratulations to Greyhoundz and Slapshock for pulling of a fucking awesome unplugged gig and of course to Splintr.com. Hope you continue this!

For more photos, visit my Flickr page.

* Thanks to Splintr.com for the ticket! Love y’all!

Clubbing seems to be the new term for disco or rave partying for this generation. I think I was part of the rave party generation but never really got the hang of it. It was only recently when I learned about the new term called “Clubbing”. It was only recently when I first went to Encore Super Club (formerly called Embassy) for the media launch of the San Mig Light Party All Night which will happen on June 25 – 26 (6 pm – 6 am) at the SMX Convention Centre. You might be surprised seeing this article here but don’t get me wrong, a band enthusiast like me can still appreciate other genres. :p

Featured artists will be DJ MATT DAREY & DJ Johnboy Lee.

VIP tickets and tables are priced at Php 600, inclusive of 2 bottles of San Mig Light, 1 photobooth stub and 1 raffle stub.
Regular tickets are priced at Php 400, inclusive of 2 bottles of San Mig Light, 1 photobooth stub and 1 raffle stub.
Just call 854-5578 or 632-3367 for ticket reservations and queries.

In Love and War Album Cover

Two real life friends, Ely Buendia and Francis M., were once struggling each of their personal battles and showed to the whole world that their diseases/illnesses will not hinder their passion to make music. Clearly, the collaboration of musical talents of these two individuals created good music together. Even though Francis M. is not here anymore to hear the full album, his legacy lives on as one of the most talented artists in the Filipino music industry.

As far as I know, the album wasn’t finished yet when Francis passed away (correct me if I’m wrong here). There were songs where Francis’ vocals were not present anymore. I guess those were the songs that Francis wasn’t able to record.

There are 10 songs in the album, almost all of the songs there were written by Ely such as “Buzzkill”, “Hands On”, “Bum Ticker”, “Wasak Waltz” and the old song he composed for Francis’ Happy Battle album, “Unstrung Heroes”. “Bleeder” was written by Francis M. and Pia Magalona while Dream Date was written by Ely Buendia and Diane Ventura. There are two covers in the album namely “Bus Stop” by the Hollies performed by Ely and Hilera and It’s All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) by Bob Dylan performed by Ely, Purplechickens and Radha. The carrier single since last year, “Higante”, was composed by both Francis and Ely.

Listening to the whole album is like hearing their thoughts and experiences on what they’re going through, most especially Francis as his was a grave disease. Hearing Francis’ voice feels like he’s still alive. I like all the songs in the album but my favorite is “Bleeder”, “Bumticker”, “Dreamdate” and “Wasak Waltz” and “Buzzkill”. Below are of some my favorite lyrics in the album:

“Bleeder”
(Francis M. and Pia Magalona)

One drop is all I need
One time for me to breathe
One night for me to feed this fever
And sleep, sleep, sleep

Coz I’m a bleeder (bleeder)
C’mon and stick me with your needle (needle)
Coz I’m a bleeder (bleeder)
So give my vessels a breather (breather)

Clearly, this song talks about Francis undergoing the “needle” because of his medications and procedures that needed to be done to prolong his life. Hearing this song breaks my heart as if I am feeling what he underwent. I liked the beats and the minimalistic lyrics which was not usual for Francis as he does rap songs with long lyrics.

“Wasak Waltz”
(Ely Buendia)

Eto na naman
Panahon ng tag-ulan
Di maiiwasan sa buhay nino man
Tulad mo rin ako
Isang pulo sa dagat
Na walang hanggan
Naghahanap ng masisilungan

Itaas ang kamay
At iwagayway
Masarap mabuhay
Itaob na ang tagay
Saan ka man pumunta
Meron man o wala
Diyan nagsisimula
Ang wasak na pagsasamahan

The song seems to be a song of friendship. Ely vocals on this song depicted his vocals during the Eraserheads era. It somewhat reminded me of “Minsan” by the Eraserheads.

“Bum Ticker”
(Ely Buendia)

Casio was a calculator
With a wax pistol in his hand
They put him in an incubator
With a blues singing thyroid gland

People are always talking about you
People are always talking talking

Bum ticker in the moonlight
crawling on its hands and knees
If you got the Panacea
Then baby I got the disease

Bum ticker

FYI, Bum ticker is an American slang for “bad heart. Ely had a “bad heart” more than once and had angioplasties before. I loved the intensified drum beats and the chants of the line “bum ticker” throughout the song which I think is very appropriate to the meaning of the song. Thanks to Brigada and Hilera for intensifying the heavy beats in this song. It reminded me of “Insomya” of the Eraserheads .

Overall, the whole album is easy listening. In fact, it’s not the Ely Buendia type of songwriting in Pupil which is dark and obscure. This time, Ely’s songs had the “funk” most likely because of Francis’ influence. The collaborations with other artists such as Turbogoth, Radha, Hilera, Brigada, Pupil and Gloc 9 are what makes this album more interesting.

In the last part of “Unstrung Heroes” remix, you can hear Francis asking for blood donations. The first time I heard this really made me freak out and then made me sad after.

The album was just released a few days ago but this was already being anticipated by Francis M. and Ely Buendia fans months ago. Glad that the album turned out well although it’s only 10 songs.

I hope that there will be a listening party gig so that fans can hear the songs live. Elmo Magalona already takes over the mic for his pop so I guess this is ok .

Here’s the performance of Ely Buendia and Elmo Magalona in Party Pilipinas wherein they first sang “Bus Stop”, the second single from the album.

Hearing your favorite band unplugged is a different kind of experience. This is to test the flexibility of the band to adjust, not only the volume of their amps and their guitar distortions, but taming their hardcore rock genre a bit. Splintr.com will be holding 2 separate unplugged concerts on June 19 and June 26 at the Teatrino, Promenade Mall Greenhills. Performances on June 19 will be Sino Sikat? and Typecast while on June 26th will be Greyhoundz and Slapshock. Tickets are sold for only Php 475 for 1 night but if you will decide to buy for the 2 separate nights, you’ll get them for only Php 850. Buy your tickets now because only 200 tickets will be sold as you know Teatrino is a small venue and this will make sure that buyers will have their ultimate acoustic experience of these bands. By the way, the show will be directed by Quark Henares.

See you there!

Lally Buendia is Domino

I remember back in college (circa 2006 – 2006), I was desperately seeking for Domino’s album. My friend’s ex-boyfriend had it but unfortunately, he couldn’t find it anymore thus, I resorted to downloading the album from somewhere in cyberspace (at least I’m disclosing this )  Domino released their debut album entitled “Fair Tales” through Viva Records circa 2003 but it was a short release. I think I was in Pinoy rock hiatus at sometime during my college life that’s why I wasn’t able to buy this album. Sadness.

It was during the benefit gig in Capone’s last April 28th when I first saw Lally Buendia perform with her band. Not really sure of the current line up is, all I know is that Lally Buendia is Domino. Her brother, Ely Buendia, also performed with her onstage. Ely let her sister shine, no pa-star effect. He’s just at the background playing the synths. At least I was a bit familiar with their songs, they performed “Cat Eyes”, “Provocatrice” and a new song which was French. Not really sure what the title was I guess it’ll be included in the new album. 

Ely Buendia with Domino

Hearing Lally Buendia sing is mesmerizing. She’s got a different genre compared to her bro. Lally’s got a soft and seductive voice. Domino’s songs sound heavenly, eclectic and electronic at the same time. It’s like Moonpools and Caterpillars meets Sugar Hiccup meets Drip. I hope they release a new album soon and definitely, I’ll buy this.

Domino “Cat Eyes”