Nice Jam

Enjoyed a number of awesome jams this month. The latest was with the band called Ten to Midnight, which in my humble opinion, have some of the most memorable and well written original music in the indie circuit. Since I usually play solo gigs, its nice to be gigging with a band from time to time.

Good thing we have a schooled drummer because my ears can’t take hard hitting on cymbals. Some drummers tend to have uncontrolled use of cymbals which eats up too much of the available frequencies that are supposed to be for other instruments. You can easily tell if a drummer is good by the way he hits his cymbals.

All in all it was a nice gig, and we are scheduled for some more this month.

Kurt Cobain Jaguar

Nirvana was a very strong cultural phenomenon back in my younger years so everyone my age was either influenced by their songs directly or indirectly.

Now Fender is giving fans a chance to try the guitar that Kurt Cobain was using. Even with it’s above average price, I have a feeling that a lot of young people will still get this guitar for simply being a replica of what Kurt Cobain used. Read more about this tribute guitar at Guitarsite.com

Radio Guestings

I was asked to help promote the 2nd National Elements Singing and Songwriting Camp last Saturday, and I just said yes out of sheer gratitude for what the camp has helped me experience and learn. What I did not know was that the promotion was really special, I will be playing with no less than the super talented main man of South Border – Mr. Jay Durias. He is a very popular musician, singer, songwriter and was lately a musical director for a noon time TV show.

When I found out that he will come with me for the radio guestings, at first I didn’t think we would jam, I thought they’d let me play something and then let Jay play something after the interviews and promo spiels. But while he was setting up at our first radio guesting (Dig Radio), he asked if we would jam, and ofcourse I obliged! And that was a very inspiring spur of the moment jam, he played keys on my song, and I backed him up on his song. I just realized how much of a technical and emotional difference he has over me, but that only fired me up to play and hopefully add something nice to his already beautiful music.

The best part of all this is that we also jammed on the 2nd Radio station which was Jam 88.3. Too bad that Noel Cabangon had to leave – if not, I probably would have had the chance to also back him up! All in all it was such a wonderful and uplifting experience. Hope I get more opportunities like this in the future!

Music against flood?

Recently my son have this notion that when he plays christian music – heavy rains will stop pouring. He probably developed this belief due to his first hand experience of flooding. We already explained to him the importance of rain for other people, for plants and animals, but he still insists. And I’m starting to believe as well – every time heavy rain falls, he would crank up the volume on the ipod touch speakers and play some christian music. And like a miracle – the rain would slow down to a drizzle. It maybe coincidence to us but to my son, it’s his daily miracle. Here is a pic of his recent favorite song: Today is the Day by Lincoln Brewster:

Nicki Minaj Interview at BlackBook Magazine