Niña Sandejas was able to document photos and videos of Bamboo singing Rivermaya songs with Mike Elgar and Mark Escueta.
The “performances” are really just about a bunch of friends jamming with the music they worked on together. I consider myself very lucky indeed to have seen this firsthand.
I must say it was pretty difficult to decide on which ones since there are so many wonderful moments that always happen when you’re surrounded by great musicians. I wanted to do an EVERYTHING Highlight of 2011, but decided to just separate them all into different categories, and the easiest for me to pick were the random ones.
These are my personal choices, based on how each event affected me. I’m sure each one of us have our own highlights, but these are the ones which are relevant to me and which I saw with my own eyes.
Click to check out the photo descriptions and bigger sized photos below.
A decade ago, when NU still existed, and UNTV (with Ramon Bautista, RA, Angel Rivero, those nutty stars of Tumblr) was just a couple of years away from being leased to religious warriors, my radio show “In The Raw” had a TV counterpart. my co-host then was Annette Ortiz-Diaz, drummer for Fatal Posporos (the band was one of the first of the NU107 Rock Awards ‘Raw’ Awardees). The show, as was the channel, was as good and fun as it should be, and it was great while it lasted. UNTV didn’t last long due to… okay, i won’t go there. Long story.
“In The Raw” continued on radio, Annette moved to the States, Fatal Posporos was put on ice. She kept in touch a bit, formed a new band in the States, switched to bass, visited the country, and even became a guest on ITR again with her then-fiancee Dennis. They got married and, like a true rock’n’roll couple, played Metallica songs on their wedding day. That wedding video led to… well just watch the video :)
i mean really, how many times can anybody claim that they jammed with Metallica?? At the Fillmore!!! with proof!!! :D
Kiko Loureiro of Angra recently did a guitar workshop for Laney amps and JB Music Philippines. To say that people were blown away is an understatement… while he is known for being a metal guitar hero, this is a guy who can, and did, play many styles of music during the two hour showcase. Sweeped arpeggios, two-handed playing, precision-picking, hybrid picking… you name it, he nails it. high speed metal runs? sure! then… he launches into long complex jazz lines, Joe Pass-style solo chordal guitar… and there is a percussiveness to his playing that reveals his Brazilian heritage. even when he plays legato, every note just pops out. to be frank, i got sick of shred guitar years ago… and then this guy comes along and proves that you can shred and be tasteful… and really musical. He makes everything look easy. his playing sure lit a fire that will be good for my own playing :)
Scary guitarist… and i was to join him and the JB Music peeps for dinner. I was anxious. He looked tired after the workshop (he also came from Indonesia, Taiwan, and Singapore) and might not be in the best of moods, although he was always congenial. he did seem nice enough while answering questions during the workshop but what if he snaps?
On the way to dinner, he asked socio-cultural questions; he noticed that most of us have Spanish surnames. He is genuinely curious about cultural stuff and Niña and I briefed him on Philippine history… and how unfortunate that what he was looking for (indigenous music) was difficult to find at that hour. “I guess it’s the same anywhere in the world, ” he lamented, “You have to go to a ‘tourist place’ to experience it. Not in the major cities…” He wasn’t much interested in hitting the bars or anything of that nature… he wanted to experience local culture. (We ended up watching a midget oil wrestling match in P. Burgos after dinner albeit reluctantly… ;p)
We had dinner at Casa Armas in Podium and there was little talk about guitar or music. The topics revolved around geography and it’s effect on the human psyche. i pointed this out and he said, “Ahh, talking about guitar…so boring!” He smiled and said, “It’s more interesting talking about other things… what’s the population in the Philippines? is it 94 million?” We talked about the symbolism of the 7 billionth baby… Niña asked him about a city in Finland (he is based there) and he elaborated on living in Europe compared to Brazil. when he did talk about music, he mentioned meeting Allan Holdsworth and explained, “My wife, she doesn’t know much the music of Allan, so i had her listen to his stuff. And she said ‘His harmonies are European.’ You know, like ECM? but he is based in California, you know it’s a different environment…and Allan said that Joe Zawinul, you know, from Weather Report? (i nod) said the same thing.” After dinner, Mr Joel Fernando of JB Music took us to Martini’s for a couple drinks, watching Joniver Robles. Niña and Loureiro talked about photography between songs.
Key shifts are always challenging. generally i’ll use a different pattern when shifting keys instead of transposing a pattern up and down (although sometimes it sounds nice that way). you can also anticipate the modulation with, say, a chromatic or diminished or whole-tone run. it’s tricky, but it’s fun, even when you make mistakes :)
Last question sir. When you are in overdrive mode?do you simply roll of the guitar volume to get a clean sound or are just turning the overdrive off to get the clean sound? I hope my questions doesn't bother you to much sir.Thank you so much for your time and wisdom sir. :)" by Anonymous
For clarity, try a medium output pickup, or lower your high output ones away from the strings (all you need is a Philips screwdriver). stacking overdrives is a good idea but if the pickup is too hot, it will get muddy.
Yes, sometimes i roll down the guitar’s volume knob. it really depends on the pedal. i recently bought a Tech21 Liverpool and it cleans up very very well, as in sparkly clean to all-out roar. depends on the song too; sometimes i don’t have the time to roll down the volume knob to get a clean sound so i just turn the pedal on or off
The mighty Flea!!! :D
I can’t post other pics of @RHCP_Official just yet; they’ll be awaiting proper publication, but here’s one for now.
Niña & Aloy i’m sure have much better shots; they are the masters! :)
Still can’t believe i saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a bit of the Mars Volta :)
Super thanks to Jonathan Caballa for renting his (camera) body to me :)
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