Taglish

Long time, no blog.

Ganun talaga siguro. Sometimes you don't feel like blogging. Mahirap i-articulate ang mga bagay na sinungkit pa sa mga kung saang recesses ng puso mo. First, it's hard to do the digging itself. Hindi madaling maghalukay. Second, the idea of labeling it. Minsan, mas masaya na wala na lang label. As Edrik pointed out once, babaliktaran ko lang, it's like having a geek buddy explaining to you all the things that are happening.

But, yeah, blogging is hard to resist. Para kasing may social responsibility ka na sa mga fans mo (hahaha, beat that!). At least a soul or two will bug me for having no blog. Bug to blog. Kumusta naman ang alliteration ko r'un?

Well, what's up with me? I just had a nice phone conversation. Just right for one Sunday afternoon and enough for me to face another challenging week (but wait, Paris is calling, oui!). Kailangan ko rin kasing ubusin 'yung load ko. See, I have 150-euro worth of phone calls! Pero sulit naman sa usapan, sabi ko nga.

Last night, I had an involuntary bar hopping here in Utrecht. My first actually. Surprisingly, my first. I planned just to catch Susie Ibarra (www.susieibarra.com) and her electric kulintang. Or should I say her magic kulintang? She's NY-based and the idea is to combine an artsy/folksy instrument with electronica (synthesizer). It was held at Rasa, a venue for world music. I think I was the only Pinoy in the hall (other than Susie herself) though I saw a Chinese-looking Ryan Cayabyab-ish patron. It was fun. I ended up buying the CD's which I am playing right now. I particularly like the piece "Cotabato City". Malupit ang remix!

Then I was informed that with the ticket, I can also catch two more shows in two other venues. Sundan ko lang daw kung saan pupunta ang mga tao. Fine. Next stop (the third, actually, since I missed the first one before kulintang) is at Ekko bar. It has a reputation of being cool but I haven't been to that place before. I just saw some big, glaring posters of their line-up. The bar is just beside a canal. To go there, from Rasa, I had to bike for a few minutes before crossing a small bridge (which happens to be my favorite spot here in Utrecht and which I accidentally discovered when I was still staying in my first apartment in Spechstraat).

The next band is called "Grizzly Bear". NY-based din, particularly from Brooklyn. Pero mas African ang beat nila. Lion King's Hakuna Matata-ish. The type na masasabi mong "world music" talaga. Masaya rin. At least naka-groove ako nang konti kasi wala namang nakakakilala sa akin dito. Bwahahaha! Singles and soloists, unite (and let's dominate the world!).

Next stop is at SVU Jazz Podium with a female artist named "Sir Alice". For me she's a combination of Bjork, Spice Girls and Robbie Williams. French pop na French pop. Maganda naman ang music at ang daming theatrics! May mga costume changes, props and visual FX. Very brave and kick-ass. Mahal ko na s'ya.

While watching Susie Ibarra doing her stuff, I noticed that the kulintangs look like, err, breasts! Yeah, bastos. And in one of Sir Alice's costume changes, her (was it accidental?) breasts greeted the crowd "dag!". She's forgiven. She's French, remember?

O gabing kulimlim at makapangyarihan....