Sa Wakas

Last Saturday, Nikko and I went to PETA Theater to watch the first show of Sa Wakas. I was invited to the press preview, but I had work and the press preview didn't have the lead I wanted to watch. Call me shallow, but I wanted to see the production with Fredison Lo so I patiently waited for the Saturday run.

Sa Wakas is a Filipino rock musical featuring Sugarfree's songs and is about three people caught in the tangle of a disintegrating relationship. It touches on the sensitive topic of cheating, but I liked how tasteful the play tackled it. It had none of the tired cliches those mistress movies of late seemed to bank on.

The play revolves around Lexi and Topper, who are engaged. Lexi is a doctor while Topper is an aspiring photographer, and while they may look happy, their relationship is falling apart. Lexi's busy schedule has made her unavailable, leaving Topper to have an affair with Gabbi, a magazine editor. Sa Wakas is a heartbreaking story of love lost and love found.

The musical hit me in a way that no film or play did. I haven't had a boyfriend in three years so I kind of forgot the feelings one has in a relationship: the joy of finding love, the anger of discovering your partner having an affair, and the pain of being the "third party." To be honest, I've been put in similar situations so I knew what all the characters felt.

I enjoyed the play. The acting was sincere, the vocals were strong, and the songs from Sugarfree really hit the spot. But what I liked the most about Sa Wakas was how it humanized the characters. There was a time when we had those mistress movies and TV shows, but they all lacked heart and focused on the controversial casting and campy one-liners. Sa Wakas pushes past these and focused on the meat of the issue: the emotions of everyone involved.

When you look at a premise of a kabit story, you wonder: who is at fault? Is it Lexi, whose busy career as a doctor and high ambitions led her to not have time for Topper? Is it Topper, whose needy tendencies and spoiled temperament led him to find an outlet? Or is it Gabbi whose charm and availability (and legs) trapped her and put her in a dead end?

The beauty of Sa Wakas is that there is no villain. You can't pin everything on Gabbi. Let's face it, kabits are seen as loose women with terrible attitudes. In reality, not all kabits are bad people. Many of them are also victims, quietly hurting while they see their paramours going steady with their 'legal' partners.

Topper may be at fault. His uncertainty of whether to stay with Lexi or dump her and be with Gabbi has hurt both girls. But the truth is, it's not his fault. According to one line from the play, "being in between and not having to choose makes perfect sense." It's part fear, but mostly confusion. What would you do when you're in a long-term but disintegrating relationship, then you meet this girl you connect with on a deeper level, who's supportive of your art and understands you, and who made you realize that your relationship with your girlfriend is not growing anymore?

The play can be painful to watch, because all three are hurting. Lexi is hoping for everything to be okay, Topper is stuck and confused, and Gabbi is wondering if she should stay or go.

Sa Wakas follows a nonlinear narrative, like (500) Days of Summer. But unlike (500) Days, Sa Wakas has a more bittersweet approach, and the last scene was just perfect. Putting the scene where Topper proposed to Lexi at the happiest point of their relationship as the closing is just heartbreaking, and I was on the verge of tears.

Having an affair is a complicated thing. It's not as simple as people claim to be. You don't just stop loving your partner even if you have a kabit. You still love that person, but not the same way. It's not with the same intensity, the same passion. And if you try your best to resuscitate it and nothing happens, it's okay.

The thing is, sometimes things just don't work out the way we want it to. Sometimes we find happiness in unlikely places. And no matter how much we fight for something we have, sometimes it's better to cut our losses, accept that things will never be the same, deal with the pain, and move on with our lives.

In the end, there is always a new beginning. There are many meanings to sa wakas. Of course, it is the title of Sugarfree's first album. But if you translate it to English, it would either mean 'finally' or 'the end,' depending if you're Lexi or Gabbi.

I was fortunate enough to have talked to the main cast after the show. The show's producer, Charissa Pammit, agreed to let us talk to them for a short interview. Frankly, I was more excited to talk to Fred, but Justine Pena (Gabbi) was quite the character. She had a smile that radiated and a maturity that I admired, especially at her age. Laura Cabochan (Lexi), was more reserved, but she was welcoming. And as for Fred, oh my. He was charming, funny, and talkative. We talked about the Marvel universe for a while when he complimented my Hulk shirt from Uniqlo. I was so enamored that during goodbye, I almost crashed into an easel.

I'd like to blame my camera's quality for making me look shitty, but when you stand next to Fred, I don't think anyone can look halfway human.

Grimes live in Manila

Last Thursday, Grimes was in the country for a one-night only performance at the Hard Rock Cafe in Makati. I first heard of Grimes a couple of weeks ago through my high school friend, who I recently re-connected with since going our separate ways in college. He introduced me to Oblivion, and I was hooked. Then after a few days, I found out that she will be performing here. Perfect.

I managed to get a ticket because I will be featuring the concert for When In Manila. I also wrote about the concert the previous week in Supreme. I recently started going to gigs and learned that music is better listened to live, and I found myself appreciating genres I never thought I'd like. For example, rock really isn't my thing. But when you listen to Wilderness perform live, it's like you're another person. The same thing happened when I watched Azealia Banks perform at the anniversary party for Magnum. To me, it's more about feeling the music than hearing it.

Anyway, Grimes was more up my alley because I love electronica. Grimes, or Claire Boucher, does not make your ordinary music and is in a genre of her own. Her official genre is indietronica, but The Guardian once said that “by sounding a little like everything you’ve ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard.” Her sound is “post-internet,” a mix of synthpop and a breathy and ethereal voice that mixes perfectly to create an electro dream. She sounds a bit like Björk and a bit like Enya.

Her latest album Visions is a work of art. It has been lauded by The New York Times as one of the most impressive albums of 2012. The single Oblivion is Grimes’ most successful release so far, and was named #1 song of 2012 on Pitchfork. Much of the album is just as great, with favorites Genesis, Vowels = Space And Time, and Skin providing a solid backbone for the type of music Grimes plays. Curiously, she made the entire album on Apple’s GarageBand.

Grimes' concert at the Hard Rock Cafe was a riot. She played most of the songs on Visions, and even if she only played eight songs over a set that lasted less than an hour, the energy was out of this world. Grimes opened the set with Symphonia IX and the crowd got wilder as she progressed, singing Circumambient, Nightmusic, and Be A Body. When she performed Oblivion, everybody cheered and went crazy. By the time she closed with Phone Sex, I was already part of my friends’ mosh pit and dancing along with the crowd.

The day after her show, she tweeted “manila was out of this world i will absolutely come back to manila and i suggest to everybody else that they go to manila one day. ”

*With excerpts from my article at When In Manila here. A link to my feature on Supreme here. Photos are by Stephen Lavoie, courtesy of Kind Assault. Follow Grimes on Twitter here and Kind Assault here.

Nananaginip Nang Gising, UP Asterisk's 7th anniversary party

Last Friday, I was in Conspiracy Bar in Quezon City to support my friend Stefan for Nananaginip Nang Gising.  The event is the seventh year anniversary and cult night of Asterisk, the three-time Outstanding Arts and Letters-Based Organization in UP Diliman. Stefan handles social media, and he does a great job of it because I usually get events to feature for Supreme from him. He did the marketing for the event and he invited me, Nikko, and Erin Emocling to represent When In Manila

On a side note, I would also like to congratulate Erin for landing a gig as writer for Yahoo! and VERA Files. She's a great photographer and writer!

Prior to that, I attended the reception of my officemate Rhea Ramilla's wedding. She and her now-husband Bryan finally tied the knot after 13 years of being a couple. She looked absolutely stunning that day and I wish that she will have 13 more years, then 13 more with him. Bryan's a lucky guy.

Nananaginip Nang Gising featured the music of Wilderness, Slow Hello, Plagpul, The Oemons, The Jeffrey Zulueta Experience, TABAKK, Ciudad Tribu, Super Lolo, Sheenola, The Strangeness, Justin Pinon, and poetry by UP UGAT, with live art by Ang Gerilya.

Wilderness played a great set that night, but totally different from the last gig I watched. According to Stefan, a neighbor complained about the noise the bands made and threatened to report them. Wilderness was affected the most because their music can be really loud, what Erin describes as a "bombastic love explosion." At one point, I was handed a tambourine and I jammed with the band for a few songs. It felt really good.

The Oemons were pretty good, too. They look like rockers in a jazz band, complete with a trombone and trumpet, but they play ska. They're a riot to watch and though I didn't exactly understand what they were singing (they mentioned burritos, white men, and bukkake), they were an entertaining band and their music was addicting. I might go to their other gigs.

I enjoyed The Strangeness' set the most. My friend Shinji plays the tambourine, and they describe themselves as a "lo-budge narco country psychedelic garage punk n' soul band... from outer space." It sounds like a lot to digest, but their songs are laidback and perfect for chill Sunday afternoons. They performed one of my favorite Strangeness songs, Being Sober is a Drag. Which really is.

The rest of the event went great. I got to meet Bon, who runs Indiebon, this artist from Ang Gerilya, and Geli Bolinao from Clavel. We promised to collaborate on projects soon. Exciting times ahead!

Asterisk is perhaps the coolest student organization. They hold these fantastic cultural events from Lav Diaz screenings to talks with established cultural creatives. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of going back to school just to join Aste!

Haute Auteur 2012 x Musique en Scene

Musique en Scene, the gig featuring the awarding of Haute Auteur 2012

Last Saturday, I was at B-Side at The Collective for the awarding of UP Cineaste's Haute Auteur 2012 with my friend Jonard, a research assistant for the Genetics laboratory of UST. Now on its third year, the festival's goal is to pay tribute to cinema's roots, proof of which is the homage to Nora Aunor and other cinematic greats in its entries. It had a week-long screening at Shangri-La Plaza Mall, with an accompanying print sale from artists like Manix Abrera, CJ de Silva, Apol Sta. Maria, Kasey Albano, Benjie Marasigan, and two artists I greatly admire: Rob Cham and Carina Santos (who recently followed me on Twitter and I still can't get over).

Camyl Besinga of the Techy Romantics

At the ceremony, the finalists' entries were screened again, with a band live-scoring the film. Honestly, my main reason for attending was to see the Techy Romantics, a local electronica band that I discovered a few months ago. They're actually the only local group that I obsess over because their sound is mad awesome. Plus vocalist Camyl Besinga's voice is incredibly hypnotic. They played around midnight, when most of the Haute Auteur attendees left, but when they started their set, B-Side started to get packed and everyone was dancing. It was easy to tell that they were the crowd favorite because they got the loudest cheers and they were the only group that were demanded an encore. They relented and performed 7 Years, a beautiful song from Touch. I was just dancing and smiling the whole time, it was insane.

The Walkie Talkies, a sister tandem

Besides Techy, I only knew Encounters of a Yeti, but I discovered great music from other bands. I particularly liked The Walkie Talkies, a sister duo that covered The Spice Girls' Stop, Regina Spektor's Us and a mash-up of Adele's Rolling In The Deep and Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. I can't find them on Facebook but the taller sister had this amazing voice that I want to listen to all night. Surprisingly, I also liked The Wilderness. Their music was a little hardcore for me, but I found myself dancing along, even though I'm not a fan (at all) of heavy, noisy, and wild rock.

Lee of Better In Bed, still adorable as ever

On top of that surprise is seeing my friend Lee perform. Apparently, his band Better In Bed is one of the performers. He was one of the more popular ones and girls kept shouting his name. I liked his last song, Galaxies, and I now have it on my iPod. Before leaving the stage, he announced with a raised eyebrow that he wasn't straight, then left. Ever so badass.

The Black Vomits

The Black Vomits were good, too. They're this rock band that had the sexiest songs. They were almost as hardcore as The Wilderness but I thought there was something sexy about the way the vocalist sang, moved, and dressed. I think it was her confidence and the way she stood, but she's aces in my book. In short, she makes me want to turn straight.

I didn't watch the rest of the bands because I left quickly after the Techy Romantics, but the other performers were Musical O, Sleepwalk Circus, Ciudad, Pocketful Of, Ivan Theory, Similar Objects, Purplechickens, and Reese and Vica.

Kagagahan

I died. I died, I died, I died, I died.

The Evolution of Hung Up

Madonna first rocked the music world [and the world in general] in 1983 when she released her first album Madonna, with hit singles such as Everybody, Burning Up, Holiday, Borderline, and Lucky Star. And now, 24 years later, Madonna still knows how to turn the world into one huge dancefloor with the 2005 release of her 10th studio album, Confessions on a Dancefloor.

Hung Up is undoubtedly one hell of a song, and I bet you agree with me. If you do not, it's either you do not have taste, unaware of true fabulosity unless it bites you on your flat ass, or you have lived like a hermit somewhere in Nepal during the last two years. I kid, I kid. If you are not in the know, Hung Up is the first single from Madonna's Confessions on a Dancefloor album, and to say that the song is phenomenal would be an understatement. The evolution of the song’s live performance would be the focus of this blog entry.

Confessions on a Dancefloor was released on November 15, 2005, and Madonna simultaneously performed several of its songs at various clubs, discos, and other venues to promote her new album. On the same date of the album's release, Madonna performed at KoKo Nightclub in London, England. This is the first live production of Hung Up, which would pave the way for future performances.



Just several months later, Madonna was tasked to open the 48th annual Grammy Awards on February 8, 2006 with the animated group Gorillaz and De La Soul, and together, they wowed the world with a medley of Feel Good Inc. and Hung Up. Madonna's performance of Hung Up was similar to the one on her Hung Up promo tour, but her dancing here is stellar to say the least, especially her entrance number with Gorillaz.



On May 21, 2006, Madonna embarked on her Confessions Tour which proved to be very successful. Although it sparked numerous international controversies, the world tour set the record for the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist in history. In her US shows alone, she grossed $80 million throughout the summer. On April 8, 2006, Madonna sold 30,000 tickets in under 40 minutes in Montreal, breaking a record previously held by U2. On July 9, 2006, 50,000 tickets went on sale for Madonna's Osaka and Tokyo shows. The tickets were sold out in a record 5 minutes. Her performance of Hung Up, which closed her shows, has completely evolved from her KoKo and Grammy performances, complete with gold balloons that floated down from the ceiling during the end.



On November 2, 2006, Madonna opened the 13th MTV Europe Music Awards which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her performance, which took place after the Confessions Tour, surprisingly was identical to those of her first productions. What I love about her performance here is the energy of the crowd. You can practically feel the orgasmic frenzy as Madonna delivered the hypnotic lines of the cult song.



The latest, and hopefully not the last, performance of Hung Up was on July 7, 2007, at the Wembley Stadium, London, England for the London leg of Live Earth, a series of concerts that initiated a three-year campaign to combat climate change. Madonna was among 150 musicians who performed on the luckiest day of the millenium [07-07-07], and she performed Hey You, Ray Of Light, La Isla Bonita, and of course, Hung Up. Her perfomance of Hung Up was similar to her Confessions tour, except this was not as grand as her finale in the tour. It was shorter, but so far, I like this mix better.



Also, we must not forget the official video, the visual apotheosis of the song that turned the world into one huge dancefloor. The video had its worldwide premiere on October 27, 2005, and it was well-received. It was nominated for 5 MTV Video Music Awards in 2006 [Video Of The Year, Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Best Pop Video, and Best Choreography in a Video], and 1 MuchMusic Video Award in the same year [Best International Video]. The video was an homage to the film Saturday Night Fever. Her scenes in the rehearsal studio are reminiscent of a scene in the movie when John Travolta's character Tony Manero approaches Karen Lynn Gorney's character Stephanie Mangano. Madonna proved her tenacity and resiliency in the making of this video because just a few weeks before shooting, she broke 8 bones in a horse-riding accident [which she embraced in her Confessions tour, especially in her Like A Virgin performance].



Like wine, it just gets better and better. But of course, we must not forget the essence of her fantastic productions. The song. The song that is considered by many to be one of the biggest hit singles in Madonna's career, ranked by the United World Chart as the 3rd most successful song of the decade and the 43rd most successful song in music history. Due to the single's worldwide success, it currently holds the record of reaching the number-one position in the most countries [45 countries] for a single. This record was listed in the 2007 edition of Guinness Book of World Records. Hung Up is also the 3rd biggest-selling dance single of all time. With this song, Madonna achieved her 25th gold single, surpassing the Beatles for the most gold singles of all time.