Monday, June 20, 2011

Acoustic Guitar Trance Six String Samurai

I'll take a break from my own personal experiences in music to share a song by Ewan Dobson. This is the first time I've never seen a guitarist pelt out trance rhythms with an acoustic guitar, until now. I was so floored when I saw it that I wanted to post it on my blog right away.



I want to try to learn playing it. But unfortunately, my minuscule guitar talent probably can't do it. I'd need a thumb pick (not your conventional guitar pick) just to even try to play this song.

I've seen drummers post their own YouTube videos while playing over it. Perhaps I could make a video of my own playing percs over this song. That would be cool.

Amazing.


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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Unsaid

Catching up on my blogging backlog once again. This time, I'm just reminiscing the awesome birthday weekend I had in Naga back in 2009. I blogged about that weekend. You can read about it on the link below.

http://sundowndos.blogspot.com/2009/02/naga-licious-birthday-weekend.html

I dug up the bootleg audio recording I made of Julianne's set that night. I isolated one particular song of her set that I absolutely loved. Below is the YouTube posting of that song in my account. Surprisingly, Julianne (or perhaps the marketing resource that's assigned to manage all her SNS accounts) noticed that posting and reposted it in her official Tumblr and Twitter accounts. Apparently that particular live performance of that song is a rare extended version. Aside from the YouTube video, I've included the particular Tumblr post containing the lyrics of the song. The lyrics in the Tumblr post isn't exact. But good enough for you to follow along. Enjoy.



From http://thisisjulianne.tumblr.com/post/6445279898/check-this-out-guys

CHECK THIS OUT GUYS!

_______________________________

“UNSAID” - LIVE (EXTENDED VERSION)

[Words and Music by: Julianne Tarroja]

Do I have to lose you now
So I can gain you some other time
Do I have to take a bow
End the show before the curtain call

Do I have to look the other way
Coz we just got too much to say
Did it even have to be like this
For you and I, I wanna know why


Even if I know what I’ve been told
To let go means to surrender my control
But it isn’t easy to have loved and not survive
Was is for the wrong reason?
Or maybe the wrong season

Coz I wanted this love to grow
I wanted to see it soar
I wanted to give a chance for the Sun
To kiss our eyes
So maybe we could see the light
Behind our hearts desires

Do I have to be broken one last time
So I can be made whole again
Do I have to be chastised
To be saved and rescued from the fire

Do I have to be reminded of all this
That I didn’t even own a thing to begin with
No right to claim
No right to put the blame
On anyone or anything

Do I have to watch you go ahead
Leaving me with out a word said
Do I even get the opportunity to say my plea
I hope now you’re hearing me

I wanted to see the light
I wanted you to see the light
I wanted us to see the light
… Open up your eyes

Time to open up our eyes…

_____________________________

Julianne - Unsaid (Audio) (Live in Wharf Galley Rock Cafe, February 14, 2009) (by SunDownDos)

(Julianne Tarroja on Vocals and Acoustic guitar, RJ Manese on Bass, Kakoy Legaspi on Electric Guitar, Benjo Robles on drums, Nino Hernandez on flute, DJ Rodriguez on Percussions)



EDIT:
I watched Julianne last night at B-Side. I got to talk to her and actually confirmed that it was her who saw my bootleg audio post of one of her live songs in Naga. She still wants a copy of the audio track. Yey!


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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Jack Versus the Crab Gig

Since I'm thrust to be an absolute bore tonight due to my wisdom tooth extraction recovery, I figured I'd catch up more on blogging the more fun-filled weekends I've had the past weeks. This time it's about my awesome gig with a kick-ass band called Jack Versus the Crab at B-Side, last May 28, 2011.

I've seen the band play a few times before, mostly during Jack Daniel's Set Nights, and I've always admired how they are able to come together despite having such a large number of members in the band. I believe the actual number of members is 10 (1 guitarist/vocalist, 1 guitarist, 1 bassist, 1 drummer, 1 blues harmonica player, and about 5 people as their horn section). I actually blogged about them already before. I even posted a bootleg audio recording I made of one of the songs they played that night (http://sundowndos.blogspot.com/2011/04/jack-daniels-set-reveal-night.html).

Windi, Fritz "Dr. Sticks"'s wife, asked me if I was going to jam with Jack Versus the Crab through a comment on this blog about two weeks prior to the gig. I actually didn't think she was serious until she followed up with me 2 days before the actual day of the gig. I was fortunate that Fritz followed up with Windi to ask me about it. Of course, I giddily accepted. To be given a chance to jam with with Dr. Sticks and the rest was a dream. And I wasn't about to pass that up.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend their band practice that Friday. So I only had the three songs that they had posted online, aside from the song that I recorded from the last gig of theirs that I watched. I listened to those songs a few times come Saturday, and that was all the practice I would ever get for that gig. LOL!

I begged my good friends Joseph and Roland to come with me as moral support and to help with my gear for the night. Before I knew it, it ended up the usual full posse with Sarah (Joseph's wife), Dave (Roland's brother), Millet and Guy also coming along. That made me more excited and equally even more nervous about the gig.

I showed up with my friends at the gig venue very eager-beaver early. Apparently, I was the only one that showed up for the call time on time. The actual band were all late. I found that amusing. So there I was getting all nervous going practically blind on yet another gig. They only served Red Horse beer at B-Side. I think it was a sponsorship thing. But I like Red Horse. So that was far from a disappointment. It actually helped calm my nerves.

People started trickling into the venue, and the band members of Jack Versus the Crab started arriving as well. Apparently, they were 4 horn players short for the night. So that actually made sense as to why I was invited to join them for the gig. Fritz and Windi finally arrived after a while. Fritz came over to me and talked to me about some of the other songs I wasn't familiar with. Luckily all their songs were conveniently in 4 counts. It was just some of the sudden breaks that I had to worry about. Fritz knew Guy from around the music scene from way back. So it was pleasant for such a rockstar like Fritz to hang out with us for a while to chat. I always get starstruck with Fritz's presence.

(Photo credit goes to Roland and Millet for pictures taken during the Jack Versus the Crab set. Thanks friends! The rest of the pictures are from my Blackberry)



Thursday, June 9, 2011

General Luna and Wolfgang

It was an odd day at work last May 26, 2011. I felt a tad indifferent with the people around me except for my good friend Joseph that day. When I took a break from the the big pile heap of things I needed to work on, I noticed that Saguijo had a good line-up on for that night. I was primarily curious about how a band called Toi sounded live. But there were other kick ass bands scheduled for that night, the likes of General Luna and Hijo.

On a whim, Joseph and I decided to go and catch some of the acts at Saguijo. And it turned out to be one of the most fun fanboying nights we've had ever. We stopped over my apartment first to drop off my laptop bag and headed out for Saguijo. The cab driver of the cab we got into was hilariously "ngongo". But surprisingly, I understood about 90% of what the cab driver was saying. I suppose both my and Joseph's brains were hopelessly turned off that night, as we got lost with the cab driver trying to locate the venue. I've gigged in Saguijo so many times in the past years. But I usually hitched with a bandmate and never really bothered to know where exactly Saguijo was located.

General Luna

We eventually arrived at Saguijo and found it bustling with people. How all these people manage to go watch bands every weeknight perplexes me. Apparently we just got in just in time for General Luna's set. They were setting up as we entered the bar. Our eyes lit up and gave each other high fives with "perfect timing" etched in our respective thought bubbles.

I specifically brought my trusty Zoom Q3HD to take videos of the bands that night. Below are a few videos I took of General Luna's set. I had trouble toiling with all the would-be photographers totting expensive DLSRs and rudely bumping you for position. That's actually the reason why I only took videos of 3 of their songs and not the entire set.



Saturday, June 4, 2011

Nimbus 9 Gig

I have a lot of catching up to do with my blog posts. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of music that I haven't really taken the time to document them all in this blog. So I'll start with one of my gigs last May 14, 2011.

My friend Paul, messaged me on Facebook that Saturday around noon time, asking me if I wanted to join his band's gig at Saguijo that night. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join them for practice. So I told Paul that I'd have to wing it at the gig itself. I asked Paul a little more details about the band. Apparently, Nimbus 9 is technically both the band name and the rapper (Gino). So it was pleasant surprise to be invited to play for a rap/funk band. Fortunately, Paul told me all their songs are straight-up 4/4 counts, meaning they're largely predictable in flow.

I asked my closest of friends, Joseph, Sarah, Roland, Millet, Guy, etc. to join me at Saguijo that night. It was a Barangay Tibay Anniversary event. So Saguijo was little more packed than usual given Barangay Tibay's entire band line-up was scheduled to play that night.

Millet was kind enough to take some pictures of me playing that night. Below are a select few from the pictures she took.