Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Missing Jack Daniel's JD Set Philippines



It's been quite a few months since Jack Daniel's JD Set Philippines narrowed down the Chosen 7 bands down to the Top 3.  From what I read on Facebook, it looks like the final 3 bands are gonna kick start the JD Set tour again by celebrating Jack Daniel's birthday month at Craft, Fort Strip, this coming Friday.


I'm glad that the top 3 bands have made it this far, particularly my friends from Paramita (Since we couldn't vote for our own bands, which band did you think I was sacking my votes into?  Paramita!).  But something saddens me that my band is no longer part of the experience.  This post is about reminiscing the last Jack Daniel's JD Set event that Jack Versus the Crab participated in.  This is was the JD Set 7 Finale event at Music Museum last June 1, 2012.


Music Museum is a more a theater-like venue than a bar or concert venue.  We got there very early to sound check.  With such a size-able venue with acoustics more like an outdoor setup, sound checking was definitely important.  I liked the fact that Jack Daniel's essentially had two band setups on stage.  So that one band can start setting up quickly while the previous band is still busy packing up.  This made the flow of the night go smoothly, barring scheduling delays.  Our band leader Waxie wanted to, once again, highlight the number of horn players we have.  So we had the horny section all positioned front and center.  JR and Rodney, our lead guitarist and bassist, were posted on each side of the horn section.  While the rest of us were perched up on riser section near the drum set.  Admittedly, I had the most isolated spot on stage.  And given that I'm sitting down while playing, all the more hidden I was from people noticing me.  But I was glad enough to just be part of the experience.  I had a pretty good vantage point.  I could see all everyone in the band from where I was sitting.




Backstage was cramped.  Given that our total band headcount was larger than the other JD Set 7 bands, we weren't assigned our own dressing room backstage.  We had the common area downstairs.  We didn't mind for as long as everybody else didn't mind how rowdy we got.  It turns out, Jack Versus the Crab wasn't the largest band for the night, given that other bands brought in additional band members for their performances that night.  But it was all good for us.  It beats going up and down the stairs just to get a refill of Jack Coke.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

SunDownMuse "Apathy is the Cure" Album Launch at 70's Bistro



I used to be good with blogging each and every gig I have. As the countless undocumented gigs go by, most gigs just meld into a blur. I haven't blogged very much in over a month. I will attempt to change that in the coming days and weeks. So going forward, I will just blog about the ones of note. This post is about the SunDownMuse album launch at 70's Bistro last July 14, 2012.

The weeks leading up to the launch, I admittedly had increasing issues with the band due to unfairness with distribution of costs versus their individual preferences. All of us band members have day jobs. And therefore aren't necessarily reliant on the music scene to fund our musical passion. The music scene these days, doesn't pave the way for earning a decent living. So any ideas of perfection in album recording, or loftiness in launching an album needs to be either sponsored or personally funded. I would hold back my preferences and concerns, so as to not delay the release of the album. I actually only ended up having percussion tracks in 3-4 of the 6 songs of the album (partly my fault for not having time for recording sessions). And yet I was paying out one of the biggest chunks for the album expenses. Of course, every band member has their own perspective. But I always felt that one's demands should be commensurate with the money their willing to shell out for it. I had a honest discussion about how I felt when our band leader prodded me to speak up. That surely brought unnecessary stress to all the work that needed to be done to get the album out there. Briggs, our band leader, was trying her best to be sensitive to my issues, of course. But at the same time, the core band members wanted to push the album out as best in form and fashion as possible. You can't find fault in them for wanting that. So all those issues of mine drew to a stalemate and I continued to cooperate with the direction the band decided to take with the album.

Fast forward to the album launch itself, my head was still riddled with band issues and concerns. However, a certain sense of pride welled up from inside me. What has been a very long time coming has finally come to fruition. This album was 10 years in the making. That was 10 years of countless gigs and good memories. So whatever issues I did have, I just instantaneously kicked out the door. I even ended up giving my bandmates hugs near the end of that night.

We had a number of other bands to play alongside us for the album launch; namely Mr. Andersen, Julianne, Goo, and Color It Red. Below are some of the videos that we took of the other acts. I will post videos of our set right after.

Julianne

Julianne contacted us last minute saying that she wasn't able to secure her full band for our album. Her bassist was at an out-of-town gig. So she asked if it was okay if she played an acoustic set. We didn't mind that all. We were big fans of hers ever since her acoustic duo days (with Deej her percussionist).

Julianne - 7000 Miles to Grow



Julianne - Buwan



These first two videos are unreleased songs. According to Julianne, they will be in her upcoming album (which is supposedly due out later this year).

Julianne - Unsaid



This is actually my favorite Julianne song from her first album. It was surprisingly touching for Julianne to just try to play the song acoustic even though she said she hasn't played it acoustic for a very long time.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Blue Man Group: It's Time To Start (Rock Concert Movements)

I haven't blogged in a long while.  Between work, gigs, and Diablo 3, I haven't had the time to sit down and really blog about what's been going on with me. Perhaps I should make the effort some time this weekend to do so. So much has happened musically since the last time I blogged.

In the meantime, I'll post a quick one about the Blue Man Group.  I watched the New York Blue Man Group years ago and continue to be a fan of the act ever since. I've always been curious about their song "It's Time To Start".  And was amusingly compiling all the "Rock Concert Movements" in the song. I finally completed it! Just haven't gotten around posting it on my blog until now. Below is a video of one of their live performances of the song. I listed out all the "Rock Concert Movements" after that.



Rock Concert Movement #1
The Basic Head Bob

Rock Concert Movement #2
The One-Armed Fist Pump

Rock Concert Movement #3
The Up and Down Jumping Motion

Rock Concert Movement #4
The Behind the Head Leg Stretch

Rock Concert Movement #6
Two Armed Upward Thrust with Yell

Rock Concert Movement #8
The Black Out

Rock Concert Movement #10
Getting a Closer Look at the Audience

Rock Concert Movement #15
Bringing a Guest Vocalist Onstage

Rock Concert Movement #23
Getting the Audience to Sing Along

Rock Concert Movement #27
Saying Hello to the People in the Cheap Seats

Rock Concert Movement #28
Getting an Audience Member Onstage to Dance

Rock Concert Movement #48
Introducing the Band

Rock Concert Movement #63
Bringing out Venus Hum

Rock Concert Movement #78
The Fake Ending

Rock Concert Movement #91
Enjoying the T-Shirt You Bought at The Complex Rock Tour Rock Concert 

Rock Concert Movement #237
Taking the audience on a Jungian journey into the collective unconscious by using the shadow as a metaphor for the primal self that gets repressed by the modern persona and also by using an underground setting and labyrinth office design to represent both the depths of the psyche and the dungeon-like isolation of our increasingly mechanistic society which prevents people from finding satisfying work or meaningful connections with others


They actually don't mention ALL the "Rock Concert Movements" in the video I embedded.  They don't mention them all in any given performance of the song.  But I've watched quite a few including their Live Concert DVD release.  So I picked up on what I think is all of them.

As I felt such geeky accomplishment for compiling all of the "Rock Concert Movements".  I actually found somebody else already did so and posted it on the net.  Wasted effort.  /face palm


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