Here's another song that's still a club banger today as much as it was when I was still a teenager:

Groove Is In The Heart

Gotta love Bootsy Collins' badass bass.

More on this:

I got email from my best buddies Donn and Dennis who participated in this little Q and A session based on this entry.

Here are the questions with their answers:

1. Song that sounds like happy feels:
Donn: "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by Satchmo. Hey, it's HAPPY.
Dennis: "Between Us" by Harry Connick Jr

2. Earliest (music) memory:
Donn: The whistling part of the theme from "Bridge over the River Kwai", although I can just as easily recall Styx in "Babe"
Dennis: The Sesame street opening song

3. Last CD you bought:
Donn: The Soggy Bottom Boys in "Oh Brother"
Dennis: Van Halen MP3 collection - freaking pirated though, but it got every album squeezed in it

4. Reminds you of school:
Elementary School
Donn: Hmm...Cindy Lauper, and the fact that everyone we knew seemed to want to grow a mullet
Dennis: wait a second....."Let me in" by Mike Francis, fuck that was years ago. Man, I just remember when we used to walk down session road.

Around Middle School
Donn: Now that you mentioned it, how did we ever like that Industry crap (Remember, I posted that Donn and I listened to Industry's State of The Nation - ed)? I reckon it's because we wanted to be set apart from the Nefuts who played Kenny Rogers all day.
Dennis: Hell, I remember "Last Caress" - by Metallica on that Garage Days Album. Loved it!!!!!

High School
Donn: Dio, Iron Maiden,...
Dennis: Van Halen, David Lee Roth and his Tobacco Road Album, Steve Vai, Sammy Hagar, Dokken, WASP, Guns and Roses, Poison, Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Megadeth, Black Flagg, Stryper, Night Ranger, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, KISS, Anthrax, ZZ top and the rest

College
Donn: That time I got introduced to the... uh...horticulture of Reggae. None of the Bob Marley
overkill, but Inner Circle, Jimmy Cliff, and all the other High Times regulars. That, and Tom Petty.
Dennis: hell ,started off with Jazz : Harry Connick Jr., Satchmo, Vince Guaraldi Trio, Ella, Billie Holiday, David Benoit- Happy Anniversary Charlie Brown, Chic Corea. I remember Joe going for Diggable Planets (Wow, I even forgot about that one!-ed)

5. Total Music Files on your PC:
Donn: 517, which includes bluegrass, swing, classic metal, Sting, blues. Nothing later than 2000.
Dennis: 900 plus- metal, country- yup , country, hick music, new age, alternative, blues, old new wave stuff, jane monheit, metallica, jazz

6. Song for listening to repeatedly when depressed:
Donn: "Lilli Marlene", either in German by Marlene Dietrich, or English by Anne Shelton
Dennis: Mandolin Rain by Bruce Hornsby and the Range

7. Sounds British, but isn't:
Donn: Deep Purple
Dennis: Michael Jackson

8. Song you love, band you hate:
Donn: Anything Def Leppard
Dennis: Reo Speedwagon - that fucking love song they got - shoot I forgot (Would it be "Keep On Loving You"-ed)

9. A favorite song from the past that took ages to track down:
Donn: Yes' "Ladder"
Dennis: " All I need is a Miracle" - By Mike and the Mechanics - still tracking it, having donn download the piece.

10. Bought the album for one good song:
Donn: Yes' Ladder
Dennis: Boston and that spaceship guitar album cover, forgot what song was that I loved - Joe, help me here (Dust In The Wind...I really don't know-ed)

11. Worst song to get stuck in your head:
Donn: Anything Kenny Rogers, especially if it was sung by a drinken Nefut.
Dennis: Billie Jean - fuck, the beat still plays in my head

12. Best song to dump a beer on someone's head to, then storm out of the bar?
Donn: We're Not Gonna Take It, TS
Dennis: "Born in East LA" by Cheech and Chong

13. Who should do this next?
Donn: Dennis could pull this off next
Dennis: David Batan (David's the guy that I referred to in my response to these questions...the section with Mark and the ink spots-ed)

'Ello, Mates!

Did you want to find out what Urbandub sounds like? You can download Soul Searching now. If you like Incubus, chances are, this is also your cup of tea.

Here's a couple too from neo new-wave band Shiela and The Insects:
Idle Hands
The Preach

Cheers!

This past week has been about ambition and pomp. I got my loot from Ytsejam Records which included the DVD for the When Dream And Day Unite anniversary show and for the Iron Maiden Number of The Beast gig that I previously only had fan-recorded mp3 boots of. This arrival only set off a chain of events already bringing my prog fandom to the tipping point--knowing that Porcupine Tree's Deadwing will be released in Europe soon (must...get...import!). Because of all this music, I've been on a Mike Portnoy binge lately, checking out his back catalogue with Dream Theater and my other favorite band, Transatlantic. This is an amazing collection of musicians with Neal Morse (ex-of Spock's Beard), Roine Stolt (Flower Kings), Pete Trewavas (Marillion), and as honorary member, Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation).

For the unfamiliar, I present Mystery Train off the 1999 debut SMTPe.

One of my favorite songs from this band is up for download. Here's She's Moved On.

The new  QOTSA album is streaming at this site.  Go now and prepare to get blown away by it's crushing groove.

My friend Katherine left for New York last Tuesday. Katherine was one of my closest friends and confidantes. She was the one person I'd call if I wanted to check out any up-and-coming band at The Crocodile, The Showbox, or at Neumo's. She also got me familiar with really great music from The Helio Sequence and Spoon. It was great going music shopping with her. She also got to drag me around other places in town to enjoy food and drink like Le Pichet and The Palomino. I relate so much to her intellectual pursuits; the books, the movies, art. We speak the same language on many instances, except for our contrasting opinions about classical vs. jazz and whether or not Bowie's glam rock ever had any musical credibility at all.

It's strangely interesting that I never thought I'd have an ongoing bond with someone whom I've worked with for only about three weeks--and that was about three years ago. She got the boot around week number three after being habitually late. I personally didn't think she liked the job anyway. I realized later on that she gets bored easily if there isn't anything that challenges her. Well, there proves my theory about why she didn't stick it out.

Our conversations ranged from our similar liberal political stance (she's perhaps more leftist than I am though), how some Filipino actors and actresses like Boyet DeLeon and Dina Bonevie never seem to age, the complex levels of meaning in Jeunet's movies, her brother who's in prison, her East Indian boyfriend and his hangups, how attractive Neko Case is...elements within our sphere that interest us. She's pretty knowledgeable for a young age. Her maturity level seems to be at around 35-36 years old to my 12.

She's always mentioned that she wanted to live in New York if given the opportunity. I've always known that she had this planned. It finally got set in motion as soon as New Year's day this year. I envy her sometimes because she's got more intestinal fortitude than me to simply up and leave for another place without much thought. She's smart and streetwise, so I don't think it's too much for her to readjust to her new life out there.

I, on the other hand, have to look for someone else game enough that has the same need to see pretty much every show that comes to town.

Here's to my friend and all the hope that she's going to make it out there. Salut!

I've been jamming to Blur, the version with Graham Coxon in the lineup lately. It's strangely interesting that I started out not really liking this band especially during the time of the Britpop wars of '95. I was in the Oasis camp during that time period. Little did I know back then that while these two giants were tussling, Radiohead was at the back-end making power moves releasing the now-classic The Bends. That's another story all together though.

The lineup for Ozzfest 2005 was announced today and it looks like a winner. They're stopping by my backyard on August 11th. If there isn't anything pressing going on in my summer schedule, I may have to take a trip out at the White River Ampitheater. With Iron Maiden, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, The Haunted, and even Battle For Ozzfest winner A Dozen Furies taking either mainstage or second stage this summer, it's so worth it to get down to Auburn for this affair.

After a whole lot of entries, it looks like things evened out with the drought of posts.

I got an email message from the sis with some questions about music. Instead of pestering everyone else with my useless answers and thereby spamming the lot of them, I might as well post those answers here in my blog. So here goes:

1. Song that sounds like happy feels:
Snow Patrol's Chcocolate seems to be it for me right now.

2. Earliest (music) memory:
Easy--the opening and end music to Voltes V

3. Last CD you bought:
Death Cab For Cutie's The John Byrd EP and M83's Before The Dawn Heals Us, just yesterday. And to think that I've also still got to digest Kings of Leon's Aha Shake Heartbreak.

4. Reminds you of school:
Elementary School
Michael Jackson's Thriller, biyatchez...you couldn't escape that back in the day.

Around Middle School
There was this band called Industry that had a song called State of The Nation which best buddy Donn and I seemed to fancy a lot. I liked a lot of Spandau Ballet too. I thought Tony Hadley had the white boy soul flowing through his veins.

High School
I used to hang out with this dude in high school, Mark, who in our sophomore year terrorized another guy in our school. It was interesting that he used to sing The Pet Shop Boys' Opportunities as he smeared ink all over the backside of David B's school shirt, David being unaware, of course. I liked metal mostly when I was at this stage--Crue, Metallica, etc.

College
I got into a lot of Filipino rock music by this time--Eraserheads' Superproxy and Back2Me make the most kickass first and second songs for an album and True Faith's Hi to name a couple of groups. For non Filipino artists, I really got into Everything But The Girl's Amplified Heart album at this point.

5. Total Music Files on your PC:
There's about 1,124 files in my PC right now as I just checked, ranging from Modjo and Michael Jackson's mashup Smooth Lady to Metallica's Hit The Lights from a St Anger live bootleg from Paris.

6. Song for listening to repeatedly when depressed:
You know you've hit rock bottom when you've put on Beck's Guess I'm Doing Fine

7. Sounds British, but isn't:
The Dears, namely their vocalist Murray does a convincing Morrissey in Lost In The Plot. They also get to say "aboot" a lot.

8. Song you love, band you hate:
A little bit of a guilty pleasure here: Yellowcard's Only One

9. A favorite song from the past that took ages to
track down:
It took me so many years to find Aztec Camera's Deep and Wide and Tall. I only managed to get a copy of the Love album in 1997--around 10 years, really.

10. Bought the album for one good song:
I'm not in the habit of buying albums for one good song. I've got this standard of only really buying a record if it's got at least 3 good tracks. I did go blindly though with Marvelous 3's Hey! Album for Freak of The Week. I was then introduced to the amazing songwriting of Butch Walker.

11. Worst song to get stuck in your head:
Total Eclipse of The Heart, I guess. It all makes up for good fun though if you remember it the way it was sung in Old School.

12. Best song to dump a beer on someone's head to,
then storm out of the bar?
Man, that would probably be NWA's Straight Outta Compton. Once you hear that song, you're bound to think that you could set anyone who'd act a fool straight!

13. Who should do this next?
I really can't say. It's up to whomever else wants to respond to this.

My Nuno Bettencourt Washburn N2 guitar has become one of my closest friends. It's one of those instruments that make me sound much better than I used to. I had to struggle for so many years to reconcile the music I hear in my head with what actually courses through my fingers. I've made different mistakes that hampered my technical development on the guitar. One of those things happened to be the strings that I used. I usually packed guage 10 strings so that I could get the heaviness out on my lead guitar playing. I found that a big disadvantage after long, strenuous hours of rehearsal or when I go through my lead routines. My hands seemed to get tired quickly because of the size of the strings I installed. Another was the disadvantage of the narrow fretboard. My main axe for so many years had been my black Fender Strat. I had a nice lead tone on the neck pickup but wasn't satisfied with the way I executed my scales and arpeggios. Forward to many years later and a few minor repairs on my Washburn N2. I got to appreciate the jumbo sized frets that give a lot of allowance for my fretting fingers not to hit the adjacent strings. The lower action also got me through a lot of my lines faster and cleaner. I haven't been more satisfied than ever with my technical execution. Thanks for the guitar specs, Nuno!