June 26 - Last Thursday of the Month. As usual another 2-hour round of never-boring meeting with the Philippine Venture Capital Group at Asian Institute of Management. This meeting is held every last Thursday of the Month from 7-9 in the morning. Which a true blue enterpreneur should have no problem going to on time. But Filipino customs still prevails in most places. So blame your self-government for that!
Going back in history, June 26 is also the date of birth of the creator of the famous Bamboo Organ in Las Pinas. Deodato Arellano, Founder of the Katipunan (not Bonifacio) was also born that date. Adler Doubleday, inventor of baseball was also born that date. On the same date some of the important events in humankind has also happened, discovery of DNA and the signing of the Charter of the United Nations.
The bonus portion of the meeting specially for the early comers is the trendspotting. This meeting's trendspotting is focus of course in the most obvious; energy cost. There were several business opportunities that were cited such as use of bicycles, bike shops, bike rentals, restaurants dedicated to pedal-pushing middle-class, hybrid bikes. Going on, these are REAL opportunities and not just another round of coffee table talk. All it needs are plan, action and adequate funding.
The main event of the meeting was loaded with health-conscious presentations, wellness spa and wholisitic therapy clinics looking for funding to expand. Vegetable-based noodle manufacturing firm looking for partnership and is also looking forward to expand capabilities to a demanding market. The room was filled with more buzzwords and the most notable of them was GLUTATHIONE. The market is just huge for this one that many budding entrepreneur in the room is pitching about it excluding me.
On the venture capital side, there are the usual VC guys who keeps on watching and looking for opportunities that fits their investment preferences, new angels popping up in the room. Then my mind flew out of the room for a moment looking outside the street of Paseo De Roxas and watching the people walking, specially Filipino people walking..."Do you guys get it or what?!?". We have people interested to fund projects, but it seems we don't have projects or basically we just shy away from it for the fear of the heavy responsibility that goes with it. There is crisis, that's a fact. But there's opportunities as well, and that is also a fact!
On my way home from work, I decided to fill up petrol at Shell Susan Heights since I'm also desperate for a washroom break. Docking to an available pump, I hurriedly told the pump boy how much petrol I need and ran off to the men's washroom while he starts pumping premium gasoline.
Coming out relieved, I walked back to Klaudia in a bit of a rush when I was "ambushed" by a real estate agent who handed me a brochure and gave a short pitch about the Philippine's tallest condominium, The Gramercy. Having really no time for such things, I asked him if I can just take the brochure and call him back. That's one of the light burden of having Klaudia around, at secured but desolated parking lots I sometimes got chased by individuals handing outs different marketing stuff and sometimes those are exclusive invitations to exclusive events.
Reading back the brochure that was handed to me, The Gramercy proudly announced that it is situated in "MoMa" and I asked myself, "WTF is MoMa?" and reading on, it means MODERN MAKATI. Gosh, and it squares off within EDSA, J.P. Rizal, Paseo De Roxas, Gil Puyat, Pasay Rd., in short it's the Makati CBD and nearby posh areas. So what do you call the area outside of MoMa? POoRMA? Haaaaayyyy BIIIIINNNNAAAAYYY!!!
I have a lot of interests and one of them is about a marque that I have limited stuff to write about. But now that I have fulfilled one of my aspirations I will be sharing my rants and raves about it in a more exclusive site. Jared@ThreePointedStar
I'm really interested in the Filipino Tech Startup scene as there is too little discussion about its unique characteristics, its life cycle, how it is coping up and moving along. There's so many Filipino Tech Startup today that grow out from dream and passion with very little thought on plans and risks. There's also a mythical fear of involvement with angel investors and venture capitalists, which is quite regretful as there's just so much cash in the country at this time of the great global crisis and it is funneled in the wrong directions which these Pinoy Startuppers should be taking advantage of.
So what are these Filipino tech startups have in common? There are several items that may tell us:
They are mostly self-funded
They are mostly web-centric
They are mostly software-based
They hold no or little patent under their names
They lightly consider patent as their key asset
They are heavily dependent on Open Source
The industrial culture of Filipino Tech Startup is analogous to other Philippine-grown cottage industries, just like the days of Lechon Manok (Roasted Chicken) boom, everyone is in this business or the Nata de Coco (Coco Jelly) craze where a lot cashed in and gone and a only a handful survived. In the Filipino Tech startup scene, when mobile messaging was still hot there are a lot who came and gone and few stayed. That is typical Pinoy (slang for Filipino), where there's easy money, there is bandwagon. There is little or no diversity just like in the real Silicone Valley in which an angel or VC can have a lot of options to put their money in.
Patents. The primary reason for having a patent is to protect an intellectual property (IP), second is to make money from IP through licensing. Most Filipino Tech startup may have one [but mediocre] patent in their belt which earns little or no royalties at all. Patent is important to any business because it helps generate revenue without moving an inventory or doing mind-numbing projects until wee hours of the morning. This is the problem of too much dependency on Open Source. Open Source, if utilized properly can save a lot on someone's business but it's not a product or service that is worth selling to a paying customer. In fact, if a Filipino Tech startup does not hold a patent and multiply it by ten folds then we don't really have an industry and this largely contributes to our Brain Drain as most of our best people will simply fly away to patent-rich valleys in which their cerebral contents are more protected and notable.
Too much web-centricity, your web application maybe 24/7 but your user is not. There's a product that sleeps with a user and comes in millions of varieties and guess what it is? It's a timepiece. It's offline and always "there". During the "iBoom" and before the "iBurst", Silicone Valley was mushroomed with a lot of web-base tech startups, they came and gone and never ruled(Google is not in Cupertino, by the way). Silicone Valley is still reigned by "offline" but "on-demand" companies just like Apple and Intel, their core business is not about the Internet, it's about driving the Internet. These companies don't make money from the Web, they make it through compelling, tangible products and licensing of IPs. So here's a hard fact, Filipino Silicone Valley will never grow without solid, tangible products churning out of it.
The Silicone Valley is an ecosystem of brave technopreneurs with solid products (hardware and software in one roof) and comprehensive business plans (forget about the Tissue Paper Myth), angel investors and venture capitalists. One cannot live without the other. In the Philippines, we have all these components, we have the money (that goes nowhere), the talents (that goes anywhere) but we don't have an ecosystem. In order for us to achieve this, we have to do away with risk-intolerant technopreneur wannabes, people who just want to be on the rap sheet but is not willing to put their names on it. We need small shop R&D as well that will cater to bigger fishes, it will going to be impossible to put up a thousand-team scientist and engineers in one ship. But a multi-company team can help.
The Funding. There are some Pinoy startuppers or technopreneurs who are eager to get funding but is not willing to put their names on it. They are mostly opinionated but never really took responsibility on something with a just a few hyped achievements to show. Again, Tech Startup, just like any other business, has its own shares of risks and responsibility. In the Philippines, we don't lack funds, we lack people on how to multiply these funds. Kaya Sa Pilipinas, Bawal ang Tanga.
When Ringo Starr, the former drummer of the Beatles, bought this Mercedes-Benz 190 E in 1984, the car was still a production version with a two-liter engine. Starr had it converted into a 190 E 2.3 AMG in England. His "Baby Benz" got a spoiler, a sports steering wheel and sports exhaust, colored aluminum wheels and a more powerful 2.3-liter engine.
Cylinders: 4 Displacement: 140 cu in Output: 150 hp / 110 kW at engine speed: 5500/min Top speed: 131 mph
...and Klaudia
We have two things in common, we're both musicians and we're both W201 owners.
I've been looking/waiting for an Index Fund in the Philippines for so long. While I was reading BusinessWorld this morning, a full-page ad caught my attention. The Philippine Stock Index Fund (PSIF). I look up at the PSE website to check PSIF, No Information! As the ad claimed, it's the Philippine's first Index-Tracker Fund started in 2002 (?!?!?) and most Filipinos are not well-educated in these type of securities. All my excitement were diminished when I read through the full-page ad. First, PSIF is an Index-Tracker Mutual Fund, in short, it's still a mutual fund, low and slow and requires higher transaction and management fees than a common stock transaction and higher initial investment. It's not the Index Fund that the world market is familiar with which also known as Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) which is traded (bought and sold) like a common stock with a minimum board lot and with relevant commission and transaction charges, ETF traders don't necessarily keep it for months or years. A good example of an ETF is the S&P tracker which is also known as Spyder ETF(SPDR) and Lyxor ETF which has several variants such as Lyxor China (HSCEI), these securities are traded at Singapore Stock Exchange(Even you're a Filipino, you can trade here).
I was expecting the same characteristics of an ETF with PSIF. But it's just another Mutual Fund product. I'll just wait for the PSE's official announcement.
For the first time in five years I, once again, able to attend the 230th (?) Philippine Venture Capital and Investment Group meeting which was held at Asian Institute of Management's ABS-CBN case room. The meeting has a usual round of "bonus" discussion for the early birds that is actually one of the old-timer's favorite agenda which is trend-spotting.
Trend-Spotting
We recalled eight years back about someone who spotted a trend on several business opportunities in the Philippines that will spring up due increased influx of tourists both foreign and domestic, some of the business opportunities are security related. And now tourist massive influx is actually happening. Obviously there's so many Koreans and Chinese nationals coming in now. A foreign consultant for the government even cited the vigorous drive of other metropolis in the country to modernize because the trend now is to move out of the filthy Metro Manila.
And at this meeting, some members were given opportunity to spot a trend that will potentially spin off a lot of business opportunities. One member mentioned of MEDICAL TOURISM. Yes, some of our modern hospitals are now at par with those of the First Wold countries at fraction of a cost. So most of the members' creative thoughts popped up and started expressing what business opportunities they will run from this trend. I love it when you see ideas flying in the room! Another member spotted a trend towards LPG as an alternative source of energy, and of course, other business opportunities/ideas were flying in the room!
JOKE TIME
A PhilVenCap meeting will not be complete without a dose of different jokes, some are corny, some are really funny. There's one I remembered though: "What is it that God and the Devil don't have, the rich don't have but the poor have it and when you eat it you will die?" Answer: "NOTHING"
MAIN EVENT
The main event consists of volunteer speakers who wish to present their business plans to the group in the hope that they can get additional funding, partners or sales leads. In this meeting we were treated to three presentations. A very unique dog training business, A Filipino-inventend high-end audio systems that costs around $135,000 per household, A high-end pastry business concept from Japan.
FUNDING
The meeting this morning were attended by several people from the government and foreign consultant to the government. Development Bank of the Philippines has representatives who mentioned about DBP's Venture Capital program for startups. The Problem: There's a lot of money, but there are no startups! A foreign government consultant who specializes in microfinance has the same lamentation as well, The government has a huge agricultural micro-finance portfolio, largely untouched because nobody knows how to run the programme and nobody knows how to use the funds. See, our country has so much money and what is the citizen supposed to do? Complain, gripe because it wasn't spoon-fed at them.
NETWORKING
After the meeting there's the usual market-like noise of people exchanging business cards, introducing one another. So I did my part, I found someone who is in to creative/multimedia graphic design, which I'm going to need pretty soon. So I asked for her portfolio to see if her talent will be benificial. Now, I'm looking forward for the next month's round of jokes.
It's been five years since the last time I attended the Philippine Venture Capital group meeting which is held every last Thursday of the month. The meeting starts at 7am and ends at 9am and the venue is always at AIM. Some people might ask why is it so early. Personally, I think that works well for people who really mean business. Because no successful business person gets up at 9! :)
The meeting has been a good channel for networking with other entrepreneurs and professionals for more than a decade now. A great opportunity to learn from the veterans and listen to some fresh ideas from the newcomers. Now, time to revive the habit.
"Because it trades like a stock whose price fluctuates daily, an ETF does not have its net asset value (NAV) calculated every day like a mutual fund does.
By owning an ETF, you get the diversification of an index fund as well as the ability to sell short, buy on margin and purchase as little as one share. Another advantage is that the expense ratios for most ETFs are lower than those of the average mutual fund. When buying and selling ETFs, you have to pay the same commission to your broker that you'd pay on any regular order.
One of the most widely known ETFs is called the SPDR (Spider), which tracks the S&P 500 index and trades under the symbol SPY. "
According to PSE, ETFs are "sophisticated forms of securities that are growing and gaining popularity in stock markets abroad." Yes it is sophisticated and it was an investment talk-of-the-town in Singapore before I left.
And PSE has submitted its draft rules to SEC which will pave the way for ETFs to be traded in the local stock market! Yehey! This is a good investment medium for Filipinos who has low tolerance with risk to invest confidently in the stock market.
Well, just a piece of freaking good news despite the much exaggerated food crisis.
Mercedes-Benz Club Phils. will be kicking off its Coffee Table Book project. In light of this, we are inviting aspiring models to grace the pages of the first edition and at the same built their own portfolios for future references. If you think that's you, kindly send me a private message or SMS me through +639209009194. Good Luck!
So what? But I'm not referring to C-41 process (read: negative films). I thought I'm going to miss something from Singapore. But NAH!! First, Pokka Carrot Juice is now available in supermarkets. Now, Fujifilm Digital Imaging (FDI) Center here in SM Supercenter Muntinlupa is offering one-hour E-6 processing (read: positive film/slide). Faster than Ruby, faster than fotohub. And right in my doorstep! As they say, the best is always yet to come :)
Provia and Velvia are becoming highly available too, one popular source is Lomo Manila, but I think FDI will soon displaying some stock in their shelves aside from their existing lines of professional films. So I'll putting up the film scanner out of the box again. And have my OM20 repaired. In the meantime enjoy this first shot.
This afternoon I drove home from work in Makati to Muntinlupa in 25 mins. not counting the time to the enter the subdvision and dock in the garage. After calculating back how I did it, I got my initial findings and some people will just treat this as a mere Tuesday pattern but I think it's more than that.
One of the reasons of our Metro Manila's perennial traffic jam is our poor time management, most of us including me still find this task a challenge. Here's what I did and I don't think its by chance because in Metro Manila's rush hour, every minute counts. I'm an eight-to-five rat racer (even if I've won this race, I'm still a rat haha) and I have to get off at five, on the dot, no less. But the nature of my job is software development, how can that happen? Instead of coming to work at eight I have to come earlier than that like seven or six-thirty to offset whatever unforeseen delays, in this way I can make it at five. Because if I won't make it by five, a little late by five minutes into the rush hour and I'll be crawling home like other rat racers do. Being a developer for ten years, I come to think that overtime is for noobs :)
I'm not a time management guru yet. But in time we can master a good time management habits and do away from cursing and swearing against the government and turn everything in our favor and leave every losers behind. What I did this day is a calculated, by-the-number tasks started from hitting the sack early and rising early it has to be 5am on the dot so say goodbye to slumber parties and midnight games. Remember that every minute counts, start off with a hefty breakfast and an exercise (15-20mins), hit the showers and dress up (for me shower takes longer). By six-to-six-thirty my engine should be revving up, all buckled up and off to work I go! By the time Susana Heights Toll Exit barrier opens up for me, I should be seeing the burst of sunrise hitting Laguna Lake as I lead the rat race to SLEX north bound to Makati. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the "window time" where SLEX is in its most unobstructed form and get to see those who-don't-want-to-be-seen in common hours like Porsches, Ferraris(yeah!), new Mustangs and other stuff lots of people thought is only seen in Singapore(duh!) and Benzes that are only available in left-hand drive. By six-forty-five or seven, I'll be in a spacious parking lot (thanks to the lazy dorks). And by seven-eleven I'll be booting up the PC and that starts my day, fresh and unstressed. That gives me a license to be out by five.
At five to five-thirty, I have the opportunity to lead the rat race again, I'm already on the road and again on the dot. And while others are still scrambling out of the parking lot, I'm cruising away!
I don't have the luxury of taking control of my time like business people do. But this is the best I can do. In the future, I may slack off a bit and go wayward off my time management path but for sure there's no one else to blame but me. But one thing is for sure as well; this "system" works! So what's the point?
By following this routine, I got more time for my family...NAH! That's a vague understatement!
Take two....
By following this routine (provided no untoward incidents happen), I'm home early for dinner, my wife is home early for dinner, my kid waits no more for dinner. It's a simple joy brought home. At the dinner table we talk how our days went, exchange some few small plans about anything; weekend getaways, movies to watch, things to give for being naughty or nice. I can now finish the books that has been long overdue, squeeze in extra time on small things like listen to my kid read stories for me or the other way around. And this is how I realized the value of my time; it's more expensive at home. This is what I told myself on the day of my flight out of Singapore; "Be Home By Dinner" and it pays off every single day, not outright short-term financial gains but something more that lasts a lifetime. Now it's 9:23pm on my watch. Time to beat the rats on their own game again, tomorrow.
I have just started a new online forum that is semi-dedicated (you can still post even if you have an SLK hehehe) to W201 past, present and future owners in the Philippines. W201 is the body designation for Mercedes-Benz 190E and 190D. The objective of this forum is to support the preservation of this hot modern-classic Mercedes-Benz has ever made from misguided environmentalism. See you at Mercedes-Benz W201 Club
O, Top Ten daw tayo sa petty bribery sabi ng isang international survey. Magagalit ba 'ko? Wala akong karapatang magalit. Idi-deny ko ba? Kahit wala akong ebidensya, naniniwala ako na totoo naman. Pero wala sa kasaysayan ng tao na ang panunuhol ay naging isang ugat ng rebolusyon (excessive tax ang madalas na ugat actually). Kahit saan dako ng daigdig ka pumunta, hindi mawawala ang panunuhol. Human being, as a social animal, will always try to avoid inconvenient truth (such as being caught turning left in the wrong way).
Ngayon kung gusto mong maging isang bayani at gamitin ang iyong God-endorsed honesty sa oras na ikaw ay nahuli ng isang kotongerong pulis or traffic enforcer sa daan, eto ang mga kailangan mong tandaan. Una, pagnahuli ka, wag kang bababa ng sasakyan (tanga!), dahil wala sa batas natin na kailangan mong bumaba ng sasakyan. Pangalawa, 'wag kang magpapaliwanag sa pulis na nagmamadali ka (isa na namang katangahan), itanong mo kung anong violation mo at hayaan mo ang pulis or enforcer ang magpaliwanag. Kung alam mong tama ang citation sa 'yo, then magpa-ticket ka wag ka nang makipagtalo. Ngayong natiketan ka na at isa ka nang bayani na hindi nanuhol or naglagay kanino man, tandaan mo ang sasabihin sa yo ng pulis or enforcer kung saan tutubusin ang lisensya mo, kadalasan nyan ituturo ka sa Orense, alam mo ba kung saan yun at kung gano kahaba ang pila roon? Pwes, kung gusto mong magpakabayani dapat ngayon pa lang alamin mo na kung gano kahaba at kalagkit ang red tape dun (isipin mo na lang parusa yan sa mga tanga) at iisipin mo na "sana naglagay na lang ako". Now that makes us to the list, dahil kung lilitisin at ikukulong lahat ng sangkot sa bribery lalo na sa kalakaran ng LTO, hindi magkakasya sa kulungan ang mga mapaparusahan including the motorists.
In any case, when you violate a law, whether you bribe to get away with it or not, you lose! And besides, every driver in the Philippines should know the unwritten law of the road that Driving Without Money Is A Capital Offense! Be smart, obey the law (especially of the road), dahil SA PILIPINAS, BAWAL ANG TANGA!
Napansin ko lang na tila wala yatang provision mag post ng comment sa column in Isagani Cruz ng Inquirer tungkol sa "The Hero of the Hotel". Pwes, hindi ko rin iha-hyperlink yang column na yan. Ito ay isang katibayan lang kung paano inaabuso ng media ang kapangyarihan nila sa Pilipinas. Magpapahayag ang ilan sa kanila pero ayaw nilang tumanggap ng batikos sa mga taga-basa. At hindi rin naman sila patas magpahayag kung hihimayin natin ang bawat sinabi ni Isagani Cruz, ay sobrang lop-sided. At kung entitled sya sa opinion nya, entitled din akong i-dilute ang makapanlasong opinion na yan dahil ang opinion ay hindi lang basta opinion ito'y puedeng makatulong or makadulot ng polusyon sa lipunan. Sige himayin natin.
"The men of the questionable President stood loyally behind her and spouted invocations of the rule of law that they pontificated should be observed in this land of the free."
Paano mo nalamang "questionable" may ebidensya ka ba? Mas naniniwala akong wala.
"Given such a small group to conquer, Esperon who should now be hailed as the “Hero of the Hotel,” chose to send Marines fully-armed and in frightening numbers (about one battalion?) to subdue the outnumbered enemy. More than this, and absolutely and foolishly needlessly, he commanded several tanks to support their attack as if they were fighting in Iwo Jima. One tank in fact actually barged into the undefended Peninsula and destroyed one of its doors."
Kung ikaw kaya ang maging general? Ano ang plano mo? Pa-needlessly-needlessly ka pa as if mas magiging mas efficient ang war plan mo based "on-a-need" situation. May suggestion ka ba kung ano mas magandang solution para tapusin nang mabilis ang ganitong standoff at hindi pa lalong makapinsala sa 'ting ekonomiya. O baka naman mas masaya ka pag ang bansa natin ay nasa crisis?
"This is not the end of the incident as there are still many matters to be settled, such as the occupation and the damage caused to the Peninsula Hotel, which must be wondering whom to sue. But the more important question is the gross violation of the Bill of Rights that was brashly ignored by the Armed Forces the Philippines and their hypocritical masters in the Cabinet who sanctimoniously pleaded the rule of law that their minions were desecrating."
Bill Of Rights My Ass. Who to sue for the damages? Nagisip ka pa. Of course, the losers, Trillanes et al. In the first place gusto bang sirain ng AFP/PNP ang Manila Pen? Sino ba ang pumunta roon? E di ba kayong mga media? E di dapat kayo ang i-demanda? At sadya namang ino-obstruct nyo yung operations ng mga pulis at militar.
Wala 'tong personalan. Ine-exercise ko rin ang karapatan ko, hindi lang karapatan nyo lagi ang nasusunod dahil malaki-laking pera na rin ang na-remit ko para sa bansang 'to at mas malaki ang buwis na binabayaran ko kaysa sa iyo. At mamatay man ako eto lang masasabi ko, SA PILIPINAS, BAWAL ANG TANGA!
First I'm very thankful that during the Marcos Rule the primetime shows during weekdays includes C.H.I.P.S., 240-Roberts, Strike Force, FBI, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, COMBAT, Sesame Street, The Electric Company and the list goes on. That despite school strikes, these programs has taught us valuable lessons in the context of the use of the English language.
Today, running an all-english primetime show is already considered "world-class" (???). Come on, during the 80's we can outspoke any of our Southeast Asian counterparts in English, even until today. But I don't know what holds for our children in the future. With all these stupid Tagalog soap operas, "tagalized" anime and imported telenovelas, it's not far enough that we will be the laughing stock for bad English. Honestly, the first people I have in mind to put the blame on are our self-righteous patriots who thinks the Filipino language should be promulgated in all aspects. I have no problem with that, but right now it's not properly balanced. Adding to the burden is the "text speak", technology is pressing the wound deeper and that is unavoidable.
I remember the late 80's, the post Marcos era, the days of 21 Jumpstreet, Nam Tour Of Duty, Fraggle Rock, Nickelodeon etc. We watched and watched until the lingo stuck. Now, it's the same line of speaking that we use today in our everyday business (with impressive results) and ironically only a little came from the schools which has taught us invaluable lessons as well. And gradually, all of these not-so-obvious English resources that our children can learn and find enjoyment from is virtually gone.
Frankly, I'm supposed to be at Terry's Tavern just to check the place out. I "twitted" bukojoe if he can follow me there. At first he chickened out, so I went there alone. Inside, some band of forty-somethings are playing retro music and I ordered my first drink. I asked the lady serving me who's the person to talk to for a possible jam in this place and she pointed me to burly eurasian who turned out to be Terry himself.
I asked him if our band can jam, he replied "how many?" and "when" and "can it be tonight", I said "five", "the following friday" and "no". Finally, bukojoe arrived at the Tavern and I approached Terry again and I told him our band can only play on the following Friday and he said "sure, just keep in touch" and we exchanged phone numbers I went back to our table and order another round of Jim Beam. By the way, Terry's band is one of the legendary retro band in Singapore. They had their second set, it was a great set with some guests who volunteered to sing onstage and apparently one of them is a Filipino, actually a lot of Filipinos were mixed in the crowd.
There was an announcement made before the break of the second set. Hans, the band's guitarist blurted out from the microphone "on our next set we will have a couple of guys that will jam with us from Philippines". Crap! The way he looked at us I know we're nailed. My mind was playing things, will I let bukojoe play alone or will I stood with him? Dang! Nevermind let's play Sweet Home Alabama, that's the only song coming out of my brain's playlist that time.
Finally, our time has come we were called to stage by Hans, Terry hand over his bass on me and Warren took the guitar, both were Ibanez vintages (sweet!). I asked the drummer, can you play "Sweet Home Alabama"? A bit hesitant, he said "uhm let's try", I said "no let's roll". So bukojoe played the main riff. The drum rolls, I got in. Bukojoe sang the first few lines and Hans went on to the keyboards. Shucks, I really thanked Hans for doing that coz I don't plan to play power trio that night. I got pumped up by the blending of the keyboards and guitars. I can hear some Tagalog voices and they thought we're Indonesians :))
And the song came to an end but there were requests for encore, I don't know what to do I put down the bass. Walk back to our table and the first thing on my mind was "shit, somebody should shoot a video of that!".
The show came into an end, the Tavern has to close, so bukojoe and I left the place hastily to grab some late dinner. We went to 126 Beer Garden, after a short while I got a phone call from Terry. He's asking us to come back to the Tavern and look for the place Cafe Manila because he prepared some Filipino dinner for us with some cold beer and a great chat. Perfect way to end Monday.
Around Tuesday morning when I got an MSN message from Matt; "hi jared, are you free to jam this wednesday?" and he continued.."we have tried 11 bassists and you're the closest thing we can get for the music". So I closed my eyes and asked myself "Who do I think I am? Adam Clayton?". So the other night was an audition. And we continue the chat about commitments and how much of it I can give to the band. The second jam was all about trying to fit each other into the music, with me being the bridge that binds the rest of the instruments together, of course that's the bassist's duty. Just a little fancy riffs and rhythm, main thing is to fill-in the jam with much power as I can. Now I can see the real direction. Matt wants to cut a CD out by December, he'll be producing it and I barely touched the stage for a long time. All my life I always just want to sign up as a cook but I always ended up directing an artillery. I'm not complaining, what I could say is, be careful for what you wish for, 'cause you might just get bigger than that.
And so last night I got a phone call from Matt, "Jared I need your help on Friday night, bring your bass, cause I'm managing a girl band and I want you to fill in the bass for them, just improvise, you know..." , Okay I know how a girl band sounds like, but I just hope I don't sound too punchy for them. Just to make things clear, this is not a professional undertaking and I am not a bass hero.
It was 9 pm when I met Matt, Jason and Rashid somewhere near Balestier Rd. in a facility called Golden Wall Flatten Factory. On my arrival, I saw the three waiting for me at the delivery dock of the factory and we briefly introduced each other and walked inside the building. We took an elevator that looks like a service lift that can fit a huge cargo up to the fourth level. Upon reaching the floor we walked through a hallway that looks like a part of a rundown industrial complex and I thought this looks like a scene from Half Life. And we turned in to a small door, inside is a very narrow hallway with a gauntlet of dead or spoiled amplifiers on both sides stacked up to the ceiling. After passing through, an array of old guitars and basses hangs overhead and below are keyboards lined up properly as well, "so this is the industrial feel" I said to myself.
We came to another door that looks like an office and a guy approached us "so you're the band?", but I can't remember who said "yes". He showed us a way to another door which is finally the rehearsal room. With a drum set, 2 guitar/keyboard amplifiers, 2 bass amps. Not wasting any more time I plugged in to the bass amp that has an equalizer with it and tested with a single pluck, nice oomph! The equipments are not really state-of-the art and not really new, it just consists of Peavey and Laney amps. The drum set, I didn't even bother to look what's the brand.
Matt tune his guitar briefly, Rashid prepared his double-stick pedals and Jason borrowed a keyboard from that office guy, I am ready and we're all set. Without uttering words on which song to play, Matt started to do his riff, Jason started humming his keyboards, and me together with Rashid started a few staccato bursts and while keeping a glue on Rashid's bass drum, I started my own riff. I realized that I have been playing with a lot of open strings that I have never done before! The tunes that I played so ridiculously when alone was really working! We gradually established the structure of the music during the play, Rashid will randomly run through his salvo of double bass stomps, Matt will occasionally do the off-time scales and riffs without really watching each other and we will occasionally have a few staccato altogether here and there. And it went on for about 5-7 minutes at different variations. And then we jam a couple of their original songs, but at any point in time we will be gradually moving to another "story" of the sound we're producing. We played at different varying "stories" sometimes in deep to open E or just staying at B all throughout the music. And each track that we did last night has "stories" to tell. We don't have a vocalist and everything was pure instruments. The last track we played, we tuned down one step and so it's a lot deeper that I can't hear the lowest note. And we're practically surfing with an alien.
I cannot say it was so much fun, but a rather it's more of a sacred ritual with "less talk more play" as the ordinance to observe.
At some point during the jam Rashid exclaimed while looking at Matt saying "You should have recorded it!". Matt pointed at me and replied “Rush-inspired, from Philippines hehe…”, too bad my camera phone can't be put into anything stable :))
Progressive Rock is an interesting genre with a lot of off-time beats. Matt told me prior to our jam session that another bass player complained that Matt should let him know when the off-time beat is coming. Understandable, the previous bass player is an Emo fan. Unlike me, these guys are experienced performers where they already have gigs in several music festivals and have been playing together for two years. At least for an hour and a half I feel like Geddy Lee.
This was [just few of] the nights that I surfed with an alien from end to end and it’s just pure business.
Haaaaayyyy BIIIIINNNNAAAAYYY!!!
