This is one Saturday night that you shouldn’t miss. Its already 9:30 pm and My Brothers Mustache (MBM) is beginning to pack with professionals, plain night owls, some curious souls and the regulars with one thing on their mind, to see and find out if Pepe and Wally (in alphabetical order) still hold that “rockin feelin”. I and my brother Jun S. (who had a goaty but no mustache) are sipping our ice cold beer while we keep on looking at the clock and listening to the folk/jazz singer Albert De Pano on stage unleashing his folk jazz tune. We tried to cover up our excitement by reminiscing some of the Juan Dela Cruz Band’s concert we had watched starting with the new moon concert to the pagbabalik reunion and some club gigs of Joey and Wally. We even asked MBM’s floor manager if we could occupy the same table we had the last time we watched Joey, Wally together with Dondie Ledesma during their last known gig at MBM. Then out of the blue, Wally together with some friends calmly walked in and occupied table no. 1, reserved for musicians and their entourage. They watched the folksinger dished out his last two songs for the night and bade goodbye after announcing the feature of the night, the acoustic set of Joey and Wally.
I again sip my ice cold beer while waiting for Pepe to show up, an anxiety that I think everyone in the place felt. Wally together with a young man who would be their drummer for the night (he’s using a “kahon”) are now on the stage tuning when Pepe came in. After saying hi (or is it high) and hello to some audience, Pepe climb the stage with an electric guitar (?) while Wally is now playing some blues intro on his acoustic guitar. Before we knew it, their night’s set had already started with a B. B. King piece called Rock me Baby to a roaring applause and approval from the audience. Next on the list is Route 66 and then followed by a bluesy version of the Doors’ Backdoor Man. Boom (!) we all returned to the songs of our generation and flashback over flashback came into everybody, I became aware of it because I overheard a group of four on the other table, where one who is now a lawyer remembers their exact location when that song was first played on the radio. I even heard one of them uttered “dalmane”. I also knew that word and mind you it doesn’t refer to a dog.
After the first salvo of blues rock, some people began to rise on their feet after hearing the intro on Mamasyal sa Pilipinas, yes the acoustic version followed by Peps never ending version of Stones’ Not Fade Away. I sipped my not so cold beer but found out that it was already empty so I told my brother to get another one dahil sumasarap na ang laban. By this time the guys on stage knew that the trip to memory lane was now in order so they followed it with Balong Malalim and whoa (!) the audience started to sing with them- Sige pa ng sige, kahit na dumudumi, ang isipan ng tao dito sa mundong ito…wala na bang remedyo then the group stopped their instrument and Pepe shouted “ang ating gobyerno”.
What followed was a hit after hit of Juan Dela Cruz Band’s immortal hits like Nadapa sa Arina, Titsers Enemy No. 1, Rock and Roll sa Ulan and to calm the audience’s libido for more pinoy rock, they shifted to a Jimi Hendrix classic Hey Joe and then another pinoy hit Project. After that, someone from the audience shouted “I Love You Pepe” and Pepe jokingly responded to the guy (!) totoo ba yan? Then another shouted “Himig Natin” and when Wally laid out the intro of the song Himig Natin, the audience couldn’t wait and started to sing along. Wally responded with a very beautiful acoustic rendition of that song. I couldn’t help but peeked into Wally’s fingers zigzagging his guitar. After which the ever “kalabog” Pepe told the audience to stay away from drugs because drug is now “passé”, that brought the house down, maybe he is serious in saying that but everybody knows who Pepe is. Rugen or is it Rogen, the kahon drummer was able to show his other talent by singing Divisoria together with Pepe. Then followed by Kahit Ano Mangyari and two more Stones’ hits Ruby Tuesday and Satisfaction. Pepe stood up, put his guitar on the ground and started to dance on the intro of Beep Beep, their last song for the night or is it early morning. This time the audience is really up on their feet dancing and singing “sakay na kayo kahit hanggang kanto, ang buhay ng tsuper ay di gawang biro ”. Its now 12:30 a.m. or two hours after their first song of what was supposed to be a two gig set was folded into one mini concert to the delight of the audience. Before we left, I approached Mr. Wally Gonzales sitting on the table and talking to the top Honchos of My Brothers Mustache. I shook his hand and thanked him for the music and then we flashed a peace sign to Pepe who was then busy selling and signing his “burned” CD to the kids at heart. Now I believe in Pepe’s word that drug is “passé” although his looks say otherwise. Long Live Pinoy Rock and Roll with or without drugs.
I again sip my ice cold beer while waiting for Pepe to show up, an anxiety that I think everyone in the place felt. Wally together with a young man who would be their drummer for the night (he’s using a “kahon”) are now on the stage tuning when Pepe came in. After saying hi (or is it high) and hello to some audience, Pepe climb the stage with an electric guitar (?) while Wally is now playing some blues intro on his acoustic guitar. Before we knew it, their night’s set had already started with a B. B. King piece called Rock me Baby to a roaring applause and approval from the audience. Next on the list is Route 66 and then followed by a bluesy version of the Doors’ Backdoor Man. Boom (!) we all returned to the songs of our generation and flashback over flashback came into everybody, I became aware of it because I overheard a group of four on the other table, where one who is now a lawyer remembers their exact location when that song was first played on the radio. I even heard one of them uttered “dalmane”. I also knew that word and mind you it doesn’t refer to a dog.
After the first salvo of blues rock, some people began to rise on their feet after hearing the intro on Mamasyal sa Pilipinas, yes the acoustic version followed by Peps never ending version of Stones’ Not Fade Away. I sipped my not so cold beer but found out that it was already empty so I told my brother to get another one dahil sumasarap na ang laban. By this time the guys on stage knew that the trip to memory lane was now in order so they followed it with Balong Malalim and whoa (!) the audience started to sing with them- Sige pa ng sige, kahit na dumudumi, ang isipan ng tao dito sa mundong ito…wala na bang remedyo then the group stopped their instrument and Pepe shouted “ang ating gobyerno”.
What followed was a hit after hit of Juan Dela Cruz Band’s immortal hits like Nadapa sa Arina, Titsers Enemy No. 1, Rock and Roll sa Ulan and to calm the audience’s libido for more pinoy rock, they shifted to a Jimi Hendrix classic Hey Joe and then another pinoy hit Project. After that, someone from the audience shouted “I Love You Pepe” and Pepe jokingly responded to the guy (!) totoo ba yan? Then another shouted “Himig Natin” and when Wally laid out the intro of the song Himig Natin, the audience couldn’t wait and started to sing along. Wally responded with a very beautiful acoustic rendition of that song. I couldn’t help but peeked into Wally’s fingers zigzagging his guitar. After which the ever “kalabog” Pepe told the audience to stay away from drugs because drug is now “passé”, that brought the house down, maybe he is serious in saying that but everybody knows who Pepe is. Rugen or is it Rogen, the kahon drummer was able to show his other talent by singing Divisoria together with Pepe. Then followed by Kahit Ano Mangyari and two more Stones’ hits Ruby Tuesday and Satisfaction. Pepe stood up, put his guitar on the ground and started to dance on the intro of Beep Beep, their last song for the night or is it early morning. This time the audience is really up on their feet dancing and singing “sakay na kayo kahit hanggang kanto, ang buhay ng tsuper ay di gawang biro ”. Its now 12:30 a.m. or two hours after their first song of what was supposed to be a two gig set was folded into one mini concert to the delight of the audience. Before we left, I approached Mr. Wally Gonzales sitting on the table and talking to the top Honchos of My Brothers Mustache. I shook his hand and thanked him for the music and then we flashed a peace sign to Pepe who was then busy selling and signing his “burned” CD to the kids at heart. Now I believe in Pepe’s word that drug is “passé” although his looks say otherwise. Long Live Pinoy Rock and Roll with or without drugs.
3 comments:
Ok yung napanood nyo ni utol, hindi ba isinama sa set nila yung Pinoy Blues.
ayos yung sabado nyo, wala ba tayong iistrike-in dun, text nyo lang ako at kausap ko lang sandali ang nanay ko
koya mokhang maganda nga ang napanood nyo ni koya taruc kaya lang hende ko maentendehan ang senulat mo kase engles, what es wrong weth you, i thought you are a pinoy rockirs with a heart of stone
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