Walk About

When I can, and usually on Saturdays, I go to the University of the Philippines to be with myself. I go to this second-hand bookstore, where I never leave without a purchase. I go to this cafe, where I always order an eggplant parmigiana. It’s not the best that I’ve tasted but it’s familiar and it’s comforting so it’s become a favorite.

I dunno. These sporadic trips always clears my head. It’s so quiet in UP. And people never mind what the hell you’re doing. Well, okay, sometimes, they do, too but they’re always off elsewhere so that’s okay. I like how you can just walk around or sit around and nobody would think you were different, weird, or intoxicated.

King Jens

Hello there! Sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days. Holy week had us working like mad, which in turn made personal life achingly slow. In any case, March ended on a very very high note.

I saw Kings of Convenience and Jens Lekman live! Yay!

Kings of Convenience with Jens Lekman, 31 March 2010, NBC Tent

More from Singapore

So. I never got to tell you about the concerts I saw in SG. The trip was done specifically because of Yeah yeah yeahs. I love that band to pieces that when I found out they were gonna go to Merlion’s city, I just had to book my airline ticket and go.

I had my friend who’s based there buy me the concert ticket. Of course we ran out. So my friend and I decided to buy Cat Power tickets, to accomplish what we booked those airline tickets for.

When I was in LA, another friend, who has amazing super powers, was able to reserve for us VIP box tickets for the YYYs show! Can you believe it?! So two concerts, one week equals a very happy albeit poor lounatik. So what. This is what I’m working for, right?

YYYs is amazing live. I think it’s mainly because the band, Karen O specially, is so fun to watch. They were obviously enjoying themselves! Look at her go!

She was interacting with the audience, which of course the audience loved. And their choice of songs is great! They opened with Runaway, and then closed with Turn into. Tucked in between are Gold Lion, Isis, Heads with Roll, Dull Life, Hysteric, and a song off their early EP (I don’t have titles, sorry. I only refer to them as track 1, track 2, and so on and so forth).

Of course they opened the encore with an acoustic version of Maps. And I loved it. That’s how you “cover” or acoustify a song. Just because you use an acoustic guitar doesn’t mean it’s already an apt acoustic version, right? Anyway, I love this band photo. I think it demonstrates just how cool Yeah Yeah Yeahs is:

Wow. The next night, it was Cat Power.

It’s a stark contrast from YYYs in that this is very low-key. Everybody was seated, hardly anyone was screaming, so taking photos was a drag. I segue: Forgive the ugly photos as they are taken in stealth manner.

Chan Marshall was beautiful and graceful. And her voice was so cool. Unlike earlier reports, she’s no longer a “rockstar.” They came in late but how can you remain mad when Chan immediately courtesied? She wasn’t drunk. In fact, she was drinking tea.

More than her though, is her band whom I love. They were a bunch of old men who are clearly well-versed with their instruments. They knew how to pluck those strings, make the drumsticks bounce off the drums, etc.

At the end of the show, she went down the stage with a bouquet of flowers which she distributed to the audience one by one. Of course front row got all the love. It was so unreal because some of them would ask Chan for a photo and she’d pose like it was nothing!

YYY also did an almost the same thing. Karen O had the entire front row sing! Oh bejesus.

Can I just say? I love live shows! YYYs has always been in my “to see live” list along with Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Portishead, Rolling Stones, etc. So, I’m ecstatic I got to cross out another one. As I’ve said, next stop is Sigur Ros, though I don’t know when and where that’s gonna be. (I could’ve seen them in Japan as they were to perform there two weeks after the Radiohead show. Of course I did bec Japan is too expensive and my visa wouldn’t allow me to stay as long). I can’t wait for it though.

I love watching concerts! Too bad The Killers got canceled in this part of the world. But yeah, I’m looking at a life full of trips abroad to watch concerts.

Singapore swing

Along North Bridge Avenue

Came from a five-day Singapore trip, to catch Yeah Yeah Yeahs! and Cat Power. A few friends came along making it less a pilgrimage and more of a trip. Except everything is forbidden there! I couldn’t even take the delicious Persian food with beer because beer is mostly prohibited in Persian joints. A pity because Persian food is awesome with beer.

I refer to Singapore as the country with a plan. All their parks —Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, Singapore Zoo, Sentosa, even—seem to have been carefully thought out and executed down to the last detail. Which is amazing, but I dunno, it lessens the possible spontaneity of it all.

Bird Disco...very Center at the Jurong Bird Park

Anyway, the concerts. They were awesome, in a different kind of way. I don’t know how else to put them. YYY was rockin. They were a joy to watch because you can tell they enjoy what they were doing. Karen O was dancing like cray. They did a few songs from old EPs. For encore, they did Maps and Turn Into.

[I dunno why I can't seem to upload photos from the gigs. Sorry!]

Cat Power was more subdued and low-key. She was very cute and gracious. Her band was not. Because they were serious musicians who can prolly burn a hole into the music sheets. They were THAT good.

At the end of the show, she came down the stage with a bouquet of flowers, which she gave to the audience. Fans who asked for photos were granted their photos—she posed for them! And then she went back up the stage and threw away the set lists! How lucky!

Anyway, at Kinokinuya (?!) Bookstore, I found a copy of Tokyo Vice, which I first became aware of through QuirkyJapan. I read the first few pages and it proved to be very engaging! Except it was more than half my budget for the day so I had to settle for a quick snap of a page that made me promise myself to buy the book as soon as a cheaper version arrives:

From Tokyo Vice

Has it been a year already?

Radiohead. Japan. October 2008.

I haven’t been the same since. The wheels have begun to turn again. Am itching (and planning) to travel and watch concerts. Hopefully, 2010 will be kind.

Hello October! I’m happy to see you once again.