nameabledays Archive One

(Siyempre, the World of Friends, Relatives, Banyuhay Fanatics, Composers, Musicians, Magicians, & Men of Letters, of the Brush & the Bottle)

It’s the week after the birthdays of two prominent (ahem) Scorpios in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City. At least that’s what one of them thinks of himself and some close friends and family agree. And that’s me and the really famed Heber Bartolome.


Me, I’m taking a break from proposals (just completed one for a moolah-making project), presentations, editing (endgame for three translation books, writing intro and proofreading original Filipino and translation text), doing a corporate identity guideline with logo description, rationale and specs (tip: I don’t know graphic or publishing programs like Corel, Photoshop or In-Design, so I do all my graphics in Mac’s Keynote presentation—where I am bit of an expert—then export them to JPEG, and there you are, neat…), and shuttling between translating a Filipino novel into English and, again, Keynote presentations for a planning conference. So, as promised my Banggaan mates, here are the pictures from Heber’s Tuesday Conspiracy gig, supposedly his and my birthday celebs—it was one day after mine, November 5, and three days before his, the 9th, a Friday. But, my, what a celebration it was. Banggaan have seen these pictures but the whole Internet hasn’t, so here they are again, with Heber’s letter and some of my captioning, as long as I can recall that inebriated night. Pansit figured very well, no matter how impromptu, which Heber insisted on having, in the Filipino and Chinese tradition of always having noodles during a birthday celebration, for long life.


HEBER (the afternoon before, on the cellphone): Pare ikaw ang may birthday ngayon [he’s confused as well], huwag kang mawawala. Gusto ko may pansit, pre. Darating yung mga Banggaan, si Benjo Laygo, si Joel from Australia, si Zen from California. Tapos sina Randy David, (former UP president) Dodong Nemenzo at baka si (National Artist) Bien Lumbera.

ME: I’ll take care of the pansit. Puwde tayong bumili sa katabing restaurant, yung Nena’s [I can’t remember the name], masarap ang pansit dun.

HEBER: Great! Puwede rin tayong magpaluto sa Conspi mismo.

ME (about an hour before, cellphone text): Hebs, running late fr anothr mtng. D n mkabili pansit.

HEBER (cellphone text): Oks lang. Ako n lng.

BEFORE THE SHOW. Few tables filled. Heber and some friends in one, a Fundador and pulutan before them. Beside them are gracious old ladies, Heber’s guests from a songwriting workshop he conducts. I came in with poet and playwright Reuel Aguila, we took a table in the garden where we could smoke before the Banyuhay show.

HEBER: Marne, may pansit na tayo. Nagpaluto na ako rito. Binigyan ko ng one thousand (pesos) pero mga five hundred lang daw magagastos.

ME: Yung sukli for more beer na lang!

& HERE’S HEBER’S LETTER TO BANGGAAN:

Banggers,

Sobrang abala ako. Hindi ko alam kung nakapagkwento na ako sa nakaraang Bday gig ko sa Conspiracy. Bukas na kasi ang totoong birthday ko. Nagpa-golf tourney ako sa dalawang dahilan: Una, para merong activity sa aking kaarawan, pangalawa, para maka-raise ng konting pondo na gagamitin sa recording ng aking workshop participants. Biglaan lang ito. Kahit konti lang ang sumali. Ayos lang.

Sa Linggo naman, 11th, darating sa bahay mga composers, pansit na naman. So medyo naging tatlong events ang birthday ko.

Yung sa Conspiracy ay talagang napakasaya. Yun ang text sa akin the next day ni Randy David, ni Dulce, ni Marne na siyang birthday celebrant.

Di nga dumating pareho sina Zen at Joel. Si Zen ay tumawag martes ng hapon dahil pati yung flight nya pabalik sa Glendale ay kailangan i-re-sked. Dahil kailangan daw niyang sumama sa kanyang ina sa gawing norte.

Si Joel naman ay nag-text sa akin ng ganito wednesday ng umaga: Para akong babaeng binalisawsaw. Nanakit ang puson, balakang at hita. Stress. Dehydration. So sorry to miss ur concert. So ashamed of my kamalasan.

Maraming ikukwento siguro si Joel sa atin pagbalik niya sa Melbourne. Di ko alam kung ano ang sitwasyon ng exhibit niya sa Baguio.

PHOTOS. Narito ang ilang pix sa Conspi [inayos ko nang konti ang captioning-MLK]:

THE REAL PROMINENTS (Second pic above): Former UP President Dodong Nemenzo, Nonoy Buncio, Randy David at ako.

THE ALSO PROMINENTS (First pic above): Sina Boy Dominguez, Benjo Laygo, Marne, Ed Manalo, Reuel Molina Aguila, pareng Nap Jamir, Levi.

THE PANSIT MARNE DIDN'T BUY, (Third above) so he just took care of the beer, mainly for the Also Prominents.

BENJO & MARNE, (Fourth above) Really swell and cool guy Benjo, whom Marne met for the first time.

Si Ben (Razon) ang kumuha kaya wala sya sa mga ipinadala ko. Nasa kanya ang memory card ko. Pero abala din sya. sobrang busy rin.

Yung mga detalye ng pangyayari ay next week ko pa maikukwento. Kumanta si Dulce, Bayang Barrios at ilang workshopers. Nagperform ang ilang rap recording artists, mga magicians, atbp. Maganda talaga ang nangyari. Masaya. Nabuhay si Nanay Perla. Nag-acapella. Hangga dito muna.

Heber

MY EMAIL TO BANGGAAN (after the flurry of greetings on the Web)

Thanks Jimi, Claro, Tanto, Clem & All the Bangganis.

Ang saya ng birthday namin ni Heber. Ako, mainly "kibitzing" celebrator, dapat daw kasi sabi ni Heber huwag akong mawala dun sa Martes gig niya kahit it was not the exact day of both our birthdays (Nov. 9 siya, Nov. 5 naman ako), pero ang saya, kami ang nagsara ng Conspi. I will blog the Conspi event later. Di ko pala nasagot ang pansit kasi na-late ako ng kaunti, so beer na lang ang sinagot ko. Kaya nalasing kami sa Black Label, Fundador, at San Mig. Shalamat! At saka, ang galing pa rin ng Banyuhay, Heber is always the great strummer, apart from the songwriter that he is, Levi and Jesse are still the best guitarists (classical, folk, pop, etc.) hereabouts, and Jesse is perhaps the only local expert on 60s-70s music, from the Gordon Lightfoots to the Paul Simons, etc., etc. Mag-request lang kayo sa kanya.

Marne

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Next Mag:Netic Nights: Pictura Poeisis

A-brewing now as this comes out is the "much awaited" ekphrastic show to be mounted by several poets at our favorite watering hole on Katipunan, just opposite one of the gates of Miriam College and the northernmost entrance of Ateneo. Mag:Net Café and Gallery comes to life with words and pictures (mostly paintings inspiring poems, done in PowerPoint or in my case, Keynote) on November 19, seven o’clock to 9 in the evening. The nth installment of the continuing saga of the Happy Mondays Poetry Nights organized by Prof. Joel Toledo, award-winning poet, of Miriam, this Monday Manila poetas from La Salle (from the graduate class of Prof. Marj Evasco), UP, Miriam, Ateneo, and even perhaps Mapua during the open mic, converge on this artful joint owned by painter Rock Drilon. The idea sprung out of a conversation after my lecture in Marj’s class on ekphrastic poetry. The title comes form Marj. Why not read the poems and show the artwork that inspired them? Mag:Net really comes in handy with its big screen (used by the likes of Khavn de la Cruz to show their world-recognized short or indie films). So third Monday it is then, and tomorrow, Wednesday, we gather the CDs with pictures of the poetry-producing paintings. It will be a really colorful Monday then, like this sign.

THE SIGN from History

And let me let you in on a lesser known but facinating trivia about Mag:Net and its "Café" logotype. ‘Twas the first time I heard it from Rock Drilon, over our last beer before we went up to his third floor digs and store of paintings from various artists which I had never seen either. Take a look at the “Café” part of the sign (sorry for the small photo), with its unique typography, he says. Because it is not typography. It’s a “font” you won’t find in any font book or type catalogue (or pirated CD), or with or in any colophon. Because it’s not a font either. Rock goes on, he doesn’t mention any credits or I just missed his attributions, but the collection of four letters comes from history and the history of text, from old documents about or from our own national narrative: the c is taken (scanned? cut-before-pasting? I missed this too) from a Rizal manuscript, it’s in his handwriting; the a from a signature of Juan Luna in one of his paintings; the f is probably not an f but a t, or simply a slash, and its cross is not a stroke but the way blood flows from a cut: because it is a cut, the way the Katipunan cut their themselves on the arm for their secret blood compact, and it’s probably Bonifacio’s, when he signed the pact with his blood; the e is what I missed or can’t recall from Rock’s narrative. I will have to ask him again. That makes the Café in Mag:Net Café a real sign, a collection of glyphs or sigils or runes that are not just representations but contain (more or less) what they signify, that could lead you to discoveries and labyrinths. Like the I Ching or the Sefirot, which could lead you either to the universe or just coffee.