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Author Topic: BLUE RATS....95'-present.a decade of blues  (Read 130409 times)

Offline deltaslim

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« Reply #25 on: August 18, 2006, 09:36:28 PM »
bb - no bourbon st (in jupiter)?

Offline blue buddha

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« Reply #26 on: August 19, 2006, 12:44:46 AM »
The Rats could have played there, b2d may recall. We did talk about it, but I can't remember if we did! In fact, there's a bunch of places I now can't remember.... the band was all over the place at that point. I now recall that some version of the Rats in those years went down to Cebu, another to the Baliwag Lechon compound in Bulacan, yada yada yada.... It was a bit crazy.

Offline pinoymusika

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« Reply #27 on: August 19, 2006, 02:05:37 AM »
Quote from: deltaslim
bb - no bourbon st (in jupiter)?


Bourbon St. was in Makati Ave I recall - Hoagy used to hype that place up all the time.

Offline tony2tone

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« Reply #28 on: August 19, 2006, 05:21:45 AM »
I remembered the Blue Rats playing here in cebu for a 1 Peso Concert
they were along with SPY and Flaming Hemorrhoids(Razorback and Wolfgang mixed together) and I if I recall along with also the Hotdogs and South Border.  8)

The Blues is the Roots, everything else is the Fruits.-Willie Dixon

Offline nathanmanansala

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« Reply #29 on: August 19, 2006, 08:03:02 AM »
da history of pinoy blues. 8)


Offline blue buddha

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« Reply #30 on: August 19, 2006, 08:44:49 AM »
While we wait for b2d to get back online...

There it is -- the Cebu 1 Peso concert! Missed that one, but all the Rats had a great time down there. They came back to Manila describing it as "a haze".

And yes, Cousin Hoagy kept on egging the band on about doing Bourbon St. but am not sure whether the band ever ended up playing there.

The funny thing is that all those folks mentioned up there used to drop in on Hobbit House fairly often when the band was playing during those years because of the Rats' blues jam format -- loosey-goosey, informal, freewheeling, and experimental, musos regularly got invited up on stage to plug in or just borrow the many guitars lying around and have a go at it. When things worked out particularly well, they'd come back for more and the audience just ate it up. Huge fun.

Of the many side stories, some of the bandmembers recall fondly:

• doing "balong malalim", "beep beep", and many extended jams with Mike Hanopol and his headless steinberger guitar, and being extremely shocked at his fusion chops -- way beyond his JDLC days. He had definitely not been "idle".

• doing "himig natin" with Pepe in Cmaj7-Fmaj7 because someone just randomly "started" it out in that key (after that, Tricie felt that even if she called it quits at that point, her singing career was fulfilled), and Pepe's hysterically campy performance at Euphoria with the Rats in the middle of a band "bull session" (Pepe in Euphoria!!! Un-****ing-believable).

• Sampaguita "handing over" the song "Kumadre" to the band as part of the regular repertoire.

• Jun Lopito and his fiesta red strat turning everyone deaf in that small rehearsal studio near P. Burgos, and subsequently making sure it was a permanent effect two nights later onstage.

• Binky's "waltz" with Vince C., our erstwhile manager, next to the bar at Hobbit.

• Apa in black socks and birkenstocks looking like a german tourist at the 1st Puerto Azul Music Festival, and being filmed, interviewed, and chatted up by Nadia live on air on MTV.

• Sammy's 1/2 set long slow blues jam (25 minutes or so!) and that incredibe sounding Fender Mustang.

• Alex leaving bits of his DNA on the mic, on our guitars, etc.... everywhere....

• Cookie Chua passing the Tanduay around backstage at the Blues on the Loose concert at Music Museum.

• Nino's One Note harp solo jams.

• Joe, Butch, and b2d (?) putting Tony Neri (who briefly joined the Rats as a keyboardi player) in a bangka at 3am and crossing from the first Puerto Galera Music Fest to Batangas because of Tony's minor heart attack.

• Megan giving the band "the up and down look" at Music Museum. Subsequently, the strange version of "Summertime" at Hobbit where everyone was playing different chords.

• Tricie's incredible power duets with Bituin Escalante.

• The band's dropped-jaw reaction at Dondi Ledesma's bass chops -- everyone just went on "jam-auto-pilot" to watch/hear him play.

• b2d in a stetson and poncho at the 2nd Puerto Galera Summer Fest, looking like he stepped out of the cover of SRV's "In Step" album.

• Our abject fear of Eggpie with his kabuki haircut and leopardskin tights running into my mom during a bathroom break at rehearsals at my house (never happened).

• After the first two years, never having rehearsals and playing the same stuff for 6 straight years (but sounding different everytime!).

O b2d, where are you na? Continue... continue....

Offline lefty

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« Reply #31 on: August 19, 2006, 10:28:43 AM »
This. is. AWESOME!  :D  finally the story comes together!

do we have any pics? I am sure that would make this thread even more exciting!

I have the "Rockstar" gig pic in my HD. lemme know when I can post it!
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Offline Beatrice Gomez

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bokals
« Reply #32 on: August 19, 2006, 11:57:54 AM »
This is galing! Was laughing my ass off :). Good memories. I have pics and funny press releases here. Will post them when I find them. So, where are we na? After the 1 Peso concert... That was galing dude! So many people and our first out of town gig where we had to get on a plane. It was a blast on stage but the party was backstage.

Side track:I met Miguel Ortigas (then with the Breed) backstage. Woohoo!!! He joined up with the Rats soon after that (I think). It's all pretty hazy. I think I'll leave the details up to the more sober (at the time) members of the band.

By the way, there is a yahoo group for the Blue Rats (gigs skeds, updates, tsismis) http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/thebluerats.

B2d and buddha, keep the stories rolling :)... They're so funny :).

Offline blues2death

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"blue" not "purple" haze"
« Reply #33 on: August 19, 2006, 12:38:56 PM »
well, i realized that this whole saga thing was just something that i thought sounded funny....pls forgive me, i didnt mean to sound cocky.

    i mean BB would agree, like i said before, that when the rats started we never thought we were makin blues history..i mean cmon. the whole pinoy blues history started with pinoy rock.

   juan dela cruz,maria cafra,sampaguita,anakbayan...just off the top of my head...they were all rooted firmly in the blues. maybe not blues from the delta..or even chicago blues...but yeah we have our own pinoy blues.

  continuing in the tradition of pinoy rockers in the 70s, in the 80s you have the jerks, advent call, the dawn--rock n roll and new wave,...and in the 90s you have razorback and wolfgang, comin from the blues rock and classic rock vein.

   but beneath all of that, there really was some sort of blues movement goin on. i know a former guitar player friend of mine who used to jam with butch roxas of the blue rats, when they were still in HS...they used to play "liz reed" and some selections from foghat...and even joey puyat(mexicali blues,blue rats) was in a band way back in the day, playin some sort of jazz fusion...but knowing him im betting that it was still rooted in the blues.

    the blues movement has remained underground up to some point in the mid 90s where blues bands began sprouting all over the metro.blues bars...blues festivals and concerts...in the media...i mean all over...

   and from the looks of it, something is getting ready to blow the whole blues scene wide open.here  10 years after that 90s blues revival.

   
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline blues2death

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« Reply #34 on: August 19, 2006, 12:51:24 PM »
BB...you got a pretty good memory.

you know what guys?

it doesnt matter if we do this chronologically correct or not..

i mean i got a lot of memories that i wanted to share, i just didnt know how to put it all in order...i wanted to be spontaneous too...but some of the memories, BB beat me to the punch.but man it has made my sides aching with laughter...

Hey BB.i remember that gig in baliuag,bulacan...i dont know how we got that gig---one of apa's magic tricks,hehe. but it's the bday party of the matriarch of baliwag's lechon.and we were lumped in with a bunch of bands who played what we would call top40...so we feel pretty much out of place and out of style...hehe. but here's when the magic of the band happens....all these bands that went before all played dance music...but nobody danced.

so here we go...we were the last band to play but i remember the bday celebrant clapping her hands to the beat of our music.the old folk actually enjoyed our music and it stayed pretty much upbeat till we ended it.

guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline whitey

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« Reply #35 on: August 19, 2006, 12:54:50 PM »
I remember covering that gig as a photographer. I was hired by Freddy Boy
Panicucci himself. I had the best seat in the house on stage the whole night.
Should try to get those photos back.

Offline blues2death

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Re: bokals
« Reply #36 on: August 19, 2006, 01:06:31 PM »
Quote from: Beatrice Gomez
This is galing! Was laughing my ass off :). Good memories. I have pics and funny press releases here. Will post them when I find them.  

 It's all pretty hazy. I think I'll leave the details up to the more sober (at the time) members of the band.

B2d and buddha, keep the stories rolling :)... They're so funny :).


Hi Trice, welcome to the thread.

I have a good one for you.remember Apa's despedida when we had that surprise going away party on the top of the ******  building? folks, it was always a dream for Apa to at least have the blue rats play on top of a building.so the band made it a reality.

it was some party....jamming with all those musicians. i wont mention na lang kung sino kasi d ko maalala..senglots ako non...

after all the obligatory jams...some of us were just fooling around...trice happened to be on the drums...and i was smiling at everyone...

so here's trice...probably drunk too...thought i was making fun of her, she threw the drumsticks right at my face...it was like i became one of the three stooges.... :lol:

me sitting on the floor,wondering what just happened...beatrice apologizing and helping me up....explaining that she didnt mean to let go of the drumsticks....i remember her having arnis lessons before, and i keep wondering to this day if it was some sort of neo-flying attack that she just did :lol:  
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline blues2death

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one peso concert
« Reply #37 on: August 19, 2006, 01:12:27 PM »
ok...there were two one peso concerts...

one in cebu, where we played we indio i, flaming hemmorhoids...there were other bands who were playing elsewhere in cebu...i believe like trice said, that the breed played at some other venue.

the one peso concert in cebu was held near the ayala commercial center there. thousands must have showed up there.

the party that happened backstage, continued after the gig in the hotel..i remember bein so drunk that i walked out into the rain...hehe,didnt know what i was thinking...

the other one peso concert happened in pasay...i remembered bein paid exactly one peso for that gig! :lol:
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline blues2death

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« Reply #38 on: August 19, 2006, 01:20:26 PM »
Quote from: blue buddha

• b2d in a stetson and poncho at the 2nd Puerto Galera Summer Fest, looking like he stepped out of the cover of SRV's "In Step" album.



 aha! i remember this one....but it was in puerto azul BB....remember?

i was drinking with some ..ahem, girls on the beach...wearing my hat and poncho( btw i still have those!) ...one thing led to another, the tequila got too much...i find myself in the hotel lobby....snoring....how i got there...i can never remember..
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline blues2death

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« Reply #39 on: August 19, 2006, 01:27:57 PM »
Quote from: deltaslim
bb - no bourbon st (in jupiter)?


the blue rats have played in a bunch of places...but we never managed to play bourbon street...well as a band.

i remember goin there, and jamming on the fly....

i know trice has played there with cowboy or dave aguirre
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline blue buddha

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« Reply #40 on: August 19, 2006, 02:13:55 PM »
........

• The hot japanese guitar player who did "Texas Flood" with us .... "oooh it's froodin' down in texas.... arr the terephone rines are down..."

• Butch: "If you get rid of Binky, we're going too".
  Vince: "He's gone -- outta here -- kaput -- finished"!
  Butch: "Ah ganoon ha"?!
  Sabay "Mambo" nanaman sa sidewalk sa labas ng Hobbit.

• Robert from Hobbit trying to kiss Tricie onstage. :shock:

• Note on a napkin passed to Tricie mid-set:
    "Roses are Red,
     Violets are Blue.....
     ..... give naman your phone number o.", or something like that.

• Within 10  seconds of the first song at Club Dredd, Bosyo puts a hole through the bass drum.

• Rats to gear rental co.: Can we hire your gear for a gig on..... drums, PA, bass amp, 3 mics, etc.
   Rental co: No problem sir! Sige ho, kaming bahala. Oo nga pala sir... sino ho yung drummer n'yo?
   Rats: Si Bosyo ... Edmund Fortuno.
   Rental co: Aah... uhmmm... ehhh... 'tay lang po -- i-checheck ko muna... baka kasi may schedule na kami sa date na 'yun e....

• The "Wall of Sound": the Rats played so damned loud because of its drummers and Tricie could belt it out louder than any 5-piece kit, a cranked 150w bass amp, and three dimed 40w guitar tube amps combined.

• Description of the Rats by one of Apa's ex-girlfriends (one of the many): "That goddam band".

• Significant Oracular Factoid: From the day the Rats were formed until his marriage a couple of years ago, Apa had as many girlfriends as the number of years the Rats were in existence. The band had to take a break or else he would never have gotten married.

• Missed Financial Opportunity: The failure to invest in stocks of pharmaceutical companies that manufacture anti-inflammatory drugs. During these middle years, 3 Rats made those companies rich because they were afflicted with gout -- Bosyo, Norman, and me.

• Money or Morals?: the battle of whether to play at the 2nd Talong Party.  :shock: (again, no details lest someone gets arrested or excommunicated by the church)

• Music Industry and Piracy: In 1997, 3 companies were chasing after the Rats for a recording contract based on the demo produced by Mike Hanopol: BMG/Sony, Star, and Tiger Records. Suddenly, budgets drop after the first wave of piracy/bootlegging hits the industry. So much for recording contracts -- the record companies were having enough problems trying to fund their own stables of existing artists.

• The Sermon on the mount
   Kuh Ledesma: Guys, you have what it takes to make it. There's a lot we can do to help make it happen, but you have to dedicate yourself fully -- promote yourselves, accept the offers for TV shows and print features, tighten up the sound and arrangements, do the voice lessons, do it professionally, and dress sharply....
   Rats: Uuhhh.... well.... ehhh............................. Naaaaah.  :lol:

This last one also points out how terrible we were and how much we bummed out at "self promotion" ... Trice, I didn't even know there was a Rats yahoo group!!! Hopeless talaga.

b2d, edit mo nalang -- don't mention nalang which building! Basta lahat ng taga hotel across the street were wondering what hit them -- they were all watching out their windows! Basta we put guys all around the helipad just in case Pepe and some of the other characters (ang dami n'un) thought it would be a good idea to fly....

Offline blues2death

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« Reply #41 on: August 19, 2006, 04:39:56 PM »
well put...

boy did we have a lot of characters all those years!!!!!

remember ric ilejay?


im sure you remember him tricie and bb.... :lol:
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline lefty

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« Reply #42 on: August 19, 2006, 04:49:15 PM »
hahaha! awesome post blue buddha!  :D
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Offline dopedeeva

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« Reply #43 on: August 19, 2006, 05:09:12 PM »
this thread deserves to be immortalized...(B2D and Delta, how's that blues festival idea coming along? :) you gotta add some photos here (of the stetson and the poncho perhaps? I think that I gotta see...) some of us were left in the dark during that explosive blues heyday...and your vivid account has been a fascinating adventure so far...kulang na lang ng visual aid :)

may pictures din ba kayo nung "Talong Party"? ano ba yun?   :-k  :D
"When I see waste here, I feel angry on the inside. I don't approve of myself getting angry. But it's something you can't help after seeing Ethiopia." - Mother Teresa

Offline blues2death

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« Reply #44 on: August 19, 2006, 06:42:17 PM »
are you serious about seeing the stetson and poncho?the fashion police will be all over us.

blue buddha im sure your remember this one....

a typical set of blue rats would consist of 2-3 songs na shuffle/upbeat...then let joe sing "thrill is gone"....sometimes "mustang sally"...then a slow blues...basta we liked to mix it up.

one typical song would be "when a man loves a woman"..w/c would be a 6/8 waltz type of ballad...1-2-3-4-5-6.....

that one time that we did "when a man..."---we did an awkward version...in 4/4...so medyo mabilis...in typical blue rats fashion...tinuloy pa rin :lol: --- i dont know who messed up...could have been bosyo,hehe...kawawang tricie, d maintindihan kung pano kantahin...pero tinapos namin...panay tinginan sa likod..." hala cge...tapusin!oooopppss"

that was how loose it became! kahit medyo palpak...pinandigan pa din namin...
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Offline Boddhisattva

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« Reply #45 on: August 19, 2006, 07:50:22 PM »
Exciting ang nakalipas... gawin din nating exciting ang hinaharap : )
Give it all you\'ve got, but slowly - Chuck Mangione

Offline blue buddha

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« Reply #46 on: August 19, 2006, 09:36:19 PM »
Quote
remember ric ilejay?

During this period, there were two attempts at a hostile (and sneaky) take over of the Rats by outside parties: One was by a fellow we fondly called "The Rolling Stones Guy" -- a "fan" who thought the Rats had "the best rhythm section in the Philippines: just like Keef, Charlie and Bill" -- he tried to pirate the rhythm section as a nucleus of a Stones tribute band until he found out that "Keef" was one of the founders.

The second takeover artist was RI mentioned above. A slick fil-am studio guitarist from L.A. (he was really good), he jammed with the band one night and the Rats asked him to be part of the regular guitar rotation. Armed with two Tom Anderson guitars in a double gig bag and occasionally borrowing my 335, he played with the band for about 2 months, surreptitiously proposing a mass leave to form a new band with him as the musical director. This too failed as he was pretty much laughed off by the band. To this day, the nickle covers of my 335's carry the evidence -- tarnish on the sides because he had acidic sweat.  :lol:


Quote
may pictures din ba kayo nung "Talong Party"? ano ba yun?

Ask Apa -- he touched the talong. 8-[

Tama na 'to about the Talong Party. Not for public consumption. The internet police may be watching.


Quote
Exciting ang nakalipas... gawin din nating exciting ang hinaharap : )

Tama ka boddhi -- O b2d, continue na on to the next phase so we can get it over with and get to the present. I'll start it off:

In 2000, none of the Rats expected that the depths of the blues would be laid at their feet so heavily. The Rats were suddenly struck by an unthinkable tragedy.......  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry: ..... <<< crying rats.....

Offline blue buddha

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« Reply #47 on: August 20, 2006, 06:58:56 PM »
.... O nawala ka yata b2d!   :?  Maybe that's appropriate because that's about the time b2d also left the Rats. I guess I'll do the honors from here on in -- other Rats, please chime in.

In late 1999-early 2000, about 5 years from when the Rats first began (let's see -- that's about right... Apa was on his 5th girlfriend since '95  :lol: ) major issues had arisen among the Rats, namely: the question of whether the Rats should continue as a once-or-twice-a-week affair or go further as a more professional working band. The music pros in the band wanted to go in the latter direction -- Norman had been called back to Advent Call, Bosyo, Cowboy, and Eggpie were playing out more often with Sampaguita, Joe was becoming more of a regular with Color It Red, Wendell was getting busy with Barbie's Cradle (then fairly new), and b2b was thinking of the several offers for more steady gigs and better pay with other more commercially viable bands. The rest of the Rats -- Tricie, A.L., and Apa (who was by then the officially designated manager of the band) -- could essentially only do it on a limited basis. Butch was already long gone and pursuing the classical gig at U.S.T. In a nutshell, the Rats gave birth to new mice.

Johnny Besa (The Breed, Battery) had already began gigging with the Rats as mentioned earlier. Miguel Ortigas and David Aguirre (Razorback) were then invited to come on board to sub for Bosyo/Wendell and b2d/Cowboy quite often. Tom Epperson was also asked to sit in, especially when scheduling conflicts arose with Joe's stint in Color It Red. Anyone coming to hear the Rats heard something truly different evry time, depending on which lineup was on on any given evening.

Then IT happened....  :(

In February of 2000, Bosyo was struck down by bacterial meningitis. Total shock. As he lay in a coma in a hospital room, the Rats put together a fund raiser to help his family defray his medical bills. This first jam/gig took place at Hobbit House on 25 February 2000 and featured many of his musical colleagues who sat in with the Rats that night. This event was hastily put together over the space of two days. The results were encouraging, as can be deduced from this "letter of thanks" written to all who participated that evening:


The success of the event led The Rats and The Jerks (who were back-to-back with the Rats at Hobbit at that point) to organize something more ambitious. Tragically, in the week that followed, Bosyo's body gave way and he passed away quietly.

Grief stricken and still in shock, the Rats pulled it together and went ahead with the effort to help Bosyo's family. Coordinating with Monet Pura -- wife of the Jerks' bandleader Chikoy -- they put together a one-night-only, two-stage event at Hobbit and The Republic of Malate, whose owner's very kindly offered their venues -- just 3 doors away from each other on Mabini -- for free:


The event was an incredible success. Actually, it was outrageous, sentimental, heart wrenching, but above all... IT ROCKED!!! A fitting farewell  to a fallen comrade. This thankyou letter says it all:


We'll pause here for the moment and give thanks for having had the honor of playing with the man.  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D> .

Offline nathanmanansala

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« Reply #48 on: August 20, 2006, 10:10:57 PM »
Quote from: blue buddha
We'll pause here for the moment and give thanks for having had the honor of playing with the man.  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D> .

i envy people who got to play with that man.

when i was a sophomore in college, my and my high school bandmates caught him and his band at an event sa UP sunken garden. he was awesome. it was like he had total command of the stage from behind the kit. he and dondi ledesma were a great team

Offline blues2death

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« Reply #49 on: August 21, 2006, 04:54:31 AM »
been away for a short vacation...and now my batteries are fully charged.

yeah, playing music is a tough life.although exciting--it is never stable and you have to keep moving in order to keep yourslef alive.

i stayed and learned with blue rats from 1995 to early 2000.it was a very enriching experience.i was a shredder before i joined---i feel that attending the blues university had helped me mature in more ways than one.

i know i hated leaving blue rats--cause every other band i joined after then, i didn't last longer than a couple of years. well, it's probably because of my pleasing personality too. :lol:

but more than learning the "blooze" in the band---i also managed to sneak in some master studies with nothing else but the real masters of blues and rock n roll...

dondi ledesma, the jerks,binky lampano,pepe smith,mike hanopol,wally gonzales,papa dom-tropical dep,razorback,grace nono...

and some unsung heroes of the rock guitar, who played only for pleasure than business....

mason ring, the mabanta brothers,ted nicholoff...and joey puyat...who i took an afternoon of lessons from.who also became a rat himself.it made me extremely happy when "kuya" joey said that i could play....made my entire week....

my last bosyo moment.....i visited him at the hospital where he was lying in a coma. mike hanopol had just left, and i managed to say a few words to bosyo cause he had just woken up....i thought he was gonna make it. emmy was of course happy to see me, and i offered a few words of encouragement.

so i left the hospital with peace and hope in my heart. the follwing morning it turned out that he lapsed into a coma again and eventually bosyo had to leave us all.

mike hanopol and i were the last people to ever see him before he left.

the peace i feel now is  that he's up there showing john lennon what he's made of... =D>  \:D/  :lol:
guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol