Got off early from work last Thursday so I decided to bring dad to My Bro's Mustache in QC to watch Chickoy's folk gig. It was nice to hear these songs played with a solo acoustic guitar:
Bleeker Street (Paul Simon)
Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel)
One Way Sunday (Mark Almond)
New York State of Mind (Billy Joel)
Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Paul Simon)
Sugar Mountain (Neil Young)
All Along the watchtower (Bob Dylan)
Love Minus Zero / No Limit (Bob Dylan)
Just Like a Woman (Bob Dylan)
As Tears Go By (Rolling Stones)
Your Latest Trick (Dire Straits)
In My Life (The Beatles)
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles)
Breaking Us In Two (Joe Jackson)
Cancer (Joe Jackson)
Regular Guy (Jun Lopito - C. Pura) =D>
Kun 'Di Man (The Jerks)
Fragile (Sting)
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Came across this article in yesterday's issue of PDI:
SOLO FLIGHT
By Pocholo Concepcion
Philippine Daily Inquirer source:
INQ7 website Editor's Note: Published on page F6 of the October 16, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
CHICKOY PURA PLAYING SOLO ON acoustic guitar is a joyful event in itself. For him to do so weekly on Thursdays in a place called My Brother’s Mustache in Quezon City makes it even more interesting.
The gig is a sort of return to Pura’s musical roots. Before he became the front man of the Jerks, one of the best (and still very much around) local bands of the post-Juan de la Cruz era, Pura was admittedly a folkie who covered Neil Young classics in the small clubs around Manila’s university belt. In the late 1970s, these clubs were called “folk houses.”
The sign at My Bro’s façade says it’s a “folk bar” which, on first impression, implies it’s a club that’s unabashedly partial to the type of music that made larger-than-life figures out of Bob Dylan and, closer to home, Freddie Aguilar.
But once inside, whatever limitation the term “folk music” connotes quickly disintegrates. Printed on a tarpaulin backdrop onstage are enduring images of such rock icons as Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, joined by others like Jim Croce and John Denver (now, that’s more folk-like). And as if to create more gleeful confusion, the faces that greet you by the entrance door are four individual posters of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
To brush aside the tyranny of terms, I just thought that My Bro’s is a place where good folks hang out to watch great live music.
Which rang true as soon as Pura proceeded to perform a vibrant version of the Fab Four’s “Michelle.” The excellent quality of My Bro’s audio equipment did justice to the tone of Pura’s vocals and clarity of his guitar strumming.
After hearing a couple of standard folk material (Young’s “Sugar Mountain” and Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody”), we were delighted with twin surprises: spirited covers of Ray Charles (“Georgia on My Mind”) and Billy Joel (“New York State of Mind”). We took note of Pura’s deliberate choices of these tunes that described the songwriters’ affinity with their hometowns.
Following a string of seldom-heard interpretations of Joe Jackson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Hendrix (“Purple Haze” on acoustic!), Sting, Stray Cats, Nick Lowe and Paul Weller, what caught us equally off-guard were Pura’s own compositions, “Kundi Man” and “The Storm”—the latter said to be written very recently in response to the rash of violent deaths involving journalists and activists nationwide.
But what finally floored us was Mon Espia being called to jam to a couple of songs that we swear not anybody could have the balls to cover: Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” and “My Old School.” And that was when we also realized why Gary Valenciano continues to rely on Espia as lead guitarist of his backup band, the Powerplay.
Espia, by the way, also performs solo at My Bro’s Mustache, and is likewise the producer of a forthcoming CD featuring 17 artists performing newly written, all-original material.
My Bro’s owner, Rafael “Boy” Vinzon, is bankrolling the one-of-a-kind CD, unique in the sense that all proceeds (100 percent of sales) would be divided among the 17 artists who, incidentally, also perform at the club, including Heber Bartolome, Noel Cabangon, Lester Demetillo, Pol Galang, Wally Gonzales, Rannie Raymundo and Susan Fernandez, among others.
Vinzon says he wants the album to serve as a precious memento—when the time comes to close down for good—that there was once a place called My Bro’s Mustache where all these wonderful, talented musicians played.
At the moment though, that time appears far out of sight. The night we were there, the folks kept coming in.
(My Bro’s Mustache is at 68 Scout Madriñan corner Scout Tuason, Quezon City.)
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