Category Archives: Writings

Between China Crisis

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It was a darn good thing to have attended and shot China Crisis’ gig last night at McKinley Hill. There is something about gigs, music lovers, and I guess, photographers. At a time when many people are borderline paranoid-distrustful, such camaraderie is such a breath of fresh air!  Sometime during the gig, a total stranger handed me his camera, an apparently very new EOS 60D, and asked me to figure out the movie function controls! I was so sorry that a 60D is a piece of gear that  I haven’t tried, and couldn’t be of much help. That little encounter made me smile, though. Later on, the same guy handed me his camera again, this time for me to take his picture with China Crisis jamming it up in the background. I was happy to oblige. Afterwards, I went for a cigarette break at the side. This time two guys approached me, asking to be photographed, but they didn’t bring their cameras. Easy. One of them gave me his calling card with his email address on it. Gave him mine, in exchange. Of course I’m not exactly hoping that they will be my new best friends, but encounters like these are certainly one of the perks of the job.  Sure, standing for hours with several kilos of gear hanging on you can be a literal pain, but it sure is worth it.  Posting some outtakes now; it is 1am, and shots of China Crisis will have to wait another day.

Two of them are my friends; the rest just asked to be photographed. Perhaps I’ll never see them again, but the exchange of goodwill was great!

Fuego! Still

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Instead of an essay for an opening board or such, a poem dedicated to fire, by a daughter of fire.

Baba’s Child

Hedwig de Leon

By your gait I can tell; I know

when you are off for leisure, the pace

of unhurried cadence breaking

into a dance. It never fails to rupture

my trance: the leaps, stomps and pirouettes

of bare feet on yielding grass.

At times it is the certainty, the sure

footed march to war: I feel each inhale

each exhale each breath; never

labored always calm all ways

Quiet. The perfect backdrop

to your scream in the sky; the perfect

Silence soon shattered as heaven

roars with thunder and lightning zigs

and zags across the skies.

In a hammock on your back I lie

Cradled, nibbling fruits and nuts, wondering

Why? Why must you carry me in a sack

on your back even when you fight? Or hold

me to your chest while you snooze?

A shrug.

Great. Should I pester you for an answer, pelt

You with nuts, maybe?             But then you

Opened an eye before I could:          “Because,

You said, “you are a brat.”

“My brat.“

August 2010

Indie Goddess Returns

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30 October, 2010.

So, Cynthia Alexander, the indie rock goddess who gave me insomnia singing I-N-S-O-M-nia, left last summer, hied of to Seattle to test its musical waters.  You know that discomfiting spot, like wishing someone the best best best, yet that little selfish part of you is afraid that she might never come back, and you’d have to book a flight to somewhere int the US to catch her gig again?  That selfish fear was so transparent Cynthia chided me with “Really?” when i wished her luck. I said Of course I do, but I certainly wish you’d come back and gig still.  It was with excitement that we cheered her gig in New York. Yes, New York! and at the same time chewed our fingernails: let’s hope she visits and gigs here still!

The irony of it all. In many ways it pains me that (not only) in my country, undoubtedly talented musicians perform in tiny bars like Conspiracy, while some not so talented ones can fill the Big Dome (Araneta Coliseum in Cubao).  At the same time my friends and I so enjoy those gigs, and we can never find that level of fun and musical high in a place as big as the Dome.

But anyway. Let’s cut through the chase, as my title already did, anyway. Cynthia Alexander is back, will be here until April, and going back to Seattle. So if I were you, I’d catch all the gigs i could, to see me through the next visit.

Heya!

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Ah. So what does one say upon starting a blog? What is a blog, anyway? One thing:  this is but a view of how I see things as a writer-photographer, and that probably means “how i see things” literally and otherwise.  Feel free to browse through photographs and poems and creative writing stuff. And don’t worry — I don’t intend to post what i had for lunch (no matter how scrumptious, sexy,  gorgeous or scandalous).

 

By the way, I seriously, sincerely hope you enjoy this site. And I seriously, sincerely hope you don’t steal.  Copyright & intellectual property stuff, ya know. If you need or want anything, just contact me. 🙂