a festival to call our own

Ladies and Germs, I give you the first ever Manila Music Festival! It was held last May 1st at Aseana Avenue, Alphaland Bay City Grounds in Paranaque. Thanks to my friend Marita (check out her take on Manila Music Festival for When In Manila here) for hooking us up! I didn't spend even one dime. You know I'm the biggest cheapskate ever, always game for anything free! Hah

I'm a sucker for music festivals. I will attend anything and everything I can, even going out of my way and flying to another country! (read on that crazy adventure here)

Although festivals like Coachella, Bamboozle, Glastonbury, SXSW, etc are way out of the picture for me (well at least for now), I'm glad we have something to satisfy our rowdy festival cravings. 

Blogger Patricia Prieto with her very dangerous weapon.

Veggie taco from the GuacTruck! An all organic Filipino-Mexican deli on wheels! Such a genius idea.

(Top from Giordano Ladies, Mustard skirt from Forever 21, Necklace from Love Diva, Wide brim fedora from Bangkok, Vintage belt and oversized plaid vest from Dad's closet)

(Photo from Status Magazine)

There were two stages, the Main Stage and the Red Bull Stage.
On the Main Stage, The Nameless Heroes, June Marieezy, Lady I, SinoSikat, Kjwan, Wilabaliw, and Razorback completed the list of local acts.

(Photo by Will Wilkins of Blue Nite Photo)
June Marieezy. SDA pride!


SinoSikat kat kat kat...
I'm glad I saw them finally them live! "Magic" and "So Blue" are all-time favorites.




The boys of Kjwan. Flawless as always! So bummed Boogie was absent though...

(Photo by Will Wilkins of Blue Nite Photo)
And my favorite local performers of the night, Wilabaliw!
"Illuminate I" was even better live! And Ian Tayao was intense! Had too much Red Bull I think.

The legendary, Razorback!

 (Photo by Will Wilkins of Blue Nite Photo)

International acts include Afrika Bambaataa, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest), and Shinichi Osawa.

The lovely host of the night Ms. Sarah Meier giving us a little info on Ali Shaheed.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad killed it! Wish I knew half the songs he played though! But I'm glad I had new music to bring back home.

What everyone's been waiting for! Afrika Bambaataa! With special appearance of The Philippine All-Stars!





I didn't get to see Shinichi Osawa play his set but I could hear him from where I was lying. And it sounded pretty rad! Need to educate myself on more of his songs!

I only got to hear Miss Badkiss, Noodles, and Nix Damp P play their sets! Would love to check out each and everyone on the Red Bull stage since it's a genre I barely know (but lately been open to it) if only I had the luxury to do so that night. It was music overload!

Marita with blogger Raleene Cabrera and artist Rizza Cabrera.

The festival was a success! Props to everyone who made this happen! 'Till next year!

Some photos are taken from Red Bull After Party
All photos taken by Beverly Kho and Marita Galvez unless otherwise stated.

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organic way of life

Exactly one month ago, I decided to make a lifestyle change (in terms of food intake). Nothing drastic though, just a few tweaks here and there. I tried the Cohen Diet for a week just to see how it will affect me. I successfully shoved a couple of pounds during the first week so I decided to continue it but giving the diet my personal take. I'm not really a fan of restrictions because I believe that our body should enjoy as much as it can, of course in moderation and discipline. Anyways, I have been doing a "semi" Cohen Diet for the past month and it's been doing me good. I call it semi because the Cohen Diet is a strict food plan specifically personalized based on the person's lifestyle. Often times, it's exercise restricted. But I can't stand just sitting around and letting the universe thin me down. I want to earn what I worked hard for. My diet mostly consists of protein, fruits, a whole lot of vegetables and little to zero carbohydrates. I workout thrice a week + five day food plan of my diet and I give myself two days off for a "diet break" just to avoid self-depriviation. I document my food intake in my little food journal to keep on track and for reflecting reasons in the future. Also, this lifestyle change gives me an inner glow, a good mood, and lifts my spirit! It's not just a physical change, but a spiritual change as well. Cheers to healthy and organic living!

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birthday pong

Happy birthday Ishii and Dave!

Love,

beer pong virgin

Photos by Marita Galvez and Ishii Villaseca

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Art and Activism

Brandon Boyd for LA Canvas. This is one of my favorite recent magazine publicities of Brandon. Simple yet enticing. Plus, I've always wanted to see what's inside his sketchbook...those ink blot and pen artworks look very intriguing. I will probably never stop being intrigued by this man. You did it again, Mr. Boyd.

Read on the full article here.

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Cobra Used the Starship Dashboard

(blog title makes a lot of sense, I know)

Jeph Howard, The Used 

Dan Whitesides, The Used

Quinn Allman, The Used ♥

 Chris Carrabba, Dashboard Confessional

Gabe Saporta, Cobra Starship / Midtown (during the good 'ol days)

Things I realized/learned:
Quinn is such a sweetheart.
Chris Carrabba looked like a cute little 15-year old boy with tattoos.
Jeph is an Instagram addict.
They're all Instagram addicts.
Quinn uses his tongue to clean coffee stains off his iPhone.
Bert McCracken scares the shit out of me (Hence the absence of our photo op)
Quinn is married...sigh.
Gabe Saporta has gorgeous eyes. We had a 3-second gaze at each other that felt like forever...

5 international rockstars, 2 days.

I'll move on from this phase, I promise...

Photos from Andre Melanio and Anna Esguerra

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The Pains of Being Pure at ♥ ♥ ♥

When I heard The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were heading to Manila, I knew I couldn't miss it! I went with my friend Nicole who I haven't seen for ages! We saw Peggy, Kip and Alex outside! Who knew we would meet them right away and the show hasn't even started. Good thing we were a bit early!

Spotted Kurt (drummer) a few minutes upon entering the venue!

Bee Eyes were the first opening act. I've seen them play before but only last night that I realized how good they sound.

The Camerawalls (fronted by Clem Castro of Clementine/former guitarist of Orange and Lemons) went on stage next. I don't know any of their songs except for "A Beginning Of Something Wonderful" which was an Orange and Lemons cover. Looks like I'm downloading a few EPs tonight...

Attending gigs always lead me to a discovery of great songs. Double whammy.

Finally, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart went on stage with "This Love Is Fucking Right" for song number one.

So the rumors that Connor Hanwick of The Drums will be playing with them was confirmed when a fifth member hit the stage. He plays drums for The Drums. The Drums plays him for drums. Plays drums him for The Drums. Okay, I'll stop...

He was smooth on guitar as he is on the drums! Despite the technical difficulty...

I got a few favorite tracks on video. Forgot "Say No To Love" though. I was too busy being in awe...

"Heart In Your Heartbreak"

"Falling Over"


"Young Adult Friction"

Peggy Wang is a hipster Cousin It on keyboards! I love it.

Pop dance party!!!

Kip did a mini solo segment of "Contender" in between the encore...
Funny how I created this "prediction setlist" playlist on my iPod (of course based from recent previous shows) and it's the exact set! Hah

After the show, I looked for Connor. Even though it was a Pains of Being Pure at Heart show, I wanted to seize the opportunity and meet at least 1/4 of The Drums.

Me: "Hi!!!"

Conner: (Looking unsure why this girl is waving at me) "Hiiiii..."

Me: "Can we have a picture with you?"

Conner: (Still looking unsure) "Oh, sure…"

Conner: "Let's hide here so no one will see."

He's not a big fan of mingling with people obviously but he was kind enough to chill and talk to us backstage.

We stayed and chatted with him while Kip was being raped by fans outside.

I asked him when are The Drums planning to visit Manila and he said he doesn't know but they've been to Jakarta so maybe they'll stop by Manila too someday. He was so beautiful I ran out of things to say good thing my friend Nicole kept the conversation going.

Check out Connor (on drums) in one of my favorite The Drums songs!

Watching that, now that I've met him makes me giddy all over! (plus goosebumps)

(Top and leather shorts from Forever 21, Vintage denim vest, Bag from Bangkok, Loafers from H&M)

Over all, it was a pretty awesome show. Another check off my "Bands I need to see" list!

Thank you Kind Assault and Joff Cruz!


♡♡♡

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