Last Saturday Charles, Emerson and I were in My Bro's Mustache bar in Q.C. at the gig of no other than, Wally Gonzales---Pinoy rock pioneer and blues rock guitarist. Notable among his guests is Gary Perez of Nosi Balasi and Pagbabalik ng Kuwago fame. After seeing Gary come on stage I quickly had the feeling that this night's going to be special. And indeed it was! Sampaguita's former lead guitarist blazed on stage with his Jeff Beck meets Eddie Van Halen antics and guitar skills.

Among the band's repertoire, what quickly stuck in my mind was Wally's rendition of Europa (Santana) lending his powerful embellishments to a very emotional song. Up next was Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix) with Wally exchanging soulful licks with Gary. They also played a down-keyed version of Bonggahan (Sampaguita) with Gary on vocals. The second set opened with tadaaa, Wally's Blues! That was such a treat for me since that was the first time I heard Wally play his signature piece. At some point Gary came on stage with 'Cause we've ended up as lovers (Jeff Beck). As always the other songs were masterfully performed and the other band members were equally great. There was Dondi Ledesma showing off his bass guitar virtuosity and Bea Lao putting on her semi-bored mask while the rest of the world is drop-jawed watching her wreaking punishment to the drum set. There's this guy whose name I didn't catch on guitars. I think he's better than the other rhythm guitarists I've seen with Wally so far.

All in all the night turned out great though there was that feeling of being "bitin" in the air as Wally called it quits after 12.30am. As a bonus Wally tossed bottles with us and I also got to shake Gary's hand. Hah! If only I had those Rogue (X-men) powers. To my former band mates Julius, G-boy and Jun dela V: this is the real deal---eat your hearts out! Hahahaha!

Hmmm yum...

...as if the English language isn't bad enough. Come to think of it, it could be worse, like Mandarin (oh no!)

Yep, the Chinese might realize (at last) that it would be cost-effective, not to mention saner for their so called technical writers, to just write the manuals for their cheap electronics in Mandarin like it's the mandate of heaven and let the rest of the world worry about catching up. They're going to rule the universe anyway....

So yeah you've noticed it's missing something... any takers?