APO Hiking Society

As Barney Stinson would say, "Legen... wait for it... ARY!!!"

The APO as a group has been longer than I have been alive. That means all my life I have been entertained by their songs and performances. Heck! I made sure I get to watch "Sa Linggo nAPO sila" when it was still showing in Channel 2. I always enjoyed their "Knock Three Times" segment. I still believe it is far superior in entertainment quality than "ASAP." But that could just me being biased. "'Sang Linggo nAPO sila" was harder to follow since it was daily but I did look forward to Saturdays. It is a much better family fanfare show than "MTB" or "Wowowee" I tell you. No gyrating girls needed.

photo taken from Amazon.com

I have always loved the group. I find myself feeling in love when listening to "When I Met You" and "Yakap sa Dilim." I wanted to have "Panalangin" as soundtrack to my wedding but Roj and Alwin beat us to it (it was their first dance). I enjoy singing with off-key voice to "Ewan" with wanton abandon.

Their songs of friendship strike true and strike deep. "Awit ng Barkada" chronicles perfectly the kind of friendship that stands through thick and thin. "Saan na nga ba ang Barkada?" echoes the nostalgia of friendship changed by time. "Pumapatak ang Ulan" is a perfect story of bored friends stuck in the house because of rain. I don't remember if Jim or Danny wrote this, but whoever did, wrote it only in two minutes while being stuck in a Baguio house during a rainy day.

photo taken from pinoygigs.com

And of course, their songs of patriotism and love of Filipino culture. "Lumang Tugtugin" heralds our classic folk songs and kundiman. I love how Pidro (Danny) makes fun of "American Junk." Even "Syotang Pa-Class" pokes fun at an ordinary bloke falling head over heels over a high society girlfriend.

It really is amazing how they are able to conjure up these beautiful or wacky songs. And they become more amazing when they perform. I've seen three APO concerts, including the last day of their concert last night. The first was their 25th year anniversary at the Ateneo, the second was their 35th in Ateneo de Davao and the last was their 4oth anniversary and farewell last night.

These guys are just natural comedians! Their singing voices blend wonderfully and so do their comic timing. Concerts become long and drawn out just because their spiels can be very long. But I actually find it entertaining because it was just like watching a bunch of friends make fun of each other in their living room.

They always have something up their sleeve. Last night, I couldn't stop laughing from their rendition of "sirang plaka" music of the top two most sung song in the world. Hilarious!!!

Last night was a very enjoyable concert. As their 25th anniv concert (I still can't get out of my head their W-O-W spiel. Retro!). From start to finish, I didn't stop laughing or singing. And there was that level of comfort even amidst strangers that somehow, everyone has something connecting them. And that was APO. When the show ended, I felt a little void forming in me. They showed a video clip of APO throughout the years. I just found out from Jim Paredes' tweet that they could not bear to sing the song because it was just too emotional for them.

Today, as I was listening to their music and reading a blog entry of a close friend of the APO, I found myself crying major tears. I was telling Jan, "It's like Pope John Paul II, they've been around since I was alive!" God knows how much I cried when the Pope passed away.

I can imagine how bittersweet it is for Jim, Danny and Buboy. To have seen so many people come and watch them and sing with them and laugh with them. 2,770 concerts since they began, that is what Buboy said. 27 albums according to Jim. What an achievement! I bet they have made millions of Filipino happy. They have become the soundtrack of many love stories and barkadas.

It must be so hard to say goodbye to that. But at the same time, you quit while you are on top. All good things must come to an end.

I remind myself to find joy that the first 31 years of my life have been sprinkled with the pixie dust of APO's music.

To Buboy, Danny and Jim... thank you for the precious moments you have uplifted our spirits with your crazy musical antics. You will forever be the score of my personal movie.

tsk, tsk, tsk

there was a time in most women's lives when will power was enough to keep the fat away from the waist and the thighs. then you turn 30, and somehow your body is wired to take into account every calorie you intake and successfully converts carbs into cellulite.

i have come to that point. argh.

from the time i graduated from college until i turned 30, which is a ten-years span, i gained about ten pounds and four inches. which is fine considering i was on the slim side back then. and then thirty struck. in a matter of two years, i gained two inches and ten pounds. what makes matters worse, i've been doing mostly desk work for the last three years compared to the miles and miles i walked during my five years of working in davao. i've become uninspired to exercise, with this heat and unfamiliar territory.

it becomes tough when you come to that age when you have enough buying power to get the food that you want. and what i want are often creamy or meaty or sweet or salty. not exactly the best food to help me stay lean.

and am i doing anything about it? no. i keep on eating. i hardly exercise.

my clothes of two years ago are telling me to do something about it. my flabby tummy has been spilling over my jeans. my sleeves have become too tight. i gained a bra size, except its not the cup.

and what do about it? why what every girl usually does! retail therapy. :P

i really have no point to this entry except to say that i feel fat and i am fat. do i feel bad about myself? not really. i'm actually craving for another serving of bicol express which i've loaded on the last three days.

told you there is no point to this entry.

joiner goes to the best concert ever

When I found out about the Tears for Fears concert more than a month ago, I was excited for my brother and Jan. They were true TFF fans whom I thought would enjoy a live performance of TFF. I, on the other hand, would just be happy to sing along with the band their most famous radio-released songs. As I told Jan, I am a joiner, who find particular pleasure in sharing an amazing experience with many people. I just love concerts of familiar artists in general. (I have to say familiar because Jan took me to the Nine Inch Nails concert, which I only know one song... I found myself sitting the concert out. I found joy in seeing Jan excited with NIN's arrival in the Philippines. :P)

I was soooo glad that I actually coerced Jan to watch the concert because it was absolutely amazing! For most of the crowd, it was 25 years worth of repressed fandom thus the VERY enthusiastic welcome for the band. And that is an understatement. Araneta became one big giant rockaoke bar with my estimate of 17,000 people singing to classic TFF. As Curt Smith declared on his twitter, he was speechless. And that they have officially peaked.

Jan and I went with my brother and met up with R, M and F at Araneta. We were supposed to have dinner at Volare first but there were already lines going inside the venue. They were ahead of us, so they were able to save good seats (as good as you can get in Upper B), twelve o' clock to the stage.

This looks like an empty Araneta but it was already half-full by 6.30PM. It's empty because everyone else is outside the lens range of my camera. And those near the stage, they have reserved seating and come as they please. Which is okay because they paid eight times I did. :P

Front acts were Pupil and Sandwich (which actually sealed the deal for me and made me finalize that I should go to the concernt). Sandwich sang their own song then proceeded with a sampling of 80's song from The Cure, Cult and The Smiths. The 40 year olds were quite happy. We, who were grade school at the peak of TFF career, just sat and enjoyed the older generation enjoy a flashback of high school.

Front act bonus was Ely singing with Sandwich, classic Eraserheads song, "Alapaap." I find it amusing that Raymund introduced Ely as "a friend from college." Raymund took to the drums for this song.

Pupil played afterwards. The crowd quieted down a bit because they sang their own hits. I think the people were unfamilar with their music. I, on the other hand, found it a little too angsty for movement or cheers. Polite clapping was the most people can offer.

R and I rocked to "Alapaap," reminiscent of our ORSEM days dancing to Indio-I performing "Baby, I love your way."

Music master M and R pose while waiting for the TFF to appear. As Ely said, "huwag muna kayo aalis, kasi may susunod pa."

The once empty stadium is now an SRO venue housing the excitement of people in their prime. Many of which are quite happy the next day is a holiday. This kind of crowd usually just happens when there is an Ateneo-DLSU game. But this crowd is just cheering for Tears for Fears.

I think we surprised Curt Smith and Roland Ozabal with our excitement. Their voices were drowned out by the crowd singing to their classic hits. I can see Roland singing amused as people belted out the lyrics with him. As he said... "we have been to the plains of Siberia, the deserts (?) of Scandinavia (there is a desert there?)... I don't know what took us so long..." and here the crowd drowns out the rest of his statement but I assume he meant Manila.

It was an awesome night. I was so glad to have gone to the concert even if I was not a hard core Tears for Fears fan. I like it when foreign artists love the Philippines. I love it when crowds act as one. I love it when artists and politicians alike turn ordinary fan girls.

This has been the best foreign artist concert I have been to!

Jan and I post-TFF. I am malat.

My brother and I. Kuya, I should say, is the more authentic TFF fan having enjoyed their music when he was in high school.

I do hope the rumors of them coming back for a round two is true. Whether I am able to watch again or not, I would like for those to missed the concert to have the same opportunity to enjoy such great 80's music.

Love live 80's music!