Today I found myself being anti-social. Might as well, I’ve been partying hard the past few nights (weeks?) and coming home with the sun out already. I slept at 7 AM today and got up three hours later because of the heat. Needless to say it got me a little cranky. Not that I was snapping at anyone but as I said, being anti-social.

I stayed in my room most of the day; emerging from it only for food and the occasional chat with my family. I decided to drown myself out with music; first by listening to different stuff on my iTunes, then putting on DVDs of concerts. After hours of all kinds of music, I let David Bowie’s “A Reality Tour” concert stay on. It was then I realized that I’ve liked his work for quite some time.

I was introduced to David Bowie’s stuff back in the eighties when his single “Let’s Dance” was on the top of the charts (remember American Top 40 with Casey Kasem?). He released more songs that year and most of them I liked. Fast forward a few years and I find myself getting a video of his “Glass Spider Tour” (that concert featured Peter Frampton on guitar). I was reacquainted with his work, and for the first time listened to some of his 70’s material. Being so into it then I’d even follow playing the drums to the video; I still had a drum set back then. Fast forward once more…..

This afternoon I find myself once again watching a David Bowie concert and loving it all over. Very few of the 80’s hits were performed leaving me with only the new material to appreciate. His sound now is more, for a lack of a better word, experimental. But no matter what, the genius in his music is still there. Combine that with talented musicians and you’ve got serious ear candy. Speaking of genius, “Under Pressure”, the single sampled by Vanilla Ice for “Ice Ice Baby”; is a brilliant song. It’s just sad that people equate the bass line with a white rapper rather than with rock legends.

Since it was a DVD I was watching, you could still see that he’s still much the showman he was early on in his career. After all, it was he who started the Glam movement (and not Guns and Roses, please!) with his alter ego “Ziggy Stardust”.

Who would have thought that after years of playing and listening to all forms of music, I’d come back to appreciate and understand an artist that I discovered in grade three. I guess it only proves that good music/talent is timeless.

Last Wednesday, Overtone performed in their much awaited Dish gig with Kitchie Nadal. I say much awaited because it has been a while since our last Dish gig. The last one was even acoustic. Yup, last Wednesday it was electric Overtone Baby!

I always enjoy playing electric. I get to bang away on a full drum kit and save my hands from the stress of hitting the cajon, plus the equipment is great; making it doubly better. We took my van to ABS that night. All our gear was loaded in the back, just like a real band-mobile. By 6PM we were there ready for soundcheck. Luckily the staff and techs love alternative. They knew the music we played and fixed the mix accordingly. Man was the sound huge. During soundcheck we played a part of "Somewhere Out There" by Our Lady Peace and the sound was spot-on. I had that arena-rock drum sound that I just don't get anywhere else (especially Capone's). I couldn't wait for the actual gig by then.

Friends came in, some didn't even know we were playing. They came to see Kitchie and were surprised that we were there. We started the first set with "Yellow", that first downbeat when the drums and the bass come in was just orgasmic. I was totally digging it. The crowd apparently felt the same way and were bobbing their heads and singing along. That only encouraged us more. The Dish crowd is normally a "Showband" crowd so it felt good to be received that way. Kitchie did her set and it was good. Jack Ruffo was playing guitar for her and was as usual a treat to hear play. Bats was biased I think when she said we sounded better.

Our second set wasn't as kick-ass as the first but fun nonetheless. Too bad there was a rowdy drunk who was kicking the chairs and the monitors, then grabbing the mic stand. It was annoying but what can you do? I'm surprised security didn't do anything to stop the guy.

For a wind down, Jay and I went over to Capone's after the gig. We hung around there till early morn. Frankly, I don't remember what happened over there. I was pretty blasted, plus the fact that the past few nights have been a blur since I was at Capone's every night after that.

Capone's last Saturday night was different. It was packed. My brother and a buch of his friends threw a party there and decided it was a 90's dance party (Moony wasn't played that night). And without surprise, a lot of people responded well to it (goes to show how old you guys actually are). Old friends, new friends, and made friends was my theme for the night. I was totally enjoying being there (especially since I didn't have to perform. I could just hang).

I did get to invite a lot of people and that kept me from shuffling between the first floor and the second since my guests were all scattered. But when I did park myself in one place I was hangging out with Debbie and Margie. I should do that more often. They're cool. I always enjoy conversations with the two (even through the loud music).

Funny thing happened that night and I only realized it on the way home. There was Pritchon. For those of you who don't know what it is, I pitty you. It's one of the greatest inventions ever! What it is is a Lechon de Leche that's prepared like a Peking Duck. It's served in a wrapper and has different sauces. But I digress, there was Pritchon. I was offering it to my friends and they enjoyed it. Little did I know it wasn't provided by my brother's group. It belonged to River Maya. Ha ha! I only found out in the car on the way home when my brother told me. Hilarious!

Last Saturday night, my band 7Foot Jr. performed in the Mondo production called "Brave New Waves". By the title you can guess that the theme of the show was new wave, the 80's music that a lot of us grew up with. The show was at Gweillo's Eastwood. Several bands performed including the Pin-up girls (who had a video that Angel starred in).

We did a total of six songs: four originals and two covers. The covers were songs from the new wave era; Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen, and Love Song by the Cure (not 311). Man we smoked them. I guess when you enjoy the music you're playing performing just feels right. Too bad Leo didn't make it because of work. Good thing Macky was up to it and was spot on. Good job buddy!

Catch 7Foot Jr. back in Eastwood for the Levi's 501 concert on April 30, 2005!

Last Thursday was a finance day. Basically I got up early and went out to do "financial" errands. The morning had me going to Summit at Galleria. I picked up some checks that have been accumulating at their accounting department for sometime. To my horror it was the first time the bank denied cashing them. Well there's a backstory to that. The checks are really for deposit. I've been getting away with cashing them in. It was only now I was actually thwarted (makes me sound so evil doesn't?). Bummer. as I don't have a bank account I'll have to open one now. I know, I know. I should have one anyway. Good thing my trip there wasn't a complete waste. I got to pick up a new gadget to review from T3. It's called the Imation Disc Stakka. Wait for the review in next months issue.

After Galleria I went off to my old office, Kuni, to sign my Income Tax Return. The secretary called me the day before and asked me if I could drop by. She'd need my signature to file it. Being the lazy bastard that I am I went over just so I wouldn't have to file it myself. Surprise! When I got there she said the company miscomputed my income tax and that I owed about five grand more! Ambush man! I just had to exhale and say "Lugi talaga ako sa kompanyang to!". So I forked over the dough just to be done with the company. That just threw my finances into whack. To think, all that money is probably just going to go to some corrupt government official. Sheesh!

Badminton went much better. I was playing better than the previous week. Maybe I was imagining that the shuttle was my former company. Hitting it was easy. The gig right after was fun too. Cris and Margie were there. Too bad Cris was in a mini (normally that would be a good thing. Hi Cris! Don't mind me!), she couldn't play cajon. I would have wanted her to. Margie made a comment that since Cris is learning cajon, she should learn bass and Debbie (who was surprisingly missing) the guitar. Then they'd form a group called the "Coppertones". That would be awesome!

This is the third straight night that I'm working on what my blog looks like. I have the revamp itch and I'm picking on this site. The old look of "Frank Being Frank" was beginning to bore me. No life at all. I hope you guys like the new look. I think the design is a little more casual and has a relaxed feel to it. I'll keep working on it.

By the way, you can also now reach "Frank Being Frank" by entering www.beingfrank.tk in your browsers. The URL is experimental and hopefully adds traffic to the site. Now back to work!

I hate Sun. Yes I'm talking about Sun Cellular, my mobile phone carrier for almost two years now. I think I've been pretty patient (and locked in) with going through all the birthing pains of a new mobile carrier but these days the service just sucks!

In the beginning I had lousy signal. That was to be expected. I assumed things would only get better since they had to put up more cell sites to service the country. True enough it did, though some places are still shaded from Sun (couldn't resist the pun). I can live with that. I've even forgiven them about not continuing with WAP. But for me to have difficulty making calls, inexcusable.

This is all the doing of that 24/7 promo that Sun is so proud of. Imagine what it's like making a cellphone call or sending a text message during Christmas or New Year? Have that 24/7 and you have Sun. All the traffic in the system keeps getting me a "Network Busy" error when I try making calls, even at 2AM. I experienced this waaaaay back in the infancy of text messaging with Globe, and back then it was already annoying. For it to happen now when all the carriers are running at full tilt is stupid. What more is that it's costing me money. I feel like I'm giving 2000 bucks to them every month for nothing.

Sun has bitten off more than it can chew and I doubt their service will improve soon. Thank God that my lock in period is almost up. I'll be jumping ship once again and hopefully be able to make my calls. I guess the Sun has to set on me sometime.

I promised Cris a long time ago that I'd teach her how to play the Cajon (and the drums). Finally, yesterday we actually got to get a lesson going. I went over to her place with my cajon and iPod and taught her the basics. I was pleasantly surprised by her progress. She can now play several songs without a problem. Her grasp of the concepts is pretty spot-on. That made it much easier to teach. I'm also very happy that she was having fun.

During my visit to Cris' house I met her (much blogged about) dad, sister, and dog. Her dad is pretty cool and wished me luck on my teaching Cris. He even commented that Cris might need a shorter cajon.

I also must say that Cris' room is pretty cozy looking too. From what I saw of it it oozes with so much of Cris' character. It's saucy!

This week, Overtone continues its streak of late nights with a trio of gigs. We’re barely recovered from the pace of last week and we’re at it again.

Thursday had us back at Yaku playing to a new crowd. They were enjoying everything we threw at them. Being new though they didn’t really notice that we added several new songs to our repertoire. We stayed after the set and hung out with Caco and the rest of the Yaku staff. It turned to a drinking session and a lot of stories/advice were given out regarding love lives et al. That took a while. We went home with the sun already up (passed by Burger Machine first).

Friday we played Aposento again. This time the crowd was mostly upstairs. The place looked empty but it didn’t bother us much. We got to try out new songs and the few people who were watching liked it. Kathy was there. Haven’t seen her in a while. Between sets Tito and I went over to Capone’s to see who was playing. We bumped in to Cris, Debbie and Margie there. That pushed us to get back to our set so we could come back to Capone’s after to hang with them which we did. We were asked to jam once again over there and along with Rico did a few songs. Then back to the hanging out. Debbie wasn’t feeling too good about an event that night that we were all trying to cheer her up. Me being a bit buzzed wasn’t doing too good with it so I left it to her more capable best friends (imagine what I told her “…you have to move forward Debbie”…stick my hand out in front looking while looking at the wall beyond it I say “See that? That’s forward….um….don’t mind me.”). Then Debbie asks for the tissue holder and I quickly grab it to pass to her. In my hurry I failed to notice that I drop all the tissues and hand Debbie an empty tissue holder. Total comedy man. At least that solicits a laugh from Debbie. We split at around 4 AM. This is becoming a habit.

Saturday we had a lunch gig at Greenhills so we had to get up really early. Needless to say we got very little sleep (Tito didn’t sleep at all) again. Now I’m feeling my throat to get a little coarse. Good thing the gig is short. Just one set. The gig was at Little Asia and was for Winston’s reception (Food was fantastic).

Tito and I had to stay in the area though because we were to play manager/booking agent for another band that night. Since that show was at Eastwood we didn’t want to go all the way back home. We went around Greenhills (Val and Jay joined us) and ran out of shops to browse but had still so much time to kill. We decided to get a massage then. That way we could relax and maybe take a nap. We went around the area to check where we could go and ended up at this small place that was really dark. I wouldn’t exactly call that place a spa but they did offer more or less the same services. They were cheap too. So we went on to our own private rooms and got massages. Man I enjoyed being folded in half. It felt all too short though when it ended. I was actually the last to emerge from my room. Off to Eastwood.

Eastwood was a disaster. The band that Tito booked was late. The party they were to play at was well on its way when they arrived. Bad part was they arrived individually too. So while some members were already playing the others would set up. Totally non-pro. To top it off, the building wanted the music stopped at 10 PM because of all the complaints by the tenants (it was at a condo). The band didn’t get to finish their second set. At least the hosts were gracious enough to overlook the tardiness of the band. Tito and I decided to unwind and went to Capone’s. We grabbed a beer then went home. By now my throat is really bad and my nose is stuffy.

I have a lot to say to. These past two weeks have been really hectic. Last week I had four straight nights of gigs. It does take a toll on the body you know? But does that stop me from gigging? Na-ah!

Let’s star with last Wednesday. I had rehearsal with 7 Foot Jr. at Perfect Pitch. We were practicing for an all new wave set. I totally missed that kind of music. Too bad the gear at Perfect Pitch is crap (the studio is crap as well). Then off to Capone’s with Overtone. That was fun as always (I get to play drums). Crowd wasn’t plenty but my brother was in the audience. That’s pretty rare. We ended up staying really late because of all the jamming going on (Bad Medicine baby!). We didn’t care. It was fun, glam and all.

Next day (Thursday) was Yaku day. SOP is we play badminton right before the gig. We played a really hard game then went to Yaku after hitting the showers (don’t say we don’t care about you Yaku friends). Yaku was explosive. It was packed and the crowd was lively. Jay was smashed (one Kamikaze is all it takes) and played better because of it. Of course he was also introducing himself as “Nephilim” to all the girls. I was having so much fun in that gig that during “Run Around” I’d get up from playing the cajon and dance a bit. That caught a snicker from many in the audience.

Friday I pulled double duty. Heading off to Saguijo for an early gig with 7 Foot Jr. This was supposed to be that new wave set that we practiced for. What do you know? Most of the bands in that production didn’t play wave. We did and kicked ass! Then I had to run off to Aposento to do a gig with Overtone (thanks for letting me hitch a ride Heather). That was moderately filled but we were enjoying nonetheless. Too bad I arrived late. Got there mid-first set. I hate it when I do that but it couldn’t be helped.

Saturday wasn’t any different. We had a special show in Cainta for a private party. Tito and I went to check the place out early and were at the venue by four in the afternoon. Tito’s voice was raspy from the exhaustion and the lack of sleep. It was humid too as the venue was open-air. We played our set and got mild response from the audience. They only reacted when some of them jammed with us (get this, we played “Gold”). We ended at about 11 and decided to head on over to Capone's to grab a bite and catch Nino Alejandro's set. Jay went home right after the show. Tito and I stayed all night. We stayed upstairs where we enjoyed hanging out to House/Techno/Trance. The sights weren't that bad too. Alas we ran out of energy and called it a day at about 5 AM.

Oh boy do I feel it. It’s been driving me nuts the past week. The heat is getting to me. It’s making me overtly lazy (even more so I mean). That’s why I haven’t been blogging much. It takes effort for me to think.