Young Enough To Die 04

• BIGOTRY was the First Sin, perpetuated by God Himself. It was Bigotry that got Lucifer — and all the other angels who would not stop bickering about their place in the Great Scheme of things — into BIG trouble. It was also Bigotry that got the animals relegated to being sustenance, game, pet, clothing, and fashion accessory. Most of all it was Bigotry that sent Man and Woman  out of Paradise — all because They Should Not Know What God Knows. So, you see, IF there is a God, then we will never see the end of Bigotry because it was – and still is – His tool for getting His way. FREE WILL is only an empty statement that you can delude yourself with UNTIL you start getting on His godly nerves.

Young Enough To Die 03

• There is only one rule when it comes to drinking: Be sure to get your drunken ass to where you plan on sleeping, without incurring any debt of any kind.

• It is infinitely better for everyone concerned to pick their noses before leaving the house.

• The lavatory is where you will find God, if there really is one.

• The kitchen is where you will find The Devil, if there really is one.

• The bedroom is where you will find all sorts of Ghosts, Holy and Otherwise.

• Louis Armstrong was psychic. "I see friends shaking hands, saying, 'How do you do?' What they're really saying is…" 

• Achilles was done in by his Pride. I do not see anyone raising eyebrows on that issue.

• If I were to choose between a long life without Glory or a Glorious death in battle, I would still choose to be a published writer. That way, I can Glorify myself, in Death and in Life. Har har. 

• MUSIC is not a launching pad into stardom. If you want to be on TV, the radio, the Internet; and if you want your every move monitored by the media, beat up several nuns to their deaths with a rubber dildo while wearing a negligee.

• Sad people do not write, "Tonight I can write the saddest lines…" Sad people – the genuinely grief-stricken ones — raise a formidable army, and raze and pillage and occupy nearby nations for some noble fucking cause because, in reality, Sadness is Anger, dressed in tears and sobs. Anger at being left alone in the morning by the other person, who was most probably led into bed under the influence of some cheap pill that excites the libido. Anger at being oh-so-misunderstood because of Art and shit like that. Anger at being the only 18-year-old who has not yet screwed anyone, not even the neighbor's dog. Sadness, if you look at history, has been – and it still is — the greatest salestalk for getting people to join one side of an otherwise stupid war. The death of Christians, the death of Muslims, the death of Jews, the death of Hindus. How about the death of a person, in general, huh? Should one person's misery be enough to wipe out an entire nation? Sadness… MY FUCKING ARSE! If you are truly sad, get rid of yourself. If you cannot, get off the fucking floor and start cleaning up the fucking mess!

• If you count your troubles more than you do your blessings, you will wind up in a looney bin. On the other hand, if you count your blessings more than you do your troubles, you will find yourself ill-equipped for the cruelty of the human race. If you count both on equal amounts of time, you will eventually find out that you have wasted your time counting your perceptions, which, in the greater scheme of things, are virtually useless. So, to cut it short: Leave the counting to the mathematicians and live your fucking life, you miserable self-absorbed nincompoop!

• Children will always, ALWAYS know more than you ever will.

• Woody Allen was right: There is too much premium placed on the orgasm to fill up the empty spaces in our lives.

• If you have to fight, fight with Dignity and Honor. If you have to run, run when no one is looking.

Oi!

YOU ARE INVITED TO A NIGHT OF MUSIC FEATURING MRM BANDS!

DAHON

FEEBLE

LEAF

NIMBUS CROWD 

THE HANEPS

THE OUTLAWS

Guest Band:

VIRGIN HUNTERS

FREE ENTRANCE! FREE EXIT!

Come on!!!

October 17, 2007, Wednesday
Purple Haze Bar
Tomas Morato, Q.C.
10:00 pm

—

I will also be playing drums for ELEMENTO, on the same night at BAR 42, a little further down the street.

Young Enough To Die 02

• All the things you learned in Elementary and High School would not amount to shit until you start teaching. Come to think of it, the same goes for College. And Bible School.

Young Enough To Die 01

After more than a month of coming to terms with my 27 years of mess-laden existence, I have realized that:

• Great Expectations are just that. Tell me, have you ever heard of Great Fruitions?

• It is much too often much too hard to relate to relatives.

• While it is true, the adage that you should be kind to the people you are with because they are the ones who will stick with you until the end, it is even better to remember that you should be kind to the people you are with because they can easily stick a knife into your throat when you are stone drunk.

• Pets only take up your time, of which you have so little. You, on the other hand, amuse them so much with your futile attempt at being an overlord of, at least, something.

• Happy pills will not make you happy when you take into consideration how much they cost.

• Substituting the first word of the first line to Simon & Garfunkel's Sound Of Silence with OPEN will turn the first four lines into a monologue for a troubled Demon King.

• I have been out of touch with the current Filipino music scene. *patting my shoulder*

• When it comes to the Koreans I have met, I either love them to the point of shedding tears when I am reminded of them or I have already set about a series of events that will lead to their agonizing demise. 

• It is infinitely better to stay behind the drum kit than to be out front, "connecting" with the audience. While I still have my "dreams" of "doing it a la Dylan" , I have found solace in being in the background, just providing The Beat. After all, it all comes down to The Beat.

• Reality is far more powerful than either Love or Destiny. That lonesome five-peso coin in your pocket can only go as far as you can throw it.

• Music is far more powerful than Reality, Love, and Destiny put together. When we were kids, Leevon's Pa gave us this advice, for which I have been ever grateful: "Never lose the Music in your head and you will never lose your head."

• Cynicism is the greatest weapon in the arsenal of personal defenses. With Skepticism as a side-arm and Sarcasm as ammunition, one would be Invincible.

• God, however glorified He is, had decided to sit out on things — long before History began.

• Faith is overrated and Salvation is a load of shit.

• A cheap knock-off of a Ray Ban Wayfarer is much better than the real deal, especially when it comes to the nitty gritty of a Third World life. Trust me, I have a pair of both and I have relegated the genuine one to the status of keepsake.

• Sticking to one particular brand will burn holes in your pockets on any given payday.

• One can never earn the Trust of anyone. I repeat: NEVER.

• A better version of Wisdom is born every fucking second so get off the mountain top and get yourself a pint.

• Books are too much like Heroin.

• Little will ever be known of my life so, Why bother?

• Having endured Catholic school may have made my hide tougher than Kevlar but it had also made me an asshole.

• You will always be left behind, no matter how much emotional epoxy you apply.

• When you are a self-confessed Luddite, Technology will subtly conspire against you, i.e. the PC will not function when you are racing against a deadline but, minutes after you have given up, your brother or sister will be able to access the full glory of the Inter-fucking-net.

• Cigarette smoking may kill people but so do Governments. On the former, you have a choice. On the latter, you absolutely do not.

• The excess food and beverage are not due to some fucking Miracle. It has more to do with careless handling of money.

• There is no heavenly sound emanating from the sunrise. It is the buzzing of your head after a night of drinking way too much.

• The First Commandment was: "Go get a pen and a piece of paper and write this down: Genesis – all caps. Next line — In the beginning…"

• Tim Armstrong was right: It's over before it starts. 

• George Carlin was right: A baseball bat is more powerful than prayer.

• George Harrison was right: Think for yourself 'cause I won't be there with you.

• Bob Dylan, as always, was right: It ain't me, babe. No, no,no, it ain't me, babe. It ain't me you're looking for, babe.

• And, above all, Joe Strummer was right: You have the right to free speech. Just as long as you're not dumb enough to actually try it.

Twist

You're not that beautiful, girl
Yet you act like you own the world.
I'd hoped you were suicidal (suicidal)
When I told you, "It's over."

The Wisdom Of Stewart Copeland 02

This is a cliché, but it's really true: The effectiveness of a drummer is really measured in the effectiveness of the group, more so than any other instrument. A guitarist can sound great even if he or she is not focusing on the time. Most guitarists go outside of the groove when they solo - they can shine in other ways, while the rhythm section holds down a riff until the guitarist comes back. In the Police, Andy would get an MXR pedal in the back of his head if he turned his back on the groove too much; you could never turn your back in that band! (laughs.)

To my ears drums are an accompanying instrument. I know that I'm speaking in a drumming magazine, which is in existence to glorify drummers and drums, but really, it has to be recognised that drums are to accompany other instruments. Solos are of limited importance to the repertory. In fact, I've gotten where I've gotten without ever playing drum solos; I refuse to play them. That's how important drum solos are to having a career in music! I've got my own style, and you just told me how identifiable I am, and I've been able to make my mark without playing a drum solo.

All of my work has been as an accompanist, and that's how I've been effective. I don't think drummers realise that the total concentration and knowledge needed to be a good accompanist is far greater than being a great soloist. For example, when playing reggae, even more so than rock'n'roll, the actual rhythm that the drums play isn't all there is to it. A singer can sing rock 'n' roll with just drums - you'd kind of like to hear a guitar - but the rock'n'roll' rhythm would still be there without it. In reggae, it isn't there until you've got that upbeat on the guitar. So in that style the drums are only a part of the rhythm. The point is, you have to know that sort of thing; there's a lot to it.

—

I think you can make a little go a long way when it comes to fills. I think what this all gets back to is making the music happen. As a drummer you shouldn't be thinking in terms of "How am I going to get the attention away from that singer standing in front of me?" That type of attitude isn't going to get you anywhere, except frustrated. It's an attitude I've seen a lot of sidemen have, which frankly is just jealousy. If you enjoy playing drums, just enjoy the sensation of playing drums. Don't expect to be the frontman of a group; it looks ridiculous. Take it for what it is and not for the star quality that it will bestow upon you.

Heads Up!

Catch 

THE OUTLAWS

on the following dates:

August 28, 2007

MAG:NET - Katipunan

with

EARTHFISHFISH

BUTONG PAKWAN

8 PM

150 Php

—

August 31, 2007

PURPLE HAZE BAR - Tomas Morato cor. E. Rodriguez

OI! ATTACK 20

8 PM

100 Php with one (1) free beer!

—

September 06, 2007

ROUTE 196 - Katipunan

with

PUNY EARTHLINGS

9 PM

100 Php with one (1) free beer

—

September 08, 2007

HIGH TEMPERATURE BAR - Lucena City

with

OIL

8 PM

40 Php with one (1) free beer

Malu, Malu, Malu!

So it was that, while waiting at Jollibee along Sucat Road last night, I received an SMS from Isabel that a certain Malu Fernandez had written an article that contained rather nasty remarks regarding OFWs.

And that this Malu had been – and is still being – sliced and diced all over what is called the blogosphere.

I downloaded a copy of her From Boracay To Greece! earlier today and read on…

Surprisingly, I found nothing wrong with her remarks. At least, not in the way that most people had.

Before anything else, my father has been an OFW even before the acronym was coined. Mum, too, works overseas although she left quite later than Pa did. These sensitivities are perhaps why Isabel sent me that particular message, as she had gotten to know both of them for some time.

Anyway, back to Malu Fernandez… I do not see how she had been offensive in her remarks. Trust me, I have also traveled alongside OFWs and, as much as I respect what they do for their families, most of them are piss-worthy people.

Yes, their remittances do help the economy stay afloat.

Yes, they do show the world how wonderfully talented and how greatly skilled Filipinos are.

But, do you also know how our OFWs wantonly break laws on alcohol and gambling overseas, feeling as though they were in their own backyards?

Do you know how our OFWs smuggle pork into Muslim countries, knowing full well that it is illegal?

Do you know how our OFWs go into malls wearing nothing but short pants and sandos, making natives think that such are our national clothes?

Do you even have any idea how so many of our OFWs spawn and have spawned so many illegitimate children?

Most of all, do you know how so fucking many of our OFWs have tainted and continue to taint our nationality so fucking much that so many other OFWs have suffered and are suffering fucking PREJUDICE?

The problem here is not how Malu Fernandez or any other fucking socialite chose to describe them.

The problem here is how so many OFWs conduct themselves indecently in foreign lands. That part about them talking out loud in aeroplanes, asking questions like, “Katulong ka rin ba?” shows just how happy they are about meeting other Filipinos overseas. That bit about their colognes wafting from the cabin all the way to the boarding gate displays just how humble they are.

One part of me says they really cannot be blamed for such behavior, some of them having come from the provinces and all…

BUT! BUT! BUT! How many fucking years will it take for them to learn how to act like fucking civilized people? A decade? A century, perhaps?

¡Que barbaridad!

The real problem here is not that a fucking socialite chose to write wantonly, and in perhaps the only way she knows how, about OFWs.

We, who belong to the working class, are also guilty of our own misgivings regarding them cake-eaters, the evidence of which is the proliferation of fucking tabloids and fucking afternoon gossip shows.

The real problem here is that a deep and wide chasm exists between the haves and the have-nots in this country, which leads us to the well-known fact that

FILIPINOS GO OVERSEAS BECAUSE THERE ARE SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH JOBS HERE TO FEED A FAMILY DECENTLY.

Having said all of this, I would just want to ask everyone who is seething over Malu Fernandez’s article:

When the dust has settled, does it matter really who points out what?

What is distasteful, after all, when everyone may say anything about anything or anyone?

Is that not the beauty of learning, when we can hear or read or see not just the things we want to?

Er, do we not have a liar and a cheat for a president?

Shigata ga nai. Karma, neh?

Urgent!

Please vote for

EARTHFISHFISH

at

http://amp.channelv.com/earthfishfish.