This post is more than a tad late, but hey, what can you do about it? Thats me :P

Friday night was Lystra's gig with a band from church. She got invited to play the rhythm guitar for them, roughly a week before they were to play a gig at a church members birthday party. During this period of time, we actually managed to experience most forms of public transport.

On thursday, due to a band practice over at a jamming studio, we took the jeep (local form of public transport) without dying/getting mugged/getting lost which I consider a bonus. We were with the other band members though so I guess we were pretty safe. I wonder what will happen though if we took it ourselves. Probably one of the above things will happen so yeah. Anyway, their jamming went pretty decently. The vocalist showed off his previously unknown (to me and Lys anyway) talent for screaming which was pretty cool and the musicians polished their act more. I actually got to play the bass a couple of times cause their bassist wasn't there but I probably just looked like a poseur.

So friday was the actual day for the gig. We met up with the band at church so that they could get last minute practice in before they played the gig. Among their lineup of songs is Hellsong by Sum41 and one of the funnier moments of the night was when the band actually contemplated practicing hellsong in the sanctuary. In front of two pastors. They turned to each other and asked each other, "Do you want to practice..", their question actually trailing off before they mentioned the actual title. I guess you had to be there to appreciate the irony.

After the practice they packed up their gear and we were off to head to the gig. The pub they were playing in was somewhere near paco park and we were quite a ways away from there, so again we got to experience the marvels of Philippine's public transport system. Since we couldn't get a taxi or a FX and it was getting pretty near the starting time of the party the band decided we should take a bus there instead. Hurrah. It's quite a different experience than taking a bus in Singapore, I can assure you. For one thing, they still have bus conductors to go around collecting the bus fare, and if you're small enough you probably can fall out of the bus through the window. Lystra was actually too scared to sit by the window and forced me to take the window seat. Heh heh.

Unfortunately, halfway through the bus ride, we got caught in a traffic jam. After maybe half an hour or so of sitting in the bus while it was practically at a standstill, we finally had enough and took to the oldest form of transport known to mankind: we walked! Walking turned out to be much much faster than vehicular traffic. It was different I guess. Usually the places we're out walking about in the evening would be at really nice places like Eastwood, but that night we were just walking on a main road. It was a very different experience and it turns out I really am quite suicidal when it comes to crossing streets. I crossed the street in front of a tricycle and the driver shouted at me, something about running me over or something to that effect. Hah. Bite me.

So after walking, we went on to take a FX. Basically a FX is like a mass taxi. The vehicle is some sort of van-like thing and a few people would ride it along its route, getting off at their convenience. It's main advantage over the jeep (jeepneys kinda work the same way) is that its airconditioned so its a more comfortable ride. It was kinda packed though. So with that I end my chronicle of how we got to the gig. Basically we just walked the rest of the way and a guy met us to bring us to the pub.

So now we're at the pub. As the band walks in, people shout something along the lines of, "Now the party can start"! Hmm, this is so going to make Lystras ego get oh so big. Sigh. The pub wasn't really that great but eh, it was adequate for the party I guess. Lots of comfy chairs so Lystra couldn't hog all of them. There were actually, ahem, hostesses in the pub, but they were mostly ignored and they kept out of the way. I guess it was still too early for them to do their, err "work".

Amongst the bands who played only their band, Corny-something, had a punk rock sound. The rest were either alternative or pop. Before the band actually went up on stage, one of them (I think it was Don, their vocalist) suggested the B word. Booze. So they actually performed in a buzzed state. At least they didn't start really drinking until after they performed their set. When they went up to perform, the band was introduced as a band from church (which was funny/embarrassing considering the drinking) and Lystra was said to be imported from singapore. Ha ha. Anyway despite being buzzed, the band performed pretty well. Amongst the band who performed that night, they were the only ones who had a punk rock sound so thet distinguished them from the other bands. Their performance was well recieved, even recieving shouts for more after they had finished their set.

Afterwards, we just sat around talking, having beer (freeflow!!!) and just watching the other acts. It was a blast and we got to know the band members better, who were really quite fun to hang out with. Got pretty buzzed with all that beer too. Had maybe 4 bottles or something. Most of the attendees of the party left at around 12 and we decided to head home too, but not before the band was actually invited to hold more gigs in that pub by the owner. Good exposure for the band I guess.

Anyhoo, pictures of jamming/gig