It was a Saturday night and instead of just staying at home, Lydia and I decided to watch our daughter Ala’s gig at Bubble Gang Toppings, a student hangout within the Loyola neighborhood. It was an acoustic performance with her band Hiraya which she recently just joined. I was quite amazed at what I heard and saw. Although the sound system was definitely not the best, I could hear Ala’s sweet voice over loud guitars, and I was impressed. She had clear tones and her musicality was very good. And she definitely had stage presence. I know I sound just like a dad would, but I speak as one who has been performing for years, and who has worked with the best. Actually, I could have opted to not write about it but I thought I should praise talent when I see it and not be discriminatory just because it is my daughter. Heh heh!

While watching Ala do her songs, I was telling Lydia how different my musical career would have been if we had not developed as a concert act doing our own stuff but more of club performers doing covers. The repertoire, the jokes, the whole setup would have been different. APO talks a lot and that really works to our advantage. But when you perform in a club, you have to do much more music, and familiar ones too as people drink or eat while watching. You don’t always get wild applause, and not after every song. It’s hard to clap with a glass on one hand and chicken wings or a cigarette on the other. I am quite happy that Ala is doing originals as many other bands are these days. As it was during our time, doing originals elicits respect.

The next act was Nino, Ala’s boyfriend, who was going to play the guitar for another singer. I had wanted to stay and watch him but since Lydia was getting very uncomfortable with the cigarette smoke , we decided to go home. But I took some pictures before I left.

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The 27th run of my creativity workshop ended last Friday, and more than any previous class, we had quite a party after. The food was overflowing and quite delicious. Everyone was in great spirits and wanted to interact with classmates they had gotten close to in the last two weeks. As for me, I was quite exhausted physically even if my spirit was soaring with the rest. Every TCU batch gives itself a name for egroup purposes. Check out the pic and the name they chose below.

The 27th Blockbusters Group

I had announced earlier that it would be my last workshop in a while. To be truthful, I thought it really was till my schedule changed again. I will announce the 28th run of Tapping the Creative Universe soon if I can still squeeze in one by end of November to early December. Abangan.

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There are some people who write me and comment that my archives (on the right of the page) are inaccessible. Strangely enough, I can access it on my Mac but not on the other PCs in the house. Can I ask you a favor? Can you try accessing any of the past entries and let me know if you are successful? Also, please let me know your browser and your computer type (PC or Mac) so I can make adjustments.

Some of you have also been listening to Jim’s music accessible on Jim’s Links. I would also like to know how easy it is for you to download the music. Are you using DSL or dial up? Once again, I would appreciate some feedback.

You can send your feedback by clicking on the comments thing or through jimparedes@gmail.com. Daghang salamat!