Sa Saguijo sa Guijo

June 04, 2005. I thought all roads led to this petite and cozy bar that night. There were Twisted Halo, Cambio, Itchyworms, Sandwich, Sugarfree, and it's Ebe's birthday. But I "attended" the "birthday party" to see Jr. Kilat. Yes, that reggae band from Cebu. This was the first time that I saw the whole band play live. But I have seen Budoy (their front man) play (all meanings apply) live a couple of times before, with Tropical Depression and Pepe Smith. The Legendary Pepe Smith.

It was raining and all the seats inside were either taken or reserved. My friends and I stood beside the bar. We looked at the menu and selected the food we wanted to have, if by any chance, a table would get cleared. 30 minutes passed but the place just kept on filling up. The reserved table beside me started to have its guests – Kris Dancel, Vin Dancel…you got the picture.

"Sound Check" echoed. Budoy and his gadget were taking up center stage. I warned my friends "I really like this band but I don't understand what they sing about. It's in Bisaya." They laughed. They thought I was joking. My friends are not really into live band shows (the only event of this sort that they go to is the annual UP Fair), I was the one who begged so we could pass by this gig. They were not familiar with Jr. Kilat. Budoy greeted the audience, in pure Bisaya. My friends were in utter shock.

Jr. Kilat played four songs from their album, "Party People You're on Dub TV". Then my friends asked me to leave and go to Crocodile's Grill at Greenbelt 3 to eat. Though I still wanted to see the other bands play, especially Sugarfree, I had to comply, I've already seen Jr. Kilat. So they went outside to wait for me while I say goodbye to Budoy. He said he could not go chitchatting with me yet because they were asked for an interview.

On my way out, I saw Echo (of Boldstar) we exchanged hi's and hello's, he said they won't be playing but Itchyworms would, where his bro Chino plays. I thought I could make it back there before Itchyworms' set time so I sent Chino a message to tell him that I would be back with my friends. But we never made it. Sad.

Anyway, I saw another friend, Pierre Cruz, who used to shoot for Pulp Magazine. He called me over to introduce me to Raymund Marasigan and Buddy Zabala. Talk about getting starstruck, huh? But I managed. :)

Going out of the place required a skill of an escape artist like Harry Houdini. It was really jam packed. Since it was the first time that I went to Saguijo, I wondered if the place is always that full. I wondered if it's just because of the line up (by Admit One and Revolver Productions), Ebe's birthday, or all roads just really led there that night.

Sa Saguijo sa Guijo.


05 June 2005 | 10:38 PM