SMALL GIGS (1/3)
I've been going around manila, ever since I moved here, to find the best places to hang out, hear live performers, or maybe just to know the best eats and chill. With the city's ever 'market-friendly' environment (read market drowned with choices), one can get fooled instantly to the goings-on and what's not. If there's one thing I learned in school that ever applies to this place, it would be "Don't (ever ever ever) judge a book by its cover". When you're someone who comes from a much more suburban environment, Manila can be overwhelming.
So I tried the most happening spots and the not so happening spots and in a lot of ways, they're not what it seems. Take for example Hard Rock Cafe, it hardly rocks most of the time. The place is nicely set-up but I'd rather be in 19 East if you ask me. Unless if one is going for a cover band, this might be the place if you also have that much money to burn. The entrance fee alone is quite steep considering that it's not as consumable is should be. In Makati, there's been hardly any place to go anymore. Ever since the local mayor banned smoking inside indoor joints, the bar scene in that area has been at its lowest low. Except for the Greenbelt spots which offer both indoor and outdoor seating, the other places are hardly filled on regular days.
I remember a few years back when C. Palanca offered more than just food to its guests. The array of live music choices is pretty diverse that there's a place for everyone. Bad memory isn't serving me well right now so forgive for missing out on the names of these places. But coming from De La Rosa, turning left to Palanca, you're greeted with this corner nook with an acoustic live seen. I remember this hot funky chick Wendy, she is teamed with a second guitar player, an amazing one at that, named Raymond. Amazing duo. Back then when the acoustic scene was such a buzz, this team went a notch higher than your typical. Playing classics up to contemporary.
Moving forward down fifty meters are three closely situated spots. Amazingly, their genres never collide. If you like contemporary independent/ or signed bands, Guielos is it. They have a branch in Eastwood City which now runs the new ClubDredd on its second floor. Right after it is 6 Underground, (the bar not the song by Sneaker Pimps), its the old basement that use to house 'Kalye'. It's a much more 'underground' scene, its name connotes. Mostly unsigned and independent acts, this was the place years back. The crowd's easy-going and everyone can be "all you want to be". Eyes train on you though if you get over the top with who you're trying to be, meaning, if you're getting cheeky. Across these two bars is a resto that transforms three hundred sixty degrees over when it's late in the night. I hung out here more often cause they've got better food, among other things. The name also got me curious if the owners intentionally coined it from a spot of the same name in Chicago IL. Nonetheless, they seemed to have their own identity of sort. I heard though that their address is numbered 110 hence the moniker. The crowd here is much more diverse than the former two. From corporate yuppies to artists, this place didn't seem to lose appeal for any. On regular days, you can be serenaded by an acoustic duo or trio, or a piano bar style set-up. On midweek and weekends particularly, it's a rollercoaster ride of genres, and it's usually full band. I particularly noticed a trio though that did a month stint over at that place. I was awestruck by their diversity and propensity to play pretty complex tunes considering their limitations, being a three-piece and all. And you'd never hear a void or null within their songs.
One of the things that always leave me curious is where have all those talents gone. If they ever were signed up or discovered, why don't I hear of them? Or perhaps I'm simply not listening. Or perhaps they've gone to oblivion. The reason for these thoughts, well I hardly see groups nowadays that nail me to my seat. Maybe they're boring in itself, either the place or the performers, or everyone's simply doing what everyone's doing. But the Palanca strip is definitely still a place to chill hence I still keep going back.
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