Strawberry-No-Jam 015

December 6, 2010
D' Morvie Suites
Iligan City

Dear Jam,

I guess it's just right to say that I ate my words. I like HOLCIM after all; the party, the place, the people. It feels like Las Vegas after all. The lights! The shimmer! The glitter! The applause! It feels sweet to be received by a sea of strangers and be tossed gently by their laughter and reaction. Mommy got that high, huh? Well yeah. We had thought it wouldn't. Last night, the production staff, us included, felt the pressure like two strong hands gripping at our necks as if it couldn't afford us a room to breath some normal mistakes. I was pissed off already, cursing at my tired feet and complaining of the heat off the hardhat and protective vest, which we hardly needed at all.

But remember that little faith I was holding on to? Well, it helped a lot. It was raining so hard that when I crossed the field to get to the main tent, my wedge was wedged into muddy grassed soil, I had to take off my shoes and wipe all the grime off. Then there was a technical problem and all that jazz about people walking out before the show has even started but after we committed everything to God, it was all better. I just let go and so did your Tito Renz, eventually. We allowed ourselves to exploit the best of our talents and skills, by doing so, people appreciated us and we appreciated them in return. Other than the big bosses behaving like ordinary people, crying like they were one in the lowest ranks, danced like they wouldn't dance tomorrow, I had met with the most interesting people and got together with a dear friend and fellow artist I worked with before. I saw Joan again, the girl who won the Face of Plaza fair I was hosting just recently. Then I had the honor to meet with Eien, Steph's close friend who is a beauty titlist herself. Beauties. Then there was Cloyd, a brilliant director, whom I hadn't known to be until I saw his credentials that read "Award-winning Independent Film Director" and saw his work of art in the form of the Mr. Bach's farewell video. I had known Cloyd to be a DJ in one of CDeO's famous radio stations in my time and I had thought that all of them in the business were cocky nonsense until I worked with him in a talk show in The Box. We worked with our beloved Sir Omar, God rest his soul, who was a good executive as well as a wonderful human being. First impressions never ever last, I tell you. So I had thought Sir Omar to be tight like the other directors I have known but no, he was loving. I had thought Cloyd to be a big-headed bully but he was rather talkative, warm, and always had dreamt of his future in film even then. I had thought that Joan was this tall, snob beauty queen as was Eien but seeing them shed the wall we perceived them to be wearing and then just up the stage to belly dance or else grab the mic and just sing, stepping out of comfort zone was something that really made me change my first impressions. Your Tito Cloyd went up the stage and presented his bit of impersonation, too. Ha ha ha! He is quite a veteran at that! I got to exchange lines of German-English with Mr. Bach, which he replied without a grimace and some French-English with Mssr. Calouri, who was game about it. Then there were the endless handshakes and kudos of all sorts, which was more than my talent fee could actually afford. I think at one point, I finally appreciated your point-of-view whenever you see Christmas lights and say "WOW!" and that to me is something quite like "Praise the Lord!"

To celebrate the success, a couple of HOLCIM bosses took me and Tito Renz to an Iligan branch of Coffeworks where I was surprised by their Mochamint Cappuccino to take me to a feeling akin Strabuck's Peppermint Mocha! Oh heaven, I say! Coffee! But remember what you have to say when I have one? "Kapee Mommy, no no Baby kapee" until you're big enough to tolerate caffeine and sugar altogether. Wink*

Then to kill the time to wait until I could get a bus, I was dropped off at El Centro where I met with the most talented people in Iligan. Other than your Tita Tina that is. He he! ;) I met with Joseph, who prefers to call himself Buhbwoy, and his talented crew. Amazing! Exquisite, I tell you Pumpkin! As an artist in the field of music (and later on in photography, as I learned they took on quite well with photojournalism, I thankfully took home a couple of tips with me), I have to say I have never seen such energy and passion. To get up there on stage not only as a band but as if one body, where one is the arm, the other the ear, the other the feet, and then Tito Joseph, the unrelenting, audience-undaunted mouth. They took me from Reggae, to Alternative, to R&B, rap, Bisayan music culture and then back, when once my smile wouldn't falter. And that's saying something coz I am really rather hard to please. Well, I did shove a note or two up their ears when Tita Tina gave me my turn. Well, Tita Tina is another case but the same altogether. You know I have a problem with being pleased by fellow performers, there is one gender I am particularly so meticulous about and that's the female of the species. I have nothing to say about faking falsettos, or taking on Mariah Carey's whistle and I have no patience for artists who are if not impersonators, mock other singers by stealing their pipes. But Tita Tina just wowed me. To think it was her rendition of "Careless Whisper" and she took that from a man's original version and into her own. There was something cool and just sexy about her rendition that sent chills to my bones. I wouldn't give that review to any other woman unless she was original, where nowadays, there is but a few. But I don't blame the female vocals in party or full bands as I have been there, we are forced to sing alike the original to be received by a drooling ignominy of drunken customers. So when I got up from my turn, I took "Bring Me to Life" into my wings and gave Amy Lee a run for her money. Ha ha! Kidding, you know I love Amy Lee.

Singing, performing, art, these constitute the very strand of my artistic DNA. And somehow, I must have passed down some to you. Well, Daddy better get ready for more artists in the family! ;)

Much love and missing you more,
Mommy