Back taking pictures. I noticed the last time I uploaded anything on Flickr was around the second week of May.
Up Dharma Down
I found myself at 70s Bistro last Friday with a handful of the Rangefinder Filipinas folks. Karlo, one of our youngest members -he’s still in college- and his family owns the place, and it wasn’t a hard sell because The Jerks was playing. See, a good chunk of the group are the sort that could relate to Steely Dan, Sly & The Family Stone, etc.
To get back to the office after the gig, I hitched again with Direk Uro and he was exclaiming that listening to the brand of blues rock that The Jerks was churning out is almost akin now to listening to baroque music. I agree, because I was fascinated and didn’t shoot for the band’s two sets, and only got myself to shoot during their last song.
The Jerks
I would like to be back, and listen to the effortless music that Chickoy and company churn out. If I am on a mission to inform all these kids how good 90s music was, and all the other fringe sounds I feature on my podcast, going back is my own way to enroll in music history education.
And because of that gig, work, and oversleeping that had me disappointed I wasn’t able to go to a cosplay event, my Saturday night started with me, alone, sipping latte at a cafe in the center of Eastwood City, waiting for another gig to start. Up Dharma Down was playing at the Eastwood Central Plaza along with other bands, and I missed them. And the stage had good lights!
Up Dharma Down, and that ebow!
They did a full set, with only one song from the first album. If this was a peek at the next record, I won’t expect this to sell much: dare I say, the songs feel like they were culled from a 4AD record that would only show greatness after several listening sessions. Everything about Armi is magnetic as ever, and I feel a weird elation whenever an ebow is used on that noisy guitar.