And In This Moment I Am Happy: May 2012

So, I missed the Pulp Summer Slam 2012 with the thought that it would be too hard for me to blend in since it’s a festival for hardcore metal heads only. And I’m not a metalhead but I wanted to see Blessthefall. I won VIP tickets to Vertical Horizon and Ed K show which was on the same night as the festival’s.

I hassled my friend to Katips after the show, hoping to see Beau Bokan. The Oracle and Hotel Residences was not what I have expected. The façade is just cool, no fancy lobby and chandeliers just a small staircase leading to the hallway. Manong guard told us that few of the bands from Pulp Summer Slam were already upstairs, sleeping because they had a scheduled flight early in the morning. The fangirl instinct struck, so we decided to wait on the stoop, hoping to see Beau Bokan comes out.

Almost half an hour passed, a white van pulled over with half a dozen foreigners. We knew they are from some bands who headlined Summer Slam because I saw one carrying drumpeds but we didn’t have any idea who they really were. They looked all drunk and haggard but each of them said their Hi’s and Hello’s, a typical tourist gesture in a foreign land. Then a guy with long fluffy blonde hair sat beside me offering his hand and introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m Tim”.

“Hello Tim, I’m Anne. From what band are you again?” trying to acknowledge or pretend that we kinda knew them.

“ I’m from Washington, DC”. And I was like, okay you prolly didn’t understand me or hear me, so after a short pause, I repeated my question, rephrasing it.

“ Oh. Seems like you had a lot of fun. What band are you in”?

“ We are from Darkest Hour”. The bustling sound of the passing cars on the highway were distracting. I didn’t get it, the name didn’t sink in.

“ Oh I see! You play drums? Do you use DW and Sabian”?

“Yes.”

Timothy Java and Me

One of his bandmates called his attention so he shifted to the side and picked up the drumpeds. Suddenly, someone behind me asked for a lighter, good thing I have my cute little lighter with me. I offered Tim a cigarette but he politely declined.

“I don’t smoke cigars, I smoke weed”.

Someone handed him a pack of dried thing which seemed to be the “weed” and left his seat next to me. While everyone else left to buy boxes of canned beers this guy who looks like Jesus chatted with me. His name is Mike.

“Heyyy”. I greeted.

“Hey, how are you? If you were a shoe, what would you be”? he asked out of nowhere.

“ Uh, Macbeth”?

“ Macbeths? Why?”

“ I dunno. It’s kinda who I am, chill. Haha. I know I’m not making any sense”!

“ Okay, how about you”? he asked my friend Shereen. She only smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

“Hey why is that she’s the only one who seems to be enthusiastic here”? Mike referring to my usual bubbly attitude. Then we all laughed.

“ No, I think she’s just tired or shy. By the way, do you know Beau Bokan?” Me, diverting the convo into a different topic.

“ Uh, no”? He said.

“ He’s from Blessthefall. They played at the Slam, too. We didn’t get to watch him coz of some reasons, so since we’re on our way home, we decided to drop by to see if we could see or meet him”.

“ Oh I see, I’m not familiar with that guy”.

“ It’s okay. You in their band, too? What’s the name of the band again, Arch Enemy”? I asked.

“ No, it’s Darkest Hour”!, he said trying not to laugh.

“ Haha, I’m sorry. Honestly, we don’t have any idea who you really are and what your band really plays”. I know, too much honesty sucks.

The other guys came back with two boxes of booze. John – one of the guys, offered me a can of beer which I enthusiastically accepted. Me, Shereen and Mike continued where we left off. We talked about Filipino culture and how the Philippines differs from other Asian countries. Of course, we sold out The Philippines. He’s pretty amazed why we speak fluent (bragging aside) English.

Lonestar of Darkest Hour

“Okay, non-English speaking country, guess I have to do the sign language again”. The first thing he thought about going to Manila.

“ No, that was offensive”! I jokingly blurted out.

“ Sorry. Haha. I mean, c’mon, I won’t be here hanging out with you if you couldn’t understand what I am saying. By the way, we have a friend here who’s a Filipino. Come over here Mark. We were just talking about Filipino culture here. How do you miss the Philippines”?

“ Hey girls, Mark”. Offered his hand for a shake. “ I used to study here when I was younger. I was born in Olongapo and I left when the volcano erupted. My mom is a Filipina”.

Mark joined in the conversation, sharing Filipino stuff he knows like adobo, sinigang and agreed every single fact that we were telling Mike about the Philippines.

Mark Holcomb being silly

“ Our culture is strangely vast, we were ceded by Spain for more than 300 years…”

“ Wait, you said you were colonized by the Spanish? I thought it’s Portuguese! Hey, John, you were right, it’s Spain, not Portugal”. Mike calling out John’s attention.

“ I told you”!

“..and also the Japanese and Americans. So majority of everything about what we are right now is actually influenced by the Spanish. Our parents and grandparents have Spanish first names and our last names sound so Spanish as well. Like me, my last name is Mortega, they say it’s kinda Spanish, and Shereen’s is Castillo. But the modern generation’s culture is more of Westernized or Americanized or whatever you call that. From entertainment to music to fashion and lifestyle, we all get what is currently popular in the US and since English is our second language, we get to adapt easily.”, I continued. I confessed we are superfans of Incubus and surprisingly, he used to be a big fan of Incubus, too. He loves the Morning View album and my Incufriends know that it’s my most favorite album, too. He also loves idioms and told him Brandon Boyd is the guy I know who’s fond of using words and phrases which are hard to decipher. We talked about Incubus, and of course Jose Pasillas – my favorite drummer.

“ They say Brandon has a Filipino lineage because of his chiseled feature. Is that true”? Mike asked.

“ No. I think he has Chilean/Mexican blood, I’m not sure. But definitely not a Filipino”. I answered.

“ If I were gay, I’d date Brandon Boyd”! Mark exclaimed.

“ If I were Brandon Boyd, I’d f**k Angelina Jolie”! said Mike.

Laughed so hard until we couldn’t breathe. From time to time Mike would also share white American jokes which we all teasingly agreed as lame, and American culture, Texan particularly. He was also raised as a Catholic so he knows “the Catholic guilt” when I mentioned it’s already Sunday and I need to attend mass in the afternoon and I haven’t been participating in a communion because I haven’t been into confession for 6 years (BOOM!).

“ See, you are just thinking about it, but you are already guilty. We did bad things that we don’t want to admit that’s why we hate confessions. Don’t worry dude, I get that, too”, he said trying to console me, I guess. Haha.

We continued sharing lame jokes and Filipino/American lifestyle, industry, outsourcing jobs while drinking beer and smoking Marlboro. Mike kept saying "titimomalake" with a funny accent. So we taught him how to cuss in Tagalog.

"The coolest way of saying mothaf****r in Tagalog is Put******o, and badass is like astig"!

Tim already went upstairs and it’s Mike, Mark, John and Aaron (who’s busy with his phone) who were left to hang out. They said they hadn’t experienced drinking liquor and hanging out on a stoop because it’s not legal in the US to just drink in a sort of inappropriate place. John tried to get me drink gin, like the Gin Bilog. I hadn’t tried it in my existence, but John made me do it and I loved it. I offered them Red Horse Beer coz they were only gulping San Mig Light the whole time, they all turned it down saying it’s extra strong! I laughed hard and they were all, you gotta be kidding me. Haha.

I also told them, I haven’t been to the US, but I used to work for United Airlines and my favorite passengers are the guys in the military coz they’re really submissive. Mike laughed and told me that it’s kinda their thing to earn respect.

“ Do you like your dad”?, he asked.

“ Of course, we get along really well. Why?”

“ Because they say that if you really like your dad and you look up to him, you’ll most probably find a guy who’s like him. You should marry an American guy”. I couldn’t give him a straight answer, instead I stared at him, smiling and looking kinda shy.

“ Jesus, you don’t have to give me that look! You can say NO. Now, you have even offended me by giving me that stare”.

“ Nah, I prefer Mexicans”! And we all laughed again.

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“ I’m loving this party”! Mike exclaimed

“ You sure? Aren’t you bored with things I’ve been feeding your mind? It’s kinda selfish, you got the Filipino culture lecture”.

“ No, it’s cool! I like this kind of conversation where I don’t have to talk about music biz. Most of the time, the people we get to meet always tell me how awesome I play the guitar, how sick my band is, how many albums did we sell...we all knew that. It’s like, c’mon it feels great to know about some things, too, other than music”.

“ Hmn, you’re only saying that because you’re drunk, haha. You told us earlier that you’re a liar when you’re drunk”!

“ No, I’m serious”! And I thought, that was sweet.

When everybody (except John) got the droopy eyes, I suggested they all need to get some rest.

“ Hey, Mark, I think you’re sleepy. I’m seeing droopy eyes”, I said.

“ What, are you a psychic now”? Mark asked.

“ No, it’s obvious!”

“ I’m tired and sleepy, c’mon give me a hug before I go upstairs”.

*HUG*

“ Goodnight guys, nice meeting you”, he bid.

“ Sleep well, Mark. Nice meeting you, too”.

Then after a few more conversation with John and Mike about chucks, Hurleys, surfing, gin, Taco Bell, some varieties of local liquor, music festivals, and park across the highway (which happens to be Ateneo), Mike decided to go catch some zzz’s. He’s so sweet I got a hug for talking about Taco Bell, with passion.

“ I gotta go upstairs, nice meeting you girls”, Mike while giving each of us a bear hug.

It was about 4:30 in the morning and since John was incessantly talking about going to a park for a walk and to see the sunrise, we headed to Ateneo campus. The gate was closed so we thought of climbing up the fence to get in, but I saw some cars going through the other gate so we tried our best to charm the guards. Yes, they let us in! But after 15 minutes of walking around tryna find the best spot to watch the sunrise, a roving security guy told us to leave since we are not students. It was a bummer. It took us another 15 minutes to reach the hotel since John had to pee somewhere. My friend and I couldn’t stop laughing seeing John from a far taking a leak behind a big light post. It was cool and kinda funny seeing a guy like John Henry – the frontman of the melodic heavy metal band Darkest Hour being just what he is, like a normal person does and not a celebrity rockstar who always needs to be conscious of his every move in public places.

Me, John Henry and Shereen

When we reached the hotel, the sun was already creeping overhead, but the big trees kept us from seeing it. John invited us to their room so we could see it better . We watched the sunrise, appreciating the real art of nature while talking about the weather, his camping trips in California, RHCP’s Californication, and their trip to Thunderbird Resort in a few hours. He seemed so stoked he kept asking us where it is. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any idea. When he let out a gentle yawn, we decided to say goodbye.

“ Aww, you’re sleepy, we should get going”, I told him. He smiled bashfully.

“ Okay, I’ll lead you girls to the lobby”.

“ No, we’re good. We can find our way”.

“ Nope. C’mon”, he insisted.

We said our goodbyes and thank him for the most awesome hangout ever . He just smiled and gave us a hug.

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