Last Saturday I was supposed to go to Baguio to visit my folks, reconnect with friends and old co-workers, but I thought it would be a hassle to go at the day of the Flower Festival Street and Float Parades. Baguio would have been packed with people during the parades, especially Session Road, so I thought I’d just postpone my trip however much I missed home.
So having postponed my trip at the last minute I was left with nothing to do on a Saturday night. I was already to staying at home when my friend sent me a text message asking me if I wanted to accompany him to a private party somewhere in Makati at 7PM. Unfortunately, I couldn’t possibly have made it at 7PM since I was already headed to church for the night service and that starts at 6:45PM. Besides, I didn’t even know the person throwing the party so I probably would have felt like a gatecrasher had I attended so I had to say no to the party.
After church, I got another message from my friend asking if I wanted to see Up Dharma Down at 10PM instead. I’m not really that big a fan of the band but I liked their music so I said, “sounds good!” I was to meet my friend in front of Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street in The Fort at 10PM. The band was performing at Magnet Café, but I wasn’t sure where that was so I opted to have my friend meet me somewhere I was already familiar with.
Delay! Delay! Delay!By 9:30PM I had already left the house and took a tricycle going to the highway. I was debating with myself whether to take the train or the bus when I realized the station for buses going to The Fort was right below the Ayala MRT Station. So I opted to take the train.
I arrived at the train station at 9:40PM, got my ticket and waited at the platform. Fifteen minutes later the train hasn’t arrived yet so I texted my friend that I’d be a couple minutes late. I was already getting frustrated with the train schedule if not for the “sights” around me (there were three booty-licious guys around and ogling at them dispersed my frustration).
A train finally arrived at a couple minutes past ten but it was already jam-packed with people that only a few were able to board. I opted to wait for the next train, thinking it’d probably take just about five minutes.
Alas! That wasn’t the case. After the train left, it was announced that the next train would arrive in 20 minutes. I had to wait twenty long minutes more for the next train and, unfortunately, two of my eye-candies were able to make their way in the fully packed train so it was bye-bye-cutie-pies! Oh, well! At least there was still one cute guy left to ogle.
So, twenty minutes after, the train finally arrived; still almost full but at least I was finally able to board. I still couldn’t believe that many people were using the MRT at that late hour. It was so full I could barely move my arms without smacking anybody.
I finally got off at the Ayala Station at around 10:40PM. Worried that I was already very late, I texted my friend that I was about to board the bus going to Market Market. When I got to the bus station, there weren’t any buses yet and I had to wait another 10 minutes and my phone was already running low on battery power! Could you believe my luck?
Nonetheless, I arrived at Bonifacio High Street, albeit an hour late from our set rendezvous. My friend met me at Fully Booked as we have agreed upon and he led me to Magnet Café where the opening act was already playing. Well, at least I didn’t miss the band we went there for.
Up Dharma DownMy friend, Jade, had told me earlier that he was with a couple, Marcy and her boyfriend Mac, to which he introduced me once we got in Magnet. Mac didn’t know the band, but Marcy was a fan; not a wonder since Up Dharma Down sounds really good!
Since only the opening act was playing at that time, we paid little attention to the playing band and chatted a bit; nothing big, just small talk since this was the first time I met them.
A couple of songs later, we noticed that the second band was already setting up. The vocalist was wearing a short boy-cut hair, a sweater, sneaks and plain jeans so we were trying to figure out whether she was straight or not. Why we even bother figuring that out, I wouldn’t know.
Later, while the band was playing their first song, Jade blurted “that’s them!”
We were so preoccupied with trying to figure out whether the girl was straight or not that we didn’t even realize it was already Up Dharma Down playing. A couple more notes into the song and we all conceded that that was certainly the sound of Up Dharma Down.
They really sounded good! There weren’t a lot of theatrics, i.e. not much stage movement, but they really sounded good and watching them perform live is so much better than listening to a record or watching a music video. They played a couple of songs; one of them was “Oo” which was peculiarly dedicated by someone at the front seats to his companion.
I had so wanted to take a video or even just a picture of them playing live, but as luck would have it, my phone’s battery power was already hanging on for its dear life, so there wasn’t much I could do about that. I just conceded to enjoying seeing them perform live.
Going ChineseAfter the performance, we stayed for a couple more minutes to finish our beer. I, personally, wasn’t about to go without finishing the bottle that cost me a hundred and ten bucks (their beer was ridiculously pricey). Jade, Mac and Marcy were discussing where to go next since Magnet was about to close (it was already almost 2AM and, besides, the beer was too pricey to actually enjoy had we opted to stay).
After we finished our beer, our next stop would be Tianamen at Makati Avenue. It was a Chinese-themed resto/bar with low tables and pillows for seats. Of course, they offered Chinese food, too!
At Tianamen, we were joined by another friend, San, with whom Marcy was trying to set me up. He’s straight, though, and not really my type, but I just played along. It wasn’t long before they realized that I’m not really interested and neither was San.
Marcy got a Singapore Sling, Jade ordered for an Amaretto Sour which was served on a very gay martini glass, while I got Long Island. The two guys just settled for beer, but the three cocktails all tasted the same – like calamansi juice, very expensive calamansi juice.
Between Tigris and EuphratesWe left Tianamen at around 4 in the morning, still not quite drunk, but very, very sleepy. Marcy and Mac went ahead and got a cab while Jade, San, and I walked around a bit.
Jade showed us a bar named Ziggurat just behind Tianamen and located right in the corner of Tigris St. and Euphrates St. Quite an ingenious way of naming a bar in that location, if I may say so. I didn’t even know there were streets named Tigris and Euphrates and Makati until then.
Anyway, that concluded our day. We were all really very sleepy and decided to head home.
It was fun, though; seeing one of my favorite bands play live, meeting new friends, and discovering new places. So I thought this event deserved a post in my blog. At least I’ll have a recorded memory of that night.
