RECOMMENDED: “Woodstock.”

RECOMMENDED: Concert Movie. “Woodstock.” The 1970 American documentary of the watershed counterculture Woodstock Music and Art Fair a.k.a. simply Woodstock Festival, which took place in August 15 to 18, 1969 on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel town in New York state. Directed by Michael Wadleigh, seven editors worked on this definitive project, including a 26-year old Martin Scorsese. 

       “Woodstock” since has gained a cult following among the hippie subculture and beyond. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite sporadic rain. Mud was all over, fun in peaceful chaos, kickass music. All in the seminal film that has since served as template for all live concert film coverage. 

       The original 1970 theatrical release of the film ran 185 minutes. A director's cut spanning 224 minutes was out in 1994; I have a DVD copy. Both cuts take liberties with the timeline of the festival. However, the opening and closing acts are the same in the film as they appeared on stage; Richie Havens opens the show and Jimi Hendrix closes it.

       I also have the expanded 40th anniversary edition, released in 2009 (DVD formats), which features additional performances not before seen in the film, and also includes lengthened versions of existing performances featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival and others.

       Although the event is widely regarded as an anti-war convergence, it wasn’t really political the way we regard “political” in these days of protest gatherings, music or whatever. “Woodstock” was more fiesta fun. I talked with some of those who were there—simply for the sheer love of music and connectedness. Such is the inspiration for my “Bonfires for Peace” community concerts. We just got together and played music for the people. All people. 

       My pick Woodstock performances, not in order: The Who (“We're Not Gonna Take It,” "See Me, Feel Me," “Summertime Blues”); Joe Cocker and the Grease Band (“With a Little Help from My Friends"); Country Joe and the Fish ("Rock and Soul Music"); Santana ("Soul Sacrifice"); Janis Joplin (“Work Me, Lord"); Jimi Hendrix ("Voodoo Chile,” “Purple Haze,” and "The Star-Spangled Banner"). 🎬🎭🎬

Visual: PBS.

RECOMMENDED. Book. “Chariots of the Gods?"

BOOK. “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past,” written in 1968 by Erich von Däniken and translated from the original German by Michael Heron. It involves the hypothesis that the technologies and religions of many ancient civilizations were given to them by ancient astronauts a.k.a. extra-terrestrials who were welcomed as gods.

       Do I believe in Mr Daniken per his UFO musings? Hmmmm. What I’d admit to is in those years, pubescent years, I was so enthralled with science fiction and E.T. tales. I also wallowed on R.L. Dione’s 1969 book “God Drives a Flying Saucer,” with more whacked out claims such as: God is not supernatural but is a technologically advanced Ufonaut or Saucerian God. The angel Gabriel hypnotized Mary and injected her with a hypodermic needle with God's sperm in it. Jesus was born by artificial insemination. Need I continue? LOL!

       Yet I must also admit that in these times of bombastic computer technology inventions, some of von Daniken and Dione’s eccentric thoughts would make some sense now. Dione, for example, asserted that JC didn’t really walked on water. It was a hologram beamed out of a UFO or flying saucer technology! Or the star over Bethlehem was a luminous flying saucer. And that, the human brain is akin to a radio, which can receive and emit electromagnetic signals.

      Meanwhile, Erich von Erich von Däniken wrote “Chariots…” when he was around 33. He is now 87 years old and still saying basically the same “conspiracy theory.” He is a regular on History/A&E Networks’ “Ancient Aliens,” a TV series that explores the ancient astronauts hypothesis, past human-extraterrestrial contact, UFOs, government conspiracies, and related pseudoscientific topics, such as remote viewing and psychic phenomena, in a non-critical, documentary format.

       The popular show, now on its 18th season, is inspired by the works of Mr von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin. Known scientific minds Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Brinsley Le Poer Trench, Charles Hapgood, and Edgar Cayce, are also referenced in many episodes. Of course, you may be more familiar with producer/presented Giorgio Tsoukalos, himself a ufologist and proponent of the pseudoarchaeological theory that ancient alien astronauts interacted with ancient humans.

       Von Däniken’s main thesis in his book is that extraterrestrial beings influenced ancient technology. He suggests that some ancient structures and artifacts appear to reflect more sophisticated technological knowledge than is known or presumed to have existed at the times they were manufactured. He further adds that the Nazca lines (200 BCE – CE 700) in Peru could be "landing strips" for alien spacecraft. Etc etcetera. Of course, many of those theories have been debunked.

       But with the U.S. government’s allotment of huge budget for space exploration and UFO “surveillance,” the fantabulous folly of extra-terrestrial “humanity” has taken a new light. But hey just saying. This talk is still a lot more fun than the endless annoyances of partisan/political headbutt. 📚✍️📚

Ramble On: Internet and all that filing stuff.

Just talking about stuff. Response friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited. 

DURING typewriter days, I used to maintain my own filing system at home. Cut-out newspaper/magazine articles, neatly-catalogued photographs, some in binders. In these internet days, we “file” stuff in hard drives, thumb drives, and iCloud. Yet if you ask me what is more secured? Uh huh? I have 7 laptops, majical cellphone, dozens of thumb-drives, google docs, blogs, Yahoo and Gmail inboxes. Safe? Nope. 

       The scarier part of new tech or how we are forced to use electronic devices is the loss of our identity, privacy, personal us. Little example: I now write or file stuff on Google Docs. I draft all my posts. Yet even before I post them on Facebook, I already get ads that pertain to my draft/posts. They know what I am writing before they go "public" because of the "connectedness" or connectivity of whatever we write or store or file in a plugged-up computer gadget. Then, manuscripts on paper stayed where we wanted them, songs were stored where can access them before sharing etcetera. 

       These days? When AI finally takes us out of the "work," where are we by then? Simply consumers and buyers of whatever can be had--via the internet. 🗄📰🗄

NOTHING in this world will ever be "kept" because that is The World. That is Life. Yet it doesn't mean we will just give away what we own, especially our individual minds that we "save" in our respective work or products. That is why there is a law. Of course, the law can be inutile as well as proof of Adolf Hitler stealing many work of art and burning the rest. So those that remained, governments keep them as national treasures. 

       Law also in most cases benefits the corporate god over the lowly craftsperson. But I want to exist fighting them. Exist working around evil and good. Meanwhile, we can try to protect our work as another cataclysm or world war comes. Life. All those "proof" things that computer technology offers to "keep" or protect the work? Nope. It'd be easier to steal, burn and destroy them. No need for floods or nukes. Just 1 click, done. And those that they want to keep for themselves, they have them. Not ours anymore. We will just be tiny bits in a composite electronic perfection called AI. 

       In fact, they already did. We cannot get back or retrieve what are ours anymore. They'd say we surrendered them, willingly. You see, I don't have any problem with life's imperfection. That makes living thrilling and exciting. Floods, fires, nukes or zombie apocalypse can erase stuff. Including me. True. But I want to exist that way. Imperfect. That is the life that I knew and can afford. Not an automated existence where control is the accepted truth because they already owned us. An electronic life that breathes per preprogrammed reflex. We will be part of the machine. It just isn't me. 🦾💻🦿

Famous Photography.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page. 

Zigzag Road, officially Kennon Road, is a two lane 20.83 mile roadway in Benguet province in the Philippines connecting the mountain city of Baguio to the lowland town of Rosario in La Union province. Baguio is my family’s 2nd home city (after Quezon City). I used to travel up/down the road. The road project started in 1903 during American commonwealth time; named after its builder Col. Lyman Walter Vere Kennon of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 📷📸📸

“The Kissing Sailor.” A sailor, George Mendonsa (1923–2019), jubilantly kissing a woman, Greta Zimmer Friedman (1924-2016), in Times Square on August 14, 1945. The kiss came after news of Japan's surrender, ending World War II. "Suddenly I was grabbed by a sailor, and it wasn't that much of a kiss," Ms Friedman told the Library of Congress. Life photographer Alfred Eisenstadt and Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen both captured the moment. 📷📸📸

“Migrant Mother.” Dorothea Lange’s 1936 photograph of 32-year-old farmworker Florence Owens Thompson and three of her children, huddled in a tent at a pea-pickers’ camp in Nipomo, California. The image epitomizes the desperate circumstances during the Great Depression. The photo was made for the U.S. Resettlement Administration, a federal agency created to document and remedy the plight of the urban and rural poor in the 1930s. 📷📸📸

Marilyn Monroe’s “flying skirt.” Photographed by Sam Shaw. The dress was designed by William Travilla for a sequence in the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch,” directed by Billy Wilder. The scene: Monroe and costar Tom Ewell exit the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre on Lexington Av. When they hear a subway train passing below the sidewalk grate, she steps on it and asks "Ooh, do you feel the breeze from the subway?" as the wind blows the dress up, exposing her legs. 📷📸📸

“Lunch atop a Skyscraper” was taken on Sept 20, 1932, of 11 ironworkers sitting on a steel beam 850 feet above the ground on the 69th floor of the RCA Building (Rockefeller Center) in Manhattan NYC. Arranged as a publicity stunt, it was part of a campaign promoting the skyscraper. The photo was often misattributed to Lewis Hine, a Works Progress Administration photographer. In 2016, the photography was acquired by the Visual China Group. 📷📸📸

DONNA’S BEAUTIFUL MADNESSES in the Philippines

IT’S ALL QUIET in the Asheville front… but that doesn’t mean, the fire has subsided or snuffed out. Upon my return to the mountains following a two-year respite in Southern California, I didn’t realize that “all things must change” (to rephrase George Harrison). But that doesn’t mean—I am packin’ up again and all set to head nowhere.
I am staying.
Meantime, the Philippine wing of The Bonfires is the exact opposite. Under the leadership of my daughter Donna—and her able associate Lorna Campilan—our Manila bureau has been rockin’ with four or five upcoming productions and events.

TRAVELING BONFIRES-Philippines kicks off its second half/2010 calendar of productions with a benefit concert for breast cancer victims, entitled “ALAB NG DIBDIB: A Traveling Bonfires Benefit for Breast Cancer Prevention,” set on Aug 21—coinciding with “Bonfires for Peace at Pritchard Park” on the same day, US time. That event, featuring Touch Samadhi’s DJs—could be our last for the year in Asheville.
A nude sketching fundraiser introduces “Alab…” on Aug 14. Seems to me, my colleagues in Manila—most of them in their past 50s and 60s—have become so smitten with “nude paintings.” Interesting…
The concert segment, which will be held at the Conspiracy Bar and Garden Café in Quezon City, will feature TBonfires’ core acts: Anak ni Aling Juana, BERSUS, Kalayag, and NukLus. Such an awesome development since these bands are fronted by mostly my Manila buddies—poets and artists (Abet Umil, Boyd Dominguez, Jhake Nebreja). By the way, Conspiracy Café, located in Visayas Avenue in Quezon City—a major suburb of Manila—was actually the other half of my childhood neighborhood (the other is Baguio City, located far north).
Needless to say, I had a full, active 20+ years writers’ life back in the islands—before I decided to sail away to New York City, for good, in 1998. (Again, that should be another long chapter in my life—and a lengthier subject to blog about, although that “life” remains as the springboard of my working novel, “Waiting for Winter.”)
On September (to October), The Bonfires heads farther up north—in Ilocandia—to help promote the Ilocos region as a major cultural center and destination in the country. In line are a series of events that include: arts and photography exhibitions, poetry readings, and musical performances. (Add info: My family or clan are Ilocanos—those who emanated from the Ilocos Region of the Philippines. It is located in the northwestern region portion of Luzon, the Philippines’ main island.)

SOMETIME in September, The Bonfires mounts what could be it its most ambitious concert production project in the Philippines, to date. Pending final negotiations, the organization—with the Ubbog Cordillera Young Writers Association—will bring back a legendary Pinoy rock and folk rock band through a free concert in Baguio City.
The Bonfires goes global in October with, “Kesher: Bonfires for Peace" (a concert for holocaust victims), a collaborative project with the YsraPhil Philippines Network Development Organization. Set on Oct 9th at Conspiracy, it will feature iconic singer-songwriter Joey Ayala plus Hebrew performers.
In between these programs and projects, The Bonfires continues to heed its commitment to fundraise and launch program assistance and training for at-risk youths, via the Association Compassion Asian Youth (ACAY), a non-profit, humanitarian service organization catering to youth at risk, based in Balanga town in Bataan province in the Philippines. ACAY, under the aegis of the Missionaries of Mary, an international Catholic movement (main office in France), is a perennial beneficiary of the Traveling Bonfires’ fundraise events.
[For details of these projects, you may email Donna at donna.pascua@consiglieresolutions.com]

Updated: Pasckie Pascua

1:13 AM. 3 August 2010
Candler NC

[Photo: The band, Anak ni Aling Juana, in a Traveling Bonfires fundraiser for families of victims of involuntary disappearances, held at Conspiracy Garden & Cafe in Quezon City, Philippines, in July 2009.]

VAGRANT WIND ROAD JOURNEYS

The Bonfires / Vagrant Wind, Leg 4
The calm waters of Fells Point, diverse colors at a Soweboarts booth, Sarah Blackman and Ophir Drive on 1st Avenue New York, and a beautiful spirit--Good Golly Miss Lacy…
Late May to June 2005.

THIS IS CERTAINLY a belated Vagrant Wind Road Journey, Leg 4 “journal/report.” It has been a full two weeks, 14 days, since I got back here in Asheville. Today’s June 27th, Monday, 5am—just a few days to my next trip to Richmond VA. I have just finished watching a longer version of “Woodstock,” following dinner/DVD-watching in Dale Hoffman’s family’s new house up in Candler last night. Truth is, I am about to freak your inboxes out again with my usual, elongated, ramble-on Updates, as me and Marta The Nicer Osbourne busy our ever-crazy systems with pre-prod concerns leading to the next “Bonfires for Peace at Pritchard Park” (set on July 16 and Aug 6), and a dinner evening/intimate show 3rd year of The Indie benefit at Rosetta’s Kitchen on July 17. (There might be a “weekend” Bonfires engagement in Chapel Hill NC on July 8 and 9.)
Aside from a self-imposed 3 or 4-day “wavelength-realignment” jaunt somewhere in the woods near Fairfax, Virginia – from June 30 to July 3 or 4 – I haven’t drawn up the supposed fifth leg of Vagrant Wind yet. Although there is a looming “Bonfires for Peace in Manila” and a “Loud & Peaceful” rock extravaganza in Chapel Hill or Winston-Salem this August or late July, nothing is really concrete yet. (I will be discussing this in my Update, so wait up.) (I realize that there’s a more significant need to stay more days in Asheville this summer, than the road—but let’s see…)
The last road trip (May 24 to June 14?) was my longest, more than three full weeks or almost a month – away from my home-turf—but it was, nonetheless, the most intimate yet the most wearisome (albeit no Bonfires gig to supervise). I decided to cancel at least three previously booked Bonfires shows to focus and concentrate on rekindling old friendships, build new friendships, acquaintances, and networks, and hopefully, fortify previous connections and hook-ups.

MY FIRST STOP was Alexandria VA—I just basically rested in Lacy’s house for couple of days/nights, sort of “refuel, pump up” energies and motivations before attending the Soweboarts Festival in B’more (May 29). Karla Mancero and Brian Langston picked me up almost noontime of that same day at the Greyhound terminal, downtown Baltimore. The Traveling Bonfires secured a space/stall at Soweboarts. I invited new buddy, Iris, to join me in handling/supervising The Bonfires spot—she, in turn, invited Andrew Byrne of/and Red Emma’s Bookstore to join us, with books, brochures, t-shirts etc. About 5 or 6 other Red Emma’s staffers were also there, but it was Iris and myself, with intermittent help and fiery, inspirational words from Matt aka Counterfeitmatt and Andrew, who took charge at The Bonfires space. Iris supplied me with steady stream of beers and Food Not Bombs food… and warm and playful chit-chats (“I’ll be staying in a forest in upstate New York this summer... let’s get in touch,” “I just graduated and my parents threw me a party last night!” “How long you been traveling?”)
In between, I read three poems at the Poetry Stage that’s got drowned by a Rock Stage just a few yards away. Hmm, quite an experience… but, at least, a Maryland suburban couple and a young girl from Philly (“I can play the ukulele with violin, I call it ukulin!”) took serious notice of my poetry (and “strange cheekbones, are you Thai or Cherokee?”) and went on to buy my chapbook and CD. Very cool.
Familiar friends, cafes, vibes, and Bonfires performers: Estella Ramirez and Audrey didn’t-ask-her-last-name, Julie Fisher, Steve (the Aaron Neville-baritoned dude who openly sang love songs “for her, but she’s married” during Bonfires nights at Wydeye in Fells Point), Sarah Pinsker and Stalking Horses, Ocean May, Chris forgot-the-last-name-again, Peggy and Minas Konsolas of Minas Gallery, Matt’s homeys, Ryan Coffman, Melanie Bazensky etc etc. There was an after-event party at a nearby art gallery, me and Karla/Brian hanged out for an hour or so. I came across more familiar faces and Baltimore friends: Kelly Richmond, Justin, the-girl-with-colorful-beads, nameless souls that I saw in past Bonfires events, Jim Hickey, Steve of The Whole Gallery, etc etc… I realize I have already made many friends and acquaintances in Baltimore. I had a few minutes chat with Justin (“My band, Locust Grove, will be visiting Asheville again this summer…”) I met new people, new network. (I spent the night in Karla/Brian’s apartment near Hampden. Thanks for the homecooked late dinner and breakfasts…)

SECOND STOP. Back to Alexandria VA—May 30, 31. Stayed/rested/planned things up in Lacy’s apartment. While here, I replanned and regrouped…
Third stop. New York City, Jersey City. June 1 to June 11. I decided to cancel/move a couple of shows and instead decided to cool things off and spend more time with longtime friends—Renrick Pascual in Jersey City, Kate O’Haley in Brooklyn, and my Pinoy rocker homeys. I wanted to dig in deeper about producing options, business perspectives. I have waited for a prospective (Charlotte NC-based) investor/business hook-up(?) to communicate but no words came. So I decided to chill, re-strategize, relax. Besides, during these days, my Mother was again rushed to ICU in Manila—I simply stayed more to myself and walked, hanged out, pondered, ruminated all over East Village and midtown Manhattan. (My Mom, once again, survived the ordeal, thank God!) In between, I went and saw one of Sarah Blackman aka Ophir Drive’s gigs—the one at Paddy Reilley’s on First Avenue, was it? (I hanged out a bit, with her, at Grand Central Station…) Had a very serious conversation with Jason B, (his wife) Mitos, and Renrick—all about the, as ever, fragmented Pinoy community, oh well… Then, that weekend, I tagged along with Renrick to Westchester for that “wedding gig”—that time, I was a journalist cum roadie.
Nothing really physically draining, that time. I already reported, rambled about Gino Inocentes’ successful 10-band gig at Tribeca Rock Club in downtown Manhattan, I think, few days ago… well, that was a cool experience—to see and chill with my longtime friends again, Hmmm, all those bloated beerbellies, and stuff. Seems like everybody’s domesticated, all of a sudden. But, hey, the real story here—was Marta The Nicer Osbourne’s awesome, productive stewardship/handling of The Indie Crib and Indie/Bonfires affairs while I was away… Of course, again, I’ve already reported that last week.

JUNE 12, Philippine Festival in Towson, MD (or Baltimore), with Lacy. I just basically spent the day drinking San Miguel beer (Pinoy beer), chatted with Filipino pals (Jimmy, Eric, Marco, Jun, Anthony etc etc) about concerts and all that stuff—while Lacy attended to her $1-a-minute massage therapy service/job. The event ended relatively early, at 6pm. Lacy treated me to a beside-the-waters dinner at Fells Point…
And so that’s the fourth leg. Do I sound like I am still tired? I don’t know. I really need a break this week—so I’ll be somewhere in the woods of West Virginia starting Thursday night. But I won’t be reporting details of that rendezvous when I head back here on July 4th and 5th.
Gracias!

—Pasckie
5:34am. June 27 05.
Asheville NC

VAGRANT WIND ROAD JOURNEYS

Warm hands on beaten-up spinal columns, 3-second in-between sets recognitions, “free beer handed to me as I remind the soundperson to fix the bass amp,” and the words, the words
THE TRAVELING BONFIRES / VAGRANT WIND, Leg 3
May 7-14 2005. New York City, Baltimore MD, Washington DC.

GEORGE WASHINGTON University's indoor Hippodrome struck--or eeriely snuggled up at me like an insistent shot of Jose Cuervo snaking down my chest on a 5am winter storm. It's warm wakeupper alright but it's also intoxicatingly out-of-there.
The venue of the event--"Students Taking Action Now for Dafur"--where I read two poems with The Rhythm Insurgency shook me like a private Hard Rock Café than a campus chill-out accessory (that I’ve known in my own college time). There was a pretty decent row of neat bowling lanes on the same floor, various TV screens with the NBA playoffs beaming like sugar-coated enticements, cuddly Jennifer couches to lounge on… All these counterpointing fiery, sublime passion exuding out of the students’ radical spirits. Ah, no rough-textured city street gutters, for the time being.
As I read "Black Poem, Blue Ink, Red Blood" and "What is Peace?" -- I knew, I felt that the words connected like a flaming bullet conjectured deep, deep down. It was definitely one of my coolest gigs.
That--THAT--is what Paul Simon sermonizes as "the sound of silence," the aching contradiction that magnifies, articulates, empowers a sociopolitical kick. That is where we exuberantly, persistently separate the dark from the light, the black from the white--and scream out the true, sincere message of humanity. We have been pretty comfortable lately... we should switch off the TV, mute the bowling alleys, dump the sofa bed, and head out the streets. Rock it, young people!

THUS I BEGUN the Third Leg of the Vagrant Wind Road Journey. After an energetic, sweetly-tiring mini-tour of Washington DC's Adams Morgan and DuPont Circle neighborhoods with Lacy McAuley -- climaxed by twin, half-nervous, stolen swigs of Stolichnaya at a park bench afront Uncle Sam's seat of power -- I joined Laurie Blair, Kristen Arant, Jessica Philie, and the rest of The Insurgency's spoken word/drumming ensemble with GWU's student performers on a 3-hour wake-up advocacy directed at the ongoing famine/genocide in Sudan.
After spending two nights and a day in Lacy's pad in Alexandria VA... she drove me back to the Greyhound on the 9th (morning) for my trip to New York City, where the second "Leg Three" show happens at the C-Note in The Village. I didn’t make it to the first two sets--by Ophir Drive (aka Sarah Blackman, 7-8pm) and The Atomic Grind Show (8-9pm)--but I was able to stride in the fully-packed club as Mambola started its set.
"We'd like to thank Pasckie Pascua of the Traveling Bonfires for organizing this show," Ruben Austria interjected on the middle of their set. "He traveled 18 hours, North Carolina to New York, to watch a one-hour show."
That's all I ever needed to soothe my aching backs (walking from 1st Avenue all the way to Thompkins Square to Avenue A to C, with my laptop wearing me down like a payloader on my left shoulder). Sarah (aka Ophir D) was still there, alright... I said hello for about 7 seconds, shook hands with AGS's bassist Geoff Zink, then I slid back to the bar and finished my $5 Corona--that's all I could afford for the night, I guess. I wanted to talk more with Sarah and exchange pleasantries with the The Atomic Grinds, but... maybe it's the relatively expensive beer (yes, dearie, no PBR or Natty Bo in downtown Manhattan), my nonchalant snobbishness or aloofness at it again, or I was just plain-and-simple tired. But Sarah promised to buy me ten beers the next time I get to New York so...

AFTER THE C-NOTE show, I spent few hours at a pizza joint, chatting (or listening) with Ruben and the rest of the Mambolas and their friends, including sister Liza and bro John. As usual, Benrubs made us all squirm and/or laugh with his surreal, grim, crazy subway stories ("This middle-aged Chinese woman caught this subway rat by her foot... on her white Nike shoes, then stomped at the poor fella and then squashed the dude dead, eekkk, eeekkkk, then picked the lifeless thing up, and dumped it!") Oh well, I think I'll book Ruben as a standup comic next time...
My next day in New York, I spent with longtime friends Kate O'Haley in her Brooklyn flat, Renrick Pascual (across the Hudson River to Heights, Jersey City), and Lally Cenabre in Manhattan. What's so touching about chillin' and hangin' out with my Filipino buddies, every time I hit NYC or New Jersey, is that--I feel I just "arrived home" to my most intimate soul, I spend moments with friends who are more concerned with the amount of sleep that I take or the "healthiness" of the junk food that I swallow than the "success" of my American journey... or "...whatever it is that you are searching for" (as Kate puts it).
It's not that my other non-Pinoy friends aren’t concerned about these endearing, heartfelt intimacies... they do, they really do, especially Marta The Nicer Osbourne (who never fail to email me every two hours), and for this particular trip--Lacy (who even cooked/prepared my travel food and dinners/breakfasts… notwithstanding fatigue/sleepiness, she offered to pick me in Baltimore from DC and VA, and back, on the last night and day of this particular leg), and Daniel Stuelpnagel who provided my crash bed for almost five days in his new apartment near Fells Point's waterfront neighborhood in Baltimore.
The C-Note show... It was one of those gigs that most talent buyers and booking agents call "successful." Mike McHugh of New Century Productions--the booking mainman that I deal with in New York--was so pleased with The Bonfires bookings at the C-Note that he again offered me more spots at the club this summer. (So Mambola and Ophir Drive--with new find, the two-sister Albany NY duo Sweet Bread--will be back there at the C-Note on July 5, plus in hopefully other NY clubs, this summer.) I wish I still had time. I wasn’t able to attend to other planned, important NYC chores—with promotions consultant Mabel Arenas and club owner/manager Nell Castellvi in Queens, artist Jennifer Larkin in the East Village, and radio host Jason Baquilod in New Jersey. I will have to do all these on the upcoming leg.

MAY 11, WED, BALTIMORE. Daniel Stuelpnagel (himself preparing for a twin art exhibition opening that week) picked me up at the Greyhound. We didn’t have much time so we drove straight to Frederick MD... I was a featured poet in a monthly writers gathering by a community group called Dreamers Poetry Series, on invite from its head honcho Daniel Armstrong.
It was a very attentive, intimate audience, mostly older than the usual crowd (that listen to my work)--held in a sort of landmarked coffeehouse. An Indonesian woman shared her poetry in Bahasa and Mandarin (her fiance read the English translation) and an older man read a poem about my home-country (Philippines) that he wrote when he fought with Filipino soldiers in the Pacific during WWII. Another man read a rhyming verse about chickens as the cappuccino machine supplied the background effects. It was so cool... I was also able to sell two CDs and three chapbooks. (The next day, the 12th, I just spent time whiling away hours beside the waterfront of Fells Point.)

FRIDAY THE 13TH, The Bonfires third show/gig for this leg--The Royal, Federal Hills, seven acts, including two high school bands from Gaithersburg MD--Crease and Payoff, who brought their parents and cousins and other relatives to watch them rock ("Take my breath away..." / "Oh my love, my darlin'...") The owner (a guy named Mark, who looked like Simon Cowell of American Idol) was very hopeful about a huge turnout for the night (based on our cool turnout precedents at Frazier's).
The City Paper had three cool mentions about The Bonfires show that week... We had a pretty within-minimum draw for the night, but I guess, we just expected too much. On a given night, it was fine--but the hype wasn’t cool, sometimes The Bonfires is so hyped up that I felt like a superman-who-cant-lose-a-kryptonite, you know what I'm saying? What if it wasn’t The Bonfires organizing, what if it's just a three-act gig that's booked on random? I mean, a 50+ draw for the night was within-expectation, but when people hear that we had 200+ on two consecutive gigs/dates in a Hampden club, well, that's too stiff an act to follow (considering that it's our first gig at The Royal). Yes, I was silently frustrated with the turnout. Eric Pepa (Angie's dad) and Jimmy Almario supplied all my beers that night (so thankful about The Indie/Dale Hoffman's short review of Angie's EP) + a t-shirt and a 1/4 first-ad in the next Indie issue, so why am I sulking?
And yes, Darlyn Horgos was there again (it touched me so to see friends show up in almost all of my invites). However, more than half of the acts and their crowd were below age limit (to drink alcohol), so that's bad news to club business. So no matter how Eric and Jimmy, and Gino Inocentes and Marco Galsim, consumed more beers, the bar's ain’t gonna be happy. The door earned its beyond-$150 cut (but the club also gets 30% cut on top of that), so...

FELLS POINT, THE 14TH. It was the Wydeye show, the last show on this leg. Rollickin’ beatboxer, Shodekeh, showed up. It was a rainy night... quite the ambiance that asks for intimate poetry, I guess. Dominic aka Shodekeh started it up, sort of.
Wydeye has a very cozy, comfy living-room feel, by the way. As usual, the two couch/seven-to-eight chairs were all occupied. Darlyn (I can call her Darlin', I guess, for always being present) read her "hometown/bedroom breezy" poetry straight from a neatly-collected journal... Johns Hopkins student Estella Ramirez, the other featured singer-songwriter strode in soaking wet, coming from a marquee rockfest featuring Coldplay and Foo Fighters.
Estella’s voice has a kneading, warm rawness to it, very warm... and yes, as she promised me, she sang "Cucurucucu Paloma." Nice, warm evening. There were three sets of couples, focusedly listening (one pair--the young woman sat by her boyfriend's lap)... Audrey was there, too, and another man that I usually see in Bonfires gigs in Baltimore—familiar faces, familiar moments…
As I walked back from Aliceanna Street all the way to Fleet Street towards Canton where Daniel's pad is located... I felt that the minor sadness of the previous night's gig at The Royal was over, it was just a night, it was over. And to culminate a satisfying evening, I felt quiet joy to know that Daniel's second-day of exhibition opening with friends Cinder Hypki and Naomi Sullivan was a huge success ("I didn’t expect it, I am overwhelmed!") The studio-gallery was filled with people, Daniel sold two paintings...

THE FOLLOWING DAY, the 15th... I was supposed to attend another invite from students of Goucher College (a personal invite from a cute young woman named Iris who was at my Red Emma’s reading last month) to an event by an environmental activist group (BuGs) at The Jerk Store near The Harbor. But I was already very tired... I consumed the morning in Daniel's pad, catching up on my emails and Indie writings. In the afternoon, I again went near the waters of Fells Point and wrote a few poems, had some beers and chilled oysters at The Admiral's Cup, later had dinner with Daniel... and then engaged him to lengthy conversations as I waited for Lacy to pick me up at around 11pm.
Again, I spent another night in Lacy's pad in Alexandria... before noontime, she drove me to the Greyhound for my trip back to Asheville. I was supposed to read poems in another invite from a group called Word Works (c/o Yvette Moreno) based in Chevy Chase MD, near DC, I think--but, yes, I overshot/overbooked myself, I gotta rest, so I didn’t go. As I strode inside the terminal towards ticketing, Lacy called out with a bag of food and a jug of water... Yes, again, I forgot these things.

THE INTIMACY of this neverending journey, not the seeming physical/material "success" of the tiring efforts and "sublime madnesses" are the beautiful gifts of humanity that, I know, make The Blue Sky God/dess watch over me, and supply me more energy and inspiration to carry on... The food prepared just for me, the warm hands massaging my beaten-up spinal column, the 3-second recognition said on the mic before each song, the free beer handed to me as I remind the soundperson to fix the bass amp, and the words... the words...
"...I had not glanced at your photo on my mobile phone, but I did notice your long dark hairs on my pillow, and shared with you a distant smile...” Yes, the journey has just begun... it never ends, it always begins. The fourth leg has started in Chapel Hill NC last Friday, May 20th. See you this weekend, somewhere in Baltimore...
Gracias!

--Pasckie
Asheville NC. 1:20pm.
May 23, 2005.