Saturday at AIM

With majority of Team Lestat in CDO for Rock Ed session (they were with Peryodiko for a Bookbigayan project), Beng, Nards and I went to AIM for a Rock Ed gig with Chilitees and Juan Pablo Dream. The there of us left the house a bit before two pm, because I wanted to give allowance to traffic. Plus, I have to allot time to indulge my wonderful sense of direction and complete ignorance of the one-way roads in Makati. We arrived at AIM a bit before three, and the only major traffic jam we encountered was in the stretch of EDSA between Camp Crame and the foot of the flyover at Galleria. And the only mishap we encountered was missing the basement parking entrance. So we had to circle the block twice: one for looking for the "other" AIM; and the other to find the right basement parking entrance. (And on the second round, I almost ran over this girl ("NGI!, ang pangit na niya ate!") who hates my guts, who copies my blog, and has the nerve to say I was cyberstalking her, instead of the other way around, but that's another blog entry all together.)



First order of business was to inform Jaime Garch that we have arrived, then talk to the event coordinators. The event coordinator handling the event were okay, but they were more interested in Kiko Pangilinan than taking care of what we needed for our musicians which is their priority (because hello, that's their job). First, they relegated the lobby (small cramped space beside the receptionist's desk that housed a love seat and two armchairs) as a holding area (our green room, if you please) for our musicians. I had to request panels for privacy, food and beverages for the artists, and additional chairs. They granted our request after an hour and after two follow ups from Beng and myself.

Beng slightly exasperated and (more likely) pissed off with someone who shall remain unnamed. Heck, I got pissed off too. This resulted to several complaint texts and calls exchanged between Manila and CDO.

While waiting for the artists, Beng and I were trying to keep warm. The lobby was COLD. And we were not provided any hot beverage except for cold bottles of water and C2 (to accompany the cold burgers they provided Rock Ed).

Old woman's hands from the cold.

Nards briefly went inside the conference room, listening to Kiko Pangilinan talk about leadership, and then he went back to where we were to complain about the content of his talk. He also reported that he saw Kidlat (yey! one of us!) seating at the front row.



Dan and Uela were the first to arrive, and in a few minutes the lobby was filled with the members of the two bands, plus their managers and handlers. Jaime gave me the go signal to start the show at around five pm while the forum participants were putting their hand prints on their manifesto.



The musicians put on a great show, and they literally leave you wanting for more.

Uela of Chilitees





Saxophonist of Juan Pablo Dream





Bing Austria of Juan Pablo Dream

After a few swigs of free booze, everybody dispersed: the bands had other gigs that evening, and the three of us were starving.

Dex posing with the free cans of beer. They just didn't say it was the size of a small child.

We decided to go to Chocolate Kiss Cafe for an early dinner.

Nards ordered the chicken basket, because I was craving fries.

I ordered Chicken Barbecue because he wanted mashed potatoes.

Then Beng, who is in her health binge, ordered Tofu.

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon. :)