"Feeling Rockstar Ako" Part One: "Enveloped Ideas"

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Love for music is indeed a great way to make friends. Because of my love for music, particularly New Wave music, I have forged lasting friendships through out my life's course with so many great minds and interesting personalities in the music business. Who would believe that, because of music, I am friends or acquaintances with a great number of them, whom many people only know from a distance?

Singing out my enveloped ideas...

Because of my band, Jett Pangan and Francis Reyes of The Dawn have known me. I could lovely recall how surprised a few officemates were, when, while we were at a mall, Jett Pangan approached us, acknowledged me by name, and started chitchatting with me...amidst my officemates' glowering eyes. Why wouldn't Jett, when he was the one who invited us into signing a recording contract, in 1994, with Viva Records? He was at the time a label manager at Viva, and then he saw us promote an independently released single, "Alimango," on Channel 9's Chibugan Na. I will never forget the day my bandmates and I visited Viva office on Quezon Ave. in Quezon City finally to meet Jett and discuss about the offer.

After the handshakes and formal niceties, and after engaging ourselves in a nostalgic conversation about New Wave music, Jett, my bandmates and I had finally become equals in the matters of confidence.

"Guys, I saw you on TV a few days ago," Jett said, "I really liked your song 'Alimango'; it has a Smiths flavor in it. And your vocalist—Robert Smith, man!"

Signing the contract a few days after, we were all set to record our first (and only) solo album. Jett asked whom we might want to have as our album's co-producer. He suggested two personalities: Robert Javier of The Youth and his bandmate Francis Reyes. Unanimously, we chose the latter.

Entered Francis Reyes into the Viva office the next meeting day—such a serious front! Ha-ha-ha! Because after spending about two months with him in the recording studio, oh well, only then we did realize how wacky and crazy Francis really was, just like the rest of us. He even participated on a few songs in our album, by playing my legendary little orange plastic toy guitar in "Aligue" and by joining the backup vocals for "We Are the Saints."

Jett, for his part, sang the introductory vocals of "Engkanto."

Tabi, tabi po...
Nuno sa punso...

Years passed, we remain casual friends with them, especially that my band used to practice at Pipeline Studios, in Makati City, of which Jett was a part owner. He would sometimes jam with us, singing with me "The Pan Within" by The Waterboys or "Just like Heaven" by The Cure.