Banchetto: Midnight Banquet

If you are working on a night shift in Ortigas business center, this weekly event is probably one of the things you look forward to finish off your work week. At around 11pm every Friday until 6am the next day Saturday, half of the road in Emerald Avenue is closed off for a hundred yards of tents of delicious food and drinks. Banchetto is an Italian word that translates to a big feast or banquet. The name is appropriate as the atmosphere is always festive every Banchetto day. The street is loitered mostly of yuppies working in call centers and BPOs whose Philippine operations are centered in the Ortigas area. The tables are not always enough and the place always packed so most of diners sit on the sidewalks and on the steps in front of the buildings enjoying the food they have chosen from the variety of cuisines available. The cuisines range from Filipino, Chinese, American, Italian, Japanese, Indian, East Asian, Korean and Mongolian treats. To top it off, they are sold in the most affordable prices. It is one place you should visit at least once when you are in Ortigas area.

Banchetto in Emeral Avenue. Food! food!

The usual crowds in Banchetto

Diners eating at the steps of Strata 200 Building

Banchetto nestled in between the buildings of Ortigas,one of the busiest business centers in the Philippines

Eraserheads Reunion-March 2009

So I missed the first Eraserheads Reunion Concert and all I could do was pout and bleed with envy while watching the clips on Y0utube. But by God I can't miss the second one!! The Eraserheads are set to have a reunion this year with a tentative schedule on March 7, 2009. This is in spite of the unfortunate incident on the first reunion concert where Eli Buendia, the band's front man was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the gig. The concert is said to be produced by the music video giant MTV with mobile network giant SMART. They have yet to decide the venue and are choosing between SM Mall of Asia Grounds or The Fort. The ticket prices are yet to be announced too. I will surely post an update as soon as I know of them.
On the side, Mcdonald's new commercial used Eraserhead's "Huling Bimbo" song. It was nice and really brings back nice youthful memories. I hope I can make it on Part 2 of their reunion concert.

Ballet Phillippines presents Coppélia

the coppelia cast

I received a most generous gesture when my friend Herlene invited me to watch Ballet Philippines' Coppélia at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) last Sunday. I was so excited as it is my first time to watch a ballet show by the most prestigious ballet group in the Philippines. So even if I was so tired and sleepy from the previous night wild partying, I dragged myself out of bed to travel three hours from Cavite to Manila to watch the show.

It's a story about an engaged couple Franz and Swanilda, the life-size doll Coppelia and an eccentric doctor who created Coppelia. The ballet is composed of three acts. On the first act, Franz and Swanilda was about to be married, but Franz had this fascination with the doctors life-size doll Coppelia. On the second act, Swanilda managed to get into the doctors house with her friends. But the doctor arrived and she had to hide in the closet where Coppelia was also hidden. Franz, wanting to see Coppelia also managed to get into the doctor's house but the doctor had drugged him. Swanilda, not posing as Coppelia managed to trick the doctor and rescued Franz. They were reconciled and ultimately, got married. You can read the complete story here of Coppelia here. Personally, I thought Franz of the story was a royal jerk. Why be infatuated with a doll and profess his love for Swanilda at the same time. But then again, I was there to watch the Ballet and be enveloped with the audio-visual treat of the orchestra and the magnificent dancing and would like to ignore Franz psychology at this point. I may not be able to appreciate ballet the way that it should be appreciated by the ballet connoisseurs but a part of me know that I am watching something really good. This are just for the reasons of how the dance are executed, of the discipline in following show schedules, and the heart-felt performance. It is for the reasons of understanding the story without lines but just music and movement that proved that it was indeed a beautiful show. A personal note though and I say it again and again, that even if Ballet is not a mainstream entertainment, it should be made available to the public. I define available as to be advertised in the mainstream media and not just in lifestyle sections of the broadsheet. So that the public will be given the chance to appreciate it. I think the masses need to appreciate art just because it makes one's life richer and broadens one's perspective. Congratulations to the cast of Coppelia and the Ballet Philippines.

photos courtesy of this cute girl , ;)

Musically Inclined

Saturday morning, woke up at 6:30 a.m. with aching muscles. Fun, crazy badminton marathon every single night the past week. A chat friend asked, "What's good with playing badminton?" Ummm...lessening my waist's excess baggage and a way to release my angst instead of smashing house furnitures?? LOL.

Anyways, I accompanied Ayrah to the Salonga Music Store at Araneta Center. That day was the day that she is getting her new guitar. We have conspired to drag my brother who loves everything about guitars to the store so he could pick a nice guitar for her. My brother opted to educate two ignorant creatures who were awed with a cute contraption called a tuner. I could not believe though a guitar could be worth Php135,000 , how in the world could a guitar be worth that much? My brother, with a shrug answers that Jimmy Hendricks' guitar was auctioned at $1,000,000 and someone bought it. Ridiculously crazy really, if you ask me.

Salonga Music Store Guitars On-Sale until end of October

After much thinking, Ayrah beamed with excitement as she is holding her baby guitar, Brooke. Thank goodness she did not choose the name Gorgonia, Cobralyn or Junior.hahaha. I like the name Philomena though. Read more about baby Brooke on her proud Mama Ayrah's blog at Buntong-Hininga.

After which, we went to a videoke booth in Timezone Gateway Mall. Oh yeah don't we all love to sing our heart away. My sister who just came back from Atlanta, Georgia told me that almost everyone she met there asked her if it's true that all filipinos are good singers. My sister, in her most beaming smile and a wink said,"Sure!" Well, my sister might be very well not telling the truth but I do know that singing is in every filipino blood. Roberto del Rosario, a filipino, invented the karaoke and if that isn't proof enough, I don't know what else is.

Ayrah and guitar Brooke at the Oasis, Gateway Mall

I just have to say though that I am a fan of my brother's and Ayrah's singing voice so I recorded them without them knowing....on my ever-reliable sony ericsson phone. I'm sure they will kill me if they knew I plan to post it, but i'm still going to post it anyway because it's a shame for such talents to remain undiscovered. And it might very well remain undiscovered if this blog is still at the bottom of the page ranks, so people please read and comment on my blog! LOL. But first, I have to find an AMR to Mp3 converter... so yeah, the videoke booth recordings will have to wait until the next blog.