Aviation History Made in Manila

While walking around the grounds of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila one afternoon back in 1994, I chanced upon a small commemorative marker that was located near the water, specifically in that part of Manila Bay where there's a small pier situated between the said grandstand and the Manila Hotel.

The marker commemorated the landing of the China Clipper seaplane on the waters of Manila Bay on November 29, 1935. The landing marked the conclusion of the first trans-Pacific flight that began in the City of Alameda near San Francisco, California on November 22, 1935. This flight marked the beginning of regular airmail service between the United States and the Philippines. It was not a non-stop flight for along the way to Manila, the plane made stops at Honolulu, Midway, Wake Island and Guam. (Source: www.flyingclippers.com)

Prior to my "discovery" of that marker, I absolutely had no idea that the Philippines had figured in the making of aviation history. That moment was the first time I heard of such a thing and the marker certainly piqued my interest in the event. I later went to a library and did some research just to satisfy my curiosity about it.

That was pretty much it for years until early this afternoon when, to my very pleasant surprise, I chanced upon a newsreel that reported on this particular event back in 1935 while going through YouTube's video archives. The following newsreel produced by Fox Movietone News reported on the successful landing of the China Clipper at Manila Bay.

Although video and sound clarity on the newsreel leaves much to be desired, we could see that a large crowd and quite a number of government dignitaries led by Philippine Commonwealth President Manual Luis Quezon (1878-1944) were on hand to welcome and congratulate the plane's crew.

We could also see an aerial view of what is the current site of the Quirino Grandstand (then known as the Luneta Grandstand) and the Luneta Park itself prior to the plane's water landing.

What could be historically significant about this newsreel is that the viewer gets to hear President Manuel L. Quezon's voice maybe for the first time through a brief congratulatory speech he gave to the crew of the China Clipper led by Captain Edwin Musick, Pan American Airways' ("Pan Am") Chief Pilot at the time. For his part, we could see that Capt. Musick handed to President Quezon a letter from US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

We can also see standing right next to President Quezon a little boy smartly dressed in what appears to be a Naval Officer's uniform. It is probably safe to assume that the boy was President Quezon's son, Manuel L. Quezon, Jr. (1926-1998) who was nine years old at the time.

But trans-Pacific flights in those days were still in their infancy and often carried a lot of risks. Thus, it is to be sadly noted that a little over two years after this achievement, the China Clipper's pilot, Captain Edwin Musick, perished in an onboard plane explosion in January 1938 off the Pago-Pago (American Samoa) islands in the Pacific. His body was never found.

Another member of Capt. Musick's crew on this flight was Frederick J. ("Fred") Noonan, who served as the flight's Navigation Officer. He was one of the crew members who stood around President Quezon in the newsreel and based on this photo of him, I think he was the tall crew member (Mr. Noonan was said to be six feet tall) who stood second from the right of that particular footage.

At the time, Mr. Noonan was recognized as one of American aviation's best flight navigators and was a regular crew member on trans-Pacific flights. As a result, he had also spent a good deal of time in Manila from 1935 to 1937. Sadly, he will forever be remembered in aviation history as the flight navigator who was with the celebrated aviator Amelia Earhart when her plane, a Lockheed Electra, was lost in the waters of the South Pacific in 1937. To this day, no trace of them or their place has ever been found.

It's been 14 years since I last saw the marker that commemorated this flight. Given the passage of time and the changes that have taken place in its vicinity, I am no longer sure if that marker is still there. I certainly hope that that humble marker still sits on that spot so that it could continue to serve as a reminder that decades ago, our country was part of record-setting aviation history.

Humor Break

Now a word from late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel:

Hey, there was an interesting study released today which says people who live here in the State of California are less convinced that there is a God than the people of any other state in the country. On an unrelated note, more than 800 wildfires here in California are currently burning out of control.

A Beautiful City Gone Forever - Manila of the 1930s (Part 2)

This is the second of the two rare videos I wanted to share with you. This second video or "newsreel" as clips like this were called at the time was called "Manila, Queen City of the Pacific". It was made back in 1938 by a travel film producer named Andre de la Varre (1902-1989) as part of his "The Screen Traveler" series.

Back in the days before television, newsreels were shown in movie theaters as part of the "intermission", a term which refers to that short interval of time or break between showings of a particular movie.

For me personally, what stood out in this video clip was the grandeur and beauty of the old Jones Bridge and those of the Legislative and Post Office Buildings. All these beautiful buildings were designed by the great Filipino architect Juan Marcos de Guzman Arellano (or simply "Juan Arellano") along the neo-classic style. Mr. Arellano's involvement in these public projects was due to the fact that he worked for the then Bureau of Public Works from 1916 to 1935. Aside from the projects mentioned, he was also the architect behind other great Manila landmarks such as the Metropolitan Theater and the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The original Jones bridge was completed in 1921. As can be seen from the video, the bridge had quite a bit of ornamentation, sculpted figures, and arches. The bridge was of such elegance that one could have easily mistaken it for a bridge somewhere in Old Europe.

Unfortunately, this Arellano masterpiece did not survive the Second World War. A cash-strapped and newly independent Philippine government replaced this elegant bridge with a rather plain-looking steel and concrete structure that remains in use to this day.

The Legislative Building (now known as the National Museum of the People) was completed in 1926 and the Philippine Post Office was completed in 1931. Both the Legislative Building and the Post Office Building suffered significant damage during the war. Unfortunately, although both these buildings were rebuilt after the war, limited government resources prevented the faithful reconstruction of these structures back to their former elegance and beauty.

One of the facts of daily travel that can also be observed was that people drove on the left side of the road (European style) back in those days. My guess is that this practice must have been a carryover from the Spanish era. It was only after the end of the Second World War did the Philippines switch to driving on the right side of the road American style.

Aside from the ubiquitous presence of calesas and caretelas (two-wheeled horse-drawn carriages), there were horse-drawn "buses" that may have been the precursor of today's jeepney. The number of passengers were quite limited and thus, as a mode of public transportation like the present day jeepney, it was quite inefficient.

If there were traffic lights in Manila at the time, this clip certainly did not show them. Instead, we see traffic directed by traffic policemen in "pith" style helmets. This helmet was also known as a "sun helmet" because it provided the wearer's head with ample protection from the sun's rays. As a result, this type of helmet was widely used in the tropics.

The Franciscan Church in Intramuros, sadly, was destroyed during the Liberation of Manila. On its former site now stands the Mapua Institute of Technology. There used to be seven major churches within the walls of Intramuros. However, out of those seven churches, only the San Agustin Church and the Manila Cathedral survived the war. The Manila Aquarium, also in Intramuros, opened in 1913 and was a popular tourist attraction at the time. It closed during the Second World War.

McKinley Square was the plaza in front of the Manila Cathedral. It is now called Plaza Roma and if you are standing at the plaza facing the Cathedral, on your left would be the ruins of the old and once beautiful Ayuntamiento Building. On your right would be the multi-storey Palacio del Gobernador.

Although it wasn't shown on the clip, the Ayuntamiento was once an administrative building used by the Spanish and American colonial governnments. It was also called the Marble Palace because it was said to be lavishly decorated and was the site of several balls or parties back in the day. Sadly, like the other structures mentioned above, the Ayuntamiento was also a victim of the Liberation of Manila. What remains are its ruins which the Central Bank of the Philippines uses as a parking garage and storage area.

Lastly, one can't help but be awed by the elegantly beautiful homes that lined Dewey Boulevard (now called Roxas Boulevard) in Manila's upscale Ermita district. Unfortunately, a lot of these homes would also suffer mightily from the war. Today, although a rather small number of them still exist, they are now mostly hidden behind high walls.

A lot more can be written about the people and places shown but that would require a rather lengthy blog entry. For now, let's simply enjoy this gem that takes us back to a time when our beloved city was one of Asia's most beautiful.

A Beautiful City Gone Forever - Manila of the 1930s (Part 1)

Just wanted to share one of a couple of rare videos that showcase our beloved City of Manila the way the city used to look back in the 1930s. Both videos are making the rounds of several blogs since they were "discovered" in YouTube's archives recently. What I'm going to do is present each video separately and add some bit of information I know on some of the topics discussed and/or presented.

This first video was part of the "Port O' Call" series produced by a William M. Pizor. Unfortunately, the introduction to the short film failed to show the year it was produced. But judging from the styling of the cars shown on the streets and the way the people dressed, the film must have been taken in the early 1930s at the latest. In addition, at the beginning of the video clip, it showed that the "Cinephone" sound system was used. This system was one of the early sound systems used at the dawn of the talking movies.

The clip showed Manila's then famous Pier 7 (part of Manila's South Harbor) and showed life in nearby Intramuros back in the day when businesses, government offices, and residents commingled within its thick walls. It showed how the Old Bilibid Prison looked and how it was run during those days and gave us a feel for the rather rustic character of the district of Tondo back in those days.

Pier 7 was part of Manila's South Harbor. Manila had, and still has two harbors namely, the Manila North Harbor and the Manila South Harbor. The North Harbor, with its even-numbered piers, is the domestic port that caters to coastwise cargo and passenger ships. The South Harbor with its odd-numbered piers, serves as the international gateway for shipping and trade. I'm not sure if Pier 7 is still in use or service because a review of South Harbor's current active piers do not include it on the list. Maybe the Pier has since been renamed but I can't vouch for that.

The clip also showed elements of the famous 31st Infantry Regiment performing some marching drills outside the walls of Intramuros. This regiment was part of the USAFFE's (United States Armed Forces in the Far East) Philippine Division. Troops of this regiment fought valiantly in the defense of Bataan and a majority of the men did not survive the Second World War.

The Bilibid Prison shown on the video referred to the Old Bilibid Prison on Oroquieta Street in Manila. This served as the country's national penitentiary until 1940 when the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa opened. After most of the prisoners were moved to the New Bilibid Prison, most of the Old Bilibid Prison complex was turned over to the city of Manila and subsequently became known as the Manila City Jail. The whole structure, now decrepit, badly in need of repair and surrounded by shanties, remains as the Capital's city jail.

Founded in 1778, the Hospicio de San Jose Orphanage's mission was to help the poor, disabled, and abandoned. This institution has occupied its current location at the Isla de Convalescencia right off of the Ayala Bridge in Quiapo, Manila since 1810.

My apologies but since I'm a non-smoker, I don't know a stitch about tobacco products. It was never a field of interest to me and thus, I could not share any information on the tobacco products presented on the video. To those of you who have any knowledge on the tobacco products shown, please do not hesitate to enlighten all of us.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed viewing this video. Although short, it succeeds in taking us back to a Manila lost forever to all of us.

Street Justice

The following video shows the scenes that need to be immediately played out at the offices of Don Sulpicio Lines (and in its backyard) against the people responsible for the latest ferry accident that claimed the lives of at least 700 of my countrymen.

Unfortunately, this tragic incident is not a first for this company. This is due to the fact that Don Sulpicio Lines was also the exact same company whose vessels figured in the following sinkings that had claimed the lives of thousands of passengers:

1) Dona Paz - 4,300 plus people dead (December 1987)
2) Dona Marilyn - 300 people dead (October 1988)
3) Princess of the Orient - 200 people dead (1998)

Thanks to an inept and hopelessly corrupt government, this company has managed to remain in operation in spite of its past transgressions. Thus, barring its permanent closure or any significant changes in the way it does its business, we should expect this company to kill more Filipinos in the coming years due to a profit-above-everything-else style of management.

Enough said.

The First Double A-Sided Single

This post is part recording music history and part tribute to a great band.

For decades before the compact disc (CD) came out in the early 1980s, the world had the vinyl record. The vinyl record was termed as such because it was manufactured out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The records were played on a turntable and for a while, they came out in four speeds or "RPMs" ("Revolutions Per Minute") namely, 78 rpm, 33 1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, and 16 2/3 rpm. However, by the 1950s and up to the eventual demise of the vinyl record in the early 1980s, two speeds remained dominant in the record market: the 33 1/3 rpm for "long-playing" (LP) records and the 45 rpm for the "singles".

The practice prevalent in the recording industry in those days was that a recording artist would go into the recording studio and record several songs that will be compiled onto an LP or "album". The artist and his/her recording producer would then select the song they deem the "best" out of the songs recorded and release it to the public as a single. The "best" song was placed on the top or "A" side of the single while a song of "lesser quality" (for lack of a better term) was placed at the bottom or "B" side. Once the "A" and "B" sides of a single were selected, the singles were then "pressed" (another old recording industry term used to describe the record manufacturing process) and subsequently released and marketed to the record-buying public.

Such was the standard practice for a lot of the recording artists during that period. However, Talent is one thing that's never distributed evenly. As a result, every once in a while, there were artists that came along that were so enormously gifted that the recording industry had to make some adjustments or changes to its practices just to accommodate the volume of high quality songs these individuals produced.

The Beatles was one such group.

Led by the songwriting tandem of the late John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the Beatles dominated the music world during the 1960s. This songwriting duo cranked one hit tune after another in spite of a grueling work pace. Unlike recording artists these days who produce albums at the average rate of one every two years, the Beatles produced two albums every year. One album was released around the May-June period while the second album was released around the Christmas season. And while they were not recording, they had commitments to do concert tours, and movie and television appearances.

But even in the face of everything that was thrown at them, the Beatles still managed to come up with a significant number of high quality songs. The Lennon-McCartney songwriting effort was so prolific that on top of the two albums they produced each year, their recording company, Parlophone in the United Kingdom, had to issue singles for some very good songs that did not make it on any Beatles album. Examples of these songs were "She Loves You", "From Me To You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and "I Feel Fine".

But it was in 1965 when they became the first band in music history to record and produce a "Double A-Sided Single", meaning that both songs were good enough to make it on the A side of any single.

Released in early December 1965, "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper" were the two songs that made up the first double A-sided single.

"We Can Work It Out" was essentially a Paul McCartney composition. This was a song he wrote supposedly about a spat he had with his girlfriend at the time, the British actress Jane Asher. John Lennon provided Mr. McCartney with the song's middle shift and refrain.

The following shows a promotional video that was produced for the song. On the video you will see Paul McCartney doing the lead vocals, John Lennon providing backup vocals (and humor) while on keyboards, the late George Harrison playing lead guitar, and Ringo Starr playing drums.

The other song on the single, "Day Tripper", was a John Lennon composition. There is some confusion as to what actually inspired the song. Mr. Lennon stated in an interview that the song was about a prostitute on a "day trip" while Mr. McCartney, on the other hand, admitted years later that the song was about drugs.

The following shows the promotional video that was produced for the song. In a departure from a Beatle rule that a song's composer does the lead vocals, Paul McCartney sings lead while John Lennon does the backup vocals.

This Double A single eventually landed and stayed at the top of the UK Charts for five weeks from December 1965 to January 1966 and was at the top of the US Charts for three weeks in January 1966. (Source: About The Beatles)

In their remaining years as a group and as a testament to their talent, the Beatles would go on to release three more of these Double A-sided singles: "Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby" (released August 1966), "Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane" (February 1967), and "Something / Come Together" (October 1969). The band broke up in April 1970.

It has been almost 40 years since their breakup but not a single musical artist or band has come close to duplicating what the Beatles accomplished. News came out recently that Mariah Carey had just scored her 18th #1 hit on the Billboard Charts with the song "Touch My Body". This feat put her two singles shy of the Beatles' all-time record of 20 #1 hits.

However, one needs to put things into their proper perspective. One needs to consider the fact that it took Ms. Carey close to two decades to accomplish her feat, having been a recording artist since the early 1990s. The Beatles, on the other hand, accomplished their record within the eight years (1962-1970) the band was together. Let's also add the fact that all of the Beatles' #1 hits were Beatle compositions.

The songs, the numbers, the chart records, and the band's enduring popularity even among members of generations that were not yet around during their years of existence provide lasting evidence of the band's greatness.

On another note, to my countrymen in the Philippines who are dealing with the fury of Typhoon Frank, may this note find you and your families safe and secure. You all take care.

Missing From YouTube

There is a certain sadness I feel whenever I go through YouTube's music video files. Regular readers of this blog will notice that quite often, I feature and write about a certain band or solo artist whose music I am a fan of or whose song was of some personal significance at a certain point in my life. But a review of all my posts classified under the Music category will show that the music artists I have so far written about have either been American or British artists.

This does not mean that I am not a fan of any Filipino band, singer, or songwriter. Far from being so. In fact, Original Pilipino Music, or OPM, blossomed during the 1970s, the decade of my childhood. This was the time when the phrase "We believe in the Filipino Talent" was heard often from the mouths of DJs whenever they introduced or played a song by a Filipino artist on the air.

As a result, I became a big fan of bands like Hotdog led by the brothers Rene and Dennis Garcia, VST & Co. whose best songs were written by Vic Sotto and Joey De Leon, and the folk songs of Heber Bartolome and Banyuhay and ASIN that opened my eyes to social and environmental issues. I was also a fan of rock musicians Mike Hanopol and Maria Cafra. I enjoyed listening to Sampaguita whenever she belted out her signature rock song "Bonggahan".

On the pop and ballad side, I was a fan of Rico J. Puno and Hajji Alejandro. Although I was not a big fan of Rey Valera, I respected him due to the fact that like a number of his peers at the time such as Tito and Vic Sotto, he penned a number of his songs and also wrote hit songs for fellow artists such as Sharon Cuneta ("Mr. DJ") and Rico Puno ("Sorry Na, Puwede Ba?"). To those of us who were present back in late 1978, we all know that it was the song "Mr. DJ" that catapulted Ms. Cuneta to nationwide fame.

But going back to the subject of this blog entry, I find it lamentable that unlike their American, British and other foreign counterparts, I have not been able to find classic television performances of any of the above named Filipino artists on YouTube. What I've seen so far are video clips of some of the artists' performances on recently-held reunion concerts. Aside from such clips, the only other YouTube entries available are Karaoke-type videos that only show their songs' lyrics but not the artists themselves.

Video clips of the artists' recent performances are fine except that they fail to show, especially to younger generations, the artists in their prime. It sure is nice to see Mike Hanopol belt "Jeprox" out in those reunion concerts but for a young Filipino, all he/she may see is a middle-aged guy performing a rock tune that his/her parents loved during their time. At best, although the youngster may appreciate the musicianship, he/she could only imagine how the artist performed back in the day when his popularity was at its height.

Growing up in the 70s, the artists I mentioned were regularly featured on shows like Discorama, which was shown on GMA-7 on Saturday evenings, or on daily noontime shows such as Student Canteen (GMA-7) and Eat Bulaga, which was then shown on RPN-9.

Discorama, hosted by the late Bobby Ledesma, was one of the rather cool shows to watch for this hour-long show was dedicated to the latest dances and songs. The show was fun to watch for they regularly featured and/or introduced Filipino artists along with their latest hits or releases. It was on this show where I first saw Pinoy rock artists Sampaguita ("Bonggahan"), Maria Cafra ("Kumusta Mga Kaibigan"), and Mike Hanopol ("Jeprox") perform the songs that would later become part of Filipino rock music history.

It was on Student Canteen where I first saw the likes of folk musicians such as Heber Bartolome ("Tayo'y Mga Pinoy")and ASIN ("Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran"); pop groups such as Hotdog ("Manila", "Panaginip"), Cinderella ("TL Ako sa Iyo") and VST & Company ("Awitin Mo, Isasayaw Ko", "Ipagpatawad Mo"); and balladeers such as Rey Valera ("Ako si Superman"), Hajji Alejandro ("Nakapagtataka"), and Anthony Castelo ("Balatkayo") who was also a cousin to Tito and Vic Sotto.

It was also on these shows where the country first saw a then twelve-year old Sharon Cuneta perform her first hit song "Mr. DJ".

It would be a great learning experience to everyone, especially the youth, if past television performances of these artists and those of their peers whose names I failed to mention were made available and shown to younger generations of Filipinos either through a documentary or a retrospective on Philippine music history. The performances will show clear and moving evidence on how these artists performed during their heyday and what made them great and/or popular to Filipino audiences at the time. Who knows? A budding musician from today's youth may even learn a thing or two from watching these artists.

But their absence from YouTube and from television documentaries is a reflection of of our society's obsession with trends. We tend to be obsessed with the latest and greatest ("uso") in areas like fashion and music. We tend to cast a huge spotlight on an artist while he/she is popular and then simply let him/her fade away from our collective memory once a newer artist comes along. We love to use the phrase "Laos na iyan!" ("That's old!" or "That's outdated!") to contemptuously label anything or even worse, anyone, we no longer consider as representative of the latest trends. We discard the old in favor of the new. We fail to realize that by doing so, we all lose.

Other countries, such as the US, Britain, and Japan, continue to honor the contributions of past artists in various forms such as tv documentaries, film preservation, and by simply showing video clips of artists' past performances on tv. In doing so, not only do they make sure that such artists' contributions are not forgotten but they also make sure that these artists are introduced to younger generations.

I hope that the tapes that contain the television performances of the artists I mentioned on this piece still survive within the video vaults or video tape archives of both GMA-7 and RPN-9. And if the tapes are still around, I certainly hope that both stations are doing a damn good of job of maintaining the tapes in very good and viewable condition so that someday, they can be viewed again by an appreciative audience. It would be an extreme disservice to our people if we find out later that both television stations had failed to preserve an important part of our cultural heritage.

Rocky Mountain High

The song featured in this post was originally written as a tribute to a place of great natural wonder in Aspen, Colorado. "Rocky Mountain High" was performed by John Denver and it's a song which he co-wrote with Mike Taylor. The song was released and became a Top 10 Hit back in 1973. I remember as a kid, that I had enjoyed listening to this song even though the words didn't really make much sense to me at the time.

It was years later when I "rediscovered" this song. Even though its words spoke of deep affection for mountains, for some reason I found strength and inspiration in them while in the midst of making a life-changing decision.

Aside from economic reasons, I needed a profound change in my life and a defining one at that. From a professional standpoint, I felt there were constraints that prevented me from delving into areas I had technical expertise in but could not practice in my country. On the personal side, I wanted to prove something to myself and I wanted to start anew in a place where nobody knew me, where my academic background, especially the college I came from, didn't matter much. In short, I wanted to see how far everything I've learned would take me.

He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Comin' home to a place he'd never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door

When he first came to the mountains his life was far away
On the road and hangin' by a song
But the string's already broken and he doesn't really care
It keeps changin' fast and it don't last for long

It was at that age when I made the difficult decision to pull my stakes up and try my luck in the States. I gave myself six months to see if things would work out for me. I promised my parents that if the six months ended without my finding a job, that I would immediately head for home. I told them that they did not even have to remind me to come home. Should I fail to land a job, I promised them that I will board the first flight home on the exact day the six-month period would end. That was the deal.

I landed in the States in early December and stayed with an uncle while I looked for a job. But it was the Holiday season, not really a good time for jobhunting since a lot of people were in a holiday mood. Plus, most of the companies were busy with their yearend wrap-up activities. So I hunkered down and prepared for myself for the possibility that it may take me at least two or three months to land my first interview. But still, I looked through the classified ads of any newspaper I could get my hands on, even ones I saw that were left on a bus seat, at a supermarket, or on a park bench.

My uncle didn't have a computer at home and thus I ended up using his office computer on weekends. The internet was then at its infancy and thus, all job applications were mailed through the post office. My first job interview came a month later in January.

Although I was a little nervous prior to the interview, I felt that my work experience and skills satisfied all the ad's published requirements for the job. That first interview was followed by two more rounds of interviews with the same company. Within a week, I got offered and accepted a job with the first company I interviewed with. The rest, as they say, is personal history.

I will be one of the first to admit that I'm not the sharpest tack in the box. In fact, I could be quite dense at times. However, if there's anything I can share with people who are planning to try their luck overseas it is this: a very good work ethic will always be appreciated anywhere you go in the world. We may trip or fall from time to time but whenever we do, we should always try our best to pick ourselves up, brush the dust off, and keep going.

And the Colorado rocky mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply
Rocky mountain high

Just a few notes on the video. It was from the Tonight Show in 1973, back in the day when the late Johnny Carson, Jay Leno's predecessor, hosted the show. John Denver's performance on the show was live and the video also shows Mr. Carson's interview of Mr. Denver afterwards where the latter talked about what inspired him to write the song.

The video shows a young John Denver. He projected innocence and a youthful naivete during the interview, still awed with his success and expressed pride that his parents were able to watch him perform at New York's famed Carnegie Hall. He went on to enjoy many years of success as a recording artist scoring hits such as "Sunshine On My Shoulders", "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and "Annie's Song". He even went to the Philippines for a series of concerts back in the early 1980s. Yours truly even saw him perform on the noontime program "Eat Bulaga".

Unfortunately, Messrs. Carson and Denver are no longer with us. John Denver died in a plane crash in California back in 1997 while Johnny Carson died from natural causes in 2005.

Seven Baker Facts

I was tagged by my buddy, Luna Miranda, to do this meme. I found it quite fun to do even if it required some deep soul searching on my part. Naks!

Anyways, the Rules of the meme are as follows:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let those 7 people know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Having done with the proper introduction, here are 7 more facts about me:

1. I part my hair at the left. I've combed my hair in the exact same way since I was in my early elementary years.

2. My apologies to fans of the following artists but I absolutely cannot stand Basil Valdez and Side A. I find Basil's songs very depressing and boring. Side A ranks as a close second because I find their songs and their performances lacking in both edge and energy. I feel that those guys (Side A) just stand before a microphone, play their instruments, and sing without much movement. I would much rather that someone push me off the roof of a tall building than have me listen to both artists' CDs for even just a few minutes.

3. I am a big pancit bihon, pancit Malabon, and pancit luglog addict. I can survive for the rest of my life on these three dishes. I love my SO's pancit bihon by the way. (Plugging ba? Hehehe) For dessert, I love taho and Puto Binan.

4. I can play the piano and read music. However, one of my regrets in life was when I decided to stop taking piano lessons when I was in sixth grade. I should have continued with it. Another frustration I have is that I never learned to play the guitar. Although I can't play it, I've dreamt lots of times of becoming a session guitarist.

5. I play a mean game of table tennis. My parents taught me to play the game when I was 11 years old. It remains as one of my passions although I don't get to play much anymore.

6. I love reading articles that relate to Architecture and Civil Engineering, especially when the topics are about historic homes, buildings, and public infrastructure such as tunnels, dams, bridges, etc. I am simply amazed at the amount of thought and effort that made those structures not only aesthetically pleasing but also very functional.

7. Although we have a lot of Math wizards in the Panaderos clan, I am definitely not one of them. I developed an early love for the English language courtesy of my mother who was a wide reader. She taught me reading and reading comprehension. She was very strict with homework and whenever I misbehaved, even sermons I heard from my mother were laced with English quotations whenever she wanted to stress a particular point. The following are actual examples:
7a) "You are like a tree without a shade." - Translation: You're so useless and stupid.
7b) "If you can't take it as food, take it as medicine." - Translation: Eat your fruits and vegetables, damn it!
7c) "You're a man without a star." - Translation: You better develop some ambitions young man or else you're out of this house!

That's it for now. I am not going to tag anyone in particular but please feel free to do this tag if you so desire.

Of Terms of Endearment and Steamed Buns

As a sign of affection, we often hear couples use words like "Sweetheart", "Love", "Honey", "Baby", and "Darling" when they lovingly call out to each other. Among married couples, I've observed a lot of instances where the wife called the husband "Papa" or "Hubby" and where the husband addressed his wife as "Mama".

The above are some of the examples of the terms of endearment that couples and lovers use. Most of these terms, as you may very well have observed, have favorable associations with sweetness or the nature of the relationship.

But there are instances when some couples veer away from such conventions. They decide to use terms that are unique to them and their relationship. In a lot of ways, the term used is akin to an insiders' joke, something that only the two of them can relate to.

I know of this couple where the woman decided to focus on the man's facial cheeks as basis for coming up with her own term of endearment. You see, the guy's cheeks are of the "pinchably" chubby type. The reasons for it are not only weight-related but also genetic. Quite a number of his family members share the same physical "problem". Hehe

As a result, the woman has resorted to using the term "Siopao" (pronounced Shaw-pow) as her term of endearment for her dear boyfriend. Siopao, for the benefit of non-Filipino readers, is the Filipino version of the Chinese steamed bun. It is a popular food item in the Philippines for it does not require utensils to eat and can be consumed on-the-go. There are several stuffing varieties to the Siopao that use pork, chicken, beef, shrimp, eggs, and possibly chopped scallions and water chestnuts.

Anyway, whenever they're together, the woman pinches the guy's cheeks whenever she gets a chance. For some reason, she absolutely loves to see them turn red or rosy. With her thumb and index finger, she would often grab a rather sizeable portion of his cheek and pinch it. But whenever she pinches it, she doesn't do it for only one or two seconds. No. The pinch is not complete until she has done several rapid left-to-right-and-back movements that sort of create a ripple effect on the rest of the poor man's face. According to the him, the "torture" could last for a pretty good amount of time.

However, in spite of all the pain, he continues to care for her deeply and doesn't really seem to mind the term of endearment she picked for him. After all, substance should always matter over form, right? Plus, it was a term reserved for their private moments and thus should be ok, right?

Well, not quite. There were a couple of instances a couple of weeks ago when the woman kind of "forgot" where the couple were.

First instance was one weekday morning when the man decided to pick the woman up after work. He called her at work and they decided to meet at a Starbucks near her office. A few minutes before their scheduled rendezvous, the man arrived at the Starbucks and, after smiling to greet the security guard that stood nearby, took his place in one of the five or six tables that were set up right outside the coffee shop.

So there he sat whiling away the time and watching the passersby when a few moments later, and in a voice that was clearly heard by everyone around them, the woman came out of her office building and called out to him, "Halika na, Siopao!" ("Let's go, Siopao!")

Upon hearing that, the man quickly lowered his head, picked up his stuff, stood up and quickly walked away with the woman. He never bothered to look back to see how the security guard and the rest of the coffee shop's patrons reacted to his girlfriend's call for he was certain that they must have been all laughing at him upon hearing his bun-inspired nickname.

The second instance took place two days later in close quarters: aboard a jeepney. After having a nice breakfast at Chow King, the couple decided to go to Kopiroti to grab a few of the store's famed roti bread. Since the store wasn't too far from where they were, they decided to take a jeepney.

The woman hailed a jeepney and once one pulled to a stop, she and the man proceeded to board it. As they got in, they noticed that there were only two seats available and each were across from the other.

The woman boarded first and picked the seat on the left. As she was about to sit, she turned to her boyfriend and once again, in a voice loud enough to be heard by everyone onboard, said, "Diyan ka na maupo, Siopao!" ("Take that seat right there, Siopao!") while pointing to the last empty seat across from her.

The man quickly took his seat and, in almost a repeat of what happened a couple of days earlier, spent most of the ride with his head bowed, steadfastly refusing to make eye contact with any of the other passengers. In the moments that he did look up, he made sure not to direct his gaze at any of the other passengers who were probably either smiling or laughing at him now that they had become aware of his nickname. Luckily for him, the jeepney ride was a short one.

The morale of the story is simply this. Coming up with your own terms of endearment is fine. Depending on what they are, be mindful of where and how you use them so as not to put yourselves in an embarrassing situation.

(Definitions and photo source: Wikipedia)

Life's Trials

We all have our down moments and they happen for a number of reasons. Like everyone else, I also have my own set of issues or problems to deal with. Some, you can say, were of my making. Some, on the other hand, were not. Some arose out of stupid mistakes while others were the unintended consequences of actions done with the best of intentions. And finally, some became my problem simply because they were thrust upon me as a matter of moral and family responsibility.

We try our best to deal with the issues before us and we deal with them in the best way we know how. But sometimes, our personal limitations that result from factors such as our upbringing, education, and life experiences hinder us from arriving at the best possible solution. Such limitations often lead us to frustration and despair.

Thinking of some of the issues I have in front of me, I couldn't help but be in a bit of despair earlier today. Music is one of the things I seek refuge in in such moments. And thank God for the following song for it reminds me that a time will come when the issues we all face will eventually come to a resolution.

All my trials, Lord, soon be over.

I had a little book was given to me,
And every page spelled liberty.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.

If religion were a thing that money could buy,
The rich would live and the poor would die.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.

Too late my brothers, too late, but never mind.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.

There is a tree in paradise
The pilgrims call it the tree of life
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.

Too late my brothers, too late, but never mind.
All my trials, lord, soon be over.
All my trials lord, soon be over.

As I have done in the past on this blog, I will be remiss if I don't at least provide you with some information on the song.

The song is called "All My Trials", an American folk song. A number of music artists such as Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul & Mary helped popularize it during the 1960s . The song became a popular protest song during that time, a period when protests erupted around the world clamoring for badly needed social reform and an end to the disastrous Vietnam war. The fight in the United States was over civil rights and the Vietnam war while in the Philippines and a host of other Third World nations, the fight was over social and economic reforms and non-alignment with the superpowers.

Going back to this song, it was never clear as to who originally wrote it. The Peter, Paul & Mary CD I have simply classifies the song as "Traditional", meaning the song's been around for generations that it was difficult to determine its origin with finality. The lyrics I posted above also came from the said CD. The folk singer Joan Baez added some verses to the original lyrics while Peter, Paul & Mary stuck with what seem to be the song's original words.

Regardless, the song captured the imagination of the protest movement because it helped hold out the hope that in spite of the challenges they faced fighting for what they believed in, they knew that someday, their struggles will be over.

A Lifestyle Change

One truly learns something new everyday.

I got back to New York City last Saturday night from my one-week visit to Manila. Since I was at an airport that I don't normally use on business trips because it was located more than 60 miles (about 96 kilometers) from my place, I took a car service home. As I often did on such rides, especially long ones, I struck up a conversation with the driver.

I found out that the driver had been a bar owner prior to working for the car service company. He was in his mid-forties, 44 years old to be exact. He was a Portuguese-American whose family migrated to the States when he was about four years old. He told me that he had owned and operated a bar in the town of Harrison in New Jersey for 20 years before closing it down a month or so ago.

I was a bit surprised by what he said. What? Closed a bar down? Why? Bars, especially one that lasted as long as this person's bar did, must have done pretty well. So I asked him, "What happened to your bar? Aren't bars pretty much recession-proof? Don't people drink in both good times and bad times?"

"Yes, they are recession-proof," he replied. "But a lifestyle change occurred in the last 10 years that has adversely affected the bar business."

"And what was that?" I asked.

"The internet and the gaming consoles," he said.

"What?" I asked again for I wasn't so sure if I heard him right the first time.

"The bar business got impacted by the internet and the gaming consoles," he repeated. He then went further to explain that up until the mid to late 1990s, a lot of people, especially college students and young professionals who were in their late teens through their early 30s, used to hang out in bars for hours after work or school to socialize or to watch ball games.

However, he said that that's no longer the case with young people today. He said that young people these days often stay home or hang out at another friend's house to either go online and chat with their buddies or play games on their PS3s, XBOX 360s, and Nintendos. He cited Shaquille O'Neal and a few other NBA athletes as examples because those guys had said in tv interviews that their favorite past time was to stay home and play on their gaming consoles.

The conversation was an eye-opener for me because I myself used to hang out in bars with co-workers and friends after work to relax and unwind. There was even a point when the stress at work was a bit much that we hung out in bars on a nightly basis just to de-stress. Our favorite bars in Makati City at the time were Larry's Bar (Greenbelt), Jazz Rhythms (Jupiter Street), and Rhythm and Booze on Makati Avenue.

Although I kind of felt bad for the driver because he lost his old business, I don't see the young people's switch from bars to the internet and gaming consoles as necessarily a bad thing. In fact, in my opinion, the internet and the gaming consoles could help drive home the message that one does not need to be drunk to have a lot of fun. I don't even think a lot of parents would mind seeing their child at home having fun with his/her friends rather than he/she be out in some bar somewhere getting drunk. I just think it's also much better from a safety standpoint whenever one thinks of the thousands of people that lose their lives in the United States to drunk drivers and drunk driving every year.

According to the latest statistics compiled by the organization called Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), 17,602 people died in the US on alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2006. This figure translates to one death every 30 minutes. One life lost is too many. Thousands is an outrage.

Some parents and members of the older generation have expressed concern that spending too much time on the internet and on the XBOX or Playstation could negatively impact a child's social and emotional development. Their concerns are valid. However, there are other alternative activities that young people could participate in and enjoy such as team sports, theater, music, civic groups, and other activities that would help kids develop their social skills.

Man is a resilient being and gifted with strong survival instincts. He's been on the planet for millions of years and has survived a host of wars, diseases, pestilence, and disasters both natural and man-made. He has learned to tame his environment and make it work for his benefit. Given all that Man had accomplished in the past, he should still end up fine with this latest lifestyle shift. By moving his social activities away from the neighborhood bar to cyberspace while in the comfort of his (or his parents') home, he is simply replacing one form of socializing with another.

The Boys Named Goo

And even though the moment passed me by
I still can't turn away
Cause all the dreams you never thought you'd lose
Got tossed along the way
And letters that you never meant to send
Get lost or thrown away

The first time I heard both this band and this song was on my car radio as I was driving home from work one summer evening back in 1995. The song is called "Name" by a band called the Goo Goo Dolls. Up to that point, I had never heard of the band and thus I was quite unfamiliar with any of their songs and their music. As I've stated on a previous post, I tend to love songs that create a new and original sound and once I heard this particular song, I felt that it was no exception.

What impressed me was the lead and bass guitar playing. The song's guitar intro impressed me and piqued my interest. Thus, I listened to the entire song as it played out and became more impressed with the musicianship that I became an instant fan. I felt those guys were pretty damn good. Plus, the band also had a pretty cool name. Although I don't profess to have an eye for talent, I felt at the time that this band was very good and could hit it really big.

I was quite impressed that I did some research on the band. I eventually found out that the Goo Goo Dolls were actually a trio of musicians named John Rzeznik (vocals and guitar), Robby Takac (bass guitar), and Mike Malinin (drums). From the sound I heard, I had expected them to be at least a quartet. Mr. Rzeznik was both the singer and songwriter for both the songs featured on this blog entry.

To this day, I'm not sure if "Name" got a lot of airplay or even became a hit back home in the Philippines. But what I was pretty sure of was that sooner or later, one of their songs will eventually get the band the attention and admiration it deserved.

Well, the band didn't disappoint because two years later in 1997, they finally gained worldwide fame when they released what would prove to be their biggest hit song "Iris". The band was commissioned to write the song as part of the soundtrack for the movie, "City of Angels".

Both the music and lyrics were great on this song. I felt the song perfectly captured the film character's feelings of love and despair. In my humble opinion, the best words were in the first two stanzas and the chorus.

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I Was There

I'm proud to say that I was one of its regular customers when this place began back in the 1980s. :D The photo below was taken one weekday morning last week at GoodAh's Valero Street branch in Makati City.


I didn't realize until I saw the signage above that hung on one of the restaurant's walls (if not its only wall) that the company was marking its 25th year of existence this year. Boy, time surely does fly.

I remember that it was back in college when I became a regular GoodAh customer. It was born out of the desperate need for a very satisfying meal while on a tight budget. I was a student at the time and whatever money I had were those that I managed to save from the allowances I received from my father.

On a sentimental note, it was a favorite place to take girlfriends out to lunch or for a dinner date. As a student going out on dates, I also operated on a rather tight budget. All of the date money I had then were culled from my savings. Not once did I ever ask my parents for money to spend on dates. Aside from an independent streak, I was also careful not to let my conservative parents know that I was going out on dates. But if there's a will, there's certainly a way. I made sure that my romantic operations were conducted with utmost secrecy. :D Naks! Anyway....

The GoodAh restaurants back in the 1980s were not airconditioned as they are now. Dining was of the "al fresco" Filipino-style type. (Naks! That means dining out complete with the ever present langaw or "fly" hovering over one's plate. Hehehe) My favorite GoodAh locations were the ones on West Avenue and in Greenhills. My favorite dish was the Longsilog (with extra orders of both the fried egg and garlic rice) while my girlfriends often preferred the Tapsilog.

Romantic dinners by candle light at GoodAh became possible courtesy of MERALCO, NAPOCOR (National Power Corporation) and sometimes, even the New People's Army (NPA), whenever these folks decided to tinker with the Luzon Power Grid.

Looking back, I was glad that my girlfriends at the time were very understanding of my situation. Given that they were Chinese girls who came from rather well-to-do families, I appreciated the fact that even if eating at such a place must have been quite an adjustment for them, they remained very supportive and didn't mind that I took them to such a place. To a person, not once did I hear a complaint from them. To this day, I give them a lot of credit for that and I remain proud of them for the understanding they showed me. Plus, I give them a lot of credit for dating a less than average looking, middle class Filipino boy like me period. Hehe

Because of those dates, GoodAh brought back a lot of happy memories for me. And by having breakfast with the SO at its Valero Street branch last week, I simply added another event to my list of happy GoodAh-related memories.

Photo Credit: MQ

A Place My Heart Will Never Leave

A part of me will always remain in this city.


Makati City, the Philippines. I started working here right after college. In the four jobs I held in the Philippines prior to migrating to the United States, three of the jobs were in this city.

The place has changed a lot since the last time I was here. There are a lot more tall and impressive skyscrapers. I remember back in the day when the 28-storey Pacific Star building (the white building at the left of the photo above) at the corner of Makati Avenue and Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue (Buendia) opened its doors to the public. The Republic of Nauru was one of the building's owners and representatives of the island republic's government were present at the building's inauguration. The newspapers hailed it as the country's tallest skyscraper.

Now, 20 years later, what used to be its magnificent white paint has turned a rather shoddy gray thus making the building look old and neglected when compared to the shiny new skyscrapers that have reshaped the Makati skyline.

There are a lot more restaurants and high-rise residential condominium buildings. The presence of call centers have turned Makati into a 24-hour city. A city not unlike Manhattan where finding a place to eat at any hour isn't a problem, a feature that's near and dear to yours truly's heart. Hehehe

The old Schwarzwalder restaurant that used to stand at the corner of Makati Avenue and Dela Rosa street is gone. An expanded Ayala Museum now stands on its old spot. My old office building on Dela Rosa street is gone too and on its old spot now stands a tall and impressive residential condominium building. Old carpark buildings now house 24-hour restaurants on their ground floors.

The Greenbelt and Glorietta shopping areas have changed a lot mostly for the better. What I used to know as Greenbelt is now known as Greenbelt 1. The old Makati Supermarket is gone and on its old spot stands Greenbelt 3.

These days, one can pretty much walk from EDSA all the way to Paseo de Roxas without having to expose one's self to the sun's rays. That wasn't the case when I worked in the area years ago. There were no pedestrian underpasses then and the shopping centers were a lot less crowded.

Traffic hasn't improved though. Countless cars still clog its streets. The fact that a lot of Makati CBD's streets are curved and narrow do not help improve the traffic flow situation at all. Parking remains at a premium and a number of taxicab drivers still discriminate when picking up passengers.

But anyway, I was glad to spend some time in this city even for just a short while. I love the city in spite of its imperfections. Anyway, every other city in the world has its own problems. Makati City and its buildings awed me as a child and I still remember the joy I felt the day I found out that I was to work here. For me, and a lot of others who dreamt of building a career in the corporate world, Makati City was the place where one set out to make a name for one's self. And as I looked at the changes around me last week, I still believe that Makati City remains as the place to be for those who want to make a name for themselves in the Philippine corporate scene.

Photo Credit: MQ