FUBARgenre: The Genre of Fubar

DonDon “Gaw” Luche of Hastang, wowing the audience with his incendiary (to quote Guile) guitar moves at the recently concluded Cebu Guitar Fest:

[video and pictures by Jon Cabiles - thanks, Jon!]

[view more pictures by Jon]

Gaw, you are truly amazing! I am in awe of your talent and your humility.

Trust me, this is one guitar genius who has no idea how great he is.

The Guitar Fest that was:

I’m so glad I stayed in Cebu for the Guitar Fest. While jumping and twisting to Gaw’s ardent versions of “Wally’s Blues”, Jeff Beck’s “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers”, and Led Zep’s “The Song Remains the Same”, former SATI guitarist Ian Zafra (sitting on our table) boomed into my ear, “Neil Gaiman can wait, huh?” …Hah! Neil who? [Too bad we didn't get to see Ian's number. He owes me a private performance. Right, Ian?]

We missed the first two nights because I had to play nurse to a sick Makoy (the nurse bit is one of his recurrent fantasies, by the way. shesh. don’t ask.). We very nearly missed the last night, too, had I not forced Mark out of bed with a little TLC and some fierce lovin. Hehehe. (Again, don’t ask.)

We arrived just in time to see an electrified performance by Carlo Borromeo (hi, Gen! *wink*).

Gaw (introduced as “DonDon of Hastang”) was up next, and we were poised to scream our lungs out for our favorite guitarist. We soon found out, however, that Gaw’s fans far outnumbered our little groupie group. And the applause (no exaggeration here) was truly deafening. Gaw, we are soooo proud of you!

After Gaw’s stint on stage, Mark’s migraines kicked in. Knowing that my not-so-little baby was too sick to party, we made for a hasty exit. But not before the indomitable 40 gave a frenzied performance, and idol Poldo (of Frank fame) conquered the stage with his rock star antics. Whew, Poldo! That guy can be really sexy when he plays the guitar, huh? (Hahaha. I love Poldo! He once honored Hastang by filling in for Roy, and we used to have an insane time post-gig. That guy knows how to drink, believe me! Or does he? I can’t count the number of times he literally passed out. But then again, who am I to talk?)

We would have loved to stay, but Mark was woozy and I felt a little feverish myself. We took a cab home (we didn’t bring a car coz Gaw warned us in advance that there wasn’t an inch of parking space left), got the car from our garage, and drove to BTC for a little midnight snack (don’t look at me! Mark was hungry! A sick Mark has twice the appetite, believe me!). No sooner had we sat down than we got this message from Guile: “Nag-brownout ang Outpost. Patay ang suga!” — Prompting legendary percussionist “Sir” Winston (Mark’s long-time friend and idol) to do an impromptu drum “festival”, with Budoy (Jr. Kilat frontman) and Jai Dolino (formerly of Urbandub, currently of Sheila and the Insects, and incidentally NU107’s Drummer of the Year for 2005) providing some background beats. Damn! We missed it! Argh!

As to the rest of the story, Guile would have to fill me in. I’m waiting for a blow-by-blow account, Guile!

At this point, all I can say is that I am very proud of the Cebu music scene. Nowhere else do I feel as alive, as inspired, as inflamed, as when I witness greatness on stage.

Groupie, you say?

Definitely.

And proud of it, too.

PS: I want to see the underrated (but super talented) Murray “MoiMoi” Suson in next year’s line-up.

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