Dancing to Your Own Tune

Garr. I keep forgetting to pimp this but time and work has a way of short-circuiting both my long-term and short-term memory.

Rabble-rouser and wordsmith Adam David, ever the one to make his own way, has self-published a book called The El Bimbo Variations* as part of his 'brave new lit'. It's a poetry collection, the poems a play on the first line of The Eraserheads' "Ang Huling El Bimbo" (The Last El Bimbo), and it's a fun read as you get a crash-and-burn course on poetry. (This is also why Adam had been tagged by ramblingsoul as 'The Professor' for the former's quickie-lectures during the Happy Mondays' poetry reading.)

If you want to order his book, go to his site and email him for a copy. It's only 200 bucks and you'll not only get to enjoy the book but you'll also learn what 'beautiful outlaw' is.

*Fortunately, we don't have the stigma against self-publishing here unlike in the US. Alas, the relative small size of local publishing firms makes self-publishing comparable to small or indie press.

**Yes, that's Adam's arm in the picture. With all his tattoos, he's starting to look like a US Marine... Okay, a creative US Marine.

Songs of a Rambling Soul

Oy. Look who's coming out with a book.*

ramblingsoul (a.k.a. Joel Toledo) is launching his first poetry book, Chiaroscuro, tonight at Mag:net Katipunan around 6:30 pm. Cocktails (read: free drinks!) is set with the Happy Mondays poetry reading afterwards around 8 pm.

For those who don't know, Joel won second place in the 2006 UK Bridport Award for his poem, "The Same Old Figurative". And check out the guest list for the poetry reading: Ma'am Marj Evasco, Jimmy Abad, Butch Dalisay, Marne Kilates, Krip Yuson, J. Neil Garcia, Sarge Lacuesta, Chingbee Cruz, etc. Now that's what I call the big guns. (If that ain't pressure for Joel, I don't know what is!)

The reading will be hosted by Radioactive Sago Project's own Lourd de Veyra and afterwards, Joel's band Los Chupacabras-- as well as Dead Pop Stars-- will be playing.

Congrats, Joel! (And we expect a similar celebration next year for the second collection, yes?)

*speaking of collections, that reminds me that I should blog about...

Fables of Dark Cities

Hehe... since we're talking about Pinoy pulp, why not Pinoy pulp...music?

Admittedly that I'm not one for checking out the local band scene, one of the best hard-rocking bands I've ever discovered (thanks to [identity-protected]) is Los Chupacabras with frontman Easy Fagela, Carljoe Javier and Mikael Co on guitars, and Joel Toledo on drums. One thing about this band is that-- aside from having some of the best (and funny) hard rock songs I've heard-- they're all young and well-regarded writers in the local literary scene with a number of awards under their belt. Easy, Kael and Joel (better known as ramblingsoul here) are poets while Carljoe is a fictionist/CNF.

The great thing about Los Chupacabras' songs is that they evoke a certain noir imagery for me: of the dark, squalid city streets, of thugs hanging at street corners, and of the '70s and '80s childhood fears of old-time crime-ridden Cubao and even older Manila. This noir-ish flavor to their act actually has gotten me to try to write a spec fic short story about their songs. (Which I promise to finish one of these days-- around the same time they come out with their first album! Grr!)

(And this is why I once texted the slammin' writer/artist dodo to ask if he had ever heard this band because their songs so reminded me of his Askals komiks, which is as cool a noir, dark fantasy comic book about our beloved trash-ridden city ever is. And which reminds me I should pick up his next issues. But I digress from all this talking in parentheses...)

Still, rather than let me babble on, check this music video of Patay na babae sa bubong ng bahay ("A dead woman on top of the house") directed by Khavn dela Cruz:




And if ever you get a chance to hear this band or read the komiks, do so. It will definitely give you an idea of what a glorious and dangerous place our city really is.