kadayawan 2007: photo documentation

it is that time of the year again when the city of davao comes alive with people and activities. streets are colored with fruits selling cheap and tasting sweet. i've probably devoured 10 kilos worth of mangosteen in five days!

this year was complete attendance and more, as friends from manila flew over to enjoy our yearly tradition of a crazy August weekend. it may be quite a while since another gathering of this number may happen. if that be the case, it was a fitting swan song for a tradition that brings the barkadayawan/fuhkers (fun house kids) together.

friday at pawikan sanctuary in punta dumalag, matina.
thanks to sherwin for allowing us to tag along. :)

lesbian lovers in their bikinis sitting on the painful dead corals
just to have a nice photo shoot.
nice backs, girls!

welcome to davao, tubero!
fuhktastic four with shiva and dave at the imago concert.
huwag niyo na hanapin yung imago, noh! kami ang bida.

yummy slipper lobster in garlic sauce at pards ilustre.
chris and edward, our waiters, must have enjoyed serving us
as we threw hirits back and forth at each other. tatit has video of crazy lunch. abangan!

huli kami! because we were so noisy we were caught in the net with the squid and lobster.

aldevinco is for photo shoots. the wares for sale are our props.

it would have tatit's first street dancing. unfortunately, it ended early this year. darn. we were able to get pictures of the dancers commissioned by marco polo though. pretty little lass, ain't she?

surprise despedida for tatit who is going to netherlands.
the whole barkadayawan/fuhkers friends were present. and guests, too!
thanks to kitoy, morten harket and mon salas for the belly-aching laughter ;p.
neuken in the keuken. badankt!

punta ng inamong falls! look at that beauty.
arakan valley, entering through marahan in davao city.

trekkers in the midst of cogon!
seedlings donated for the rehabilitation of the place.

sugarfree to cap a tiring day.

dreadlocked davao.

how do you get rastafarians (in look or in beliefs) and reggae-lovers to come together? why have a reggae concert of course!

last night, dread-heads and the rest of reggae fandom trooped to matina town square's taboan for roots, arts, reggae concert featuring reggae and ska bands of davao, bahaghari from iloilo and top reggae vocalist papadom of tropical depression.

reggal8 and ragged had the crowd bobbing their heads up and down to their latest singles and fine-enough covers, but it was PLO (popong landero organization) that finally got the crowd up and dancing. bayang barrios made a most welcome appearance as back-up singer and dancer, too! waway saway's percussion group joined the band for a mean, drum-tastic dancing to that famous popong song which title eludes me at this moment. talk about fusion!

bahaghari, a reggae band from iloilo, came after PLO and continued to get the crowd going. the people shimmied a little harder to the reggae-lized rey valera "wala nang iibigin pang iba." shamefully, i was actually singing the song with the rest. the party got more wild to eric clapton's "you look wonderful tonight" and billy joel's "just the way you are." i therefore conclude, dreadheads are hopeless romantics deep inside, the music just has to have funky reggae beat.

come in papa dom singing the classic tropical depression song, "kapayapaan." once he came in, the flock from outside started trooping inside the already crowded taboan. the music that was already palpable started becoming a tangible entity as bahaghari, PLO and waway's group played together to bring alive papadom's vocals to juan dela cruz band's "ang himig natin." hu-waw! after that, it was only one last song. "bilog na naman ang buwan" began to play. crowds whooping, skankers moshing and everybody dancing as the venue throbbed with good vibes and reggae rhythm.

it has been a while since i've seen a davao crowd that participative! from the front row to the last, people were up on their feet dancing with no care. it was like a night in xaymaca, except with more dancing space and less cigarette smoke. i wondered, where have all these rastafarians been?

wherever they were, i'm just glad they came out of hiding and made my rare self-kaladkaded night out an enjoyable one. for once in my life here in davao, dancing felt like what it is, a natural reaction to music. ;p

irie! oi. more reggae music in davao, jah!

i repeat: THE BEST DAVAO CONCERT EVER!!!

at least for me, anyway.

i have totally vindicated my 11-year old self for sleeping during their concert back when we were still living in angeles city! yeah, stupid me. totally fell asleep in the midst of blaring music and a wild crowd. and woke up right smack in the middle of "salamat."

anyway, it was good i was already able to watch "tulad ng dati" before their davao gig because i was totally pumped out to listen to the great live music of the dawn.

but i had to get over one hurdle of the day first. my mother was godmother to a wedding, so i offered to accompany her for the afternoon so i get to wear my princess dress (which i willing victim to kaladkarin's masterful manipulation of thrift shop shopping) and eat a free dinner at apo view.

after having my chow, i go from princess.... to frog... er... rock fan...

...and was all set for the concert. (i didn't even stay to watch the program. freeloadin' is fuuun!)

i proceeded to gaisano mall to meet up with the gang. 1017 was playing, a davao local vocal (mwahaha! private joke) that i enjoy listening to. unfortunately, i only caught their last two songs. they didn't even give the guitarist a chance to do his antics. after them it was G-String. not a band i was entirely happy to have playing at a night i was out for the music. so my pals just poured our attention to the beer tower. which is another story all together.

the whole time we were waiting for jerry to come already. he would be coming straight for marbel to the concert. none of the girls wanted to be bothered from watching the dawn just to give him tickets. with a little stroke of luck though, jerry came JUST IN TIME for the dawn. right smack in time, that he didn't even get a chance to sit down because tatit and i already dragged him to the front (leaving my relak-lang uyab behind)

and so i, along with my rock buddies jerry and tatit, claim the honor that we were the first kapalmuks to go up front and jiggy from first song to the last. hah! so there! i crown us three the king and queens of courage and bravery (or in bisaya, baga nawung award). deadma to embarrassment. listening to rock legends in davao city is rare and has to be enjoyed with much passion and gusto! so hah. deadma. keber. what-eyber.

syeeyt. ang galing nila. jett definitely has the most distinctive rock vocal in recent history of band music. close your eyes, or even one ear... you know it's jett singing. and francis is guitar magician. look at those fingers fly over those strings. and buddy... honestly, i couldn't really hear much of the bass, because i was so mesmerized by jett and francis... but buddy has always been one of my favorite bassists. and uhm i had a crush on him back on e-heads days... mabuhay kang chavacano ka! and jb... i could only see his hair behind the drums... pero mehn... steeeeegg! mean drums, pare!!!

and they covered U2 and simple minds and some other new wave songs. asteeeegggg! ang saya. the dawn doing U2. pareho lang kaming rock fans after all. this was when more people joined us in the front. drunk guys moshing can be pretty scary (except if its jerry). thank god, i'm good at eluding danger. hehe!

me, tat and kitoy with the band (feeeeeliiiiinggg!), jerry behind the cam.

then they sang "enveloped ideas," the crowd really went wild. one even got accosted by the police for throwing a plastic cup to the stage (which he might have stolen from either jerry or tat who placed their beers on the speaker while dancing). and tat has evidence of how wild in her camera.

when they did "salamat" i was near-panic because that meant the end of the night. no! no! no! you can't stop yet. it's only 1130! noooh. but they did. when the lights dimmed on the stage... most of the crowd were on their way out. we, on the other hand, still had to finish the rest of the second beer tower.

it was then that we realized that jerry had not eaten and had downed so much beer already. the slur in his speech was funny that we forced him to have dinner and sober up in gerry's grill.

the band was there! the band was there! but i was tyope the whole time. i so wanted to go up to them and thank them for such a great time. instead i just told my story of penis-fencing flatworms and chastity-belting butterflies.

finally, when they seemed to be on their way home, a sense of urgency rushed up to me that i was only 20% tyope to go up to them. but kang had more courage and got my camera and asked the dawn if we can have our picture taken with them. of course, they were more than kind to oblige. aaaaahhhhh. inakbayan ako ni jett! aaaaaah. piniktyuran kami ni francis. aaaaahhhh!

after the whole thing, we went back to our seats. my knees were shaking so bad. i couldn't even kneel on the chair to grab a piece of tokwa. sheyt. what i felt that night was somewhat similar to what i felt when i met neil gaiman after lining up for seven hours at rockwell. this was less hassle and more simple. but this is one of those days when i'm such a fan girl! (the funny thing is... i don't own a single album of the dawn. nakakahiya. buti na lang meron si jan. hehe!)

i had such a good time. i hope they come back soon!!!

(realization this morning: iba ang dating ng concert when there aren't shrieking fangirls around. the shouting during the concert was low pitched instead of tinny.)

the best concert in davao ever!!!

i can't post much right now. the internet at home is slower than a turtle but more unsure. pero mga tsong, mga tsang...

ANG SAYA NG CONCERT NG THE DAWN!!! I have so much to tell. I've been blogging the moments in my mind the whole time last night. Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

Sayang ang ebidensiya dahil blurred ang shot. Pero ebidensiya pa rin!

So bukas na ang kuwento... at pare... kahit hindi ako umiinom... mahaba-habang inuman.

Fan girl! My fan girl joy was almost the same level as having Neil Gaiman sign my books and hug me. Syeeeeeeeeeet! Ang saayaaaaaaaaa!