The APO is back – funnier than ever!

They’re back! The trio of Jim Paredes, Danny Javier and Buboy Garrovillo, whose music and oftentimes irreverent brand of humor have amused many of us through the years, are set to entertain us in their inimitable style. They’ve signed on to do a concert at the Hard Rock Cafe tonight.

What are they going to do in the show? The best thing they know – in the words of Jim Paredes, "being APO." And knowing the three of them, APO being APO means that the show will make for one fun night.

And fun it was when I sat down one day last week with Jim and Buboy (Danny was on a business trip to China) to reminisce about the years and their music.

According to Jim, APO as a group is still together. It just seems that they’re apart because they have been pursuing individual interests. Danny has his business, Jim has his photography, is writing books and teaching at the Ateneo, while Buboy is busy guesting on TV and doing stints in the theater.

"We’re all really on growth mode," says Jim. "People just miss us because since we stopped the noontime show, we’re not as visible as we used to be."

That’s perfectly fine with the trio. "We don’t feel the need to be as recognized as before," continues Jim. "The noontime show was good financially, but at some point, you get to be a prisoner of worldly things, and it stifles your creativity." Jim points out it wasn’t until the noontime show went off the air that he started writing books and taking his photography seriously.

The pressure is off them now, even when it comes to recording. The urge to do an album is no longer there – partly because of piracy, and partly because they are now growing in different directions.

"Pero malakas kami sa ringtones," jokes Jim. Blue Jeans is the number one APO ringtone, while Batang-bata Ka Pa and Show Me A Smile come in a close second and third. "So kahit wala kaming album, people still hear us everyday – everytime a cell phone rings! " laughs Buboy.

They also still perform; they just came from Japan and the US for shows. At one of their recent concerts, Danny, who suffered a sprain, had to literally be wheeled in. The other two joked, "Starting tonight, we’re officially dropping ‘Hiking Society’ from our name."

Although Danny can now walk, you can still expect a lot of humor from the APO, as well as their usual political jokes. And just because the other APO is out doesn’t mean political humor has now been rendered useless. "Oh, there’s still a lot to be concerned about," says Jim, rattling off in quick succession, "FPJ, terrorrism, corruption, the EDSA overpass pictorial..."

Buboy interjects, "Sus, issue ba ’yon?" Jim, who just returned from a trip to Cambodia where he and wife Lydia renewed their vows to celebrate their 25th anniversary, was aghast to discover that when he got back, there were several messages on his cell phone, asking him to comment on the issue. He chose not to.

To date, the APO has been together for all 34 years. And despite the passage of the years and thinning hairlines, all the humor, irreverence and daring that make APO what it is are intact.

"We’ve evolved." says Jim proudly. "When we started in the ’70s, there were no groups (like us). We wanted to be like The Beatles. We set the trend."

Today, they most see themselves in group like The Eraserheads and Parokya ni Edgar, who have the same brand of humor they had during their prime. Buboy remembers that for one pictorial, Lito de Joya (who eventually left the group) posed in a Boy Scout uniform, directing traffic on the street, with a banana—yes, a banana!— tucked into his shorts. And this was in the pre-Diana Zubiri era!

Another time, an interviewer told them, "I don’t know anything about your group. I just got assigned to this interview—can you tell me something about you guys?"

They did but with all the information false. They deliberately led the poor woman on by telling her that Jim was a "wig magnate," that Buboy was an importer of dental fillings and that Danny was a painter—for Sarao jeepneys! She fell for everything, hook, line, and sinker. When the interview appeared in the writer’s magazine, the guys had a good laugh. "We don’t know where she is anymore," laughs Buboy. "I think the magazine closed after that interview."

This is the stuff memories are made of just as it is the stuff the APO is made of.

Get more of this at the APO Hard Rock Café concert, sponsored by Lipton Ice Tea and Mossimo. Tickets are priced at P400, inclusive of two drinks.

Aside from APO, the other artists who will have shows at Hard Rock Café this month include Moonstar 88, which keeps the alternative beat going when it headlines its own Bar Tour on Nov. 19, 9:30 p.m. They will be followed on Nov. 20 by The Dawn in Concert, also at 9:30 p.m.

On Nov.23, EMI Music Philippines sponssors the EMI Music Rolling Stone Forty Leaks party. Tickets to all tree events are priced at P300, inclusive of two drinks.

Hard Rock Cafe’s November special events wind up on Nov. 27, 9:30 p.m. as it presents local music’s Queen of Soul in Crossover Live Featuring Jaya, sponsored by Crossover 105.1 FM.

There will also be regular nightly shows starting at 9:30 p.m. featuring top bands and artists. Mondays featuring the Prime Council band, followed by Noel Cabangon who shares the stage with pop-rock band Pido With Take One on Tuesdays. Next Level on Wednesdays; on Thursday, Toy Symphony; and on Fridays, Soulid.

Weekends are reserved for Passage (Saturdays) and Asciano a new band composed of some of the country’s top session musicians (Sundays). But on Saturday, Nov. 30, Acoustic Jive will take over for a special performance.