On a rock awards night like this
November 5, 2001 | 12:00am
Hoagy, Cousin Hoagy, called one busy afternoon to relay the news about this year’s NU Rock Awards, to be held on the traditional third week of November, about how he was for the second straight year editing the souvenir program, and could we write something for it.
"But what’s the topic?" I asked Hoagy, originally known as Wayne Pardo, but a Mark Jimenez he’s not.
"Why, anything man, you could write about… what the scene has been like for the past so many years…."
"Maybe I could write about radio, the sounds I hear on the car or jeepney… that is, if the reception’s good."
"Yeah, man, that would be fine."
Well, maybe not all about mobile radio, because not all cars or jeeps have radios, and even then, there’s mostly silly stuff coming out of the dial any old day.
In the mornings, during the long drive through traffic across town to take the kids to the trusty school, and the car being used is the one lent by grandma, the choices are usually NU 107, K-Lite 103.5, or dzFE with its sublime classical music.
Now NU’s morning programming, when they decide to play some songs and not indulge in some mindless chatter with the ear-splitting twang, is okay. If you’re lucky, you may get to hear an old Sting song, or even Bono and his band U2 exhorting the masses to rise up, fellow man.
But most of the time, we have to bear with American accented traffic situationers, as well as embarrassing dialogue between a male and female disc jockey who sound as if they’ve had one too many coffees.
Again we can expect more of the same during rock awards night: a lot of American twang, which makes you want to pinch the emcees in the crotch, or at the very least pull out one by one their nether hairs, on that part where the sun never shines.
A saving grace for radio, not just for NU 107, is Hoagy’s own Crossroads show every Tuesday night, perfect for the comparatively smooth drive home.
Hoagy of course is an old hand at this game, and he knows his music, which is the basic yet brilliant blues. Then again his program does not restrict itself to the usual 12-bar form, but explores other possibilities of the blues, such as its endless tributaries, from jazz to bluegrass.
On the other hand, 103.5 features the old rock standards "of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s," as their come-on spiel goes. As such, you can chance on Natalie Merchant’s Carnival heard in tandem with Steve Perry’s Foolish Heart.
Or Jackson Browne’s Tender Is the Night side by side with Oh Laurie by who was it, Wham?
At least the station does not have too much "talkies," which tend to bring down regular programming that does not have a talk show format to begin with.
A welcome change of pace from the usual jungle on the radio dial is the classical station, FE, with its amiable DJ, Rexy. Their purpose may be to popularize the classics, and for the most part it works. In a setting like this, solo piano by Keith Jarrett would not be lost in the mix, neither the new age minimalist pianist George Winston.
It is also quite pleasant to the ears hearing Rexy say, "This is Rexy," in her unusual accent difficult to place.
The only drawback one can think of about FE, aside from the occasional overkill in harpsichord music, is the even more maverick intonation of evangelist Howard Sala who is out to save your soul. It’s not a bad deal really when you think about it; classical music with a ticket to heaven.
Admittedly, if one has enough patience to listen through Sala’s daily sermons, they do offer a measure of comfort. At least they’re not bombarding us with gospel music.
Speaking of gospel, one of the brighter acts that have emerged in the local scene is Battery, with its frontman George Turner having a solid original guitar tone, and for which he won as guitarist of the year in a past rock awards.
For this year, those likely to dominate are Imago, whose first album definitely made waves, and Badburn, if its rather belated release can be considered in current contention.
As for the nominee to the rock hall of fame, Hoagy is expectedly tight-lipped about it. Last year, he made no bones early that Jingle would be inducted, the pioneer in chordbook and rock journalism for which many of us owe a toke(n) or two.
Maybe we should nominate Aunt Irma, whose Gin Goñi and Jim Sarthou, not to mention the late Little Rock (Sonny Pecson), helped foster an acoustic awareness in those parking lot concerts of long ago.
When I’m Feeling Lonely, After Christmas Song and that other tune with the verse about Roxas Blvd. to Parañaque and the cuatro cantos remain etched in the musical memory, or is it just our imagination running away again?
I’m still working on it, Hoag, rest assured. Forget about the Jim Beam, Tanduay five years old will be fine.
"But what’s the topic?" I asked Hoagy, originally known as Wayne Pardo, but a Mark Jimenez he’s not.
"Why, anything man, you could write about… what the scene has been like for the past so many years…."
"Maybe I could write about radio, the sounds I hear on the car or jeepney… that is, if the reception’s good."
"Yeah, man, that would be fine."
Well, maybe not all about mobile radio, because not all cars or jeeps have radios, and even then, there’s mostly silly stuff coming out of the dial any old day.
In the mornings, during the long drive through traffic across town to take the kids to the trusty school, and the car being used is the one lent by grandma, the choices are usually NU 107, K-Lite 103.5, or dzFE with its sublime classical music.
Now NU’s morning programming, when they decide to play some songs and not indulge in some mindless chatter with the ear-splitting twang, is okay. If you’re lucky, you may get to hear an old Sting song, or even Bono and his band U2 exhorting the masses to rise up, fellow man.
But most of the time, we have to bear with American accented traffic situationers, as well as embarrassing dialogue between a male and female disc jockey who sound as if they’ve had one too many coffees.
Again we can expect more of the same during rock awards night: a lot of American twang, which makes you want to pinch the emcees in the crotch, or at the very least pull out one by one their nether hairs, on that part where the sun never shines.
A saving grace for radio, not just for NU 107, is Hoagy’s own Crossroads show every Tuesday night, perfect for the comparatively smooth drive home.
Hoagy of course is an old hand at this game, and he knows his music, which is the basic yet brilliant blues. Then again his program does not restrict itself to the usual 12-bar form, but explores other possibilities of the blues, such as its endless tributaries, from jazz to bluegrass.
On the other hand, 103.5 features the old rock standards "of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s," as their come-on spiel goes. As such, you can chance on Natalie Merchant’s Carnival heard in tandem with Steve Perry’s Foolish Heart.
Or Jackson Browne’s Tender Is the Night side by side with Oh Laurie by who was it, Wham?
At least the station does not have too much "talkies," which tend to bring down regular programming that does not have a talk show format to begin with.
A welcome change of pace from the usual jungle on the radio dial is the classical station, FE, with its amiable DJ, Rexy. Their purpose may be to popularize the classics, and for the most part it works. In a setting like this, solo piano by Keith Jarrett would not be lost in the mix, neither the new age minimalist pianist George Winston.
It is also quite pleasant to the ears hearing Rexy say, "This is Rexy," in her unusual accent difficult to place.
The only drawback one can think of about FE, aside from the occasional overkill in harpsichord music, is the even more maverick intonation of evangelist Howard Sala who is out to save your soul. It’s not a bad deal really when you think about it; classical music with a ticket to heaven.
Admittedly, if one has enough patience to listen through Sala’s daily sermons, they do offer a measure of comfort. At least they’re not bombarding us with gospel music.
Speaking of gospel, one of the brighter acts that have emerged in the local scene is Battery, with its frontman George Turner having a solid original guitar tone, and for which he won as guitarist of the year in a past rock awards.
For this year, those likely to dominate are Imago, whose first album definitely made waves, and Badburn, if its rather belated release can be considered in current contention.
As for the nominee to the rock hall of fame, Hoagy is expectedly tight-lipped about it. Last year, he made no bones early that Jingle would be inducted, the pioneer in chordbook and rock journalism for which many of us owe a toke(n) or two.
Maybe we should nominate Aunt Irma, whose Gin Goñi and Jim Sarthou, not to mention the late Little Rock (Sonny Pecson), helped foster an acoustic awareness in those parking lot concerts of long ago.
When I’m Feeling Lonely, After Christmas Song and that other tune with the verse about Roxas Blvd. to Parañaque and the cuatro cantos remain etched in the musical memory, or is it just our imagination running away again?
I’m still working on it, Hoag, rest assured. Forget about the Jim Beam, Tanduay five years old will be fine.
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
