Last year, on David’s birthday, we went around the Timog area, looking for a place to celebrate the evening.  Since I wasn’t very familiar with the joints around Timog, my sister Rai suggested we go to the Off-the-grill bar, where there’s a live band that played every night.  When we got there,  the place was full.  We had to wait for a table to be vacated.  So we decided to look around for another bar in the area

The Xaymaca bar along Timog Ave. is almost right next to the Off-the-Grill bar.  We could hear a band playing, and we were wondering who the band was.  We happened to see a fellow who was locking the door of his car parked right in front of the Xymaca bar.  We asked him who was playing inside.  He said “It’s Bob Marley”.    Really!?!

We entered the bar, and the place was also jam-packed.  Everyone was standing and there were no vacant tables.  We were both eager to see “Bob Marley”

….Bob Marley?  hahaha…nope, it wasn’t.  The music was Bob Marley reggae, alright.  But guess who it was?   The Brownman Revival Band!  OMG!  I love their music!  Their songs Binibini, Ikaw lang ang aking Mahal, Lintik…. and more! 

Brownman Revival is a Filipino reggae band that started in late 1994.  It was founded by Dennis and Dino Concepcion. The group draws heavily from the music of UB40, Big Mountain, and of course, Bob Marley.

 Here are a few pictures we took last year…

David never forgot that band.  He loved their music too!  So last night, he wanted to see them again.  He checked out their schedules on their website and the show was to start at 10:30pm.  This time, we arrived early at the Xaymaca bar, about 10:20pm.   Not much customers around yet, but according to the waiters, all the tables in front of the stage had been reserved already.  We had no choice but to stay at the back side of the joint.  Fortunately for us, the Brownman Revival group’s table was right next to our table too.  David got the chance to talk to the lead singer, Dino, and some of the other band members, Dennis, the drummer and Ambet, the trumpet player.  They were all very nice and friendly.

So here are the pictures we took last night…

      David & Dino (Lead Vocals)

                                                                        David & Dennis (the drummer)
 
 

And their music… they were amazing!  David really appreciated and enjoyed their singing and we stayed on till the show was over.  And the 2 waiters who assisted us all night at the Xaymaca bar….  you were very very accomodating and very helpful…. Thank you! 

And here’s a little collection of some of my favorite reggae music by the Brownman Revival Band.  Hope you all enjoy listening!

(Just click the PLAY button & start the reggae music playing!)

David’s dad recently took a business trip to New Mexico.  New Mexico is a state in the southwestern region of the United States of America.   The climate of this state is highly arid and its territory is mostly covered by mountains and desert.

He sent me some interesting photos that I would also like to share to everyone…

These are called Mesas.  They are like flat-topped mountains.   I read that Mesas were formed by the process of erosion.  The top of the mesas used to be a large flat surface, with no valleys.   Valleys were created when the rivers continuously eroded the plateau. 

 ______________________________________________

This is a windmill.    According to David’s dad, the cattle ranchers, not having access to piped water, dig wells on their property.   The windwill has a pump, operated by wind that pumps water from the well to a cistern so the cattle will have something to drink.

__________________________________________

This is the Santa Ana Pueblo, a 60,000 acre tract of land owned by the Santa Ana Indians, just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

_________________________________________________

This is the Sandia Mountains, the tallest peak in New Mexico.    “Sandia” means watermelon in Spanish (“pakwan” in Filipino).   One of the most enjoyable features of the Sandias are the glowing watermelon colors these mountains display during sunset.

______________________________________________

….And this is the desert

I would like to thank David’s dad for these pictures… it’s really fascinating to have a peek of what’s there beyond the borders of the Philippine islands..

Everyone’s interested to read about the Pinay Scandal. What’s in it with this issue? Is this how the world wants to look at us Filipinas? It’s really disgusting. I mean, being a Pinay myself, I would rather that the world would search for us with keywords like “The beautiful Filipina”, or “the admirable qualities of the Filipina”, or just anything that would describe us Filipinas as the kind of women the whole world would want to emulate. Sana naman yung magagandang qualities about the Filipinas ang unang maiisip hanapin ng tao, diba?

I read a blog that says “According to Google Trends, Pinay Scandal is one of the most searched keywords of web surfing Filipinos” So I guess this means that the Pinoys mismo are the ones searching for these scandals in our country? Isn’t that so disappointing? Aren’t we the supposed to be first ones to look at ourselves as respectable people? How much more can we expect the world to see us if our own kababayans themselves view the Filipinas this way? Even worse, there was a time when I tried to google for the said keywords, the #1 site that came up on the list was a real pornographic Pinay scandal site! Kakapanghina ng loob, diba? 

I have a daughter, who’s now a teenager. She’s actually growing up and turning into a responsible, very reserved and admirable young lady. I AM really proud of her. I’m hoping she will remain this way, or even become better as she matures. It would really be a wonderful thought that if ever she decided to travel anywhere around the world, she would be immediately, and, I mean instantly, given that respect a Filipina really deserves…because,  hey there, World, the real Filipina is definitely not all about that Pinay Scandal you’re searching for on the internet, ok?!!! Pinay ito noh!