Theater Review: Camp Rock The Musical by Repertory Philippines

Camp Rock instantly became a big hit when it was released as a Disney Channel Movie in 2008 and  people still love it today. 

Starring Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, the iconic film definitely wowed viewers with its wonderful music and great dance choreography. Now it has been made into a stage musical. Thanks to Repertory Philippines and its great cast and crew of young and talented people, Filipinos get to watch Camp Rock The Musical live at Onstage, Greenbelt 1 in Makati.

All the actors did a great job in the show because I saw how much time and commitment they gave just to bring people joy and happiness through the songs and dances. The main characters are composed of Morissette Amon (who plays Mitchie Torres), Nacho Tambunting, Markki Stroem, and Jef Flores (who play the brothers and band members of Connect 3), Hans Eckstein (as Brown Cesario) and Rem Zamora (as Axle Turner). Camp Rock The Musical is directed by Audie Gemora and co-directed by Topper Fabregas.

The show is very enjoyable to watch and will surprise people of all ages with great performances because the actors had to sing, dance, and act from one production number to the next. The story mixes scenes from both Camp Rock 1 and 2 and it's kind of cool. With a cast of 35 talented actors and singers, you wouldn’t believe how much work they have put into this big staging. 

All of the lights and audio visuals are very good. Congratulations to the people behind the scenes! The choreography was also so well put together that I felt like I wanted to dance with the actors on stage.

I am amazed at how everything fit together to make this one hell of a show. 

I'm familiar with Camp Rock and am glad they used the songs from the TV-Movie version like “It’s on”, “This is Me”, “Wouldn’t Change a Thing”, and more. Go watch before the show run ends on December 16. I'm sure you'll have as much fun as I did.

* Photos borrowed from my mom's blog's Facebook fan page

Concert Review: Forte@40 By the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines

I was invited to witness one of the most unique concerts ever. This is the first time I’ve ever heard that there will be no orchestra to create music, only pianos, and 40 at that on one stage! 

I immediately became interested to see the concert called Forte@40 by the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines (PTGP). Just the idea of that many pianos on stage, I wonder how would things would turn out. I was curious about how they’re going to synchronize the sounds to form graceful melodies.

My mom, brother, and I arrived at CCP early and I noticed that they were a lot of Filipino-Chinese audiences. The concert started on time and, indeed, there were 40 pianos up there on the big stage of the main theater. The piano players range from 40 to 80 per number. 

They started with recognizable songs from nursery books and classical music for begginners. I was surprised that they sounded like a combination of realistic orchestra and MIDI format sounds.

The second set was really good. It sounded very peaceful and became my most favorite of all the performances. The least of my favorites were the songs performed by the kids. I don’t know, I think I’m just not a fan of performing children performing. They need to practice more and improve because I honestly was not impressed. 

After the intermission, I recognized some songs like the tunes from the Harry Potter movies and the theme from Super Mario. The latter sounded weird and the combinations and blending were not that good. Plus, I also noticed a few mistakes. 

Some of the pianists played one of my favorite songs from a band called Nirvana. The good news is that I liked it. Maybe because all I saw performing were middle aged people who probably play the piano professionally.

The finale was again played by 80 pianists with two players per piano. It was a good way to end the performance despite the problems during the earlier parts. Overall, I rate the concert as average. Perhaps, it was because I was expecting a group of highly professional pianist around the Philippines and instead, it turned out like one of those school programs with 40 pianos, children, teenagers, and adults who can play piano.

Concert Review: KEANE Live in Manila

When I first heard about KEANE, I was not familiar with the band and I was surprised they're coming to the Philippines to do a concert at the Mall of Asia Arena. 

When my mom told me that she has two extra tickets to the concert, I immediately volunteered to go because I'm looking for a new band that I can listen to. I invited one my friends to go with us. 

When I searched for KEANE's songs on YouTube, Somewhere Only We Know was the first thing that popped up. I listened to it and it sounded familiar. No doubt, I have heard of it before and was glad that they'll be having a concert in Manila for the first time. They have the sound that I was looking for. So I immediately browsed other songs that made them famous. Disconnected also sounded familiar. KEANE is definitely a band that will make me a fan and I hoped they'd pull the concert off. 

I've always liked music groups that originated from England. One of them is Tears for Fears, a band I often listened to when I was in high school. British bands always have that unique sound that makes them different from other bands.

Last October 2, we headed to MOA Arena before 8PM. I was accompanied by my mom and my friend who’s also a fan of alternative and indie rock. As soon as KEANE started performing I knew that it was going to be good.

As they shared their music, it seemed all their songs sound so clear and all the lyrics are well-written. It also appeared that they never actually released a bad song. Only a few bands can pull off masterpieces in their albums. One of them is Circa Survive and it looks like KEANE has managed to do the same.

At the end of the concert, people still wanted more out of KEANE and they accommodated us. It was a really long setlist and the concert ended around 11PM. It was good; actually, way better than I expected. I am looking forward to listening to more KEANE songs. The concert was one of the best performances a band can do live on stage.

Orange Magazine TV Features Bryan Termulo on 2nd Anniversary Cover

This month, Orange Magazine TV celebrates its 2nd anniversary by featuring Bryan Termulo on the July 2012 cover. The popular singer has also just released a new album called Hanggang Ngayon.

I attended the bloggers' event at Moomba Bar in Quezon City with my mom. Rain was pouring hard almost the whole day so we got there later than we would have wanted. We arrived during the Q&A with Bryan where many of the guests asked him questions about his songs and career. He told us how grateful he is to his fans who have been supporting him and who serve as his inspirations.

After that, Bryan sang a few songs from the new album. Later, Kuya Jeman of Orange Magazine TV raffled off a lot of prizes. I think everyone who came got to take home a prize. I won an FMCC shirt which, unfortunately, was too big for me so I decided I'll just give it to my dad when I get home. My mom (check out her blog post about the event here) was luckier because she won a Samsung DVD player! 

Bryan was very accommodating when he was asked to pose for photos with the guests. He also patiently signed our albums which came with the press kit. It was a really fun event. I got to meet other bloggers who also like music. I hope to join one again in the future. 

The Online Media Launch was made possible by BWB Records and Music Production Inc. in cooperation with OrangeMagazineTV.com, Pinoy Magazine, BND Hair Gallery by Bing Nogara-Dio, Lifeline, Dickies, Erase Placenta, and Moomba Bar & Restaurant.

Event Coverage: Nuvali's Earth Day Concert

I was invited last Saturday to come to Nuvali in Laguna to participate in an Earth Day concert. The last time I was in Nuvali was a year ago and it's nice to come back to this place because of the fresh air and the nice scenery all around.

It was an honor to attend this wonderful event because it made me more aware of what's happening right now in our environment. Through the clips shown in between songs during the concert, audiences were reminded that even the simplest of things like picking up trash and recycling stuff can already make a BIG impact to save Mother Earth.  

The concert was graced by well-known singers in the Philippine music industry. Although my mom has Zia Quizon's album already, the other night was the first time I've heard Zia Quizon sing. As a jazz fanatic, I was amazed by her voice and honestly think she could be one of the best OPM jazz artist in this generation.

Jed Madela also sings fantastically. My favorite part was when he sang "What a Wonderful World". I really would have wanted to hear Christian Bautista sing one or two songs from his album Outbound, which I have, but he didn't. At least he sang a Michael Jackson song and that, for me, was enough. This is not the first time I have seen Christian Bautista up close. The first time was during a Bloggers Meet at the Universal Records office last November. You can read my review of his CD and about the event here.

Kyla and Juris also sang with the other three and the night was filled with good music and good vibes for the environment. 

Overall, I enjoyed the event very much. Audiences not only got to witness famous people perform on stage but also learned how we can do our part in saving our planet. And Nuvali's open air concert area was the perfect venue to do all that. It was a really great night.

Music CD Review: Kinse Calibre by Slapshock

I was recently given a copy of Slapshock's new album called Kinse Kalibre. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of the band because I’m already familiar with their music. There was a time that a friend invited me to come with him to Red Horse’s Muzik Laban at the rooftop of Starmall Alabang where Slapshock was to perform as guest musicians. I didn’t get to watch them though because it rained so hard that night that we had to wait a long time for the contestants to resume their performances. Slapshock was scheduled to come out at 2a.m. and we had to go home earlier than that. At least now, I got the chance to listen to them again via Kinse Kalibre.

Slapshock is the type of band I listen to whenever I’m in the mood to rock my socks off. They used to be a former rap metal act but, as time passed by, they evolved into metalcore that redefined their genre which, I think, made a bigger impact on their fans.

When I first heard their new album, I thought that Slapshock’s type of music now has some similarities with the Christian metalcore band called "Devil Wears Prada". The first track called "Intro" has a jazzy ambience which makes a fine intro for a metalcore band. And because they are so fluent in English and Tagalog, Slapshock can be mistaken as an American band when they’re playing songs with English lyrics.

Some tracks, like "Asal Demonyo", has some Japanese rock music elements because of the use of effects that is widely used by Japanese rock musicians.

“Langit” is my favorite track in Kinse Kalibre because the song is not really that much hardcore. Rather, it has more alternative rock and mellow elements. Other than that, the lyrics are beautiful.

All in all, Slapshock is a great band and one of the few and best Philippine metalcore bands I know. If you really dig this type of music, you should go and buy Kinse Kalibre and their other albums.

List of songs in Kinse Kalibre:

1. Intro

2. Ngayon Na

3. Reset

4. Deliryo

5. Asal Demonyo

6. Burn in Hell

7. In The Line Of Fire

8. Langit

9. Under The Needle

10. Heartless

11. Salamin

12. All Hope Is Gone

Music CD Review: Somedaydream's Self-Titled Debut Album

Some may wonder who Somedaydream really is especially if they haven't seen the singer behind the songs yet. Many thought that he is an American musician but he is not. He is a Filipino! 

Somedaydream is actually the one-man electronic act of Rez Toledo. He composes, plays, and sings techno music that has some similarities with the famous one-man band Owl City. Somedaydream has recently just released his first album that's self-titled and includes the very popular Hey Daydreamer song that is featured in the Selecta Cornetto ice cream TV commercial. 

The debut album has seven tracks. When I first started listening to the Prelude, my first thought was that it's completely peaceful; the kind of music I like listening to when I want to relax. The second track is Hey Daydreamer which has become very famous because it does give you LSS especially when the chorus starts, you won't be able to get it out of your head. This is one of my favorite tracks in the album because the melody is catchy and the song contains a lot of nice lyrics. 

The third track is Do-do With You which I think was the one I heard Rez sing during the C2 event I attended last month. After that is Delivery Boys which features a great blending of Tagalog and English lyrics. It's also one of my most favorite songs in this album. 

Track No.5 is Break which, for me, is an emo song. I usually listen to this kind of music whenever I'm sad and depressed. Rez's Break song is one of those that may impact you with its deep and nostalogic lyrics. Second to the last track is Sing This Song which sounds very American. When you hear this one for the first time and don't know who sang it, you might think that it's sung by a foreign pop star. I find Sing this Song really good too. 

Last track is an acoustic version of Hey Daydreamer which I find much better than the original techno version. But that's just me because I'm a fan of acoustic and mellow bands. 

At first, I thought of the album as just another CD where the tracks would sound all the same but they don't. Overall, Somedaydream is a great album and a perfect starting point for Rez Toledo's success. 

Congrats Somedaydream! More albums to come!

*Photos borrowed from Orange Magazine TV's Facebook album

Music CD Review: Christian Bautista’s Outbound Album

Christian Bautista just released his latest album called Outbound. Thanks to Orange Magazine TV, I was one of the lucky guests to be invited to a press con last Sunday at the Universal Records office. I am not familiar with the Kitchen Musical TV series so I didn’t know that Christian is already famous in different parts of Asia. But it made me glad to realize how he has brought Filipino pride in those countries.

Last night, I discovered that Christian can be a very funny guy and he was also friendly to all of us. Before the press con came to an end, Christian sang I’m Already King, one of the songs in the album. He also gamely posed for pictures with us and readily signed our copies of Outbound.

I listened to the whole album the next day. It features many songs including All That’s Left wherein the music video features cosplay princess Alodia Gosengfiao. The song has an upbeat tempo similar to the KPop music that I always listen to whenever I’m feeling down. All That’s Left is a good choice for track number one because it’s the perfect song to start off the album.

The second track called Faith is very techno-like while I’m Already King, for me, is the nicest song in this album because it highlights much of Christian’s powerful voice. When I heard Never Far Away, I felt like it’s been sung by Matchbox20 maybe because of the lyrics which contain a lot of metaphor.

I give a big “Wow!” to Wrong Number because it features the group One Way and it suits Christian to sing this KPop song. As a KPop fan, I’d say this is one of my favorite tracks in Outbound. The last song, Sakura, teams up Christian with Baby M, a half-Japanese, half-English singer. She has a beautiful voice that is a perfect match to Christian’s.

Overall, this album is beautiful and I recommend this to all who like ballads mixed with some upbeat tempo and maybe KPop. Congratulations to Christian for coming up very nice songs and also for having been recently awarded Exemplary ASEAN Youth in the Field of Entertainment and the Arts by the National Youth Commission. He deserves the recognition.

C2 Sarap ng Bukas Concert and Music Video Awarding Ceremonies

I like listening to different kinds of music and enjoy going to concerts. So I was really glad to be invited to the C2 Sarap ng Bukas event last night where 10 talented finalists of the C2 music video creation contest were featured. It’s one of the most exciting events I’ve ever been to!

There, I got a chance to witness some of the Philippines’ most respected bands on stage like Tanya Markova and Callalily plus the newest music sensation Somedaydream who performed a couple of very catchy songs.

This is the first time I’ve heard Tanya Markova play live and it was phenomenal. Their performance level is too high! At first, they may look like some punk gothic band that plays emo music. But when they started playing, they suddenly looked and sounded like harmless kids having fun and singing in front of many people.

Then there’s also this band called Gracenote where the vocalist was able to fully capture the voice of Haley from Paramore. She seems to have a lot of confidence in performing and just doing her thing.

Callalily has the most number of fans that night. I mean, girls just went crazy over the vocalist, Kean Cipriano. I like this band but was kinda disappointed because they did not sing my favorite songs, their old ones, which I started listening to when I was still in high school. But it’s okay, they still performed well to the delight of the audience.

I’d like to congratulate the winners of the C2 music video contest. My bet actually was the one made by Joan Rodriguez. She created a video with a simple story that made a deep impact on me and on many of those who saw it, including my mom. Too bad it didn’t win. I found the concept amazing because the footages showed the many challenges faced by hardworking Filipinos’ and yet, they still manage to smile at the end of each day. That’s a great attitude to have and one that we must always remember.

*Pictures borrowed from Orange Magazine TV's photo album

Sponge Cola Launches New Album "Araw Oras Tagpuan"

Sponge Cola is a Filipino rock band that has a lot of great songs. Last October 20, I attended a Blogger's Night featuring the band and their newest album Araw Oras Tagpuan. I found Yael, the lead singer, very energetic and quite funny too. He and the rest of the band members (Gosh, Ted, and Armo) performed four acoustic songs including the famous “Tambay” which I frequently hear when hanging out with my friends.

I was very glad that they performed their old song “Jeepney”. I grew up listening to this when I was still an elementary student and I consider it one of the best OPM songs I’ve ever heard in my life. Sponge Cola hasn’t changed their style much and I say that in a positive way. They have maintained their energetic and free personality that made them famous in the first place.


The band’s newest album, Araw Oras Tagpuan, has 12 tracks plus one hidden track called “Easy as Pie” which I found amusing. The track called “Kay Tagal Kitang Hinintay” became a fast favorite of mine because it has deep meaning as well as great and beautiful lyrics that inspired me to become a songwriter. Who knows, it might inspire you, too!


The album has a tremendous impact especially when you listen to all the tracks. I’ve heard them all and found that the song “Warning”, which has jazz and blues elements, made me much more interested in listening to the rest of the songs. In my opinion, jazz is the music which has the highest standards but a lot of young people nowadays tend to just listen to what is new.


So I really hope that my friends, who depend so much on foreign rock bands, would learn to appreciate and discover that OPM rock is just as cool as the American rock culture. Aside from Sponge Cola, some of my other favorite OPM bands are Hale, Kamikaze, and Callalily.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of meeting the members of Sponge Cola and hearing them sing live. They are all awesome and very talented. It was a great night. More albums to come Sponge Cola!

Sponge Cola’s Blogger’s Night was presented by Universal Records in cooperation with Pinoy Magazine, BANDS Magazine and official online partner Orange Magazine TV with special thanks to Coca-Cola Philippines.

*Thank you Universal Records and Orange Magazine TV for the invite!

Music Review: 2AM's Saint O' Clock Album

I have been listening to K-pop music daily since 2009.

2 AM is a male song and dance group. Their latest album is Saint O’ clock released in October 2010. The first time I noticed 2AM was when I was watching Arirang Global News TV. The group was featured in Pops in Seoul with their music video “Like Crazy”. My impression of that song was that it was very sentimental. Emotional is what best describes 2AM for me.


When I got their album “Saint O’clock”, I found the cover as having this dark heavy atmosphere. The first song is an instrumental track called “Phone”. Coming up next is "You Wouldn't Answer My Calls". Personally this is my favourite track. It has nice lyrics and a moderate tempo that makes it a beautiful ballad song.


Overall, this is a great album for R&B lovers. What's notable about this band is that all members are very talented in terms of singing. Most of their songs are ballad types and sound sentimental although some tracks also have a kind of 90’s catchy tune to them. One of these is Track 10 "With or Without You". It has the most upbeat tempo in the whole album.

I recommend Saint O’clock like I said, to all K-pop addicts. You will love this! It is a 4/5 for me -- very good!

*Saint O' Clock is a special Asian release and available exclusively under MCA Music Inc.