Turns out you just sautee garlic and onions, add rice and chicken broth, and simmer until the rice is done. I added rosemary because I can. So I did. And it turned out great. The chicken broth wasn’t taken from cubes. ew. I got it from boiling a chicken breast. Later, because I had a chicken breast that I didn’t know what to do with, I just shredded it and stir fried it until it got crispy.

It was great! Yes, I et Jake. Again.

Speaking of Jake… and Elmer, there’s some Elmer news lately. I was interviewed by Chris Arrant of Newsarama last year and the interview came out earlier today.

Walk a Mile in the Shoes of Chickens in SLG’s ELMER
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/elmer-SLG-chicken-110103.html
Thanks Chris!

Also, my French publisher emailed with some great news. Turns out Elmer was nominated for something. If you can see me now I look like a girl. Hand on mouth. Giggling.

Nominations Prix des Libraires 2011
http://www.canalbd.net/index.php?id=1212

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Ilyn gave me a guitar for Christmas, and it’s awesome! I’ve actually been playing the guitar since high school (we had these insane Jim Croce challenges) but I haven’t regularly played for like 20 years. My fingertips have gotten all soft. When I picked it up again, I was horrified that I could not even do a simple C or a G. But after a couple of weeks I’ve been able to do Blackbird again, and it makes me happy. The guitar was my destresser back in school. When I was feeling pressured and pissed, I would just play the guitar and my mood would become better.

My objective for the moment is to master this Glen Campbell piece that I’ve long wanted to learn to play on the guitar. It’s so amazing. If I’m able to play that well I’d be really happy.

Tomorrow is the 20th of December, and a comics convention will be held at Bicol. I wanted to go, but it’s too close to Christmas and it’s pretty hectic at home and at work. Anyway, here’s a poster:

And the cover to the anthology the organizers are releasing:

I’ve wanted to go back to Bicol for quite some time. The first and last time I was there was in 1983 for the National Boy Scout’s Jamboree. I was assistant Scout Master of the San Beda College contingent. Oh yeah, I was a Boy Scout from grade school up until high school. It was probably the only extra curricular activity I had. Looking back on it, it wasn’t bad, but I wonder why I had stuck to it for so long. I guess I just love collecting the badges. If I tie you up to a tree with my knots, I assure you, you won’t escape.

I love buying notebooks. Have you seen the new kinds of notebooks coming out now? Great thick creamy paper, hardbound with beautiful covers. I have a Moleskine that was given to be by a friend, but I love the much cheaper counterpart from Scribe, which looks and feels like a Moleskine notebook. I use the Scribe a lot for scribbles, sketches, story ideas, passwords, accounting, addresses and contact numbers. It’s pretty handy because it fits right in the pocket. I always teach any aspiring artist to carry with them small notebooks like this to carry around all the time so they can sketch at every opportunity.

But the bigger notebooks, I love buying them. I just got a really nice one for myself for Christmas. Actually, I remember buying one last year.

(Interrupted by smiling garbage men carrying an envelope. Sigh. Christmas!)

Anyway, I remember buying this really beautiful notebook last year, resolving to write stuff in it. Actually, I never did. I remember buying another notebook the previous year. I got so far as writing in a few pages. Pathetic! This new notebook I got so far as write the date. I think that’s an accomplishment! I want to write stuff in there… but what? I could write story ideas (well, that’s what my Scribe is for already), or maybe diary entries. I used to have an actual diary long before I had this blog. I must admit, I’ve become less personal when doing diaries online, so I guess that’s something I can come back to. There at least I can say everything I want to say about people and they won’t know about it. ahaha!

One definite New Year’s resolution of mine is to start writing letters again. I resolve to hand write at least one letter a week and send it, post office style. I also plan on getting a turntable. Vinyl seems to be making a comeback. I miss the scratchy sound they make before the music starts playing. I still have all my old vinyl records. I pretty much took good care of them and I’m quite sure they’re still in pretty good condition. My favorite musicians are actually releasing new music on vinyl, along with CDs and downloads. I want to get them not only because I love vinyl, but because I also get to see huge album covers. I miss those covers.

Sigh. I just found out that the unripe papaya that I needed to cook the adobo sa gata is already RIPE! I can’t use that! I guess this dish would have to go papaya less. Sorry guys!

One favorite tape of mine is a few songs from NU107′s Acoustic Christmas on December 20, 1994, where the Youth, with vocals and guitars by my idol, Dodong Cruz, performed “Mukhang Pera”.

Audio is hosted at archive.org

Dodong is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Filipino rock guitarists and vocalists ever. I hope he continues to make great music.

From the same broadcast, here’s The Dawn with “Abot Kamay”

And here’s After Image with “Tag-Ulan”.

With NU 107 now off the air, I thought it would be nice to archive some of the nice bits from its history somehow.

I also found another recording, this time by Bagiw or Bag-iw, from their now long out of print cassette of the same title. This song is “45 Seconds (in July 16)”, which is the song they wrote in remembrance of the cataclysmic Luzon Earthquake of July 16, 1990 which devastated Baguio (where the band is based), Cabanatuan City, La Union and other nearby areas.

The photos used in this video are from:
http://www.cityofpines.com/baguioquake/quake.html

This particular earthquake was also the same one that served to push me to write and draw “Dead Heart Stories: July 16″ in 1996.

Song Of Freedom – Murray Gold

Wander My Friends – Soundtrack

The title and composer are there to see, but I won’t say where they’re from. I’ll leave it up to you to find out or say. I’m sure these would be immediately recognizable to some.

If you’re interested, you can either make a bank deposit to my account (then I’ll courier the tickets and comics to you), or we can just meet at Jay Anacleto’s signing this Saturday, December 6 at Comic Odyssey at Robinson’s Galleria. Please feel free to get in touch with me here, or send me an email at gerryalanguilan at yahoo dot com.

Thanks!!

Danny was a long time member of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band who played the keyboards, organs, and occasionally, the accordion. He was diagnosed with melanoma three years ago and it finally claimed him more than a week ago.

(Video from BruceSpringsteen.net)

Favorites come and go and very often I would get tired of listening to an artist and move on to the next. The one artist, as in the only one artist I could never get tired of listening to was Bruce Springsteen. I discovered his music through “Dancing in the Dark” in 1984 during the summer break before the start of my freshman year in college. I was instantly hooked. I felt a connection to the music that I didn’t feel with any other. It just felt right. It felt good and it felt perfect. I eventually bought the album and it took my life completely over. Unbelievably, all the songs were terrific. It was quite a revelation. In an industry that bred bands with one hit single and a crap album, here was a guy that was writing nothing but good songs on the entire album. Later, I would hear that he wrote 80 songs for just that album, and he selected only the best to be included.

I began to buy his earlier albums and I bought every album he put out ever since. I eventually came to know every member of his E-Street Band and the role that each of them played. I eventually came to know Max Weinberg through his powerful drumming, Clarence Clemons for his heart breaking saxophone playing, Roy Bittan for his delicate piano playing, Garry Talent for his subtle and steady bass playing, Nils Lofgren for his deft guitar playing, Steve Van Zandt for his antics, get-up and his steady guitar playing, Patti Scialfa for her unusual vocals, Suzie Tyrell for her lilting violins… and then there was Danny. “Phantom Dan” as Bruce lovingly refers to him. Now you see him now you don’t. Quiet and unassuming and quite often would just disappear into the background as if he wasn’t there.

But the music he made was anything but invisible. There are moments where his organ or his keyboards would just come in at the right moment, with the right notes, in the right place in the song, and it’s enough to reduce me to tears. His music is an integral part of the sound of the E-Street Band, and integral to the music I grew up with through college, through much of my working life.

When I heard that Danny had died, I never expected to be hit so hard. The music he had helped create accompanied me through the ups and downs of my life like it was really and truly a part of me. I knew that Danny was sick, but it was still sad nevertheless. Bruce Springsteen wrote a really beautiful tribute for Danny during his funeral. If you feel like it, you can read it here:
http://www.brucespringsteen.net/news/index.html