Bagyo Berde was, needless to say, very memorable. Why it was isn't because of euphoria of singing in open air at the Alma Mater (it was very stressful, IMO). The journey to getting there is a better story to tell. A Chinese proverb says, the journey is the reward.
In a nutshell, I'm very grateful for being a finalist. I was expecting that we would at least place (keeping positive vibes, of course), but the songs that we did were risky, given the genre of the other 10 bands that played (we called our genre jazz + funk = junk). Deviating from rock was our idea of a "winning" strategy, but alas.
Anyway, People's Choice isn't a bad spot to be in. In fact, just two days ago, we performed again at the Alma Mater for The Art of Cosplay. Now this thing right here was quite interesting. We were told that we're getting a televised performance as our prize for winning People's Choice, and we had to be in school by 5:30 PM. Then, I was told that on the day that we were performing in a competition, which made me panic because we didn't have any practice. When I arrived at the venue, I found myself in a COSPLAY event. And, should I say it? NHK WAS THERE.
If you're ID 102 and lower/higher (until probably ID 104/105), you'll understand how shocking this is - COSPLAY. IN DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE OBEY-OR-BE-DAMNED DRESS CODE? Gosh, back in the day, we couldn't even come up with a cosplay event, we only stuck with the usual Miyazaki film showings, Minna Utao! and of course the cultural activities like sadou, but a cosplay is an event that NKK could only dream of producing during my time. This event, from what I've gathered, had the support of the CLA Graduate Student Council (solid backing, if I may say so myself), with NKK and I think another org...so a combined force can definitely stage an event like this.
Anyway, I digress. Had I known that we would be performing in a COSPLAY event, I would have brought out my Rinoa costume (sans long hair, of course), or prepare a J-pop song that's bandworthy. Alas, alas...
What was common about yesterday's performance and last Wednesday's was the sheer difficulty of setting up the instruments. Tuesday was understandable, but last Wednesday was just beyond me. We had a sound check prior to the event, but we still had setup/audio problems.
The delay was shorter last Wednesday compared to Tuesday, though. In fact, it got so long that I couldn't think of anything witty to say to the audience. So, I flipped through my head (a la iPod) some of the recent J-pop/anime themes that I knew by heart, and said, "Okay lang ba na kumanta ng J-pop na acapella?" I wasn't entirely sure what response I got (yes/heck no/whatever), but I went with my gut and blurted out, "This is LET IT OUT by Miko Fukuhara." Boom. I sang the verse, then the chorus. It was nearly mechanical, the way I did it. I've only sung the song in Wako (HAHAHAHA). If you're reading this and you were there, I give my humblest of floorbows or my widest of smiles to you, whichever is appropriate. =D
Anyway, after that, we got to play our two songs. Both were pretty smooth-sailing. The Wednesday performance was obviously more stressful than Tuesday's. On the basis of my performance alone, I think Tuesday was better; I mostly blame myself being so stressed about the performance last Wednesday, and partly on the stage monitor (I had to walk to the house just to hear myself).
I think a shout-out to Noey is in order for cheering me on two days ago (sorry talaga, I didn't realize it was you until I saw you up close /fail), and had I known that she was performing I would have attempted leaving the office earlier. =) And, on the subject of shout-outs, if you cheered on for us last Wednesday either by going to DLSU, or voted for us through text/coin bank, plugged us on the radio, or lifted us up in prayer, THANK YOU. This win is yours just as much as it is ours.
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This song was on repeat the weekend before Bagyo Berde. I was happy to have this on repeat, in spite of it bringing tears to my eyes everytime I listened to it. Basically, it puts the whole experience into the right perspective. :-)
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