Sige… Paalam Na

I recently wrote a song for one of Viva Record’s new talents.  Her name is Mocha.  I blogged about this months back when her album was still in mid-production… well, the album is out now and is available in your favorite record bars.

The song I composed for her is entitled, “Sige… Paalam Na”, which talks about a person whose been hurt one too many times by someone and ultimately realizes that the relationship he/she’s in isn’t worth saving anymore… and moving on is the only option.

Two Minds Crack

Some of you probably still remember the group, “Two Minds Crack”… the band that performed the New Wave hit song, “Upside Down”, back in the early 80s.

Well, a few months back I posted a remake of their hit single, performed by “Candles”… a band I used to co-manage till they disbanded (creative differences).  This particular remake was included in the group’s debut album which came out during the last quarter of 2006 under Viva Records.  Long before 6CycleMind’s version was ever released.

When I first featured the song here on my blog months back, I got a surprise visit by Two Minds Crack band member, Kevin Jones!  He actually left a short comment below my post commending the band on how well he thought the remake was done.  His message was as follows:

“Hi, I was the lead singer/guitarist in Two Minds Crack and I wrote Upside Down – I really enjoyed the Candles version – keep up the good work!!”

Earlier today, I got another message on the same post… but this time it came from Two Minds Crack co-member, Pete Martin!  His message:

“Greetings Candles…loved the version of Upside Down.Don’t listen to Kevin Jones…. I wrote upside down…. I was guitarist and keyboard player in Two Minds Crack… that Jones fella gets everywhere!Joking aside, we wrote that and first recorded it back in 1983 ish, the finished version being released on The Victory Parade album in 1986. We didn’t find out until the 90’s that it was a big hit over there which was a shame cos to be sure we would have come out and played some gigs. It’s a big thrill to hear someone cover one of your tracks believe me. Keep rocking in the free world son…..and at least you got Kev’s words correct !!! Pete.”

Hahaha… I was particularly amused by his last words (“and at least you got Kev’s words correct!!!”) coz I also found out that Pete is aware of 6CycleMind’s version.  And listening closely to their own rendition of the 80s New Wave classic, you’ll notice that there is quite a number of wrong lyrics in it.

Well, it’s a shame Candles disbanded so early in their careers… but things like these do happen.  Oh well… I guess that’s that.

I suppose it’s only appropriate that I feature Candles’ version of “Upside Down” for everyone to enjoy.  So… without further ado…

UPSIDE DOWN by Candles

The New "iPod Touch"

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better… Steve Jobs announces (and reveals) the newest design of the iPod which he calls the “iPod Touch“!

8mm thin (can you believe that?!) and the display is just as big as that of the iPhone… no more click wheel (except for the new Nano)… all touch screen! In fact, you’d mistake it to be an iPhone if you don’t look closer…!

Oh man! Me likey… AGAIN! Me likey… so much!

Check out the vid below (courtesy of CNN.com):

The NEW iPod Nano (3rd Gen)! Me Likey A Lot!

The entire iPod lineup is getting revamped — including the Nano.

The new Nanos will include 2-inch screens with QVGA resolution, and boast the same quality as the iPod video. These new displays have the highest pixel density that Apple has ever shipped, and it seems the extra-wide players will sport an “enhanced” UI with its own version of Cover Flow.

The iPod Nano will come bundled with three games, including a circular-Arkanoid rip-off called Vortex. The battery life is fairly impressive as well, with Apple touting 24 hours of playback for audio, and 5 hours for video (Yes!  It plays VIDEO now!).

The 4GB model will be selling for $149, though it’s only available in silver, while the rainbow-colored 8GB will cost $199.

Both models will be in stores “by this weekend”.

Me likey likey!  Darn…!  I drooled all over the floor…!

Birthday Tribute…

I recently guested on QTV’s, “The Sweet Life” which is hosted by Lucy Torres-Gomez.  And if you were paying attention to my blog a few weeks back, you’d know that this is already my second appearance on that particular show.  The first one was when I came out with my little daughter and, frankly, she had most of the exposure then.  Haha!

This time around, I was invited to be part of German “Kuya Germs” Moreno’s surprise birthday celebration.  Kuya Germs’ 75th birthday is still on October, but the program was doing a series of advanced tapings and the “tribute” was one of them.

I was asked to bring a card for Kuya Germs, but I thought a birthday card too simple… too… ummm… common.  So, I decided to give him a personalized CD of all my recent compositions with a birthday message written on the side of the disc.  Why a disc filled with compositions, you ask?  Well, mainly because I never really would’ve realized my interest in music long ago had it not been for his show that I was a regular of:  “That’s Entertainment”.

That was where I actually honed my talent as a musician… I even, for a time, became a musical arranger for his weekly Sunday television program, “GMA Supershow”.

Anyways, I was called in on stage to surprise him and to share with televiewers some good memories I’ve had of Kuya Germs.

So, I went in… exchanged pleasantries and went on to present my “token”.  Before I handed the gift, I explained on-air why I opted to bring that particular present.  Then I continued to read the small message out loud in front of him (the text was small and considering his age, I was afraid to strain his eyes…)

The message read:

Kuya Germs, maraming salamat sa lahat ng tulong at aral na ibinahagi ninyo sa akin.  Kung ano ako ngayon… kung ano ang aking naabot… at kung ano pa ang aking mararating… malaking bahagi nito ay dahil sa inyo.

Mahal ko po kayo.

Maligayang Kaarawan po.

- Chuckie Dreyfus

And as I looked up at him to hand it over, he took it and wanted to speak to the mic… but he couldn’t.  His eyes were welling up.  He tried to speak but got choked up… he stopped and looked down… sobbing… silent.  I thought we were gonna cut.  But we continued to roll… silence all around… only his sniffing could be heard.

Then, short of breath… he spoke.  He told everyone how much he was proud of me… he gripped my hand so tight and still continued to choke up in tears.  I didn’t actually think I’d make that kind of an impact on him during that taping.  I had never made him cry like “that”… I mean, by myself… yet I did.

I cannot fully put into words how I truly felt during those minutes… But as much as I knew that the show’s episode was done for him… to pay tribute to his accomplishments in the industry… a celebration of his life… and in recognition of his importance in showbusiness… during that particular moment, it was I who felt important… and that everything I have achieved was all that mattered to him.

Happy birthday, Kuya Germs.

Thank you for everything… God bless you always…

Inquirer Article

I’d like to thank “Rito Asilo” for posting a wonderful article on last Sunday’s edition of The “Daily Inquirer” (print and online versions).  The article’s main topic was all about Sarah Geronimo’s latest album, “Taking Flight”, but on the last paragraph of the writeup, Rito made special mention of how I, in his own words, “reinvented my artistic persona”…

Rito, thank you for the writeup.  Much appreciated!

You can view the article below (click to enlarge):

Thug Rap

I was at the gym earlier and I kinda noticed how the person in-charge of maintaining the facility kept on playing “thug-type” rap music…! Then I noticed how similar all these songs sounded… and how all their lyrics are laced err… rather “filled” (to the brim) with profanity and expletives!

It’s like all they could say is “bitch”, “fuck”, “motherfucker”, and all the other crap you could think of. I bet if you ask them to write some rap lyrics without the profanity, they’d be “dumbfucked” (pun intended).

No wonder the rap genre is at a decline… all the same words intertwined with unoriginal resampled choruses of old songs. Ok… not only can they ONLY talk about bitches and motherfuckers and “capping” (“shooting” for the uninformed) other “niggas” (as they would normally call one another in their songs)… they also DON’T KNOW how to write original melodies to match their unrequited hatred in verses.

When they realize (yes, they also have realizations like normal people) that the words they’ve been using have been too worn out, they make up a bunch of new “slang” terminologies which actually have the same definitions as their old words… then they use these “made up” words to reconstruct new verses, which, in reality ARE the same in gist.

People actually buy THIS stuff?!!!

Why can’t most of them rap like some very few upstanding African-Americans in the music industry such as Will Smith who doesn’t believe in intertwining profanity with his lyrics?

Thug-Rap. All about hatred… All about sex… All about violence… unoriginal… and NO musicality. Such a pity… and an embarrassment to the industry. Tsk-tsk!

Oh… and if you’re still wondering about the guy in charge of the music at the gym… yeah, I told him I’d be permanently leaving him with some new CDs when I come back… something with REAL MUSIC!

I Do

I recently stumbled upon a new video on You Tube featuring one talented singer named “KazMills” who happens to belong to a bunch of emerging singers/musicians such as Esmee Denters and MrPitifulBand.

Over at KazMills’ You Tube page, she recently uploaded a video of herself singing a composition she wrote entitled, “I Do”, which I absolutely loved listening to!

I’d like to share the video with you guys cause good songs just shouldn’t be kept to one’s self… the lyrics to her song is posted below the video.  Enjoy!

 

“I DO”

When I see you now… What I see is
A shadow of what we could have been.

Something better than we’d already seen.

When I see you now… Should I be
Holding on to what you did to me?

Yes I should. But forgive me.
Letting go doesn’t happen easily.

CHORUS:

And if it seems, Like I care for you,
Memories are hard to see through.
And if it seems, Like I need you,
That will just be deja vu.
And if it seems like I miss you,
It’s cos I do.

When you see me now… What d’you see?
Do you see the one who was once a dream?

Do you see why you let go of me?

When you see me now… Possibly
Could you try to hide your sparkling wedding ring?

When you see me now… I hope it hurts

(Chorus)

When did we fall apart?  When did we start living this lie?

Sometimes it feels like we’re living in a dream that’s not our’s.
And I want to wake up.

And if it seems,  Like I care for you,
It’s cos you want me to.
And if it seems,  Like I need you,
It’s cos you want me to.
And if it seems like I miss you,
It’s cos I do.

Write Song… Sing Song…

Write the songs… and sing the demo versions…

A ton of songs to be done… a flurry of songwriting tasks to complete! Just coming off the heels of Sarah’s “Taking Flight” album release, I’ve been asked to write a few songs for a couple of Viva artists with albums coming out pretty soon as well.

Sarah Album Update 10.4

Here is Sarah’s “Taking Flight” album cover and inlay booklet design… enjoy!

For copyright protection purposes, I am forced to place a watermark over the image.  Hope you understand.  Thanks!

Sarah Album Update 10.3

As of presstime, copies have not yet arrived at the Viva Warehouse.  If these units arrive later than expected, then we can assume that the hand-carried copies will be available by tomorrow (July 28, 2007).

Actually, that’s all I have to say right now.  More updates as it happens.

"Miss" (aka Sarah Album Update 10.2)

Just posting the lyrics of my other composition entitled, “Miss”, which is also included in Sarah’s album, “Taking Flight”.  Hope you like it!

“MISS”
(Composed by Chuckie Dreyfus)

Sa paglipas ng bawat minuto
Laging naaalala
Di makatakas kahit sa pagtulog
Larawan mong nakikita

Refrain 1:
Di na bale kahit walang saysay
Ang pinaguusapan
Basta’t nariyan ka lang…

Chorus:
Pwede ba muling magkita… (Miss na miss kita)
Kahit na maghapong nakatunganga… (Kasi namimiss kita)
Uuwi rin tayo di ka dapat na mag-alala
Kung alam mo lang… talagang miss na miss na miss (na miss) kita

Kahit na aliwin aking sarili
Kay hirap mong limutin
Bakit ba ikaw na lang palaging
Kinukulit ng damdamin

Refrain 2:
Bakit ba parang di mapalagay
Tuwing ika’y nakikita
Lagi sanang nariyan ka lang

(Chorus)

Bridge:
Para nga bang laging nangungulila
Bakit ba hinahanap ka
Di makuntento sa pakwento kwento
Para bang may kulang pa…
Di makatulog… Ba’t nahuhulog
Ano bang nasa iyo?
Sana’y aminin ng iyong damdamin
Ganun din ba ang puso mo…?

(Chorus)

Sarah Album Update 10.1

More updates… but not a whole lot of ‘em.  This is just in connection to the disparity in reports regarding how many tracks “Taking Flight” will actually have.  As I’ve previously posted on Update # 10, there are only 11 songs in the album… but the track listing posted over at Pinoy Exchange states 12 songs.

Officially, there will ONLY be 11 tracks in Sarah’s new album:

1. I’ll Be Alright
2. Ikaw
3. I’m Sorry
4. Time to Let Go (duet with Mark Bautista)
5. So
6. Close to my Heart
7. What If I
8. Miss
9. I’ll Be Here
10. Mr. Deadma
11. Kahit Na

Even the sequence of the songs are OFFICIALLY as stated above.

The song, “Stay With Me”, was taken off the album before replication and printing of artwork.  Although, the song was already actually recorded… due to circumstances I am not allowed to divulge, the composition was pulled out.  All I can say was that there were last minute problems with the songwriter and negotiations.  Details are confidential.

There you have it… the final track listing of “Taking Flight”!

Sarah Album Update 10

Okay… another update! This is actually also in connection to my last update but since this entry tackles other parts of the album, I decided to call it “update 10″ instead of “9.1″. It’ll also probably be the last update before the album comes out… UNLESS, there are changes again in album movement after this post (which I sincerely doubt).

(Yes, this is the actual cover of the album!)

First things first… I’m sure you’re all itching to know exactly when the album will be available on the market.

I came from the Viva office earlier and this is what’s going to happen… the copies will be coming in on Friday. When I say “coming in”, it means coming into the Viva warehouse and NOT the record bars. The actual release date will be on MONDAY, July 30, 2007. Deliveries won’t be made over the weekend since we cannot determine as to exactly what time these copies are expected to arrive.

Me inside Vincent del Rosario’s office earlier…

Wait! There’s more…

Sarah Album Update 9

It’s official… Sarah’s album, “Taking Flight” won’t be coming out today.  Don’t bother checking the record bars.  Last I heard from the Viva office, the release date was moved to Friday, July 27, 2007… which actually isn’t so bad, right?

Like I said earlier on my previous update, “a day or two”.

So, save your transportation budget and spare yourselves the disappointment of double-checking the record bars hoping against hope that it’s out by today and finding out it ain’t.