Sounds Familiar

Yesterday, we went to The Sentimental Groove's demo at their office in Mandaluyong City. Before this, I was really hesitant to attend the demo because we were not familiar with the area. And besides, we already saw them perform before at Jon and Yax's wedding. We were really impressed by their performance then.

I would always tell Dionne to skip the demos. Then she would make this sad face... Last weekend, I finally agreed. Sige na nga. (Napilitan pa kunwari). After confirming with Beth regarding our reservations, we decided that I would scout the place first: how to get there without riding a taxi and how to get home from there (again, without riding a taxi). Another purpose of attending the demo is to see how the other bands under the TSG umbrella perform, since they have 9 different packages/bands listed in their flyer.

Arriving at Boni via the MRT, it was still early at 6PM. I had an hour to find the place. The first person I asked for directions was a security guard at MRT who looked like he hasn't been sleeping for some time. He told me to go down and pointed towards a vague direction... He could've told me that he didn't knew where that place was. Anyway... I decided to have a feel of the immediate vicinity of the MRT station. I didn't want to ask the tricycle drivers because they might charge me extra knowing that I'm not familiar with the place, or worse...

I then asked the security guard at Mercury. He politely told me that he wasn't from that area and pointed at the cashier. I thanked him and got out instead, rather than disturb the cashier. Hmm, looking around... Mani vendor! I bought 5 pesos so that I could ask him where Unciano Hospital was (excuses). He just shrugged and ignored the question. Iba siguro kung 20 ang binili ko...

I don't know what I was thinking when I began walking towards 7-11. This was where I noticed that the jeepneys were loading for Stop-and-Shop. I asked the barker regarding Unciano Hospital. She told me that it was 3 streets down the main road. The other bystanders commented, "lakarin mo na lang, sayang lang 5.50 mo". Even before that, I wanted to walk towards the destination just familiarize myself with the area. After a couple of minutes, I was in front of Unciano Hospital. Woohoo! What direction did it say on the flyer, left or right street? Hmm, 'can't remember. I asked another bystander where he thought #362 would be. He told me to go left. Left I went... First house number I saw was #117. Ok, seems sile #362 was a little farther off. I continued walking until I reached #100. Loko yung mamang yun ah! I walked back and went towards the right street, ignoring the bystander who told me to go left. House numbers where in the 300's. Good! #362 was walkable from Unciano Hospital. I looked inside and saw a band practicing. 'Must be the right place. =)

I texted Dionne that I found the place and was on my way back the MRT station. While waiting for her, I met an old friend, Lyra. I told her that I was waiting for Dionne and that we were going to watch the TSG demo. She said that we were very early and that the demo usually starts at 8PM since they had to wait for the other couples to arrive. I further inquired if they would be serving dinner. Apparently not, or we would have gone hungry during the presentation. That would be bad. (Thanks Lyra!)

Dionne arrived at around 7PM. I told her about what Lyra said. We then decided to eat dinner before going to the demo. Jollibee was our choice. Choco-mallow pie would be the dessert. Hehe.

We were at #362 before 8PM. Seems like they started on time. Nuninu. At least, it was still the same band. First up was TSG2. Dionne liked them, especially when James (the bassist) sang "What a Wonderful World" with the same husky voice as the original. She liked them even more when they sang Buble-type numbers. In between songs, Ian (the host) kept on stressing that the songs would be customized to our liking and that we would have production meetings to discuss the program and that they would be performing everything for us before the actual event, just to make sure that everything would go as we want it. Très bon! =)

Next up was TSG, the original. Again, we were impressed by their performance. The glitches were forgivable, considering that they had a "gig" (at a funeral) that morning (or was it the night before?). This group was very flexible, from a choir to a show-band. Dionne said we can even have a dinner-dance party after the reception. After negotiating with Kate (the marketing head), we decided to book them and told them that we'll be depositing the reservation fee, either by Friday or Monday. At around 10PM, we decided to call it a night and thanked Kate for the accomodation. Apparently, we were the only couple left! (After we got up, the host mentioned that it would be their last song. Nuninu.)

This morning (Thursday, talk about excited), I deposited the reservation fee to TSG's account and then faxed them the deposit slip. Still no check on this one until they confirm with Dionne.

Band - Check2b =)