They Asked me to Sing (and Dance, too!): The Bagaberde Episode

There we were, last September 29, braving Typhoon Hannah on it's alert warning signal no. 1. It's been weeks of planning until Au arrived from Dubai last Friday, with no definite itineraries of our nightout.The Residencia cousins went out of Bulacan to paint the town red which started with a sumptous dinner at Gerry's Grill, Mall of Asia as the Saturday round of fireworks lit up the sky that seem to welcome us to our reunion.As usual, the gimmick night won't be complete without the endless photo sessions ranging from elevator shots to parking lot shots. We also went to the Sofitel Philippine Plaza where Mr. Park, our friend from Korea, stayed. The gang can't help but wonder at the longest buffet in Metro Manila at Spiral. We are still undecided on where we will go on that fateful night. Endless deliberations on either the group would split or we'll go together. We finally decided to got to Pier One Roxas but it seems like it's reeeking with people and the ambience is totally bland and dull. We shifted to the nearby Bagaberde instead which featured the bands Dress Down Friday and the Hyperbeat. Au negotiated with the Bagaberde management for a discount since we're 17 persons all in all at the 250 peso entrance rate. It turned to be a smart decision. So there we were, gulping pitchers of Cuba Libre and Screwdriver while others were into beer. When the Hyperbeat band played, I was so shocked when a girl member of the band just pulled me to the stage and asked me to dance with them. The semi-erotic (yuck) dance number left me gasping for breath since it's highly-energized and because of the cigarette smoke that fills the air. On their third or fourth number, Hyperbeat asked me to join them again. This time the girls asked me if I know how to sing, I answered with a hand signal, that reminded me of how the French signals "a little" or "un peu". The girl in the black top seem to misundertood what I said that it nearly reavealed my true sexual identity (haha). The male member of the band asked me if I know "Just Once" by James Ingram. And my unprecedented performance began. The once formal tone of Bagaberde was turned into a comic ambience of ZIRKOH! The gang just roared into cheers when I hit the high notes that I am not hearing my voice anymore. After my number, the group acknowledged the presence of Ms. Dinna Bonnevie in the crowd that drove me nuts. Knowing that Ms. D watched me sing made me melt and sent shivers down to my spine! During Dress Down Friday's second set they also asked me to join them and this time it's a snafu (Systems Normal All Fucked Up!). I don't know the lyrics of another James Ingram song. A very handsome member of the group in the person of "Archie" was there to help me out but we just can't pull it off.

Dress Down Friday's repertoire is mostly R and B mixed with pop and house music tunes. Archie nicely belted out popular songs such as my favorite Freestyle's "Half Crazy" and Get Far's "Shining Star". They even tried Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girl" that made us get off our seats and groove to the music. Hyperbeat's tunes are more 80's with a mix of popular tunes such as "Umbrella". Hyperbeat charmed their audience by their comedy antics that even Ms. D danced with them onstage.

Whew! That was a night. It all ended up at 4 am. It'll be part of Residencia's history. Hope we could do this more often if only everyone's here with us and not abroad. Thank you very much, Au. For this, Residencia's gimmick would never be the same again.