Martin Masadao knits, among his many talents

One of the first knitted accessories that Martin made. I was its proud owner after I received it from Rolly Fernandez's Express Service.

I write this as Typhoon Glenda is swirling above the sea/ocean and readying to hit land. So before the power goes down, I'd just like to give Brookside Baby's space to independent scriptwriter-director Martin Masadao who is adding another hyphen to his description soon, and that is indie film producer. He wrote and directed Anac Ti Pating which won for best film and best actor awards in the 2012 Sineng Pambansa festival.

He recently sent an email to select friends about his innovative way of raising funds for his next film project. The big-hearted Martin is also setting aside an amount for the super-typhoon Yolanda rehabilitation cause.

Like I always say in past blogs, artists are great philanthropists. They will respond with a generosity that no Henry Sy or John Gokongwei or coño millionaire or society matrons with Botoxed faces can ever match. And artists do so without strings (or in this case, yarn) attached. The good artists can be counted upon to sacrifice their total beings for a heavenly cause.

He knitted me a cobalt, or is it electric, blue accessory that I wore around my throat on two consecutive occasions: the opening of Gilda Cordero Fernando's painting exhibit at Silverlens Galleries last week and the Mostly Mozart 2014 Festival at the Philippine Stock Exchange auditorium (renamed Lanuza Hall) just this past Friday. Enough people saw it--the kind of crowd Martin wanted to catch.


With Jacqui Magno, who sang "Hindi Kita Malimot" and "Bridges" at GCF's opening program, manager Anna Ylagan and writer and editors' editor Lorna Kalaw Tirol

Karla Delgado (right), my former editor and a Baguio resident in her childhood, points to a Martina Knittera creation. Photo by Rolly Fernandez

One of my fave shots from that Silverlens evening. This one's with artist Robert Alejandro, all covered in black, his "daring" costume. Photo by Wendy Regalado


Arthur Espiritu holds up his hand-me-down "throat protector" given by the self-proclaimed presidentita of the Arthur Espiritu Fan Club of the Philippines, Northern Luzon chapter. Note his wedding band. Photo by Rolly Fernandez

I told Martin that I couldn't resist bequeathing the piece to Arthur Espiritu who leaves the country again for a six-month engagement in European opera houses (he's on contract there). He has always protected his throat from the cold, whether the cold of faulty air-conditioning or the bitter cold of winter. His soaring tenor is his means of livelihood, after all.

Once he got hold of the neck piece, he called his wife Christine from below the stage to safe-keep it. Arthur also emailed, thankful for the accessory.

He wrote:

Thanks so much again for that memento. I hope that Martin reaches his goals in raising funds. Please extend my warmest thanks and regards.

All the best,
Arthur

I promptly forwarded the note to Martin. See? That's what I like about our cultural ambassadors of goodwill. May breeding sila. The great ones never ever exhibit a sense of entitlement.

Mabuhay ka, Martin! Long may Martina Knittera live!

For orders of knitwear or knitted accessories, please look for Mr. Masadao in Google+, the more subdued social media platform (no offense to Facebookers).

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Friends!

Greetings! Hope all is well with all of you! :-)

I am going to write a script come September, full-length feature film, which means I will be holed up in Baguio City come July.

While writing, I am planning to use the time as well to knit. I figured I will have all the 'free' time and knitting will help me while thinking in front of the pc.

Here's the deal, if you guys have any old sweaters/knit wear (crocheted items will also do) that somehow you can't seem to get let go of or perhaps are attached to but no longer use because probably they're out of style? Send them to me and I will make tastas the yarn and fashion something 'new' out of it! :-)

Perhaps a cowl, shawl, vest, muffler, scarf, purse, bag, whatever!? Design will depend on color and type of yarn. I will personally hand knit the item. I'm thinking of charging 750 pesos, 500 to cover my labor and 250 to be donated to 'Threads For Life'*.

Rest assured that whatever I make for you will not be replicated for others. Sana you can take a 'before' pic of the item you will give me then we take another 'after' pic of whatever I will knit. I will maximize yarn of your pre-loved sweaters, ergo, you will not get only one item. (I can knit coasters, placemats, iphone case, etc. from leftover yarn).

Payment will be asked on delivery of knitted product. Let me know if you guys are game! Tulong nyo na yan sa akin. (500 will most probably go to cigarettes and beer! While writing manuscript! Haha!)

For those in Baguio, you may drop off your sweaters at Rm. 209 Laperal Bldg. Session Rd. Mon - Fri from 9am to 5pm and Sat fr 9am to 11am. For those in Manila, let me know via text or email when and where to pick up your sweaters.

Thanks very much. If you'd be satisfied with end product I would appreciate endorsement to your friends via word-of-mouth.

I think they would make personalized Xmas gifts, dont you think so?! :-)

Best Regards,

Martina Knittera!

P.S.

Threads For Life is a fund-raising initiative of our dear friend Marta for Yolanda effort. TFL sells pre-loved clothes, shoes, bags etc and all proceeds go to Yolanda. The 250 from the knitting project I will donate to Yolanda as well. :-)

#PeopleWhoMadeMyYearGood

My coffee mate said yesterday only newspapers do year-enders; in other words, what right have I to issue an e-mail with the subject head "year-end report"?

This is my personal thank you in words and photos for those who made the year 2013 good to me. A la Rod McKuen, I'm singin that song while I post the pics:

I call this my Baguio coffee mate Rolly Fernandez's Albert Einstein look. Here he is enjoying his mug of Benguet beans brewed to his liking--no sugar, no cream, just a dash of cinnamon to decrease his blood sugar level.

Mamay Kimi and Nanay B on Christmas Day

The butones herself, Kai, with her Booboo

My girls, Kimi, Ida and Kai, before Ida left for her new job in Sg.

Headed by The Matriarch "Mommy" Lolarga, the Lolargas of Pasig, Antipolo, Quezon City and Calgary, CA, in their look-up pose

I call this photo "Third Movement, Humoresque Concerto for Eight Hands." The players are: Chit Roces, Pablo Tariman, Vergel Santos and the girl with the brown lenses.

A lot of girls, gays and similar hipsters go to Gilda Cordero Fernando for life, light, love lessons. She never fails to deliver. Take it from Anna Leah Sarabia, Lorna Kalaw Tirol and Neni Sta. Romana Cruz, she's the best guru who doesn't like to be called one.

Perla Macapinlac, ICM, is Gilda's St. Theresa's College contemporary. She continues to run the ICM House of Prayer in Baguio where she conducts retreats. Her instruction is simple: dive deep, emerge whole, and don't be afraid of the monsters you see.

This is the first batch of participants at "Journey to Self: A Creative Journal Workshop," a project of the Baguio Writers Group, that pushed through despite super-typhoon Yolanda's visit to the South the weekend before. For facilitators Baboo Mondoñedo, Merci Javier Dulawan and myself, junior facilitator Jenny Cariño and secretariat head Sacha Weygan, the workshop was a fulfilling experience. We all came away enriched through the many encounters and shared experiences. Mabuhay!

Lalu Melen Araos with grand-daughter Amarra Araos Encabo host breakfast for their first-time visitor to their home and garden in Antipolo.

The spirit of artist Jerry Araos continues to live in his children like his son Jemil, here seen with daughter Widsy and Tita B. Jemil has an ongoing solo exhibit of sculpture and furniture at the University of the Philippines Los Baños Alumni Center at the UPLB campus in Laguna.

Jazz singer Annie Brazil can still croon, carry a tune at 80. Now and then she'd pause to sip water (or is it brandy?) or spray something into her mouth (asthma?), but the audience doesn't mind because she is truly funny, her spiels unscripted. As for Boots Anson Roa, I must thank her as a subject of an interview for Planet Philippines--I worked there briefly in the early 2000s. I re-posted the interview onto my blog. That entry has received one of the highest hits in this blog's history. Her second-time-around love story touches old hearts and farts like me.

Another funny girl is Jacqui Magno. Inevitable that Anna Leah and me clown around beside her. I never tire of telling Jacqui, "Thank you for the music."

When Anna went up to Renee Olstead to congratulate her on her performance in a tribute to Annie Brazil, she said, "You're an orchestra in one person." Renee's voice can sometimes sound like an oboe, a clarinet. She doesn't need to shout or make birit, I'm tellin' ya.

Bert Robledo, host of DZFE's Bravo Filipino, was once a choir member, too, during the time when soprano Evelyn Mandac was in her prime. Myramae Meneses, who cultural organizer Joseph Uy describes as "small but terrible," is, yes, princess of high C's. And she's just getting warm.

Prof. Rayben Maigue is the cool cat of the UP Jazz Ensemble.

Someone's supra-happy to be addressed "Tita Babeth" by tenor Arthur Espiritu in his normal speaking voice.

Yah, as Kai would put it, I saved this photo for last. The great Cecile Licad leafs through Marne Kilates' award-winning book of poems while a fan girl carries her grandchild. Kai sometimes forgets her manners; she failed to thank Ms. Licad for the vanilla ice cream treat.

This old fart with lotsa heart thanks everyone, even The One who sent a killer quake and typhoon, for enabling us to remember 2013 as one of the most memorable in anyone's life. For those who us who survived the year, the girls of Lincoln Park have this advice worth heeding anytime and everywhere.

Image from www.thegirlsoflincolnpark.com

Jacqui Magno’s heart and soul | Vera Files

Jacqui Magno’s heart and soul | Vera Files

Geraldine & Jacqui: 2 women sparkling in August

Jacqui M at the Hill

Jacqui Magno (and, I hear, a full jazz band) will have a  show at Baguio's Hill Station on Upper Session Road on March 9. Tickets are P950 with dinner and a glass of wine and P450 for the show only. The occasion is Hill Station's third anniversary.

All for love of the music of one’s youth | Vera Files

All for love of the music of one’s youth | Vera Files

Jacqui at the Hill

For love of The Minstrels and Circus Band...

...I'm taking the goodest of all my good sisters to this show. Happy Valentine, Suzy/Teacher Ellen/Granny Sue!

The color purple on a Monday morn

Sometimes one or two messages in the inbox can tell you right away that you're gonna have an extraordinarily good week. I woke to two such messages today in my email, all from my cousin-chum Allyn Valdellon Mendoza whom the Lolarga-Valdellon clan  affectionately calls The Purple Lady.

Below is her message with photos:

Greetings with flowers

   Inbox 

Erline Gmail	Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 6:24 AM
To: Babeth
Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original
🌸🌸🌷🌷🌸🌸🌷🌷🌸🌸🌷🌷🌸 Hi, Babeth, How wonderful how you always remember us - we enjoy your blogs - the world is now smaller ika nga... I was happy to see Monica Feria among the pictures. I also text'd you when I was with Chato two weekends again & she remembered enjoying Jackie Magno's singing. Chato also lent me her Joe Marie Chan CD called Souvenirs - we have been playing it at home - with Rudy singing along with the tunes - yellow days, again, moonlight serenade... We had thanksgiving dinner here at the condo and I had fresh flowers for the occasion - I do not know what flowers these are - I sent Rudy to the store to bring back purple flowers. Almost a tradition now, we go to Beng's after turkey day for more eats and Christmas tree decorating. Till next time, take care. As purple as ever, Allyn 🌸🌸🌷🌷🌸🌸🌷🌷🌸🌸🌷🌷🌸 After I read and responded to her note, she sent another picture, this time of a Christmas tree in her favorite color. She wrote about her grand-children's reaction, or non-reaction, to it: "Here is our new Christmas tree - the children have not asked why we have a purple tree - they just know that it is so."

The ones who never left my side

They're two of my favorite creative collaborators: Lynett Villariba and Marissa Ileto. Plus factor is they're my pals, too. But I haven't had a chance to do a project with Lynett since she became the extremely busy artistic director of Philippine Daily Inquirer. Marissa is now an international English-as-second-language teacher but is still based in Manila. We are doing our high school batch's souvenir program. Maybe it's part of aging but the process has become slower despite computer technology. Occasion for this social was the book launch of Bobi Valenzuela's essay collection, Minsan, sa Tag-araw, at the old Hiraya Gallery.

One of the three guys seated with me, Caloy Abrera (second from left), left this world abruptly and with a loud clanging of bells and steel. The other one, poet Jolicco de Cuadra (to my right), is gravely ill with Parkinson's disease. His long-time partner, Auggusta de Almeidda, is trying to find a way to keep his medications in steady supply. Apparently still in good form, especially where singing is concerned, is baritone Alex Dacanay (holding his lunch bowl). This was taken in 2002 at Jerry Araos's garden in Antipolo on the occasion of the sculptor's birthday.

Them were the days indeed when we could drink one bottle of beer after another and not even count how many. And we always chose to sit in the smoking section! Oh my, are we all, Sam Sarmenta, Cynthia Alberto Diaz, Dario Noche, Louie-an Pilapil, the blogger, Joel Sarmenta, Amadis Ma. Guerrero, Francis whose last name I've temporarily forgotten, and Rustie Otico, now paying our dues, health-wise. Sam I'd occasionally see in our Kapitolyo neighborhood taking morning walks. At least there's one exercise-conscious member of the Friday Club.

Obviously, from the color they're wearing, this was Valentine's Day in 2011 when Jacqui Magno, my favorite Pinay jazz singer along with Gou de Jesus (Gou, magparamdam ka naman), had a gig at Merk's Place on Pasay Road. Anna Leah Sarabia is my long-time friend from her Filipinas Foundation years when she was a Makati office girl and still carried a de Leon surname. She has come a long, long way from that, and if she weren't too busy with feminist,  anti-tobacco and pro-RH advocacies, she has many memories to put down on paper. I'm wearing a sling because I broke my elbow in January that year. It healed miraculously through the intercession of poet-healer Mila Aguilar whose book of poems, Chronicle of a Life Foretold, was launched to much acclaim recently.

Anna Leah calls this picture "The Baguio Mafia," although I am hardly in the city up north these days, except for the recent semestral and Halloween break. Baboo Mondoñedo on my right is  a frequent collaborator as far as mounting watercolor shows goes. Her own collection of personal essays should be out by the new year. It is Laida's eldest daughter, Padma Perez, who's more my barkada. Laida though is an inspiration because not only is she Ms. Serenity herself, her slow-food and organic market advocacies in Baguio have taken deep roots apart from her support for weavers of handmade textiles. These beautiful textiles she wears with elegance.Her Cafe by the Ruins guava jam and tart are up there in my to-die-for list.

The is the Babeth-Gilda duet, taken by Anna Leah in 2010 at the old Kiss the Cook Gourmet location during a concert for a cause, featuring baritone Andrew Fernando (no relation to Gilda), flutist Christopher Oracion and pianist Mary Anne Espina, to benefit the Free Ericson Acosta Campaign. Ericson is good friend Pablo Tariman's son-in-law, a political prisoner in Calbayog City, Samar.

Taken at The Peninsula Manila when Australia-based Japanese ceramics artist Shoko Mafune visited last. Mariano Garchitorena, the dapper-looking tisoy, always hosts our reunion dinners and long lingering coffee chats afterwards. Always present on these occasions also is Noel Soler Cuizon, whose time is taken up teaching fine arts full-time at the Philippine Women's University.

High on a hill, there's a resto with a diff

In the city that is home to many a Filipino's heart, there stands a building wearing Baguio's old colonial colors of olive green with a touch of white. Casa Vallejo, the chartered city's oldest building at more than 100 years, houses ghosts of eras past on its upper Session Road location.

Apart from these harmless other-worldly presences that go bump in the night, there is also inside Casa Vallejo 24 rooms, the year-old Hill Station restaurant-bar of Mitos Benitez Yñiguez, Mt. Cloud Bookshop of the Perez sisters (Padmapani and Feliz) and North Haven, a spa that offers, among others, scrubs and massage using indigenous techniques and materials (e.g., coffee beans and strawberries).

Coming soon: a cinematheque with limited seating for Baguio-based or visiting cineastes who wish to watch and appreciate Filipino and international film classics.

Yñiguez says, "Both the restaurant and Casa Vallejo have been doing well since we opened. In the beginning, it took some time for us to get known but at least in our graphs, we have been going steadily up since the day our doors opened."

For Hill Station's first anniversary in March this year, it invited jazz singer Jacqui Magno, whose last visit to the city was in 2007 for the Baguio Writers Group's fund-raising concert "Jazz for Tonight" at the Baguio Country Club (one of the beneficiaries then was the group's founding member Napoleon Javier, a broadcast media journalist who was then confined at a local hospital's intensive care unit after a major stroke; the rest of the proceeds from the fund-raiser underwrote the group's community outreach writing workshops for the youth, for mid-lifers and for senior citizens).

Ms. Magno was backed up by local musicians Jason Sta. Maria on the acoustic guitar and Ira Publico on the keyboard. The response to Ms. Magno's hour and a half performance was so electric that Yñiguez, overjoyed by the sellout crowd and the ovations for the performer, was overheard as saying to her hard-working crew and marketing staff, "What the fuck do we do in year two?"

She told this writer, "About six to a dozen friends from Manila came up for this anniversary. The rest are all honest-to-goodness Baguio residents."

Before the concert, she and her staff prepared a buffet of Cajun-Creole food inspired by the hot cuisine of Louisiana in the US. Yñiguez explains, "Hot and jazz, bagay!"

So there was a spread of Mediterranean roasted vegetables with evoo and balsamico, Creole friend catfish with hush puppies, squid in saffron-champagne sauce, croquetas de bacalao with aioli, smoked sausages with potatoes, Cajun spare riblets, double dark chocolates, chocolate chunk cookies and lemon meringue bars.

Yñiguez, whose paternal side of the family is responsible for Mario's, another eating landmark in the city, ventured on her own with her immediate family's blessings.

She says, "In Hill Station, we have made it a point to hold an interesting event with music, entertainment and all new tapas buffets at least every quarter at reasonable prices. It's our way of saying 'Thank you' to loyal patrons and followers of our restaurant."

In September last year, the restaurant had a Chilean wine and tapas festival with acoustic guitar music by Aya Yuson and Gou de Jesus doing the vocals. The one-night event cost the patron under P1,000. What was surprising was the house was packed yet it happened in the middle of the rainy season.

In November 2010, Hill Station had a Sangria and tapas night, this time with music from local artists Sta. Maria on the guitar, Publico on the piano and Mabel Tolentino, vocals. For New Year’s Eve, the place featured a Baguio rock and roll band, The Edralins, and tapas again. Yñiguez feared then that the wooden floor would not be able to withstand the all-night dancing. But it did.

She rues, "With events like these, I hope to make this a place to go to and remember. Every month, we put out new specials; the best-sellers go into our menu and out with the old. Constant renovation in our menu has become a standard, and many guests come back because of this. This summer I am trying to make the specials as fresh and refreshing as possible. We have lots of salads, fresh organic greens as sidings of our main courses, new desserts and savories for our chiller as we have a good coffee crowd that lingers in the afternoons, reading books from Mt. Cloud or just browsing on their laptops as free WiFi is available to all."

Yñiguez has her own favorite among the restaurant's summer specials: Cha Ca, a Vietnamese salad made of turmeric-flavored catfish fillets on a bed of greens and boiled sotanghon noodles flavored with patis, lemon juice, honey, fresh mint, dill, Thai basil and chilies. She guarantees that "it is soooooo refreshing!"

During the Lenten season, she made seafood specials like Bacalao ala Vizcaina, based on an old family favorite since her grandmother's time, bangus flakes and malunggay on top of spaghetti with olive oil and garlic and a Thai red curry with shrimp and halibut (locally known as dapa), fresh basil and tamarind.

Like that other Baguio classic, Café by the Ruins on Chuntug street, across from the Baguio City Hall, Hill Station follows the wisdom of slow cooking and buying what's in season at the public market.

Hill Station's new, seasonal desserts are crème brulee with fresh strawberries, and lemon meringue bars. Also available are Malva Pudding, a South African recipe, and Kahlua panna cotta.

Asked what personal and professional fulfillment she derives from running a space like Hill Station, Yñiguez whoops it up, declaring, "I love love love Hill Station and what I’m doing today! I have always liked entertaining at home, and Hill Station has just provided me with a space I can call home. I love the oldness of it, the feel of the wood, the French windows with trees outside jumping right at you. Not just a few have said the place reminds them of my house which looks similar as it’s all pinewood, wood floors and French windows, too. One day I have to add on a verandah like mine, and it’ll be perfect."

She continues, "Professionally, I have grown so much, having my own place to run, then cooking and creating dishes that I feel like making. My staff is highly motivated as many of the things we do are a first for them. I am so happy and so are they. I think it shows."

Visit www.casavallejobaguio.com, tel. no. (074)442-3397 or book through www.agoda.com. Also visit www.hillstationbaguio.com or call tel. nos. (074)424-2737 or (074)423-9100. Email at info@hillstationbaguio.com for reservations and events.

Published in the summer 2011 issue of Prime magazine. Photos, except for the dish cha ca (from Hill Station's Facebook page), by LAARNI ILAGAN

The Near, the Dear Jacqui Magno

How wonderful to listen to jazz, at last, in a cool, enclosed space. Because of a strict anti-smoking ordinance in Makati City, there was no cigarette smoke fogging up Merk’s Bar/Bistro in Greenbelt. Nor were there distractive customers chatting away while the performers of the caliber of Richard Merk and Jacqui Magno did their thing.

A great noblesse oblige gesture Richard did by being the front act of the still magnificent Jacqui. She was stalled by traffic caused by the on-and-off downpour Wednesday night. The audience of jazz aficionados waited for her and drank bottle after bottle of their favorite poison.

Richard, seated on a stool to forget the pain caused by a sprained toe, set the mood right away with songs I have not heard sung live for quite some time: “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” “A Foggy Day,” “It Had to Be You,” the even more rarely heard “It Could Happen to You,” the theme from the Nicholas Cage-Bridget Fonda romantic comedy of the same title, “Laura,” “Lullabye of Birdland,” “C’est si Bon” and “All of Me.”

I might’ve missed a song or two because my friend Anna Leah Sarabia and I came in a little past 9 p.m. Nevertheless, Richard’s unrehearsed asides about the songs were informative. The ballad “Laura” had been interpreted by Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett before and Richard surmised that this mysterious woman must’ve been so special based on the lyrics alone: “the face in the misty light,” “she gave her very last kiss to me—that was Laura but she’s only a dream.” He found it ironic that one so special should turn out to be just a dream.

Anna looked around us and saw a couple of children. “You see,” she said, “jazz is now considered safe music. You can bring along your kids and dance.”

When Jacqui strode onstage in her fuchsia and black caftan, there was no taking our eyes off her. Talk about stage presence. And all those eight de-lovely songs she meltingly interpreted! I almost swatted away an old classmate from my St. Paul College days who suddenly re-introduced herself and was eager to chat—she got in the way of my fuller appreciation of Jacqui’s “Here’s That Rainy Day.” Some other day, Jojo Juan.

And on to “Gingie,” a snappy, danceable “Fool on the Hill” accompanied with scatting, her signature “Bridges,” which, according to Anna, the singer used to close her club gigs at Birds of the Same Feather, “Evergreen,” “Our Love is Here to Stay,” “The Very Thought of You” and “How High the Moon.”

In “Our Love is Here to Stay,” Jacqui improvised a couple of times to update the song a bit: “…every IPod and the movies that we know are just a passing fancy and in time they go…”

The weather that night was, as she accurately observed, great for "snuggling, spooning, crooning or just reading a book." Not for me though. I was infected with the second-to-the-last and the last song syndrome all the way home.

Jacqui returns to Merk's, Greenbelt 3, on June 17. It's Pat Castillo's night on June 10. Expect two middle-aged groupies to again sip their vodka while nodding their heads to the beat of jazz.