Valentine’s Day in The Philippines

Manny, past president, of the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro invited Marissa and I to attend a “Romance by the Bay” concert with Dave & Joy, he a pianist and she a singer, held at Harbor Lights Hotel on Valentines Day. The concert was hosted by the Rotary Club of Metro Cagayan de Oro.

We arrived a little late, but still got a table near the stage, and the food was pretty good. I was told by Manny that most of the member of the Metro Rotary Club were medical doctors, but I did not know any of them. Marissa, though, pointed out a couple of handsome Filipinos in the crowed that had tried to court her in the past, so she knew some of them, but was not in the mood to introduce me to any of them.

There were some good singers in the crowd, and I basically assumed that it was a chance for the Metro Rotary Club to show of their singing talents, for which they had plenty, but not knowing anyone there but Manny, it was a pretty boring occasion for me.

So, as soon as it seemed okay to leave, without insulting anyone we took off for some Downtown Divisoria Cagayan de Oro night life, to celebrate our 2nd Valentine’s Day together as a married couple. First we went to Mojo’s, but the place was pretty sparse and it is not air-conditioned, so instead we opted for Pulse, which is where I originally met Marissa in March 2005, the weekend after she graduated college, but then it went by the name “Xcite”. The remodeling has made it into a much nicer place.

I was really impressed with the first band that was playing called “Nick & Friends”, which is comprised of a bassist, a rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and a drummer, who was apparently the band leader. In addition, they had an older guy who just shook a pea pod, but had a nice voice. They play every Thursday night at Pulse from 8 PM to 10 PM, and are the most unique band I have seen in The Philippines, not counting the tribal band that played at our wedding. They played mostly 60’s music and some early 70’s stuff. Very acoustic (though not completely), and they had some great harmonizing voices. You could tell these guys spend a lot of their time practicing. I would highly recommend them. The band is led by Francis Mabanag, (09263008781 - cell phone), and email francismabanag@yahoo.com. They are willing to travel, but are local to Cagayan de Oro. I will make sure I return next Thursday night to get a longer list of songs they play, but trust me it was great. It was almost like culture shock walking into this bar and hearing these guys play, almost like walking into a blues bar in Chicago.

Nick & Friends short Video

After Nick and Friends finished another band took over and while they were good, they were like most Filipino bands. (Most Filipino bands have some really good talent). An American in the Audience made a request that he be allowed to sing a song for his Filipino wife. I really wish I had captured this to video because it was great. He sang Joe Cocker’s “You are so beautiful to me”, and the band got his wife on stage while he sang it. He had a great voice and delivered a great song. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place when he was done. Mine certainly needed to be wipe with my hanky several times. Surreptitiously, of course so no one would think I was weak, but it was absolutly touching. I wish I had a voice like that.

Marissa and I danced alone together for the 2nd time in our lives, and we wept in each other’s arms while dancing. I am not dancer but it was a slow song and I can shuffle around in circles and make jokes in Marissa’s ear to keep her smiling.

I’ll post photos later, and a short video of Nick and Friends. Marissa and I wish for all couples out there that there may be differences between the personalities, but true commitment, to each other, resolves all.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 11:20 am and is filed under CdO Night Life, CdO Orginaizations, Rotary Club. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.