Signing Off

If I never knew you
I'd have lived my whole life through
Empty as the sky
Never knowing why
Lost forever
If I never knew you

I just had my last performance with the Reigndition Band, and I bring with me a year full of great memories. One year of singing just flew by so quickly, it's as if I just had my audition with them 2 weeks ago. Not that singing matters not--- of course it does, and it will always have a warm spot in my heart--- but I need to focus more on my other priorities. Right now I'm single-handedly running Mamai's, and another small-time business, and my job with an IT company. For now, these are my training grounds and I have to leave singing behind as I embrace other aspects of myself.

To my band--- Vien, Kisha, Mia, Val, and Emmar (also Deo, Adela, and Chuckie)--- it was an honor working with you all. You guys are so great and so talented, and your talents will take you places, thats for sure. I will miss the stage. I will miss the beats. I will miss the lights. But what Im gonna miss most are the fun times that I get to spend with you. You guys are like family to me already.

But then again, music will always be a part of me and as you know, I am just temporarily clipping my wings.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for giving me the chance to hold the microphone. Not everybody who has this talent is given the opportunity you have bestowed on me. I am sincerely grateful.

And for my diva tantrums, I wouldnt apologize. You know from the very start what you're getting yourself into, hahaha. Kidding. :)

I will miss you all.

Keith Pareja, the musician, now signing off. For now.

Reigndition

We had our first picture taken as a band since Adela (female vocals) and Deo (bassist) left 3 months ago. This is currently the new cast of the Reigndition Band, and so far I'm having such a great time with Chuckie, the new bassist, and Mia, the new female vocals.

In 2 months, we'll be celebrating our first anniversary. :) I never thought I'd come this far, I mean life with a band is just CRAZY. When I started about almost a year ago, I gave myself around 3 months just to test the waters. I have a pretty demanding regular job, and I'm running a small business at the same time. I thought I'd never have the energy to just do what I love doing and that is to sing. But then again, God is just so amazing that when I prayed for BALANCE and SANITY, He gave me this beautiful blessing--- He gave me this band.

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

I forgot to post this...

Two weeks ago, we got to watch the return of the Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah The Musicale at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Hubby knows Im a sucker for stage plays and though all the tickets were sold out, we managed to sneak our way in. It was an awesome experience for me coz I've been itching to watch this since I read about from Icon Magazine (remember that awesome mag???) back in 2005. I was wishing there would be a Cebu staging of this play, but nada.

I'm not a big fan of the movie. I personally think the movie starring Zsa Zsa and Rustom was a complete blasphemy of how great this musicale is. The show that I got to watch starred Eula Valdez as Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah and boy was she hilarious. I havent seen that side of her, and she really gave justice to the role. I heard there was another staging before that starred Kay Brosas and I wish I got to watch that coz Im a big fan. She fits this role like a glove :) Anyway, no regrets, Eula was just as awesome and the whole show was a HUGE success as always.

After the show, BBK and I got to take pictures of the characters. He even introduced me to the men behind the Musicale--- The Stage Director, the Musical Director and the cartoon writer. It was a very sentimental moment for me. I'm a big fan of musicales :)

Oh, Santa!

I have been WAITING for this! From the time I saw the cover artwork (posted on my article Miss You Most on Christmas Time - No More) sometime more than a month ago, I have been incessantly googling up updates of this single. I just wanted to hear it ASAP, I dunno, maybe because Mariah Carey's album follow-ups make me nervous. I recall having the jitters back when Mariah came up with an Emancipation of Mimi sequel (E=MC2). I know it would always work well knowing how good a singer and composer Mariah is, but I'd always wish she'd choose to border on the safe side. And besides, her first Holiday album was perfection that the world could no sooner find a perfect successor, a follow-up is not TOO safe :)

Anyway, after hearing Oh Santa!, I thought this song will kick a lot of ass this Holiday season. This is all part of the Merry Christmas II You album set to release a week from now (Nov. 2, I think). Mariah composed 4 songs in this album which I think is great. I love her material and her usage of words is purely genius.


Now let's take a closer look at the cover artwork for the single Oh, Santa!. Mariah looks hot, thin, and photoshopped to perfection (as expected). Now we all know she gained weight, right? (Like who are we kidding?) After seeing her fall in some viral videos over Youtube on her concert in Singapore, I'm pretty sure Mariah dug up some really old photos of herself for this cover art. I should know, because I do it when I feel and look really really fat sometimes--- I post up some old pictures of my thin self as a main profile pic in Facebook to make it look like everything's doing ok. And hey, don't we all?

Now back to Mariah, I'm pretty sure this is going to again be a big hit. Yey :)

Photo Credit: http://loft965.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/mariahcarey_ohsanta-540x524.jpg?w=510&h=494

Me Goes Acoustic at the Crimson

The pool area is done and we're set again to perform at the Crimson Resort in Mactan... That's the 10th and newest 5-star resort hotel here in Cebu. It hasn't officially opened yet, but it's now up for limited occupancy. It's the prettiest hotel I've ever been to and the fact that we have been chosen as one of it's performers is a huge honor by itself. Imagine--- 250 suite rooms, 41 villas and 39 plunge pools. It's paradise.

We'll be doing an all-acoustic line-up later at Azure, the beach part of the hotel. We have dedicated a few days of practice to come up with an all-acoustic line-up, coz we never really predicted we would be invited to do a show of this nature. I'm not an acoustic singer myself so I had to do a lot of fine tuning. Tonight, we will be showcasing the music of Cristopher Cross, Maxwell, Sade, Selena, some classic Pinoy hits from the Hotdogs and a lot more.

And since I'm a huge, as in huge fan of the Beatles, the show would definitely not happen without my personal tribute to the greatest band of all time. I spent countless nights to come up with my own medley, and you know it's hard coz it's almost impossible to pick at most 3 great songs from their awesome repertoire. I could no sooner pick a favorite star from the heavens.

I got to narrow down my choices to 3 favorites--- Strawberry Fields Forever, Yesterday and Hey Jude. The medley I made is one kick-ass job and I can't wait to perform it tonight. I'm so excited.

I Wish I Knew How to Quit You

One of my biggest challenges as we speak is my need to stop smoking. I have been smoking since college (I'm not a chain-smoker though), but I consume about 4-6 sticks a day. Now that's alarming. I am not getting any younger, and I have vowed time and again to live healthy as much as I could. I do regular exercise, I monitor my weight, my fat intake and all the works, but something just feels off when I am reminded that I still haven't conquered my love for smoking. I just wanna quit now, as in now. I have attempted many times, in fact I lost count already.

And at this stage I have already noticed a few changes in my voice. I don't want to lose the whistle register completely. I still want to keep it for as long as I'm alive. The fact that I sing for a living should make me want to quit smoking the soonest. But how?

Angels Brought Me Here

How Can I Fall?

Miss You Most on Christmas Time (No More)

Mariah looks svelt in the cover artwork of her upcoming Holiday album Merry Christmas II You. I'm excited... Her first Christmas album was awesome, and this could be a worthy successor, who knows. Either way, anything that comes from Mimi is always good. For whistles, please?

*photo credits: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_w29fOYb0LkWeumWyKOKRqCrGCUht7TBxTXXbSHlF2NtyREeik4v4NK1X0e3zSZTCyqmkSJ9X_NSrH7eSx3V25jcNGSSABJo_TvRfgYG2-MxZCXL4OdoYmkuYenQBu73pFp13O_RRPXz/s1600/merry+christmas+II+you.jpg

Happy Birthday Sue and Aura!!!

Happy Birthday, girls!!!

Love you much!

Loving You

One boring Sunday, decided to just stay home and not do anything. I had Maxwell and Robin Thicke songs on auto-repeat mode in my iPod. I personally think these two guys have the most amazing falsettos. I got up in bed and decided to try out a few vocal exercises to find out if I still have my falsettos and whistle register. I thought Minnie Riperton's Loving You is a good place to start.

Let's Just Fall in Love Again

I saw this new music video by Jason Castro this morning, and I instantly missed my good friend Matet (a.k.a. Boons). Two reasons: One, we both WORSHIP Jason Castro, and two, she LOOKS like Jason Castro. hahaha.

Boons, we miss you big time. I hope you're having a blast there at Singapore.

Read the lyrics--- doesn't that make you want to fall in love again?

Let's Just Fall in Love Again

Jason Castro

Let's pretend baby

That you've just met me

And I've never seen you before

I'll tell all my friends

That I think you're starin'

And you say the same to yours

And oh, we'll dance around it all night

And then I'll follow you outside

And try to open up my mouth

And nothing comes out right

And I wanna fall in love with you again

I don't have to try It's so easy

Who needs to pretend?

But because it's so funny

Let's just think about it, honey

Let's just fall in love again

I'll call you in three days

Not too soon, not too late

And I'll ask your roommate if you're home

You call me on Thursday

And we'll hang out all day

Then fall asleep on the phone

And oh, I'll hold your hand when we drive

And we'll lose track of all the time

And we'll tell everyone

That we ain't never felt so alive

We'll fall disgustingly fast

And we'll stop hangin' out with friends

And they'll be so offended

And I wanna fall in love with you again

I don't have to try It's so easy

Who needs to pretend?

But because it's so funny

Let's just think about it, honey

Let's just fall in love again

Mimi Is Love

My adoration For Mimi went up a thousand folds when I saw this news about Mimi proposing a toast to a gay couple who got engaged in Las Vegas.

And she drank her champagne bottoms up. She looks really awesome when she's happy.

Loves. :)

SakSak Festival

Last week I was given the privilege to record the official festival song of the Sak-sak Festival of Samboan. The song was written and composed by Mr. Sam Costannila and was given life by the musical genius of Mr. Gani Villaroho, and of course interpreted by yours truly :)

It was truly an honor to have worked with such talents, I had about a week to study the demo, I dreaded for the day I'm finally putting my own touch to the music but these guys have been truly friendly and accommodating.

I would like to congratulate the officials of Samboan, spearheaded by Mayor Raymund Calderon for this wonderful festival song. It was formally launched last Sept 30 with Gov. Gwen Garcia as guest of Honor and speaker.

There are 10 Contingents of different local tribes who will be competing the Street Dancing and Grand showdown with the Festival song in place. Each tribe will show their best of dances and how Sak-Sak is popular in Samboan through dance steps and movements.

My apologies for being unable to come to your mardi gras, my work schedule's just been uber-crazy. :)

Single

I recorded a song over the weekend...

Click on the link-----

Take A Look Inside My Heart.mp3

I wanna promise you honestly I'll always care
That's what my Love has come here for
And every time I smiLe you know there's something more
I'm waiting to share, wanting to share...

A few commercial jingles and a festival jingle on the works... It's gonna be a busy month. :)

(I think) the bitch is back and ready. :)

I'm working on a demo for something major. But unfortunately I have to do 5 cuts, no second-takes. Scary.

I need inpiration. I came accross this old video of the greatest voice of all and found more than the inspiration that I was looking for. She's a KILLER. :) Note perfect. Pitch perfect.

Come on people, hand me the music sheets. (I think) the bitch is back and ready. :)

My lifes been better since the day I left you boy
I must admit lifes been kind to me
I went and did the things I said I would do boy
I found someone who loves me for me
Havent had much drama since the day that we split boy
My hearts never been more at ease
And when I think of all the things you put me thru
Leaving you has been the best thing for me

But...

Why does it hurt so bad?
Why do I feel so sad?
Thought I was over you
But I keep crying
When I dont love you
So why does it hurt so bad
I thought I had let you go
So, why does it hurt me so
I gotta get you outta my head
It hurts so bad

Memoirs Of A Still-In-Denial Aging Popstar

I downloaded Mariah’s new single Obsessed and I didn’t like it. At all. It sounded too processed it felt like eating canned goods for 2 straight months. It sounded like they entered it into a sound machine to come up with a distinct sound. Well it might have worked for Cher and Kanye West but really, it doesn’t justify enough to “process” Mariah’s voice. People!

Going back, the single will now be part of a new album called Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel. I know, I know---the album name sounds like a blog title of some random fag. Hahaha. Why not call this album “Memoirs Of A Still-In-Denial Aging Popstar”?

Heniweys, Mariah’s 12th studio album, "Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel," will be out on August 25 and for the first time I’m not excited.

I’m missing vintage Mariah. The one who had big teeth and whistled a lot. The one who sang ballads only she could render note-perfect. The one who sang those never-attempt-to-sing-this-at-American-Idol-else-you-blaspheme-the-great-mariah-and-you-loser-are-so-gonna-get-voted-off-tomorrow kinds of songs. That’s the kind of Mariah I want to hear again. Shes what? 30-something? She should be back to making the songs she’s really known for.

Just a word of advice from a big fan.

Giraud Out, Lambert Bottomed

Now on Idol---

I wasn't able to watch it coz I was sick. I was in bed the whole day with no TV, no food, no water, no boyfriend and no underwear.

Adam Lambert was "bottomed" for the first time (sorry, I do not have his picture). And to make the story short, Matt Giraud finally said goodbye. Oh well, it's just about time, he's had a million chances already and clearly, noone in his right mind would ever believe he could ever ever win the title, no offense to his fans.

AArrrrrghmazing :)

Left me stitches. This footage of Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holiday is GOLDEN.
Super nice.

A Love Letter to John Legend

I didn't care much about Rihanna or Chris Brown last year.

Or Mariah Carey wayback when I was still in college.

But when I knew John Legend's gonna come to Manila I jumped out of my seat coz damn, it's simply the best thing that could ever happen to the Philippine concert stage.

I just have one super big concern: why is filing for a vacation leave as impossible as gay men getting pregnant? For a corpo-slave like me, having a leave approved is like winning the lottery, and I mean it.

So there--- I guess it's just not the right time. But hell John, if you get to read this post, let me tell you once and for all that I am your biggest fan here in Pinas and I'm serious as shit when I say that. Seriously.

Seriously.