Manila Muse

Expat Book List

There are several authors in the obligatory column for the expat-about-town. I won't run through all of them here but some that stand out are Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad... I'll stick with the Anglos at the moment since I have to quote Greene right now:

"If he had become young again this was the life he would have chosen to live; only this time he would not have expected any other person to share it with him, the rat upon the bath, the lizard on the wall, the tornado blowing open windows at one in the morning, and the last pink light upon laterite roads at sundown."

— The Heart of the Matter

The Muse of Manila & Lies of Love or There is an Imelda in all of us

It's taken me a while to sort out that Manila Muse is unintentional wordplay on one of Imelda's early monikers — later ones include the Steel Butterfly and simply the Madame (!). As its getting uncomfortably close to that most Imeldific of all holidays; I guess its time to lodge my heartfelt (if random and disconnected) commentary on the Land of 7,000 Islands most famous lady.

The Madame's run started when she won a couple of beauty pageants down in Leyte. With her provincial celebrity, she got the hell out of the hinterlands and transplanted herself to Manila away from her provicial, illegitimate roots. Manila became her springboard onto the world stage, in 1953. Here she was named the Muse of Manila, a title bestowed upon her by the Manila Mayor, Arsenio Lacson, after she bitterly complained to him about her second place finish in the Miss Manila pageant.

Lately her stock has risen as she seems to be ascending to ubiquitous pop culture status. While not the divine creature that Mao or Che have become slathered on t-shirts, watches, and tattoos; she looks on track for beatification. (I may be well behind the times on this one since the Wily Filipino has had Warhol images of Saint Butterfly up since 2003). We anxiously look forward to this, as it nicely disconnects her personality from the horrors of the Marcos regime and link it with notions of campy zaniness that we associate with a Sex-in-the-City on massive estrogen kinda shoe fetish or George Hamilton no-tan-lines knocking boots.

The Original Muse's (I'll call her OM for inking purposes) current ascendancy is due to the confluence of two Imelda-related phenomena: her launch of the Imelda Collection and David Byrne & Fatboy Slim's musical collaboration, Here Lies Love.

The Imelda Collection is, according to legend, a collection of stuff that has been sitting around her various closets, dressers, steamer trunks, etc. The Imelda Collection site has some outstanding copy: ...an inevitable beginning of an accessories line derived straight from the overflowing accessories trove of Imelda Romualdez Marcos. In the words of her daughter, Philippine Congresswoman Imee Marcos, “She has always been an accessories maven of the first order.”

I have yet to actually sample the accessories, but if I had a Valentine she'd be dripping with the detritus (as Imelda calls the mateerial used in her collection) of her life.

The second item is the collaborative musical, Here Lies Love. The title comes from Imelda's desired epitaph. This will cover, in broad strokes, the life of the Madame. As the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Blog notes, quoting Mr. Byrne "Imelda is a person of power who comes with her own soundtrack.' She is of course a musical (and Byrne wasn’t the first one to write her as one). When he heard that as First Lady she used to frequent the famous New York nightclub Studio 54 and had a disco built in Malacanang, he thought Imelda was ripe for disco opera."

Disco opera. Accessories maven. The Original Manila Muse.

Skarlet's New Album

Just in straight from Skarlet — a new disc. Provocative cover (in red of course). Provocative title (Powder Room Stories).

Here's the write up: She is best known for her spunky stage presence, stylish get-up and signature vocal flair. She astounded audiences everywhere when she hit the local airwaves through the songs ‘Manila Girl’ and “My Boy Lollipop” and as the enigmatic front woman of The Brownbeat Allstars. Now, Myra David-Ruaro re-emerges with a new name to boot, SKARLET.

Like the vivid red color that her name implies, Skarlet’s spunk and spirit resemble her brilliant musical style, edging out other vocalists in the local music scene today. Her powerful vocal prowess and dynamism are showcased in her debut solo album ‘The Powder Room Stories’ under the independent jazz label Candid Philippines. She now joins the roster of it’s artists including London International Jazz Competition Grand Winner Mon David, Mr. Jazzhound Johnny Alegre Affinity and Ms. Mishka Adams.

Backed-up by some of the biggest names in the jazz scene today including Aya Yuson on guitar, Simon Tan on upright bass, Koko Bermejo and Alex Fidel on drums, Joel Galang and Henry Katindig on piano and Ronald Tomas on tenor sax. Others who lend their talents on this much awaited jazz album of the year also includes master percussionist Bo Razon, Freddie Samson, Ronaldo Banaag, Ramon Mancio, Sherwin Valencia, Jekjek Cenidosa, Paul Tadeo, George Abundo, Roxy Modesto, Wynton Magsalin and Mei Tayengco.

Skarlet’s 14- track CD includes 10 original compositions and 4 renditions that epitomize her journey through life and music. The album opens up with the self-titled song, ‘Skarlet’, as she reveals her true self in a spunky 30’s-inspired arrangement followed up by a mid tempo swing version of Iconic punkrocker Debbie Harry’s ‘Call Me’. The highly sentimental ‘Lullaby for Ganei’ was stripped down to Yuson’s guitar masterwork and Edgar Avenir's arrangement of The Brownbeat Allstar's "The way that you do” will surely make anybody do the boogie. Hank Hunter / Jack Keller’s ‘One Way Ticket To The Blues’ was rearranged by the mastery of Mr. Noli Aurillo. The album also includes two rarities from the OPM archives, Ani Montano’s ‘Babae Ka’ and Francis Manglapus/ Freddie Kauffman’s ‘Im In Love With A Dream’.

Sweet.

Get the tunes at Astro Plus, Podium and Astrovision, SM Malls nationwide. Watch out for it in Odyssey, SM record bars and Music One record outlets this Feb. Now get off your ass and go see her: Tuesdays @ Let's Get It On Piano Bar, Muralla st., Inrtamuros Thursdays @ Chakik's, J. Vargas Ave, Pasig 9:30.

Cryptonomicon - Put it on Your Reading List

I'm a huge Neal Stephenson fan. Let's get that out there right away. To me, his have been stimulating in the way sci-fi should be: packed with ideas, catering to the adolescent desire for adventure, and damned funny.

Written in 1999, the book focuses on digital currency, love, WWII, history, conspiracy, the arrival of the Asian economy, the concepts of digital encryption - actually the notion of ciphers and encryption generally (hence the name). He casts a broad net and pulls it off like few writers could: genre or otherwise. it's the ultimate book to read on the flight over.

If you've ever read his stuff in Wired, you'd know that he could also be one of the most amusing neo-economy/tech-culture travel writers around. A good friend of mine once remarked that he thought Stephenson was one of the few western writers that actually understood the Philippines.

It's worth quoting at length:

"The law specified two, and only two, methods of execution," Attorney Alejandro continues, "the gas chamber and the electric chair. As you can see, we took the lead — in this as in many other things, some wise and some foolish — from the Americans. Now, at the time, we did not have a gas chamber anywhere in the Philippines. A study was made. Plans were drawn up. Do you have any idea what is involved in constructing a gas chamber?" Attorney Alejandro now goes off on a fairly lengthy riff, but Randy finds it hard to concentrate until something in Attorney Alejandro's tone tells him the coda is approaching. "...prison service said, 'How can you expect us to construct this space-age facility when we have not even the funds to purchase rat poison for the overcrowded prisons we have?' As you can see they were just wining for more funding. You see?" Attorney Alejandro raises his eyes significantly and sucks in his cheeks, as he reduces a good two or three centimeters of a Marlboro to ash. That he feels it necessary to explain the underlying motivations of the prison service so baldly seems to imply that his estimate of Randy's intelligence is none too favorable, which given the way he was arrested at the airport might be fair enough."
...

"Once again," Attorney Alejandro says, "we looked to America. Our friend, our patron, our big brother. You are familiar with the phrase Ninong ? Of course you are, I forget you have spent a lotta time here." Randy is always impressed by the mixture of love, hate, hope, disappointment, admiration, and derision that Filipinos express towards America. Having actually been a part of the United States at one point, they can take digs in a way that's usually reserved for lifelong U.S. citizens."