KOC, Banchetto, Atbp.

If you find the title baffling:

KOC – stands for Kings Of Convenience (a Norwegian pop duo we admire).

Banchetto – an Italian word for “feast.” also refers to a weekly overnight street food fiesta located at Emerald Avenue in Ortigas Center (Fridays to Saturdays) and inside the roadside premises of Forum Robinson at Pioneer St. cor EDSA (Wednesdays to Thursdays).

Atbp – Filipino abbreviation for the English “and others” and Latin “et cetera (etc.)”

A little over two weeks ago, musician and fashion designer Kate Torralba notified us to participate in a “We Want Kings Of Conveniece in Manila Night” and cover a KOC song. A sort of a fete for the upcoming performance of KOC in Manila on March 31 and Kate is part of the production team who will bring them to the Philippines. The most exciting news I’ve heard in while being one who seldom gets the chance to watch a foreign band I love.

As for the cover song, the most obvious choice would be “I’d Rather Dance With You,” which is one of the few full band, upbeat and groovy tracks of KOC. Two weeks is enough leeway for us to learn the song but being predictable procrastinators we were only able to rehearse it as a band during the night before the gig. A fact that made us a bit nervous. I originally planned to capture our skittish performance, too bad my handy flip cam’s battery died during the first few seconds of our set.

I know a lot of people are anxious to see us cover that song so the best we can offer as of now is a clip taken during our rehearsal. Please excuse the lyrical blunders and off-key moments.

Some pics from the actual gig taken from the camera I manage to bring with me.

Let the music begin.

Getting into the swing.

Result of too much swinging.

Swinging till the end. Producing less prominent focal points.

Posing with Sarah Gaugler and event producer Kate Torralba. She's holding a big logbook filled with pledges/requests of people reserving tickets for the KOC concert.

With the Channel V staff and crew who covered the event and interviewed the bands.

Post Gig Food Trip

We were the last to play after Waya, Kate Torralba, Outerhope and Us-2 Evil-0 ending our set at 1:45am. The night still seems young so we rendezvous at Banchetto-Forum checking out the street food and indulging ourselves to whatever our eyes and bellies hungrily agrees to chow down on.

Isaw ng Manok (Chicken Intestines marinated and grilled)

The place was mouth watering. Upon arriving the first thing that caught my attention was the Isaw Manok (grilled chicken intestines) which I’ve been craving for quite some time just recently. I readily asked the vendor to prepare two sticks for little taste test. They were very good and tender. Before we decided to order some more we set off to a nearby convenience store to buy the perfect match for street food — an ice cold beer! Sarah, Pao and Law stayed behind to look around for food choices and reserve a table for all of us.

Isaw taste test. A little dip on special vinegar with spices for the kill.

Joining me in sampling the Isaw Manok are Ahmad (Your Imaginary Friends), Ian and Cheska.

When we got back, a quick survey led me to score half a kilo of Lechon de Leche (suckling pig roasted in charcoal), Betamax (grilled cubes of coagulated pig’s blood on stick) and a grilled Tilapia (a freshwater fish) stuffed with onions and tomatoes. Sarah and Pao got some hotdogs, rice toppings and what seems like pita bread with cheese fillings. I wasn’t paying attention to what they were having being engrossed with appetizing dishes right in front of me and the beer bottle I was clutching and chugging in between bites. Ahmad of Your Imaginary friends bought some Hungarian sausages while Ian and Cheska settled for Liempo (grilled pork belly) with rice and a few more Isaw Manok.

Lechon de Leche (Roasted suckling pig) - a typical Philippine cuisine with Spanish origin.

Betamax (Grilled coagulated pig's blood), Tilapia and Hotdog!

Law squeezing some gravy sauce. On the foreground beside the Lechon is our favorite beer - a Philippine made San Miguel Pale Pilsen.

Betamax! Betamax! Betamax!

After a while a security guard with heavily set eyes approached our table to inform us that alcoholic beverages aren’t allowed in the area. Maybe he noticed the look of disbelief on our faces, or the amount of food we have on our table, or my quick offer of a solution to try our best to conceal it by wrapping the bottles with plastic bags that made him shrug and walk back to his post. That was almost disappointing had he insisted.

We spent the remainder of our time enjoying the food and booze while playing word games. Connecting silly phrases consisting of three words that’s goes around counter-clockwise forming long sentences that means nothing like fart in a wind storm. By the time we got bored with the nonsense we moved on to a name game choosing a letter and taking turns in naming every local or international celebrity we can think of whose name begins with that particular letter. Failure to name one is punishable by a bite on cold leftover pieces of Lechon dipped in different sauces (gravy, vinegar, soy sauce). And every time someone makes a mistake we proceed with the next letter in alphabetical order. It was hilariously crazy and everyone was forced to put on their thinking cap and participate. We reached the letter “Y” before deciding to call it day.

Cheers to the most boisterous group and only table in the vicinity with alcohol!

It's already 5am. Final shot before we hit the road homeward bound.

There’s a saying that goes “Man is richest who’s pleasures are the cheapest.” Indeed, cheap pleasures made our day. – Clementine