LIEU ISSUE NO 5 / AUGUST 2013
THE DAVAO WE SEE
What started out as an Instagram project has now become an advocacy to look at Davao in different ways.
ISSUE NO 5
lieu]
noun stead; place (esp in the phrases in lieu, in lieu of)
ROLL CALL CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aidx Paredes CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Michael Lu ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Amelia Baird HEAD WRITER Chit Lacson HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER Nikko Zamora ONLINE ADMIN Mo Jaravelo WRITERS Janna Moya Ramon Erum Pat Bacaltos
EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS: Cheekie Albay, Jad Montenegro, Kristine Serrano
POOF
Regret Mixtape by Skymarines Reel Laughs Would You Rather... A Roaring Good Time When Art and Food Collide
HASHTAG Sky-High Underground
IN LIEU FILM ROLL
The Davao We See #TheDavaoWeSee Instagram Feed
CONTRIBUTIONS Analog: The Davao We See Digital: Suffocate Fiction: Metal Caterpillar
POOF
MUSIC
BY SKYMARINES FOR LIEU ONLINE MAGAZINE This Landscape is Our Escape by Dream Curtain / In Steps by Letting Up Despite Great Faults / RECREATION by スーパーカー / There Is A Light That Never Gets Out (The Smiths Cover) by Post Modern Team / Letting Go by Blackbird Blackbird / Wings by HAERTS / Relax Tonight by Arcadia Gardens / Last Words by The Real Tuesday Wed
FEATURED ARTIST
REEL LAUGHS TEXT BY RAMON ERUM PHOTOGRAPHY BY NIKKO ZAMORA
“Hi! We’re Shmek’m, a group of Davaoeño filmmakers. We’ll be putting out a bunch of videos here, so be sure to watch ‘em! We may not be great yet, but with your support and our hard work, we will get there!” So reads the text in Shmek’m’s YouTube about page. The blurb seems harmless enough, but once you watch one of the group’s shorts, you’ll quickly learn that their sense of comedy is razor-sharp.
Shmek’m is the brainchild of Leo Jorge Bautista, with his friends Ralph Oliver Divinagracia, Kenneth Ian Chong, Donn Ahl Catre, and brother Ronald Gary Bautista assisting in Shmek’m shenanigans. Leo Jorge, a filmmaker and graphic designer by profession, lets us in on the inner workings of this comedy-loving collective.
Tell us about Shmek’m. It is our YouTube channel. We make short films, parodies, and fake trailers. It is mostly comedy. It’s called Shmek’m because it’s a word that doesn’t really mean anything. It’s a joke, and in our channel, there’s nothing serious that you can find. Where do you get your actors from? We have a few actors who’re always up for anything when they’re free, but most of the time, I call friends up. If you’ve seen our videos, you’d see some pretty common people. Who do you look up to when it comes to filmmaking? I’d say it’s Andrew Kramer, the creator of http://www.videocopilot.net. He is really heavy on the visuals and he makes these really cool effects. I hope that one day I will be just like him. Besides giving you an outlet for your comedy, how else has making films for Shmek’m helped you? The whole experience taught me how to be more open when it comes to ideas and expanding my imagination. I am able to exercise my thoughts freely. It also taught me how to handle people better because this job really
requires that you handle your crew and your actors well. And of course, I learned to properly manage time. Do you envision a move towards bigger productions for Shmek’m? Yes. But I haven’t really come up with an idea that could translate into a long film, especially because we’re always at a tight budget. That’s why we’re limited to short stuff. Even our locations, we can’t really go that far or rent a good place to shoot, so we have to be resourceful. When we think of an idea, we think about the location first and what we can do at that certain place. What’s next for Shmek’m? We’re thinking of doing a fake trailer again soon and we’re in talks with the people behind the ADDU Confessions accounts on Facebook and Twitter. They’re asking if maybe we could make short films for some of the confessions posted on their page. Visit Shmek’m on YouTube through http://www.youtube.com/shmekm and on Facebook through http://facebook.com/shmekm.
WOULD
YOU RATHER... Q: live in a world without sound or in a world without color? A: That’s a tough one, but I think I’d choose the world without sound because as a filmmaker, I’m really focused on the visuals. LEO JORGE BAUTISTA Director/scriptwriter, Shmek’m
EVENTS
A ROARING GOOD TIME If you know your history, you know that the Prohibition Era in the US from 1920 to 1933 was marked by a stringent national ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages. If you know your history, you also know that this didn’t stop the period’s renegade drinkers from getting seriously sloshed.
music by pop punk group The Sound of Go and indie rock band Kwatro Medya, as well as a DJ set by Cheekie Albay of HIPHOUSE—all while feasting on beers, cocktails, tequila shots, margarita pitchers, and various other libations. Even Manila-based model and actress Angel Aquino was spotted joining in on the fun.
Blue Room calls on this culture of clandestine partying to bring forth a new way of spending your weekend nights in Davao: Prohibition Saturdays. On its first outing on August 10, revelers flocked to Blue Room to enjoy live
Al Capone would have been proud. Blue Room is located at the ground floor of the Apo View Hotel, 150 J. Camus Street, Davao City.
EVENTS
WHEN ART AND FOOD COLLIDE TEXT BY CHIT LACSON
Looking in from the outside, majority would think that it is just another cafe around town. But once inside, your eyes will feast on the multi-hued canvasses hanging on the plain white wall of the little pastry and pasta house named Taste of Home.
The LIEU team got to chat with Carlos Magcupang, the son of the proprietors of Taste of Home and one of the faces behind the splendid paintings hanging on Taste of Home’s wall. As we indulged in the sweet goods he served us, Carlos shared with us a little about what made them stay in business for more than a decade, as well as his art advocacy.
FOOD
According to Carlos, Taste of Home started out in Manila as a home-based bakeshop on August 15, 2000. They were one of the pioneer shops in Matina Town Square who are still operating today. With six or seven pastas typically featured on the menu and a great variety of pastries to choose from, you may have a hard time ordering, but you can be pretty sure that whatever it is was made from fresh ingredients with no preservatives added. The low-cost price of the pasta and pastries allows everyone to afford their sweet treats. They are planning to add rice meals to their menu as well. Just like LIEU, Taste of Home advocates the promotion of local artists, specifically those who are still unknown. “I saw that the attempts of my fellow artists to let the world see their artworks were unsuc-
cessful, so I decided to help out by providing this blank wall at Taste of Home as a venue for budding local artists,” Carlos said. “The Moving Wall, as we call it, is for artists who would like a venue to exhibit their works for two months. I want to help these artists because not all artists can reach out to their target market.” “The blank wall is just a wall if no paintings will be hung there. That’s why we encourage local artists to feature their paintings here. I have this advocacy because I know in Davao, mahirap ang life ng mga artist. Mahirap magbenta. Mahirap maglakad ng artworks sa iba. For me, we have this space, so I made it Davao’s first food and gallery shop.” Taste of Home is not just a haven for those with a sweet tooth and a great place to have a pasta date, but also a great venue to catch sight of new, exciting art. PHOTOGRAPHY BY AIDX PAREDES
“Mahirap maglakad ng artworks sa iba. For me, we have this space, so I made it Davao’s first food and gallery shop.”
Visit Taste of Home at Door #12, Matina Town Square, McArthur Highway, Matina, Davao City. For inquiries, contact (082) 299 248
HASHTAG
SKY-HIGH TEXT BY CHEEKIE ALBAY
Isa Añiga, the elusive lady behind electro-pop act Skymarines, makes music that has been called “soft”, “light”, “dreamy”, “hazy”, “ambient”, “ethereal”, and a combination of any or all of the above. Whatever word you use to describe it, one thing’s for sure: it can make you feel as if you’re floating.
MUSIC
Isa, who concocts synth-pop symphonies out of her bedroom in Davao City, has a fascinating success story. Just last year, on the strength of a few tracks uploaded on Soundcloud, Skymarines caught the attention of Manila-based indie behemoth Terno Recordings—the same label behind persistent indie favorite Up Dharma Down. The following months then saw Isa churning out collaboration after collaboration with electronic musicians from as far away as Europe, all of whom discovered her through Soundcloud: for a period, Skymarines was a duo including Las Pinas-based Royal South Soundsystem/Living Without The Screen, and Isa has also worked with acts such as LA’s
Spazzkid, Manila’s 5HUNDRED, Cagayan de Oro’s Against The Light, Chile’s Nhumo, and Germany’s Daniel Fröba. She also joined BuwanBuwan Collective, a band of beatmakers from all over the country. Now, a first album under Terno Recordings is already in the works. “It’s been very strange for me,” she confesses. “There were a lot of times back in 2010 when I had a difficult time looking for people who shared my musical passions and interests. And then last year, it was like everyone just popped out of their caves and into my life.”
Isa feels blessed to have found her niche in the local indie community, but with electronic music only recently gaining a stronger foothold in the Philippines, she continues to have apprehensions. “I am glad that electronic musicians like me are getting support and appreciation for what we do. But at the same time, I still have fears of walking into a bar, right before a set, wondering if the people will get it. “I am fully aware of what others have to say about the kind of music I make. I have heard people call electronic ‘unreal music’, and have heard debates on whether it should or should not belong to OPM. But shouldn’t music be free of limitations and rules? It may not be
OPM as we are used to it sounding, but as it is made by a Filipino, and it is original, it is OPM. “When something is alive, it grows. I think this is what is happening with OPM. It is evident that it hasn’t died and we should just let it expand.” For Isa, more than the musical style, candor is key. When asked how she herself would describe her sound, she had this to say: “Honest.” “In the end, my words, melodies, and emotions have found release, which I feel is far more important than any kind of instrument I will ever use, now and in the future.”
Listen to Skymarines on Soundcloud through http://www.soundcloud.com/skymarines or http://www.soundcloud.com/ternoman. For updates, visit http://www.facebook.com/skymarines and http://www.twitter.com/skymarinesmusic.
UNDERGROUND TEXT BY AMELIA BAIRD PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAD MONTENEGRO-AMOR
The way we see things, the mainstream music scene in Davao seems to be mainly composed of show bands, acoustic acts, and Freddie Aguilar cover artists. Popular places where people go to enjoy live music are Matina Town Square’s Taboan and Kanto Bar. Underground music bars, on the other hand—while scruffier and harder to come across than their more popular counterparts—have contributed so much to the spirit of indie musicianship in Davao that they will never be forgotten. Sa’less Diner and Moozika has been around for a while, and after its predecessors Durian Bar and Kayam Bar closed shop, has become the premier place for indie bands to be heard. Located on Sales Street, near Chimes Department Store, this three-storey building offers different levels of entertainment: on the first floor is Sa’less Diner; the second floor, more popularly known as Tekanplor, is where most of the musical magic and madness happens; on the third level is the rooftop where movie nights and acoustic sessions take place and post-work drinks are enjoyed. We sat down with GP Paqueo, Sa’less’s de facto gig organizer and premier provocateur, to find out more about Sa’less: the vision, the crowd, and the gigs that have ultimately put it on Davao’s map.
LOCATION
What is the vision of Sa’less? The vision of Sa’less is to create a haven for Davao City’s local independent musicians. Gig opportunities in Davao City are hard to come by for local musicians who write and perform original songs. This is even more difficult for local artists who are outside of the mainstream taste. Sa’less aims to provide these artists with a place where they can showcase their talents and their artistry, whatever form they may be, whether they’re of the mainstream or subculture variety. We aim to be the home of local independent artists, but we want to do that without being elitist and cater only to people from the scene. We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable and to have fun while they enjoy the unique beauty of Davao’s local arts. How does word about Sa’less and its gigs get around? I guess the typical strategies for getting the place known would be word of mouth and Internet and social media promotion. Thankfully, we know a couple of people with a huge
network of people who know people who can spread the word about the bar. But I guess our best weapon has always been just providing good service for customers and organizers and we let the word of mouth take care of itself. For a “grungy rock bar”, as one article put it, we attract not just the usual scenesters or groupie types What kind of crowd does Sa’less attract? On the weekdays it’s usually the after-work crowd looking for a hideaway or a place to chill for a couple of hours. Then there are the regulars, people you see at the rooftop area on weekdays even when business is slow. Most times they will be there to have a single beer or eat, work, chill, whatever—the rooftop is fairly comfy enough for anything. On weekends, you see the people from the Davao subculture: band members, groupies, guys and girls from the scene. It’s usually on weekends when the crowd becomes an actual crowd. Not surprising, because that’s usually when most events are scheduled.
LOCATION
What else does Sa’less have to offer besides live music? Sa’less, while primarily a music bar, is not limited to that. It has always been our goal to not limit ourselves to one thing. We try not to be a one-trick pony. We usually have movie nights or something else for entertainment. What events have you had so far this year that brought a wave of people? This year, we kicked it off with Excursion II last February, featuring some major bands from Manila such as Pedicab, The Diegos, Dong Abay and The Tanods, and some local acts playing a street party on a closed-down Sales Street. Excursion I was so successful and it helped us establish our name so well that following it up with Excursion II
was a no-brainer. We were able to draw a massive crowd composed of not just bar regulars, but also people from the mainstream who have never even been to the place: the hipster crowd who we never see on a regular basis, and students and office folks who went there out of a desire to see big-name bands that were familiar to them. And then we ended the first half of 2013 with BBQ Tayo Dyan, another major outdoor event that was also the Davao leg of Sandwich’s tour promoting their new album, Fat Salt & Flame. I guess it’s usually these types of shindigs we do that get our name and product over to the general public. Now, when people take the cab to head over to Sa’less, the drivers actually know what the place is.
Visit Sales Bar Tekanplor at Sales St., Davao City.
FILM ROLL
@LIEUMAGAZINE: San Pedro Street. #TheDavaoWeSee
THE DAVAO WE SEE TEXT BY JANNA MOYA INSTAGRAM SHOTS BY @LIEUMAGAZINE
A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SIX PHOTOS – the total entries for LIEU Online Magazine’s month-long Instagram project #TheDavaoWeSee.
THE DAVAO WE SEE
More than a hundred tales of Davao City were snapped and immortalized in square format; Instagram is well-known for its simple, straightforward approach to capturing photos, and like the rest of the world, Davaoenos have embraced the ability to instantly document their life in the city. The sweeping response to the project showed us a few things: Technological advances have blurred the lines between traditional and non-traditional art forms; a giant creative playground now welcomes serious and casual photo-takers alike. Although we wouldn’t be quick to call a lomo-inspired Instagram shot as a hard-lined work of photography, it’s a quick way to preserve and share snapshots of our
lives. And because it makes it easy to take photos, people are freer to apply their creativity to their shots. In less than a month after its inception, #TheDavaoWeSee has inspired the community to not only witness the rapidly changing landscape, but also encouraged us to view the world differently (fish-eye, anyone?). It could be a walk around Uyanguren, a glimpse into Davao City’s thriving underground scene, or interesting fashion trends and events. Whatever the snapshot, the project’s headline stands clear: there’s always something to look forward to. This is The Davao We See.
@LIEUMAGAZINE: JP Laurel. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Father forgive
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Friendly vandals in Anda St. #TheDavaoWeSee @LIEUMAGAZINE: Cooking with
me. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Chicken skin in a cup. #TheDavaoWeSee
wood. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: NCCC Flowers #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Samal Island #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Lantsa.
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Roxas Blvd. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Anda St.
#TheDavaoWeSee
#TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Samal Island. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Rizal Park #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: For sale at San Pedro St. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Bolton bridge
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Rizal Park #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Late night
#TheDavaoWeSee
barbeque. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Water District art. #TheDavaoWeSee
@LIEUMAGAZINE: Uyanguren #TheDavaoWeSee
INSTAGRAM FEED
@CARMELAHR: God’s wings over Davao. #TheDavaoWeSee
@CHASINGCHARLIEG: JP Laurel Avenue #TheDavaoWeSee
@DREBBITS: There’s more to discover in Davao. #TheDavaoWeSee
INSTAGRAM FEED
@KEIISNOTAROUND: Lights will guide you home. #TheDavaoWeSee
INSTAGRAM FEED
@OYOOBOY: My view at night. #TheDavaoWeSee
@RACHEDIAO: #TheDavaoWeSee
@SABWHO: Went to see Wolverine #TheDavaoWeSee
INSTAGRAM FEED
@SABWHO: It’s a beautiful day. #TheDavaoWeSee
ANALOG
THE DAVAO WE SEE FILM PHOTOGRAPHY BY JM SANTILLAN
SUFFOCATION PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHEIVAR OLEGARIO
DIGITAL
FICTION
THE CATERPILLAR BY KEVIN CARO
Books, numerous books that were precious to me were all that I had in my bag. I packed all the worn out volumes neatly in my bag as if to make a book shelf out of it or a mobile library of some sorts. In my time of study, I took up the knack for amassing a troublesome amount of books. Now, I was done with the life of an academically inclined person and I had to move to another place to transform myself for another purpose as what my educational program expected me to do. It seemed to me that my future from now on was defined by my expectations, interpreted by reality, and is eventually translated into something I didn’t quite expect.
Right before reaching the wharf a friend gave me something to save me from the stresses of public transport. I was accustomed to your average sleeping pill that usually got me through travelling whenever it got intolerably dull. A friend told me that this was much similar to the said pill but with no long lasting negative side effects, “only positive effects”, he remarked with a wink as he passed it on to me. It was not even a pill but a brownie. I ate it, got on a boat for Cagayan de Oro, and slept as soon as I got to my bunk. By then, before closing my eyes, my mouth started to dry up.
The boat was rocking me from side to side as the humming of the engines woke me up. The engine made the soft, shiny matting I was on felt as if it had millions and millions of insects packed inside it. Its leathery texture gripping and dragging the skin on my face whenever I try to listen to the insects inside my cushion when, amidst the commotion inside, the sound of war horns filled the air and I had to go out of what now seemed to be a large metal fish that had hundreds of eyes on its sides. “Ah, a traveler! You have to go to where the dispatchers feed the caterpillars”, a little wellbuilt man beside the mechanical fish told me. “Look for the metal leaves that block out the sun and under them, you’ll find dozens of yellow and red caterpillars. Don’t forget to get eaten by the right one, kid, or you’ll end up somewhere else.”, he rushed to add as I was turning my back after thanking him for the directions. The wind blew cold watery air on my face as I was leaving the place where all the fish had to float and wait. “I have to go to where the dispatchers feed the caterpillars”, I told the mosquito rider as he was offering a seat on his saddle. “We need blood”, he replied in a tone that sounded almost mechanical. I nodded and proceeded to pull out my skin pouch to feed the mosquito the right amount of blood. When it had enough, its eyes started to light up and certain parts of its stomach started to move as sounds of popping bubbles started to come out of its dull stinger. I, and a hundred others, were now walking underneath a metal leaf; dragging my bag under its shade. A man in a baby blue polo and navy blue slacks called all of us out. At first, I thought I heard a deranged man wailing profanities into the air then his howls and screams turned into a repetitive chant that hypnotized me and other people into a procession. Entranced, he led us to the mouth of a red and shiny caterpillar made of glass, metal, that wore an expression which said Davao; an expression that robbed us of all sense and, in return, filled
us with nothing but attraction for it. It started to eat at that point, up until it had its fill and then there was a rumble that reverberated throughout the insides of the insect, and then an explosion that brought the insect and its exoskeleton to a series of clunks, rattles and deep grunts that sounded like giants clearing their throats. The bones inside my legs were moving, as if dancing to the rhythm of the metal insect’s mechanical heart, and then an unknown force gently pushes all of the souls in the bus forward as it struggled to wriggle then crawl free out of the shade of the metal leaves. The shiny metal-glass caterpillar was rumbling a thick and resolute rumble as it made its way through perilous turns. Rumbling on dark and foggy stretches of freshly laid asphalt, the driver of the metal caterpillar was clearly battling sleep and fatigue as he was commandeering the metal creature upward, higher up the mountains. His back hunched as if there was an invisible elephant sitting on the back of his neck because his chin was now hanging on top of the steering wheel. It even seemed that the wheel was moving the driver rather than the other way around. I knew he was tired from his habitual sipping of a green colored beverage that I presumed to be a liquid energy potion of some sorts, probably caterpillar blood. At one point, since roads were constantly under repair down south of the archipelago, we stopped at a sliver of dirt that had been closed, providing only one lane for all the other insects. Both lanes of both metal caterpillars and beetles had to wait for the other to pass. The driver gave a heavy sigh of relief when he saw that the construction crew waved a stop sign at us. He immediately led the caterpillar to a halt and tried to rest his eyes for a bit except that it wasn’t really a bit, it was more of a 20-minute stand still; all the other souls inside the caterpillar’s rattling exoskeleton were sound asleep. It was an orchestra of snores being conducted, in the dark, by my bored self.
FICTION
Staring at nothing proved to be a daunting task especially if, in the dark, an old man sitting at the isle next to me was pissing himself while sleeping. “He’s probably dreaming of something good right now”, I said to myself as I was trying to cope with the musky odor. Out of the darkness came a ray of light. Turns out, the construction worker was telling us to move along but the driver was still at mid-snore when I tapped him on the shoulder. He was tired and, being a driver myself, I knew this wasn’t a good sign. So he woke up and, as if waking up from a cryogenic slumber lazily put half of his body weight onto the shifting knob and shifted to move the lumbering bulk of the surplus metal caterpillar upward onto more stretches of asphalt, dirt, dust and fog. The fog seemed to be blanketing each side of the metal caterpillar and this made visibility really bad for the driver with his drooping eyes and his face that was seemingly melting into the black and shiny steering wheel. The driver now maintained a relatively slow pace of 40 kilometers an hour on account of the thick blanket of cold white that was now crawling on the stretches and turns of the road; nothing but white. It was scary, I admit, but our metal caterpillar sounded eager and ready for the task at hand. I, on the other hand, was thinking about the possibility and feeling of death
in such a cold place. To the left of the road was the side of a cliff and to the right was a scenic drop to our end. The metal caterpillar, rolling down a ridge in a blaze from leaking gasoline and metal sparks, the first few hundred degrees; searing skin, boiling fat, then silence. Peace. Imagined fires made the biting cold even worse as I was lost in this rather warm and bright thought of a rather morbid end. I heard a bump and hit my head on the back of the head rest of the seat in front of me. The metal caterpillar was now crawling on a dirt road and then I felt as if I lost weight for a minute. I was surprised at the sheer feeling of my guts that felt like they were fighting to get out of my mouth, eye sockets, ears and nostrils. The next thing that I felt was a bump on the back of my head and I realized that it was the roof of the metal caterpillar when I saw the seats and the floor, float away from me. Mid-flight, I looked to my right, the old man was smiling his warm piss flying everywhere amidst floating bags and breaking necks. “I knew it”, I thought to myself when I realized that he was having a good dream. Then, there was nothing but silence and warmth amidst the cold, dry, mountain air. The caterpillar tried to fly, too early, thinking it was a butterfly. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JM SANTILLAN
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