[photopress:byegallagher.jpg,full,alignleft]

I shouldn’t be lamenting over inanimate objects, but I do miss my guitar terribly. Gallagher, as I so fondly called it, was sold to a friend of mine in Manila last summer for reasons that are beggining to sound unreasonable. Now, I really can’t believe I actually let go of a black single-cutaway, ivory inlaid, Epiphone acoustic-electric guitar! Grr. Some musicians can be really stupid. (And yes, I’m basing my hasty generalization over what I just did, heh.) In fact, some musicians can’t play gigs without mindless intoxication (okay, this isn’t that bad) – and boy, do I digress. The point is, I’m one of those stupid musicians. Case closed.

I thought of this while I was having The Itch, caused by looping No Doubt’s, Simple kind of life. The guitar riff sounds so happy and melancholic at the same time – I mean, how else should I put it? The lyrics are kind of mocking too and can actually glare at some sad realities I know a lot of people can relate to. Who else would have thought of those twisted lines, “And all the simple things are simply too complicated for my life” while at the same time making a whole lot of point? Mind you, this isn’t like their other tracks which may seem like a far cry juxtapose to this one. I love the versatility. God, I miss that band.

So what exactly is The Itch? My children, this can only mean that my fingers were thrilled to come up with a song of pressumably closer dynamics. I may not eclipse their song in essense but adopting the same guitar riff patterns would probably lead me to the same musical mood. Besides, this isn’t an attempt to sound like No Doubt, no, because that can nearly accuse me of plagiarism. But for as long as I don’t have a guitar, I really won’t go anywhere with this itchy idea in my head.

On other news, I’ve been hearing a lot about Sitti Navarro. Her rendition of Mas Que Nada is but a rendition only. Yeah, I feel like dancing and all but her voice ain’t too hot. She probably sings better than I do, but heck, my comparisons do not dwell on that. Sergie Mendes arranged Mas Que Nada impeccably that there is absolutely no other way of translating the spirit behind it. I actually appreciated Black Eyed Peas’s version more than Sitti’s. In fact, it’s not even a version. To me, it sounded more like an improvisation, which is never a bad idea for a musical off-shoot.

Speaking of improvisations, this is where I need to mention Mishka Adam’s rendition of Somewhere over the rainbow. It’s superb my darlings. Y’all got to do improvisations like that otherwise, that sorry idea of a revival will become anything but! I’m inclined to think of some revivals as killing the immortal. Very concrete examples would be, Bryan Adam’s murder of Oasis’s Wonderwall and then there’s Ronan Keating’s “revival” of Goo goo doll’s Iris. More on the latter really, Lara and I were laughing our asses off when we saw the music video. The equation goes like this: Ronan + Horse + Desert + Riding the Horse = Hoots of laughter. Come on, you have got to do better than that.

Goosefrabah. Goosefrabah. (Check Anger Management.)