Starting off at 6 PM, Sinag de Leon’s Papercut Art Exhibit opens at the Upper Deck to feature her most recent works. The opening will include musical numbers from music artist Diwa de Leon.

By 9PM, the Actors’ Pleygrawnd and Tomato Bomb! HQ show how girls have fun.

This second staging is more hilarious and more serious, but still true! You won’t know when the laughter stops and the tears start flowing. These Actors’ Musings on Women will transport you to the inner sanctum and the mysteries of a woman — her heart and mind. Bring your friends this Saturday and be one with us in this celebration. Strictly not for women only.

Trivia: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun was first staged at the Penguin Café Gallery in Malate, May 26, 2009.

Oh, and there’s a teeny-bitty entrance fee of Php 50.

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THIS WEDNESDAY, everyone is welcome to experience this rare event.

Entrance is absolutely free! See you all there.

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Sept. 18 | SATURDAY NIGHT, live and alive, as always. What made the night more special was the launching of ‘ETO NA — Special Edition, Jeff Pagaduan’s first album! Completed last year, Jeff Pagaduan’s album was shy of release as typhoon Ondoy submerged in deep mud and great loss the studio where his album was mixed. This year, it could not wait any longer.

Starting off with Triangle Trauma‘s fresh round of heart-pounding songs, the audience, rumored as Jeff’s friends and family —we believe they came on their own volition— kept craving for more. Escape the C provided the breathtaking shrills coupled with the hyper-energetic slamming on native drums. And then came the ‘Las Bungangeras’ of Dakila Cutab (a.k.a. ‘el batutero’). “Gwapo o Matalino?” was the piece presented by replacement ‘bungangeras’ Frances Escape, Jeng Plata and Tere Cutab. Diwa de Leon‘s background orchestrations and solo with his native two-stringed ‘hegalong’ transformed the place to a mini-theater where you imagine your movie while the music score progressed to scenes after scenes of non-stop action.

‘Eto Na, proclaims the formal arrival of this other music man who plays his guitar with deftness, producing all the vibrations from strings and taps all over his guitar; it is the first cut in the album and was the first song Jeff P. aired that night. With his guitar and his voice filling this ‘mini-theater’, his lyrics send messages of longing for change, for a lost friend, or for something new —a brighter tomorrow that can be achieved by pro-active involvement in one’s state of affairs.

Glen Ternal also voiced his youngish views on what he perceives of his world.

Jeff is one of the artists who willingly agreed to help Save the HQ, together with Diwa, Frances and her ‘escapist’ band, Glen, Indak Oryantal, Unitiima World Beat and all the others. For those who still want to buy the album, you may contact Jeff Pagaduan. There are only a few copies left.

Our congratulations to Jeff Pagaduan for his album launch. It was truly special.

In line for this month are benefit concerts provided by friends who have pledged both their talents and resources selflessly, with the same amount of energy and performance level as you would see them on regular nights, and sometimes even topping those nights. Also, that classic film by known independent filmmaker Jon Red — Still Lives — will be re-staged for the benefit of everyone interested. The Stand Up, Take Action pledge for the fight against poverty also partakes of our cause (see our Calendar).

We still have the regular gigs provided by our friendly Pinoy Bluesmen Deluxe where jamming is always great. And our promos are not suspended on these nights!

We are truly happy for the support most of you showed and shared, and we know we cannot appreciate you enough; but the HQ is your home, make your stay worthwhile. The HQ stays as there are friends like you who want to keep us here for a long time.

Of course we have to keep selling to you.  And it will be great if you can get more clones of you to avail more of our ticketed events. There is a sense of urgency in this our plea  — we know we can count on you, as always. So if you come, come with the bunch. For ticket reservations, text or call Jeng.

Our deepest thanks.

Synopsis: Walai is an exploration of spaces. It prods on the memories of four Muslim women who once lived in the infamous White House in Cotabato City. The documentary seeks narratives in “places…we tend to feel without history.” It traces the past through the women’s experience of what has happened inside the wrecked home—nostalgia and fear, loss and love, and birth and death.

Arumpac, who hails from Gen. Santos City in Mindanao, obtained her training from the UP Film Institute and the Mowelfund Film Institute. Walai is a film she completed in 2006 and was entered in the Kontra-Agos Resistance Film Festival for IndieSine (Dec. 2007) and for the Festival Film Dokumenter in Jogjakarta, Indonesia (Dec. 2009).

Film screening starts at 8:00 – 11:30 pm, September 1, Wednesday. Open forum and music jam by great artists Diwa de Leon, Frances Escape and Jeff Pagaduan follow . Admission is free. For inquiries and reservations, text Benhur or JP or email Anahata Foundation or Linao Films. Donor contributions to MIFP are welcome.

The HQ will provide mouth-watering unlimited pasta servings for only Php 250 and for this night only. Second helps? No worry.

Everyone is invited in this night’s explorations.

The exhibit opens this August 21st, Saturday, here in Tomato Bomb, 7pm, with Jay Orense and a host of other guests. Diwa de Leon, Escape the C, Indak Oryantal belly dancers and other guest artists will hold the evening to a merry standstill.

Everyone is invited. Admission is free.

A collaborative work of talented and multi-awarded filmmakers Sari Lluch Dalena and Keith Sicat, Rigodon took the Best Feature Film for the international film competition in the 8th International Panorama of Independent Filmmakers in Greece. It was also selected and screened in the Montreal World Film Festival (2005), the 19th Fribourg International Film Festival, the 24th San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival, the 22nd Los Angeles Pacific Film and Video Festival, and the 29th New York Asian-American Film Festival. In 2007, Rigodon was featured in the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the Asiancinevisions Film series.

Rigodon casts Arthur Acuña, Chin Chin Gutierrez and Joel Torre; produced by Sari Lluch Dalena and written by Keith Sicat. Its crew is composed of talented individuals involved in their respective artistic pursuits.

The Metropolis Independent Film Program (MIFP), under the auspices of Anahata Foundation and Linao Films, was initiated for the permeation of the experience of eclectic contemporary film-making; creation of support for local producers; the establishment of a network for cultural exchanges; and to provide expression for communal ingenuity. This program also supports the United Nations Development Programme‘s millennium development goals. Photos of the first screening are available in Dino Manrique’s facebook album.

Running until December 2010 in a once-a-month screening schedule, the MIFP will feature a collection of independent films for free and will always be followed by open fora, world music and live performances. Donor support is not discouraged in any way.

For seat reservations, in case you may want to be assured of seats, email Anahata Foundation or Linao Films. Or just come in as you are. Admission is free.

PLAKA-LICIOUS: THE VINYL ADVENTURE, it is aptly called. Listen to these jocks who mastered their experimentation — this sonic play — and enjoy doing it. It will be an awesome adventure with the feel and the sounds of what we used to hear, time-warped here in this place called Tomato Bomb! HQ, this Wednesday, July 28, 8PM. It will be a magnificent sonic boom!

Get lost this season and see you there.

| NO ENTRANCE FEES |

Are you not yet beginning to think here is the only sane, down-to-earth place available for people who just want to rock and roar? We are not claiming that because, already, WE ARE ROCKIN’ and ROARIN’!

We see you, eye-to-eye, rockin’-roarin’ people and we love you! You know something like this is hard to find. Now we have something to give back! Something like that poster above.

Ain’t that just lovely! So where will you be tonight?