We expats are a motely, often disgruntled bunch. What do you miss most from home?

your serious Rhoody?

i find some very good local bands to listen to. Maybe it's just a personal preference in music. I find filipinos are musically gifted and i love live music. Even when i lived in Thailand there was a very good filipino band called Power Jam that i saw weekly.

A few decent local venues I like are Kamalig, Tiki Bar, Hayahay, and Why Not....

 

Mark, I appreciate your response, but put yourself in my Forum friend Cherry (C_rymz) shoes. She is educated, comes from a very nice family, and has a good professional job with SPI, whose CEO by the way has a masters from USC and came back to run a business here (an extremely impressive bright guy). Or put yourself in Forum friend Rechel. She probably worked harder than anyone we know helping the storm victims, and she reads your post and sees that is how members feel about her. Finally, put yourself in my wife's or any member's wife's shoes and reads your post and sees what my fellow foreigner forum members think of them for not going to Hong Kong and taking a maid's job or whatever.
So in my less-than-humble opinion I think members will be offended by your post and I think it would be nice if you asked Rhoody to delete. Just my opinion.

 

again Pat, my comments were not directed at any one single person and nobody here should take any offense to it as none was meant at all. It is a widely discussed and documented social issue here in the Philippines and the population isn't just ignoring it. Plenty of newspaper, media and government attention is being given to it. None of them are doing any deletions or retractions that i can see.

Like you, I can name many professionals here i'm thankful to have them as friends and others i have done business with. I also know many professionals working abroad that would love to be here at home in their home country with their family and friends. it is a social issue that professionals are writing and discussing. It's nothing derogatory, it's something everyone wished didn't even exist which is why people are discussing it and trying to find solutions.

Rhoody I'm sure will read this thread and determine if he wants to delete it or not. It's ultimately up to him.

Best regards,
Mark

 

What I miss

1. My family
2. Wal Mart (this includes good choices of cheeses, deli meats, and veggies that are always available, no matter when you go. The one-stop shopping at Wal Mart (need oil or transmission fluid? Need a new tire? Need fabric for a sewing project? School supplies? NO PROBLEM, just go to Wal Mart!! No running all over town from store to store........hoping to get there before they close!!!
3. Real hamburgers from a restaurant.......tried Hiway 10 burger at Robinson's mall the other day.....THAT was no burger!! The meat (not sure what it really was) patty was less than 2 inches in diameter, they don't have mustard, the pickles were actually raw cucumber...........I took one bite and asked for my bill!! I will just stick with homemade burgers......juicy off the grill with all the fixin's......
4. Did I mention Wal Mart?
5. Courtesy on the road......yup, I miss people who drive in their lanes, stop and wait their turns, no passing on the right.............
6. Ok, so, why am I here? It's more affordable and I don't have to work. I don't like where America is heading in many areas...socialism mainly.........
7. Wal Mart...................

 

You know, I never really considered myself a big fan of Walmart before, but I appreciate them now. It is a simple pleasure when I go back to the US to go there...anytime day or night, find virtually anything I want (cheap!) and never hear the words, "out of stock, Sir". Oh, and I can always return anything for any reason if I desire!

I can't imagine how much Philippine retailers would be willing to spend to block Walmart from coming to the Phils...they would all be out of business in no time flat!

 

I miss fresh veggie, like the huge juicy tomatoes, romaine lettuce, rye bread with caraway seeds, hard salami, pumpkin pie, great service in restaurants, Roy's restaurant.coupons to save money great country music entertainment and of course, LAS VEGAS! Great mexican food and hot and sour soup from Flo's in Scottsdale, AZ my home. Sedona, AZ the most peaceful place and red rock country. Maui, Hawaii, whale watching and nice beaches, Roy's home restaurant. Chocolate souflee, yummmmm.

 

Yes, I am 100% serious. I was 13 years sound-tech and did the live sound from small cover rock bands to comedians to Phantom of the Opera, Joe Cocker to Rammstein on tour all over Europe. I am pretty neutral to each kind of music and like classical stuff the same way as heavy metal. I don't say they are not good musicians, most are actually very good...

The problem is, many play perfect but sterile and simply kill almost each song with stealing the soul of 99% of the songs they play. That's great for a gala-band, background on wedding or family reunion, but has nothing to do with performing live as a main attraction on a stage; Or they simply rape the song giving their local pinoy-twist to it.

So who do we have in Dumaguete. That Allan Guy (3-4 times Hayahay) where nobody knows if he is crying or singing with his horrible vibrato in the voice cause he obviously hits no tune direct and all that other folk guys playing since 50 years exactly the same 30 songs with sad minor tunes (exactly what is needed on a fun night out). Ground Zero (which were way better when playing acoustic cross-over stuff, EnEn has still the best voice in Dumaguete). Freestyle with a great guitar and bass player which sadly are not loud enough enough when playing live, but with noisy keyboard which creates horrible sounds. The Koofellas are a far cry from the original and not really worth listening anymore, Tons of that pseudo Reggae bands with really horrible brass-section, etc....

Venues: Why not - broken speakers all over the place, no sound-tech, Kamalig - sound-system principally not bad but can't handle the volume they wanna push out of it, many times feed-backs and distortion (no need to play all on 11, that should be reserved for Motorhead), TIKI uses rental PA-system where nobody takes care of the sound during the performance. Hayahay improved sound a lot after rebuilding the stage but the "artists" are rather on the sad side unless they have some special acts from Cebu.

All bands just standing/sitting there and play their stuff and if they have two chicks in the band they stomp (stomp= a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy) from one leg to another as "stage-action" with the "hope-they-evening-is-soon-over" facial expression, that paired with some flickering lights which run the same scheme the whole evening, no matter what song is played.

Yeah, I miss good live music and good sound.

 

speaking of WalMart, i also am a fan of the 99 Cent Only store (chain in CA, NV and AZ) as well as shopping online. a trip to the states is a good chance to stock up on a few things that i can't get here or are sold at outrageous pricing;











would post more but i gotta get to the gym! :-)

 

Some good points there Rhoody and you obviously have experience in the field. I won't go into the 2 girls and the guy with the computer that play at venues around town. :-((

Have a listen to this guys voice with his acoustic guitar and see what you think. May or may not be your cup of tea. I shot the video on my point and shoot camera:

Jayson - Today I don't feel like doing anything - YouTube

Jayson Sings 'so serious" acoustic - YouTube

Love song - YouTube

Cheers,
Mark

 

I won't go into the 2 girls anymore, maybe ten years ago when they were in their prime... hehehe

I know Jason and he is a talented singer (medicore guitar, though). An older guy named Philipp is my favorite here in Dumaguete. They are all nice background music (well, not whining Allan), it is not that I do not like those acoustic folks once in a while, but I rather see them sitting on a sidewalk with a hat in front, listening to 2 or 3 songs, drop a coin or two and continue