Spoken Word and Meet-cute

Have you had your own meet-cute?  

A meet-cute is a random encounter with a total stranger whom you felt that you shared something. It is not necessarily your significant other, or your soul mate, but in that random circumstance, not expecting anything, you say hi to this person and then both of you clicked - like a switch.

This is what Nick and Norah's infinite playlist is about. A random encounter where you share that one interest that made you click - in a random Saturday night.

Nick, who is about to move-on with his ex-girlfriend, is a bassist of a gay band called The Fuckoffs, have had a meet-cute with Norah, the daughter of a record company executive - who is also about to move-on with her ex-boyfriend.

They met in a bar full of Underground / Indie music scene. What they experience the whole Saturday night makes you cringe at the profanities (if you are that sensitive) at first, but later on, you feel the giddiness. Just because.

The Radioactive Sago Project, a jazz rock band, first formed last 1997 and for a span of almost two decades, they made FOUR ALBUMS of spoken word - poetry - mixed with sax and bass and drums. I fell in love with them the first time I heard the first single Gusto Ko Ng Baboy. In my college years I followed them in underground bars. One might remember me as a random girl in one random night who sang in bars. I sang for food, pare. 

From the Sago's third album release last 2007, they made a public release last July that the fourth album is finally made and its launch would be at 19East - one of those bars who patronizes indie music.

So after the book club's meeting with Jun Cruz Reyes, the author of Tutubi, Tutubi, 'Wag Kang Magpahuli sa Mamang Salbahe, I went straight ahead. No company who's willing to go with me at Saturday night - just hell with it - FOR THE LOVE OF THE LORD SAGO'S songs.

And so I went alone.

And so I explained the above to a random guy who shared the same love with the Spoken Word.

And so I was amused that he wrote poetry too, and he listened to the whole discorgraphy since he was high school

And so I was dumbfounded the he also went alone.

And so I thought, just go with it.

That night I had my meet-cute. Just like Nick and Norah.

Remember, remember
It was 5th but not November
A feast of spoken word
Some talks of written word
Of life and love and making jazz with sax
Of battles and insecurities and shitty past

The book's plot and the meet-cute has a difference: when Nick and Norah are in the midst of hang-ups, him and I moved on with our previous exes - with benefits or not. But the same feel is present - we have had the not-awkward inhibitions, the career-talks and other shenanigans, conversations of social circles and other interests (aside from the love with the band), and comments on the partner bands who played with the jazz-rock band (UP Dharma Down and Yolanda Moon were there).

We talked through set breaks, we drank lights, we didn't smoke because we're in a place close to the stage so smoking was not allowed, and we both trash-talked when Gin Pomelo was played. The Lourd said they were not hipsters and have had many spiels, but we did not mind - because in the midst of the cacophony of the sax and trumpets, we looked at each other's eyes and we both wished that the night would not end. 

If Norah received a gift from Salvatore, I received my souvenir from the right-handed Bathala (the Bathala bequeathed his bracelet from his right wrist to the Babaylan's left wrist - all the while holding hands). The eating part was there too, and the smiles and the look and the gush and the giddy. Name it.

What I liked the most about the book is the part when the Beatles' single was mentioned - 

"You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That's what everyone wants. Not 24/7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche...or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can't hide. Every single successful song of the past fifty years can be traced back to 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding."

We both know that the Saturday night would end sooner than we expected, but we treasured it by holding hands as we commute the way home. 

It's so Nik and Nella~ 

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Shit, that line above is SO CORNY. I knew this is corny, you woman! And no pare, this is not you - it's another guy.