09/14/2026
Before the MIBF madness takes over my feed, I wanted to get a few posts out of the way while gathering my thoughts.
Tuesday, the night before MIBF, 🕴🏼 invited me out to check a new band he’s producing. Anyone who knows OPM knows PG’s dad and family basically invented the original 70s Manila Sound with Hotdog. Me and PG go way back and its gonna take to long to explain all the connections so just roll with it.
It was raining and I had a huge book fair the next morning, but it’s Manila and PG, so I had to go.
He told me to pull up to Sari-Sari, which looks just like a regular outdoor Thai spot. I was pretty confused until the door girl points me toward this literal soda fridge door. I pull it open, step inside into this speakeasy lounge, and the very first thing I see is PG just casually hanging out chatting up Sarah Labati.
Since I’m an old man and had to be at MIBF by 9 AM, I could only stick around for soundcheck. But I got to meet the band leader Joaquin Reyes, who introduced me to his amazing illustrator brother, more on that later. I also met gab, an incredible horn player who I actually got to catch again on another night with Adrian.
It’s amazing to see these young musicians giving jazz in the Philippines a real go and building something fresh. Super cool night. Catch “One Step At A Time” out now on Bandcamp via Other People’s Music.
