September
September 2: Oh, Liza debuted in NU107. And a couple of days later, our promo plug went on air. I voiced it.
As September 17 drew nearer, we got more and more nervous for the launch of our EP. We went full speed in promoting our launch.
September 17: I found myself playing weird sounds on the piano at the press lounge in Ayala Museum. I couldn’t contain myself. I anxiously waited for my friends, both real and Imaginary, to arrive
all heart on stage.
Then the press came. One by one. In the press conference the questions went into varying difficulty levels, and the toughest came from Pulp’s Jason Caballa.
With the mounting pressure around us, it was refreshing to share the stage with Techy Romantics again.
And like a schoolgirl, Emerald had the best this month, having been able to hangout with Hello Goodbye. Again, Khalid was not around.
September 30 – Johanna Poblete of Business World tried dissecting our sound through her online music/culture column “Stay In”. (It’s on the press/reviews section!)
October
October 4 – Status Magazine published their interview with Your Imaginary Friends online. (check the press/review section again!)
Jam 88.3 started airing Oh, Liza. And wow, it was surreal when people text me “Hey, ur song n on Jam! Congrats!” I never got used to it.
From wherever his ashes are, John Lennon celebrated his 70th birthday. And we at Lilystars plus a score of other artists, celebrated with him at the Ayala Museum. I swear dear John made his presence felt that night.
Heima, the hipster shop that’s more like it sells pieces of art than furniture, relaunched its Makati shop and we were invited to play. That was something.
October 31: In the last, dying days of NU107, we were privileged to be invited as one of the last featured bands of Francis Brew’s In the Raw. There, Francis played all five songs in the EP. I remember having mixed feelings as the station that I grew up listening to was playing all the songs that we recorded and realizing that that was the only time it was ever going to happen.
November
We couldn’t believe it ourselves, but we posed for the lens for another magazine. This time, it’s Pinoy rock’s monthly bible Pulp. They’re having their Christmas edition with their evil Santa, who prolly mistook us as elves who ran away from the North Pole. Talk about forced labor. Paolo Ruiz did the frames. My 2010 favorite band (and the ultimate In The Raw awardee) The Flying Ipis were there too.
It was Emerald’s elder brother Jet’s birthday and we did our longest set ever. EVER. And the probably one of the most memorable gigs ever. EVER.
Ahmad and I played Robert Smith and Elvis Costello in our 2-man project. Well, it’s not a side project. The other two just couldn’t make it on The Pop Shoppe’s New Wave Night.
with DJ Niki and Boys from Hilera at the UR 105.9 station
Later that month, RJUR 105.9 expressed interest in our music and the LSR lineup. They invited us to guest in Niki Flojo’s program for a short bit to promote our new stuff. This was when we met Cris and Ivan of Hilera in person and Em, ow Emerald, found it difficult to keep her self composed.
December
December 9: It’s the annual Christmas / Birthday party of Lilystars Records. Clem and I celebrated our birthdays that night. And we made sure we had a good time. Work skeds notwithstanding.
December 11: Ayala Museum, but this time, it’s The Camerawalls’ new EP on the launch pad. And in support , we played.
December 12: Ahmad won an iPad. I thought you guys might want to know. He sold it a few days later without even opening the box.
December 17: Budgette Tan texted me: Your band got mentioned in Phil star today, page j 2
December 18-19: After swimming too deep in a pool of jitters, we finally shot our first music video, and it’s for Oh, Liza. Watch for it.
December 22: Wow! We played with Carnival Park! And I thought that that’s never going to happen–ever. But it did.
we are Imagining Your Friends.
December 30: My second time to play guitar and sing live. Oh my. I was part of a duo called Imagining Your Friends, a tribute act for my favorite band Your Imaginary Friends. Khalid and I were responsible for this malady.
That was it. So long, 2010. I am quite sure we will not see you anymore, lest of course Doc Emmett Brown did come up with a Flux Capacitor that doesn’t travel through time, but crosses into reality as well. With that, we can expect that in five years from now we all live in a world where we ride hoverboards.
album launching picture by Michael del Rosario
