I’m not really a fan of Paramore and basically just tagged along with my boyfriend and his sister, who’s a huge fan. Figured it couldn’t hurt at all to check it out, since it might turn out to be fun. The evening started out with dinner at Sbarro, as well as people-watching in an attempt to figure out who might be watching the concert. You can easily pick them out of a crowd: young people dressed in really funky outfits, for one, and of course, people clad in Paramore t-shirts, or ones proclaiming “I ♥ Paramore.”

The concert was supposed to start at 8:30, but we opted to go in at around 7 p.m. to get good spots. True enough, there were already a lot of people in our section, guaranteed to make any view of the stage impossible for short folk like me and my boyfriend’s sister. For quite some time, we wandered around our section trying to get a good view of the stage. It would always happen that once we’ve planted ourselves in a suitable spot, another group of concertgoers would make their way in front of us and completely obstruct our view. It might have taken us around five tries before settling in one place. It was a pretty interesting waltz, and made me wish for an indoor concert venue that may at least have proper seats.

The front act for the concert was Callalily, a band I think nothing of and which my boyfriend and his sister dislike immensely. I ended up agreeing with them, since none of the songs caught my attention and the lead singer would sing “nananaginip” (dreaming) as “nanyanyaginip.” Distracting.

A huge cheer went through the crowd when Paramore finally took the stage. Happily, I recognized a few songs, although the ones I didn’t even sounded good and catchy. I think the band was quite surprised to find out that people really know their music; the audience wouldn’t stop singing along to every song, and every song met with cheers, dancing, and jumping along. All in all, it was a pretty fun night–it was good to be in a sea of humanity, for one, and even better to see people truly enjoying themselves, plus the music and energy were something else.

Here in Quezon City, a sign recently started coming up on roads.

Looks straightforward enough, doesn’t it? It should be a strong enough reminder for people to, uh, not put posters and banners bearing their names and mugs. But oh no, politicians are slimy, creative sorts, which is why they’ve been able to get around this ordinance. Case in point:

First of all, I don’t see why we ever really need to thank public officials for doing their job. It’s their damn job. But knowing the kind of officials we have anyway, I guess we should be grateful that something beneficial is happening at all. But the main thing is, this damn streamer which is slapped on practically every footbridge on Commonwealth Avenue clearly counts as political propaganda. Does anyone really believe that private citizens got together and thought it would be a great idea to have banners printed to thank the president for bestowing these holy footbridges upon us? I think not, especially since I just saw MMDA elements hanging up the streamers a couple of days ago.

Another person who’s found a way to imprint his name, or at least his initials, in people’s minds is a councilor by the name of Winnie Castelo. Seriously. Posters saying “Working Citizen ako, Working Congressman ang kailangan ko” with the W and C highlighted? Clever ploy. Same goes for Aiko Melendez, whose massive poster bearing birthday greetings is found several yards away from a sign informing people of the ordinance. The complete sign reads “Happy Birthday, Aiko Melendez, Public Servant ng Masa,” with the V and M standing for “vice mayor,” which she’s gunning for this coming elections. Do private citizens really take the time and money to have a huge birthday banner printed for a politician? Someone enlighten me.

Whoever was responsible for that sign should probably slap it in the faces of public officials who like having their names in the public eye, as well as people who are planning to run for office, rather than citizens who don’t have anything to do with those banners in the first place. And speaking of the person doing the reminding, that Tady Palma, could that person be running for public office as well since the name is in bold and wants us to remember the name?

Won’t you get in trouble for taking it, then?

_{Taken on June 23, 2009}