For those who are frequents of Cubao Expo, Mogwai is known for the cheap beer and the daily arts enrichment in the form of the movie they show upstairs. For myself, however, there is more to Mogwai than their cheap beer and free movies. Mogwai is about the rich conversation, a tryst with a lover, a reunion and the truth that comes out after a few rounds of beer/Mojito/A-Zinc with friends.

Mogwai seems to have never lost its charm each time.

As a post is always great with photos, here are some:

1. Mogwai Beer and Mogwai Peanuts, 2. Mogwai, 3. Mogwai, 4. Anne, 5. Halloween @ Mogwai, 6. Mogwai, 7. Mogwai, 8. Mogwai Cubao-X, 9. gab at mogwai, 10. Mogwai 1, 11. a bitter sweet life, 12. Mogwai 2 , 13. Untitled, 14. us again. , 15. DSC_1452, 16. IMG_7013

Meiday at Cubao X

Bringeth ye olde (but usable) stuff for school– supplies, toys, clothes, books– for them youngins. For the benefit of ISANG BATA FOUNDATION.

Bless thine hearts and rocketh and rolleth.

Purveyor, in cooperation with Love One Another Studio presents..

Go Ahead Punk! Make Meiday!

July 18, Saturday, 6 PM at Cubao Expo. FREE ADMISSION!!

Featuring..

The Wuds, Itchyworms, Pedicab, The Dorques, Ciudad, Halik ni Gringo, Ang Bandang Shirley, Filterfilter, Arigato Hato, Markus Highway, Gorgoro, The Lowtechs, The Purplechickens, Outer Hope, Techy Romantics, The Discodall, Swissy, Sunflower Day Camp, The Charmes, Only Revulotions

*Donation boxes will be set up for school supplies, textbooks, uniforms for kids of Isang Bata Foundation

Toodles!

Yep, I am the culprit behind the obligatory first post. I did not even delete the automated comment, whaduway know. But that’s R’s job; she’s the techy expert, whilst I provide… charm? and all-around gayness.

(I use hyphens a lot, btw, you’d know it is I.)

As far as stories go, this is my Cubao X tale.

In my day (as if that was a looong time ago), in the 90s, this place is simply Marikina Shoe Expo and my pre-school best friend’s residence (she lives in the apartments behind the former COD). The shoe stores thrived and one can really get pairs at a very minimal rate.

At seven years old, fresh from kindergarten and newly exploring the ‘big school’ as my teacher used to call it, I found a haven in this place. I’d visit my best friend and we’d talk about the equivalent of quarter-life crisis for grade-schoolers. It had been therapeutic to have a huge playground. Expo was that to me where all the stores were my ’secret’ shoe closets. Sure, none of the shoes fit me but in my mind, they were all mine. (Except boys’ shoes; boys have cooties)

Funny story, I ‘branded’ the place (We’d have to get close before I give you the lowdown).

I never got to visit again after so many years (pretend I went to Europe) and when I returned, I found it still homey and perhaps more suitable for my age. Still none of the shoes fit me because by then I have grown giant feet.

Now that the stalls and shops have become more interesting, perhaps you can tell the world about it. After all these years, I would still love to reconnect to my childhood playground. Won’t you take me on a tour? (Meh, that’s supposed to be OUR job, but what the heck, this can go both ways)

Toodles!

Cubao-Xoxo

Posted by Noman Nimer on PinoyCentric.com on March 11, 2007. Original post from here.

* * *

Cubao X. The artist community. A state of mind, a sense of place.

A term coined by a filmmaker during a gathering (no staid, formal meetings here, just people sitting back, relaxing, drinking the drink of their choice and chatting unhurriedly with likeminded people), Cubao X refers to the group of artists running their own shops inside the historic Marikina Shoe Expo at the Araneta Center, but it has since come to mean the epitome of creativity and cooperativism.

Galleries, cafes, a paraphernaliac store, a bookshop, an Italian restaurant, a furniture shop, a toy store, antique shops galore. The local Greenwhich or Soho, many say. The place where nothing special really happens, some critics say. And the critics are correct some of the time.

During the day, and whole day Monday, most of the shops are quiet (because most of the artist shopowners hold down day jobs to support their art) but by 4 pm onwards, the place awakens.

Heritage, Kukuada, Future Prospects, Pablo, Black Soup galleries open, each imbued with their own personalities – Heritage is literally a garden of art; Kukuada is proudly local yet global; FP is cutting-edge, fusion; Pablo is quirky and functional pop; Black Soup is stirring, thought-provoking photography.

The delectable smell of adobo pasta permeates Black Soup: the toy monsters at Chunky Far Flung Gallery bare teeth, browsers turn leaves at Datelines bookshop, diners troop to Bellini’s for an early dinner of authentic Italian cuisine, amidst the ubiquitous shoeshops where everyone has bought many a childhood pair of shoes from Mendrez, or Valentino’s or Janylin, or Rusty Lopez.

Some days in a month beautiful things happen here. The best indie musicians and songsmiths play their instruments, world-class choreographers dance, filmmakers show their films, poets read their poems, the best minds meet, and old loves are rekindled and kept aflame. People from all walks of life watch, and those who are moved by the song, the dance, the conversation, the movie, the painting, the photograph, the installation, become part of Cubao X forever.

*Photo credit: PinoyCentric.Com