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

The schedules are out! Mark these events in your calendar! Also, if you want to take part in the activities, set up your own booth, etc, the registration is now open! Visit Cubaoexpo.multiply.com to know the mechanics! :) (Lots of exclamation points there, I know! I! Can’t! Help! It!)

Behold, the year end bazaars at the X:

OKTOBERFAIR!

Oktober 3, 2009 | Saturday 3:00pm to 12:00 midnight>

PURE PINOY MINI-CONCERT!
7 Pinoy bands to perform pinoy songs!

PURE PINOY MINI-BAZAAR!
Pinoy-made, Pinoy-produced products from all over country will be showcased.

* * *

GIANT GARAGE SALE!

October 17, 2009 | Saturday 10:00AM to 5:00PM

20 groups will be selling their 2nd hand, used, and pre-loved items at amazingly low prices!

* * *

HOLIDAY MADNESS BAZAAR!

December 19, 2009 | Saturday, 3:00PM to 12:00MN
December 20, 2009 | Sunday 1:ooPM to 7:00PM

More info @ CUBAOEXPO.MULTIPLY.COM!

Meiday 2009 @ Cubao Expo by Servo01

1. Ang Bandang Shirley (The Shirley Band), 2. Sunflower Daycamp, 3. Sunflower Daycamp, 4. Sunflower Daycamp, 5. Cinema 21, 6. Sunflower Daycamp, 7. DSC_4941, 8. DSC_4946, 9. DSC_4959, 10. DSC_4961, 11. Halik ni Gringo (“Gringo’s Kiss”), 12. Halik ni Gringo (“Gringo’s Kiss”), 13. Halik ni Gringo (“Gringo’s Kiss”), 14. Halik ni Gringo (“Gringo’s Kiss”), 15. Halik ni Gringo (“Gringo’s Kiss”), 16. Meiday 2009 @ Cubao Expo

Go ahead, Make Meiday by Caroline Dy

1. Top Junk, 2. Top Junk, 3. Top Junk, 4. Top Junk, 5. Outerhope, 6. Outerhope, 7. Outerhope, 8. Outerhope, 9. Discoball, 10. Discoball, 11. Discoball, 12. Discoball

Lesson learned: Never miss a Meiday event. *nods*

Join Meiday! Meiday!’s Facebook Fan Page HERE.

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!

I guess I can consider ourselves lucky for canceling plans tonight and deciding to pass by Cubao-X instead. And yes, Xai, you’re right, the impromptu trip to Cubao-X was highly driven by the hopes of coming up with awesome ideas for this site, and what do you know, I got what I needed to see, and more.

Most of the shops were already closed when we got there, at past 9PM, but the usual Friday night hangouts were still in full swing. Walking past Vintage Pop, I wondered why the place that used to be teeming with vintage wall clocks, and lamps, and furnitures, was now near empty. And on the walls, in place of those intricately designed wall clocks, were clocks drawn with chalk.

We went in and found out the sad news: Tonight was their last, they’re closing down.

Bong Salaviera, the owner of the popular vintage shop that, for a good five years, has been in the center (literally and figuratively) of everything that Cubao-X is, chatted with us like we were good old friends (really nice of him). He let us write on the walls with chalk. He allowed us to take photos of what’s left of the place, and with him. He offered beer. (But no thanks, I don’t drink anymore.) He answered questions.

Apparently, their application to migrate to Canada was approved last March, so they had to make the hard decision of closing Vintage Pop down. It was only in June that they started telling friends about closing down the store, so yeah, those people got the first dibs on the clearance sale (Okay, I just had to add that bit, argh!)

They didn’t really plan on making a big news out of it, Bong said. They thought it would be better to disappear quietly.

Then again, of course people will notice. Vintage Pop has indeed become an icon, having withstand the ups and downs that Cubao-X experienced through the years. That lovely window display with the iconic “X” (which, by the way, was also sold during the clearance sale), just beside Bellinis’ scenic facade, will surely be missed.

The “X” in Vintage Pop’s window display was actually sold during clearance sale

It sucks that we never got around to properly giving Vintage Pop a place in this site; I imagined myself writing looong reviews and posting lots of pictures of their unique vintage pieces when Xai and I were still discussing about the possibilities. Vintage Pop would have been a regular headliner here.

Not having known that VP was closing its doors prior to this day, I think it was a beautiful accident that we used a Gel’s photo of Vintage Pop’s window display to go with one of our very first posts here, as if some form of symbolism. And, more importantly, that we got to have one last glimpse of this legendary store that’s become a part of Cubao Expo’s rich history.

Looking back to VP’s humble beginnings, Erwin Romulo of PhilStar wrote:

The way he (Bong Salaviera) describes Vintage Pop is that he just wanted to put up a space that would be like the kind of place you always dreamed about. With a passion and eye for beautiful things as well the skilled discipline of a craftsman, he did just that: filling the store with wonderful items that he collected as well as some he would tinker with. He also invited friends and artists to put their stuff on display there, not accepting any cut from any sales made. “I really have no idea how to run a store,” says Salaveria, referring to the fact that making money was never the focus of Vintage Pop. As several visitors can attest, he’d rather give you the item than sell it to you, just because you really, really looked like you wanted it. “I want them to have nice homes,” he says.

Oh yeah. That sounds exactly like that Bong-person we had the priviledge of meeting tonight. :)

To say that we were fortunate enough to drop by tonight is an understatement. It was like fate.

The upside? We got to take home a few stuff, Bong was generous enough to give us discounts.

For me, these:

Now this is LUCKY — a vintage leather make-up bag (P1,500) , a miniature doll that holds a vintage video camera (P100), and a smallish Coffeeholics Mug (P150)

Rico, meanwhile, took home a bunch of 2007-2008 issues of Wallpaper Magazine (P50 each), an old Tony Stone stock photo catalog (P400), and an Architecture book (P100).

Oh, and yeah, this:

Vintage Coca Cola wall clock (PHP1,200)

Not bad for left-overs, indeed. ;)

Good bye, Vintage Pop, thanks for opening your doors and imparting to us not just art, but your life and passion as well.  We wish you success as you try to make a difference wherever you’re headed.

* * *

Closing time, one last.

More of Vintage Pop through the years, found around the web:

• I love Vintage Pop, PhilStar (July 3, 2009)
• Warhol & The Vintage Pop (March 2009)
• Fallen at Vintage Pop (June 2008)
• A Fine Vintage, Real Living Magazine (April 2008)
• Vintage Pop (July 2006)
• Clone at Cubao-X (May 2005)

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

So yeah, since this website’s going to be famous and thriving with traffic someday, I’d like to post its monumental humble beginnings, you know, in case you’d be interested to look back and find out how it came to be.

Also, as the first few readers of this site, I’d like to let you in on what the game plan is.

La la la la la la.

Uh, yeah, we don’t have a game plan.

Maybe you can help us come up with one! Lol.

Srsly, the concept is still under development, so we’re inviting all of you Cubao-Xers to watch it unfold with us. The grand idea is to have a place for everything Cubao-X online, like a mini-Clickthecity, only our world revolves around that little artist community in Cubao. Get the picture?

* * *

By the way, that was Xaris who wrote the traditional Hello World post, not ME. (Mixed up login details are part of soft-openings, after all.) Don’t be deceived. Xaris is the one responsible for all the gay-ness in this site, and she’s the better, more fun, half. I, meanwhile, am the one who writes long boring introductions, and abuses commas like crazy.

And yes, I think it’s important that you know the difference between the two of us, if you’re going to frequent this site. (Oh and we bet you’re going to, because we’re confident like that.)

You see, Xaris grew up in Cubao, she knows Cubao-X like the back of her hand, and she calls it her second-home. I, meanwhile, have only been there ONCE in this life of mine (I know, what am I doing co-founding this website huh?), however, I do remember falling in love-at-first-sight with Cubao-X and how being there felt like stepping into a secret, magical place ala Diagon Alley. I remember getting a bunch of accessories from Anak Ng Kwek Kwek, this pretty hand-sewn dress from one of the fashion boutiques, and a pair of pumps from Janilyn. I remember marveling at the awesome galleries, and drooling over all the stuff at Vintage Pop (there was a flood of drool, I can’t believe the news didn’t reach TV Patrol). I remember asking a lot of questions — Is that cute Italian restaurant the one in John Lloyd’s movie? Where do they get all these antique items? Who are these artists? Where have I been all these years?

So yep, this is who we are: One, a Cubao-X groupie by heart; the other, a noob who’s ready to explore everything that Cubao-X has to offer.

Which brings me to how Cubao-X.Com came to be. (I told you I make long introductions).

I was Googl-ing pretty vintage things when some photos of Cubao-x came about. The search immediately shifted from pretty vintage things, to vintage shops in Cubao-X, to simply Cubao-X.

And WHAT THE HELL I CAN’T BELIEVE CUBAO-X DOESN’T HAVE A WEBSITE QUICK I’M GOING TO REGISTER CUBAO-X.COM NOW NOW!

It was destiny. The domain was available, and there was no time to lose.

You see, the SEO in me couldn’t bear the thought that a place as enchanting as Cubao-X did not have its proper place in the search results. Sure, there was a blog that has not been updated since 2006. And there’s Ricky of ProjectManila.Com, who’s got the awesomest Cubao-X photo coverages I’ve ever seen online. And then there’s a multiply account, whose owner, whoever you are, is going to be our new best friend.

Since then, Xaris and I would brainstorm endlessly about how we wanted the site to look like (vintage, artsy, purple&teal); what tagline to go with (X marks the spot — ahh, perfection!); which CMS to use (wordpress what else); do we want to put up a forum (yeah, maybe vanilla, because I don’t know how to operate phpbb); when are we going there (definitely soon); OMG we have to interview the shop owners; OMG maybe we can sell their stuff online; OMG maybe they’ll give us freebies; OMG let’s go to Mogwai, etc, etc.

Finally, we thought of audience participation. There’s a lot about Cubao-X that our mortal bodies and four hands can cover, so mostly we’ll scout the web for brilliant posts and photographs and reviews about Cubao-X, and simply point you there. 

Now, without further ado, it’s time to open our doors. Welcome to Cubao-X.Com!

*Photo Credit: Gel Cruz.