The Urban Roamer must make a confession. I love blues music, the most un-mainstream as one can be as far as musical tastes are concerned. As it is, it is frustrating that this music does not have even a little exposure in the city’s pop-infested radio stations or in the downsized record bars. Yet, it is also remarkable and surprising to see the blues scene in the city enjoying a solid and steady presence thanks to the musicians who have the passion for this music as well as the bars that have been supportive enough to hold blues nights for these musicians to belt out their blues. Then came in…
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At the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila
Of all the hotels in the metropolis, only a few can boast of having such a history and prominence as the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in the reclaimed Cultural Center of the Philippines complex near the Manila Bay. It was one of the hotels built at the height of the Marcos era to showcase the Philippines to the world in the midst of the events going on at the time. To be specific, the hotel, which was first known as the Philippine Plaza Hotel, was built to house the delegates of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting which was to be held in Manila in 1976. (an event Marcos successfully…
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The Urban Roamer’s Vlog: the Manila International Book Fair 2013
A new edition of the vlog is up! You can view it here: © the Urban Roamer
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The Battle for Fort Bonifacio
While the current talk in global affairs is about the conflict of Syria and the possible involvement of the US and whoever of its allies willing to join, Metro Manila is seeing a conflict of its own too as two highly-urbanized cities and a small municipality are engaged in all-out war of sorts for the control of the most disputed territory in the country right now, the almost 730-hectare territory which was once part of a vast military complex known as Fort Bonifacio. The battle for the control of this former military base turned into a bustling commercial and business district has been subject of a long ligation that has…