VOL.5 ISSUE 79 • JUNE 22 - 23, 2012

EDGEDAVAOARTS & CULTURE

RIGHT away, you can tell that Jad Montenegro is one of a kind. It’s not just because of the shock of red hair, which could also be blue or green or purple or a curi-ous palette of all of the above, de-pending on her mood. It’s not just because of the tulle skirts, chunky boots, and other ragtag elements that make up her personal style, prompting less liberal eyes to do a double-take. It’s the image that arrests you when you happen to catch her at the music bars where she can be found playing on weekend nights: the delicate, pale-skinned,

wide-eyed pixie with the jarring hair and grunge-meets-Rainbow-Brite getup, hefting a guitar that looks enormous when strapped over her small frame, singing in a soft, childlike voice that’s no less commanding in its frailty. See, Jad is a musician. An indie musician. An indie musician in a place that offers a dearth of op-portunities for people like her to advance their craft, never mind the shortage of audiences for the kind of music she creates. But does that bother her? “I’m perfectly fine with it,” Jad declares. As someone who once moon-

lighted as a pop-punk guitarist while a student in Quezon City, the move back to Davao is one Jad does not regret. “I spent col-lege in Quezon City, going to a lot of gigs. Honestly, it’s a little bit of a rat race out there. Not that I’m saying I don’t feel up to the chal-lenge, but I was truly able to listen to myself out here, in this quiet city called Davao.” With the help of bassist Pjoe Sabanpan, drummer Dave Ibao, and lead guitarist Khuko Luzada, Jad writes her songs, performs at gigs, and releases her material out into the online ether, a move that has lured a listenership well be-yond her geographic location. In addition to getting airplay in local radio stations, she nabbed awards from Mindanao cable TV show Muzika Del Sur, which gave her the Best Pop Artist plum in 2009 and the Best Music Video honor for her single “The Backyard” in 2010. Recently, her folk-flavored acoustic croonings have reached discerning ears all the way across the country, landing her a space in Manila-based websites. Now, Jad and her bandmates are a day away from launching their self-produced first EP Fixed Points and Pendulums—all on their own initiative, ingenuity, and unbridled talent. I am one of those who have witnessed this delicate, pale-skinned, wide-eyed pixie per-form her gentle guitar rhythms in music bars on weekend nights. Wildly colored hair and grunge-meets-Rainbow-Brite fashion aside, the experience has always

been one that inspires hushed awe and admiration. But don’t just take my word for it. On Saturday, June 23 at 9PM, head to the third floor of South-spot Studios at 59-B Aala Bldg, Anda St. and see this Davaoena singer-songwriter play a stripped-down set of her originals in the first leg of the Fixed Points and Pendulums launch. Azimuth,

Anne & the 05s, and Foursided Circle will also be playing inti-mate acoustic sets. A door charge of P150 gets you in, and it comes with a CD copy of the six-song EP plus a free drink. For more information, visit jad-montenegro.com and facebook.com/jadmontenegro. For inqui-ries, email jad_montenegro@ya-hoo.com.

The Indie Muse:Jad Montenegro launches her first EP album

Dave Ibao on percussions

Pjoe Sabanpan on bass

Khuko Luzada on guitar

Jad Montenegro

Jad Montenegro and her band

INdulge!

I love Hong Kong, for its food, for its vibe, for its shopping, and

also for its stunning architecture. Where else in the world can you find two of the world’s tallest sky-scrapers, namely Two International Financial Centre (IFC) and Interna-tional Commerce Centre (ICC), fac-ing off against each other across a pic-turesque harbor? Of course beautiful de-sign is not limited to just ultra tall build-ings, as every nook and cranny of Hong Kong has a design gem worthy to be discovered. Enter the Apple Store Hong Kong. Located at the IFC Mall, this gem of a store is one of the biggest Apple stores in Asia and occupies one wing of the mall. Visible from the Star Ferry walkway, the store is like a shining bea-con for everything Apple. Of course being an Apple fanatic, I just HAD to take a peek and to also get the bat-tery of my MacBook Pro re-placed while I was at it. On arrival, I immediately loved the modern minimalist interiors that were airy and at the same time cozy in a utilitarian fashion. The store was a beehive of activity with people checking out the lat-est gadgets being offered by Apple with Apple geniuses on stand-by to answer each and every question. Everything was designed to be efficient and clean, no clutter here. The centerpiece of the store is Apple’s trade-mark glass staircase in the

middle of the store which was a sight to behold that connects the lower sales floor to the upper service floor. The Apple geniuses were fast and efficient in dealing with my issue and I was im-mediately given an appoint-ment to have my MBP diag-nosed. After just a couple of

minutes, it was confirmed that my battery needed to be replaced. I was at first hesitant since normally in the Philippines, it would take at least a month to get your MBP’s battery replaced. Imagine spending a month away not being able to work? Good thing they had the

right batteries in stock and in just a couple of hours, I have my MBP back quick, efficient and pain-free. I guess everything in Hong Kong is designed to be quick and efficient, but at least for now, I believe I’d like to spend a little more time spending time hanging out and enjoy-

ENTERTAINMENTTRAVEL

A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 79 • JUNE 22 - 23, 2012EDGEDAVAO

Apple of my eye

The Apple Store was a beehive of activity with Apple Geniuses attentive to your every need.

The Apple Store from the outside.

Goofing around on the glass staircase. The Apple Store’s beautiful glass staircase.

TWI-HARDS, Kris-bians and Robsten lovers unite—it’s fi-nally here. Obviously, the “It” we’re referring is the brand-new Breaking Dawn Part 2 trail-er, which hit the web this morning on none other than Mr. Edward Cullen’s 111th birthday (damn, he looks good for his age!). But unlike the sexually charged Part 1, this trailer packs a whole lotta ac-tion, ridiculous amounts of red eyes and, of course, some epic shots of the Twilight trifecta—Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart. So, since a minute or so of Twilight goodness is far too little for today’s birth-day celebration, we pres-ent you with five fabulous moments from the brand-new Part 2 trailer! 1. Robsten Is Oh-So-In-Love: Forget the highly an-ticipated and super-lame sex scene in the first flick! We’re past the big bang in Part 2 as Bella and Edward are busy being the cutest

vampy fam ever and rais-ing their sweet little girl. “I was born to be a vampire,” Kristen waxes in the open-ing of the trailer. Can’t ar-gue with that! And, dare we say, we love Robsten even more in their full-blown-fanged-out-cold-blooded form. 2. Vamps and Were-

wolves Unite!: “That’s a lot of red eyes,” Jacob quips as a roomful of vamps stare down the dude. But really, what would the last Twi-flick be without the bulging biceps and one-liners of Mr. Taylor Laut-ner?! Seriously, the T.Laut ‘tude is back in full force in the Part 2 trailer as he

joins forces with the vam-pires to protect Bella and her babe. But that’s not all (spoiler alert!) he’ll also fall even more in love with Renesmee (remember, he imprinted in the first flick)! Creepy, but cute, right? 3. K.Stew Is One Protec-tive Mama Bear: “I’ll never let anyone hurt you,” Bella

says as she kisses her daughter’s forehead. Talk about maternal instincts! Kris transforms into one of the most adorable mama’s we’ve ever seen and she’s determined to protect little Renesmee—who the Volturi believe is an immortal child. Aww. How sweet is Mama

Stew?! 4. The Volturi Are Com-ing: Let the action-packed vampy goodness begin! The Volturi are after the Cullen family because they believe Renesmee is an immortal child. We know—as Bella says—”she was born not bitten” but the Volturi believe the Cullens have broken the all-holy vampire laws. And from the looks of those creepy black cloaks, things are about to get a bit scary on the big-screen as the Volturi prepare to attack. We. Can’t. Wait. 5. The Gang’s Ready to Fight to the Death: Now, before revealing too much, we will ‘fess that the ending’s not quite as climatic as it may appear. But regardless, Bella, Ed-ward, Jacob, the Cullens, the werewolves and a slew of other characters are all ready to fight against the Volturi in order to protect Renesmee. As for the rest? Well, you’ll have to wait until Nov. 16 to see how it all plays out.

HAPPY birthday in-deed, Prince William. Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson turned 30 Thurs-day and—while the royal wasn’t exactly hurting for pocket pence—will have access to the sizable in-heritance left him by his mum, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997. While that isn’t exactly a cause for celebration, considering the reason the money is there in the first place, we imagine that Will, with the help of wife Kate Middleton, will put the pounds to good use rather than just blow the wad on polo ponies or some such trifle. So just how much mon-ey is in the young royal’s coffer now? According to London’s Telegraph newspaper, Diana left an estate esti-mated at close to 13 mil-lion pounds—which, at the current exchange rate, equals about $20.4 mil-lion—for her two sons. An inheritance tax of $13.4 million was deduct-ed, but through careful management and invest-ment the account should have beefed back up to around $20 million, and William gets half.

“Whatever the financial position might be, you will see no obvious change of lifestyle over the coming weeks or months,” a royal aide told the paper. When Diana drew up her will and created a trust for Will and Prince Harry, 27, they were originally able to access the money when they each turned 25, but the executors of her estate changed it to 30 following her death. The brothers have been receiving interest from the principal sum since they each were 25, per the Tele-graph.

So, now that we know Will isn’t throwing him-self a $10 million birthday bash, how is the Royal Air Force captain going to cel-ebrate? “William is going to be spending the day work-ing,” a royal source tells E! News. “He will be in Glouc-estershire to complete a search and rescue course. But he will be marking [his birthday]. He’s going to be having a private celebra-tion with friends and fam-ily. “Very low-key,” the source added. “A simple celebration.”

ENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

5 things about Twilight’s epic end

Prince William is now 30!How much is he inheriting from Pricess Diana?

INdulge! A3VOL.5 ISSUE 79 • JUNE 22 - 23, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

ENTERTAINMENTUP & ABOUT

A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 79 • JUNE 22 - 23, 2012EDGEDAVAO

PAMPER yourself after you shop at Abreeza Mall. From June 20 to 22 and on June 25 to 28, get your PAMPERING TREATS at the Abreeza Activity Cen-ter. For every minimum purchase of 500 pesos or a minimum purchase of 1,000 pesos from Robin-sons Supermarket, you get a discount stub from the Concierge that en-titles you to 50% off on a variety of spa services like manicure, pedicure, foot spa, haircut, and thread-ing. Plus you get to enjoy free back massage and hair styling. Be pampered by Abreeza Mall’s health and wellness shops such as Posh Nails, Salon de Rose, Bioessence and Hairzone. You can also shop for your pamper-ing must-haves and avail of free services from Watsons, Robinsons and Shiseido. For further inquiries, visit the Concierge or check out www.face-book.com/AbreezaMall for more updates on mall store sales and events.

Get your pampering treats at Abreeza Mall