Serve my Hotdog well-done

They have split up years ago, in the mid-‘80s (more than a decade after the group was organized), and have reunited for a concert three times since then, with a fourth one set for Thursday, Dec. 1, at the PICC Tent, CCP Complex, Pasay City.

But just the same, even if the members have ventured (successfully) into various fields, they remained “live” and alive in the public consciousness, thanks to their enduring hit songs like  okay, you may sing-along if you want  Ikaw Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko; Annie Batungbakal; Pers Lab; O, Lumapit Ka; Beh, Buti Nga; Panaginip; Bitin Sa Iyo; Langit Na Naman; Careful, Careful; Bongga Ka, Day; and, most especially, Manila, the song that never fails to make Filipinos abroad weep for home, sweet home.

Yes, of course, Hotdog, the pop-rock band that pioneered the Manila Sound in the ‘70s.

When my Baby Boomer friend BKJ texted me from Toronto that she’s coming home for vacation, she reminded me, “Watch tayo ng Hotdog concert ha.” I assured her we would.

The members first reunited in 1988 for a concert, followed after 23 years last May 16 (Pres. P-Noy and his cabinet were in the audience) and then last July 26 (Sen. Bongbong Marcos and members of the Opposition showed up).

Like BKJ, I’m curious how the Hotdog sound has evolved, whether the members still sound as plakang-plaka as they used to, with their iconic voices intact, and their songs served well-done like before.

Up to now, many people are wondering why the group called itself Hotdog  you know, why not Hotcake or Hot Pandesal.

“You know,” said Dennis Garcia, the group’s founder and bassist, “I’ve been in advertising since I was 17 and I wanted a name na medyo bastos pero universal. So I came up with Hotdog. I checked sa Copyright Office at wala pang gumagamit ng name na ‘yan noong araw.”

Performing at the PICC Tent Dec. 1 reunion concert is the Hotdog core group (Dennis with Jess Garcia, drummer; Rene Garcia, lead guitarist/vocalist; Gina Montes who sang Panaginip; Maso Diez, the female voice behind Annie Batungbakal and Bongga Ka ‘Day, Joy Reyes and Rita Saguin Trinidad) except for Ella del Rosario, the original female member.

“Ella lost her voice,” revealed Dennis. “I brought her back for a solo concert, I spent for it, but two days before the concert she lost her voice. It was an act of God, so I said, ‘Okey lang, ganoon talaga.’ It was so heart-breaking.” 

When Dennis formed the group in 1974, there were six members, five boys and one girl. Through the years as the band grew older, some members would quit and be replaced by new ones.

Rene is now based in the States but he continues touring nationwide, also including Europe and Australia, with the “new generation” Hotdog.

“This is a rare occasion to get together because everybody is busy with other things,” said Dennis. “But we manage to have rehearsals. Importante ang rehearsal. It’s no use performing if you’re not as good as you were 30 years ago. There are always discriminating people in the audience. Like during our first reunion concert, Gibo (Teodoro) bought 30 tickets but at the last minute, he had to go to Singapore so he requested if he could watch the rehearsal. He showed up na naka-Barong pa and stayed for two hours. He gave away his tickets to his friends.”

An expat for many years who worked in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur as creative director for McCann Erickson, Dennis came back to help out some candidates during the 2010 elections and decided to stay, and now runs his own advertising agency; Jess is the vice president of Philippine Airlines for advertising; Gina works with Rustan’s as buyer in Europe; Rita manages her own bakeshop in Magallanes; and the rest, including Rene, are the ones who carry on the Hotdog legacy by continuing to perform professionally.

It was Dennis who wrote the lyrics of all the songs for the band that, he said, was influenced by The Beatles and Stevie Wonder.

“I just love the way they crafted their songs,” said Dennis.

How does he feel when he looks back at the heyday of the Manila Sound?

“The Manila Sound was really big in the ‘70s because first-class citizens ang mga composers at entertainers,” said Dennis. “All types of music and so many talents prevailed during that era. That’s why I think we can attribute the success of the Hotdog reunion concerts to the fact na doon sa mga nanonood, it feels like a Time Machine. The reunion concerts bring them back to gentler times. Wala pang mga Maguindanao massacre noon, and so forth and so on.”

Manila is to Manilans (and Filipinos in general) how Tony Bennett’s I Left My Heart In San Francisco has become to residents of that City by the Bay where little cable cars climb halfway to the sky: The Song of Their Lives.

“May tama talaga ang kantang ‘yan,” said Dennis of the song that sings praises to a city that, never mind if it’s clogged by nagliliparang jeepneys and nerve-wracking traffic, makes you want to go back to it again and again (Take me in your arms, Manila) because there’s no place on earth like it.

Asked what he would change if he were to rewrite the lyrics, Dennis said in jest, “I would include the line ‘laging andoon ang mukha ni Kris Aquino,’ something like that, because I see her face all over the city.”

(Reminder: Tickets to Hotdog: The Reunion are priced at P3,000, P2,000 and P1,500. Call Ticketworld at 891-9999.)

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