Dub City Cafe, San Pablo City, Philippines

The first and only alternative venue in San Pablo City, Laguna, Philippines.

All good music and everything in between - The music of Dub City Cafe

From Classic Jazz to vintage 70's rock. The 80's punk and new wave.


The modern day electronica and chill out music...

And the list goes on......

Monday to Saturday 5pm onwards

article from The Manila Standard Today
www.manilastandardtoday.com (archive: 11/11/06)

Good music, food and vibes in Dub City

By Kit Castillo
YOU see this cozy up and down townhouse, painted in hues of blue and orange and you enter. Inside, you see upon the stair wall near the converted quasi-stage a black and white, varnished collage of album covers ranging from Ruben Tagalog's Harana, the Ramones, Sabotage and other artists. These are just some of the little surpises one might find in Dub City Café in San Pablo City.

The bar aside from alcoholic beverages, sports of knickknacks ranging from books to toys to a lot of else's featuring among others—Iggy Pop, Puzo's God Father, a Star Wars Desert Trooper, that infamous shark from Jaws and Welles' Citizen Kane. There's a filmstrip superimposed on the eye shield of a welder's helmet, back lighted in red and beside it a simple, enlarged print out of a dictionary page defining the word"dub." Works of local filmmakers and other artists punctuate the place's stratum. It also boasts of visual-audio inspired and recycled-industrial interior design by virtuoso Yeye Calderon with the owners adding their personal touch.

"We wanted to put up an alternative to the usual entertainment spots here in the city," states soundman, filmmaker and co-owner of Dub Dennis Empalmado. All too aware to south of Luzon's common brand of night entertainment mainly composed of girlie bars and its offshoot videoke bars, Dennis with store manager and wife Cesy, sought to cater to the metro weary locals who go home to San Pablo City on weekends.

Crash coursing to "dub" as a word. It is generally attributed to the sense of touch and sound. In Jamaica and during the '80s, to dub meant playing the long or expanded version of a piece. Dub is also this fictional bar where all characters converged at some point in a screenplay written by Empalmado. Fine points all contributing to this hub's namesake.

People are either starting in riding on that alcohol buzz or are already drowned in it when we arrived, but all welcomed the featured artist for the night (this instance it's Paul Owen) like an old comrade from war. Owen prodigiously agreed to play random requests and the patrons—me thinks they are music geeks, the majority of them are—began firing their wants in rapid succession. "Behind Blue Eyes," "Tangerine," "Bad Moon Rising" and "Black Bird" were some of the hits requested, played and sung with, sometimes in this pitch only drunk or heartbroken individuals are capable of.

The intro of "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton fluxed the silence, just when I was about to conclude that the Dub pack was an all straight-edged rage crowd. It was so out of synch with the previous repertoire that I half expected them to cantankerously call the number off. Yet, they were enlivened. Everyone on this alcohol or music-induced merry mood sang to it and you can plainly see that all is in the name of good time.

Now on its first year of operation, Dub maintains its uncensored, unscheduled and wide array of music selection and streaming. "We want it to be as wide as the sound an Audio Fi vinyl record is known to be," expounds Dennis describing theirs ranging from the traditional, to electric, to jazz, punk, to ska or reggae onto emo. The owners visualize Dub City as a long term endeavor. A place that in time will carve its way to the psyche of locals and visitors alike as part of San Pablo City's character and culture.

But, back to where I was. The official Dub party I happened to be into ended at 1 a.m. After all, we're in a café (yes, they really do serve coffee). And so, like that rubbing alcohol commercial back in the early '90s or that perennial fruitcake that the Eraserheads sang about—in Dub City (and you are always welcome to find this out for yourself) there is indeed some for everybody.


Contact:

Dennis Empalmado
Dub City Cafe
39A Mabini St.
San Pablo City
Philippines 4000

email:pleasant_dreams08@yahoo.com
 or: ras_sound@lycos.com
Mob: 09277 846285