Ace (on right) added his lead guitar to our developing Frying Nemo sound in September before he was due to move to Kansas in October to get married. This is a shot of us practicing at Rock Boo, where they generously let us use their sound system after hours. Nowell subbed in on the drums, he's another multi-instrumentalist too.

Raul told Ace about the typical songs we had been playing in our sets at Hayahay.

Speaking of Hayahay, the next night was Ace's second time on stage with us at Hayahay; the first time he played he just dove in headfirst and Raul would tell him what key the song was in for his solo. I wish I was that good of a guitarist!

At this point, the six of us were really starting to sound pretty good I thought.

In early September, the new Peace Corps batch had their follow up training just outside of Dumaguete and so some friends from my batch were in Dumaguete for almost three weeks. Luckily a lot of them turned out for our Wednesday night performances and were the first to dance during our set.

In this photo Raul is delivering another one of his smoking saxophone solos.

Claire and Pam from Peace Corps batch 263 are definitely the most enthusiastic dancers that we've played for. It really made everyone feel like our music was being enjoyed--thanks again Pam and Claire!

Ace's lead guitar was a huge addition to making us sound better. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

The better the band sounded, the more fun it was to get up on stage in front of the crowd every week at Hayahay. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

I really like this angle, nice work on the photos Daniel. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

On the quieter songs we play there weren't really any dancers. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

One of the nice things about playing at Hayahay is that it's open to the sea breeze just in front of the stage. It's definitely nice to be playing in front of a crowd and look out over the ocean. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

The volunteers from the new batch had some of the best seats in the house. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Sometimes it really gets hot with that knit cap on under the red stage lights, but at least I look more like a real musician when it's on. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Here's a Kerwin-eye-view of the stage from behind the drum set. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

When we first started playing our original songs I used to print out a lyric sheet to glance at just in case I forgot the words to our songs. Now that we've been playing them live for a few weeks and recording them too I don't do this anymore--though it's pretty embarrassing when you forget the words to your own song. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Here's a nice shot from the "backstage" at Hayahay. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Later in the night as people had a few more beers, there were more enthusiastic dancers. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

As usual, I broke a guitar string. For some reason I usually only break the D or the G string. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Another solid sax solo from Raul. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Because of the broken string I had to re-tune the guitar a few times while we were playing to keep it sounding ok. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Luckily the broken string was more towards the end of our set, so it wasn't as big of a deal as it could have been. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

I like this shot of the dancing in motion. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

Here's a gecko-eye view of the Hayahay stage on reggae night. Photo by Daniel Bowman Simon.

The next Wednesday we were back on the Hayahay stage, although the crowd of PCV's from out of town was a little smaller.

I usually go through a lot of water when we're playing.

I like this low angle shot by Tomoko. Photo by Tomoko Urabe

The next week we opened with our best jam for Raul's sax; Pisang Goreng.

At the end of our country music-influenced "Wind Singing Over Our Song", Nowell liked to throw in an exaggerated country bass line to jam out the finale. Sometimes it was so exaggerated it was pretty funny.

The month of September by fast, it was already Ace's last night with us at Hayahay.

I can't remember what was going on in this photo, but it was probably Nowell getting ready to fire up his deep-fried country bass line.

Our set was definitely a little more quiet without Ace on the lead guitar.

Those effects pedals at my feet aren't for my acoustic guitar, Bem Bem, the lead singer of Enchi uses them to get some cool reggae sounds for his electric guitar.

Kerwin "Funky Beats" Elman holding down the rhythm section. Kerwin is in charge of our set lists, you can see that night's version on a small scrap of paper spiked through the metal projection of the cymbals to his left.

Ramon adds percussion accents with his bongo drums.

Eventually our weekly schedule of practicing and Wednesday night at Hayahay was keeping Nowell too busy, so our friend Kekerdz who recorded "83" with us at Kerwin's house took over on the bass.

That night was Kerwin's birthday as well.