THIS Labor Day weekend, we celebrate the 1st anniversary of our online home, Poptimes Magazine.

 Not long ago, in 2005, this fancy website was just a lowly downloadable PDF electronic magazine sent to monthly via email to subscribers.

It covered the East Coast Fil Am music scene as well as some music news from Manila.

 

This original format of Poptimes lasted until November of 2005, when the management decided to discontinue the PDF format and replace it with a blog-type website.

 

In May of that same year, the website received its first major upgrade: An online community was added, and all hell broke loose.

 Fil Am music fans and artists from all over Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, Chicago, LA, New Jersey and New York joined the community and forged friendships with one another.

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That was when Poptimes became a family.

 

Now, a year after the launch of the website, Poptimes  Magazine continues to be the premiere source of Fil-Am music news, Fil-Can , as well as Manila music news.

 

Poptimes Magazine didn’t start anything. It never claimed that it did.

However, it was the mouthpiece of a revolution that swept the Fil-Am artists’ scene back in’06.

A social upheaval that eliminated a steep division between two sets of Filipinos in the US: The Fil Ams , and the Fil-Fils.  The former being US-born Filipinos in America, and the latter being Philippine-born immigrants.

 

In the old days, these two groups never mingled.

Perhaps the language and cultural barriers were too much to overcome, they just decided not to try.

That’s why whenever Fil-Fils had rock gigs, very seldom can one see the presence of Fil Ams in the crowd or on stage, and vice versa. It just didn’t happen.

 

The Poptimes Forum documented the merging of these groups and somehow became their meeting point.

Bands having mixed memberships were formed, lasting friendships were forged and a new community was born: A community of Filipinos in America minus the distinctions that make them different.

 

Poptimes didn’t light the fire to ignite this change, the upheaval was happening on its own. It was just there to tell the story.

New venues that cater to Fil-Am bands with mixed memberships were established: Most notably, Teabag in NYC and Dampa in Jersey City. These were the only places where one could see a crowd of Fil- Ams and Fil-Fils having a good time.

 

Exciting new artists also sprang up from all over the East Coast: Binky Bianca, Jay Legaspi, Alfa Garcia, Matt Sia, The Kuwagos, Then Again, Trickbag, The Happy Analogues, Qwadra, John Flor, Blue Mellon Pop, Sodapop Suicide, Bleud, Bagwis, PI, The Moonbugs, Circled Sin, all of which are Poptimes community members.

Show producers started producing shows and compilation albums for local artists.

The amalgamation of all these factors became the root where the revitalized Fil Am scene in the East Coast sprouted.

 

It is too early to tell the legacy of Poptimes Magazine, being only a year old as a website.

However, there are more than enough reasons to celebrate its existence.

That’s why this Labor Day weekend, we will all do exactly that.

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