MANILA, Philippines ? Rene Garcia can't contain his excitement. ?Hayop! Naging hippie na naman ako,? he blurts out seconds after nailing down the last guitar note in Lovin? Spoonful?s ?Summer in the City??one of several rarely heard 1960s tunes that he is rehearsing in a Makati studio with Bert de Leon on vocals.

Seated beside Rene is his brother Dennis, looking serious, listening intently to the music.

The Garcia brothers, a.k.a. the nucleus of the pioneering ?Manila Sound? pop band Hotdog, are teaming up with de Leon as guest performers in ?Yeba Combo Festival,? a one-night tribute concert featuring some of the most popular ?60s Pinoy bands, at the NBC Tent, Fort Bonifacio, on May 2.

Headlining the show are the Electromaniacs, Dynasouls, Deltas, Moonstrucks and Sundowners.

Another special guest is Ramon Jacinto. Program host is DJ Steve
O?Neal of RJ FM 100.

Save for a few members who have either passed on or gone to live abroad, all the bands have most of their original personnel intact.

Ring a bell

The presence of De Leon should ring a bell for those who had seen him perform with a band called Cobras.

?We were playing songs that the others didn?t, like those by Lovin? Spoonful,? says De Leon. ?Then we became friends with Dennis and Rene because I was a big Rolling Stones fan.?

De Leon was referring to his then favorite band, the Garcias? pre-Hotdog group in the late ?60s, Red Fox, which was known as a Stones cover band. For ?Yeba,? De Leon and Hotdog?s current lineup (with keyboardist Wylo Lopez, drummer Guy Papasin and bassist Jun Lopez of the Rebels) are set to do a blistering, metal-infused version of ?Paint It Black.?

It?s a hint that this is not simply an ?oldies gig,? but something that the younger generation might want to check out for some hard-edge rocking moments.

Likewise, it?s the kind of event that would remind music fans how yesterday?s ?combos??as bands were called at the time?gave everyone a good time.

But the idea to mount the show was hatched in a rather depressing circumstance. Dennis says he was in a hospital for two months when he thought about the condition of his musical elders. ?I wondered, kawawa naman the old musicians who are still performing for a living. There?s too much supply and little demand for them. If they get sick, it?s gonna be real expensive.?

Rene was supposed to go on another tour with the reunited Cascades when Dennis urged him, ?Baka it?s better to do something local to help our musicians.?

For the concert, Hotdog Productions has teamed up with Harvest Aid Organization Foundation, a group that matches financially strapped patients with donors.

It also occurred to Dennis that an event like ?Yeba? would be a nice way to give these musicians ?the recognition they so richly deserve.?

So what was so ?yeba??a ?60s expression connoting exuberance (in today?s context, ?alrighty? or ?cool?)?about these combos that got Rene and Dennis all wired up to act as concert promoters?

Rene: ?I was in grade 6 and Dennis was a high school freshman when we used to watch the Moonstrucks perform in San Beda.?

Dennis: ?It had a big impact on us because they were so wacky onstage. They used to wear ladies? dresses.?

Rene: ?But when they were in fitted suits, they were very elegant, parang Temptations.?

Great instrumentalists

And the Electromaniacs?

Dennis: ?They were great in instrumentals. Ernie Delgado, the lead guitarist, recorded a version of ?Lovers? Guitar? that sounded better than the original. You?d think he composed it.?

Rene: ?I was like 7 or 8 when I saw them play. I was pretending to play the guitar, trying to be like them, and my sister would hold a flashlight and point it at me like I was in a
concert.?

How about the Deltas?

Dennis: ?They were really good musicians, sila yung mga kilabot dahil halos lahat sila, tisoy.?

And the Dynasouls?

Dennis: They won in the ?Beatles of the Philippines? contest. From then on, these guys have been carrying the torch for John, Paul, George and Ringo.

What?s so great about that?

The answer, from Dynasouls leader Vick Generoso himself, posted on the ?Yeba? video teaser on YouTube: ?Mahirap ding manggaya, ?no.?

Perhaps the only thing that matters on
?Yeba? night is how well the audience remember the songs.

(Call 8170828 or 8151924 for details.)