Behind the Scenes: Ashley's Playlist

Me and fellow blogger and bandmate Paulo, was fortunate to take a behind the scenes look at the internet TV show 'Ashley's Playlist' which is shown on Thursdays at 10pm to 12am in Flippish, the premiere Filipino Internet TV channel. The show showcases various local solo artists and bands, as well as the musical talent and ability of its host, Ashley Gosiengfiao.

THE HOST

Ashley Gosiengfiao is a well known figure in the cosplay community, stepping into the shoes of numerous anime characters and bagging awards and recognition along the way. Aside for being a model and a product endorser, she is also an active blogger and a budding photographer.

With a guitarist/ gearhead as a father, and an equally talented musician for a mother, Ashley was raised in a household with a deep appreciation for the art of music. As a child, she was, as Ashley puts it, 'bribed' with a Playstation game, so she would attend voice lessons after school, and also took up piano until the age of 7. The love for music began to blossom from her later on as she taught herself to play the guitar at 13 and, while being in various bands throughout her highschool and college life, she was able to pick up a thing or two about playing the drums.

As for the type of music, her videoes always feature her covering a popular tune or acoustic ballad. Although open to a wide range of music genres, she prefers alternative rock, looking up to acts such as 'Up Dharma Down' and 'Company of Thieves'.

THE SHOW

The show concept stemmed from the videos of Ashley singing popular tunes produced in Flippish. While attending a production meeting for her sister's segment, she was asked to make a few videos with them after finding out about Ashley's inclination to music. A concept for the show was then developed after producing videos of Ashley covering the songs 'Super Bass' and '

At the start of every episode, Ashley would cover some songs by herself (both vocals and guitar).

As a person into music, I know how hard it is to study a popular song before performing it in front of an audience. In the show, Ashley covers at least five per episode. A daunting task, remembering all those bits and pieces that makes up each tune and making sure you give a solid performance everytime. She prepares by practicing at least one song a day so she can deliver the songs each week. She does this by picking off the guitar chord by ear (tagalog translation: kapa...kung musician ka, alam mo yun). And in the way she explained it to us, it seems like she has the gift of perfect pitch, where one knows the key of a song just by listening (that is sooo awesome, now I know 3 people who posseses this talent).

And then show continues with performances by the featured artist or band. Most of the time, Ashley would jam along and sing with them. And somewhere in the middle, Ashley interacts with the guests with the flair and charisma of a talk show host, and interact with the viewers via online messengers, forwarding their messages and questions to the featured artists.

The atmosphere in their modest studio is open and fun, with the help of the show's multi-tasking 3 person army of Ms.Maui, Sir Almond and Sir Joey. Its a wonder that they could operate and run the show while attending to the different needs of all the people involved. Sometimes, an idea would come up from either any of them, which is developed in a mere seconds, and then executed and integrated into the program. Now that is what I call a spontaneous and dynamic approach into production.

And, from behind the cameras, you really get to notice the 'grass roots' approach into making the episode possible. While stations that I worked for before invest millions on hardware, today's DIY softwares combined with the latest personal computing hardware ensures a nifty result for the fraction of the cost.

Overall, the show is fun to watch both in the streams, and behind the scenes. With informative pieces about local artists, what's happening around the music community, and the weekly dose of Ashley for all her fans out there in 'Internet Land', 'Ashley's Playlist' is definitely something to watch out for every Thursday on Flippish.

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Me and Paulo with Ashley and that evening's guest Anj Sulit and The Out of Body Special

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DID YOU KNOW: If Ashley were a comic character, the nearest match would be Marvel's Siryn. Along with her other talents, she is said to posses the ability, when she's stressed out or pissed, to let out a high pitch hushed scream that creates a feedback effect on the microphones (I would like to see that in action sometime).