Images are ’stolen’ from buddy Pong Ignacio and his friends. (Sorry; didn’t know who took which.)

For everything indie, or beatnik, or rock, there’s Big Sky Mind. Hiding in a corner along E. Rodriguez Avenue, New Manila (right across McDonald’s), this music bar is the perfect place for rockers and rollers, for artists and dilettantes, for drinkers and dabblers.

Oozing with the atmospheric feel of Pinoy underground art culture, the joint isn’t for everyone. And it’s certainly not for non-cowboys. When at its liveliest, Big Sky Mind is where you’d find visual artists, rock musicians, and independent filmmakers (oh yeah, only the best young filmmakers in the country!) moonlighting and mingling with each other. The bar-cum-art gallery, without any pretense to art deco, is bathed in saturated orange glow, and its walls are plastered with promotional posters of circuit gigs and concerts.

There’s a second floor, too, decorated with nothing except for glass tables, low sofas and framed photographs of the musicians who’ve played there (Ely Buendia, Cynthia Alexander, Sammy Asuncion, Louie Talan, Up Dharma Down, and so on). The bartenders move as swiftly as you please; they serve as soon as you order your liquid drop of choice. Occasionally, and if you’re lucky, you’ll catch the enthralling live performances or the debut of a new music video. If you’re not, well, there’s still plenty of San Mig and Red Horse to pass the night by. And contrary to what might be a possible misconception, it’s not noisy or excessively loud at all. The sound booming as you sip your amazingly-priced liquor is at once beautiful to the ears and conducive to conversations.

While not an intensely professed rocker myself, I find Big Sky Mind’s quirky simplicity suitable and fine. It represents one of the many faces of the young, talented and dynamic Manilenyo, and if you’ve been there (and are one of them), you can’t really argue with that, eh?