[Yes, this is my nth consecutive Eraserheads-related post for the week and I'm not apologizing.]

Raymund Marasigan has never been my favorite Eraserhead.  I don’t exactly know why (maybe it’s because I prefer the laconic Ely over flamboyant Raymund), but that’s how it’s always been.

Until today, that is: September 3 2008, also known as the day I recognized the utmost rocker god that is Mr. Marasigan.

I’m not a professional musician, but as someone who knows the magic that guitar-playing can wield, I can wholeheartedly say I understand.  There’s something about playing music that soothes the heart and calms the soul.

Plus he knows how to use “albeit”.  And he just gave solid evidence that yes, the Eraserheads are back on good terms.  What that means for them professionally doesn’t really matter anymore.  Just knowing that  the four greatest Filipino musicians of my life are back on speaking terms is good enough for me.

Seriously, I got all teary-eyed and corny after reading this message from Raymund Marasigan (no he did not send it to my inbox directly; how I wish it was so).

That is some serious bad-assery, man, and I will hold you in high esteem for it from now until forever.

to whom it may concern

i dont usually rant but ive been hearing reports about people
questioning why we played saguijo after the concert.

first things first. when marlboro pulled out and cancelled the show a
week ago, the band was free of all obligation to play the show. if it
was about the money we could have just walked away fully paid no
explanations to the press or anybody. free from the contract. the band
decided to play nevertheless. the tickets and the prices was for the
new promoters to buy out the production from philip morris to put it
simply. contrary to what some people think it takes money to stage a
concert. stage, lights, and video screens don’t magically grow out of
the ground. that’s what the ticket prices were for. the band was not
in the negotiation meetings between the the two promoters and we did
not want to be in the meetings.

personally i said just call me cos i’m ready to rock. no extra pay no
contract negotiations. as far as the eheads was concerned were out of
the contract.

but here’s what you dont understand. playing music is what we do. we
play when we’re happy, play when we’re sad, play when we’re angry,
play when we’re sick, play til we die.

painters paint, writers write, my skateboarding friends skate or die.
when u ask nba superstars what they do in their spare time. they play
basketball.
us musicians, we play. thats what we do. getting paid is a bonus. i
will not apologize for that. when we don’t get paid we still play.

we played saguijo because we wanted to, we needed to. our hearts and
souls dictated it. we could just go home and sleep. we did not talk
about it. there was no invites there was no plan. we did not get paid.
we borrowed equipment.

yes ely knew about it. buddy told him the next day. yes pupil was in
saguijo too.

yes marcus buddy and i have lost a parent. we know how it feels.

ive been playing music for more than 30 years. professionally since
1993.there have been a few times when it was me who was unable to
continue the set due to illness. albeit it was a lesser scale and
(thankfully) never reported. it was nonetheless life threatening. ive
had a run in with losing my voice, food poisoning, diarreah
(embarassing) and a few more i do not care to mention that involved
blood and bones. i had to drop out of the set from the eheads, cambio
and sandwich. thankfully there was always someone there to finish the
set for me. and i am thankful that they were there. i did not feel
bad. ive also saved a few shows from other bands when [gooey brown stuff] happens. we
dont plan this and we dont complain but we still play.

my bmx friends ride with broken bones.

if we finished the eheads show that night you would STILL have found
us in guijo playing after.

yes i visited ely in the hospital yesterday. i hope he recovers soon.
we have a show to finish.

music is life
ill only stop playing when i die.

raym<s>

And now I suppose I will learn to spell his name correctly.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm and is filed under celebrities, fangirl, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.