Listen to this and tell me you didn’t get chills running up and down your spine.

Girl writes fan mail to rockstar.  Rockstar responds.  Girl faints.

hey krysty

thanx for the kind words. have good weekend!

raym<s>

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!  *faints again*

As much as I would like to focus on completing my now two weeks overdue school report, I am sidetracked by post-reunion concert interviews with three of the Eraserheads.  I am fascinated, obviously, and would’ve loved nothing more than be in Gang Badoy’s (the interviewer) shoes.

Anyway, Marcus is — as usual — the most laid-back of the three.  He’s so calm you’d think Bin Laden just surrendered and joined a monastery.  Buddy’s obviously very mature, his answers sort-of daddyish.  Raymund seemed like he was playing it cool and coy, dodging questions on reunification and the testy waters that surround his relationship with Ely Buendia.

But whatever.  All three agree that they were overwhelmed by the crowd’s response and the spontaneous combustion of love in the air that night.  Plus they’re all extremely willing to play as the Eheads again.

Best line of the three interviews:

“Basta masaya ako…” ~ Marcus, explaining how things were between him and the other members of the band.

Plus this, of course:

“I want Ely to fully recover soon and talk him into finishing it.” ~ Raymund, on finishing the reunion concert.

Now all we need is Ely.

[Read the PDI interviews with Marcus, Raymund and Buddy]

[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.

Still high on Eraserheads-induced nostalgia, my latest BFF (according to me) Marian shared these tasty bits of the Eheads acting in an episode of Mikee Cojuangco’s drama anthology. I often caught most of Mikee’s episodes (no cable back then, ahem) so I’m wondering how I missed this particularly interesting episode.

Maybe I did watch it, but the cringe factor made me forget. It’s too funny to pass up though, so I’m sharing them here, too. Thanks to schizo102 for uploading these videos.

Ely’s a bit chubby here, Buddy is thin, Raimund is cool as usual and Marcus seems … high. Incredibly, you can see him smiling slightly when the aswang attacks. The close up shot of a screaming Buddy is precious. If someone can upload their guesting on Iskul Bukol I will be eternally grateful. But enough of this drivel. On to the show:

“They tried to tell us we’re too young,
Too young, to really be in love…”

I was in Grade 5 when I first heard “Toyang”, and I didn’t immediately like it. It sort of grew on me at that time, thanks to the playful lyrics and catchy tune. It took the song “Sembreak”, however, to turn me into a life-long fan.

For days on end I would sing “naalala kita pag umuulan (sembreak)” non-stop, erroneous lyrics and all. Then there was “Overdrive”, “Pare Ko” and everything else that followed.

I fell in love.

I don’t suppose I’ve ever really been this in love with any band/singer before, and I never will be again.

I was young, confused and in rather turbulent waters. It was the music of the Eraserheads that brought meaning to who I was. It sort of just dawned on me then, upon hearing their songs, that there was more to life than just the dreary monotony imposed by a parade of authority figures.

No wonder they kept calling the Eheads the spawn of the devil.

Backmasking and other irrelevant religious inquisitions skewered the quartet for their irreverence, but it merely added to the allure. In a Chinese and Christian high school, listening to the Eheads meant three things: (a) you’re a loser; (b) you’re anti-establishment; and (c) you will go to hell. I was all of those things, and I didn’t care.

Last night, in short, was magic.

I can go on and on about all the horrifying things that I subjected myself to last night, but it would be pointless. Everything else can go to hell. Last night, I was young again. It’s not that I’m ancient or anything. I’ll be 25 in a week, for crying out loud.

But listening to the Eraserheads sing all those songs again last night brought me back to a time when I was just realizing who I was. It was a time when all I wanted was to break free of everything. I was idealistic, raw, angry and just … young. Everything was uncertain, the world before me was fresh and ready for the taking.

Now I’m neck deep in bills, responsibility and reality. The world is no longer my oyster. Money is my sole motivator these days. I sold my soul to the corporate schmuck I ranted about when I was younger.

It’s over.

I harbored no delusions about last night’s concert. Even the Eraserheads had grown much older. They played enthusiastically and their prowess with their respective instruments had multiplied by leaps and bounds, light years away from the time they first broke into the local music scene.

I knew, of course, that this was a one time thing. There’s no way we can bring back what they had before. They can regroup, rebuild the Eraserheads, but it’s gone. The youthful, rebellious energy is gone.

Ely is right. We’re too old.

But for at least an hour or so, I was young and free again.

In a nutshell: I just got home, Ely had a heart attack, it was the most spectacular show I have ever seen in my entire life.

I can’t really say much right now.

At first I was pissed when I saw that even in the patron section I would not have an opportunity to touch Ely’s feet.  The crowd was pushing, I stood next to an asshole who had no idea who Marcus was and it was just … smelly.  All over the place.

But when the show started, everything was just worth it.  I screamed myself hoarse, sang along with every song and laughed at Ely’s sparse banter.

I sort of almost fainted, too, thanks to the heat and hunger.

The pain, however, was nothing compared to the shock I felt when I heard that Ely had been rushed to the hospital because of a heart attack.

I do hope Ely gets better soon, and that the band gets to perform together again.  I’ve never seen anything like it, and I doubt I will ever again.

Pinoy rock at its finest.  “Blew my mind” would be an understatement.

Get better, Ely.  I seriously love you. <3

*******************************

On a much more annoying note, I realized that a lot of those who came to the concert were not fans.  I’m not being sanctimonious and judgmental here.  I actually have proof, man.  Here’s a sample of some conversations I overheard:

Asshole 1: Uy si Marcus

Asshole 2: Sinong Marcus?

(Asshole 2 had no clue the entire time.  He didn’t know any of the songs and he kept screaming Super Proxy.  Plus he called Jay of Kamikazee a one-hit wonder.  Weird.)

*******************************

Girl 1: Sino yung long hair?

Girl 2: Si Marcus ata.

Girl 1: Si Marcus ba yon?  Bakit parang pumangit?

*******************************

Lastly, after the announcement that Ely had been rushed to the hospital and the concert was being cut short:

Some guy: Hahaha, bukas patay na si Ely.

Some girl: Aaay, ang mahal pa ng pamasahe ko para pumunta dito.

Some other girl: Wala nang refund?

Real fans would’ve doubled over in tears, like we did.