Remembering The Eheads and Praying For Ely

A little weird...

I haven't been able to turn on my DVD player for weeks or even months (since i transferred in a new unit) because of workload. Even with newly borrowed Miami Vice DVDisk, Larry Bird VCD and the staple Godfather Series sitting atop the sub-woofer, I didn't load any.

For no apparent reason at all, I had the craving to watch and listen to one while I am it, doing my work. During our family reunion, I received a bootleg copy of Eraserheads DVD with not-so-DVD-quality content in it. That's the disk that took away the DVD dust.

My cousin gave me this Eheads gift after I gave to him one classic VHS tape of a porn-flick, "The World Luckiest Man," that stars Jon Dough. Well it's a separate story altogether.

Little did I know that sometime around that period, Ely Buendia, Eraserheads’ front man was at risk.

The DVD copy was murky in all aspect, the sound, the crowd, the video quality, etc. It doesn't help that the Eheads, mainly, Ely Buendia isn't that much adept doing live. He is a studio guy or so I believe. He is known to crack at times during live performances. Well, that's mainly the reason why Eheads clicked, they were/are ordinary musikeros, people, me and you were able to associate with them, their songs and their struggles.

It doesn’t help Part 2... That the act was at a Philippine Basketball Association event and it was far from a rock/pop crowd that rockers need to have that live act vibe. The set includes Overdrive, Minsan, Alapaap, Torpedo, Huwag Mo Ng Itanong and Ang Huling El Bimbo. If I am not mistaken, the gig was an opening act for a PBA opening night sometime mid 90s. Of course, Ely and the band wasn't expecting a mosh-pit but rather a crowd waiting for then-hot Sonny Jaworski. And so, a customary sarcastic "thank you, thank you po" after each song from Ely were heard. Back then (maybe 'til now), he addressed a lame crowd with sarcastic “thank you, thank you po” line. I was able to catch the Eraserheads live 2 times. I remember quite well, one was at Kampo at QC and one at Ermita. He did the “thank you, thank you po” routine at Ermita.

I remember, one time, having heard the news that the Banana Type EP was out, we even rode PUJ and grabbed a copy, I believe tape was pegged at around 90 pesos then. I remember, I waited hours just to get the Fruitcake cassette album on the day it was released. CD wasn’t popular still that time. I remember, marking down the day that Eheads will have a live set where they will sing 4 to 5 songs at NU-107 radio station. I remember, giving up precious hundred bucks just to get a copy of official but shortlived Eheads magazine, Pillbox. Twice! I still have the copy 'til now. I remember composing songs myself, a la Eraserheads and engaging my cousins to a music-game called “strum-off”. Where, you get to have a chance to play and sing your own songs ‘til you don’t have anything to play (this game usually ended 3am or later).

After saying that I AM NOT, I guess I am an Eraserheads' fan.

Those were the days (college) when pocket was thin and watching a live gig of Eheads took some preparation. I don’t even have a nice tee to wear so I borrowed one yellow Giordano Classic shirt for that Kampo gig. At the end of that night, 50% of Eheads signed that shirt. Ely and Marcus signed. Buddy seems to be aloof so I hesitated to ask and Raymund was a little unpredictable so I guess I backed off. I wonder where the hell that shirt is, it could fetch good at eBay.

Being young and seeing Ely for the first time in that Kampo gig, I asked for a hand shake. Man! Ely came straight out of the CR. He was (un)fresh from peeing, when he shook my hands. I hope he washed. During the handshake, he said "Wag nyo ko kakalimutan sa darating na eleksyon".

Well, It's all-over the news that Ely Buendia suffered a heart attack. Having undergone operation and needing one again, undoubtedly, it's a serious one. There is a reason why Intensive Care Unit is named ‘intensive care unit’. The guy needs a prayer and some. And why not? Saying a little prayer for a man, who somehow, influenced me and whole bunch of kids is just right.

My sister is pregnant and about ready to give birth. She's booked at Asian Hospital. When I visit her there in a few days I just hope and pray Ely is out of the place, resting and on the comeback trail outside the hospital. On the comeback trail, in life and not necessarily in music.

More than the music, more than us, hoping for a Eraserheads possible reunion in years time, it’s Ely Buendia’s life that is important. So c’mon pray for the guy who sometime ago wrote one, two, three and more songs. Songs para sa masa.

Whatever Happened To The Taiko Resto At Waltermart?

Taiko Japanese Restaurant is our quick source of California Maki. A budget of P300 will get you good Japanese cookin'. Whatever happened to them? The Taiko Japanese Restaurant at Waltermart, Pasong Tamo Makati.

We were supposed to score jap food yesterday's lunch but the place is now down and out. Could it be they are still on a holiday vacation? Or they've shut down? My guess is, its the latter coz the place is plastered with Manila paper all-over. Or perhaps, they are renovating to improve the place... Hope to see them back coz they are (or were) pretty good. ( I tried Tokyo Tokyo and I am not that exited to back there anytime soon.)

I Got Bogas Man!

Did I mention Bogas are now banned in Metro Manila? Well, coming from a Family Reunion Trip, I managed to score, not one, but two Bogas. You see, my Uncle is SP0-something cop in his town. He declared, though his turf is outside MM, he will rid his town of bogas. Rumor is, he conducted a one-man raid of a boga store inside the rural-market. Thus, he's got truckload of bogas in is yard. And so, whilst real cops were busy busting drug dealers, kidnappers, murderers and whatnot, my uncle was busy dealing with lowly boga entrepreneur. Too bad, fire cracking season is over. I have to store these twin-bogas for a while and just use these come end of year. Meanwhile, the two bogas should serve as warning to the little mice circling my unit. They now know I am packed more than ever. Not just a pellet-gun-mouse-buster but a boga-ready fellow ready to blow them up.

2007 Family Reunion

Last January 2, while almost all are heading to their offices, we were on our way to our yearly family reunion. That's the luxury of not being employed and on a 8-5 job. I could always run anywhere I want even if it's non-holiday.

My MP3 player was busy all throughout the trip. Its small 256MB was more than enough to cover the NLEX and more. R.E.M, Greenday, Gin Blossoms, Chili Pepper, U2 tracks were on it. Along with the "You're Beautiful" track, the singer of which I can't recall now.

Nice driving along the NLEX nowadays coz the road is smooth. But why not, they are charging P150 per entry/exit. I was easily hitting 130 kph and run it up to 145kph when people on board were sleeping. The P10,000 or so header/muffler upgrade was worth it. Downside was, the ride was so loud, the engine/muffler was rumbling so loud, people in the backseat uttered, "are we in a Tora-Tora"?

We were planning to hold an 8-Ball tournament amongst cousins but the venue was one village away so the plan was dropped. We just enjoyed the games (oh well, we did not enjoy the "deal or no deal" replica game. Like only 7 souls understood what's going on with that game.) The game that got the most attention and the most laugh was the 'Pinoy Henyo'. Where, the loser will be doused by a glass of H2O. Yours truly was the Berdugo. I successfully dowsed one time when my cousin failed to get the "Datu Puti" answer. To which, he shouted, "It can't be! It's a proper noun!". He has a point.

The highlight of the day was, while we were drinking San Mig (i drowned, err, downed 5 bottles of beer and cupfull of Buko Salad), we looked back at yesteryears and discussed our misadventures, fistfights and masturbations.

Me - That I was crying while engaging someone in a fist fight

Cousin 1 - In a fight, that after being hit and dropping on a Santan plant cluster, he stood up with Santan flowers in is mouth.

Cousin 1 and Me – Famous for picking up rocks when the going gets tough and about to rumble.

Cousin 2 - That he was almost beaten to death by two guys right at a lobby of his condo. A long ten minutes of a one-sided rumble.

Cousin 3 - That he begged off to fight the fellow who slapped him at his nape. Reasoning, that he didn't sleep well the night before.

Cousin 4 (brother of cousin 3) - When asked to fight for his brother's behalf, he said, that his body is more suited for romance.

Cousin 5 – After the Videoke singing was done and everybody just having chit-chats, my cousin blatantly said, (talking to me and every body listening)… So you are not masturbating anymore? (this, after learning that I brought my GF on my last trip there) WTF!

After singing Rivermaya's Bring Me Down in 2005 edition of the Family Reunion, I picked Julio Iglesia's "To All The Girls I loved Before" as my one and only performance of the day. How good was my singing? No one noticed that I even took the Videoke floor.

I am P4000 poorer because of the trip (gas, gifts, aguinaldos, etc.) but it was worth it.

Can't buy me fun.