D-7 Siganid St.

Moving day

The House, Summer 1986

It was an awesome sight. After a few years living in a dark (subterranean as my uncle put it) residence in town, this large and bright looking house surrounded by vast rice fields, right next to a a kindergarten school I just graduated from, and vegetation looks just about right for me. I remembered the crates and cartons being unloaded and the smell of the new residence. The white tiles on the floor, faucets in every corner, electric sockets in every corner, and best of all, two bathrooms with a toilet bowl equipped with a flushing mechanism, and a shower. The smell of Albatross long disintegrated still lingering in the dry and empty bathrooms. And a bathroom mirror as well. From where we used to live, igib, tabo't timba was a way of life.

The bedrooms were equally impressive. To a boy used to a single bedroom with walls made out of plywood so thin you can practically use it as a substitute for paper when you ran out of materials to draw with, a real bedroom was overwhelming. Even the maid's quarters look pristine comapred to the one we've had before. There was a Jesus Christ poster left hanging in one of the cabinets. And a faint smell of rugby, and a little dust. And those circular flourescent lights I only get to see at the medical unit---I always associate them with Dr Garay---and all the lights in the house were exactly like those. Fascinating.

I went outside to check out the terrain. Lots of grass and plants. Perfect for my grasshopper catch and torture hobby. Ant-lions under the bedroom windows as well. I went to check the nearby chico tree for the large variety of ants called 'pala' in the local dialect. Check. I caught one and fed an ant lion larva with the biggest crater. Then I noticed the dogs on the other side of the bamboo fence. A lot of them. In varying breeds as well. One mean-looking mongrel with about the same height as I did eyed me the way a lion probably eyes a gazelle. Good thing I hated dogs. I had to stay out of that one's radius if I want to survive the rest of my stay in this new neighborhood.

I went to the street in front of the house. It was not paved like the ones we have passed going here. I didn't care. I went to the direction of the huge water tank in the west, still mindful of the dogs. A small cute looking white-furred member of the pack managed to squeeze through one of the openings and accompanied me in my walk. for some reason I liked this one more than I ever loved dogs and welcomed the company. I passed by a house in my right, just behind the kindergarten building. It was empty, but there was a native monkey tied by its neck above a tamarind tree. It was screeching at me. Probably remembered me when I threw rocks at it with my classmates in Kinder 1&2. Had it been able to speak I'm sure it would make a Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant proud with the kind of pep talk it would probably give me. The house on the left was inhabited. I saw a mocha-colored VW Beetle parked in a more sophisticated looking garage. 

I reached the end of the road and stood there gaping at the wide open space I did not experience when I lived in the center of the small town. Me, Kit and Jute would have a blast with those Ninja and Tarzan moves we discussed before.

The dog wandered somewhere and I realized i still needed to unpack my comic book collection. Going back, I deduced my father had already unpacked some of his own things as well. 

I can already hear Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" this far from the house.

Palo

I've been browsing through some Eraserheads tracks in Youtube and I just realized something.

"Para Sa Masa" off Sticker Happy (1997) might not be that harmless after all. Not because it has an insidious, subliminal message telling you to recite "Natas" eighteen times or shoot up large quantities of narcotics hidden in the seeming tribute to the masses that paranoid fundamentalists wold have no difficulty in spotting (if some of them can declare Return Of The Jedi as anti-Christian, it would be a breeze doing that to a record with a naked woman in the cover). Nothing as controversial as those.

It is not harmless because in my opinion, that song is a pointed critique to the group of people it appears to glorify. In most parts the song is more hurt than actually reprimanding, as what these lines, as I understand them, say:

"naaalala nyo pa ba/binigyan namin kayo ng ligaya..."

And then veers toward this direction:

"ilang taon na rin ang lumipas/mga kulay ng mundo ay kumupas/marami na rin ang mga pagbabago/di maiiwasan pagkat tayo ay tao lamang..."

And this caps it all:

"mapapatawad mo ba ako/kung hindi ko sinunod ang gusto mo..."

That last line may have been brought on by the lukewarm reception the band got for songs that were way out of their usual fare. In other words, "fans" did not like it when their favorite band went over its head and decide to do experiments with their sound. As I recall the album's predecessor (Fruitcake) sold well, but did not sell great as their previous releases. It was totally different from the rest--all English songs, even had a book with it--and none of the daily college/juvenile shenanigans the band's most popular songs became well known for.

And finally:

"pinilit kong iahon ka/ngunit ayaw mo namang sumama..."

And:

"huwag mo hayaang ganito/bigyan ang sarili ng respeto..."

I am no Lit major but those lines might as well say they'd given up trying to elevate the average person's taste by giving them something different. Of course that smacks of arrogance and downright condescension on the band's part and I may also be mistaken since that's how I interpret it, but even if that was indeed their sentiments, then so be it. As long as that was how they felt during that time, then fine. Phoniness is worse. The band went on to record two more excellent albums (Natin99--is their best in my opinion) that were sadly overlooked by most of their fans until their eventual dissolution in the early part of the century.

But everyone got one hell of a spanking with that song.

Album Art

In a previous entry (Happy Anti-Valentine's Day) I waxed poetic on the pleasures of acquiring and listening to music the old-fashioned way. Of course in today's digital landscape, actually owning a physical piece of musical recording - be it via cds, cassette or vinyl - would warrant a dazed and quizzical look from today's brain-dead generation (and people of my age bracket or older trying hard to be in today's loop). At best you'd get an honest query as to why you'd go through such pains of scouring the metropolis and back while shelving out horrendous amounts of money for something you can get--sorry, download-- for free. You might as well ask collectors why they'd pay astronomical amounts that's enough to alleviate our international debt for a piece of painting when they can just buy a reproduction that costs less than the frame it will be mounted on. And this stance has nothing to do with piracy either. I support piracy. But when it comes to music, I prefer to have the real thing complete with the liner notes and personnel involved in the album's creation. More importantly, because it preserves the artwork that goes with the music: From the way the inlay sleeves were folded, to the entire layout (specially when lyrics are reprinted) as well as the band/musician information. Some torrent downloads come with a jpeg file of the album covers and inlay sleeves but nothing beats the real thing.

And there's just something about buying something and not knowing what to expect out of it, and the anticipation of going home, strapping your headphones and listening to it while marveling at the creativity (or not) of the music, package and the cover. When the music and album artwork jived, I could listen to the entire thing for weeks. Especially if it was a favorite artist who did something totally new, and surprisingly good output.

Rolling Stone magazine published its own list of 100 GREATEST ALBUM COVERS OF ALL TIME a few years ago. I'm going to do a list of my own that is strictly confined to my own collection mostly composed of cassette tapes I started buying when I was in high school and a smattering of cds (that are mostly upgraded versions of my albums on tape that warped).

In no particular order:
ERASERHEADS/CIRCUS - The 'Heads exemplified everything that has to do with living out your college life in perpetual cool. The wit, humor and intelligence of the compositions went well with the grit and simplicity of the cover and layout. Listening to the record and reading the booklet somehow made you feel you were in a dormitory drinking your guts out while singing to a medley done by your guitar-toting buddy.

LIVE/THROWING COPPER - To be honest, my primary reason for buying Live's sophomore hit was because of the cover art. I heard 'Selling the drama' before, and it was a decent tune. But the painting by Peter Howson called 'Sisters Of Mercy' had a mysterious and slightly frightening aura about it that went so well with the spiritualistic leanings of the band's music. I even had the cassette case left around the stereo as it looks ominous and cool along with my father's jazz collection.

MEGADETH/RUST IN PEACE - Ed Repka was a mainstay in the Megadeth fold (even outlasting some band members), doing cover arts for earlier albums but 1990's Rust In Peace was the most arresting. Not only is the album a lean, towering piece of thrash perfection, but the cover art depicting alien conspiracies and people that look suspiciously like Gorbachev and George Bush watching beloved mascot Vic Rattlehead do a demonstration on alien life form deserves a comic book series of its own. Stare at the cover during 'Hangar 18'.

SMASHING PUMPKINS/SIAMESE DREAM - The orange toned photograph of the twin sisters, coupled with Billy Corgan's lyrical images about nostalgia really hits home. This is the reason why I always look back at the 90s as perpetual summers lighted in the late golden afternoon sun.

GUNS N' ROSES/USE YOUR ILLUSION I&II - One of the most ambitious projects in hard rock history. Impeccable layouts and generous inclusion of lyrics and band photos and personnel as well.

NINE INCH NAILS/PRETTY HATE MACHINE - Simple and elegant inlay card. Also features the debut of the NIN symbol designed by Trent Reznor and Gary Talpas. An additional treat would be the inclusion of "ideas and sounds" Reznor utilized while recording his landmark debut.

THE POLICE/GHOST IN THE MACHINE - Up to this album the band mostly utilized their own photos in their album covers alternating who gets to be in the middle (they're a power trio after all) per album. For this release, we get a simple black background and three digital Chinese (or Japanese) characters with the band's faces signifying their approach to their new synth-heavy compositions.

GARBAGE - Not only is the cover striking, but I was actually hellbent on buying the album because I read Butch Vig--who produced Nirvana's Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream--will be drumming for the band. I couldn't care less had the album art were done by people with the aesthetic sensibilities of pirated DVD peddlers here in the Philippines. That the cover was beautiful was a pleasant surprise and only added to my appreciation of the band and its music.

SOUL ASYLUM/GRAVE DANCERS UNION - While Soul Asylum had already been relegated to relative obscurity after their 90s heyday, their 1992 album was by far one of the best albums with an equally memorable cover as well.

BLIND MELON - The Bee Girl does it for me. One of the coolest album covers there is.