From previous entry, "Cy Plays No Mystery but Will Always Be A Mystery""He was with a band, a band formed and disbanded ad nauseaum with members playing revolving chairs. But he was always playing with one guy I only knew by reputation, a close brother of his. They played since the Gameroom and Cactus days, from new wave to Metheny to Azymuth, an English speaking guitarist who was a game apart the rest." (read full entry HERE)
(Continuation)
Magik 103, the first FM Radio Station in Western Visayas,
had a phone in contest. One of my best buds Glenn joined and won a dinner for two to
a restaurant which served steaks as bestseller. “Tulughungan” (a local word
loosely translated as a refilling station for fuel, and all concoctions and
spirits) stood where Sky Cable compound is now, and where our common friend
worked while studying. We dropped by and
as we were getting ready our friend said:
“You see that guy there, that’s Gabe Ascalon. THE Gabe
Ascalon. He’s a regular here.”
Glenn and I were wide eyed for the unexpected bonus. But I
was too shy , wasn’t familiar with the scene – and do not even know what a
scene was at that time – except for a common friend Cyril. While I was mulling
of a good approach, our friend was up to his job.
“Hey Gabe, here are my friends who are fans of yours, and they want to meet you.”
“Hey Gabe, here are my friends who are fans of yours, and they want to meet you.”
“Hi Gabe blah blah blah. We’re friends of Cy and we attend
the same fellowship, I’m the son of Nani – you jammed with him at Gaisano Food
Plaza.”
“Man, red Japanese strat
- mixed strings, right? I was so drunk at that time woooo. You play
guitar? Come over to my place, I’ll teach you 8 finger tapping.”
Yes yadda yadda, Side-A credo, and the blah goes on. But
Geyb was above that.
True - he coined the name Side A, at its earliest
incarnation with the brothers Gonzales and Mar Dizon on drums. True, he was
with Destiny. True, he was Eddie K.’s guitar player, and the rest of the
Katindig bands. True - he was written in
Pinoy rock documentary as a wildfire from NY, armed with rock jazz fusion in
the Mclaughlin fashion as written once by Juaniyo Arcellana in an Inquirer
feature I have long forgotten. True – he joined a battle of the bands at UNO-R
doing blistering covers of TFFs
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and
Yngwie’s “Rising Force”. True –
he played with an 18 year old Louie Ocampo ‘s original (on Youtube) at Meralco
Theater. True – they turned nation’s ears around by a jazz rock fusion rendition
of The Beatle’s “A Taste of Honey”, that which he performed with Richie Quirino
on national TV. True, he almost attended the Norman Rockwell Illustration school when he was younger, but the call of the guitar was stronger - and louder.
Life found us together – troubleshooting management
issues in his sugarcane farm, I was one of two principal sponsors when he got
married, I’d eventually marry his niece, so he'd end up as my godson, but is also technically my uncle - so I simply call him Gabe. Gabe, for the record, is the first Ascalon I'd love before my wife.
We’d play together and share the stage
in the most courteous of musical conversations, play festivals, play a wedding, play weekly gigs, talk
about conspiracies and the never ending abhorrence for bureaucracy. He taught
me how to eat pita bread with liver pate and why German ale isn’t supposed to
be cold, tone testing pickups and capacitors and bridges and all the bolts and nuts stuff – but no 8 finger
tapping lesson happened.
None. Ever.
(to be continued)
