Adventure Time with the E-Heads God*
*Updated and with slight revisions. First seen on Da Couch Tomato's Facebook homepage.
The E-heads God came to me via a dream just recently, and I am scurrying to remember and get on point and give justice. It's really not the Eraserheads "God" per se, but really more of its "spirit". I just thought it sounds better.
(Okay sleepyheads, let's get those steam punk rising!)
The words were clear, but the meaning, still swimming in the ether: "Gusto ko lang sanang 'ma-isabatas' ('Yung mga kanta? Ideya?)...", sabi ni Ely. Ito na yata 'yung pinakamagandang kalidad ng boses na narinig ko mula sa kanya, na nagsasalita, hindi kumakanta. This is probably the best quality of voice I heard from Ely. And rightly so, because this was the "dream" Ely – the best anyone can ever be. The E-heads God strictly reminded me also to smack the daylights out of the many pretentious fanatics they have incurred over the years. (I am quite sure it meant that literally – because it wouldn't be the "E-heads God" if it didn't.)
Why would The God tell me this? Right?
Well, it's 'cause around here, around me, I'm probably the truest, and FIRST AND truest E-head Fan. Not 'EVER'. But only when it probably served me right. Especially not when they were clamored over in their Reunion gigs. Not now. Not when they broke up. Not when they reunited for the million(s?) bucks. Not when they didn't "truly" reunite as a band and go to the studio and write NEW songs. Not when there's too much personal interests and EGOS flying around.
Wait. I may retract re: Reunion gigs's "millions" deals. But really – no. No E-heads God would ever approve of that. It's just unnecessary. It's only the worldly side taking over. Hello? Spirit knocking!
(Don't run just yet, I have worse things to say before I get to the good, great parts.)
Why do I keep using Reunion "gigs" and not "Concert" with a capital C? Because those were all they were to me. Gigs. They may have been heavily attended and well-produced, but The 'Heads never does "concerts". Concerts are for good, great performers. And Ely, specifically, is a BAD perfor─ ... He may be a great artist, but he still has that awful vibe onstage and in public. It's the lack of honesty he sends off when he restrains, when in fact inside, he is enjoying the fame and appreciation. Douche. He should just let go.
That same vibe ruined it for me the first time I saw them live in college, around 2000 during the The UP Fair at the magickal Sunken Garden. College was a truly magickal time for me. I was already working then, and the people at my workplace added immensely to my re-experiencing of "university". UP would provide fertile, liberal grounds for our brewing, growing minds. I'd remember the three-piece jazz band Majam gracing the garden opposite the Arts & Letters Faculty Center, flanked by a few whispered-to pot-smoking students of Fine Arts and Film, would-be culture rebels, "dissociates", and the so-called "Mushroom King" of our batch set.
And who could ever forget their "first times" at the UP Fair? Imago reverberating from afar and close, Pinikpikan leading the tribe up late, Lolita Carbon emanating from backstage and beyond ─ SHUCKS. How can a now popular E-heads measure to that? Ely was already reeking of false jadedness back then. It was evident in his voice, let alone his stinking demeanor ─ man-down couldn't sing! They were studio-proficient, but not live and performing.
'Tis the same reason I abhor the Reunion/s. 'Tis a money-making corporate scheme dressed up in something like an ambitious and egoistic "Beatles reunion that did not happen, but would like to", complete with the borrowed stage antics of a famed rock n' roll type; the offstage mishaps; the hype, the excitement, the "band"-wagon and all that shit. Meh. I watched them almost for free and got embarrassed at their stage "un-presence" vibe, AND THEN thousands payed quite exorbitantly for a little more than a dressed-up, corporate event? How's that? Did that even include food? Why did the Eraserheads God, or the Music God, or Muse or Writing God visit me in the first place?
This is important. And it takes me back to why I claimed to be their first and truest fan, the God urged me on. It's because I had paid my dues earlier on: I bought the tapes, co-formed a high school tribute band even before Raimund got it in his mind to egg on others to "get out and form a fucking band" on MTV or Myx. In retrospect, hell, I even attended the very same college Ely and Raimund attended! I was there. I was beside the radio and player, listening and amping the volume so everyone else could hint at how great it was. Which, in hindsight, may have had a positive effect. Because most were slow then, and were either too young, or too old and busy and deaf. And yet I was there. Back when the local music genre was overridden with foreign voices, I was there. And was FLYING with their "devil" music ─ "suma(sa)ma"! Even when I still hadn't puffed the "bite"(?) Really, what IS great about their songs and lyrics is (also) what great artistic form and expression is really about. That it should take and transcend one sensitive receiver-appreciator to The Beyond. And Beyond The Beyond. Which is Infinite. The Dream God ─ este, E-heads God ─ reminded me this, and by playing "Ha Ha Ha":
"...
'Di makapaghintay
Nagpakamatay
Para lang malaman ang katotohanan
(Ha-hayop na banal
Haplos sa dangal
Nagkasala, pinagpala
Ako'y biglang nakarinig ng tawa
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha
Hare hare peace na, peace na
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha ha...)"
And the mainstream wouldn't catch on to this. Even critics would argue that it is their ordinariness that makes them so easily relatable to the masses. Ugh. Everyone knows that! But not even a few know it's that same mindset that keeps them in mundane shackles and keeps them from going deeper, beyond.
The underappreciation of their least popular music continues, inversely with the hyping of their more senti-mental records and falsely-placed images.
The Erasherheads God has spoken!
Herd Commander is a Facebook whore. Be his friend. Or his whore. Whichever comes first.
Follow Da Couch Tomato on Twitter and Google+.
The E-heads God came to me via a dream just recently, and I am scurrying to remember and get on point and give justice. It's really not the Eraserheads "God" per se, but really more of its "spirit". I just thought it sounds better.
(Okay sleepyheads, let's get those steam punk rising!)
The words were clear, but the meaning, still swimming in the ether: "Gusto ko lang sanang 'ma-isabatas' ('Yung mga kanta? Ideya?)...", sabi ni Ely. Ito na yata 'yung pinakamagandang kalidad ng boses na narinig ko mula sa kanya, na nagsasalita, hindi kumakanta. This is probably the best quality of voice I heard from Ely. And rightly so, because this was the "dream" Ely – the best anyone can ever be. The E-heads God strictly reminded me also to smack the daylights out of the many pretentious fanatics they have incurred over the years. (I am quite sure it meant that literally – because it wouldn't be the "E-heads God" if it didn't.)
Why would The God tell me this? Right?
Well, it's 'cause around here, around me, I'm probably the truest, and FIRST AND truest E-head Fan. Not 'EVER'. But only when it probably served me right. Especially not when they were clamored over in their Reunion gigs. Not now. Not when they broke up. Not when they reunited for the million(s?) bucks. Not when they didn't "truly" reunite as a band and go to the studio and write NEW songs. Not when there's too much personal interests and EGOS flying around.
Wait. I may retract re: Reunion gigs's "millions" deals. But really – no. No E-heads God would ever approve of that. It's just unnecessary. It's only the worldly side taking over. Hello? Spirit knocking!
(Don't run just yet, I have worse things to say before I get to the good, great parts.)
Why do I keep using Reunion "gigs" and not "Concert" with a capital C? Because those were all they were to me. Gigs. They may have been heavily attended and well-produced, but The 'Heads never does "concerts". Concerts are for good, great performers. And Ely, specifically, is a BAD perfor─ ... He may be a great artist, but he still has that awful vibe onstage and in public. It's the lack of honesty he sends off when he restrains, when in fact inside, he is enjoying the fame and appreciation. Douche. He should just let go.
That same vibe ruined it for me the first time I saw them live in college, around 2000 during the The UP Fair at the magickal Sunken Garden. College was a truly magickal time for me. I was already working then, and the people at my workplace added immensely to my re-experiencing of "university". UP would provide fertile, liberal grounds for our brewing, growing minds. I'd remember the three-piece jazz band Majam gracing the garden opposite the Arts & Letters Faculty Center, flanked by a few whispered-to pot-smoking students of Fine Arts and Film, would-be culture rebels, "dissociates", and the so-called "Mushroom King" of our batch set.
 |
| Image source: http://kawaii-darling.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html. Stylized and cropped. |
And who could ever forget their "first times" at the UP Fair? Imago reverberating from afar and close, Pinikpikan leading the tribe up late, Lolita Carbon emanating from backstage and beyond ─ SHUCKS. How can a now popular E-heads measure to that? Ely was already reeking of false jadedness back then. It was evident in his voice, let alone his stinking demeanor ─ man-down couldn't sing! They were studio-proficient, but not live and performing.
'Tis the same reason I abhor the Reunion/s. 'Tis a money-making corporate scheme dressed up in something like an ambitious and egoistic "Beatles reunion that did not happen, but would like to", complete with the borrowed stage antics of a famed rock n' roll type; the offstage mishaps; the hype, the excitement, the "band"-wagon and all that shit. Meh. I watched them almost for free and got embarrassed at their stage "un-presence" vibe, AND THEN thousands payed quite exorbitantly for a little more than a dressed-up, corporate event? How's that? Did that even include food? Why did the Eraserheads God, or the Music God, or Muse or Writing God visit me in the first place?
This is important. And it takes me back to why I claimed to be their first and truest fan, the God urged me on. It's because I had paid my dues earlier on: I bought the tapes, co-formed a high school tribute band even before Raimund got it in his mind to egg on others to "get out and form a fucking band" on MTV or Myx. In retrospect, hell, I even attended the very same college Ely and Raimund attended! I was there. I was beside the radio and player, listening and amping the volume so everyone else could hint at how great it was. Which, in hindsight, may have had a positive effect. Because most were slow then, and were either too young, or too old and busy and deaf. And yet I was there. Back when the local music genre was overridden with foreign voices, I was there. And was FLYING with their "devil" music ─ "suma(sa)ma"! Even when I still hadn't puffed the "bite"(?) Really, what IS great about their songs and lyrics is (also) what great artistic form and expression is really about. That it should take and transcend one sensitive receiver-appreciator to The Beyond. And Beyond The Beyond. Which is Infinite. The Dream God ─ este, E-heads God ─ reminded me this, and by playing "Ha Ha Ha":
"...
'Di makapaghintay
Nagpakamatay
Para lang malaman ang katotohanan
(Ha-hayop na banal
Haplos sa dangal
Nagkasala, pinagpala
Ako'y biglang nakarinig ng tawa
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha
Hare hare peace na, peace na
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha
Ha ha ha ha...)"
And the mainstream wouldn't catch on to this. Even critics would argue that it is their ordinariness that makes them so easily relatable to the masses. Ugh. Everyone knows that! But not even a few know it's that same mindset that keeps them in mundane shackles and keeps them from going deeper, beyond.
The underappreciation of their least popular music continues, inversely with the hyping of their more senti-mental records and falsely-placed images.
The Erasherheads God has spoken!
Herd Commander is a Facebook whore. Be his friend. Or his whore. Whichever comes first.
Follow Da Couch Tomato on Twitter and Google+.
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