Radio Ga-ga

I was abruptly aroused from deep sleep by the sound of music coming from a radio somewhere--

It was Jim Morrison of The Doors belting out Light My Fire! I looked into the alarm clock and saw 5:45 in the morning. I got up and took a hot shower and gulped down a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee.

But still feeling drowsy, I decided to go back to bed.

“Baby, come on light my fire! “

“Baby come on light my fire!”

The song keeps on playing inside my head until I decided that I had enough of it. I reached for the dial and switched on to another FM station and this time I had The Beatles’ Let It Be.

Then came Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven followed by Hotel California by The Eagles. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana came next and another by Metallica the title of which escapes me. Aerosmith’s version of Come Together made me get out of bed.

So I put on my sweat suit and went out for the gym to pump some irons. The piped-in music is playing The Rollingstones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash as I tried my hand on the Nordic Track and the Elliptical Machine. Deep Purple’s Highway Star was playing while I was running on the Treadmill. I was on my way to the shower room when Prince showered me with Purple Rain.

I went home and decided to just lay on my bed and read. I was halfway through The Temple Of Dawn, a novel by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima when it was Eric Clapton’s turn to sing Tears In Heaven that lulled me again back to sleep…

I woke up with a gnawing pain in my belly that I decided to order food from Jollibee for delivery. I was on the telephone when Axel Rose started to wail Welcome to the Jungle and it was already high noon and Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing was on the airwaves when the delivery boy arrived. I had 2 pieces of Chicken Joy and a glass of Coke for Lunch.

Burrp.

I switched on the channel and put the hapless radio on a station playing nothing but Original Pilipino Music...

First on the list was The Eraserheads’ Ligaya from the album Ultraelectromagneticpop! Then I heard Dong Abay of Yano preaching in his now familiar style the song, Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo screaming at the top of his lungs. I was a bit amused when I heard Yoyoy Villame’s Philippine Geography and noted that the guy really knows how to tickle his listeners.

I turned sentimental when the DJ finally played Gary V’s Sana’y Maulit Muli...

I again fell asleep when Joey Pepe Smith’s guitar playing the opening notes of the greatest Filipino Rock Anthem Ang Himig Natin…

The sudden burst of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 suddenly woke me up. It was past 5 o’ clock in the afternoon and I think I have been down and out for almost 4 hours.

I got up and sat on the edge of the bed just as the beautiful tune of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff was softly being played on a piano followed by the Air Sonata of Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelsohn’s Violin Concertos.

This got my blood flowing as I floated to the beat of the strings in my brain.

It was already dark on a full moon when I heard the familiar tune of Claude Debussy’s Claire de Lune.

I was having dinner of fried Tilapia and Kare-Kare with my landlord when it was Mozart’s turn to mesmerize me with his Magic Flute. Chopin’s Nocturnes made my chain- smoking flowed with ease into the humid tropical haze. I was getting pumped up for the night.

I got my car key’s and turned on the engine and drove out of the garage for a spin into my usual hangouts in the city while the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti belting O Sole Mio as I drive deep into the neon- infested streets of Ermita while i felt the cool breeze caressed my face that makes me really high.

Jose Carreras joined the fray with Maria from West Side Story while Placido Domingo tried not out done with his rendition of a song from La Traviata!

And then I saw my prey in the sparsely- lit sidewalks of Pedro Gil and M. H. Del Pilar standing forlornly and obviously waiting for somebody to pick her up for a night-cap. Well, what can I say but she was quite damn lucky for eventually choosing me.

And the rest they say is history.