1977 belonged to JT

1977 marked the year when music had become a necessary component of my daily life. I listened to my tapes while I got ready for school. In the car, I would cue my "song' for the short ride to school - making sure that the best part of the song would be blasting when I got off the car. My cassette player was a constant companion in the shower. I read Jingle magazine religiously to learn the lyrics to popular songs. Jingle magazine's "Kulangot" cartoon was also my source of shallow entertainment back then. I would tape (and re-tape) American Top 40 over blank TDK and Maxwell tapes. 


I had my share of Bee Gees, Chicago, Barry Manilow and Earth, Wind and Fire cassette tapes, but this was the year when my my musical taste expanded beyond the Top 40

genre. I spent that summer in Hong Kong with my cousins, Rhett, Gigi and Dennis Eala. Rhett, who was my age, was already in full swing by then. He went through his disco and Donna Summer phase, and by 1977, Rhett was into B-52's and Blondie.  In their dad's Jaguar, we would jam to Fleetwood Mac'sRumors  from the Peak, where they lived, down to Central. Along with the boxes of Revell model toys, I splurged and bought myself a light blue Sony radio/cassette player and matching blue headphones (with volume controls for each ear!). I went back to Manila at the end of the summer completely set to convert my life entirely to music.


My tita (aunt) Ronnie Tapia-Merk was working for the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and through her involvement with the arts and music scene in Manila, she introduced me to jazz beyond George Benson and Earl Klugh, who were already well known in Manila. The likes of Ronnie Laws, Hubert Laws, Willie Bobo and Angela Bofil became household names. Tita Ronnie's brother, Oking, who is perhaps, the biggest influence in my boyhood life, took me to see the famed Filipino jazz sax and percussionist player, Eddie Katindig , at Birds of the Same Feathers in Tomas Morato - probably the birthplace of modern jazz in the Philippines. I was bewildered to witness Eddie K , as he is more commonly known, play two saxophones at the same time. I was hooked. I was only twelve years old.


Despite the stiff competition, 1977 belonged to James Taylor . His album, JT, was an instant classic. Whether I could relate to the songs or not, his lyrics struck a chord with me. Other favorites in the album includes Handy Man and Traffic Jam.To this day, James Taylor is still one of my favorite singers of all time. I shared this fondness for James Taylor with my cousin, Ricky Carandang. Ricky, who is my first cousin, was like a younger brother to me. With his younger brother Rafa along, the three of us would sing-a-long to JT at the top of our lungs inside their home in San Juan. And there was no better song than Fire and Rain -  which truly became the symbol of those glory days of music.