36KM performing at the event
MTV resurrected Tony Bennett and made him hip again, he was considered old by the post-hippie generation, which here in the Philippines came of age during waning of Martial Law.
This age bracket, which sociologists referred to as Generation X (born inthe early ‘60s up to the early ‘80s), made up the first yuppies who now are most likely holding managerial positions in the corporate world.
This generation experienced the time when J.R. Tolkien was read and not seen.
When Carlos Castañeda and not J.K. Rowling was the Dean of Magic. Apple was still a record label then and not a phone brand.
The mention of Chicago made one think of music first before sports. If (like me) you belong to this group, you probably thought it was cool to say “Disco sucks!” Or maybe you were among the suckers who wondered if Phoebe Cates really had roots in Cebu.
And you likely had either a Nastassja Kinski or a Farrah Fawcett poster on your wall.
Jazz and Worldbeat were pretty much kept in a corner as Folk, Arena Rock and New Wave ruled the airwaves.
This was the generation that had three physical packaging for music: tape, CD and vinyl. Yes, vinyl. It’s that flat round thing with a tiny hole in the middle, gets easily scratched and warps when exposed to heat. Who needs that bulky thing, right? They take up a lot of shelf space and are tough to carry around.
Would you rather not have entire catalogs in your micro SD card? Or have you not heard of Spotify?
Of course, an audiophile will tell you that mp3 can’t compete with the sound of a “real” 12-incher of an LP.
And then there are thealbum covers. There is the meditation inspiring prism on the cover of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”
Or the pop version of the communion of the saints for the cover of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
And yes, Carly Simon was one hot mamaon the cover of her “Playing Possum” album.
It is perhaps this love for the palpable and the tactile that made entrepreneurs of “Haul” Jeremiah Bondoc and Dino Domingo come up with “Garage Day”—scrounging for Gen X
user collectibles at the Rescue Bar and Lounge last Saturday.
Bondoc and Domingo are part of the Cebu Vinyl Community that conceptualized “Plaka Nights.” “Garage Day,” which Haul plans to hold bi-monthly is not limited
to vinyl as they welcome CDs, books, T-shirts and toys—all part of the Generation X’s coming of age.
There was even a live band.
The affair wasn’t just about recycling but more of extending the dream, as Generation X parents brought along their post-millennial (Generation Z) kids for the cultural scrimmage.
And it wasn’t like some cheap flea market thing. The imported vinyl records were on the expensive side. The T-shirts were newly printed. The books and toys though were temptingly priced.
So in that humid dusk, Haultogether with Threads and Needles, 2nd Street Music, Magic 92.3 FM and Rescue Bar and Lounge gave the Generation X
an occasion whereby they shook their fists against the march
of technology and the anti-matter.
For these guys, matters matter.
