The thrill of the Rockin' Sixties

They call themselves the Rockin’ Sixties, a band that plays every Saturday night at the Chef and Brewer, at the corner of Francisco Ortigas, Jr. Avenue and Sapphire Streets at the Ortigas Center near Valle Verde. One of their singers is Titus Santiago, who is my age, in fact, two days older than me. He is their Ricky Nelson and my brother-out-law. What kind of a relationship is that?

Once upon a time I, an only child, was married to someone who had five sisters and two brothers. They were all my in-laws and I loved them because they were part of my childhood. We had grown up as friends who whispered about their oldest brother, a noted playboy of his time. He was much older than all of us. Then one day I met this older brother and married him. They became my in-laws and we got along just fine. I loved them all.

Today, whenever we meet, it’s like not that much time has passed, even if plenty of time has passed, even if my marriage to their brother has been legally dissolved. Today we jokingly refer to each other as out-laws. Titus is the husband of Bochie, my youngest sister-out-law. He sings in Rockin’ Sixties with Dero Pedero, who I used to know as Nonong, who was a friend of my oldest daughter Risa; Nancy Reyes-Lumen, another old friend, who once asked for my adobo recipe; and Weng Erana, the youngest member of the group, the one with a terrific voice. They are the singers. Add Cash Manalang, who is probably the cutest in the group, who is also related to me on my Gonzalez grandmother’s side, a guitarist who also sings well. Then there are the other instrumentalists: Steve de Jesus, Bololong Erana, Boyet Pigao, and Nato Canlas. They play the old songs of our era, which spans the ‘50s to the ‘70s.

How does it feel to go back to those days? OMG, it’s a lot of fun. They begin their number with the theme from A Summer Place, a movie that featured Sandra Dee and Troy Tonahue, both heartthrobs of our era. I saw that movie, can’t remember the story but the theme song – a popular phrase in our time – I remember. It was and continues to be very beautiful.

Titus sang a song I just remember as Why? Because I Love You. I dissolved into giggles, became 15 again, verging on heartbreak when the guy I had a massive crush on decided to dance with an Assumption girl. An Assumption girl! I was from Maryknoll. That felt like an Atenean losing to a La Sallite! Tonight, 52 years later, I found it hilarious. But not when I was 15. Then it was my heart smashed into a million pieces.

Later when they were playing In the Mood I remembered learning how to boogie. I would close the door to my room, latch the barrel bolt so no one could enter. We did not yet have door knobs that locked. Then I would hold the door knob and do the shuffle, the basic boogie step. I would practice dancing there, playing the 45 records on my mom’s phonograph. Suddenly I see a pair of electric blue suede shoes with three-inch high heels and a small rose on each side. I used to dance the boogie in those shoes, all night in three-inch heels. I would go to bed with painful legs and feel the pain all day Sunday.

“Come, let’s dance,” Jamie, my English sister-out-law, said.

“Are you kidding me? No,” I said laughing, absolutely refusing to dance in my orthopedic slippers. But my eyes scanned first the dance floor, then the crowd. These were not teenagers. These were all people in their late forties to early seventies. On the dance floor there were a few couples – a man and a woman – dancing but most of the dancers were women. Girls dancing with other girls just as Jamie was asking me to dance.

I looked at the people seated at the tables. Across me was a woman who was sitting beside her husband but shaking, rocking and rolling in her place. She was doing that when the Rockin’ Sixties first began to play at dinner. She was so into this beat but her husband was just sitting there, topped with his white hair and glasses. This was a scene typical in the place. The women felt the beat and showed it. The men sat there staring into space. You could tell they had been married for around 30 years and were extremely bored with each other but were welded together by some of our big concerns in the Philippines: Once you marry you’re married forever. What will people say?

I looked at the tables around. Quite a few were all women, laughing, talking, being frivolous together. I was willing to bet quite a few were there because they had a crush on one of the singers and just had to flirt with him a little just for the thrill of it. Why not? We all have only one life. We should all be doing things just for the thrill of it.

Why do you think I am here? I am here just for the thrill of it!

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