(Aledel is Aledel Gonzales, music buff and former Sun.Star reporter)

July 29, Monday, 12:51 p.m.

Aledel: Insoy! Kumusta?

Me: Hi Del. Ok pa sa olrayt! 80s kaayo nga expression no? Hehehe.

Aledel: No problemo. I deal with 80s stuff on a daily basis. Remember, I’m married to an 80s guy, hahaha!

Me: Mao gyud. I was with your 80s guy yesterday. Hitch ko niya from Aznar Coliseum to office. Michael Jackson kaayo ang sounds sa volks.

Aledel: Yes, he told me. And you talked about MJ the entire ride. I’m still playing MJ songs. Taught my daughter the zombie dance in “Thriller,” haha!

Me: Cool. How is she faring?

Aledel: Give her a couple of months and she’d be giving those CPDRC guys a run for their money, hahaha!

Me: Hahaha. Bitaw, na-shock ko when I heard the news. Naulpot ko sa katre. Nakamata ko’g kalit.

Aledel: My “where-were-you” moment was kind of like that. I was already up cooking breakfast, but I felt really bad. MJ is MJ. I felt like crying. MJ started my music collection. The MJ songs I played during the weekend were the tapes I bought way back.

Me: Tapes? mo-play pa?

Aledel: My “Bad” album was bought in ’87. I still have it. I’m still digging for my “Dangerous” album. Yes the tapes still play. That’s how nostalgic I can get. My officemates here are still too young to really know MJ music.

Me: Yup. But if you’re into good music, maka-relate man ka ni MJ, bata or tiguwang.

Aledel: The biggest trivia I learned after MJ’s death is that Steve Lukather (Toto) played rhythm for “Beat It.” I always thought it was our guy Eddie Van Halen. Eddie just played the solo diay.

Me: Your 80s guy and Arni Aclao (Sun.Star photographer) told me about the Van Halen, Lukather trivia, and that Slash did the guitars for “Black or White.” I told them “Ben” is a killer rat. Hehehe.

Aledel: Hahaha. I’m playing pure Jackson 5 music today. I turn the volume down when MJ hits those falsettos. That’s a 40-year-old man in an eight-year-old body. Did you know that “She’s Out of My Life” was originally for Frank Sinatra? The composer wrote it to describe a failing marriage. But Quincy Jones saved it for MJ.

Me: He’s a boy-man… Really? I can actually imagine Sinatra singing it. Pwede kaayo.

Aledel: Yep, me too. But the hiccup after “…out of my life…” was real because MJ was really crying after several takes of that recording.

Me: I watched the video on MYX’s 24-hour MJ marathon yesterday. Yup, he’s crying ana nga part. But if we can imagine Sinatra doing the song, it’s because any MJ song is that good, bisa’g kinsay mo-interpret nindot gihapon. Think Beatles, Cobain, Buendia.

Aledel: True, true. During the weekend, I really wished we had cable TV. That was the time I really needed cable TV. But sige na lang. I have my “Off The Wall,” “Thriller,” “Bad” and “Invincible” on tape. I’m still looking for “Dangerous.”

Me: Me too. Wala koy cable sa balay. Wala pud koy balay. Hehehe. I hung out at this bar the night after the news of MJ’s death. It was MJ everywhere. There were three cable TVs in that bar, three different channels, all MJs. It’s like John Paul II once again.

Aledel: Yes, John Paul II and Princess Diana too.

Me: I wish I was old enough to mourn John Lennon’s death. I can imagine.

Aledel: Bitaw no? From what I read, this is what it was like when Lennon died. And that’s why the killer Mark David Chapman still can’t get out on parole.

Me: Let all our music heroes resurrect from the dead, like the zombies sa “Thriller” video, then let’s kill them again, then let’s all grieve together. One world united in one musical grief. Char! Hehehe.

Aledel: I believe that would be in your column tomorrow. And with that, let’s break for lunch. Thanks for chatting. Take care.

Me: Great! Thanks. Amping.

Aledel: Oops, you forgot: “Ok pa sa olrayt!”

Me: Hahaha. Yeah, the 80s! Ok pa sa olrayt!

(SUN.STAR, JUNE 30, 2009)