Ramon Jacinto back to his first love

The Guitarman is back! After two years of lying low in the live concert scene and immersing himself in running his radio and TV stations plus other businesses, Ramon "RJ" Jacinto has decided to give himself a much-deserved break. He has gone back to his first love: music and performing it with a passion. And why not?

He can very well take it easy. The man’s business is running smoothly, thanks to his daughters Bea, Nadine and Luccia, who can very well mind the store while Dear Dad is on stage having the time of his life.

Yes, you can never take away the music from RJ, who for years, has also been identified as the guy who churns out guitars that assume new models year after year.

The heady sound of rock and roll, the happy shuffle of dancing feet, the twanging of his guitar – these are the stuff that keep RJ going. It is the engine that propels him, giving him that energy that comes only from doing what you love to do, and doing it well.

At the end of an endless whirl of meetings, or even before that, RJ would open his closet full of guitars and fiddle with them.

And so, he just can’t wait for Thursday, Aug. 16, when he performs at Hard Rock Café with RJ and the Riots and Pido With Take One as alternate band in a show billed RJ Live!! Once Again, at 9 p.m.

Actually, it’s take two for this incurable musician at the entertainment venue at Glorietta, Makati. He performed at Hard Rock two months ago, and sent the predominantly yuppie crowd on their feet with the heart-thumping beat of his party music.

The bodies swaying, the feet stomping, the happy mood of it all, was intoxicating. One successful show deserves another. So RJ is back.

Timing couldn’t be any better. RJ observes that the music scene today is more alive than ever, with good bands giving the audience a variety of songs to listen to, or dance beats to get up and groove to.

It was so different when he was just starting years back, when RJ and his band had to struggle for acceptance, and getting musicians was as hard as climbing Mt. Everest. Back then, band members were uh, not that well-placed in the public eye, and parents discouraged their children from joining a musical group for fun, more so, as a means of earning a living.

But RJ persisted, playing his guitar and forming bands which played in his now-defunct Bistro RJ (to reopen next year).

In-between running his many business ventures at his posh Makati office, RJ would block off Friday nights and devote them exclusively to jamming with his band at the Rodeo Café, located at The Hive, a cafe-bar at Pasong Tamo, Makati, near RJ’s radio station.

He plans to return to his music sheets and compose songs once more, the kind that sent him rocking and rolling till he drops.

Yes, till he drops. RJ‘s eyes sparkle with excitement when he remembers his most unforgettable show. The year was 1991, the venue, Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. It was a benefit concert hosted by Boots Anson-Roa and front acted by Gary Lising.

"People drove for one-and-a-half hours from New Jersey to see the show. Tickets were at $50 each, and a total of 1,200 people came. So exhausted was the drummer (he played for three hours nonstop) he actually fainted when the curtains drew to a close!" recalls RJ.

You could imagine all the drum-pounding, the feet-stomping and the adrenaline-rushing that happened that one big party night. RJ was beside himself with joy.

"I like to make people happy with my music," he says.

The best part is, he has the luxury of choosing just what kind of music that is. Since he can always produce an album (he has done that so many times), RJ is not pressured to follow the trend and come up with a hit.

As he says, "When I work, I want to do it, not because I have to do it, but because I want to do it."

And because making music is what he wants to do most, RJ disciplines himself before and after a show. He takes a teaspoon of honey before a show, shuns drinking anything with ice after the show, gets at least eight hours of sleep and walks around the Makati subdivision where he lives.

He is brimming with plans for this, his grand comeback.

RJ plans to introduce a Guitar Night at Limits. He plans to hold a search for guitar players in schools and make the talented ones, music teachers included, go on stage and strum to their heart’s content.

He plans to bring his band, the Spirit of ’67 at Rockwell for a benefit show for Bantay Bata in October. RJ’s participation is the last of a three-night musical series for Bantay Bata kids. On that last night, he expects to perform with top singers joining the shows on the first two nights, among them Richard Merk and Verni Varga.

He’s looking for a new member for his all-girl band Ivy Magic. The girl must be between 18 to 19, and willing to perform with Ivy Magic in The Hive and other entertainment venues.

RJ also wants to return to recording, something he hasn’t done in many years.

Having thus laid out his comeback plans, RJ’s pretty daughters can take care of the family business and expansion schemes for the radio and TV stations.

You can never forget a first love. In RJ’s case, it’s music luring him back with such force he can’t help but say, "Yes, yes, yes!"