😉 Thank you to Totel V. De Jesus for sharing with us his write-up (posted on ABS-CBN News) on Lav Diaz's interview with Lourd De Veyra in "Chillax Radio."
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How Nick Joaquin 'blessed' Lav Diaz
TOTEL V. DE JESUS
Posted at Jun 23 2018 05:44 AM
MANILA -- The meeting of great minds never fails to
fascinate us. If we’re going to believe poet-essayist-novelist and TV
personality Lourd de Veyra, the first meeting of Lav Diaz and Nick Joaquin was
akin to Diaz’s knighthood, his entry to greatness.
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Lav Diaz accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award at
the recently held FAMAS Awards.
📷 Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
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Sometime in the early ‘80s, Diaz was a staff member
of JINGLE Magazine, the petri dish of rock journalism in the country.
After helping in the closing of pages for one of its weekly issues, he left its
office on P. Tuazon Street in Cubao, Quezon City, at the crack of dawn.
Passing by one of the trees in a street corner not
so far from Araneta Coliseum, he saw an older man lying on the ground with two
bottles of beer. One was empty, the other one he’s trying to finish. But
judging by his state of being, Diaz said he looked like he’s been drinking all
night.
“It was Nick Joaquin. I couldn’t be mistaken
because I’ve seen his pictures. He was already a National Artist at the time,”
said Diaz when he recently guested in Lourd de Veyra’s talk show, “Chillax
Radio.” Joaquin was proclaimed National Artist for Literature in 1976.
A fan would do the natural thing so Diaz offered
his help for Joaquin to get up and hail a taxi ride home. Joaquin has been
known for drinking with fellow journalists, literary writers, student-admirers
and even policemen at random places, be they carinderia-type joints in Quiapo
or in airconditioned bars in five-star hotels.
“He said ‘(expletive) you’ to me,” Diaz said,
citing the “F” word. Despite the rejection, he just left him on the ground and
watched him finish his beer. “Hinayaan ko na lang kasi parang malayo na siya
eh,” Diaz added, referring to Joaquin’s stream of consciousness.
It was early morning so there were already people
passing by who couldn’t help but look at the inebriated man on the ground and
the younger man standing before him. “Mga papasok na sa kani-kanilang opisina.
Gusto ko ngang tanungin sila, ‘Kilala niyo’ ba ‘to? Si Nick Joaquin ‘to,” Diaz
said.
But Joaquin kept on hurling expletives at Diaz so
he decided to just let Joaquin be under the shade of a tree. Joaquin, of
course, was able to go home and lived for three more decades. He died on April
29, 2004.
At this point, De Veyra offered an insight: “Baka
naman basbas ‘yung ‘(expletive) you’? (Could it be some sort of a blessing to
you when he said ‘(expletive) you’?)”
As we all know, Diaz became an internationally
acclaimed filmmaker. His works, dubbed slow cinema, have been regarded by film
scholars and critics from all over the world as gems. His recent opus “Panahon
ng Halimaw,” was topbilled by Piolo Pascual and Shaina Magdayao.
De Veyra said he envied Diaz, especially since the
first time he met Joaquin, the words Joaquin uttered were: ‘Hijo, why are your
hands so cold?”
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ReplyDeleteLav and I used to jam in Jingle's music room Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" back in d days...
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