Pinoy rock DJ on a journey of self-rediscovery
Published: January 9, 2008 | Author: Pasckie Pascua
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Published: January 9, 2008 | Author: Pasckie Pascua
Total Views: 1125 | Rating:
NEW YORK — Jason Baquilod’s “multi-selves” embody a hyper-spirit on perpetual spin: Film director, TV reporter, copywriter, youth promotions specialist, rock radio host, graphics designer, web artist, poet-journalist, production designer, musician-songwriter, cultural worker. Despite all these though, there remains one ever-consuming goal that has probably eluded him: To be accepted by his kababayans as a true-blue, body-and-spirit Pinoy. Jason Baquilod is more known in the Filipino communities in the tri-state areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as the flamboyant, mercurial host-DJ of “Pinoy Rock with Jason Baquilod” on WRMN Radio Pinoy, an offshoot of a “guerrilla-styled” radio gig that he started at Baruch College-Cuny in 1999. Based in Bloomfield NJ, Radio Pinoy is the only Filipino owned and operated radio station that broadcasts Filipino programs 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the U.S.
Jason’s show, gave voice to “alternative” and “underground” Pinoy rock musicians – who were otherwise kept hidden in the wings, lurking in the shadows of more economically-viable, mainstream pop acts. He didn’t really see a grey line that sets aside, for example – Pilita Corrales from Juan dela Cruz, or Regine Velasquez from The Eraserheads, or Gary Valenciano from Parokya ni Edgar. For him, these artists are all Filipinos – and they all deserved airtime and moments to chill together, albeit on a diverse, four-hour playlist.
However, said nonchalant exuberance and innocent upfrontness made him more of an anomalous idealist than a visionary savant to his Pinoy or FilAm audience. Growing up in Brooklyn, Jason’s Uncle Emmanuel, a merchant marine, gave him a creased travel booklet with the title, “The Philippines.” The final chapter of the tiny book is about a mountain tribe whose customs – which included headhunting and “ceremonial ingestion of dogs” – remained “carved like statues, forever standing in tribute” in Jason’s childhood’s “surrealistic nightmare.”
“That nightmare happens to be the heritage me and my family have consciously, but more, subconsciously tried to eradicate from our bloodline,” Jason remembers. He rambles on, “When I was growing up, there was no Filipino neighborhood. None at all like me or my family. If there were, I never met one. None around that looked like me, unless they were Hispanic, or Oriental, or white guys that had vaguely similar appearances. But, even with the similar appearances, they shared with me, they didn’t share heritage, or culture, or language, or even food. I shared my experiences with a 3x4 book that scared me as a boy.” So Jason set on a “journey” to rediscover his “lost, frightening” identity.
For almost a decade since late 1998, Jason went through the whole nine yards of reconnecting with his Filipino roots – via a relentless slew of projects on the East Coast. He first surfaced in a meeting thrown by militant organization, Philippine Forum, in Staten Island in 1999 – declaring, “My Mom is a Filipina from South Carolina, my Dad is a Samareno from Brooklyn. I am a Pinoy, pare!” Instead, his rediscovery of himself within the Filipino American community proved to be more dramatic, unnerving and riskier. It didn’t take him that long to realize that – while hustle and bravado could be Brooklyn’s most valued currencies, these didn’t buy too well with the Filipino’s ferocious fatalism and super-sensitive detachment and indifference, for instance.
“He is a white man imprisoned in a brown man’s body,” observes a FilAm band member who hangs out with Jason a lot. “He is a sincere and honest human being, but that translates to unwanted aggressiveness, or arrogance, when pushed around Pinoys.”Jason was also active with independent Filipino films shot in the tri-state. In 2001, he was involved in pre- and post-production work in Lav Diaz’s “Batang West Side,” a five-and-a- half-hour meditation and discourse on “The Fil-Am, the American dream, Martial Law, identity, patriotism, and the collective murdering of the Filipino soul.” On that same year, he was on the publicity staff of Laurice Guillen’s “American Adobo,” shot entirely in New York City; the year before, he also helped promote “The Debut,” an indie film by Gene Cajayon whose soundtrack featured acts that enjoyed consistent rotation in Baquilod’s radio program.
Meantime, during those years, he also had a brief stint with ABS-CBN/TFC’s “Global Filipino” as On-Air Correspondent and Reporter; and served as co-producer for the PBS documentary, “Kababayan: The Filipino Community of New York and New Jersey.” Apart from emceeing just about any Pinoy rock concert in New York City and New Jersey from 1999 to 2006 – including gigs at the legendary punk-rock dive CBGB in downtown Manhattan – he also anchored the cultural/musical entertainment portions of the Philippine Independence Day parades in New York City, Jersey City, plus the Filipino Heritage Festival in Bergenfield, NJ three years in a row.
Meantime, while Jason was all too caught up with his community work, his other preoccupation – leader of the rock-blues band, Sons of Brando – got drowned out. In between his busy schedule, the band – that he formed with his older brother Donn—cut a self-titled seven-song EP that also featured Pinoy rock icon Mike Hanopol on lead guitar.
At that point in time, Jason – as a musician – wasn’t self-conscious with his being a Filipino. He has already shared himself with his heritage – for almost 10 years. Just like the millions of third-generation Filipinos in America, Jason’s journey has just begun. But to be able to finally “come home,” he only has to carry on.
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