Dave Tabligan died today. Here's my original story on him:
BAGUIO'S PIANO MAN
"He says, "Son can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes"
Piano Man, Billy Joel
Robert David Tabligan was 23 when this song came out. He had been playing the
piano for 17 years when he got his first piano lesson at six. He was already working
as a professional piano man in 1973 for seven years.
Billy Joel may have composed that song for himself but people who know or
were touched by Dave and his piano-playing would always equate that song to him.
"I can not imagine being anything else," Dave said.
We, too, can not imagine Dave anything else but a piano man.
Born February 10, 1950, Dave was only six when he first got his piano lesson.
His mother sang and also a piano player. His grandfather was also a musician.
Other than these, there was no answer from nature how Dave got his ear for music
and how he can effortlessly play your memories.
He was 16, a high school student of SLU Boys High and already playing for the
University of Baguio Science High and PE Department when he was recruited to
play at the A&D Inn in what is now Nevada Square.
There was a casino there or maybe a clandestine one because the chips,
roulette tables and other paraphernalia can easily be hid and the whole place
transformed into an instant birthday party when the police raided, Dave recalled.
Dave played then for Helen Cruz.
I was so naïve then. I asked Helen if she had a husband," Tabligan said.
Helen Cruz as it turned out was one of the first transgender siren who later dated
famous people like Indonesia's President Sukarno and celebrities Troy Donahue,
Ricardo Montalban and Matt Monroe.
Dave played for Helen at the La Playa and Trader's Hotel in Manila. That's where
he met a band that was about to go to Japan. Dave told the manager that he, too,
wanted to go. He was fitted with the same suit as the band and they played at the
Riviera's Club at the Roponggi District in Tokyo. Dave went solo while the band
went back to the Philippines and played piano at a bar near a US military base in
South Korea. Then he went back to Japan. The rest in the comments
Labels: baguio, death, friends, music
