Last Saturday night, Grace, Jude and I drove over to Mt. Carmel Church in Quezon City to pay our last respects to the rock legend, Karl Roy, who died last Tuesday at the age of 44.
I’m so glad I made it out there, and I apologize to my friend Lia, for not having taken her with me on such a late evening.
When we got there, I was immediately moved by the amount of people gathered around at the courtyard.
My camera’s battery had died at the Comme des Garçons launch, so I made use of my BlackBerry camera and Grace took photos with her iPhone. I feel so emotional looking at these…
Filled with all sorts of tattooed and pierced young rockers, I hardly knew a soul, except for singer Cooky Chua, whom I knew from the band Color It Red and Karl’s brother, Keith. Also spotted: Earl Ignacio, a familiar face from the ’90s, musicians Ira Cruz, and Paul Zialcita.
The actual room where Karl’s ashes were was practically empty, save for a few mourners. Understandably, everyone was outside to see the informal concert staged by Karl’s friends.
Like I said, Karl photographed really well. Portraits stood on easels inside the chapel.
After saying our prayers, we stepped out to check the scene. The wake was well organized with so much food, shawarma stands, and even some bouncers. I don’t remember seeing any alcohol on the scene, which was good, considering these are still church grounds.
“I want a shawarma stand in my wake, and Cibo food and Coke and Haagen-Dazs ice cream,” I told Jude and Grace after smelling the nice aroma of grilled shawarma. Not that I have a death wish, just saying 
I had a warm feeling for Karl seeing the turnout. I knew he would approve. I also thought, just because you are pierced, tattooed, shaved and skinny—doesn’t make you a bad person. I saw the love for Karl and I felt that if so many loved him on earth, then God would also be merciful.
Well, either that or the shawarma was really good—just kidding
https://www.facebook.com/KarlRoyBand
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