September 20, 2021
Yesterday morning, I woke to the sound of my old, brass, wind-up clock, announcing that it was 8 am. Time to get up. Covering my head with the pillow, I take a deep breath and exhale with a sigh. Throwing the pillow aside, I fold back the beige and blue, overstuffed comforter to the foot of the bed, and turn off the alarm. With only three hours of sleep, I am thinking that I should really make more effort to get to bed earlier. Laughing out loud to myself, knowing that it will never happen.
Sitting at the dining room table, drinking my coffee, with just the right amount of cream, I consider my blog options for the day. It is Monday, my friend, Angelikus Deo, should be performing somewhere today. I happened to wander into one of Angel’s performances a few weeks ago. I will admit, that at first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her sound. It was different from anything I had heard since entering the world of music. However, Angelikus, performed with a clear, strong, voice that conveyed her enthusiasm, confidence, and energy. While her friendly, outgoing personality washed over the audience, making them feel warm and welcome. I was further impressed by her ability to adapt a song to her voice range and make it her own. By the third song, I was completely hooked and wanted to hear more. There was no question that this woman knew how to entertain a crowd and loved doing it! After the show, I introduced myself, we made an instant connection, and have been great friends ever since.
Looking at the clock, I do the math, to calculate the time. Keeping up with times zones, all over the world, really makes my head hurt…. If I calculated right, it should be midafternoon in the Philippines. I picked up my cell and made the call.
Unfortunately, her only Monday performance had to be canceled but she did have a very late Tuesday show. So, after sorting out the business portion of the call, we started chatting about personal stuff and what was going on in our worlds. I don’t even know how we got on the subject, a very emotional, Angel started talking about her brother, who had passed away fourteen years before. Revealing to me that she had used his nick name, Deo, as her last name so he would always be with her in SL. Deo had been a triathlete and played the lead guitar in his spare time. Of course, this led me to tell her about my son, Brian, who had passed away a little over three years ago. He loved music, he played the drums, and in his younger days had been a professional break dancer. I wear a lot of red because it was his favorite color and that makes me feel close to him. It was then decided that the Tuesday night concert would be a dedication show to the two young men we missed so much.
Tuesday evening, I dress for the show in that days favorite red skirt, the one with the white buttons, matching blouse and coordinating red shoes. As I was putting the finishing touches on my make-up, the group message appears, in my in box. “Angelikus Deo Live @ Café Musique, Come join the Party.” I throw my lipstick back in the vanity drawer and head outside to the limo.
I arrived at the beach side venue, Café Musique, about 20 minutes before the show started. Another performer was on the stage, so I sat in a beach chair not far from the stage and listened while I waited. Angel’s personal assistant, Jacky Maroosh, wearing red, arrived first. As we were exchanging greetings, Angelikus arrived along with the band, one by one.
Dressed in a beautiful red and gold costume, Angel took the stage with her band, who also wore red, The Green Beans, Caspian, Jellybean and Marlechan. They performed songs from Angel’s song list, a mixture of New Age, Rock and Pop Genres. The first two songs were Nine Inch Nails – “The Hand That Feeds You” and Filter – “The Best Things”
Before starting the third song Angel spoke to the audience: “Today we are wearing red, with me and my band and Valana to honor the ones that have passed before us. So, we would like to Dedicate this show to Brian and Deo. My last name is actually my brother’s nickname. So, today’s show is for Brian and Deo. So, wherever they are in this world I know that they are having lots of fun and I am just imagining that their, you know, traveling somewhere (her voice trails off)...... Hugs Valana.” As she started the next song, by Snow Patrol – “Chasing Cars”, around the audience, more red clothes began popping up as people were changing to show support. It was very touching.
The show continued with a song by Cold Play-“The Scientist”; Cheryl Crow-“If It Makes You Happy”; Jewel-“Who Will Save Your Soul”; Garbage-“Cherry Lips”; Gorillas-“Feel Good, Inc”; Nine Inch Nails-“Closer”; Semisonic-“Closing Time” and the last song, Angel’s signature goodbye song by Republica- “Ready To Go”.
After the show, Angel and I took our picture together, we talked about how the show went, and how supportive everyone had been. Angel thought about it for a few seconds and said to me: “It was great. there were tears comin from my side lol. but lots of laughs ♥ it's important to have fun always ♥ that's my brother's legacy.” In her final quote, regarding her thoughts on music, she declared; “Laugh hard. Rock Harder!”
(Left) Amadeo AKA "Deo"
April 18th, 1987 to May 5, 2007
(Below) Brian - AKA "IkkI Kidd"
May 22nd, 1984 to March 2, 2018
May your beautiful souls rest in peace until we meet in the next life.