I took this picture of him on the set of Twilight Dancers, a film made a few years ago by my friend Mel Chionglo, in which Tyron had the lead. Mel invited me to shoot stills of the production, and I spent several days on the set.
During that time I got to know Tyron and some of the other actors. He seemed a friendly but somewhat withdrawn person, with an underlying sadness in his eyes. I think this shows in the way I portrayed him. I’m sad for what happened to him, but not very surprised.
“Her mind is definitely twisted, she’s got the ‘Mercedes Bends’
She’s got a lot of pretty, pretty boys that she calls ‘friends’
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat;
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget…”
Of course these little girls had no idea what the song was about:
A rich, drugged out matrona dancing toward the dawn with a bunch of half naked teen-age ‘boy-toys’ she keeps around for her pleasure. After all, it’s an American song, and the scene it describes was far beyond their understanding- just words on a screen.
But the ‘show business’ crowd in Manila does it’s best to imitate Americans in fashion, style, and even in depravity. Tyron, as part of that crowd, would have understood those words perfectly, from bitter experience.
Maybe Christmas was just too much for him this year. Rest in peace, Tyron.
