GoodVibrations:Ed-Stock

Like watching 700 people pay $10 each to help someone who once helped them.

Ed-Stock, held on Sept. 7, raised $7,000 for one of Guam’s musicians who was weighed down with medical bills.

A stroke of bad luck

Edgar Flores may be best known for his work with the band D.U.B., but many people remember the little things he’s done for them.

One Saturday night in August, Flores was jamming out with D.U.B. when he started to feel unusual.

“My body wasn’t acting the way it normally did. I noticed the left side of my body was getting weak,” Flores says. “At the end of our second set, after the second hour into the night I just went limp. My whole body just went down.”

D.U.B. frontman Kevin Iwashita says the band has been there for Flores through a number of medical problems, but they weren’t prepared for this.

“We had no idea what was going on,” Iwashita says. “You see Edgar’s had bouts with his health since almost the beginning. He contracted a virus called Guillian-Barre Syndrome that basically attacked his nervous system right around the time we formed D.U.B. He also threw his back out and was out of it for a while. Then earlier this year he started getting vertigo. That night we all thought it was just his vertigo acting up and then he started saying his left side was getting numb and his speech started to slur. He asked if he should go get checked and we told him not to take any chances.”

Flores went to the emergency room and learned he’d had a stroke. The man so used to picking guitar riffs and harmonizing vocals couldn’t walk and was having trouble speaking.

When Flores’ good friend Dee Cruz heard about what happened she decided to put together a fundraiser.

Ed-Stock is born

Cruz put together events in the past including Shiro’s Head: L.A. or Bust.

But this time she knew things would be a bit bigger because of all the people Flores had helped in one way or another over the years.

“He doesn’t see the negative parts of people. He sees the positive side of them,” Cruz says. “If there’s anything he can do to help them, he’s the kind of person to do it.”

While initially Flores declined her offer of help, Cruz insisted on going forward. As she began planning she found there were a number of people there to help.

“I had my first meeting with my staff. On this I had 10 people working for me. I had my first meeting with my staff at Ralphy’s. I put it on my facebook and 25 people came to the meeting,” Cruz says. “I had band members coming down saying, ‘We’re going to play for you, when do you need us.’ Everybody starting signing up. I got floods of emails, phone calls and facebook messages. It was the name of the band and ‘Hey, we’re there. If you need us we’re there.”

Cruz secured the bands, the venue and the volunteers but she was stuck when it came to choosing a name.

“I needed come up with something really big that has all these bands. At that time we were at 12 bands. Lollapolooza came up, Lilith Fair,” Cruz says. “Then I thought, ‘Edgar Stock, like Woodstock.’ I bounced it off my cousin Lisa the next morning and she’s like, ‘Just leave it as Ed.’”

In total 18 acts rocked the two Ed-Stock stages for more than seven hours of entertainment.

Pay it forward

Every band that took the stage had a story, a kind word or a dedication for Flores.

Hundreds of people packed into the bar and spilled out onto the patio of Ralphy’s– sweaty, elbow-to-elbow, but still smiling. Each took the opportunity to give back to a man that had helped them in some small way in the past.

For Flores, it was incredible to see so many people who cared about his well-being.

“I had no idea that many people would come out,” Flores says, smiling at the recollection weeks after the event. “I really felt loved that night. It was an amazing night. It was the greatest night of my life. That’s the one thing I can say. It was the best night of my life and I want to thank everyone for it.”

Still rocking

Flores is now going to physical therapy and slowly recuperating.

“I’d say my left side of my body is about 70 percent back to normal. My leg is about 60 percent. I’m able to walk and that’s what I’m happy about. It’s just weird because I can’t wiggle my toes. I’m trying. I’m looking at my toes and I’m like ‘Wiggle man! Wiggle,’” he says, laughing at the defiant appendage.

He’s kept his laughter and easy kindness throughout the entire ordeal. He’s even able to surmise why it all happened to him.

“For a while I was mad at God, ‘Why are you doing this to me? I’m a nice guy. I’m not hurting anybody,’” Flores says. “I guess for me to break down and bring everyone together the way it happened, maybe that’s why.”

Cruz says there are still donations coming in to a P.O. Box set up specifically for Flores. She also says the t-shirts sold at Ed-Stock were such a hit they’re working to print more to sell online.

Meanwhile back at the gigs, even Saturday nights with D.U.B., Flores says he doesn’t plan on ever walking away from music. He also hopes to help other aspiring musicians achieve their dreams as well because that’s just the kind of guy he is.

“Thanks to everyone who came out. I hope we can get together the musicians once a year at least and do something, not necessarily for me but to get together and celebrate our music as a people, as a group of talented artists,” Flores says. “Hopefully Ed-Stock will be the beginning of something greater.”