Chairman of the Rajah Broadcasting Network, Ramon Jacinto expresses his grief over the passing of Bob Bogle, co-founder of the Ventures, in an email sent to Fiona Taylor, manager of The Ventures.
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This is Ramon “RJ” Jacinto from the Philippines. I grew up loving Ventures music. I learned guitar from their records. Playing Ventures music made my band the most sought after act in the Philippines in the early 60’s. Combos (the name we called bands before) blossomed in the Philippines playing Ventures and Shadows tunes.
Bob [Bogle] and Don [Wilson] came to the Philippines in the summer 1962. My band members, Alan Austria on bass and our drummer Bernie Evangelista backed them up at the Big Dome, the Araneta Coliseum.
Two years after, I flew to Los Angeles and stayed in Bob’s house and watched them record Walk Don’t Run ’64 with Eddie Brackett as Engineer.
I also recorded 4 songs with The Ventures backing me up.
The Ventures have always been the center of my musical universe – even when The Beatles came along to influence the whole world.
The Ventures remain as the inspiration to millions of guitarists
I thank God for creating Bob, Don, Nokie, Mel and Bob Reisdorf for bringing us such great music.
Nokie and I had concerts here in the Philippines in 1996. We also recorded around 75 tunes in my studio which up to now have not been released. [...]
I also send my deepest condolences to Yumi and Bob’s children.
It’s a pity we could not have a reunion concert here with my band RJ and the Riots before he passed away.
I owe a lot to the Ventures. My life is enjoyable because of their music. Even if my band’s repertoire includes 5 decades of hits, I always include the undying instrumental hits of the Ventures in my playlist and in the programming of my radio stations.
Ramon "RJ" Jacinto
Chairman
Rajah Broadcasting Network, Inc.
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photo of RJ and The Riots with Bob Bogle from RJ's Personal Archives.
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Email Article 
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