Ramon barber

Una casposa i caducada barberia de poble, adornada de personatges desmodats, és l´escenari que gira al voltant del seu resistent: en Ramon barber. Podríem canviar noms i posar-ne d´altres que no ens fessin mal d´orelles. Al poble, per exemple, dir-li Nashville o Kalispell, o a n´en Ramon rebatejar-lo com a Mr. Ruddom o Chris Samptom, però no variaria res substancial. Podríem construir una altra ambientació o personatges que no ens fessin mal d´ulls, ja que bona part de les Ramones i els Ramons d´avui no porten clenxa, ni calçotets de cotó nets o samarretes imperi, o pantalons de tergal amb la ratlla al mig i el cinturó per sobre el melic, ni es corden l´últim botó de la camisa; sinó que es depilen, es fan rastes o crestes a la closca, calcen vambes o botes reforçades, porten texans estripats o cagats, ensenyen la tira dels sostenidors o dels calçotets i es fan dir Nacho, Celia, Tania, Roger, i s´estan hores enganxats al mòbil comunicant-se...; però seríem allà mateix perquè en Ramon barber ni és cap relíquia, ni tampoc ens l´hem d´espolsar. En essència i en curt: som portadors de la malaltia de Ramonsky: som un esqueix d´allò que en Ramon barber és i representa. D´on venim si no? Ja ho diu ell: “El pèl de debò no es podreix. Només hi ha una manera de destruir-lo: foc a Ca L´Avi”.

Ramon barber

A vulgar, forgotten small-town barber shop full of unfashionable characters is the setting for our unlikely hero: Mr Ramon barber. We might call the town by another name, so that it may not offend the ears: we could call it Nashville or Kalispell; we could rename Ramon as Paul Ruddom or Chris Samptom, but it wouldn’t really change anything. We might even create a whole new setting, so that it may not offend the eyes, seeing that most Ramons and Ramonettes today don’t wear their hair with a parting in the middle, nor clean cotton socks or spotless t-shirts or corduroy trousers with the belt fastened above the waist, nor do they do up their top-most shirt button; they do, however, shave, style their hair in dreadlocks or mohicans, they wear trainers or strengthened boots and ripped, dirty jeans, their bra straps and underwear in full show, they call themselves Nacho, Celia, Tania, Roger, glued to their phones, fixated with the digital world…; but we’d still find ourselves in the same place, because Ramon barber is not a relic of a time gone by, and he is certainly not to be forgotten. In essence: we’re all suffering from the Ramonsky disease: there is something of what Ramon barber is and represents in each one of us. Where else could we come from? He says it so well himself: “Hair does not rot away by itself. The only way to truly destroy it is by burning it”.