I flashed on Woody this morning as I was walking over to my favorite internet place, the cheap one with all young Thais (and me) banging away at the keyboards. Woody is such a New York City guy, I saw this interview in which he said something like, 'My friends say I should get out of town, go to the beach, and I say 'Why?'. He's just so immersed and enmeshed in that little universe of the city, that anything other than that is like 'Why?'. I have a bit of that same contentment over the last couple weeks here in Chiang Mai; everything I need is here at the moment. Most of the tourists are doing their little day trips and overnighters to see the hilltribe folks or the elephants or the waterfalls or the "Flight of the Gibbon' ziplines or the tiger rescue place or the whatever. I have not the slightest interest at the moment. I'm just so content with the rhythm I've got going these days.
Wake up around 7am, get a cappucino, talk to Noi who runs the coffee place, learn a little about what she has to share, make my way over to the internet spot, pay for the two hour session (60cents), check email, write in the blog. Go back to the guest house, go swimming and work out, grab some food. Make some music, work on songs, do whatever errands need doing, see some friends. Maybe get a massage, have a little more food. Check in at the bar in the evening, play some music, usually on bass, drink water, go home, read, sleep, repeat the next day. Mixed in there over the course of the week are a couple of tango classes, a couple of Thai classes, a couple of music lessons which I teach and that's about it. Super simple and for the moment, super appealing.
When I walked on the Camino in 2000, the thing I liked best was the simple act of finding my own rhythm and pace. I would see couples sometimes struggling with that, one wanted to go faster, one slower. I was alone and I just walked and walked at exactly the pace I wanted. This feels kind of similar, though minus the locomotion. It's a tuning in to my own rhythm, unencumbered by expectation. It's a total gift to be able to take the time and just discover what works, and I can't remember being this content. Feels like I'm not missing anything.
There are a bunch of people around who tend to drink all day. 'What else is there to do?' is a common theme that you hear. Uh, OK I guess, but it sounds awful, like waiting to die, 'God's waiting room' is how I've heard it described. To each his own I suppose. I'm just glad that I can tune into music or writing or reading or any damn thing other than alcohol. Like I said in Bhang Lassie, 'To make me happy doesn't take a lot... Food in my belly a song in my heart' and that happens to be true. If there's a song going, if there's a new one being created, I'm a happy dude. If not, I'm probably OK, but something is missing. If a non-song period goes on for too long, something is gonna be wrong. It just seems to be the way I'm created; I need that creative energy to be my best self.
Had a GREAT gig in the bar last night; not that folks were particularly paying attention, which they weren't. But that's kind of the way that Jeff likes it. It's not a 'performance'. When I asked about a guitar strap he said, 'You're not gonna stand up, are you? That changes everything, then it's a performance, and I don't want that'. What made it great for me was for one, my voice was in excellent shape, I was hitting the high notes, not straining, even singing a ballad or two with some conviction, which is unusual for me. And I added three of the tunes I've written on this trip into the set and they all felt great. I thought I'd be playing alone, but instead was joined by an Aussie named David, big guy, lots of beer, hat on backwards, pony tail, who looked a lot like Lleyton Hewitt gone to seed after his retirement when he gained 60 punds and didn't give a shit anymore. Dave brought his rhythm kit, a cajon wooden drum, some sticks and brushes, a cabasa and shaker. He was there to lay down the rhythm and he did a great job. Also playing was Craig, another big dude, also on the inebriated side, who plays a pretty good washtub bass. The thing about washtub is that even if it's not quite in tune, it doesn't really matter, you still get that bass sound, and if his rhythm is good (which it is) it adds a nice bottom end to the proceedings. So we were a trio with me at the helm; I was playing a little classical guitar, plugged in, good sound easy to play, easy on the fingers.
Here's the list as well as I can remember it. * denotes an origingal: Hello Goodbye, Wonderful Tonight, Stand By Me, Aint She Sweet, *Song and Dance Man, *Everybody's Wrong But You, *Bhang Lassie, *He's Got What it Takes, *Happy Finnish Girls, Let's Fall in Love (with that Thai/English section that I had planned for), Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue, Let's Call the Whole thing Off, Dream, Glory of Love, Side By Side, Evil Ways, Sloop John B, How Sweet it Is (to be loved by you) and there were likely a few more. We played about an hour and forty minutes, people enjoyed it, Jeff was happy and he wants to build around it. I loved it, love being in charge of a little outfit, changing grooves, reading the room, playing swing, reggae, rock, ballads, keeping it moving. That's a lot of songs for me to sing on my own, but my voice was cooperating, and feels good this morning too... I left the bar a little before 11, went home, read for a few minutes and crashed out. A very satisfying night.
The only other news is that I'm gonna start a trade with this British guy Michael who is fluent in Thai and could use some help on guitar. He totally helped me yesterday afternoon in crafting some Thai lyrics for the comedy section in the middle of 'Let's Fall in Love'. He taught me how to say, 'what's your name, where you from, where you staying, I love you' etc, and even though folks weren't paying enough attention last night for me to pull off that section the way I imagine it, I can see the future and it's gonna be great. I learned more in 15 minutes with him than I did in two hours of the class. The fact that he's a closet lady-boy doesn't bother me in the slightest.
The class is a bit of a disappointment in that they are trying to cram WAY TOO MUCH information into a beginning class. We need to learn a few things, repeat, repeat repeat, get some confidence, rather than learn how to say It's down the street, take a left at the bridge, go 150 meters and then take a right at the restaurant. That's ridiculous for the third class of a beginning program. It hamstrings the teacher into covering the curriculum and it's silly. The students are lost. I actually wrote a nice letter to the director yesterday, suggesting that she think about altering the curriculum for the next time. I know it's a cheeky thing to do, but I don't care. I tend to err on the side of telling the truth, and putting it in writing so they have something to think about. I get in trouble sometimes, and I accept that.
PS Michael is not a lady boy, but he does read the blog, so I thought I'd give him a little surprise. I think the Brits call it 'taking the piss out of him'. He does it to me fairly regularly.... there ya go mate, back at ya....
Cheers,
Rico Suave
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