Snooky

The jaded expat locals call this place 'Snookyville' as if they couldn't be bothered to actually pronounce the real name of Sihanoukville, and I've been guilty of it myself...  Whatever, here I am... it was a long and patience-challenging bus ride, especially the first part which was the daily traffic jam of Phnom Penh... it took us most of two hours in stop and stop traffic to get out of town... then another 4 hours to the beach.  I was stuck in a lousy seat in the back, next to a nice old Khmer lady, (half of her teeth were still in her head)  who talked to me fairly frequently, not seeming to notice my shoulders-up 'I don't understand' expression.  It was fine.  There was a little girl maybe 7 sitting across from us with her mom, and the mom was in some kind of distress or pain.  At one point she asked the old lady to do something with her scalp... and the woman responded by taking little tufts of hair and giving them a sharp tug... as if to stimulate some kind of acupressure points or something related.  Then the mom asked the woman behind us if she'd rub some tiger balm on her back and this was done also.  Meanwhile the young girl is upset... I figured she was worried about her mom and she started crying and sobbing... People were turning around to see what was up.  I didn't quite understand it, but the drama was on.

Arrived at the bus station, happily retrieved my guitar and backpack from underneath the bus... I was a little paranoid that since I was stuck in the back of the bus, someone might just grab my gear before I could get off.  But a few people left the bus early, so I was able to move up.  No problem.  Grabbed my stuff, got on the back of a motorbike who offered me a $3 ride to Serendipity Beach, big tipper me gave him $4.  It was worth it.  Walked down the beach to find my friend Simon at Cafe Noir, and there he is in the flesh.  Happy reunion, we start talking music.  Tells me he has a girlfriend who sings, African American woman who grew up in Palm Springs.  She showed up shortly after, and wow, what a lady.  Beautiful, nice, talented and in love with my buddy... Right away we started singing, I wanted to learn the stuff that was in their repertoire, and I wanted Simon to hear some of my new stuff so he could back me on bass.    Hung out, drank coffee, made music and coincidentally enough, there was an open mic that night at our old haunt the Led Zephyr.  (best club in town, we played there a bunch last year).

There are the old friends, (some of whom like me, some not so much), and I took my place in line... sang 3 songs, 2 of which were new ones... Got a nice response and it's good to be back.  After me was this real good musician named Pat Savage who makes his living playing 'Biker Music' he's done a bunch of recordings, has a 'record deal' is working on a TV pilot.... a marketer... (talked about himself maybe a bit much, but the dude can play... Good singer, great guitarist, great on the bass, and even on the drums as he backed up another act.  So at the end of the night, Simon and Tiffany (and me) went up to close out the night, and we asked Pat to sit in on drums... Mad Mike, my buddy from Chiang Mai came up to blow some harmonica and off we went.  It was OFF THE HOOK!  We blew the doors off the room.  And why?  Because everyone can play well, listen, make it happen, and when that kind of band is behind a great singer, it just lifted the whole room up.  Tiffany is a huge talent, the kind the just keeps getting higher and higher as the song develops.  Pat, the drummer said he had goosebumps the whole time.  I was swaying and dancing with the bass.  Andy is the owner of the club and he rolled some video which he says he will post.  Hope so.

Hey not bad for my first day in town... What a great entree.  And this Tiffany had stayed in a guest house on the beach for a few months when she came to town, and she hooked me up with the owners, yes there is a room available, it's perfect, the right location and vibe... only $220 for the month, about $7/day.  My plan is to just immerse in music... get into a teaching thing, I really want to help my friends get better and they're into learning... it's part of the process.  And I'll make some money here, not sure where yet, but there are gigs ahead... Happy to be in my second Asian home away from home...