The concerts took place on the beautiful stretch of beach near the Hilton and Sofitel. Heineken invested a lot in branding this festival, with green Heineken longtail boats floating in the water, a Heineken jumbo screen set up far back from the stage for people who wanted to relax on the beach without getting crowded, and mucho Heineken VIP areas, smoking lounges (on a beach?), bars, food stands and beer stands. There were Heineken folding chairs to sit in far back from the stage, to give people an incentive not to crowd the front. And of course, Heineken beer was never far away.

The highly commercial nature of the event would have normally turned me off, but in this case I liked it, because the folks at Heineken wanted me to have pleasant associations with their brand, so they did a much more competent job at making everything run smoothly than I expected or hoped for.

The branding, however, seemed to extend to the choice of musical acts. An acquaintance said she skipped the festival because the thought of so many jazz aficionados with funny facial hair in one place scared her off. But those fans probably would have been let down by the line up. The acts were calculated to have maximum appeal to the broad public, with each band having a distinctly different (and populist) appeal.

The best example of this was the Bossa Nova Blossoms, apparently a group of cute female Thai celebs who banded together to sing bossa nova versions of songs by Linkin' Park, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, disco diva Anita Ward ("Ring My Bell") and, I think, the king. It was fun, but vapid -- a bit of a one-note samba after a while. My Thai friend, who literally has no clear understanding of what jazz is or sounds like, liked this group the best, presumably because of the fun personalities of the singers.

The band that followed the blossoms on Saturday was Tanapat Mathayomchand, who mostly played Pat Metheny covers. He mostly played a cerebral, hard jazz that would appeal to purists, but welcomed a blues singer on stage to break up the intensity and keep the non-jazz crowd (the vast majority) tuned in. Although he was what I would consider the "purest" jazz act of the night, he was the least favorite of the two friends with me.

The final act was Caroline Henderson, who was a bit of a surprise. Her European sidemen laid down a mysterious, John-Coltraine-in-the-early-'60s groove. Although her voice is not unusual for at talented jazz diva, the song settings and selections were. She did unexpected but excellent covers Jesus by the Velvet Underground and Victor Should Have Been A Jazz Musicians by Grace Jones. The cornerstone of her show was Nina Simone's Wild Is The Wind. These covers were arresting because instead of modernizing them, she took them back in time, evoking a musical era before they were written. I'm going to check out her CD.

The highlight of the show was Italy's MONTEFIORI COCKTAIL on Friday night. Although the band puts themselves forward as a goofy cocktail lounge retro act, their gimmick did not get tired because they laid down a serious groove and did not stop. They played bossa nova tracks as they would have sounded in late 1960s Italian bank caper movies, forcing some of the crowd to dance like maniacs in the ocean beside the stage.

I would definitely recommend trying to make it next year if you can. In one way I was disappointed in the populism of the programming, but on the other hand, why should Charlie Parker, The Weather Report and John Scofield have a greater claim on jazz than Nat King Cole, Sergio Mendes and Xavier Cugat! The latter three arguably had more impact on popular music and made more people happy.

Here is the beginning of a list of places to eat in Bangkok with good options for vegetarian. Veggies, please let me know your favorites or what you think of these ones, and I will make a master list:

Indus - Indian, has veggie section on menu
Red - Indian, has veggie section on menu

Glow - Metropolitan Hotel. International, but organic rather than just
veggie.

Oriental Hotel _ (incl concession in Emporium) - does really nice
salads.

Kuppa _ I like their greek salad, and they do a fantastic grilled
vegetable salad that's just huge hunks of veggies.

Beirut. The Cedar is OK, but Beirut is better.

Supatra - Thai, on the other side of the river. 

Greyhound is OK. There are vegetarian options, and the noodle salad is
pretty good.

Guisto - the pastas are fantastic, one of the rare restaurants that
actually has substantial amount of vegetables in the pasta. The bread
basket is to die for.

Venezia _ pizza place on Suk 11 is also good. 

Why are you hot? I want to know. Most of us by now know why New York rapper Mims, my homie from Washington Heights, is hot. For those of you who haven't heard his hit song (lyrics here), the reasons are:

Mims is:

1. Fly

By which he means he is:

• Irresistable to many women.
• Dons spiffy, expensive attire, and a valued customer at stores
• Knows slang and things about the streets you don't

2. Makes people dance

3. Prone to jeolousy, violence and criminal behavior, both petty and felonious

4. Can sell a million copies of a rap record without saying a thing

Mims also says he's hot because he represents NY and loves "dirty dirty," something he shares in common with me.

Why I'm hot

I'm:

1.Fly, but in a different way

• Also irresistable to women, though admittedly a smaller set
• Reject conspicuous consumption
• Know big words and lots of other things you don't

2. I love to dance

3. Don't drink, don't eat meat, do practice yoga

4. I don't have to blog, the writing I work on for my job is seen or heard by hundreds of millions of people every day

Why are you hot? Give four reasons!

Yikes! From front page of today's International Herald Tribune:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/25/asia/thai.php 

Thai generals ask former assassin to be security adviser

BANGKOK: Frustrated by their inability to pacify a Muslim insurgency and concerned about rising impatience toward their rule, Thailand's generals have named a former commando and self-described assassin as their top security adviser.

The appointment this month of Pallop Pinmanee, a retired general notorious for his harsh tactics but admired for his survival instincts, appears to be an acknowledgement that the military-backed government's conciliatory approach toward Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand has failed.

"The way to solve the problem in the south is to get the people on your side," Pallop said in an interview this week. But if the violence continues, he said, the military should carry out "search and destroy" missions against the insurgents. "If we cannot make them surrender, then we have no choice - we have to destroy them."

From someone monitoring the situation:

the issue you talk about has been at the heart of the struggle since the beginning of the new wave of southern violence.

 

From someone who grew up in the south:

The problem was not serious around 20 - 30 years ago. There were people tried to be free. Thai gov controlled them by hired people in that area (spy) to tell gov officers if there was someone want to do something bad. This organization worked really well. That's why the problem started 30 years ago but they were not success. In Taksin era he cut the support of this organization. so i closed down. Bad people killed many people (no one knew about their plan anymore). Taksin sent soldiers and polices who weren't people in that area. They cannot communicate, didn't understand eac other and soldiers captured many wrong one. Muslim loves each other so much. When their relative were killed without reason they thought gov didn't protect them anymore. It was easier to bad people to spread bad rumor about thai gov. Bad people Persuade and taught wrong doctrine to people there. The problem here there were origin and reasons but no end.

 

I went to Gazebo, just off the end of Khao San road down from Gullivers about 100 meters. Its easy to find, everyone knows it.

What a great and fun crowd, a mix of Thais, local foreign residents and travellers. One room was a dance club playing all kinds of music. The other was an open air chill out bar. It stayed open very very late.

It's the best after hours place I've been to so far. The one on soi 11 and Blur can be fun as well, but this one's international flavor puts it in a different league!

Please note I went to the sometimes fun Black and White on Suk Soi 1 on Thursday and it was empty. There was one drunken cute coyote dancer and her friend sucking on a sheesh pipe, a pair of girls, and our crew.

Translators wept and raised their voices in anger to match the emotions of the Iraqis they were interpreting during a recent BBC World segment on Sadr City.  This is the first time I've seen this technique used. It seemed mostly effective, but hearing the gasps and sniffles of the translator speaking for a woman who had lost her husband veered close to overkill. On the other hand, emotion is what gives television news its impact, as Anderson Cooper knows.

You can see the segment, which is good, here:

 < http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6650000/newsid_6658900?redirect=6658981.stm&news=1&nbram=1&bbwm=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1 >

Someone told me that all the notes and propaganda left by the insurgents from the beginning mention revenge for Muslims killed by Thai security forces. Anyone have any info on this?

I suspect that the Thai authorities or their proxies are killing Muslims in the deep south on a regular basis as part of efforts to suppress the insurgency there. However, I've seen no evidence.

Does anyone have any thoughts or information on this?

My hunch is based on a few things.

First of all, the Thai government has admitted to recently covering up one such incident.

Second, there was a recent series of tit-for-tat attacks which the government flatly claimed were all by Muslims.

Third, the Tak Bai and Krue Sae incidents, the disappearance of lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, and the bogus detentions of many southerners demonstrates that the authorities use such tactics. The emergency decree in 2005 gave authorities specific immunity from being held to account for such tactics.

Muslims as well as Buddhists are getting killed down there almost every day.

What is going on?

Opinions, facts, and advice on resources that could shed light on this would be appreciated. Feel free to pass on names of people who are in a position to talk about it.

Is the Thai media addressing this at all, beyond repeating the government line that hard-line Muslims insurgents and criminal elements are preying on other Muslims?

---

References:

May 1, 2007

Thai army admits government-backed militia, not insurgents, shot dead four Muslim youths

¶ BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ A Thai army spokesman acknowledged Tuesday that four Muslim youths riding in a pickup truck had been shot dead by government-backed village defense volunteers, rather than Islamic insurgents as authorities had originally announced.

Full article at http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=6936&z=163

May 26, 2007

Distrust, brutality and gun glut puts Thai south at risk of communal combat

¶ BAN BALA, Thailand (AP) _ Failed government efforts to quell the Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand have left the area's Buddhists frustrated, armed and raring to fight back.
¶ The violence has taken an ominous turn lately with a string of what have appeared like tit-for-tat outrages.
¶ On March 14, hooded insurgents ambushed a van and killed eight Buddhists, including two teenage schoolgirls. That evening, two bombs outside a nearby mosque and at a teashop killed three Muslims and injuring about 20, and five days later, gunmen opened fire at a dormitory of an Islamic boarding school, killing three students.
¶ On Saturday, a bomb at a mosque killed at least one man. Two days later, the bodies of two Buddhist men _ one of them beheaded _ were found along with a note saying the slayings were revenge for the mosque bombing.
¶ It's the first time Islamic institutions have been targeted since the insurgency broke out in 2004.
¶ No one has claimed responsibility, and the government has maintained that all the attacks _ on both Buddhists and Muslims _ have been carried out by Muslim militants bent on stirring communal tensions, and have discounted any suggestions that they involve Buddhist acts of vengeance.

See full article at: http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/04/26/southern_thai_violence_takes_new_turn/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tak_Bai_Incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Thailand_insurgency

I've been searching for interesting blogs by or for people living in Bangkok.

 The best resource I found was this: http://technorati.com

Some other interesting ones:

http://bangkokok.typepad.com/weblog/
http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/
http://2bangkok.com/
http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/
http://www.mangosauce.com/

http://teakdoor.com/

http://bangkokrecorder.com

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:_kkTqHsVyhUJ:www.kobayashi.co.th/sukhumvit/sk_soi.html+82+Soi+Sukhumvit+40+%22forty+street+mansion%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1  (highly useful list of apartments without broker fees)

http://www.notstickmanbangkok.com/

Technorati Profile

Please let me know your favorites. (Include your own blog by all means!)

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