Music

My friend Mark sent this over. The music is aight. I'm a fan because of the name, which reminds me of my blogs incorrect spelling which irks me at times. It should be les enfants perdus not les enfant perdus. Oh well. Enjoy!

That's not my name

Someone starts the cd and my worries begin. Its not from the shadow boxing. I don't fear the fight, I don't fear getting hurt, instead my phobia is of developing a Pavlovian response to the music. Just like a dog who rings a bell to get food and so loves bells I worry that this old mutt might turn into a fighting machine when The Tings Tings come on. My fists punch the air and I think about kneeing people. I imagine the dim lights of Lumpinee, the smell of menthol, the third man in the ring and my blows landing against my opponent as the lead singer screams "That's not my name!" When I get punched I can only envision myself kicking my opponent back in the arm repeatedly, screaming over and over and over again; "That's not my NAME! THAT'S NOT MY NAME!!!"



We play the same few cds over and over here at the gym which reinforces my actions to music. This can obviously be a good thing, like who doesn't get excited during the Rocky soundtrack, but the Ting Tings? Bummer.

I am slated to fight at Lumpinee on February 26th. Its in about 2 and a half weeks. I have to drop about four kilos which is the only thing that is haunting me. I hate cutting weight. I'm hoping to drop down to 68 or 69 kilos the week before the fight that way I only have to cut two or 3 kilos. Maybe if I quit eating all that fucking rice.

My time here at Sitmonchai has been enjoyable. I've been practicing my Thai a lot and of course have been tested several times on it. Unfortunately my version of Talay Jai is still somewhat stilted sounding. P' Ay yelled at me about it telling me to sing smoother. Unfortunately I'm no Carrabao. Soon though, soon.

Chimatli discovered another good hit with CarCrash International that is worth checking out.



I've also joined twitter on the suggestion of several friends out here. Twitter seems particularly good for news streaming. There is a constant run of information about the recent surge of activity on the Thai/Cambodian border. The conflict has been a rallying point for the nationalistic sect of the yellow shirts. It should be interesting to see what happens. There are rumors of a coming coup, but there are always rumors of coups out here.

I've been following Thai politics pretty closely out here which is interesting. There are a couple good sites I'd recommend:

Khi Kwaii

Bangkok pundit

New Mandala

Pistol whipping and Carabao

"Matt, Matt," he said followed by several sharp raps on the door. I had been dozing lightly. "Go jogging na, jogging."

I got out of the bed and put in my contacts. I ran some toothpaste over my teeth to freshen my breath. My toothbrush was back in Bangkok, 95 kilometers away, about 60 miles. I opened the door to my shared bedroom. My roommate is a tall skinny Japanese guy that stayed up late last night and got drunk, oh those Japanese!

A small brown table sits right in front of the door for the Thais and the farang to eat at. A few feet further in front is the ring, and to the left are the heavy bags. It is a simple gym, and has the usual Thai glamour to it.

I slipped on my shoes and stretched waiting for the critical mass of folks to start jogging. Today the run was mainly myself, a 15 year old named Tam who led the way, a russian boy and his father. We ran down the streets of Kanchanburi province, mainly along a khlong. The view was uninspiring and mainly composed of roadside buffalo shit, the passing motorbike, and a heap of destroyed spirit houses. After we had ran 5 kilometers we returned to the gym, another 5 kilometers. Then it was the glorious living of Muay Thai.

On my way out to the gym in the mini van from Victory Monument to Thamaka I finished reading Ernest Hemingway's "Across the River and Into the Trees." Hemingway in his usual terseness tells the story of an aged colonel who falls in love with a young woman while in Venice, or some fancy European city. The book opens up with the colonel doing what men do, hunt. The former soldier takes exacting shots at ducks while in some sort of contraption called a blind. When he is not shooting he is drinking gin. Eventually pleased, at least to some degree, with his day of sport he returns to the city where he speaks an endless amount of lovesick babble to his sweetheart. Their conversations are ridiculous and when they are not, they are boring prattles about food.

"Excuse me," he said. "Be comfortable, honey dog, please. You asked me to tell you. (she wanted him to talk about the war.)"
"I'm not your honey dog. That must be someone else."
"Correct. You're my last and true and only love (vomit). Is that correct? But you asked me to tell you."
"Please tell me," the girl said. "I'd like to be your honey dog if I knew how to do it. But I am only a girl from this town that loves you (gag)."
"We'll operate on that," the Colonel said. "And I love you (barf). I probably picked up that phrase in the Philippines."

There are some redeeming aspects to their affair of the heart. He teaches her how to pistol whip a fool!

"Incidentally, Daughter, the weapon, not the old pistol, the real pistol, has missed more people in combat than probably any weapon in the world. Don't ever let anyone give you one unless you want to hit people on the head with it at Harry's bar. ...hit him with the barrel, not with the butt. The butt is awfully slow, and it misses and if it lands you get blood on your hands when you put the gun away." p.184

Sage words Hemingway.

Along with learning how to pistol whip I've also been studying my Thai. Next week I hope to have this song by Carabao memorized as all the trainers have asked me, repeatedly to sing it. Next week I said I would do so.

Letters from Thailand

Bangkok, the eternal city, the city of angels... My plane landed late at night, and it took me some time to be processed through immigration and to the sathorn house. I've been staying with friends whom I've lived with before. They moved from where we were living to a new spot in the silom business district. Next to the house is one of the largest office buildings in the area. While most of the international businesses run down sukumwit, the silom features most of the international banks. Droves of office workers flood our small little side soi during the day to eat at the local side street restaurants. The steady stream of hungry proles has inflated the price of food around here from the reasonable price of 30 baht for a dish to 35 baht. Unbelievable!!!

I've spent the last few days since my arrival having sanuk. This has meant lots of clubs both at appropriate hours and after hours. I've spent two nights this week at the after hours club Wongs, which is located close to the sathon house, a short 40 baht ride. Staying up til 5 am drinking at a bar with friends is an outrageous amount of fun but has been damaging to having a regular sleep schedule.

Along with my exciting night life I've been running and exploring the area. The house is located close to Lumpini park. I've enjoyed running to the park and seeing the serene crab grass landscape. They have a handful of ridiculous exercise machines that are for public use. Old people tend to like the weird contraptions the most, I guess age makes one more excited for oddities.

Coming back to BKK has made me interested in Thai politics once again. A friend and I were able to check out the mass gathering around Central World today. With over 30,000 people attending the protest shows the obvious strength and continuing divide within the country. The protest was peaceful when I was there and mainly were people hanging out listening to Isaan music, and/or the speakers. Former Prime Minister Thaksin spoke at one point via a cell phone call, evidently the red shirts do conference calls. The protest was to commemorate the deaths of protesters last year. There was a violent class between the red shirts and the police in which 90 were injured or killed. There has been an interesting class aspect to the red/yellow shirt division with the red shirts being composed of the peasant class and working class within thailand while the yellow shirts tend to be more middle and upper class.

A friend and I were talking about the take over of space between the two colors. The red shirts have taken over a main center of Bangkok business shutting down the high scale shopping in the area. This impact of local/urban business can be juxtaposed to the yellow shirts take over of the Suvarnabhumi airport in eastern Bangkok. While the red shirts impacted local economy the yellow shirts laid seige to the national and international economy of Thailand. The seizure of planes at the airport damaged travel tremendously and Thailand's economy is bolstered heavily by tourism. Looking at the take over of space we can see the class/cultural differences between the two groups. For the peasantry the appropriation of an urban area can be seen as an attempt to claim a "right to the city," removed from Bangkok itself the peasants have a spectacular relationship to the city. Most of the capital is centred in the city while little goes out to support the areas in which they live. With the growing popularity of the internet in the Isaan area the peasants are gaining a virtual access to the city without a physical port to plug into. The yellow shirt acquisition of the airport was an attempt to wrest national power back into their hands, it can be seen as a "right to the state."

The economic impact of the airport take over and the occupation of the Central World area was roughly the same, according to my Thai friend, a native Bangkok resident. While the economic damage is the same the amount of time the two occupations took have been starkly different. The yellow shirts were far more strategically savvy by taking over the airport causing more damage in a week than the two month siege by the red shirts. The red shirts caused a fair amount of terror though as they burned buildings whilst the yellow shirts engaged in no property damage. This is a class difference as well, poor people are always viewed as more violent than the cultured and non violent rich, who merely engage in systematic violence hegemonically.

The violence between the two camps will probably continue on. This will be unfortunate in the coming few years as the health of the 85 year old King is in decline. The King's reign has been a benign impact on Thailand and his regency has been a visible stabilizer within the country during its series of coups and instabilities. With the death of the King a power vacuum will be created. The next in line is the unpopular second child of the royal family, a son. The stabilizing void caused by his death is also not talked about amongst the Thais as they revere their god status king whom has an Orwellian Big Brother appearance throughout the country and abroad (next time you stop in a Thai Restaurant $10 says there's a picture somewhere in the place with a picture of the King. If not you're probably not in a Thai restaurant).

Politics should be interesting out here to say the least.

While running regularly I haven't been training. Hopefully I'll get to that soon. In the meantime I've been catching up on some great music. My latina musical swami Chimatli has been posting some great jams of late. Kid sister throws some solid beats, while Deux has bitching electronic. I of course like the Sisters of Mercy cover that she put on. In addition to the jams from Chimatli I've been listening to some new electronica. My friend recently suggested Boys Noise. Boys Noise falls into the same camp as Bloody Beetroots, Dj Steve Aoiki, and Mstrkft. Arguably this new "hard" electronic is distinctively punk as noted by my homie over at Dead Time Pacifies.



Given my copious amount of free time I plan on keeping the blog updated regularly going back to my once a week production schedule. Stay tuned for more awesome shit!!!

Depeche Mode

Nowhere Girl

David Bryne talks about space and music

Covenant

One day I will actually write on this blog again. Until then I will post more music videos!
Huzzah!

Covenant-Happy Man



Like Tears in Rain

Cee Lo Green- Fuck you!

Today's Jam!

Put on the jams that way we can dance!

A band without vowels, awesome. Their dancing pop sound is pretty swinging too. I heard the first one last night, Heartbreaker. Their video is visually appealing, I mean who doesn't want to be in some random store in Mexico flirting with a latina babe? I do!

Check it out here.

The second video is at first quite understandable, sexy secretary types groping on some milk shakes. The second part is unnerving. Who goes into orgasmic writhing at the dentist's? Maybe when the office has a disco ball and weird pink liquid is pouring down on your body.

Check that shit out here.

The Presets

All of my People


The Girl and the Seat

Wrong!

Last night I went to a goth club. There were a ton of goth people there, mainly older rather portly goths. I always thought that goths were supposed to be skinny, tending on the smaller side. Maybe there is a difference between east coast goths and west coast goths, the west side tending to be fatter or maybe that's what happens when goths get old. The whole experience scared me a little, but I guess that's what goths are good for.

Depeche Mode's song "Wrong" reminded me of the experience. The video rules and is worth watching.

Dont change a thing for me! INXS

OMD- Electricity!

An Ode to the S and a cry of the M

I haven't been that into Adam Ant but recognize his talent. He was actually a fierce competitor with Crass back in the day. The synth pop group hated Crass, and vice versa. Crass was too hard nosed with their politics, Adam Ant didn't give a shit about anything. The battle is recounted in The Story of Crass which I reviewed a while ago.



This is a recently found gem. Who taught you to torture!?

When I met you you were just sixteen
Pulling the wings off flies
When an old lady got hit by a truck
I saw the wicked gleam in your eyes

Your sadistic suits my masochistic
And there's a whip in my valise on yeah

Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught ya?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you?

Describe the special punishment room
Over my garage,
There's a whipping post, a vertical beam
You have to be in charge*

I paid a packet
For a new straight jacket
There's a whip in my valise oh yeah

Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught ya?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you?

You put my head into the stocks
And then you went to choose a cane
But hey, your cat has got nine tails
You like to leave me lame

I can't thank her, my Sunday Spanker
There's a whip in my valise oh yeah

Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you the torture?
Who taught ya?
Who taught ya?
Who taught ya?
Who taught you?

I'm also a big fan of Iggy, especially when he was with the Stooges. Raw Power is a great thrashing garage album! I was thinking of this song the other day when I was looking at my young asian friend. She's naive, impressionable, and horribly moral. I'm pretty sure she's going to hell!

Goodbye Ian Curtis

The other day I saw a picture of my friend in a Cold Cave shirt. I remember watching one of their videos on his blog then forgetting about them. In a recent wave of torrent downloading I went back to the band. I enjoy their low fi sound. Obviously they've been extremely influenced by one of my favorite bands; Joy Division along with New Order. Their synth pop style probably comes from the latter while their vocalizations and mood the former.

Its worth noting that the lead singer of Cold Cave was a sXe kid whom dropped the edge and became a full fledged drug toting hipster. Do this mean that all kids who break edge make better music?



The beginning of this song sounds pretty similiar to Q Lazzarus' "Goodbye Horses," made famous in "Silence of the lambs."



Cold Cave plays the idea of gender in this video, a trope in these modern days for sure but its still a pretty good song.



What I see in Cold Cave is the way in which music returns to itself. The bands that we love and admire disappear, they are recreated by later generations, a perpetual reincarnation.

Music Round up

Camouflage- Love is a shield


The Chameleons- Swamp Thing

The Chauffeur

If I was to be reborn I'm pretty sure I'd want to be reincarnated as a member of duran duran. Another reason why is this video.

More Music!

Nothing like being a sappy white guy that gets butt hurt over a girl.

Totally unrelated I've been listening to Television the last couple days



This is how I feel about me and my "peers," all their blank stares really get to me and my over-aged teen angst.

Pop Music

I go through phases with bands, and with music. Lately I've been listening to Vampire Weekend. They're okay at best. They have two catchy songs, the ones below. They remind me of UB40 the pop reggae band of the 80s.





UB40!!