[quote='Maew' ได้เลยครับ..ผมก็รออยู่
[/quote]
Drum rolls please,
Another year of working at ?Sneaky Pete?s? Steak house passed by. I still hung in there and in the mean time having fun playing gigs with my first band mostly for restaurants and Thai parties. That was around 1975-1976. At that Steak house there was a jazz trio band ?Art Graham?s trio? consisted of piano, double bass and drum. As I recalled they played 4 nights a week and they are ?REAL? thing. I don?t even want to tell them that I used to be in the band before. They were all very nice though, I guess we the musicians are born that way.
I?ve met quite a lot of celebrities and movies stars that dropped by at that Steak house, I still remember once there was a big black musician that came to replaced the original one for few days. That guy just simply unbelievable with that big double bass! Sometimes I just stuck my head through the ?Whiskey AgoGo ? door just to see who?s there that making so much noise through the wall of next door neighbor!.
Let me backtrack a little bit to 1973, I?ve heard that one of the rock musician from Thailand just arrived in Los Angeles and I happened to like their band ?The Hornet? that has Henry Mitchell as the singer and front man. They are averagely about 5 years younger than ?Thanks?. so somehow I got his phone number and made a call and he happened to live with his relative at the apartment not very far from where I was (I lived in apartment around Santa Monica & Western, he lived few blocks from Hollywood & Western). I was ecstatic and went to see him right away. His name is Alongkorn Na Nakonpanom (Dang) and of course he still remember me. I like to watch them in Bangkok whenever I had a chance, they were fun to watch especially when Henry sang Joe Cocker songs all the kids gone crazy and the other 4 musician backed him up so well. Dang was the lead guitar of The Hornet, they?ve been played around GI?s camp at Udorn and some other places and eventually tried their luck in Bangkok.
He went to school and also worked, I went to school and also worked just like him to support ourselves. So we didn?t really have time to see each other often We lived cheaply and happy due to the low cost of living at that time, imagine gasoline cost 30 cent per gallon compares to almost $3.00 now, Hamburger at McDonald?s was 10 cent compares to $2.00 plus today. Gee, see how the inflation factor did to us!
It cost me and Thawat $60 a month for apartment, now you are in luck if you can fortunately enough to find a crummy apartment for $600 a month.
Then his younger brother (Boonthern Chotikamol) who played drum in his band in Thailand ( a real good drummer I might add)came over from Bangkok, so Thawat moved out of Hollywood area to Long beach area and stayed with his brother, he asked me if I wanted to come along, but I couldn?t due to job and schools that I was attending around Hollywood and closer vicinities.
I was restless without playing in any band. All of a sudden I had an idea! You see, Dang (Udom Nakhirankanok) used to play with me in Bangkok for almost a year before he quit and went to play with another band, I approached him and asked him if he wanted to form a band? Of course he said without pause! OK I got one bird in my hand. I eyed the other bird Dang (Alongkorn Na Na?) Not surprisingly he jumped in right away. Now the problem occurred, they both played guitar as a main instrument, I can take on bass no problem. As I recalled we tried to look for drummer but somehow were not satisfy with whom we found and auditioned with . Out of the blue Dang Nana (that?s how he was called so it wouldn?t get confused with another Dang U!) said he want to play drum!!!
I and Dang Udom looked at each other, what the heck, go for it Nana!.
So the ?ON THE ROCK? was officially born, we found time to practice at Dang U gas station around Eagle rock area that?s not too far from his apartment and sometimes at his apartment which we preferred because his wife (Tue, and his 2 lovely young daughters, Pui and Boom) was a very good cook and we never left hungry after the practices!
We got a first stable job at ?Thai house restaurant? at Western and Santa Monica that belonged to Khun Veerachai Thanasugarn (later on he moved back to Thailand and his youngest daughter Tammarine Thanasugarn became the only Thai tennis pro up up to now), I?m not sure but I think we played 3 nights a week and I change my job to become a factory worker( a molder at Belt buckles maker) about 2 years or so until I went back to school again in 1979.
In over all, we had a lot of fun together just 3 of us, we played any songs that we wanted to play regardless of the originalities and may I say our ability of 3 pieces band! such as Led Zep, Bee Gees, and many others. In the mean time we played most of those Thai party gigs again, mostly at those big places like ? Los Angeles Convention Center?, Biltmore Hotel in downtown.
One time we were hire to play for ?Southern Thai association? at the Convention center and the promoter said there?ll be other Local band to come and help us out about 1 hour. We said no problem, when we got there, guess who?s on the stage? It was the ?WAR?! the famous recording band at that era (Slipping in the darkness, Cisco kid, Low rider?..) We sat there jaw dropping, here they were, the real thing! And then we had to play after they done, give me a break!!!! It?s almost embarrass to do but we ploughed our way thru anyway!
I think we played at Thai House a little over a year then we got another job in Orange County at another Thai restaurant (Opaso), and I think we played 2 nights a week over there. It was a long drive from Hollywood but this restaurant was a little higher class than the first one. Right here we had more of American customers than Thai customers because it was more farther away from Hollywood vicinity that our Thai people usually loved to congregated around. But our hardcore fans still willing to drive there anyway.
In that period there were not that many Thai bands that played in Los Angeles area as many as today, I?d think one of the reasons could be the scarcity of Thai nightclubs and restaurants, and another fact is that we were no match to the ?Real things? over there. Whenever I have a chance or two to jam along with American musicians they consistently blew me off water!! And that?s a good thing I?ve learned so many ?tricks of the trade? from those guys. I might add you young guns are so lucky today, you have WEB at your mouse click to get access to any big guns at any time. If that?s not a tremendous advantage then I don?t know what to say!!
We had a chance to get mingle with another Thai musicians, they were 2 hot shots that I?d like to mention here. The first one was the one that I used to listen to his band (Fantasy 5) back in Thailand on the radio when they had LIVE broadcast. They truly are the pioneers of the young Thai kids that were crazy enough to play and try to make their living by singing foreign language! Chai was his name, he?s the leader of the band and played mostly Beatles and did a fantastic job, every member of his band was so good and yes I had few chances to see them in live actions and they were so inspirational to say the least.
Chai (Somchai Kamlertkool) went to States alone, I don?t know if it?s before or after the break-up of his band. But nevertheless he teamed up with played around in Los Angeles with another hot shot Paul. Paul (Porn Pekanan) is the son of big Thai Police chief and his legendary style of guitar playing.
They were hot shots in Los Angeles and we all looked up to them. Paul also had his own band with another Thai friend who played bass (Joom Vechayium) and another 3 local American musicians, and let me tell you, that guy Joom also blew me off water when he tapped and thumbed and doing those funky bass run style, it?s simply amazing!
There was one time that one Thai Promoter persuaded us ?On the rock? to do ?Battle of the bands? with Paul band and we inclined. It was fun as I recalled. Over all these guys are nice and down-to-earth as they can be, we become friends and I still recalled Chai also loved to play tennis and sometimes joined the Thai tennis tournament that we occasionally had in those days.
I?ve met Chai again last time around 1993 when I came to Thailand for vacation and went to visit ?Ter? at Grammy and Chai happened to take his whole family and settled down in Bangkok and worked for Grammy from ?Ter? invitation. In my opinion, Chai was one of the best Thai guitarists in those days and I wouldn?t be surprise if he still maintains that status as if today.
I haven?t seen Paul since, but I heard that he?s also back to Thailand, don?t know much about his current status, but I just hope that he?ll pass on his talent and knowledge to our younger Thai generations while he still can.
My old pal Thawat formed another Thai band in Long Beach with his brother and another 2 Thai musicians and the famous Thai singers (Kawee Thongpricha) so called ?Thai Elvis? that also was in my first band when we played at ?Bangkok House? at Long Beach when I first arrived from Thailand)where he moved to, they played at some 5 star hotel chain ( I simply don?t remember the name)
Dang U getting tire of just playing guitar, so he added another keyboard to have fun with and then request to have another guitarist when we played at "Thai House" after a while.
There was a kid that hang around with us and was studying at Cal State Long Beach University and he also played guitar and got along so well with us. We discussed this matter with our band manager (my Glendale business college classmate, Tommy Tang, who later on in his life would become a famous chef and still have his own TV show in USA now a day as I know of) and we all agreed to accept Jeff in as the 4th member(his real name is Saravoot Kaewboasai, nick name ?Tuay?, he?s the older brother of one of the best Thai female singer ?Nandthida Kaewboasai? that Thailand ever had)
It?s an instance hit for the band, the audience loved Jeff as much as we did, he was funny, young and full of life and eager to learn, we had good time together until he graduated from his school and had to come back home where he belonged. (side note here; Jeff will arrive at Los Angeles this coming May 7th and we will have first ?ON THE ROCK ? re-union at Dang Nana house in the eve of Saturday 9th ever since we?re all together almost 30 years ago, how about that!!!, less than a week away!
)
The end of part 2 (and to be continued, of course!)
Thanks for the left-over readers!!!, are you still awake!
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Story of an old man from long ago and far away
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