Chapter 37: May 2nd Saxophone Bar

In Northeastern Phayathai area of Bangkok, just around the corner from Victory monument, is Saxophone Bar



Bangkok’s most prestigious Blues/Jazz club has two large floors, great lighting and rich collection of tasty food and drinks, and features nightly live performance by the city’s very best



Rachel and Lindi, my dear friend from Melbourne with whom I made friends in Siem Reap, Cambodia in my previous year’s Rice Farm Tour 2007, revisit Thailand again.


This time they are with Bella, Rachel’s mother. Three of them have just arrived Bangkok after the delayed flight, checked into the hotel all exhausted last night, yet they come out to fully experience the only few nights they have in Bangkok. After tomorrow night they are off to Koh Pangan for intensive yoga training.


I met Ms. Pink on the night I last played in Adhere the 13th Blues Bar, before I caught the night train to Chiang Mai to attend Vipasanna meditation. (see Chapter 2) what I didn’t know then, is that I knew her boyfriend Ped from last year. When I played on March 20th, 2007 at Adhere the 13th Blues Bar, after my little acoustic bit, the headliner Hoochie Coochie Band was smoking their blues numbers and boiling up the room. There I joined and played harmonica for a few songs, electric guitar for another, met and made fiends with Whim and Ped, two guitar players of the band. (see http://ricefarmtour2007.blogspot.com/2007/03/best-blues-bar-in-bangkok.html)


so to my happy surprise, tonight’s feature band at this gorgeous venue turned out to be the one and only Hoochie Coochie Band! As we clink up the glasses with new and old friends, the lights on the stage brighten…













I get to join in on Harmonica again! ‘Got my Mojo something…’ I think it was by Paul Butterfield’s Blues Band?





as I felt and describe last year, two guitars are like two Thai ingredients –Ped’s Stratocaster is as smooth as coconut milk, while Whim’s attacky picking on his Telecaster is spicy like a Prit Kee Nou (chili pepper)


and who is he? Didn’t catch his name but this organ player is unbelievable!





Thank you, Whim and Ped, let’s do it again!

*for more info on Saxophone bar, Hoochie Coochie Band and other goodies,
www.saxophonepub.com
www.bangkokbluesfestival.com
*photos of Rachel, Lindi, Bella and Toshiro playing Harmonica are by Lek