October 19, 2007-Soi Dog Blues

Soi Dog Blues Band

A bit ragged this morning; too long of a night at Tokyo Joe’s listening to the Soi Dog Blues Band; too much dancin’ in the street and howlin’at the moon, too much of the drop that I drink. But a good night it was for one and all, I’ll give it that.

We find the music scene, if we stay long enough and if there is one, in every place we visit and we found the music we like best in Bangkok at Tokyo Joe’s Blues Bar. Ranks up there with the warehouse that one lost night in Noumea and the stage in the park in Papeete, or the clubs in Brisbane, but none of them top Seattle in the 90’s. We went to Tokyo Joe's again last night.

The Fugitives were playing when we arrived and they pulled up some old Bob Dylan just for us, or that’s what we thought, since we’ve just finished reading Dylan’s autobiographical Chronicles and we’ve been thinking and talking about him and his music. They sang Just Like a Woman and gave it to the blues…“but she breaks just like a little girl”. And later a Beatles song: “one thing I tell you, you just got to be free”. Mixed in with some other old songs of other genre’s, and the swirling smoke and pints of Guinness and the crowd of fat white guys and laughing Thai girls; we got into it.

When the Soi Dog Blues Band started playing Judy started dancing, some Thai guy in the crowd joined her once and by the middle of the set she’d dragged me off my bar stool too and we didn’t care if we were the only people in the place on our feet; we were lost to the fun of it.

I don’t really remember much of it after that, just a few images and sounds, the jangling guitars and the rattle of the snare drums and the intensity of the singer who said he hasn’t given up his day job, the hooker in the corner with the Tina Turner hair and all the gold bracelets and a cell phone and a cigarette in her long fingers hanging behind her back to keep the smoke out of the eyes of her john; us talking to the band members when they went on break, and somewhere in all this we ordered tacos, and they were good too, but I can’t say what was in them.

I guess for us, cruising includes the bars.

Judy & Jet




Fred & Judy, Bangkok


Click here for a short clip taken with my phone, but don't expect much fidelity.