Now the pressure was on. As my departure date loomed, I had to get this album done, at least from what I could do myself. What was left a song that needed lyrics, and the song with the most sensitive vocal of the album. Aden also came home from Christmas break and our 7am mornings returned. I was so nervous about the massive readjustment after enjoying sleeping in (and I could get used to this not working stuff), but Tuesday morning I was up before the alarm, and feeling quite good. It got harder as the week went on, tho, except for Saturday, my last day in town, I was up at 8, Aden came in and jumped on me, knowing I was leaving that night.
So, for the first song, which needed lyrics, I had a track, swaggering, lurching, a wicked guitar riff and big chorus. I knew it needed to be sexy, but I didn’t want to write overtly about…doin’ it. I mean, Muddy Waters et al sort of did that as good as I can imagine it being. In fact, I love ambiguity, and leaving the space for the listener to feel their way thru the meaning–you’re in the dark, but your hands on something interesting, and occasionally you see enough to know you like where you’re going. Writing, esp. when covering the grounds of seduction and animal magnetism, can be a cliche ridden field of dung…I mean, it’s easy to start turning into W.A.S.P. when you go for that kind of thing. So, the first nite, I timidly mumbled what the French call a ‘yoghurt’ into a hand held microphone, which means singing phonetic nonsense with the melody. I didn’t come up with any words, or even a theme/hook. But…the genesis of the idea of the song–about attraction, intimacy, all those sticky things, was in my head. I woke up that morning, the famous first day back at school for Aden, before the alarm, with two lines in my head that fit the verse melody. Well, that was a start. I procrastinated further, playing some guitar and tambourine on the track, then as night fell…I opened a couple of bottles of champagne (in succession–Aden spent the night at a friend’s and Dom was tolerant!) and got into it. Finally felt pretty good after a few vocal takes and backing vocals. The next morning I listened to the results, and started to edit something together. There were lines where I deviated from the text I’d written down and said something off the cuff–and you can hear the increased slurring of my words as the takes go on. It swaggers, tho…that’s for sure. I worked on more backing vocals to support this beastie and sent it off. It’s unhinged in a nice way, and by putting some tight BVs on it…it really sounds pro, just a little out there. Sort of a Bowie meets Nick Cave vibe.
Thursday night: my last nite to work on the album at home. I’d long before made an appointment to get some modifications done to my ProTools interface by Black Lion Audio which meant I had to ship out on Friday to make it. So, here was “You’re A Sign” a gorgeous (IMNSHO) love pean to Dominique. So, important subject matter, and I have to say, I loved the vocal on the demo so much, it was just one of those moments that happened, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be able to do that again. I did a couple of vocal takes and wasn’t really pleased with the results. It was going to be a long haul. I did however import the demo and saw it was roughly the same length as the album version. Could it be the same tempo? We know a stopped clock is accurate far more often than one that’s off by two seconds, so…if the tempos were close but no cigar it was also going to be a lot of work. I gave it a shot tho. But, it got frustrating…the amount of work either route would take seemed frustrating, and it was already like 9pm. So…Dom and Aden calmed me down. I was getting stressed with all the pressure–like, finish the most important vocal, your record, and get your studio shipped off before you leave for Asia for a month! Yikes. We opened some wine, I walked away for awhile, and then was able to face it again. I worked on the synching the demo vocal, as it had some irreplaceable, never-in-a-million-takes moments, and then set up a mic like I would have used when I did that vocal, tried to match levels, and did some punch ins. And it was working. I got it to where I felt good about it, and went to bed relieved.
So Friday, I had to edit this all together, really make it tight with the track. I punched in quite a bit more, I was feeling more confident and the sound was matching well. Then it was time to do photos for my album art! And then ship my stuff off to the states. When I came back from La Poste, we picked Aden up from school and I babysat. It was a chance to spend some time with Aden alone before I took off for Asia. We sat in her room and played Operation, they have a small version, a little simpler than the one I knew from the 70s. The game wasn’t important. What was important was to do something of her choosing, enter her world. Have a giggle. But…when Dom came back I had another listen to my vocal and I found a couple of spots that could be better. So I set up my Mbox and did a couple of more lines, and I may have even done the harmonies on this set up….I know that tambourine was done, too…it all got sent off. Meanwhile, TheLAB was sending mixes IN. So, I listened to those with Dominique and made comments, and caught up with friends over a bottle of wine, and had a fairly restful night.
Saturday– my last day at home for some time. I woke up early, 8am, just as Aden came in and jumped on me–she was feeling it too, my imminent departure. I wanted to make the most of my day. So, we suited up and headed to the market, had oysters and wine, my weekly steak du cheval…basically had Sunday on a Saturday. Shot a few more photos. Made sure I was packed. Then, kisses goodbye, everyone came down to see me off into the taxi at 6.30 that evening. Hard to go.
But, what was coming…wow. Well, certainly not cold comfort.
If we are to judge a country by its airlines and airports, seriously, why does the US always have to be so…FLOABW, ghetto? I mean, why do foreign airlines consistently show better taste in American films than US airlines? Er, and what’s with the 70s style, middle of the aisle, barely viewable monitors? I’m surprised I’m not being handed those plastic stethoscope style headsets with the rubber ear pads (ow). And the dingy, grungy, terminals. Argh. Getting Etihad last night to fly to Abu Dhabi was like traveler heaven–check the big screen (iPad sized) in each seat back for viewing a selection of well chosen films. There were like 5 films I wanted to see, too bad I actually needed to sleep on this flight. We’ll see how we do going to Bangkok. And get this–a 110V outlet (PLUS a USB outlet). Yep. Every seat had one. In 2012, with everyone on various devices, is there any reason that this isn’t standard? I can’t think of one. Let’s put it this way–Etihad is one of the most cost effective airlines for flying from Europe to Asia or Australia. So, it’s not driving costs up, tech wise or fuel consumption wise, to put a little juice in the seat. To be honest, not everyone was using their outlet. So buck up American, United, US Airways, Delta–give everyone individual entertainment options, do NOT make me sit thru Hollywood dreck, and let me charge my laptop, so at least I can entertain myself if you can’t do it. Oh, and the staff on Etihad are friendly. I really don’t want to end up with more road-raged Yankee airline staff. Choose life! Also, I should mention that yes, inflight wifi for $5 a flight is a good deal—if your laptop can stay powered up that long. I should also mention that Cathay Pacific biz class had a system for checking email in flight…over water…in 200 fucking 5.
BTW, as you’d expect, SeaTac is a decent airport, they don’t all blow chunks, but…free wifi helps. Charles de Gaulle could be a little less stingy and offer wifi for an hour free like Schiphol. CDG offers 15 minute free sessions. 15 minutes! You can change browsers and, depending on if you can hop from Firefox to Chrome to Safari–extend that to 45.
So, thumbs up to Abu Dhabi int’l for looks, cleanliness, ease of navigation, and free wifi. Could use a few more charger outlets, and uh, toilet paper. Wipe-fi before wifi!
Flight to Bangkok was equally pro on Etihad. In Bangkok I had to walk almost half a mile in the new (to me, I last flew into BKK in the old joint, in 2006) shiny airport, from one terminal to the other, to pick up my boarding pass and board my couple-hours long flight to Vientiane. Was pleased to see that even tho on this short hop they didn’t have entertainment or outlets or those mod cons but they served a delicious meal, which for a flight of less than two hours is above and beyond the call. I wanted to see the lights of Vientiane come into view but I passed out, woke up when we hit the tarmac.
It’s always mysterious to come to a place you don’t know in the night, and try to get your bearings. Vientiane’s airport is pretty small, we were the only large-ish jet there that night. Stepping down the steps, you could smell woodsmoke–someone was prob. burning cleared stubble etc from a field. First step was to get my visa, a form was filled out, a few dollars paid, a photo handed over, and then a beautiful sticker went in my passport.
My bag was on the belt, already stopped. I changed a handful of dollars for a shitload of kip, and exited to fine Tom, a musician with the band I’m playing with here, waiting for me. Tom does PR for an industrial company here, and has lived with his wife, both from Britain, for over a decade in Laos. He drove me over to the Mark Two, a brand new venue in town, which has an adjoining hotel, where I had a room waiting for me. T., one of the owners, came to greet us, an ambitious young man, who was a great host. Soon I was on the terrace, eating brochettes and sipping Beer Lao. Beer Lao might also be called: the economy. It’s a powerful brand here, maybe the most powerful brand. People tend to drink it over ice here, in lowball glasses. After some munchies, we went into the venue, a fancy, glitzy joint–a band banged it out onstage, I think all covers, but mostly Thai pop songs and some mainstream US rock that even I didn’t recognize. The band had tag team singers, one male, one female, and the songs segued, so there was never one second’s breath in the action, quite clever, as it made it really hard to leave. I fell into the crowd of Laos’ most successful record producer, who also is a very successful party-er, and saw he and his friends decimating a bottle of Johnny Walker–and if my beer got warm or less than 2/3 full, it was replaced. I knew where this was going! So, as midnite came, I gracefully excused myself and went to bed.
I had really weird jet lag dreams! Wow. Aliens that ripped people’s heads off with tentacles, and parallel lives that were just…too hard to explain.
Up at 9.30, and still groggy with jet lag. I made my way downstairs and caught up on the latest mixes for my album, making notes and comments. Nothing around in the way of breakfast but I was more than well fed between all the in flight meals and the arrival snacks. But, my hosts, two lovely young folks from the promoters office, whose one syllable names I’m not sure what letters to assign, San, Sou? As best as I can tell their names are spelled Sunny and Lay. Which is delightful in itself. Took me first to lunch. Now, here we can talk about foreign influences in Laos. As that is a major part of the story. Laos has been invaded many times over the years–and thus the actuality of foreign influences, and the occasional resentment of foreign intervention, is a big part of the picture. Thailand in particular seems to have a fairly unilateral view of the relationship–Laos, at least, will say that they are treated unjustly like poorer, lesser cousins. But, with the linguistic similarities between Thai and Lao, the potential for crossover exists and it in actuality manifests in pop songs–in recent years Lao bands and artists have had hits in Thailand. Thai pop songs are ubiquitous here. In fact, a gap was open for them as it was only in the last decade that rock music was allowed here at all. Lao music was deemed to be officially folk/classical and anything else was evidence of corruption by foreign influence. Trade in the 1980s/90s was quite limited beyond the region. In fact, Laos’ Socialist Republic was largely backed and instigated by Vietnam, and thus was subjected to Vietnam’s own estrangement from China and the USA. Like Vietnam, this has opened up in recent years, but I would say that Laos is not quite as accessible as Vietnam–nor is it as big, nor does have sea ports, so…it’s a little more isolated to this day. It is the poorest, in terms of per capita wealth, between it and its neighbors.
The city itself has perhaps 750,000 people now. It still feels small–there are no high rises to speak of, a couple of office and government buildings that are perhaps 6 stories high. It’s said that no buildings are allowed to exceed the height of the victory arch (see below). So looking out over the city from the Arc you see a lot of green, and some red roofs sticking thru, and of course the stronger, steeper roofs of the temples, with their gold and green facades visible below. It’s calm, in general, and if you’re inside one of the temple enclaves it’s serene. I didn’t see a ton of tourists, and it seemed like most of them were clustered at a row of coffee shops on the main drag. Many main tourist sites, the more famous temples, we had almost to ourselves.
So. Foodwise, Vietnam is the biggest influence–for example, we started our day with Pho, tho the Lao twist. A few more spicy sauces and things to add, in general, more ingredients and more flavors. Mine had thin slices of tripe, noodles, a little ball of meat, what I believe is congealed duck blood, and then of course all the leaves and veggies you can add, that would be familiar to any Pho-phile around the world. But green beans were always in the mix, too. One of the things to do with them is dip them in salty, pungent shrimp paste. Or various chili sauces, some sweet, some extremely hot. A side dish of boiled beef was there to be generously rolled in hot chili sauce. I took it easy at first on spices. This particular place was very popular, quite full at noon when we were there. The kitchen was in the front, outside in fact–as you walked in, you passed a busy squared off space with no walls, just hemmed in by various cooking devices, mostly boiling tureens.
We drove on, to have an espresso (loads of expats, locals drink either ice tea, Beer Lao, or Pepsi, as far as I can see). Then to see the many temples and monuments in Vientiane’s center. In fact, as every village has a temple, and every neighborhood is like a village, I believe we passed more than two dozen temples just in the parts of Vientiane we drove thru. We visited the most famous ones, as well as the city’s most famous national monuments–it’s own Arc du Triomphe, and the spiky gold fingers of Pha That Luang. I was impressed by how much commerce was managed inside the Arc itself, it’s a national monument and knick knack mall, all in one. I enjoyed the drive out to the countryside along the Mekong, to the Spirit Park. This is a collection of statuary, thoroughly naive art, built in the 1950s. The main feature is a massive gourd shaped building, with a frightening mouth to enter and exit thru, very small and cramped, and you end up in a passage that circles an inner chamber–you can’t enter that chamber, but you can look thru portholes. Eventually you come across some stairs that take you up to another level. And then another. And then you can wriggle out another mouth at the top to get on the roof of the thing. The levels are said to represent hell (the dark, bottom layer–that you actually can enter by going up a level and then down into pure darkness. As I have plenty of time for hell later, I passed on that. The earth and heaven layers seemed awfully similar to me–full of frightening, snake-armed deities and creatures, none of which really seemed appealing…certainly not the celestial heaven where all dogs go etc. The final step, on the roof is such a relief that I can only imagine that its inspiration is Nirvana.
Now, this place–the whole park, was conceived and constructed under the supervision of a religious enthusiast named Bunleua Sulilat. He fused Buddhist and Hindu imagery into what I think is a masterpiece of naive art. There is a 100 or more foot reclining Buddha, various Kali and multi headed elephants. It’s peaceful there. He did something right…I felt the most at home here.
On the way back to town, we pulled up to a roadside restaurant for an incredible meal–incredible for the she-male server that served us, very graceful and very big boned. And the array of food–the main attraction was duck blood jelly, as they translate it. It’s really a soup, made of, well, duck’s blood. it’s been cooked, but it’s not grey like the stuff in Chinese or Vietnamese soups (tho I do believe this too is an import from Vietnamese menus), it’s still red. On top there is already basil, and you add peanuts and fried garlic slices. And there’s a more elaborate of your Pho veggies–cucumber, green beans, lettuce, basil–to add. Now, the technique is: scoop up some red and green from your bowl, start chewing on that–meantime, take a piping hot green chili and dip it in shrimp paste, bite the end off, and chew all of that together. It’s pretty orgasmic. Citrus, savory meat, spice, the salty tang of the shrimp paste–wow. We had more: Kai Lu, aka bulut–fertilized duck egg. It’s basically like a hard boiled egg, but…uh, gooey and yummy. They do come with more developed embryos inside, but most people don’t care for it so it’s harder to find. This is more like theoretical embryo–there’s something broth like with your usual egg innards. We also had a kind of ‘sausage’ as they called it, which was more like jellied pork in little slices, in the center of which was a slice of hot red chili and/or garlic. There was barbecued duck and sauce for dipping. Barbecued pork tongue. Beer Lao on ice of course, the more feminine than female server stopping by. I suspected from her broad shoulders and strong forearms, but it was her highly choreographed walk, so overtly feminine, that gave her away–the girls and women working her put a lot less effort into their looks and actions, they were more natural. I wondered what his/her sex and romantic life was like, 45 minutes from the big city, working in this little roadside restaurant.
During dinner I saw a couple of teenage girls shaking down this little tree for something. They showed me the fruit they were after–and at the end of the meal I was brought a few to try. As I gathered they are called something like ‘gatam’. They are exactly the size and shape of a cherry, with a similar sized stone, and exactly the color and texture of a green apple, with a taste vaguely apple-like. I love discovering new fruits and vegetables, all in all this was a feast. It was well dark when my hosts dropped me off at my hotel, and I’ve been working on this blog/emailing ever since, looking to get an early nite’s sleep to dive into more activities tomorrow.
Was fun to see many big flat screens around the venue with the add for Wednesday’s concert!
In general, words that come to mind for Laos are: serene, welcoming. The pace and energy of life are definitely un-frenetic. That’s partially by custom, partially by design.
Love
KS
Vientiane LAOS