LaosLover

Rounding up conscripts for another country's deranged war when you don't have to is a bad look. You know that. You're pretending to be this level of obtuse so as to appear to be standing on some principle that exists solely in your head.

On Bob Seger's epochal and genius live album, Live Bullet, Saint Bob changes the lyrics of a Chuck Berry song to: She's too cute to be a minute over thirteen. Bob was having a little joke, of the type that was acceptable in that era. Cancel Bob Seger?

Overstay jail or becoming hamburger meat in Donesk? And what's in it for Thailand to fill up their jails and get a lot of bad press and pressure over it? I anticipate a swift kick into the long grass on this one. As to the unbearably petty types demanding the certain death of harmless beach goers, if I find myself on the barstool next to you, I'll be briskly and theatrically changing my seat. How are these people not refugees? They face certain oblivion back home and have done no wrong.

I read his authorized bio. Said Jerry Lee: "But....but Elvis and Priscilla". It's a mean ol' world when you're not on a major record label.

The pressure (and natural inclination) for an affluent Thai woman to pick an Asian partner over a white one would would be strong. Also, many wealthy Thais are of Chinese blood and would want to keep that blood line unpolluted. And affluent other-nationality Asians would be your competition. An Izod alligator polo shirt would not put you over. You'd want a Burberry one. So not impossible, but def a steep climb with some long odds -such as, where would you even meet such a person? Prob not on the breakfast buffet line at a 1,000 baht a night hotel. You'd need to be part of an affluent Thai social circle. How many of those are going out with blood hounds looking for broke white men?

I spent a week in Jomtien this year. Very Russian. They seem fine. Very gym-oriented. Not too chatty. If the many uh, professional Eastern European women roam free there, I have to believe small potatoes beggars are prob safe too.

If Russia demands this, that really puts Thailand in the hot seat with their oh so convenient neutrality. In the history of the world, has any nation dutifully swept up draft dodgers to deliver them back home? In the one in a million chance that Putin demanded this, Xi would speak up for his sphere of influence neighbors. Thailand jumps from China, not Russia. What's in it for China in this scenario? Other than improving your beach-experience. Can we hear more about how Russian holidayers are harshing your mellow?

Brooke Shields, call your lawyer if your pension needs a top up.

Back when I was actively and enthusiastically dodging the draft, old leftie types said I had to be quaker or something and go to jail on principle to "legitimately" protest the draft. What about the principle of enlightened self-interest? I didn't want to sign up for 2 years of the worst phys ed class of all time, one where someone might be shooting at me. Period. Any young person on the same wave length is my friend.

I personally find it impossible to say the phrase, We Are The World without its irresistible rejoinder of "so let's start giving". Just such a perfect nonsense-lyric. But if I see some Ivan begging as war protest, I'm good for a 20 baht note (warning: only one 20 baht hand out-recipient per day. Blind singers from Issan take precedence).

You'll get grassed by the maid. Even if you toss her a 50 baht note a day. A lot of Thai people hate pot. If they smell it, they'll rat you out too. If paying above a thousand baht room rate, Thai people have no tolerance for Farang aroma's (they already think we stink anyway). I got caught out. The front desk asked me about unspecified "smoking". I blamed my wife and promised not to do it again. I just booked a hotel for a pot degenerate friend (lives in Japan, hasn't smoked pot in a decade). I booked a place with a discrete alley next to it. I went over to inspect it -plenty of blunt ends in that ally (in Nimman, Chiang Mai).

Snails love mushrooms. A steep-sided dish with a little beer in it will distract and trap them. Tried growing them in the states. Very finicky and poor output. You need to put in about 3 years to get the strains going and work through all the mistakes. The bigger the mushroom, the more problems. That's why you see a lot of straw mushrooms in your stirfry.

My condo has a fair few Russian draft dodgers. As a baby boomer former draft dodger myself, I welcome them warmly. Vietnam would have been a picnic compared to what they're being coerced to do. In my favorite pot store, I saw a Russian draft dodger sharing a bong and fist-bumping with a Ukrainian draft dodger. Just such a beautiful We Are the World-moment (so let's start giving). And both were named Igor. What are the odds?

I saw Sonny Rollins legendarily playing solo for free on the Brooklyn Bridge. Proper silent reverence required, or he'd stop playing. Saw Pat Methany a couple times too, but it was another Thelonius situation: my ears were not yet attuned to grasp what was going on. I had to comprehend John Mclaughlin first before I could hear it.

My visa agent told me that Bangkok Bank was the softest touch in terms of being light on documentation demands. But only some branches are so forgiving. She told me which one for free, when she did a visa extension for me (worth the money). But in Chiang Mai, so that's the extent of my help. Opening the account itself requires no assistance. 14K is my retirement visa fee with 4K for the re-entry option.

In Chiang Mai, a pot store has become the same as a coffee bar that you wonder how it stays open with 4 of them on the same block: It's a place for upper income families to park an underachieving son who has artistic pretensions. My selfless (for research purposes only, of course) study of Chiang Mai pot stores has yet to find one that is not a trustafarian money pit. Often, there are many, many owners -which means that multiple families are splitting the bill. On average, a pot store on Nimman Road shifts about a dozen grams of pot a day. With a pot glut already happening, those landlords will wish they went with another gelato purveyor.

That's up there with when I saw Prince open for Madonna. In a club (The Ritz, on 18th Street). 70's-80's was an astonishing time to go out to music in New York. I'm a huge fan of Afro-beat legend Fela Kuti. In New York, I got to see him and his 30 piece band 3 times -and he didn't play outside of Africa all that many times. I saw the Wailers with Bunny and Peter still in the band too. For $3. With Burning Spear supporting. No one on earth didn't play Manhattan. Back in the days of record company hegemony, the labels would pay for a marginal act to have a showcase show in the city. The Bottom Line was a famous venue for that. I am sad that New York is no longer the musical epicenter of the earth. A few years ago, we had to trek out to Long Island to Alice In Chains. NYC was just to expensive a venue for them to play a show in. Willie Nelson was only playing in Jersey in the same week. If Willie Nelson can't make any money there, you can forget Wynton Marsalis, unless it's at a heavily subsidized place like Lincoln Center.

Relatedly, I used to work at a medical answering service in that era and spoke briefly with the great jazzer, Art Blakey. I told him what a great record Night In Tunisia was. Said Mr Blakey: "Man, just have my doctor call me back, I can't pee".

Yoko picked Mae Pang to be his girlfriend. She outsourced him -pretty cold.

John used to frequent the bookstore across from Carnegie Hall (Bookmaster's). He'd call ahead and come an hour before opening so as not to be bothered. I told him to buy Another Roadside Attraction. He came back and pronounced it "a right cracker". In retrospect, that book was pretty terrible -like bargain basement Richard Braugtigan -who begged countless women to let him tie them up to no avail. But he still prob had a better sex life than John did with Yoko (going by the vicious Albert Goldman bio).

I find I still do need a little bit of dabbing action -even after a fire hose-level blast from the bum gun.

I'm so old (and weird) that I saw him live. At the legendary 5 Spot club, circa '70. I was a high schooler from the 'burbs looking for pot to buy on Saint Marks Place and the door man announced free admission. It was a matinee show. It was him solo and it all of it was very much over my head. It was my first exposure to jazz of any kind, if you back out Louis Armstrong singing Hello Dolly. I knew it was something I was "supposed" to like and I stoically stayed for the full 40 minute set. It was a bit of hard work. It stuck with me, but it took Kinda Blue to crack the code for me. Least fave Monk idea was the live album with him and Coltrane. No meshing, just slightly jarring alternating solo's. Just too much genius colliding to make for listenable music. Kinda Blue is sort of like Hank Williams: if you don't like it, just skip the entire adjacent genre too. Monk's very thick bio is prob my fave jazz book after Really The Blues.

Mekong aint bad either. Just put in a lot of lime. Maybe with a float of coconut water from 7/11. In New York, where Santip is a premium pour, that's a $20 cocktail. Phraya is the 960 baht Thai rum I bought ("aged in oak barrels"). Verdict: Bacardi does a 4 year old rum for the same price that's better. A very drinkable novelty one and done for me. Rum doesn't do much better past 4-7 years, and evaporates a "devil's share" of 5% a year. So be very skeptical about 20 year old rum.

down around 10:30, up around 6, killing time waiting for cappuccino to open at 7. 7:15 if I want a croissant too.

Naval rum always tastes a bit like a bandaid to me (or plaster, since you're English). In a good way. Stroh is like butterscotch in a glass. I prefer the overproof version. In Amsterdam, Stroh is used to make pot brownies a lot. Just bought a high end Thai rum at Rimping. Like a Nicaraugan Flora de Cana 7 year old one, so a reasonable deal at 960 baht.. Havana Club 7 year old dark for 1100 baht is my splurge (but they were out).