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Graham Gold Tommy FMP OCT 12
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If you live in the West either in the UK, Germany, France (North), Belgium etc, you think you will never say “PLEASE RAIN” ever in your life, and if you still lived there, you probably wouldn’t. But if you live, 3 months of pretty much no rain, I think we are all saying “PLEASE RAIN”, or maybe worse. “PLEASE FUCKING RAIN”. And it doesn’t even feel criminal to say it. Maybe a visit to the Temple might work, but nor during Full Moon week, as that’s when all the resort owners go and pray for it to be dry. We could confuse The Buddha! So Sunday kicks off with a hangover from Saturday, which is worse than the one from Friday , Thursday and the ten consecutive days before, and is only matched by the hangover from paying two visits to Backyard in one day last Full Moon. And it would have made a shit HANGOVER 3, as staying in bed for twenty four hours is not great material for a good movie-unless you were having sex with six or seven different girls. But you would need some serious sachets of Kamagra Oral Jelly after so much alcohol. Tonight also signposts the start of my new, well OK, “let’s try AGAIN” rule to stop drinking. Not water or tea or coffee but that worse drug in the world, the one which governments make billions of bucks or euros or pounds or baht on, the drug called ALCOHOL. Why don’t they legalize weed, or coke or mdma, and then tax them? They are no-where near as bad for you as alcohol. I have seen so many people just lose it to alcohol here, hell I know I have drunk more in the four and a half years that I have lived here than in the rest of my life put together. You cannot go out and just “have one”. We know we can’t, we just don’t admit it to ourselves, it’s just easy to drink here! So after Backyard, and a couple of lost days, it was already Thursday and I hooked up with my bitch Darragh Casey and his gorgeous significant other half, Kate, along with this mad Scots guy called Fraser who has just moved in across the road with his equally gorgeous significant other half Kailla, and my mate Rory Gallagher, no relation to Liam and believe or not, Jewish (does ANYONE else know a Jewish Gallagher, it’s a bloody irish name)who has decided to move here, well not here actually, but Suratthani to take up teaching. (Yes, I thought what a plank too-who the fuck wants to live in Surat). But Rory is staying on KP for a few weeks and we all met up at Café del Mocha in Chaloklum for pizza. Thursday is one of the two “Pizza nights” Italian owner and chef, Jenni, puts on as it’s the days he makes the pizza and pasta bases fresh. Fraser has the shortest distance ever to go to work outside of having an office in your own house or villa or bungalow. He is a builder and obviously enjoys banging the shit out of everything from 8am till 5pm every fucking day including the weekends. I wouldn’t mind but he and his team are working on the house in front and the one behind at the same time. The house in front, or the “Red House” as we call it for obvious reasons, though if I were to be totally honest, it’s painted more terracotta than red, but “The Terracota House” takes much more effort to say, so we call it the Red House. Anyway, they have decided to make a third bedroom with a balcony which will totally overlook my pool. So that meant I could not even shag this girl who was over one day this week, cavorting in the pool half naked, as it would have been in full view of the all the Burmese workers. She was up for it, but I wasn’t I. I mean we are all led to believe that Asian guys aren’t so well endowed (even Canadian Indian stand up Russsel Peters admits to that “God short changed us in that department, so have to try harder. We must be good though, we have the second largest population in the world”. So I wasn’t gonna to start pissing of the workers even more by getting my manhood out! The dinner was fun and everyone got in with everyone, I think anyway. Darragh and Kate left first, even though they arrived last (Kate was tired as she had taken both a yoga and muay thai class one after another just before she came, Darragh was tired as he had walked down the steps of his bungalow all on his own!!) and then the remaining four of us went next door for a game of pool and more alcholol to add to the large amount of wine we had already consumed. Friday was Audio Love @ The Electronic Lounge which also meant it was the last time Jourdan Bordes and I would play together as he was heading back to the U.S. a few days after. It was pretty busy and we had a fun night. Rory and I went back to Electronic Lounge on Saturday for Lob (DJ ROB) and Marius’s (DJ Snoopoid) new night which was also good-I really do like the music they both play. Rory headed off with Fabrice PHB to the Sramanora Waterfall party. I was going to give it a miss, as was already a little drunk, but Rob talked me into it, so we headed down when he finished. I must say, I have grown to like the Waterfall party a lot. Peter G and Filippo Calvenzi were playing back to back just as they had done at Backyard (they rocked that night) and I was loving the tunes. Rob unkindly got me 2 strong Sangsum/Cokes and I just about got home in one piece. So I decided to do some big fish-little fish-cardboard mix rave moves just for Phangista!! I know Rob was shitting it when I drove him back the short distance to where he had parked his truck-he asked me about five times if he could drive! It was only down the dirt road! So we are back to Sunday and my first day of not drinking-I feel royally SHITE and know I have alcohol depression. Don’t worry, I am not gonna bring you down with all that crap, but it was a wake up call. I had missed the gym and my muay thai for ten days, and I normally go the gym every day and train muay thai twice a week. SO it is a chilled day, Sunday Roast at Big Johns in Soi Krung Thai and just stay in at night watch movies. Monday! Rory and I start work on a deep house track, least I think it’s deep house, though it did become a little less deep as the week progressed. My Mac G5 went to Mac Hell last year. I’d had it seven years, and it was pre-Intel and the V card went (I lost my visual monitors), so I had to abandon it at the Apple store in Bangkok that I had schlepped it to, which was a huge effort in the first place. I took it there because they said they could fix it. “it’s pre-Intel” I told them on the phone. “No problem, we can fix” they said. “Sure?” I asked. “Sure sure” they said. So I took it to them on the Lomprayah boat and bus-well only as far as Koasan Road, hotel for the night and then it was a cab next day to Sukhamvit. I wake early Tuesday, nothing new there but instead of staying in bed till 10-comon, you do that too-I am back at the gym at 8am and then go to Haadrin as I have a meeting with P Noi at Tommy Resort where I play every Full Moon about the much written incident that happened last Full Moon. Back at the gym at 8am Tuesday then more work in the studio. The track is coming on nicely, though has progressed from being deep house to err….not so deep house! The pool pump had packed up a week earlier (no-one had told me they need servicing!) and you still could not see the bottom so Pik came AGAIN to try and sort it out- as I write this, it’s actually worse than ever! I have a meeting with P Noi at Tommy Resort where I play every Full Moon about the much written incident that happened last Full Moon. Back at home by 2pm for more work in the studio. The track is coming on nicely, though has progressed from being deep house to err….not so deep house! The pool pump had packed up a week earlier (no-one had told me they need servicing!) and you still could not see the bottom so Pik came AGAIN to try and sort it out- as I write this, it’s actually worse than ever! Late evening I take Cindy (my dog) down to the beach for walkies after dinner at Fat Mama’s in Haad Salad, then Rory and I head for Sticky Rice and the Three Monkey Bar in Sri Thanu. I stay with soda water and a slice of lime, deciding I am going to get bored fuckless with this drink before too long. I have started to feel like me again as is now my fourth day with no alcohol. I won’t say fourth day sober as I was never drunk every day! I spend most of Wednesday downloading new tunes, which means attempting to get through some of the 40 e-mail promos I get every day (a lot are crap, but you just never know,) as well as trawling through Traxxsource and Beatport ( the two main on-line music stores), neither of whom ever really get the genres right. So that means hunting through deep house, minimal house, tech house, progressive house, jackin house and err…..(just) house, in search of awesome new music. The progressive house genre on both of the sites suck. Progressive house is what Sasha, Digweed, Cattaneo and Lawler play and not the crap they call progressive house you find on Traxxsource and Beatport. I love it when people think dj’s only work when they are in a club-the music doesn’t appear on their cd’s or hardrives my magic you know!! It’s a long never ending job! Then it is off to the gym and a visit to the Mosquito Party, I mean Mojhito party that is on at the Holiday Beach Resort. I only say mosquito as I am there around 6pm when those little fuckers which exist on this planet for no other reason as to drink our blood, bite us to fuck and make us scratch like we are a dog with flees. Where DO they fit in the food chain? Aren’t their enough flies to keep the gekkos and spider fat and fullfilled!! I have a quick chat with Boyonic, Filipe - outrageous camp but lovely owner of Secret Garden in Haadrin - who is wearing swimming trunks even shorter and smaller than some of the bar girls, if that is possible, Fabrice and his stunning significant other half whose name I always forget!! Carlo Blue Top-you know the really tall slim guy with the very long thin beard - is there as well with his gorgeous wife Nim and we catch up on stuff. Every day this week has been gorgeous so am determined to get to the beach at some point so found a few hours on Thursday, (after again making the gym early morning,) to hit Mae Haad and I go down with Rory. It is HOT, but sadly lacking with eye candy!! 3pm comes too quickly as I have to head home and get my stuff together to make the 4.30pm Seatran as I play on Samui every Thursday at Solo bar. The Lomprayah I note, is actually early-and is already there just after 4.10pm. I remember one boat that actually left 5 minutes early once and everyone saw people rushing with suitcases down the last part of the pier. But the boat never turned around to come back!! I am sure there were a lot of missed flights that day! On Samui I rent a bike and as I can’t stay at Simon Solo’s house, I check into the Samui Mermaid which Is where I stay most times when I go to Samui, even though I know it’ s on the flight path and I am going to be woken up at 7am as the first Bangkok Airways jet of the day arrives. How stupid is that as it’s normally gone 6 before I am actually asleep! I go through the music I have downloaded over the last few days, and put them in the right categories on my hard drive. I head to Solo Bar in Chaweng early so I can do some stuff on Facebook (as there is no internet in my room) and then play between 11 and 2.30. It’s a good night and I just love working with Christian Bat Batildi, the resident percussionist. He is awesome. Although I get free drinks all night, and as many as I want, I stay with my soda water, even when I pop to a bar with a mate after we close. 5 days of no alcohol, even though I have been in bars for 4 of those 5 nights (and NO, not girlie bars, I do not do girlie bars!!) That also meant 5 days of no Siamsato, my fave drink when I get home after a night out. 30 baht from all the 7/11’s. It’s Thai rice wine and generally helps me sleep. I have hardly slept at all the first four nights and tonight is no exception. The word Insomnia doesn’t even come close to my, well I have to call it Insomnia because there is no other word for worse than Insomnia! I am in bed by 4am but it’s still almost 6am before any kind of REM occurs, despite having got up at 7am that morning. After they first 4 planes have landed safely (well I heard no loud bangs so all must be well) I decide I may as well just get up, so have breakfast at Samui Pier-bargain for 99baht-which includes egg, bacon, sausage, toast, coffee and a great fresh orange juice. It’s owned my good friend Yaniv and you can find them on Facebook by searching Samui Pier Resort. Shit, I just remembered he offered me a good deal on a room, so will try that next week! I go and check out Macro and Big C only to find Macro is not that much cheaper than Tesco Lotus here. I decided that saving about 30 baht on 6 small towels and a box of 200 Tetley teabags is not worth the queue that was ahead of me at check out, so I do what all good shoppers do. I put the teabags and the small towels amongst the stationery, return my temporary card to the front desk then wait till someone enters the store so I can nip out of the door when it opens. I head back to the pier, all nice and early for the 1.30pm boat back to my paradise (Samui is SO not paradise!). My good friends Vic and Naja from Reefers Diving in Haad Yao are there, also heading home after a few days in BKK and a night on Samui where they stayed at The Ark Bar. Vic tells me how many hot babes they counted in the pool the day before. And they were all Israeli. Fuck fuck fuck. I MUST get to the Ark Bar more often as Solo Bar was a bit quiet on the hot babe department the night before, thus I went home alone. Again! I pop into Bangkok bank to get my passbook updated on my miserable bank account (I am sure they must wonder why on earth I bothered opening it all!) then head home to do some work. I miss the gym for obvious reasons (I am knackered!!!) and at 7pm leave for The Electronic Lounge as I am playing the first hour at 8, making a quick visit to Sharon at Phangista for an update on the Full Moon incident. We actually have a REALLY good night, and nice to see a few faces out including Eva Mass, though as nice as her face is, her bottom fascinates me much more!! It’s 3.30am when I play the last tune. Because our guest is Jason Fiest who started out as a trance DJ, and DJ Rob Gritton is there, I end up the night by breaking all the rules and play half hour of classic trance-and it goes off!! Rob used to be a regular at my Peach night at the Camden Palace in London when I lived there. Peach was a clubbing trance institution which ran for thirteen years and I was the first Dj to bring Tiesto, Armin van Burren and Ferry Corsten over to the U.K. (I also managed their UK diaries for three years as well!) Another night of free drinks and still no acohol! Well done ME!! So finally it’s Saturday, and I feel GREAT!! Yey! I wake smiling and happy. No more mornings feeling like I had been kicked in the head. (I have never been kicked in the head but only can imagine that is must be the same as having a bad hangover!) I get the urge to do some gardening, reply to some e-mails then head to the gym late afternoon. And then too late, I remember it is Clean Your Local Beach Day that Charlie Phangan had organised. Shit, I had promised I would volunteer, even they my local beach, Haad Salad, is as clean as a beach could be. Rory is actually staying at the villa for a few weeks, which makes sense as we have planned to do two tracks together, so in the evening we head down to Sunset Bar in Haad Salad as they have a live band night. We had planned to go to Eden, but Rory had got fucked the night before at Audio Love, even paying the bar fine for some girl before realizing he was not capable of jack shit! So he got rid of her. Fraser is at the Sunset bar with Kaila and it’s a bit of a laugh, then we head off to Revival, the new night at the Electronic Lounge that Snoopoid and Rob Gritton are doing, with a quick stop on the way via Bangers & Mash as Rory wants a burger!! Loads of friends are there and it’s nice to see Andy Anahata out tonight and we talk about what is and what isn’t commercial music. So for once I actually have a conversation with Andy totally sober, after many drunk ones when Anahata used to rock Phangan on Saturday nights. I am sure the conversations meant much more to me than Andy! |
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