Seems I´m not Alone

My phone and email have been going nuts here, but not for the reasons I expected. No calls from the local authorities, but it seems they have been busy. Last night, officers from the local immigration office raided a popular Jazz music club and hauled away 4 foreigners and one Thai national on supposed work permit violations. This brings the city wide total to 9 people who have been arrested, jailed and charged for playing musical instruments in public. The fellow foreigners arrested last night have played just for fun in the same venue for years, and we were all shocked, but not entirely surprised to hear the news. The venue raided is one of the most popular places in town and specializes in Jazz music of all types. Musicians from around the world come to play there and ¨jam¨ with other musicians. I personally know two of the musicians who were arrested last night. One is a 60 year old American retiree, a very talented saxophonist, and all around great guy. The other is a highly skilled drummer from Germany who came here to live with his family some years ago. I hear rumor that one of those arrested in the raid was just a mere tourist who got up to do one song with the band. In my case, the same thing happened with the 19 y.o. British kid who got up to play drums for a few songs and ended up in a Thai jail. Talk about a ruined vacation.

A small loophole in Thai law has allowed (or at least overlooked) foreign musicians performing openly here for many years, but evidently the loophole has been closed. Chiang Mai has always been known as a place to see, hear and experience many diverse cultural art forms, and the collaboration with artists and musicians from western countries has been a profound experience for all those involved. We all learn something from each other through art and music even when language and cultural barriers stand between us.

I think back to late 2009 when I was performing regularly with a multinational group here in Thailand. We were just a batch of guys who met on stages in jam sessions and formed a band that I will never forget. There were six of us, and we were from America, England, Japan, Germany, and Thailand. We used to joke around after shows that 50 years ago, our grandfathers were all trying to kill each other, and now here we are making music together and entertaining people of all races, creeds, and colors. I attached a couple pics below, and one of these guys actually came all the way up from Lampuhn to visit me today. Not an easy task on the bus. Takes 3 hours, runs you all over the province, but only costs about 90 cents American (30 BHT Thai).

Thinking back on it, I´ve been able to experience some pretty amazing things here. I just find it funny that 6 months ago I was performing for the US Embassy and the governor of Chiang Mai, and now I´m just viewed as common criminal. That will be the topic of another post this week. At the moment I am trying to put together a package to send back to the US before things get bad again. Contents will include all my security badges, ticket stubs, backstage passes, posters and flyers from shows that I have done here. My personal favorite is my U.S. Consulate security badge from last year. Only show I have ever had to go through a metal detector and bomb sniffing dogs just to play some music.

Take care, and until next time......

Matt