Mid-Week Blues

It’s Wednesday night in Bangkok and it’s raining again, although very, very lightly. Just finished listening to a World Party CD and now I have an old James Gang live album playing. “Just turn your pretty head … and walk away.” Coming up next: a compilation by The The. And if you have to ask; “The what? … well, forget it.

And I’m stumped as to what to write about tonight. It’s been a few days since I posted anything and I feel like I should write something or post some photos, but I just don’t feel inspired. Must be the mid-week blues.  

I could write about the latest rash of bombings in South Thailand; the violence that just won’t stop. Or I could write about the historic visit of Myanmar President Thein Sein to the US, where he’s meeting with Barack “O’Burma” Obama. Or to take that story a step further, I could mention the misguided protesters who think Thein Sein is some sort of heinous villain because he hasn’t been able to stop the sectarian violence between Muslim and Buddhists in Myanmar this year. Or the idiots who think that Obama should not have invited Thein Sein at all, reasoning that it’s “too early” to lift sanctions and “encourage” Myanmar without the government releasing all political prisoners, and blah blah blah. I tell you, nothing pleases these so-called “Free Burma” groups, and it would kill them to acknowledge, much less praise, any improvements or changes that the Myanmar government makes. Hell, it would kill them just to say the word “Myanmar.” I’m certainly not in the pro-junta camp, but some of these so-called human rights groups need to put things in perspective. I think some of their “policies” have done more harm than good in the past decade. I think “democratic” changes will take time to fully mature in Myanmar, but things are on the right track and Thein Sein should be encouraged and supported rather than criticized and condemned.

What else? Oh yeah, there was the efficient transvestite nurse that waited on me at Bangkok Hospital last week, or the Thai doctor who they sent me to at that same hospital. He had a very American-sounding accent, so I asked him if he had spent time studying in the states. “Well,” he said, “I grew up near Cincinnati, but I attended university here in Bangkok.” And the good news: they couldn’t find anything wrong with me!

Or I could write about some of the cool customers in my bookshop this week: David the 75-year-old pot-smoking fan of Louis L’Amour novels; the guy from Sweden who admitted to being “old school” and preferring real books over digital ones; the guy from Prachin Buri who bought the entire series of Gabriel Allon novels by Daniel Silva; the sweet expat lady from Poland who is reading anything we get by Evelyn Waugh, P.G. Wodehouse, or Graham Greene; or the female Thai customer who regaled us with tales of spitting on the feet of Red Shirt protesters last week; or the street guy who likes to “drop his drawers” to passing cars in front of our shop. Oh yeah, it’s a colorful neighborhood!

Or could write about the two nice guys from France that treated me to dinner at a Thai restaurant on Monday night. Good food, pleasant company, and they introduced me to a wicked-good drink that they say is popular in Brazil. I just wish I could remember the name of the drink! Yeah, it was that good. They were departing the next day on a trip to Myanmar and will be back in Bangkok in early May.

Then there were the phone calls from friends in Cambodia, e-mails from friends in Myanmar, and requests for money from friends in Thailand. In the case of my Thai friend Tam, his wife just gave birth to their third child and he needed money to buy some essentials … like food, so I was inclined to help him out.

But alas, I don’t have the energy or inclination to write about any of these things with any additional depth. All in all, it was just another weird and wonderful, and perfectly normal, week here in Bangkok. Let it rain!

 

Janet Brown’s Search for Home

Janet Brown’s new book, a travelogue/memoir titled Almost Home, has just been published by Things Asian Press. I was so enchanted and mesmerized by this book that it took me less than two days to gobble up the 210 pages. In all honesty, I think this is one of the finest books ever written by a westerner about what it’s like to be an expat resident in Asia, searching for “home” or just searching period.

 

Almost Home takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through the cities where Janet takes up residence during her multi-year stay in Asia: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing, Penang, and back again to the chaotic comforts of Bangkok. While reading this book, the places where Janet resides come bursting to life: you can smell the spicy food that the outdoor vendors are cooking around her neighborhood in Bangkok; you can imagine the long line of mixed nationalities waiting for the elevators at Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong; you can picture the ballroom dancers strutting their stuff in a Beijing park; you can hear the cacophony of a Chinese opera troupe, and perhaps you can feel those bedbugs biting you at the cheap hotel in Penang. Despite the allure of all things Asian, Janet remains conflicted: just where is “home”? Eventually it’s the unshakeable bond of family that lures her back to the United States where her two sons are living.

 

Janet Brown is able to pique our interest, and sustain it, in this book not only because of her keen eye for detail and observation, but also because she is such a good writer. She’s truly a master of her craft and it shows in her fluid, honest, vivid, and sometimes very funny writing. It also helps that as a middle-aged woman she has a much different perspective of Asia than the typical male westerner. She’s not following the backpacker circuit or attending full moon parties; she’s not bar-hopping with badly-dressed white dudes; and she’s not hanging out with a clique of wealthy expats discussing the stock market or how much they pay their maid. Instead, she’s rambling down backstreets and alleys, taking local transport, living in low-rent neighborhoods with the locals, and sampling the delights of street food. A kindred soul!

 

Many travelers and expat residents are seduced by the exotic nature and charms of various cities in Asia and many of them have written books on the subject. Few writers, however, are able to accurately — or skillfully — describe the dizzying barrage of odd new sights, sounds, smells, experiences, and feelings that overwhelm them. But in Almost Home Janet Brown accomplishes this task most impressively. Whether the experience she writes about is charming, life-affirming, amusing, or threatening to her health and sanity (her stay in Penang was beyond miserable!), Janet Brown turns it into something that is fascinating to read about. And to me that’s the mark of great writing.

 

 

Expat Exodus = Book Avalanche

It’s that time of year in Thailand; the annual exodus of expats leaving the country. Even without a calendar I can always tell it’s the month of May because my bookshop is inundated with foreigners coming in to sell their books. It’s usually the same old refrain (“I’m moving back to my home country”), or a variation (“We’re moving to another house” … “My husband is relocating to Africa”) of such.

 

So why does this book avalanche happen in May, you ask? For many expats living and working in Bangkok, particularly those with school-age children, this month marks the end of the school year, at least for International schools (Thai public schools, however, usually end their school year in early March). And of course summer is almost here so many families or individuals are taking trips back to their home country. Whatever their reasons for leaving town, we are once again being bombarded with people selling books.

Not that I’m complaining. I like to have more books. I need to have more books. Sure it hurts having to shell out so much cash, but my inventory is important to me and I never want to turn down good titles because I’m on a budget. Late last year,  two hotels in the Phuket area made large book purchases for libraries they were stocking at their resorts, thus the stock at my own shop was starting to thin out. But now we’re back over 16,000 books again … and I still want more! As far as I’m concerned you can never have too many books (that holds true for personal collections as well as store stock) and I want my inventory to keep expanding, to become more diversified. I’m just as thrilled to have more Children’s books and Poetry volumes as much as stocking more Crime Fiction, Travel, and History. I want it all!

Some customers, as you might suspect, are sad to part with their books. But when they start to think about how much it’s going to cost in shipping fees or excess baggage charges to send all those heavy titles back home, well, it doesn’t feel quite so bad to sell them after all. It’s also interesting to compare people’s reactions when we total up the books and tell them how much we’ll pay for them. Some people are pleasantly surprised at how much cash we’ll pay; others are just grateful, if not thrilled to get anything for their books; and then there are the ones who act offended, as if they think we’re cheating them and not offering enough money. What can you do? I try to be fair, but you can’t please everyone and I’m not going to stand there and negotiate with some disgruntled cheapskate. Take it or leave it. You’re not happy with how much we’re offering you? Try another dealer in town … and good luck finding one that is willing to give you a fair price, much less pay any cash at all.

 

Meanwhile I sit at the computer and update our database of titles as more books arrive. Today was a fun day with several hundred new arrivals, a real mixed bag of titles that included Evelyn Waugh, Dr. Seuss, Jan Morris, Ross Macdonald, a slew of cool history books, nearly the entire “Magic Tree House” series for kids, some much needed Spanish and Italian novels, a few old Hemingway books, some old espionage paperbacks, the stray Harry Potter and Nancy Drew title … and on and on it went. Damn, I love these books!

 

Finding good new authors

Anyone who reads a lot of books, particularly novels that feature a series with the same characters, runs into the problem of running out of new authors to read. You find an author you like and end up reading every book they’ve written, becoming attached to the characters and their lives. But after you’ve finished the entire series, then what? You find another author that writes equally gripping tales and read all of those books, and then try to find other authors in a similar vein. For whatever reasons, some click and some don’t. I’ve read a lot of books in the past few years, but sometimes I can’t make it past the 50-page mark without becoming either bored or annoyed. Those are the books I don’t finish.

 

In the past six months or so I’ve devoured the latest novels from favorite authors such as John Sandford, Robert Crais, Dennis Lehane, Jonathan Kellerman, Michael Connelly, and Lee Child. Loved them all. I’ve recently started reading Daniel Silva’s series of novels featuring the Gabriel Allon character, and find those to be top-shelf fare too. Allon is certainly one of the more unusual and multi-dimensional characters in crime/espionage fiction these days. He’s an artist who works as an art restorer in various locations around Europe. But he’s also an Israeli citizen who is employed by that government in various spy-related activities, including the assassinations of “bad guys.” An intellectual hit-man with artistic skills.  Not your normal plot premise, but seriously addictive stuff.

 

Among the new authors that I’ve discovered — and liked— this year are Jess Walter and Greg Hurwitz. I’d actually read one Jess Walter novel, Over Tumbled Graves, about a year ago and enjoyed it. It was more of a standard crime fiction story, but two others that I’ve read since then are even better and have more depth than the usual mystery. One novel, The Zero, is set in New York City, shortly after the Twin Towers disaster of 9/11. The main character is a police officer who was hailed as a hero after 9/11 and becomes a minor celebrity around town. But depression soon takes its toll and the man wakes up one day to discover that he had shot himself in the head the night before during a drinking binge. The wound wasn’t fatal, of course, but he can’t remember exactly what happened that night, and in the days and months afterwards he continues to have memory lapses, at times not even sure why he is at a certain location or what he is supposed to be doing, or who he is talking with. Walter’s skillful prose takes the reader inside the mind of this troubled man as he deals with his frustrating issues. Some passages are moving, others totally hilarious, and some quite frightening. Altogether, a very powerful and moving novel.  

 

I read a third Walter novel earlier this month, Citizen Vince, that I also thought was superlative. In this novel the main character, Vince, is a career criminal who somehow gets involved in a mafia scheme. He ends up testifying against the mob and enters a witness protection program, given a new identity, and relocated to Spokane, Washington. Vince trains to be a baker and ends up working at a donut shop, a job he actually enjoys very much. But to supplement his income he also starts dealing in forged credit cards again. This novel is set in the fall of 1980, in the days before the US Presidential election between Carter and Reagan. The idea of voting in the election becomes an exciting prospect for Vince; due to his previous convictions he has never been able to vote in previous elections. Adding to the election fervor, a person from his criminal past discovers Vince living in Spokane. Lots of intrigue, a few laughs, and more great writing from Jess Walter. He has written several other books too, so I’m excited that there are more waiting to discover.

 

As for Greg Hurwitz, he’s one of those names I’ve seen on the shelf for years but I’d never read anything until I started a novel called The Crime Writer last month. The basic plot is a twist on the typical whodunit: a fellow who writes crime fiction novels is charged with murdering his girlfriend. The evidence at the scene of the crime suggests that this is a no-brainer: this guy definitely did it. But due to a brain tumor he had at the time, the man really can’t remember if he had done it or not. Some things about the crime don’t add up in his mind, so he ends up investigating his own case, turning up some baffling and disturbing facts. In addition to the clever plot, the novel is populated by some very interesting characters (ones that are so engaging that you hope Hurwitz does a sequel), and some seriously funny dialogue. On top of that, Hurwitz is one of those crime fiction authors — like Jess Walter — who also a very good writer; a definite step above the rest of the mystery pack. I just started a new novel by Hurwitz, Trouble Shooter, more of a traditional cops and robbers tale, but still very well written and absorbing. He’s also written more than a handful of books, so I look forward to reading those also.

 

Yangon’s Outdoor Book Dealers

If you are a book lover like me, and enjoy browsing bookshelves, you’ll find an interesting challenge awaiting you in Yangon. There are plenty of secondhand books for sale in Yangon, but most of these goodies aren’t found in proper shops. Instead, you’ll find a great selection of old books at streetside dealers scattered around the city. Most of these outdoor dealers used to be located on Pansodan Street, but due to construction work in that area the past couple of years, many of the book dealers have moved a few blocks away. There are still some on Pansodan, but I now see more on Bogyoke Aung San Road, in the area across the street from Scott’s Market, heading towards Traders Hotel.

 

Some of these dealers display their books on rickety wooden shelves, while other sellers are content to arrange their books on mats or cardboard on the ground. It may not be conducive to convenient browsing, but if you are patient you’ll undoubtedly unearth a few treasures amidst the literary rubble. For example, there are oodles of old Reader’s Digest volumes, outdated computer manuals, English language guides, and other funky old titles for sale. Recent bestsellers are virtually non-existent at these street dealers, but I always find good fiction and non-fiction titles from the past three decades scattered amidst the junkier stuff. Ialmost bought a Tom Robbins novel at one stall, but passed on it because it was a hardcover edition; too heavy to add to my backpack. At most of these book stalls the books aren’t priced, so you need to ask the price. Many dealers will offer discounts if you buy more than one book and don’t mind haggling a bit. It’s all part of the game!

 

There are also a few freestanding shops — with real walls and a roof! —in town such as Bagan Books, Inwa Bookshop, Nandawun Book Center, as well as a new branch of Monument Books. Prices at these shops aren’t cheap, but the book selection is usually better than what you’ll find on the street, and the book condition is much better too. Needless to say, the merchandise at the street dealer stalls takes a hit from being exposed to the elements throughout the year … and some of these books have been on the streets for decades!

 

Books in Shan State

Looking for something to read during your travels around the Inle Lake area of Myanmar’s Shan State? It’s not as challenging a task as you might think, thanks to the growing selection of books at Golden Bowl Travel Services in Nyaungshwe, the little town that serves as the gateway to Inle Lake. In addition to several hundred secondhand books, Golden Bowl also stocks new copies of several titles from Things Asian Press, including To Myanmar with Love, Ma Thanegi’s Defiled on the Ayeyarwaddy and her new memoir Nor Iron Bars a Cage, and the bilingual children’s title M is for Myanmar.

 

Run by the personable Htein Linn, Golden Bowl stocks secondhand books in English, French, German, Italian, and other European languages. The selection isn’t huge by Western standards, but a bit of browsing always reveals something interesting and worth buying. I’ve found some truly cool titles in this shop over the years. And just like at other secondhand bookshops the world over, you can exchange the books you’ve finished reading at Htein Linn’s shop and receive some credit towards the purchase of more books, or sell what you have for cash. If Htein Linn is not around, you’re sure to meet his wife, Mar Mar Aye, or daughter, Han Nwe Nyine (she also goes by the nickname “Tina”), both of whom can answer any questions you have.

 

In addition to selling books, Golden Bowl offers the usual range of travel services (airline and bus tickets, money exchange, boat tours of the lake, canoe trips on local canals, trekking to nearby ethnic villages), plus a laundry service and bicycle rental. But even with the current boom in tourism, Htein Linn says that times are tough due to an equivalent surge in competition. A year ago, for example, he typically rented 10 or 12 bikes in a day. Now, the number of rentals is less than half of that due to dozens of other nearby businesses that rent bikes, some of them slashing their rates to attract more customers. But as Htein Linn pointed out to me, with maintenance costs (replacing flat tires, brakes, gears, broken baskets, etc.), when you start slashing the daily bike rental rate, the profit margin is almost negligible. He also has some competition in the book business, although some of those shops are selling only dubious photocopied versions of some popular novels and guidebooks, just like you’ll find in Cambodia and Vietnam.

 

Golden Bowl is located on the main East-West street in Nyaungshwe, on the same side of the street between the main market and the popular Golden Kite Restaurant (serving the town’s best pizza and pasta, along with wine from nearby vineyards). The bookshop is open daily until 8 pm.

Neil Young Never Sleeps

I just finished reading Neil Young’s autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace. I can’t say that it’s a great book — too many clichéd phrases and repetitive references to Neil’s various side projects  dampen the “wow factor” — but for any diehard Neil Young fan, it’s still a must read. Like the man’s music output, you never know what expect from one chapter to the next — and that’s part of the fun. If you can tolerate Neil’s copious references to his car collection and the “PureSound” audio project he is obsessed with launching, you’ll enjoy reading most of this book. It’s packed with fascinating anecdotes and honest recollections of his life, both inside and outside of music. Particularly touching are the passages in the book that reveal Neil’s love and devotion to his handicapped son Ben, and also to his wife, Pegi. At times I think this book could have used a strong editor, one who could have cut out some of the weaker and sillier parts, but then again those parts are just Neil being Neil, staying true to his soul, and this book gives the reader a better idea of what he thinks and cares about. And in that context, the book hits the mark.

 

Last year Neil released two excellent albums with his longtime band Crazy Horse. The first one, Americana, was billed as “a collection of classic American folk songs.” That may have been the case, but in the hands of Neil and his band, those songs were turned inside out and re-energized. The album included songs such as “Oh Susannah”, “Clementine”, “Tom Dooley”, “This Land is Your Land” and “Waywarin’ Stranger.” But these were definitely not laid back, traditional arrangements of these old songs. Each one was electrified and transported by Neil’s new arrangements and the presence of Crazy Horse. There was also a clear social and political slant to the song selection, all of which made the album even more of a vital listening experience. If that “comeback” (it was the first Neil Young and Crazy Horse album in nearly 9 years) wasn’t enough, Neil and the Horse returned later in the year with Psychedelic Pill, a two-CD set of all new material. Not only was this a double album, but the songs themselves were sprawling opus-like creations. The opening track, “Driftin’ Back” was 27-minutes of electric guitar bliss, enhanced by Neil’s wacky lyrics. Pure genius. There are several other tracks that break the 10-minute barrier, so don’t go expecting a bunch of short, sweet folk tunes or a reprise of Harvest. All in all, there is nothing ground breaking on Psychedelic Pill, following familiar Crazy Horse territory. But if you are a fan of Neil’s other Crazy Horse recordings, you’ll love this one too. The energy and raw power is both thrilling and comforting. These guys, even in their 60s, can still deliver the goods!

 

In addition to Neil Young’s Psychedelic Pill here are the other CDs I’ve been playing in heavy rotation lately:

 

George Jackson – Let the Best Man Win: The Fame Recordings Vol. 2

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia – Live at the Hammersmith Odeon ‘75

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Live from Alabama

Various Artists – Titan: It’s All Pop

The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh

 

Daryl Hall – Sacred Songs

Lee Morgan – Lee-Way

Jim Boggia – Safety in Sound

UB 40 – Signing Off

Jackie Leven – For Peace Comes Dropping Slow

 

Ronnie Dyson – One Man Band

Roy Harper – Songs of Love and Loss

Miracle Fortress – Miracle Fortress

Alabama Shakes – Boys  & Girls

Fun. – Aim and Ignite

 

Aimee Mann – Charmer

Cannonball Adderley – Money in the Pocket

Cabaret Voltaire – The Original Sound of Sheffield: Best of 1983-87

Elvis Costello – Kojak Variety

Lyle Lovett – Release Me

 

Alphonse Mouzon – Mind Transplant

Robert Glasper – Black Radio

Larry Young – Locked Down

Dr. John – Unity

Etta James – Rocks the House

 

Various Artists – Eccentric Soul: Outskirts of Deep City

Freddie Hubbard – First Light

Bill Fay – Life is People

Groundhogs – Thank Christ for the Bomb

Augustus Pablo – Skanking Easy

 

Taj Mahal – Hidden Treasures: 1969-1973

Miles Davis – The Birth of the Cool

J. Tillman – Year in the Kingdom

Hank Crawford – Roadhouse Symphony

Dusty Springfield – A Very Fine Love

 

Chris Difford – Cashmere if You Can

Various Artists – Hip Hammond & Soulful Grooves

Eddie Money – No Control

Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills – Super Session

Ken Stringfellow – Danzig in the Moonlight

 

Monks & Politics

I popped into a branch of Asia Books last week to hunt down a copy of the new Neil Young biography that one of my customers said they had seen. I was ecstatic to find that book (and more about that in a later post), but I was also shocked to see another book in stock: Burma’s Plea by Dimitra Stasinopoulou.

 

The book was displayed behind the counter, but it was one of those huge coffee table-sized photo books so it was very easy to notice. My mouth must have dropped open when I saw the cover photo: a huge shot of one of the novice monks from Shwe Yan Pyay Kyaung, a monastery that I visit frequently in Shan State’s Nyaungshwe. Perhaps “frequently” is an understatement. I usually drop by Shwe Yan Pyay on a daily basis when I’m in Nyaungshwe, taking donations of fresh fruit and snapping photos, sometimes chatting with the Abbot (Saya Daw), the novice monks, or senior monks. I’ve been going there for the better part of decade and in recent years have taken groups of the monks on trips to places in the area such as Kakku, Pindaya, and Taunggyi. They’re a nice, polite bunch of kids and the Saya Daw and his assistant monks do a fine job of educating and taking care of them.

 

So anyway, I see this huge book and the cover photo was clearly taken at Shwe Yan Pyay, and even the novice monk looks familiar; I’m just flabbergasted by the whole thing. But what I found most unsettling was the book title, Burma’s Plea, along with a big quote plastered on the cover: “Please use your freedom to promote ours.”

That’s more than a little creepy. I can understand and even empathize with the desire to promote “freedom” and other human rights issues in the country I know as Myanmar (I’ll leave the name debate alone for now; that’s something I’ve written about in the past), but I find it troubling that they are using the photo of a young novice monk to highlight their human rights agenda, no matter how righteous it may be. What does this young monk have to do with promoting freedom? You can rest assured that novice monks like this kid have scant knowledge of politics or human rights issues. Yes, many older monks in Myanmar are known to voice their political opinions and some have marched in various protests in recent years (witness the famous, but misnamed, “Saffron Revolution” in 2007), but novice monks from Shan State have not been among the participants. This book, published in 2011, looks like a gorgeous one (see the “YouTube” link below), containing 407 pages of photographs that highlight various parts of the country. While the photos may be captivating they don’t seem to focus on “freedom.” In any case, the author and/or publisher really should not have used a photo of a novice monk on the cover to make a political statement.

 

And what’s with that horrible book title? Burma’s Plea? It almost puts the locals on the same pitiful level as beggars: Help us because we can’t help ourselves! I have a problem with Westerners sticking their noses where they don’t belong, particularly when it comes to domestic political issues in other countries. I look at any sort of intervention or “assistance,” no matter how dire the situation may appear, to be the wrong course of action. To title a book “Burma’s Plea” makes it sound like “those poor pitiful people” can’t fight for their rights without the benevolent assistance of Westerners. I think that most people in Myanmar have enough pride that they don’t want to be seen as helpless in the eyes of the rest of world. That’s not to say that they don’t appreciate — or need — development work and humanitarian assistance, but whatever political problems the country may have, let them work it out amongst themselves without know-it-all Westerners trying to butt in and dictate the “proper” way to make changes or do things.

 

I’m also still not clear where the proceeds from the sale of this book are going. On the website of The Border Consortium (an organization that has an office in Bangkok) it states that:

“This private edition is available in Thailand from TBBC’s Bangkok office for 1,500 baht each. Dimitra has generously agreed that proceeds of books sold by TBBC in Thailand will be used for TBBC activities.”

And those “activities”, judging from what they say on their website, include a lot of worthwhile projects. But a news report on the Mizzima.org website, states that “funds from the sale by the TBBC will be donated to Burma Campaign UK.” Now that gets a little trickier. Frankly, I’m not a big fan of Burma Campaign UK. They are one of those organizations that used to strongly discourage (condemn might be a better word) tourists from visiting Myanmar, deeming it not only politically incorrect but tantamount to enriching the coffers of the military junta. But in 2010, after Aung San Suu Kyi (along with her NLD party) changed her tune and decided that tourism ain’t such an evil thing after all, the folks at Burma Campaign UK, in parrot-like fashion, followed her lead and no longer opposed the idea of tourists visiting the country. Except for package tourists: they were still evil and were helping the generals get richer. At least that’s the opinion of Burma Campaign UK. Their heart may be in the right place, but I think that the strident, no-compromising stance of groups like Burma Campaign UK has done more harm than good over the past 20 years.

During one of my trips to Mandalay I saw a shocking reminder of just how negative and counter-productive that these “campaigns” can be. I was visiting the Moustache Brothers (the famous dance and comedy troupe who are very politically active, two the “brothers” having spent time in prison) at their house one afternoon. In between serving me tea, Lu Zaw (the “funny one”) played a DVD that had a public service announcement produced by Burma Campaign UK. It was in such bad taste, and catered to such pathetic stereotypes, that I was appalled. I don’t even think Lu Zaw — who has always encouraged tourists to visit his country and see the situation for themselves — was properly aware of just how insulting and one-sided that this video message was. It certainly wasn’t going to help his business or encourage anyone to visit Myanmar.

You have to wonder what organizations like this do with all the donations that they receive (consider their overhead, for starters: they have to pay healthy salaries for their director and staff members, rent an office, etc.) and how much of the money really goes to helping the people in Myanmar/Burma? On their website, they state their goal as:

“We play a leading role in raising awareness about the situation in Burma, and pressuring the international community to take action in support of the people of Burma.”

Okay, those appear to be admirable goals on the surface, but what does “pressuring the international community to take action” involve exactly? More boycotts and sanctions? A lot of good that did! In other words; not at all. Meanwhile, all those “misguided tourists,” ones who defied calls for a boycott, visited the country over the past two decades, met many local people, and were able to put money directly into those people’s pockets, something that groups like Burma Campaign UK could never do.

http://www.dimitrastasinopoulou.com/

http://theborderconsortium.org/announcements/2012-01-16-news-burmas-plea.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV2GvDaLTho

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/donate/burmas-plea

 

Robert Crais goes to the Dogs

I’ve read every book by Robert Crais, a catalog that now totals fifteen. I’ve enjoyed them all very much, but I think that his new novel, Suspect, is possibly his best one yet. That’s saying a lot, but this one is that good, that powerful and that emotionally gripping. Strangely, I was reluctant to read it at first. I’m a big fan of Crais’s Elvis Cole and Joe Pike crime fiction novels, considering it one of the best series in the genre. Actually, the earlier in the books in the series were pretty much all Elvis with sometimes an occasional cameo from Joe Pike. But recent novels such as The Sentry, The First Rule, The Watchman, and Taken have given the very intriguing Joe Pike character a much greater role, an emphasis I’m quite happy about.

 

Thus, when I saw this new book, I was initially disappointed that it wasn’t part of Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series, but a tale with all new characters. But that didn’t stop me from buying it. I’ve also enjoyed the one-off books by Crais such as Hostage and Demolition Girl, so I felt this new one would also make for a satisfying read. Well, it was that and much more. If you can make it all the way through this amazing book with dry eyes, you’re a tough one indeed.

 

Basically this is the story of a cop’s relationship with a dog, and also his quest for redemption, if not revenge, for the killing of his previous police partner. Maggie the dog, a German shepherd, served with the US Army in Afghanistan and after being wounded in a battle/ambush is sent back to the States and ends up getting trained for an elite K-9 unit with the Los Angeles Police Department. Scott James, her new handler with the K-9 unit was wounded during a shooting the previous year. His partner died at the scene and Scott spent several months in a coma in hospital, his friends and colleagues unsure if he would recover. Well, he did, albeit with various physical and mental scars, and eventually, he’s cleared to resume work, but this time with the K-9 division. Besides having injuries in common, there are other intangibles that bond the man and dog together. Read the book and you’ll understand more. This is a special story.

 

Crais obviously did a ton of research into these dogs and their impressive skills and unique character traits. These dogs, as shown in the book, are fearlessly protective of and totally devoted to their handlers. But you don’t have to be a dog owner or animal lover to enjoy this novel. The story has all the addictive elements of previous Crais mysteries, following a fascinating investigative trail, revealing both likeable and loathsome personalities, all of it spiced by razor sharp, authentic dialogue. Maybe Joe Pike’s not around this time to watch your back and hunt down the bad guys, but this is still a great read. I also like the way this story includes observations from the dog’s point of view. Truly brilliant stuff. My only complaint would be that the ending came to a head almost too quickly. Compared to the pace of the rest of the book, this climax felt a bit rushed and not fully plotted out. I also felt that a couple of the characters and their relationships could have been developed further.

 

But perhaps there is more to come and this novel won’t be another one-off after all. I certainly hope that Crais will offer us more stories about these intriguing characters, particularly LAPD Officer Scott James, the gruff but kind-hearted Sergeant Dominick Leland, and most importantly the dedicated dog Maggie.

Baseball, Barbecue & Yo La Tengo

Growing up in New York in the 1960s, Ira Kaplan was a Mets fan. That’s baseball, for those of you who aren’t enlightened about the world’s greatest sport and its relevance to the meaning of life. In addition to being a diehard Mets fan and a baseball nut, young Ira was also a music junkie. He bought 45 singles, he bought albums, and went to countless concerts. He couldn’t get enough of music, an affliction I can certainly relate to.

 

After Ira started a rock band in the early 1980s he was looking for a catchy name, something a bit different from the rock band norm, and perhaps inspired by the sport he loved. The first choice for a band name was: A Worrying Thing. Huh? Well, believe it or not, that name DID have a baseball angle, although a murky one. During an interview with a newspaper reporter many years ago, a Cleveland Indians pitcher named Stanley Covelski was quoted as saying: “Doesn’t matter what you did yesterday. That’s history. It’s tomorrow that counts. So you worry all the time. It never ends. Lord, baseball is a worrying thing.”

 

But that name, along with several other attempts, didn’t stick, so Ira Kaplan kept searching, finally settling on: Yo La Tengo. Another big “huh”, right? Well, once again, there is perfectly justifiable baseball origin to the name, although one as equally obscure as “A Worrying Thing.” The new name came from a book about baseball that Kaplan had read, Jimmy Breslin’s Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?, an account of Ira’s beloved New York Mets during their first year in existence as an expansion team in 1962. It seems that there was a communication problem between the veteran center fielder, Richie Ashburn, and Elio Chacon, the Spanish-speaking infielder (he played both shortstop and second base). This problem was acerbated when fly balls hovered between the two players, resulting in a few too many collisions. Another teammate advised Ashburn to yell “Yo La Tengo! — Spanish for “I’ve Got It” — when fly balls came into the danger zone. Ashburn did as advised and the problem was solved. Except, that is, for another befuddled outfielder, Frank Howard, who thought his teammates were yelling “Yello Tango,” and ended up bowling over Chacon anyway. Brilliant stuff!

 

While Ira Kaplan is indeed a huge fan of baseball you won’t find any baseball themed songs in the Yo La Tengo discography (unlike, for example, The Baseball Project, the band formed by Steve Wynn and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck). But throughout Yo La Tengo’s albums you will note an incredibly diverse arsenal of music, ranging from acoustic folk songs to melodic rockers and feedback-spiced electric guitar jams. Apart from their lovely Fakebook album, which remains my personal favorite, their albums don’t always follow a safe and cohesive pattern, but that’s part of the charm, making them all rewarding listens.

 

I just finished reading Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock by Jesse Jarnow, a book that was published in June last year. As expected, there are a lot of baseball references, plus details on the band’s fascination with barbecue, and their long and winding search for the perfect bass player, which happily resulted in a most successful fit. I found the book to be a fascinating read, not only because I’ve been a fan of the band since their very first album, 1986’s Ride the Tiger, but also because I was involved in the same indie music circles (as a record store owner, concert promoter, music journalist) during the 1980s and 90s. Obviously, the baseball and music references struck a chord with me, but I was also impressed with just how well written the book was. It’s one that I think will appeal to readers who don’t know much about Yo La Tengo and could care less about baseball. Jarnow’s writing style is so polished and assured that it could easily lend itself to other biographical subjects. He’s that good, and his tale of Yo La Tengo and the peripheral music scene makes for very engrossing reading.

Jarnow’s book brought back tons of great memories as I stumbled across references to favorite albums and recording artists of the era, plus mentions of various people in the music business whom I had met during those years. I once sat next to a guy at an Orlando Twins minor league baseball game, who turned out to be Bill Million from the Feelies, one of the truly great bands of the era and one that crossed many musical paths with Yo La Tengo. In Bangkok, when I was working for Tower Records in the mid 1990s, I bumped into Steve Fallon, the owner of the legendary Maxwell’s club in Hoboken, where Yo La Tengo and many other bands (such as The Feelies) cut their musical teeth. Ira Kaplan’s brother Adam was my sales rep at Dutch East for a spell. And so on. The Hoboken scene and ones in Athens, Austin, and Minneapolis, musicians, managers, and label reps; it was all one big supportive community. And reading this book reminded me of what an amazing musical web we all weaved in those heady days before the advent of that thing called the Internet.

I also once had a short chat with Ira before Yo La Tengo took the stage for a set at a club in Orlando. The subject? Baseball, of course! More specifically, we talked about a Minnesota Twins pitching prospect named Willie Banks, a player whom Ira had seen pitch in high school. At the time of the Yo La Tengo show, Banks was pitching for the Orlando Twins, the AA minor league affiliate of the big league club. He ended up pitching in the majors for a few years but never became the top-flight pitcher he was projected to be. But unlike Willie Banks, Yo La Tengo did fulfill their promise. No, they never reached the heady heights of a band like Nirvana or R.E.M., but they did sell a lot of albums over the past two decades, consistently played packed shows in front of adoring fans, and received overwhelmingly favorable critical acclaim from the media.

 

In addition to the book, Yo La Tengo just released their new studio album, Fade, earlier this month. I haven’t heard it yet, but my copy has already been ordered and hopefully making its way to me very soon. Please, Mr. Postman, make it on time! Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to listening to this latest installment in the magical story of Yo La Tengo.