hey, hey - i wanna be a rockstarrrrr

Well, this may prove to be a slightly embarrassing post...

The other night, I went to Khaosan Road with Jayson (Union guy based in NY) and Selma (based in Paris). This area of Bangkok is known as a backpackers paradise, and is filled with loud bars full of live cover bands. I thought one was playing 'Baba O'Reily,' so I suggested we sit down and have a drink there. Turns out they weren't playing The Who, but it was a decent band nonetheless. We had a few Heinekens (I don't know why this beer is so popular here...and cheap!) and enjoyed the music, and I told them that a dream of mine is that I always wanted to play in a (cover) band and be a rock star. They told me I should definitely try to sit in with the band, but as shy little Jordan, I of course abstained as much as possible, satisfying them by saying maybe after 2 beers.

As the second round of Heinis was finishing up, Selma said to me, "so when you're done with this one, you'll go sing?" Just as she said this, the lead singer was requesting a volunteer from the crowd, and they started egging me on to go. I was still holding out like a little girl before her first ballet performance, and thankfully another person sitting in front of the band got up. That didn't save me though. Selma called over the waitress and told her that I wanted to sing too. Before I could object, the waitress went over to the band and came back with a pen and paper for me to write what I could sing. I've recorded myself 'singing' before, and it literally makes me cringe (I got 8 out of 30 points in a karaoke contest at hosted by the Asian Society of GW once. The average score was probably 24 or 25. I think this has to do with my horrible voice, but it could also have to do with the fact that I ripped my boxers out of my pants and threw them at the judges at the end to try to win :) ... grand prize was an iPod touch!). While the waitress was gone, I struggled to conjure up a song I could play well start to finish. So with pen and paper in hand, I shakily scrawled "can I play guitar on 'more than a feeling' by boston?" and handed in the paper.

When the current song finished up, the guitarist (the only member of the band I could see from my vantage) waved me up, and I knew I was in for some trouble. I handed over my Flip Mino (thanks alli and seth!) and went to meet my doom. When I got up there, I motioned that I could play guitar and not sing, so the guitarist gave me his guitar and the singer (a white dude, not sure from where, but English was his first language, so he knew the songs - a departure from the linkin park cover band in patpong from last week) asked me what I wanted to play. Unfortunately, the group didn't know Boston, and the singer started flipping through the songbook and told me stop him when I saw something I could play. I saw 'hotel california' and told him to stop.

I think probably the most important factor when making your debut performance as a rock star (or any performance, for that matter) is to really KNOW the song you volunteer yourself to play. I did not know hotel california. The performance was pretty awful (I know this cause I watched the video - cringe factor 8.5). The singer then wanted (needed after hearing me I'm sure) to smoke a cigarette, so he told me to sing the next song. I pleaded that I could not sing, but he and the crowd were telling me to do it, so I took a stab at "time of your life" by green day, encouraged by the fact that the band would "back me up" even though they did not know the song. Rule number 2, if you expect the band to back you up, make sure THEY know the song. Hearing myself sing on the playback the next day, I realize that allowing myself to sing, and sing a song out of my limited (well, nonexistent) range, AND a song no one on the stage knew, was a bad decision. Cringe factor 11 out of 10.

Close to striking out, a little buzzed, and realizing that 3rd time's a charm, I decided to try one more song, as the set would conclude if I didn't keep going (the other guitarists strings had popped, it was late, etc.). Finally, I realized I could do 'Sweet Home Alabama' by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Now, this isn't a movie, and I'm not gonna lie and say it was a grand slam, but for my rock star debut, I think it was at least a base hit...

This one's for jake! (my drummer in jericho) --- Thanks jayson for filming and selma for rockin out in the crowd :)



A bientot,