A Plague on Both Your Houses

I was amazed to read on Wikipedia that I am "a critic of the Thaksin regime". As a matter of fact, my criticisms have always been doled out with utter even-handedness to pretty much every government ever to run this country. I guess I should not blame Wikipedia, which is after all composed by anyone who wants to compose it, and the information about me is generally pretty accurate, though I've had to intervene personally a couple of times to correct sheer facts, such as when someone said that I'd been to a boarding school in Switzerland.

Now that traffic is at a standstill because of more political protests, and the prime minister's house is just a 2 minute walk from mine, and his sister has become my literary agent, it might be necessary for me to explain that Wikipedia's contention that I've been a critic of the Thaksin regime doesn't mean that I haven't been a critic of its successors. After all, it was the regime after Thaksin's that tried to censor my opera Ayodhya, and about which I wrote my famous "open letter to the prime minister" which, I believe, has been read by about three people.

However, it would be wrong to imply that my criticism has been over things like corruption or buying the election. Those things are all par for the course around here; Thaksin was better at it, that's all. He had many brilliant ideas. Of all the people to have had the post of prime minister, Thaksin is one of the few who might conceivably have been posssessed of genius. His succumbing to hubris was perhaps, therefore, inevitable. The tragic flaw comes with the territory.

No, all this talk of corruption and greed underlies far more serious problems. The use of the lawsuits to silence the press, for instance, whilst pretending to uphold the freedom of the press. The extrajudicial murders disguised as a drug war and the hypocritical announcement of victory, the tone-deaf response to the muslim question, are to me far worse than cheating on one's taxes to the tune of a few billion baht. Yet no one complains of those things. That is, I think, because when we look into the heart of an enemy, we tend to see ourselves. Corruption sees corruption.

The righteous indignation of Thaksin's opposition, however, went beyond the pale when they started to say that the poor shouldn't vote because they're too stupid. Even if they believed that, there are ways to say these things that do not cross the political correctness line ... such as suggesting that money be poured into rural education to enable the poor to make more informed judgments not colored by bribery. That was the moment when they lost my sympathy. Taking over the airport was simply dumb. It basically obliterated the moral high ground.

When I watched Abhisit's speech on TV last night, however, I must admit that his words were so balanced, so reasonable, so intelligent, and so well thought through, that surely this man cannot remain in office long. Thailand's system tends not to reward reason, intelligence, forethought, or balanced judgment. Brute force, brazen lies, and lining one's pockets are generally considered the most desirable traits in a Thai prime minister. Though naturally I have a vested interested in seeing an Old Etonian in power, I worry. I fear that he is simply too good for this job.

I want to say, however, that these two people do, in a strange way, have something in common. They are both operating in an intellectual universe far beyond the graft-driven grind of normal Thai politics. And I don't think that either one of them is understood by the majority of his own supporters.

If we can get through the weekend, we'll probably be okay. The Songkran festival is supposed to wash away the sins of the past. I wouldn't know. I probably won't get wet. I'm a Songkran hermit.

More Hitting and Missing....

So, this Hollywood producer I know who's been trying to get "Vampire Junction" made for years gets this response from one of Hollywood's biggest big-shots: He felt that it was a brilliant book, ahead of its time, groundbreaking--- but that the elements that made it unique and special have since (his quote) "been done to death".

What does this prove? Well, I think it proves that it never pays to have any original ideas. The person who makes money off the idea is never the originator, but the guy who comes in on one's coattails.

Meanwhile, thanks to all of you who logged onto www.thedragonstones.com to read the first two chapters of the new trilogy; since the number of hits has reached 100, I've added another chapter. However, I think I will set the next bar at 300 hits for adding Chapter 4.

Having another gout attack today. Ouch! Losing 100 pounds should do it, but it's a lot easier to lose it from the bank than from the paunch. It was so bad I had to record my radio show at home, but I'm making up for it by including a thirty minute piece by Schnittke in the show. That'll wake 'em up!!!

Hit or Miss?

I must confess that I've found it slightly disappointing that my return from the grave -- or rather, the seven year writer's block -- wasn't greeted by tickertape parades in the SF community. Not surprising, really -- I suppose I should have expected it to be so. On two occasions during my writing career, I've had a hard time selling a novel. Each was rejected by twenty or more publishers. Each was eventually picked up by the kind of publisher one would least expect, and each eventually received a measure of critical and popular success far greater than might be expected from the trouble it gave me. I'm not counting my first novel, which also took a while to place, because a first novel is an untried thing. The two novels I'm referring to are Vampire Junction and Jasmine Nights. They are, in fact, my two most acclaimed novels.

I shouldn't really be surprised then that it's happening again. When my block broke, in mid 2007, I immediately turned in an overdue children's book, The Stone Buddha's Tears, to its contracted publisher, immediately sold three pieces of short fiction, and embarked on a huge fantasy trilogy. The children's book is in another kind of limbo right now, due to it being part of this series which the packager is having problems with. But really, I thought the fantasy trilogy would be in print by now. Instead it's giving me the same sort of troubles as my other two "breakaway" novels. Yet I can't help believing it is a huge conceptual and aristic breakthrough for me.

So, I am posting some installments of it at www.thedragonstones.com, a web page I've created for it, as a test. I've been giving readings here, and the reception has been unbelievable. Yet the New York publishing community remains unmoved. Perhaps I can get enough popular support from the posting, or I can persuade enough people to lobby the various fantasy publishers, or attract someone neither my agent nor I have thought of. Who knows?

It's had about 70 hits in 2 days; if I get up to 100 I'll post another chapter....

Then after that I will raise the bar ... or ask for donations ... !

Twittering to Byzantium

Yes, it seems that I do have twitter. When I joined it 2 days ago, I had an average of one new follower every 10 minutes, but that's all died down now; I'm lucky if a new one adds every 5-6 hours. On the other hand, those searching for Somtow are told to go look for Tommoh.

My secret identity has been discovered!

I'm currently preparing about half a dozen operas, in various ways. On top of the heap, though, are the Bruce Gaston piece and Thaïs. It's rather interesting, isn't it, that one of the operas is about the sex industry, and the other is about AIDS.

In Thaïs, set in Byzantine Egypt, a monk successfully converts the most notorious hooker in Alexandria to Jesus, but once she has been converted, realizes that he really wanted to get into her pants, but now it's too late. In Bruce Gaston's opera which we are premiering soon, an enormous Tiger serves as a metaphor for HIV.

Mike Mahalo, the costume designer for Thaïs, was speaking to the choir last night, explaining his concept, which begins with the idea that the Greeks had wholly different notions of what nudity means. How then to create clothing which implies that people are wearing nothing underneath while simultaneously addressing the priggish concerns of contemporary societal codes? To find out how Mike solved this problem, you will just have to come to the opera....

Retro-Contem

As a result of Bruce's arriving at Trisdee's party a day late, I conceived the idea that we might do a joint concert of wildly contemporary music ... contemporary, that is, vintage 1979 or so ... a nostalgic evening, just the two of us. After all, if one person can timselip by 24 hours, could not two people timeslip by 35 years?

I found this poster from the year 1978 which advertises a concert. The first half is a Bach cantata, the second the world premiere of an unnamed two-piano composition by Bruce Gaston and myself.

This piece is very interesting in that I wrote extremely detailed programme notes for a piece that did not in fact exist yet, and then Bruce and I improvised the piece to fit the programme notes later. Improvisation is an interesting art, especially when one is doing it with someone as wild and creative as Bruce ... you dare to play everything, living in the moment, knowing it will never come back. This 30 minute piece was an amazing spectacle and had someone tried to compose it, would have taken probably weeks of carefully working out textures, heterophonies, and so on.

The piece was a wild success and it was recorded by Anton Regenberg of th Goethe Institute, but that recording has disappeared off the face of the earth, I think. So we will try to do it again....

The Helix of Semi-Precious Stones

Last night was the night after Trisdee's "farewell to prodigy-hood" party. So I was with a different group of guests ... this guy Stan from the Mahler Society, and a lady from Bulgaria, who were all enjoying Black Russians from Trisdee's bar in Trisdee's absence.

As we sat discussing the meaning of life and other such trivialities, the sound of Chopin's Etude in A flat (the "harp" one) came floating up to my living room. Everyone looked up at the same time.

"God, Jay sounds brilliant," someone said. That would indeed have been the case, as Jay has only been playing the piano for a short while although he has tried sight-reading the etude before.

"Nah," I said. "It's Maurizio Pollini."

"Wow," said another guest. You can tell the pianist just from the sound?

I didn't tell him it was the only recording of the etudes in my library. I merely smiled knowingly.

At that moment, however, an excruciating wrong note rent asunder the perfect equilibrium. I realized that it wasn't, after all, memorex. There was someone sneaking around down there ... but surely a burglar wouldn't stop to rattle of a rather difficult Chopin piece.

It turned out to be Thailand's world-famous Bruce Gaston who had come to Trisdee's birthday party ... a day late.

And a dollar short?

It makes me wonder whether time is not, as previously supposed, either linear, or cyclic, or curved, but rather a series of slightly overlapping tectonic plates, and whether our lives slide by each other in a cosmic continental drift, only accidentally intersecting....

For a change, the POST says something nice

Review
Handel Opera Gala WAS CANDY FOR THE EAR

An all but perfect evening of music at the Thailand Science Museum
By: GOTFRIED K.
Published: 25/02/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Outlook

The Bangkok Opera recently presented the "Handel Opera Gala: Celebrating 250 Years" at both the Thailand Cultural Centre on Thursday night and the Thailand Science Park on Friday night last week. Both drew crowds - and rightly so.

The house where Handel lived.

The superb Siam Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Pairoj Ongkasing, did all the heavy lifting while heavyweights waited in the wings. On hand to help were the Orpheus Choir of Bangkok and the Tamnak Prathom Harp Centre, which brought a beautiful harpist and a marvellous lady to play it. All this under the direction of Somtow Sucharitkul, with help from "Thailand's wunderkind" Trisdee na Patalung.

Handel was born on February 23, 1685 - 250 years ago - the same year as J.S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.

Somtow played the National Anthem on the double keyboard harpsichord, showing that it is an instrument of great versatility and not to be sniffed at. A moment of silence was then held to recall HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana (1923 to 2008) and her lasting contributions to the classical music scene in Thailand.

Somtow began the evening's festivities by making the claim that Handel was perhaps the greatest composer of them all. It was hard to argue when the music began to play. Handel, Somtow said, was the "master of the hook" - we might call it a riff. But it "hooked" you and pulled you in. Now as to whether Handel was the greatest composer of them all, some of us would nominate Chopin while others would go in the direction of Mozart. But Handel lived a long, full life, whereas Chopin and Mozart were dead before they hit 40. Beethoven must also be considered. While we could argue endless inches about who was the best composer, it was clear on that Friday evening at the Thailand Science Park - a very nice venue, by the way - Handel was the boss.

Handel is the epitome of Baroque. Think of Cher, Cyndi Lauper, Pink, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson. Excess, overdoing it - that's Baroque, our style. But it was the fashion at the time when Handel was born in Germany and he mastered it very well. He found his way to Italy after his father died, having refused to follow his father's orders to become a lawyer. Handel had always been fascinated by music and was not to be dissuaded. In 1710 he became Kapellmeister to George, Elector of Hanover, soon to be King George I of Great Britain. He settled there permanently in 1712, receiving a yearly sum of 200 from Queen Anne.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Somtow receives flowers while Trisdee na Patalung stands behind him.

That history was brought to life by talents like Asia's beloved operatic diva Nancy Yuen and her counterpart Derek Kwan, plus Sushleilagh Angpiroj, Pichaya Kemesingki, the endearing Potprecha Cholvijarn, who looked too young to legally drink, Lora Lund and Ryan Johnston.

Proceedings began with Solomon: Entrance of the Queen of Sheba. Trisdee played along on the harpsichord while simultaneously directing. The first solo of the evening was Derek Kwan, with Eun folle, e un vile affetto from Alcina. Kwan had a nice stage presence and the band really worked hard to make him shine. Sometimes too hard - at times he got a bit drowned out by the wall of sound washing over him.

Next was Potprecha Cholvijarn, who had the audience eating out of his hands. A tenor, Potprecha can hit high notes like you wouldn't believe. And he never gets overwhelmed by the band. He looked perfectly at ease up there and there's no doubt where this young man's future lies.

Then it was Let the bright Seraphim from Samson with soloist Zion Daoratanahong. She was confident, capable and had a great stage presence and beautiful smile. She duetted with a special horn player.

Ryan Johnston sang next, Si rea o ceppi from Berenice, Regina d'Egotto . Johnston had a good presence, was strong, didn't get lost or overwhelmed by the orchestra and handled his trills with aplomb. He was one of the few who sang without music in front of him.

We were treated then to another helping of Potprecha, who sang Onbra mai fu from Serse. If there was any doubt about his abilities, they were quickly put to rest. He had all the high notes in this song and never flinched. His pacing was perfect.

Those were the principles in the first half. Trisdee played the recorder at one point, and Pichaya Kemasingki sang two closing numbers. A bass of powerful proportions, he had to compete with a special horn - and didn't come off any worse for wear.

Nancy Yuen.

Nancy Yuen ended the first half with the heartfelt I Know That My Redeemer Liveth. She made it seem effortless. The chorus gathered at the end for a rousing finish.

The second half was a series of six songs take from the opera Giulio Cesare. The principals alternated with Nancy Yuen. And it ended with a rousing Hallelujah Chorus with the audience singing along. All went as planned and we got to hear Yuen sing V'Adoro pupille, Piangero and Da tempeste.

It's hard to attend these events and not marvel at how Thai people are taking to Western classical music, which is a decidedly acquired taste. But one is also saddened - that the government doesn't do more to help the arts and the artists, that there isn't more coverage of such events in our newspapers, that the truly talented are few and far between. Yet it is also a time of excitement, of new growth, new beginnings. The momentum is building. And every event like this Handel Gala builds on that momentum.

Talk after the show was about the venue - The Thailand Science Museum. I have it on good authority that shows may alternate between the Thailand Cultural Centre and the Thailand Science Museum, which is among a cluster of buildings including Nectec and NSTDA. It is certainly more convenient for those of us who live in the suburbs and the facilities seemed most congenial. I hope this plan becomes a reality.

As for the show, the sound quality was magnificent, the band was far more than capable, the harp added delightful touches here and there and the chorus and the principals really gave it their own. It was an all but perfect evening and the audience rewarded the players with a standing ovation.

A snippet from the Handel Gala

Here's a bit of last week's show.

Getting a Handel on Things

I saw Nick Wilgus's charming pic of Nancy Yuen from our Handel gala on Facebook and didn't think he'd mind if I stole it, especially since I'm crediting him here....

I'm very excited to have discovered the most charming and wonderful concert venue at the Thailand Science Park. The only problem is that it's an hour's drive from Bangkok. Of course for an Angeleno such as myself this shouldn't really mean anything, and yet in Bangkok one measures such things completely differently ...

The Handel Gala! Well, the first night, the orchestra's dinner was contaminated and they all had upset stomachs during the concert. Still, the audience had a good time and the Hallelujah Chorus singalong was pretty amusing. Once at the TSP for the second performance, stomachs had settled (delicious food was catered) but out there, the audience was a little different ... they didn't sing along as raucously, except for some students (mostly Indian, I think) who were in the top row, conducting along as well as singing. Trisdee became disgruntled because the audience didn't realize that the person at the harpsichord was in fact conducting ... well, conducting from the harpsichord is rather a new concept for the exurbs of Bangkok ... considering there's only one working double manual harpsichord in the whole country....

It was a pity I missed being able to watch my own show, Somtow's Theatre of Horror, because I was directing some concert, but I guess that is the catch when you have two careers (and the income of none).

How to Handel a Diva

Tomorrow's the big day ... a concert with twenty sparkling Handel gems, celebrating the 250th anniversary of his death. We've got several of the greatest moments from Giulio Cesare, bits of Samson, Athalia, Berenice, Alcina, Solomon, and even Messiah. We've got singers flying in (using up the last scraps of our barter allowance from our sponsor airline) a chorus, two conductors, and a new venue .... so far almost everything that can go wrong has, but the music is so grateful to play that there's a very forgiving atmosphere.

The concert is in less than 22 hours and we're wildly correcting the parts ... the great countertenor Michael Chance once told me that my house is like Handel's house must have been in the 18th century ... opera as a cottage industry ...

The much-loved Nancy Yuen flew in last night and, a 1 am, awoke me from my deathbed to tell me she needed to move hotels because she was being attacked by insects ... with other people this might have been a mere diva attack, but Trisdee went and took photographs of all the different species crawling around the bed ... she was hustled into a Novotel in the dead of night....

The first rehearsal was chaos from which emerged from which there emerged a vaulting, cosmic sense of order – like Handel's music itself, which seems at times to be put together from nothing yetoverwhelmingly engages one's sense of awe. The musicians love to play Handel and don't feel imposed upon when overtime sometimes sets in.

Today there is a four hour rehearsal before the concert, which lead me to suspect that there will be confusion in the concert itself ... we'll see!

Domestic Bliss

This is how it is for me:

I'm sitting here in my home office belaboredly trying to piece together a proposal to beg people for money for the opera. Below me, from two different rooms in the house, comes the sound of music. But ah. what music! Do you remember Caliban's speech in The Tempest about the music on the magic island? Sometimes a thousand twanging instruments will hum about mine ears....

So. From one chamber beneath comes the sound of Trisdee energetically practising the pi nai, a traditional Thai instrument whose sound is like the mating call of a flock of geese. Elsewhere, Jay is playing a succession of arpeggios on the violin with the relentless energy of a stuck Phillip Glass record. Somewhere just outside my office door, the two sounds blend -- if you can call it that -- into what can only be described as a symphony of horror (and you will recall that this was the subtitle of the 1922 film Nosferatu.

No wonder I'm insane.

Theatre of Horror - podcast coming soon!

It finally appeared on that odd satellite TV station known as P5 ... one that seems mostly to be selling health products or playing country 'n' eastern music videos. So for those of you who speak Thai, this is an amusing intro to my TV show about various monsters and demons of the world ... which appears here every Friday night at 10 pm. They don't have the kinks out of the show yet, and they really have to fix their one wireless mike, but it seems to me that it may settle down into a very amusing weekly jaunt. I've just finished filming episodes 3 and 4 which are about the history of Dracula.

Now, I will be podcasting the complete (hour long) show from one of my websites, www.SPTVCentral com, the only web TV channel devoted entirely to the Terrifying Thai, each week, putting it online a few days after it first airs and using the vast free space on youtube to store it rather than investing in any space of my own. If you check this site in a while, you will be able to watch all of episode one.

Now, one of the more entertaining aspects of this show is that there is no script. They give me my mark, and then I just start rambling about the monster of the week, dredging up all the info from the rat's nest that is my brain. They actually expect me to be a walking encyclopedia....

This is all very well when I can really flow, for instance if I'm talking about vampires, but then there's also a language problem because I have never really done this in Thai before. I suppose it could be worse.....