Taiko Drumming and New Generation Cowboys

Wow! I had a really amazing day yesterday. After school and a nap, a bunch of our friends went to Kaelang Park to watch an international drum festival. Some students from my school performed a dance with flags which was actually pretty good then the real fun began. The Lampang drum corp went upon stage and played these huge drums. i think it was a kind of traditional music and it was so loud and thunderous...just so powerful. then the main act was a group of Taiko drummers from Stanford. Taiko drumming is a traditional Japanese style of drumming and it involves a lot of dancing around with a the drum sticks and also lots of syncopated shouting and chanting. i've really never seen anything like it. i actually took some videos which i will upload soon. it was such a cool cultural performance. our friend Kazuyoshi was with us and he said he'd never seen anything that good in Japan.

after the drumming we had dinner and watched the football game. then Karen had this idea that we should go to the biker bar because "it's the best live band in Lampang." i was a little skeptical since all the live Thai music i've heard has been a sort of easy listening. when we got there, the band was playing CCR and they were actually quite good. they played mostly classic rock which we all sang along to. after the show, the band members came over and sat with us since they're friends with karen. the one man, Gaeng, was wearing snakeskin boots with spurs on them and a huge turquoise belt buckle. he looked pretty hardcore, but the minute he started talking you could tell that he was a very laid-back guy. the bikers here are nothing like biker gangs in america (besides the riding bikes part). i started talking to Gaeng about his style and he explained, "I'm a new generation cowboy. I don't ride the horse but I ride the motorcycle." he is in charge of organizing Bike Day which is I guess kinda like Bike Week in Daytona. He showed us pictures from last year and it looked pretty cool. also, Gaeng said that there will be an Elvis impersonator performing with their band in August. Apparently during August there is an Elvis week in Chiang Mai. should be pretty funny. speaking of singin, Gaeng and his band were very keen on getting Hilary and I to sing with their band. i said i might get up and sing with them for a couple songs but that i didn't think i could sing with them everynight and then teach in the morning. all in all it was a great time and i'm glad to know that there's some good music in Lampang.

today Hilary, Noah and Dave all went to Chiang Mai so I'm all by myself. it's actually nice to have some time alone but it's difficult to do things on my crutches without any help. i'm going to hang out with the Philipinos today. Gemma and Divina are really cool and we're going to watch movies and cook. i can't believe how much i miss cooking! however, that will all change very soon....more to come.