Seems to be mostly about endings: 18 - 20 March

Another blistering performance of The Hellhounds was witnessed by a select crowd at Sharky Bar last Thursday, complete with wandering/wondering wayfarer Johnny Pilgrim standing in.  A boisterous couple of sets with some new material, including a bounding Who do you love and a cheeky Women are smarter which morphed juicily into a half-remembered Iko Iko.   This effort was followed up by a surprising number of the same songs (WDYL and Folsom Prison Blues, for example) when the very same stage was taken up by some of the very same personnel in my farewell performance with the Lazy Jazz Drunks.  Ian the Punk and Tall Tom were in fine form as we jukeboxed (as noted by Mythical Dude and his compadre) our way through three sweaty sets, sometimes being a bit more jazzy than previously considered possible:  we even stumbled through an impromptu Fly me to the moon.   Helping out on a few tunes was Song, a drummer of great technical skill and demolition techniques. I slowed the tempo in the later stages to perform a short tribute to the late Alex Chilton, whose death I had heard of only that afternoon, then we ramped it up again for a big finish, drumsticks and sweat flying in all directions. 

And finally, in a weekend of endings, Saturday night saw the final Phnom Penh performance of the current line up of the Cambodian Space Project, with the Space Commander taking off for Europe for a few months.  We packed ourselves into one side of the bar at Equinox and made merry with a percussion heavy couple of hours that managed to evade the attention of the Too Loud police, although also somehow evaded the Sound Quality police as well.  Technical knowhow had established a really good sound check sound that somehow evapourated in a prolonged screech of wireless microphones, a tangle of cables and a reliance on sonic bravado so well known to the long-suffering fans and members of the CSP.  We look forward to future efforts with a greater concentration on PA mechanics and better selection of PA hiring firms.  p.s. the sound was marginally better at the final performance of the weekend, at Tassilo's wedding at the Himawari, but the curfew was even earlier. 

And so the Cambodian Space Project heads north east to the surreal island of Hong Kong ... from whence reports will emanate next week.  Which is a good time to renew my call for reviews of the shows I don't get to, or even alternate reviews of the shows that I do.  This blog oughtn't be restricted to just one view, please share your thoughts. 

Seeya when I'm back in PP.