Satanic Majesties

Thanks to Craig and Ben for their contributions to the Jungle music collection this week (72,000 tracks/320GB and counting). Ben helped me fill out the Stones library among lots of others (18 AC/DC albums, yow!), and Craig's got a great collection of Texas music, of which I'm a big fan, and a bunch of Stones bootlegs as well.

Somebody out there was looking for Their Satanic Majesties Request. Got it now. I also brought an original 3-D album cover back to put up in the bar, along with seven or eight others. Haven't figured out yet where they'll go. Work in progress.

Thanks Ben and Craig.

I can remember virtually nothing of those sessions. It's a total blank. We were pretty much the way we look on the cover! The thing I remember most about making Satanic Majesties is that cover. We went to New York with Michael Cooper and met a Japanese guy who had a camera that could produce a 3-D effect. We built the set on acid, went all round New York getting the flowers and the rest of the props; we were painting it, spraying it. We were just loony, and after the Beatles had done Sgt. Pepper, it was like, Let's get even more ridiculous.

-Keith Richards, 2003

24 February 2007

We had a great if exhausting day on Saturday. Thanks to all our friends and family who made it so nice. We spent Saturday night at the Raffles and had a wonderfully relaxing day there on Sunday. They were nice enough to upgrade us to an apartment which looked like a display room for Restoration Hardware. I could live there. Next on the agenda, a new apartment. Thanks again everybody.

At Jungle we're open as usual.

Cambodia Maps

Jungle now has a copy of the CD Atlas of Cambodia produced using Army maps from the period 1969-1980. It's got a convenient user interface and plenty of detail. We'll burn copies for $2, proceeds for which will go to benefit educational projects in the Kep/Kampot area. I'll try to always have a few copies around.

You'll see Mrs. Jungle's village on the far left of the map example below, just south of the Mekong, listed as Phum Khnhung.




For more information about the map project see the author's site at Cambodia Maps.

Toys

A repentent but unrehabilitated gadget-head (there's simply less to buy here), I brought back one nice toy from California this trip. I've read such great reviews of the second generation Toshiba HD-DVD players, particularly the upconversion capabilities of the high end HD-AX2 that I had to have one. It is spectacular. It's astonishing what it can do with non HD material (i.e. the 1300 DVD's I've already got) and how apparent that is even on a non-HD projector like my InFocus (I have the same one in the bar and the apartment). I suppose since the format wars continue, with Blue Ray regaining considerable momentum lost with HD-DVD's early start, there is a chance the unit could become a doorstop if Microsoft/Toshiba/Universal loses out. But I'm hoping that Warner's new combo disc (both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray layers) means there will continue to be room for both competing technologies.

For now, I'm happy. It's my afternoon breaktime and I'm going to watch some movies. Got the Oscars coming up.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Chúc mừng năm mới
Kung hei fat choi

from the Jungle Bar.

Staff, please get back to work, it's not your holiday.
Well ok Pheap, it is your holiday. But you still should get back to work.

P.S. The year of the Pig image graciously allowed to be stolen from http://chinese-new-year.y2u.co.uk .Thanks!

Royal Happenings

(Reuters) Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni has declared February 24 "Cambodia-Freedonia Solidarity Day" in honor of the marriage of the King and Queen of Freedonia, thus establishing Cambodia's 273rd public holiday .

Freedonia's King and Queen were legally married in Kompong Cham province last week in a small private ceremony involving the bride's family, the village headman, a dozen of his friends and several cases of Anchor beer. The royal couple will celebrate their wedding on Saturday, February 24th in Phnom Penh. Security is expected to be tight given local interest in this most unusual affair.

Paparazzi spotted the King at a prominent local tailor being fitted for a white wedding suit, rumored to be last seen being worn by Elvis Presley in 1968. Bodyguards pummeled the photographers and destroyed their cameras, most likely to avoid a repeat of the tragic October event which saw the Freedonian king's previous tailor beaten to death by an angry crowd who had seen pictures of the King's wardrobe published in the local media.

The World Bank and a number of other of Cambodia's major funders expressed concern over the addition of yet another public holiday but Cambodian officials expressed their determination to "chart our own holiday path". Officials also confirmed that funding is being sought for the construction of a "Cambodia-Freedonia Solidarity Monument" to be located at the intersection of Sothearos Boulevard , Sisowath Quay and Street 154.

The Jungle Bar will be closed for Cambodia-Freedonia Solidarity Day on Saturday February 24. We will be open for Chinese New Year/Tet.

Frying Power Supplies cont.

I apologize for the pitiful state that the Jungle music system is in. What I thought was just a fried power supply turned also into a fried set of speakers. So while the amp has been repaired, they're trying to sort out the speaker repair (they were very good speakers). If they can't soon I'll spring for the standard bar system and have it up in a day or two.

Thursday postscript: Friends is going to fix the speakers for the lofty sum of $4 each. Can't complain. We should be back to normal tomorrow.

Weekend Events

Friday saw Chanrina and Russell (there in spirit) celebrating their one year anniversary with a big bash at Voodoo. Capacity crowd and good food. There may have been some drinking as well but I really don't recall much. Hmmmm.

And Saturday about 20 of Lee's friends remembered their friend with a late afternoon cruise up the Mekong, sharing stories about a soul taken too young. Farewell Lee.



Sunday saw Jeff nursing a really rotten head cold.

Tuesday postscript: Peter has done a nice tribute to his friend Lee on 440 here.

NY Times Travel: Phnom Penh

In Phnom Penh, Hopefulness Replaces Despair

IT'S a late Saturday afternoon in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the waterfront along the Tonle Sap River is the place to be. As clusters of elderly women sit on concrete benches overlooking the water, peddlers set up stands from which they sell slices of fresh pineapple while youngsters on motorbikes deftly weave among the crush of pedestrians. Boat captains yell out to passing couples, offering sunset rides on their tiny wooden vessels, as shirtless children swim or fish in the muddy water. Suddenly, a lone elephant, gently guided by its young handler, majestically makes its way through the crowd.

At this moment, Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, seems frozen in time, as the scene in front of you plays out much the way it must have 70 or 80 years ago, when Cambodia was part of French-controlled Indochina and the city was known as the Pearl of Asia. But then you notice the bank of A.T.M.'s in the nearby storefronts, the Internet cafes crammed with fashionably dressed teenagers checking their e-mail, the sleek air-conditioned bars with names like Metro and Heart of Darkness. And all around you, you hear a polyglot of languages — English, French, Korean, Spanish, Chinese — that are a testament to this city's reappearance on the global tourism map.

In fact, after a few days in this city, you notice that Phnom Penh has something of a “next Prague” vibe about it — a place where many young people from around the world, heady with excitement and the thrill of the unknown, are coming to reinvent themselves. At least that is what it feels like as you run into groups of Americans hanging out in one of the cramped nightclubs along Sisowath Quay, or vie with Australian expatriates for a table during the crowded two-for-one happy hour at the Elephant Bar in the Raffles Hotel, or scan page after newspaper page of job listings in the English-language Cambodia Daily.

Article contiued here.

Lee Robinson

Many of you know that Lee Robinson died at the young age of 32 on the 3th. Lee was a dear friend of many in Phnom Penh's expat community and many here at the Jungle. Lee's body was cremated Thursday.

Friends of Lee will meet at the Jungle at 2pm today, Saturday, and at 3pm will board a boat and scatter Lee's ashes on the Mekong. We're honored here at Jungle to have the opportunity to provide Lee's friends with a meeting place for the ceremony. Thank you Sam.

You'll find many a tribute to Lee on the Khmer440 site here.

Elvis at the Jungle

Many thanks to Cambodia's number one Elvis fan Julian for contributing to the Jungle DVD library a superior copy of the '68 Comeback Special, and the phenomenal Ultimate Collection, unreleased in states, a four disc DVD-9 set containing a mighty 11 hours of the King. Sounds like a great way to spend a day. Thanks so much Julian.

Frying Power Supplies

The music at Jungle is down. My receiver made it through the Super Bowl and seems to have fried shortly thereafter. Probably the power supply. I usually take equipment to Friends around the corner and I expect they'll be able to take care of it shortly. Sorry for the interruption in service.

Kudos for the Gorilla

Asia Life Phnom Penh, the glossy new magazine, sibling to the successful Saigon magazine, this month features an article on breakfast options in town and says about Jungle "best breakfast selection in town".

Well thanks. I think so too.

Thundercrack

One of the items stashed among the 200 lbs. of stuff I lugged back this trip was my collection of Springsteen boots. It would take too long to burn and tag them, I'll probably just put a handful on the Jungle system. Some great stuff, including the Night For The Vietnam Vet, the poster for which adorns the Jungle wall, recent Asbury Christmas concerts, the '75 Roxy and Bottom Line shows and the 1973 Bryn Mawr show which includes "Thundercrack", one of Springsteen's finest performances. Trades always welcome of course. I'll put Thundercrack on the podcast when I've got the corn flour washed off the CD (a little baggage accident).

Sunday Postscript: Well life can be cruel. The '73 Bryn Mawr show has gone missing. Substituted on the Jungle Podcast is the wonderful acoustic version of "Thunder Road" from the '75 Roxy show in L.A. (which I saw).

Meanwhile, Springsteen did a similarly restyled acoustic version of Thundercrack on his 2005 tour. Here's the 2005 version.

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A snippet of the rockin' '73 version is here.

Home Again

I'm back after a less than relaxing trip home and a brutal LA-Bangkok trip. But made it in one piece. Computer has been rolled back to the date I left (and the customer who installed software will be banned) and scanned for viruses as is the usual practice. The laptop links will be up this evening. Phew. I gotta get some rest.