Keeping Music Alive

You know how time moves on, and there are things you wished would have kept up? Well, surprisingly, I'm able to do that with such a thing here: music. Are there rock bands in Cambodia? ehhhh, well. Let's just say no. Are there jazz bands and ensembles to join? Nope. However, there are cafés and other Peace Corps Volunteers who share my passion for music. A buddy of mine, last June, got together with the owner of a fairly new-to-town café in Battambang Town. She asked Dave (my buddy) to perform an hour to hour and a half set at Café Eden in Battambang. I happened to be there that night (and actually performed with him for one song), and it turned out to be a good thing. He's continued to perform and has added a second to his act, Peter. Peter and Dave have now performed four or five times; it's becoming a regular thing. A little more than a month ago, Dave and Peter asked me to perform a couple of songs with them: "First Few Desperate Hours" by The Mountain Goats (on harmonizing vocals) and "Day Tripper" by The Beatles (on Tambourine and harmonizing vocals). Well, as time went on that transformed into me performing "First Few Desperate Hours" solo and adding "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" by Bob Dylan (on harmonizing vocals) and "California" by Josh Ritter (on lead vocals and guitar). I had performed once with Dave before, but it was nice to actually have a quite a few songs to practice on my own and with multiple performers. The show was last weekend (Jan 28th) and went very, very well. I had a lot of fun with it. I would say there were about 25 people in the crowd (6 or so of them being PCVs, not including the three of us). I hope this is something I can keep up here, and as I've realized, something I can continue to do back home in the States (wherever that may be). I'll post the videos when they get uploaded.

Talk to you soon,

Garrett