STREET WISE
Rich kids riding magic carpets
It was such a pleasurable night for fans of saxophonist Kenny G to see him up close weaving his magic on his horn. Plus the Jazz Royale on Sunday night presented other great artists, including Ahmad Jamal, Chris Botti and Nancy Wilson.
The public toilets were clean, despite the huge crowd at Sanam Suapa, willing to pay Bt2,000 to sit on the grass or at plastic tables. The atmosphere would have been more pleasant if the organiser - the Tourism Authority of Thailand - had set rules on the size of mats that members of the audience could bring in with them. Mats came in many sizes: from ordinary 45-x-45-inch personal ones to gargantuan 3-x-2-metre carpets that covered huge swathes of grass. If carpet-owners came in a large group and spread out three of these jumbos in a block, the audience had to make a wide detour to reach the toilets. The atmosphere would also have been more pleasant but for the emergence of a group of rich kids who took the event as the venue to celebrate the birthday of their friend. They came in a big unruly mob, laying down a trio of carpets in the centre of the venue and bringing baskets stuffed with food and drink. They lit up cigarettes with no consideration of those surrounding them. And when Nancy Wilson was about to sing one of her jazz numbers, they burst into a rendition of "Happy Birthday". Hey, folks! We were not there to hear you sing and to inhale your smoke. Hopefully, we won't see you again this weekend, at the Bangkok Jazz Festival.
achara_d@nationgroup.com
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