Dengue Fever - The gig that never was

Sunday the 27th
For one time only, USA band DENGUE FEVER is playing the Peace Pub. Everyone who knows their music tells me that this will be an awesome gig. Without doubt, the first real non expat rock’n’ roll band to play in PP.
Tickets are $5 and entitle the customer to two draft beers or soft drinks. Tickets are available from Peace Pub or can be purchased on the door if available.

“I live in Southern California. I have seen and talked to the band several times. If you get a chance, go and see this group. They are simply awesome. The guys in the group are some of the best musicians you will see anywhere. They sound like they were dropped right out of the sixties. “ Shasta

‘’multicultural pop featuring the vocals of Cambodian-American Chhom Nimol (all the vocals are sung in Khmer). Retro surf guitar, the throwback psychedelic tone of the Farfisa organ, rhythms on songs like ‘Pow Pow’ that conjure visions of James Bond dancing the Swim in a Hong Kong nightclub, as well as the absence of any post-punk or disco residue, create a sense of time displacement.'’ Dengue Fever review.
Not quite sure what the reviewer is saying there, but he seemed to like them!?!?

The concert was due to start at 8:30 that evening, so I decided to get there early to make sure I got a good seat, 7:30 and the bar was already starting to fill up!

Dengue Fever - The gig that never was

Well, Sunday evening turned out to an entertaining night at the Peace Pub; but not for the reasons billed.

A crowd of some 80 strong people had turned up to see the band Dengue Fever play its live funky brand of Khmer American popular music.

Unfortunately, the band did not turn up until about 20 minutes after they were due to start playing, they spent five minutes making their way through the crowd to find the owner, whereupon they told him that they did not like the look of it all, plus the lead singer was feeling ‘a bit under the weather’ so they then walked out leaving the poor owner to deal with a crowd of very annoyed people.

The deal was, US$5 for entry to see the band, but your ticket got you two free drinks ($3 worth) now, most of the crowd had been there for a while and had had their free drinks. So poor Dave (the owner) gets up on stage, tells everyone that the band had refused to play. He then offers everyone in the bar another free drink (so we are now up to $4.50 in drinks per head)

On top of that, Dave has had to have the stage built, hire equipment, print posters and tickets, pay people to distribute flyers and had extra staff in for the night.

So I think that it is fair to say he is seriously out of pocket on all this!

Of course, not everyone in the crowd was happy about this solution. One guy was so angry and screaming so loudly, that at one point Dave leaned over the bar to me and said ‘psst, Darren, get out side and fetch my security guards, quick!’

So while poor Dave was trying to deal with this guy, and several others who had appeared to back him up, another disgruntled customer, a youngish woman of the American persuasion, was standing near my end of the bar screaming at the poor young Khmer girl, Som Nang, working behind the bar that she was very upset and where the hell was her free gin and tonic. In that time honoured method, when the foreigner did not understand what the English speaker had said, she just started repeating it louder and slower; because as we all know, if you speak loud enough and slow enough, the natives will finally understand you.

A small irony of the woman screaming, shouting and raving at the defenceless Khmer barmaid is that the American woman in question works here for an NGO that is supposed to be addressing gender equality in impoverished rural communities.

So it was a lose ~ lose situation for the Peace Pub. Screwed over by the band, upset customers are always the loudest, out of pocket; but the behaviour of the worst of the customers really was appalling to watch.

As for my friends and myself, we just sat back and watched the pantomime characters work themselves into an ulcer or coronary. While simultaneously offering the US$1 for their unused tickets (3 beers for a dollar works for me :-)

Ho Hum