On the 1st July 2009 my mum’s Thai Gift Shop in Manchester will be closing its doors for the last time!
My family opened the shop in 1988. We’d moved up to Manchester from Totnes (a sleepy, slightly hippy town in the South of England) and with the little money my parents had saved up we managed to put down 2 months rent and deposit on a small basement space underneath a highstreet bank. I have a vague recollection of seeing the place for the first time as a child. We’d only had it for a few days at that point; it was dark, damp and cold; my mum and dad were sweeping up the tiled floors under the dim light of a single lightbulb powered by a car battery. It certainly didn’t look like much then!
In a matter of weeks though that would all change. My dad is one of those incredibly practical and resourceful types from a previous and now lost generation; from a time when men were expected to be able to do anything. Plastering? Check. Wall papering? Check. Construction of a complete hair salon with mirrors and hair-wash basins? Check. Haha. And my mum, well she is and has always been the inspiration; she has this inate and boundless creative energy; she’s fiery at times but she has exactly the kind of passion and vision you need to turn a spark into a flame and a disused, forgotten basement into something special.
Fast forward some 20 years and it has become exactly that. Situated between Manchester Chinatown (the second largest Chinatown in the UK and the third largest in Europe) and the bustling gay village this little shop has survived earthquakes and bombs, become a regular haunt for locals and visitors to the city alike and supplied various products for fashion shows, theatre productions, TV programs and even Hollywood films (most recently for the new Sherlock Holmes movie!). We do so many things at the shop that I sometimes forget myself what’s on offer. My parents taught me that you have to improvise when you’re a small business because trends come and go but the rent still needs to be paid! So it’s grown from being a hair salon with a few ornamental pieces for sale to an Aladdin’s cave filled to the brim with Oriental clothes, pictures and accessories. Over the years we’ve also offered a whole range of services: from haircutting to Far East language services, from Thai dancing to traditional Thai massage. You name it, we’ve probably done it here!
But as they say, all good things must come to an end. My mum’s retiring this year, my sister wants to pursue pastures new and I am making headway with the music career so there’s nobody here to carry on the business. In some ways it’s a shame because it really has become a special place. There’s a sign in the Hard Rock Cafe which says ‘Love all, serve all’ – that sign has always reminded me of our own little shop shop. In an average day there you’ll come across so many different characters; all of them encouraged to mingle and help each other out; gay people, straight people, martial artists, dancers, chefs, artists, chinese people, thai, english, vietnamese…a whole host of languages and cultures all thrown together happily. I’ll miss that variety and craziness! I suspect the next few days will be quite emotional for everyone. There will definitely be some tears but we take with us lots of fond memories and a lot of good friends that we’ve made along the way.
If you happen to be in Manchester this next week please pop in and see us. We’re at 56 Portland Street and there are lots of bargains to be snapped up before we go: Chinese dresses, Japanese kimonos, Thai handicrafts and many other things. I really hope to see you there one last time.
J x
Manchester Chinatown Gate – One of the largest in the world.
A busy Manchester Chinatown: Chinese New Year
Mum, Lana, staff and friends waiting for the lion dance!
The Lion comes to dance at the shop for good luck!
Hey everyone! If you’ve watched my earlier ‘Incredible Video Blog’ you’ll know that I was involved with a film earlier this year.
Back in Feb 2009 I produced 4 tracks for the film. I also co-wrote and sang the lead song: ‘Someone I Can Love’ and was asked to make a cameo performance in the final scene. Today, I saw the full length trailer for the first time and I’m absolutely over the moon – it looks brilliant and I’m so excited to be able to share it with you all. This is my first film! And it’s a proper little teen flick. haha wowow!
The whole process was so much fun and my thanks go out to all my collaborators: David Allen Jones, Frank DeMartini for ‘Someone I can Love’. And everyone at Chinaboy Music: Mum, Chonrada Chayachinda, Mint, Golf, Jack, P’Moo, Richard and Rob for all your amazing work and help. The film should be out in the US in the Autumn and the single will be released about the same time. In the next few weeks I’ll also put up some daft videos we made during the lengthy recording sessions – silliness galore. So keep posted … and here’s the trailer … enjoy!
Before I start, I’d like to apologise. I think I’ve slightly lost my mind today.
I think it comes from the fact that I’ve been working very hard these last few weeks, hence the complete lack of blogging. Indeed, besides all the music making I’ve also been helping my mum at her Thai Gift Shop in Manchester (www.thaigiftshop.co.uk); we currently have a stock clearance sale so get on down there for half price Oriental gifts, clothes, jewellery and such! (unashamed advertising I know but do come soon before it all sells out !).
As a result, lately I’ve found myself waking up at 7am to open the shop and then going to sleep at 3am after nodding away over my studio computer. Of course, it was never going to last and since Friday I’ve been in bed nursing a cold and headache and feeling sorry for myself.
Well, it’s Sunday night now and I feel a bit better but do you ever find that if you’ve been in your own company for too long you go a bit crazy? No? Well maybe it’s just me. Arghhhhghghghgh. I was chatting to a friend earlier and I was trying to make something rhyme…but nothing came to mind…so I came up with the word ’sexitive’ to fill the blank. Yes, you heard me correctly; SEXITIVE!!! Don’t ask, don’t ask. I have no idea where that came from…and no idea why what followed, followed…
10 minutes later the word had been defined on www.urbandictionary.com(it’s just been approved so will be up tomorrow. I once also defined the word ‘bormazing’ on there – look for it…it’s bormazing.).
And 30 minutes later, following an argument about whether it would catch on and whether it worked within a sentence, a ’song’ had been recorded. Listen here to: sexitive. Please don’t ask me where that weird mockney, mancunian, trans-english accent came from; I really don’t know – same place as the awful lyrics I guess…all from the gutter of my imagination and inspired by those ridiculous hiphop pop songs…erm yes. anyway… I told you already; I’m not well people. I’m not well!!!!
Hello all, it’s been a busy couple of months in the UK since my last blog-post but the other day I took some time out to go to the theatre. I have to admit I was slightly sceptical about a musical set in the future to Queen’s greatest hits but I didn’t really have a choice…Mum had gone to see the show the week before and she cornered me when she got home. She was adamant that I had to go; ‘Are you a musician John? Are you?!’ she asked, brows furrowed and looking concerned. And that, my friends, was that. Tickets were bought and my sister and I found ourselves settling in to some nice red seats at the Palace Theatre on Monday night.
The show turned out to be brilliant. The story was well written – witty and fun and very much a Ben Elton piece of work. The performers were superb – the lead actors had stunning voices and the supporting cast provided an impressive chorus and some great dance sections (with some amazing costumes! Wowow for lovely ladies.). And the music? Well it’s Queen; hit song after hit song – I Want To Break Free, Under Pressure, We Wiill Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust and Bohemian Rhapsody were just a few of the many greats woven into the plot. It was pretty much impossible to sit still through the performance; the whole audience clapping and singing and bouncing along to every uptempo song. Each one reminding me just how great Freddie Mercury and those guys were. In my mind he is one of the greatest performers that ever lived – an unbelievable showman with an incomparable voice.
So it seems mum was right again. Every songwriter really should go and see this…it’s truly humbling and very educational! haha. And for everyone else…you should just go…seriously, the plot sounds ridiculous but it’s just so much fun you’ll soon find yourself caught up in the silliness and enjoying every moment. I highly recommend it.
Total lack of blogs and communication lately. I apologise…especially to all those lovely people that have sent me concerned emails and messages! Awww thank you thank you. I am ok though! It’s just that so much has been going on and it’s built up into a massive backlog of stuff I really really want to tell you all and I keep thinking to myself…right, I’m going to sit down one day and write it all up but then quite get around to it because I keep booking up all my free days with yet more stuff to write about…and so the cycle continues.
So, here is my mini compromise. Until I get around to writing something properly…I should let you know about my new twitter account!
www.twitter.com/johndang
If you haven’t seen it already, Twitter is pretty amazing – it’s like a mini blog which I can just fill in everyday…more like the status updates on facebook or msn really. It takes just 2 minutes so it’s perfect for a quick note of the everyday events. And then all the good stuff with pics I can save for this proper blog!
Ah it’s that time of year again. Everywhere I go there are big red hearts, roses and chocolates on sale. Yesterday my friend Richard attended a wedding in Singapore and later this week I will also attend a wedding in Bangkok. The radio has played ballads non-stop for the last 48 hours and I know that the TV is broadcasting similarly mushy content – I walked past a restaurant earlier and witnessed a typical Thai sitcom kiss (think clever camera angles, and blushing actresses).
Yes, love is definitely in the air. So come on, spill the beans people…what romantic things did you all get up to yesterday? Candlelit dinners perhaps? Weekend getaways? Or maybe a night on the town for the bachelor and bachelorettes amongst us? Hmmm all sounds good to me.
My night though was rather less eventful: This Valentine’s day I was sat at home, on my own, in front of my studio computer recording a song…But don’t cry for me Argentina!
I’m certainly not complaining; the last two weeks have been very productive, brilliantly so! There have been writing sessions, vocal producing sessions, studio recording sessions and it’s all coming to a climax in the next 10 days. I actually have a whole host of deadlines approaching in the next week and it’s very much a case of burning the midnight oil to get everything done.
It’s funny how life works out; sometimes you wait and wait for one thing to happen and then at other times you can barely breathe for everything that’s going on. I’m in one of those crazy periods right now and I’m fully embracing it.
Well, I hope you all had a wonderful day, whatever you were doing. And oh, I nearly forgot, I took a photo of this beautiful silk rose especially for you. Yes you. x
This morning (Friday 13th, Bangkok Thailand) I woke up from a nightmare I was having. In the nightmare I was stood in the back garden of a house. I looked up to the right and stared at the sun; it was a golden, orange colour. I remember thinking it strange that I could look directly at the sun but then a shadow came across it. I couldn’t make out what it was at first but then I realised it was the nose of an airplane and then I realised that the plane was coming straight towards me. As is the case in dreams everything seems so real; the fear, the sounds, the heat. The plane veered to my left and it crashed straight into a house on my left. It was all so vivid.
After breakfast I told a friend all about it and I told them how weird it was and how real it all felt. I’d never dreamed of anything like this before and I couldn’t think of any reason for it to suddenly appear in my subconscious. I then shrugged it off and got on with my day. I had to travel to the other side of Bangkok to a friend’s studio this morning and I had to be there at 11am so I needed to leave early.
In the afternoon, after lunch, I turned on the internet and there was news of an accident in New York: a plane had crashed into a house. I read the news and I was so horrified that I didn’t even make a connection with my dream until later.
I know it’s just a horrible coincidence but it’s still freaked me out today.
My thoughts and sympathies go out to all those that lost someone in this terrible accident. RIP all those that died.
I was at SonyBMG this evening. I was stood outside the building talking to a friend on the phone when I noticed a large white envelope at a cash machine. There was nobody around and it was just lying there wide open so without touching it I leant over and took a closer look. Imagine my surprise when I saw a whole bunch of 1000 baht notes inside!
So what did I do? Well dear friends, you remember that Apple Mac laptop I really wanted to buy? Well guess what! Woohoo!!
Noooooooo I’m just kidding! Hahaha. Actually I rang my friend at Sony and she brought the security guards out to meet me. I didn’t really want to touch the envelope in case I managed to implicate myself in anything (I’ve seen my fair share of Hollywood movies and I’m not leaving my fingerprints anywhere! Next thing you know Tom Cruise will burst through a window and put me in jail for a crime I didn’t commit…yet.). Anyway, the guards counted the money and guess how much was in there – 85000 baht!!! That’s almost $3000 US. On closer inspection the envelope had an imprint from a company in the same building as SonyBMG so the guards started there with their inquiries.
To cut a long story short, later this evening, my friend at Sony received a lovely phone call from a very grateful employee at the other company. It seems that this guy had gone downstairs to withdraw some money on the company’s behalf and then amazingly he’d walked away and just left it on the ATM. Luckily the guards had managed to find him allowing us a happy ending to this story! I can only imagine what he must’ve been going through, poor guy. Ah well. All’s good now! Funnily enough, a random bit of coincidence: the guy that lost the money is also a musician. Maybe there’s something about us musicians…ditzy and forgetful! We have good hearts though!
Ok, I should really get some sleep now. As a reward for my day’s good deed I have already had an ice cream, watched an episode of Frasier and played the computer at monopoly (and won! Woohoo!)
Goodnight everyone!
J x
PS> It’s my mum’s birthday today! I called her earlier to wish her a happy birthday. It’s kinda sad that I can’t be in Manchester with her today but we’ll make up for it soon! Love you mum. xx
Chicken, Sticky Rice and Papaya Salad! Oh and me and Richard.
Has it really been 10 days since my last blog? wowow! How quickly time flies these days. Well, to save me from hanging around I think I should write a quick list of what’s been happening.
1. I’ve been busy producing two tracks – one for Sony and one for myself. I’m very excited about both although I will be mightily relieved when they’re done. It’s a lot of pressure when you’re producing a track and not just writing/performing it.
2. One of my best friends (Richard) arrived in town on Tuesday. He was a banker but now he’s a writer/traveller/devastating superstar and he’s here for a couple of months. So far we’ve been busy enjoying good food, hitting the gym and partying. Tonight we went to Ann’s place (one of my neighbours) for a Mexican dinner which was really lovely. We bought her some Thai wine which had ‘hints of pineapple’! Unfortunately, as tasty as that sounds, I couldn’t drink any because…
3. I’ve got tonsilitis again and I’m taking a super fast course of antibiotics. I need to be well this coming week – I have to sing in the studio on Thursday. Grrrr….I’m defintiely taking these tonsils out as soon as I have a break in my schedule. I’ve heard it’s painful but I’ve had enough of them. Tonsils are rubbish aren’t they??
Ho(t) Ho(t) Ho(t).
4. Remember how I said I was going to take up Tae Kwon Do again? Well when I got back to Bangkok in October I was having some trouble with my left ankle so I went to see a specialist. The results of the scans showed that I had a fracture in one of the bones. It’s not a new injury but it has never been diagnosed or treated before so he recommended that I took some time out and did some physio on it. 3 months on I’m feeling much much better and raring to go again. I’ll take it slow but it feels great to be back in training! Richard’s been joining me this last week. We’ve made a pact to get him superfit before he leaves for Australia in 2 months time.
5. I spotted 2 Santa Clauses shopping in Suam Lum Night Bazaar the other day. They looked hot in all their gear but I asked for a photo with them anyway. They obliged with big smiles although I think they get asked to do this a lot…the smiles look sort of plasticky to me. Nevertheless it’s not everday you get to socialise with such celebrities.
6. I’ve been to the cinema twice. The first time was to watch a Zombie movie called ‘Quarantine’. It’s one of those camcorder type flicks where everything shakes and shudders in a very sylised ‘Blairwitch’ way. The film itself is ok but what I actually found most entertaining was watching my two friends, Andre and Clinton, both grown men whimpering and hiding behind their hands for the last 30 minutes. Hilarious and plenty of ammunition for the future. The second film I watched was ‘Yes Man’. It’s the film adaptation of Danny Wallace’s book. The book is superb and I highly recommend it. The film starts slowly but grows on you and by the end it’s pretty good. Jim Carrey does a fine job and the female lead is super cute.
7. I lost to Clinton and Andre in a game of bowling. I am rubbish at bowling. I only managed a grand total of 72 in one of the games and scored zero points 3 times. To be fair I also managed to score several strikes. Some would say that this dramatic yo-yo-ing of my performance was sheer luck, I would argue that it’s the mark of unrefined genius.
8. I lost to Puk in a game of Guitar Hero. I’m actually very good at Guitar Hero and I suspect the machine got it wrong especially seeing as I had a better hit ratio. It’s all a fix. Really!
9. I have had to use my mozzy zapper 4 times in the last 2 days. I’m becoming quite accurate. I’m also concerned about my karma. I feel that I should breed fish or something to redress the life-death balance.
10. I went for a Thai massage today after a quick shop at JJ market. Thai massages are the best! Totally relaxed now and feeling very ready for bed. And on that note…goodnight everyone.
!).
