today: the ghosts of alcatraz - morroco’s...
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TODAY: THE GHOSTS OF ALCATRAZ - MORROCO’S HEAVENLY VIEWSTravelWEEKEND
10THE CANBERRA TIMES Saturday, August 4, 2012
ADVENTURE: The Shibuya area of Tokyo and Kenny Toda, right, strums away in El Camino bar. Photos: Nick Moir, Chris Johnson
Plucking up guitar bar courageTOKYOBy Chris Johnson
AMonday night and I wasalone and exhausted inTokyo. It had been my firstday on an assignment that
would the very next day have me upearly and on the superfast bullet trainto regional Japan. I should have goneto bed and made an early night of it– fatigue was telling me to do exactlythat. But I wasn’t up for wasting anight in Tokyo when I wouldn’t beback until the end of the week.
I could have kept myself more thanadequately amused in the hotelwhere I was staying. It had everythingfrom numerous restaurants andclubs, to shops and beautifully-litJapanese gardens (complete withwaterfalls, bridges, ponds and giantgoldfish).
But I broke free of its comforts toswap them for a night-time strollalong the busy streets of the Akasakadistrict.
It was just after 9pm with stillplenty of traffic on the roads andpedestrians on the footpaths.
Shops and restaurants were openand, although I couldn’t read most ofthe signs, I soon got the vibe that Iwas in a semi-trendy part of the cityand it was somewhat of a nightclubprecinct.
I was happy just to walk along thestreets and down the little lanewaysto see where they led me, withoutactually going into any of the myriadvenues. But then, after almost anhour of wandering, I saw it on theother side of the road.
It was a bright neon sign in theshape of a guitar and it wasbeckoning me towards it.
I rushed across the street for acloser inspection and could tellstraight away that it was not a late-night musical instrument shop.There was surely something far moreinteresting behind the door at the topof the stairs.
Opening the door there was anadrenalin rush. What was I steppinginto so late on a Monday? Anotherneon light told me the place wascalled El Camino.
Behind the door, recorded musicwas pumping, which stopped as soonas I stepped into the dimly-lit room.
The sole couple inside, a man andwoman, got up and greeted me witha smile.
‘‘Come in, come in,’’ the man said.‘‘What is this place?’’ I asked.‘‘Guitar bar,’’ he said in broken
English. ‘‘Guitar bar?’’ ‘‘Yes. You pickone. You play.’’
It was then that I noticed a smallstage at the front of the roomsupporting a drum kit, microphoneson stands, three electric guitars and afine selection of amplifiers. Thewhole room was designed as a cosylounge, with sofas, chairs and coffeetables arranged to draw attention tothe stage.
All the walls were adorned withguitars and any patron was welcometo take one down and plug it in.
In fact, I learned later that most ofthe guitars were left there hanging onthe walls by local musos who didn’tmind them being played by strangerscoming in from off the street.
If only such a trusting and collegialconcept could work back home, Ithought.
‘‘Where you from?’’ my host asked.‘‘Australia.’’ ‘‘Australia? Tommy
Emmanuel, he play here. About fiveyear ago. He good.’’ My host’s namewas ‘‘Kenny’’ Toda and he told me heopened his club 15 years ago as a
place for musicians to chill out andfor players of all levels to rock on.Toda was an ageing rocker himself.He was perhaps the coolest 61-year-old I had met.
It occurred to me that I hadstumbled into what might bedescribed as a karaoke guitar club.
‘‘You like the Ventures?’’ Todaasked.
I knew the Ventures, a 1960sinstrumental surf band from Americaakin to the Shadows from Britain.
What I didn’t realise was just howhuge the Ventures were in Japan –and not just in the sixties.
The Japanese still love their
Ventures music and still flock to seethe surviving members who keeptouring there.
In fact, Toda’s El Camino bar wasquite a shrine to the Ventures, and inparticular to guitarist Nokie Edwards,who not only appears often in theclub but has also recorded livealbums there.
‘‘Yeah, I like the Ventures,’’ I said,without giving away that I was muchmore familiar with the Shadows.
‘‘What your favourite guitar?’’ ‘‘Ilike Fender electrics and Gibson andMartin acoustics,’’ I said.
‘‘I like Mosrite,’’ Toda replied,adding ‘‘Ventures play Mosrite
guitars.’’ But with that Toda handedme a 1965 Fender Jazzmaster he saidwas his own and one of his personalfavourites. Then he asked me to hopup on stage.
He told me it had been a quietnight in the club. They were about toclose up when I walked in, but he waskeen to hear me play.
His female companion, Yajma, hadalready brought me out a glass ofsake and a few bar nibbles.
I love this place! On stage, I startedplaying a blues, to no one, whenToda stepped up and plugged in abass to play along.
After the first song, he handed the
bass to Yajma, who began riffingaway while Toda jumped on thedrums.
This was fantastic. Another couplewalked in, friends of Toda and Yajma.
The guy, Suzuki, kicked Toda offthe drums and so Toda joined mefront and centre on another guitar.
It was then I learned how good aguitarist Toda was.
We rocked along playing a fewblues numbers and then Toda asked:‘‘You like Beatles?’’ ‘‘Yep.’’ And so weplayed a few Beatles numbers, bothtaking turns on vocals and having ablast.
He then brought out a songbook
with a lot of classic rock tunes for usto all play along to. By then, a coupleof European backpackers came in.They, too, had followed the neon notknowing what it led to. They took upa comfy lounge chair and drank sakewhile they watched us and laughed.
I laughed, too, and told them I waspleased to be able to make a bit of afool of myself up on the stage,knowing I was never going to seethem – my entire audience – everagain.
After a few more songs, Suzuki andhis companion, as well as thebackpackers, said their farewells andleft me there once again with justToda and Yajma.
More sake was brought out (‘‘Thisone top shelf’’). And then I confessedthat I needed to gain a greaterappreciation for the Ventures.
Toda gave me a CD.But I was attracted to the stack of
vinyl records he had near theentrance to the bar. ‘‘Would you sellme a Ventures LP?’’ I asked.
He brought out a beautiful redvinyl copy of The Ventures in Japanlive album from 1965. ‘‘Yes,’’ Todasaid. ‘‘You take this one. Original.Very rare.’’
I didn’t know how rare it reallywas. But I knew I really liked Todaand his guitar bar. And I knew I wasa little drunk. So at the end of a greatnight I left El Camino with an LP inmy hand, a few glasses of sake in mybelly and the privilege of havingentertained the entire room with myguitar playing.
For all of that, I was asked to pay‘‘only 5000 yen’’. I had no idea at thetime just how much that was inAustralian dollars. But I didn’t care. Itwas worth every penny.
■ The writer travelled to Japan as aguest of the Japanese Government.
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Face to face with anation’s dark pastCAMBODIABy Michelle Fitzpatrick
Want to see Pol Pot’s grave or hisbroken toilet seat? How about a visitto the house of a feared Khmer Rouge
commander known as ‘‘The Butcher’’?Welcome to the town of Anlong Veng, a
former Khmer Rouge stronghold which hopesto become the next must-see destination onCambodia’s dark tourism trail, but which facescalls not to glorify its role in the country’sbloody past.
A rectangular mound of earth lined withhalf-buried glass bottles and protected by acorrugated iron roof marks the spot whereKhmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was hastilycremated in 1998.
Aside from a sign asking visitors to ‘‘pleasehelp to preserve this historical site’’ there is noinformation on offer, leaving Cambodiantourist Pov Dara, 27, to ponder the significanceof the low-key grave.
‘‘I feel sad for the people but not for him,’’she decides, after snapping a photo of herrelatives flashing the peace sign.
Up to two million people died fromoverwork, starvation or execution when theKhmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, attempted tocreate a communist utopia in the late 1970s.
His cremation site, which attracts about 10visitors a day, is one of 14 tourist spots thegovernment intends to ‘‘preserve anddevelop’’ in northern Cambodia’s AnlongVeng.
Other places of interest include leaders’ oldhomes and a rusty radio truck used tobroadcast Khmer Rouge propaganda.
Impoverished Cambodia is no stranger togenocide tourism, with the Tuol Sleng torturecentre in Phnom Penh and the nearby KillingFields of Choeung Ek, where thousands died,among the nation’s most popular attractions.
But while the focus at those sites is onvictims of the 1975-1979 regime, Anlong Vengis populated by one-time loyal Khmer Rougefollowers, giving it the feel of a town that hasfound itself on the wrong side of history.
As locals relish the lucrative prospect ofwelcoming more tourists to the once isolatedarea, observers stress the need to educate
guests about Cambodia’s history – and avoidturning the destination into a Khmer Rougenostalgia tour.
To that end, the tourism ministry hasteamed up with the Documentation Centre ofCambodia, which researches Khmer Rougeatrocities.
The centre is preparing to publish aguidebook based on the stories of long-timeresidents and it is training tour guides toprovide meaningful information about ‘‘whathappened and why during the Khmer Rougeregime’s final days’’, says the group’s directorYouk Chhang.
A museum is also planned.However, he says, it is important not to
exploit the country’s tragic past.Cambodia’s memories are ‘‘not for sale’’, he
adds. ‘‘We have the responsibility to ensurethat Anlong Veng is a historical andresponsible site to educate the public.’’
The Khmer Rouge was ousted byVietnamese forces in 1979, but regime leadersand supporters continued to wage a low-levelguerrilla war against the government.
Anlong Veng, near the Thai border, was theKhmer Rouge’s last rebel centre before themovement disintegrated in the late 1990s.
One of the best-preserved visitor sites intown is the lakeside home of late militarycommander Ta Mok, known as ‘‘The Butcher’’for allegedly orchestrating brutal massacresthat killed thousands. Locals, however,remember him as a generous leader who gavethe town a road, a bridge, a hospital and aschool.
Ta Mok, who briefly led the Khmer Rouge inits final days, was the only rebel who refusedto surrender or strike a deal with thegovernment after Pol Pot’s death. He wasarrested a year later and died in prison in 2006while awaiting trial.
His airy house is little more than a shelltoday, its furniture looted long ago. But severalwalls are still adorned with colourful yetamateurish murals of temples and a map ofCambodia – symbols of Ta Mok’s patriotism,according to the site’s caretaker San Roeung,himself an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier.
‘‘A lot of people here liked Ta Mok. Whenthe enemy came, he took people to safety,’’says the 60-year-old.
AFP