ROCK CLUB
Celebrate 50 Years of Rock With Lam 30 March
Celebrate 50 Years of Rock with Thailand’s Premiere Rock Star Lam Morrison
Lam Morrison will celebrate 50 Years of Guitar Playing Sunday, 30 March 2008, with a gala gig at Pattaya’s only real rock n roll club, The Lam Morrison House of Rock.
Lam will host and headline a celebration, which is being planned to feature many of Bangkok and Pattaya’s best guitarists.
The Guest of Honor, with his iconic machine gun-shaped guitar, will dazzle and wow an invited audience of local and regional dignitaries.
Open every night 9.00pm till late, with Lam on stage just after midnight , The Lam Morrison’s House of Rock is in South Pattaya just off Walking Street on funky Soi Marine.
Thailand’s most audacious guitarist began playing guitar when he was 13 years old (self-taught on a beat up acoustic while he tended the rice fields and the buffalo).
Now, Pi Lam, The Ajaan, teaches master classes in his often three-hour nighty spectacles at his South Pattaya namesake club. Longtime devotees are amazed at his newfound vigor, stamina and reclaimed virtuosity.
From the great generation that produced Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Keith Richards, Lam Morrison, their Thai brother, arose from Issarn’s rice paddies.
When the US troops brought their rock n roll records to Ubon Ratchatani while conducting America’s “Secret War” (see Air America), a young Lam avidly listened, eagerly learned and quickly formed Thailand’s first real rock band, VIP.
VIP toured all the US bases during the Viet Nam War. playing reasonable facsimiles of hits from The Stones, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Canned Heat, Cream and The Doors (Lam jokingly refers to Jim Morrison as his brother).
After the war, Lam emigrated to Germany, where in a guitar duel (much reported at the time) he was dubbed “The Guitar King,” a moniker that he still defines.
He joined and formed bands, touring Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France and then over to North America and finally on to Austalia.
With the help of Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple, in the early 80’s he signed to EMI Records.
His debut album, Night in Bangkok, sold a cool million in Thailand. This was before there was Grammy Records or national distribution or even real record stores — basically, rock had been banned for years. His albums were sold at truck stops and gas stations. And a million were sold.
Since those glory days, Lam Morrison has been a rock n roll gypsy and South East Asia’s best kept secret.
He has spent the last two decades criss-crossing Thailand, from the restive south the golden north, occasionally stopping for residencies (Bangkok’s Rock Pub, Pattaya/s Blues Factory). He has shared stages with all of Thailand’s heirs to the throne from Micro to Olarn, from Ad Carabao to Sek Loso, two Thai music heroes who revere Lam Morrison as Thailand’s Guitar King.
He often returned to Europe and toured with such greats as Deep Purple and UFO and Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow.
Recently, he settled in Pattaya, but remained an enigma: You didn’t find Lam Morrison, Lam Morrison found you. He was a legend caught in brief flashes at bars up and down Walking Street, often just missed and more talked about than experienced.
The opening of The Lam Morrison House of Rock, as well as Lam’s mid/late-life reinvigoration, now means that the secret of Thailand’s guitar master is on nightly display for all to discover for the first time. Or savor for the Nth time.
The Lam Morrison House of Rock invites all to join them in celebrating Lam Morrison’s 50th Anniversary of Playing Guitar on Sunday, 30 March 2008, 9pm until late.
For further information contact Tim Carr at timcarrnyc@yahoo.com or call 66 89 523 2322, and check http://www.rockclubpattaya.com for updates and forum tributes.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Hi Lam - remember me from Koh samui - When we played at Hard Rock Corner??? Australian but in Korea.