Harry Nicolaides' Weekly Column

Exclusively for Phuket-Info.com

Travelogue from the Tropics 3

"Half moon in a fallen sky, seven seas as time goes by....." Janis Joplin could have been writing about Phuket when she breathed life into these words in her famously inimitable manner. At the Sheraton Laguna's Gekko restaurant last night the 5-piece ensemble band Back to Black were paying homage to the breathtakingly beautiful vista of the Andaman Sea at sunset from the pavilion-styled restaurant that opened for the first time since the last high season.

George Cordeiro (Aerosmith, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Alex Taylor, Jackson Brown) set the tone for the evening with the help of Mike Trinidad, Maribell Ballesteros, Boy De Castro and George Sugai in what was an enchanting interlude of soulful ballads and rhythmic blues accompanied by the eternal sighing of the sea lapping the white shore line a few feet away. A minstrel wind carried the musical notes into our hearts as we mouthed the words in nostalgic reverie.

"An eclectic mix ranging from the sensitive ballads of David Gray to the funk rhythms of M People" said George Cordeiro, speaking about the provenance of his bands repertoire. When the song demanded an extra dimension (requests included One Love, Windmills in my Mind, When you get caught between the moon and New York City, Breathless) George flung an extra keyboard at his feet and in a feat of vaudevillian dexterity and improvisation tapped the keys with the half-brogue toe of his black, patent leather shoes.

The seamless, unassuming service from the staff of The Gekko restaurant was impeccable while the food was simply inspired - an alchemy of Eastern and Western influences served with Thai graciousness and charm. With the breath of the ocean soothing our West-weary souls the many devotees who gathered to hear Back to Black belt out heartfelt renditions of timeless classics were not disappointed.

As liquid sugar was poured into my iced tea from hand-blown glass goblet I toasted the half-crescent moon suspended above which appeared "like a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas". The poet who uttered these words may not have ever been to Phuket but through some curious oddity his words leap across the centuries like a falling star to land on the beach of the Andaman Sea where the fire still glows in the incandescence of the Gekko Restaurant's fairy lights.

Harry Nicolaides

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