There were no turtles in sight on the beach... - justin_guber

There were no turtles in sight on the beach...

...only a naked man who is either indian or a very darkly tanned Malay. As we walked past him on the golden sandy beaches, the naked man sat cross legged under the shade of a coconut tree, fiddling with his naughty bits. We were, to say the least, perturbed.

This was Terrengganu, an East Coast paradise recently freed from the oppresive chains of a fundamentalist government. Unlike the other states, Terrengganu had been in the control of PAS for the past two years, enforcing religion in the form of seperate queues for men and women in supermarkets, hoods for the girls and lights on in the cinemas with single sex seating.

But that was all long gone. Still, you don't see strange naked men walking around the streets of KL that often.

...Actually, now that I think about it, you do. Perhaps strange naked men are a pre-requisite of democracy.

The bus ride down was excruciating: more than 10 hours of VCD's, bad backs and dead buttocks through back roads and unlit passages. In the bus were One Buck Short, Y2k, Triple 6 Poser, Side Circle, Doze and friends representing the FYI contingent of the first gig in Terrengganu in two years.

The gig was being held in, of all places, a golf and country resort. FYI were all shacked up in a huge bungalow (one room could fit 5 double beds) overlooking the beach. Over the balcony, we watched as the naked man washed his balls in the ocean, harrassed an air conditioning unit and drank from the hotel pool next door. Somewhere in the background Ahmad was screaming, "I'M A NIGGER!!!!" very loudly. Why? No fucking clue.

By the time the FYI bands got on stage, thanks to a few of the other bands not listening to the '20 minute's a band' rule, we all had to cut our set considerably. Then the worst happened. Y2k couldn't play. It was a choice between either Y2k or One Buck Short playing, because they had no time for both, and as a label, we needed to push our biggest band. Hence, no Y2k. And if you know the members of Y2k, you can imagine how pissed these members were.

But here's the thing: the crowd was incredible. These people sat through a good fifteen bands to get to the FYI's. Triple 6 Poser were scared that the hardcore/metal/punk/emo crowd wouldn't dig it, but they did. Side Circle tore the roof off the sucker. Doze soothed the savage souls and One Buck Short ripped them apart (some chick even fainted).

This was beyond kick ass. Even though there were no turtles and y2k didn't get to play it was still well worth the trip.

Even though my leg is fucking killing me.

2.9.04 06:54

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