Crazy Backstage or another great promotion?

Are we nuts? Ofcourse not...
at least when not everybody turns up at the same time with this one! ;-)



And ofcourse we will keep on doing our best to become a pleasant hassle free hang-out for gays and gayfriendly people between Paradise (the gay quarter here in Patong) and the gay beach, each within a few minutes walk from our location here in Patong Phuket (Ofcourse you can get hassled if thats what you wish for, but then only on your explicit request) ;-)

Well, hop over when here and try us out...

O, and we value our honest advice and recommendations, so when we say "delicious", it is so in our opinion, and in our customers sofar ;-)

For the naughty ones among you readers a special Xmas greeting ;-)

Fist Me This Christmas

Think its really funny, heard it before though, so might you, but then it popped up again and I had same reaction as before, laughing...
and laughing is healthy, so I decided to share it this time with you guys, enjoy!!

Xmas Gift Party comming up on the 25th of December!!

The rules for our little Xmas Gift Party are as follows:

The gift you bring, and you can bring as many as you like, but a minimum of one is required, has to cost a minimum of 100 baht and should not exceed 200 baht.
Per person, ergo not per gift, one receives the free housecocktail ;-)

Everybody comming to our Xmas gift party with a gift will leave with a gift... but we will start handing out the gifts from 10 pm onwards.
O, and when due to circumstances you are unable to be at our place around or after 10 pm: we will keep your gift here at The backstage for you max 3 days, after which we will put all not collected gifts in a lucky draw ;-)

We chose the time, so everybody can enjoy whatever else might be on offer in (gay) Patong!

To all our friends who read or follow our blog:

The Nation, one of Thailands influential English newspapers condems Thailands role as chairman of the UN Human Rights Council !

Today, in its editorial, The Nation speaks out strongly against Thailands role as chairman of the UN Human Rights Council in its stand on rights for Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders.
Thailands position comes just after the first time ever petition of GLBT-activist to Thailands governement on the rights of the GLBT- community end november in Bangkok (see our earlier 'report'!

It makes again clear the difficult road ahead for the GLBT-community here in Thailand as in a lot of other countries, IF they are indeed serious in their desire to try to get things changed for the better, because Thailand is less tolerant then we sometimes think and think we experience when on holliday, etc. in this Buddhist country.
Amazing Thailand all over again, sadly a missed opportunity !

But who knows, the editorial of The Nation also signals that maybe actually there's something better in the air for the GLBT community ;-)
Can't wait, because it would really simplify life here!
All of us non-Thai should support oour Thai brothers in their more then worthwhile struggle for equal rights in Thailand!!

Below the inegral text from the editorial as published today in The Nation!


EDITORIAL
There's nothing partial about universal rights
By The Nation
Published on December 17, 2010

Thailand has shamed itself at the UN and ignored its own Constitution on the issue of gender rights; there is no excuse for this intransigence

One would imagine that it should be easy for everyone to agree that taking someone's life because of who they are is reprehensible. One would also think that a predominantly Buddhist country considered by many as tolerant'would condemn the senseless killings of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) based simply on their identities. Sadly, that's not yet the world we live in, and that's not the Thailand many think they know. Last month 79 countries voted to successfully remove a reference to sexual orientation as a ground for protection in a UN resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The amendment effectively says it's permissible to kill LGBTs for no other reason than they are homosexual, bisexual or transgender.

Thailand, in its role as chair of the UN Human Rights Council, chose to abstain rather than vote against such a repugnant initiative like the 70 nations that do insist on the right to life of LGBTs - including India, Nepal, Bhutan, Timor Leste, Japan and South Korea. Fortunately for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders worldwide - whose lives continue to be threatened by homophobic traditions, laws and governments - the majority of people don't want a world that permits the killing of a minority group because of prejudice and ignorance. They remember the disturbing photographs of a public hanging of two gay teenagers in Iran five years ago. They are also shocked by recent developments in African countries like Uganda, which is pushing ahead with a bill imposing the death penalty for same-sex relationships. Is this really how far we have advanced in the 21st century?

"Today, many nations have modern constitutions that guarantee essential rights and liberties. And yet, homosexuality is considered a crime in more than 70 countries. That is not right," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a high-level panel discussion on "Ending violence and criminal sanctions on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity" to mark International Human Rights Day last Friday.

Echoing Ban's remark, US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said she was "incensed" by the vote, announcing that the US will move to restore the reference to sexual orientation when the resolution comes before the UN General Assembly on December 20. Other countries are urged to join this important effort.

This is not the first time Thailand has sat on the fence on the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity at the General Assembly, the UN's most important body. In 2008 our UN representation also chose not to endorse a statement affirming the human rights principle of universality and non-discrimination regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. At that time, LGBT activists met representatives of the Foreign Ministry to hear an explanation as to why the ministry thought it acceptable for LGBTs to be singled out as a group deserving of state-condoned violence. The excuse they received was that the abstention vote was made in deference to the country's relationship with the Organisation of Islamic States.

That excuse cannot stand up to scrutiny. If Thailand wants to keep criticism from Muslim countries at bay, the right way to do it is to promote accountability, justice and human rights in the deep South - not by condoning violence against another minority group in the name of cultural intolerance.

The Thai government is not being asked to side with one group of countries or another. It's only being asked to be on the side of universal human rights. It's being asked to abide by our own 2007 Constitution whose Article 30 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, which explicitly includes sexual identity, gender and sexual diversity.

As Ban officially said, "It is not called the 'partial' declaration of human rights. It is not the 'sometimes' declaration of human rights. It is the 'universal' Declaration, guaranteeing all human beings their basic human rights - without exception. Violence will end only when we confront prejudice. Stigma and discrimination will end only when we agree to speak out."

It is time for Thailand to speak out. And Thais - LGBTs and the many who support social justice - will be listening this Monday.

Another desert regularly on offer while at Backstage: Delicious Thai pancakes!

Yummie, very regularly another mobile desertcart enters our little soi (=street), the Thai pancakes guy!



And the Backstage & Superboy-staf like to enjoy the pancakes as much as our visitors!
Below: Our pancakeguy at work while Mos (Backstage) watches!




The menu with all the variations which are on offer, first in Thai and then in English:

Little report & pictures Max Quarter Century Party

The birthdayboy, presenting himself in the outfit of his choosing ;-)
Max celebrated his 25th or quarter century at our bar with a small but real fun party!


On birthdays its very common for Thai's to give money, though we also see that happen a lot in , what we call, the west, Thai though like to show what they received and or gave (and honestly just as happy with a smal gift as well as big ones!) and so when somebody celebrates ones birthday and brings money with him as a gift, one will most of the time find himself clipping it around the birthday boys neck as a necklace of money.
Like many Peter (some of the pics on this weblog entry are his) did the traditional thing and here he poses just after the fact with Max;-)


Max likes to sing, karaoke or otherwise, and here we see him doing just that! Singing for al his friends at Backstage!
Our karaoke installation functions excellently and one can even sing on the street (as, actually, customers seem to enjoy.
(The fun of our Backstage seems, for one, to be that in one part people can enjoy karaoke, etc. while other customers can still enjoy some quiete time with talk etc. but when having a special occasion we happily mix)


We all got really surprised, and enjoyed a big laugh, when one of our regular customers, Frederick, knowing about this tradition of giving money and hanging it around the birthdayboy, brought a T-shirt made of 20 baht notes. Now that's a cool idear!!


Ofcourse, at midnight, we also had the traditional birthdaycake ceremony. On this occasion sponsored by Uli, who also presented the cake to Max while we all sang "happy birthday" ofcourse!
Poor Max then had to try to blow out the candles, which proved to be way less easy then he anticipated ;-)


The table with all the regulars of The Backstage at the present moment, assembled around it.
Though Uli left for Germany allready while we write this and Frederick is of to Bali for a coupleof days (3d of the left).

Surprised though not unexpected: Joel is back in town!
We were very happy to receive Joel back among us on, of all days, Maxs birthday. Joel is dear and loyal friend from our former J&B-Bar and he is allready making our Backstage his homebase while in Patong!
(Third from the left!)


After a whole evening of happiness for Max, a last picture with him, while saying thank you and goodbye, hoping his new year will undoubtly be better then the year past!
Also, he is now wearing a crown, made out of twenty baht notes, made by the lady who cookes the (seriously wonderfull) food we serve at The Backstage ( from her own little restaurant opposite our Backstage)

>

This comming sunday, the 12th of December: Birthdayparty Max at Backstage!

The day after tomorrow, sunday the 12th of December, we all hope to celebrate the birthday of Max... one of our senior stafmembers aand one who is known to enjoy entertaining our customers (and us)!

I know Max for 3 years now, and in those years he has become a dear friend. Half October he called me that he wanted to leave Koi Samui for personal reasons, where he lived and worked most of his life and needed a radical change and if he could work for me/us.
We (Kik and me) did not need to think, and said enthousiastically YES.
In the short time since he has become one of our engines on which the Backstage presently runs and we haven't regreted one day since he arrived here!

Now, this sunday, Max will celebrate his birthday, his first one since a very long time, outsite Koi Samui and away from his known friends and family.
We at the Backstage would like to give him a warm feeling of welcome and that his chosen family here really appreciates him.


Right: Max (left) next to our friend Peter (right)...personally I am happy he changed his hair again, haha.. but then again, he likes to do crazy in a fun/positive way every now and then!


To hopefully achieve that, we would like all of our readers, if they are in or near Patong ofcourse, to come sunday evening to the Backstage to not only congratulate him with his birthday, but also to celebrate it with him and us!

Max is ofcourse typical Thai in that respect, so we'll try to give him a real Thai-style birthday party for which all of you are invited!!

At midnight ofcourse we hope to give him the birthday cake ceremony (rain or shine, lol) and free food will be available during the evening for all our guests, as is the Thai custom here ;-)

New and english gay (GLBT) magazine OUT for Thailand will appear first time on, hopefully, 2d of January 2011!

Last saterday, representatives of the english speaking owners of gay businesses here in Patong on Phuket, met with Ian Chenoweth, Marketing Director, of the new gay magazine for Thailand, aimed at the foreign and english speaking visitors and expats here in Thailand. This magazine wil be named OUT Magazine.

After the fiasco of SPICE magazine, which went belly up last month under very strange circumstances, Ian had to overcome some sceptisism from all attending.
We all left though in a pretty good mood and believe the arrival of OUT and the way it sofar wants to work, is what is actually needed badly.

Thai Puan is now the only national magazine with reasonably up to date information and was/is far better then SPICE Magazine in that respect, BUT it also, totally justified, targets the Thai market and as such is not serving the same target group as a whole.
Partially the target group of OUT magazine and Thai Puan will ofcourse overlap but we feel they wil not seriously bite eachother.
They might though, keep eachother sharp in a positive way;-)!

The first publication of OUT Magazine, will take place on 2d of January 2011... this launch has been put forward several months not only because of the unexpected collaps of SPICE, but also because now its high season and two (!) Gay Pride festivals comming up (IN Pattaya as well as Phuket). It was the only way to fill a gap which needed desperatly filling-up on such short notice!

We at Backstage will support the efforts of OUT (ofcourse), hoping they will be a much better replacement of the now former SPICE, for all the visitors to Thailand and expats living here in Thailand!

Ofcourse we optimistically agreed to support OUT with a half page advertisament, which you find below ;-)


If for futur publications you have suggestions for our advertisaments, please feel free to sent us your comments!
After all we are no professionals at this and we hope, with your help/support we can improve our effectiveness over time!

Finally: Thai LGBT activists state demands to government

Very happy that finally some people start to try to get same sex issues on the agenda and in the end hopefully realised here in Amazing Thailand.
A report I copied without any additions or whatever from FRIDAE, a Singaporian based group for the empowerment of gay in Asia.
The content speaks for itself!



NEWS
30 Nov 2010

Thai LGBT activists state demands to government
by Douglas Sanders
For the first time activists in Thailand have formulated a set of demands in the form of an "Open Letter" to government. The demands were launched at the end of November in two events in Bangkok. Douglas Sanders reports.

The Sexual Diversity Network held its second Rainbow Umbrella March in Bangkok on Saturday, November 27. 150 people with identical rainbow umbrellas snaked through the busy Siam interchange shopping area, ending on the plaza in front of the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center. There they read out their new "Open Letter to the Government."

On Monday, November 29, the letter was again formally presented, this time at a workshop at the offices of the National Human Rights Commission. The workshop may mark a new beginning of interaction with the Commission. The Commission was reorganised two years ago in ways that were sharply criticised by local and international activists. It has had a low profile. Two commissioners attended the workshop, and a few government officials. Observers came representing the embassies of France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, the Philippines and the EU. The speakers at the workshop were LGBT academics and activists.



Open letter to government

The government and/or relevant authorities must undertake programs of awareness-raising using educational systems, the media, appropriate policies, regulations and guidelines to promote, in a concrete and effective way, a balanced public understanding of the sexualities and identities of people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

The government and/or relevant authorities must stop stigmatisation and discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.

The government and/or relevant authorities must foster free association of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in an environment that is safe, secure and free from threats and violence.

The government and/or relevant authorities must not deny or in any way hinder the access of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities to public services, education, job recruitment and promotion.

The government and/or relevant authorities must stop employing notions of public morality, public security and traditions to discriminate against people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities or in any way impair their full enjoyment of all human rights.

The government and/or relevant authorities must play the leading role in providing education on human rights and sexual rights, put in place and into concrete action legislation promoting human dignity and equality including the Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights standards in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The government and/or relevant authorities must amend or enact legislation to guarantee that people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities fully enjoy all human rights on an equal basis to heterosexual men and women. This includes, but isn't limited to, legal recognition of same-sex marriage which guarantees the same benefits as opposite-sex marriage.

The government and/or relevant authorities must take into consideration and guarantee the participation at all levels of people with diverse orientations and gender identities in all spheres of life - whether social, legal, political, economic, educational, public health, media, traditional or cultural – in a non-discriminatory, equal and fair manner.

Source: Sexual Diversity Network

For our Dutch readers and or visitors,this info might be usefull/handy!: Finally also the Dutch now have a Honorary Consul on Phuket! ;-)

Het onderstaande is zonder enige wijziging en nader commentaar door ons overgenomen uit de Phuket Gazet, internet versie, van heden de 1e december:


Netherlands Ambassador to Thailand Tjaco van den Hout (left) with Seven Smulders, the Dutch honorary consul for Phuket.

PHUKET: Netherlands Ambassador to Thailand Tjaco van den Hout last night praised the work of honorary consuls, saying it was a “thankless” job requiring the consuls to be available at all hours to attend to often “grizzly” affairs.

“I am so happy to have a consulate here to take care of an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 Dutch residents in this part of Thailand,” he said.

The number of Dutch nationals coming to Phuket and neighboring areas is continually increasing and is currently more than 200,000 a year, he added.

The ambassador was speaking at the official opening of the Netherlands Honorary Consulate in Phuket, marked by a party at Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket last night.

Addressing Phuket’s top government officials, local Dutch residents and other honorary consuls gathered for the occasion, Ambassador Van den Hout voiced his high esteem for Seven Smulders, the Netherlands Honorary Consul for Phuket.

“It’s not just his great pedigree and fine experience which makes him suitable for this role, he has actually held a very prominent position in the field of national promotion and he has done that with great distinction,” he said.

“The role of honorary consul is a thankless one. It requires you to be available at any moment day or night and for very little reward, because it is an honorary position,” said the ambassador.

Mr Van den Hout pointed out that Mr Smulders had been acting as the de facto Dutch honorary consul for the past 18 months. “In that short time he has had to deal with some grizzly consular tasks, and he has done that in that very proper manner,” he added.

Mr Smulders passed the compliment on to his counterparts. “I would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues, other honorary consuls. I feel privileged to be officially a part of this formal association and look forward to working with you in the future.”

The Netherlands Honorary Consulate is located at the Dara Hotel on Chao Fa West Road Tel: 076-304096-7. Mobile: 084-8529279. Email: dutchhonoraryconsulphuket@gmail.com

In response to the growing need for Gazette readers to contact their consular representatives on Phuket, the Gazette Guide now includes contact details for all 17 active honorary consulates on the island that co-ordinate through official meetings every three months.

If you want to read the 'original' publication, you can paste copy the link below and you get connected to the right page of the Phuket Gazet, and as such also give you opportunity to learn more about what goes on on Phuket.

Now even more on offer at The Backstage: Thai 'fast' food! ;-)

(you find full menu at bottom of this little blog entry)

Officially since today, but we serf this food allready for a while at bar on request, we now start to serf Thai 'fast' food to our guests when they feel hungry.

We tested the food for weeks, since the new owners of the little typical Thai neighbourhood restaurant took over the business from the previous owner.... and my staf and yours truly things its delicious for style of food!

We also asked the opinion of our customers who asked if we maybe serfed food also and if so, if they could get some.... With no exception they were all very positive about the quality and above all very happy the price of it!

The new owners called their little restaurant "Ole Fast Food", but do not compare Thai fastfood with what we know in the so called western world as fastfood. This food is as healthy as you can get it.
The Thai calls this fastfood because they can prepare it quickly , efficiently and clean and most Thais make use of just this type of place to generally eat their breakfast (Thai style = same same as lunch/dinner) and all other meals they consume during a normal day. And Thais are pretty selective about their food and its quality!
I put fast between ' ' because its relative, compared with what is still generally regarded the meaning of fastfood in the western kitchen, like MacDonals, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King. Those places you find here as well ofcourse, but they are among Thais not known as "fastfood" places, though you get serfed there even a little bit faster then their own style of "fastfood"... but well, a lot less freshly made and, lets be honest, also a lot less tasty!

One of our customers suggested to us to make a menu to put on the table (you might know him, he was officially the first customer of The Backstage back in April when for a couple of days we made a little trial run to see how things would work out before starting for real in August, and as such he will allways be an honored guest for us here!).
A simple and good idear, and easy to follow up upon..... if ofcourse Ole fast Food agreed to it.
We talked with the owners, and they were very happy to cooperate with us in this.
And so, from today onwards The Backstage is proud to present her little menu for our guests to choose from.......... and we decided to give you same price as the restaurant charges her customers, which, with a few exceptions, are all Thai (yours truly is one of those exceptions).
How they do it I do not know, but all their food is being sold for 50 baht a plate, can you imagine? Converted against present rate of the baht to the euro comes down on roughly 1,25 euro for a full healthy meal!
If you get too used to it (price/quality) though, I have to warn you, you get pretty spoiled food wise, before you get back to your home country again for sure!

Click on the image below and you get to view the menu on full screen!

Now if you click on the promotions, you get the proper view, not tiny, as in version yesterday, our apologies for that!

The map for how to get to Backstage, actualy very easy and comfi.
We are, as is unchanged, Superboys, with a sign on the mainroad at entrence of our soi (=street)
and to make it even easier...on the corner of our soi we still have Chang Bar with also 2 pooltables.

Now on request and when ofcourse available, Backstage offers among other things: OYSTERS!

We are happy to announce that since this evening, the 22d of November, we have made an arrangement with an oyster-seller that he can come to our bar on request if customers (or we ourselfs, uhum) would like to have some oysters.

Left: Our Oysterman (in reality he really looks better, was just experimenting with my iPhone4, uhum) as I now cal him, busy preparing some oysters for us...and as you can see he sometimes also have mussles and clams on offer!





We sampled his oysters (what a punishment), and they were, in one word, delicious!
You can eat them ofcourse in any style you like, but our vendor (=seller) has all the Thai trimmings to enjoy with your oysters.

And maybe even more pleasing to know, they were cheaper then I have had them anywhere else sofar in Thailand, and that in Patong....! But ofcourse that was today and before we made our deal with him for the futur, and hopefuly the joy of all of you when you come to Patong and pay us a visit!



Right: Our Oysterman in front of Backstage... his oysters, mussels and clams are so atractive that once in a while even our stafmembers (in this situation it was Max, can not resist and go for it... for still an affordable price for them (and do not worry, our customers pay same price as the Thai do here!


Next to oysters, we can serf/arrange a range of relative simple, but tasty Thai food for extremely decent prices (mostly between the price of half a bottle of beer (if you could get that) and a full one ;-)

Ofcourse afterwards you can order from our coffee/tea-menu (allways available when open!) and everything else ofcourse you like to enjoy with your coffee/tea!

Well, now you know, we try to become your home away from home, where you can relax and unwind, meet up with your friends, or make new ones.

Backstage Farang and Thai Specials for High Season No 1, more will follow in time ;-)

From tomorrow, the 22d of November, The Backstage starts with the after beach hours.


When a person receives a promotional card from our bar, then he (or she, yes, we do not discriminate)
gets a buy 1 get one free voucher
to be used between 5 and 8 pm at The Backstage!

And for our Thai friends an attractive promotion as wel ofcoursel:




Ofcourse if you print this page from our weblog you receive same same ofcourse!

By the way: if you have any idears you think might be interesting for us to follow up on, please let us know!

Birthdays & Weddings, a few pictures, part 2!

Left: Rin, from My Way Cabaretgroup in the middle of a dance for our Backstage audiance.











Right: Somewhat 'dark', but Rob and Kik enjoying the show being put on!












Right: Rob and Ted and his wife from Delft, Holland







Left: Chris and Sao from The Dutch Inn, a cool Dutch bar of Bangla Road











Right: Ka, brother of Kik and his friend with Kik and Rob












Left: The guys from Heaven Bar, in Paradise, they came after their bar closed for the evening to celebrate and same time also sing a song with our staf ;-)

The Birthdays & Weddings Party 7th of October! Part 1 !

Left: The father of Ton and yours truly, one of the two birthdayboys of this evening ;-)

The 7th of October we at The Backstage celebrated two birthdays, a weddinganniversary and an upcomming wedding, which took place here on Phuket on the 10th.
The birthdayboys were Jeroen, from Delft and here to attend the wedding on the 10th, and yours truly, the so called owner of The Backstage, Rob.
The weddinganniversary celebrated was that of Rob (again) & Kik, who celebrated their 2d (Dutch) weddinganniversary.
The upcomming wedding was that of Ton & Bow on the 10th. Ton is a Dutch friend of Rob from his hometown Delft in Holland and he got married to Bow, a friend of Kik from his home province in North East Thailand.

With this party we not only wanted to celebrate the birthdays but also kick off on a most pleasing couple of weddingdays for Ton & Bow culminating in a beautifull weddingday here on Phuket at The Andara Villa resort and partly organised by yours truly ;-)


Right: An animated atmosphere developed in anticipation of a modest cabaretshow put on by our friends from May Way Cabaretgroup.

For the first time Backstage tried to create a complete cabaretshow, but because of the space needed, most of it was performed outsite in front of The Backstage, on the street with the little, individual numbers on our own Bachstage-stage!

Below: The cabaretshow started. The May Way Cabaretgrooup put on a most intimate and pleasing show for the occasion of our birthday and for that we were most gratefull!

Ofcourse we also did the traditional birthdaycake ceremony for Jeroen, who celebrated his birthday here with us at The Backstage together with some of his friends from Holland and his girlfriend Edyta.


Left: From left to right Jeroen, Edyta, Rob and Kik


The Birthdaycake presentation finally underway. With all present singing their hearts out in honor of Jeroens Birthday. Rob gratetfuly took the opportunity to play Master of Ceremony so he cleverly escaped the ceremony himself with all atention focussed on Jeroen... as it should be ;-)

Left: Jeroen receiving his birthdaycake from Gong, and on the far left you see a pretty hot Rob ;-)

Wear PURPLE on Wensday the 20th of October! + ...anouncement of a report on the Birthdays & Weddings Party of the 7th ;-)

Wensday the 20th of October The Backstage is going to support the Facebook initiative to wear something PURPLE on this day in protest of the gay bashing on internet and elsewhere resulting in suicides/deaths of often young people who wrestly with their sexual orientation.

If you happen to be in or around Patong Phuket, feel free to drop in at The Backstage and when you wear something purple you receive a free houdecocktail !

Report of Birthday & Wedding Party

Due to extreem rainfall, luckily before and after the events of the 7th and the wedding we helped organise on the 10th, we have not yet been able to make a report for this weblog, but we hope to be able to do so in the next couple of days.. this is just to let you know ;-)

The official invitation for the Birthdays & Weddings Party on the 7th of October!

For all our followers/readers here on Phuket and elsewhere, please see this invitation as personal, with our hope we can welcome you to the party and enjoy a special evening!
Lets celebrate life and blessed futures for all!

That's for one what birthdays and weddings have in common ;-)

Hopefully see or otherwise hear you on the 7th ;-)

The flyer we produced for The Birthdays & Weddings Party on the 7th

We will start distributing/handing them out this comming weekend!

Please, when you have the chance, opportunity know that you're most welcome to celebrate with us!!

See (or hear) you the 7th! ;-)

Hugs,
The Backstage team!



with thanks to EJ for making our flyers, etc. ;-)

Birthdays & Weddings Party 7th of October, rough outline of set-up now known.

Roughly the set-up of the upcomming party at The Backstage is getting shape, though nothing is definite yet, but enough to start sharing the information ;-)

We'll start the 7th at 7 pm with Celebration of Life (= Birthdays).
If all goes to plan we'll happily celebrate the birthdays of Jeroen, who will be here for holiday from Holland, and Rob, yours truly and 'owner' of The Backstage!
Between 9.15 and 10 pm we'll have a first show, which will be about celebating life!

At midnight, when 7 turns into an 8th, we will start celebrating weddings, or, as one can also say: long lasting relationships, love, commitment, the union of people based on love!

Right: Rob & Kik on their way to Cityhall of Delft to get married, in company of friends and family, 8th of October 2008.

We celebrate the 2d weddinganniversary of Rob (yes, me again) & Kik and the upcomming wedding on the 10th of Ton & Bow here on Phuket! (Ton is from Holland, while Bow is from North East Thailand)
Between 00.30 en 01.30 am we'll plan to have a second show, concentrated around long lasting relationships, love, etc.

We expect this special party will end between 2 and 4 am.

Ofcourse The Backstage provides, as is tradition here in Patong, a buffet, hopefully to everybody's liking and ofocurse the traditional welcomming drink!

O, not unimportant, all promotions The Backstage runs right now, will NOT be valid during this special event at The Backstage!!

Backstage now on Facebook!

Since a day or so, The Backstage made her first carefull steps in the facebook-community.

You most likely end up on the right page if you paste this adres in your browser:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phuket-Thailand/The-Backstage-Purple-Meeting-Point/128153483901105?v=wall

but if not, you can allways get there if you search "The Backstage - Purple Meeting Point"
or surf to my own facebook page "Rob J. Vermeer"

See you on facebook, I would say ;-)

New promotion for September/October at The Backstage

Ofcourse this black & white looks very different when you see it in orange!
But below the content of our new promotions for up till end of October




comments ofcourse allways welcome!!
See you soon one of these days ;-)

Proposal for another advert for Backstage, now for Spice Magazine

Our inhouse guest EJ has designed a variation on our earlier advert in Thai Puan, but this time for Spice Magazine, which is due for October with a special Phuket issue in which we are supposed to get introduced ;-)

Feel free to give your comments, if it has any merrit, or not... we simply like to know asap so we might be able to adjust or whatever ;-)



Spice Magazine will come out every month, so maybe sometime in the next month we will come up with a 'high season' look, whatever that may be...LOL...but maybe we feel we can not improve more on this concept and then we'll keep it till we come up with an improved version.... so, your feedback might be of great help to us ;-)

Thanks,
Take good care
and hopefully see you soon when you are here on Phuket!

"Thank you" and birthday party at Backstage

Last night, the 3d of September, we organised a Thank you party for all those who helped on or Introduction Party with performing for our guests. Same time they asked if they could combine it with Somchai's birthday. No problems because we also wanted to thank Somchai for helping us with preparing the food and also performing (see Impression Introduction I - VII).
So we offered a 'private party' fro all at The Backtage.... aaaand I must say, as hopefully the pictures below confirm, they had a great time and truly enjoyed themselfs


Left: Somchai receives a botle of 100 pipers ( a poular wiskey here) and a Backstage poloshirt for his birthday and thanks.










Right: The My Way crew receiving same bottle as thanks for their contribution to our Introduction Party. For them and the others who helped we oganised this party!






Left: The part is getting on its way, here the My Way crew enjoying themselfs greatly.







Right: And they couldn't resist... some of the guys enjoyed dressing up with some of our costumes and doing a spontanious fun performance for their friends ;-)





Left: Its allmost 6 am and the party was still going on strongly with everybody enjoying themselfs inmensly. BUT your reporter had to call it the day though ;-)
Later I heard the fun went on till 9-10 am in the morning.... yep!

We were very happy to have been able to do this, and even more that they all truly enjoyed themselfs!
Same time we ealso enjoyed to the experience!

All you guys, again THANKS! And our staff: well done!!