'Antique' Thanin seeks top bids

He charges more than ever to put on a show. “Antiques get more valuable with every passing year and I should get paid more too!”

Thanin doesn’t care who’s paying either. “One time a provincial governor tried to bargain for a lower fee. I refused because I knew he could afford it.” 

He calculates his worth by determining the average stipend paid to other singers of his generation and then jacking it up a bit – although there was one occasion when he jacked it up by Bt30,000. “I really didn’t want to sing in a shopping mall so I just asked for more – and they agreed!” 

See for yourself if Thanin is still worth it at his first solo concert in many years – “This is Me!” on April 21. Tickets cost Bt1,000 to Bt2,500, a handsome price range that doesn’t phase him. He’s going to perform 26 songs and you’ll get to see a bunch of other veteran stars too. “The first few rows are booked by all my friends, like [actress] Viyada Umarin.” 

 

Upskirt season

Another annual round of motor shows, another swarm of scantily clad “pretties” and another cloudburst of complaints from self-appointed morality watchdog Rabiabrat Pongpanich.

The former senator who now chairs Krobkrua Ob-oun Lae Pen Suk (roughly, the Happy Family Association) says those girls selling cars in their underwear damage the dignity of all women. One distributor of imported cars dressed his “sales clerks” in bikinis.

“It’s a shame these shows always use sex for marketing,” she says. Surely buying a clean car in such dirty circumstances is rather inauspicious.

Right on cue, Culture Minister Sukumol Kunplome chips in an exclamation of “shock”. Auto shows are often family outings, she says, so there are children in the crowd. 

We’re sure the girls will dress more modestly from now on.