Charin's fan club the most powerful in the land

The twin-brother presidents at Saha Group – Boonchai Chokwatana of Saha Pathanapibul and Boonkiat Chokwatana of ICC International – are known as fine musicians, having done many concerts together. And their love of music extends to supporting their favourite artists – they’ve just announced their “unlimited” sponsorship of singer Charin Nantanakorn’s twin concerts celebrating his six decades in the business.
By “unlimited”, they mean Charin will have the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra backing him up, and that will cost Bt1 million for each of the two shows on October 26 and 27. The brothers want Charin to make this gig a biggie, 30 hit songs on offer with the help of guests Orawee Sajjanon, Chantana Kittiyapan, Pongsri Woranuch and Sinjai Plengpanich.
Chanin is certainly aiming for perfection. He’s been exercising and rehearsing some jokes to go with the tunes. That’s great, though the brothers might ask him to top it later – they say they’ll keep supporting him until he can’t sing any longer.
 Tears over Thaksin
The storm clouds that luk thung star Suteewan “Baitoey” Thaveesin inadvertently seeded by boasting about being paid Bt1 million for having dinner with and singing for Thaksin Shinawatra in Hong Kong and Singapore last year have left her face wet.
The controversy that ensured had her in tears at a recent press conference that her record label, R-Siam, summoned. “I want to apologise to former Prime Minister Thaksin, his family, and also the media for what I said,” she blubbered.
It was all true, mind you, but Baitoey now regrets that her revelations caused considerable knock-on damage. She was understood to have said that the special overseas gigs were arranged because the big boss at RS was close to the ousted and exiled but still incredibly wealthy Thaksin. Just telling the press that Thaksin took her out shopping and bought her a designer purse was enough to get folks groaning, but confirming that Thaksin and Surachai Chetchotsak are pals was perhaps a slip too far. She’d punched a hole in RS’ veneer of political neutrality.
R-Siam managing director Soopachai Nillawan had a go at defending Baitoey, saying it’s normal for the label to accept jobs for its singers. But he admitted that the big boss was less than understanding, in a stormy kind of way. “I’ve told Baitoey that sometimes she has to be careful if there’s a third person involved,” he said.
Soopachai’s backpedalling came down to pointing out that Baitoey was paid only Bt200,000 for each of the two shows. “The Bt500,000 she mentioned was inclusive of airfare, accommodations and tips,” he said. And it’s not like the performances were Surachai’s gift to Thaksin – certain unnamed fans of Thaksin hired the RS singers and took them along to entertain him.
Anyway, Baitoey mopped her tears and said she’d learned her lesson and henceforth would be better informed before giving any more interviews. Well, if that’s the case – learning from mistakes and becoming more knowledgeable – she should run for office. We wouldn’t mind more MPs like that.