We received this blog prior to the Guru Community Project 4: Rock, which featured a gig by Modern Dog at Retro Live Cafe on Dec 9.

BLOG BY ED WHITSON

I'm an American (don't hold that against me!) who's been travelling here for the past 11 yrs. I co-own an import/export dotcom that specialises in fair trade art and markets our brand at all the major music festivals up and down the American east coast. 

I first heard Modern Dog about 10 years ago and liked them so much that I bought a CD to let my friends back home have a taste o' Thai. I've always wanted to see them but was never around Thailand long enough to catch them in concert.

Not to give you a sob story, but here's how I got turned onto your lil' zine.

While here on business last year I felt a tad under the weather and went to Siriraj Hospital, only to be diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. After they removed my spleen, they started the chemo and I was quite confined. The upbeat writing style that is your zine was one of the few things I had to look forward to each week (well... that and Andrew Biggs)! I've been reading Guru ever since.

I wasn't medically cleared to fly till just a few months ago, but as I'm sure you're aware, the healthcare system in America is sorely lacking in... well... compassion. My insurance company won't pay for all the things that I need and there is no way that I can pay full price. So, until I jump through the hoops that my government has set up to receive federally sponsored help, it's just more cost effective to continue my treatment at Siriraj.

Whether or not I get tickets to the Modern Dog gig, (though that'd be great) I wanted to take this opportunity to just say thanks. Your writing literally helped me stay positive when little else did.

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Ed got his wish to see Modern Dog when he joined us at the party.