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Stickman's April 12, 2020 column was an interesting goodbye to "Mr. Nana" aka Dave the Rave, one of the last and most successful farang bar manager's from the Thai nightlife scene.
I met him a few years ago when I dropped into Mercury Bar as it was renovating for its soft opening. Very personable and friendly guy. If he does write his book, it will definitely be a good read, so be on the look out for it.
Former gogo bar manager, nightlife website operator, Nana Plaza personality and friend to many, Dave The Rave announced this week that he is leaving Thailand for good. After living and working in the heart of Bangkok for more than 20 years, Dave has come to the end of the road.
Dave and I first met almost 20 years ago. A Canadian friend and I were goofing around in Hollywood on the top floor of Nana, teasing service staff about what a rip-off we thought the 10,000 baht permanent barfine was. It was a con, of course, a 10,000 baht fee usually split between the mamasan and the girl. We pissed some staff off, Dave got wind of what we were up to, came over and his first words were, “You’re Stickman, right?” It would be the beginning of a long friendship.
Dave is known to many as Dave The Rave, but perhaps he should have been called “Mr. Nana”. Most of Dave’s life in Bangkok has been on Soi Nana. He worked in various bars and in various roles in Nana Plaza. And he lived in the soi too. For weeks, sometimes months even, Dave hardly ever left Soi Nana. Everything he needed was right there.
Dave has seen the bar industry change massively over the years. He can remember when bar managers were well-paid and bargirls weren’t, quite the opposite to how things are today.
There was a time when gogo bar managers earned a respectable salary. Many would take home per month about the same as an international school teacher. 15 years ago the bar biz was booming and Dave frequently made over 100,000 baht / month. With a salary like that back then, he never wanted for anything. He lived in an enormous condo of around 200 square metres down the end of Soi Nana. He had a great life, being paid a decent salary to look after a party every night.
Dave was at the helm of some of the best gogo bars in the plaza at a time they had a claim to be the very best in town. Pretty Lady in the late ‘90s. Dave was the manager. The Hollywood bars on the top floor in the early to mid 2000s. Dave was the man. Angelwitch around the period of the GFC. Dave was Matt’s faithful lieutenant. Each of those bars was arguably the best bar in the plaza at the time, maybe even the best in all of Bangkok. And Dave was running the show.
Dave had some short stints away from Soi Nana. He spent a short time in Patpong in late 2015 and while he tried to be upbeat and positive about it, I felt it was like watching a sportsman change code. Dave running bars away from Nana? That would be like Steven Gerrard playing for Man Utd – it would never work. Dave soon found himself back in Nana Plaza, where he belonged.
Dave also did some relief work managing some bars in Pattaya. Like many of us, he enjoyed a short visit to Sin City but he was always keen to get back to Bangkok. At the time he would often remark about how Pattaya attracted a different type of foreigner, and a very different type of Thai, from Bangkok.
In later years when things weren’t so rosy I suggested to Dave that perhaps he pursue a bar manager’s job in Pattaya. He would always remind me about the time he had spent there. The bars may look much the same, but he felt as places to both live and work, Pattaya and Bangkok were very different.
Dave experienced the golden period in the bars, a time when everyone with any connection to the bars was making money hand over fist. They weren’t just the golden years in terms of fun, they were the golden years in terms of making money.
It hasn’t been so easy recently and Dave is the first to admit that he has been riding his luck. The good times we knew were never going to last.
In many ways, Dave’s career in the bar business has mirrored the decline of the bar industry. As bar after bar decided it no longer needed a foreign manager, Dave found himself changing jobs frequently. And it seemed like each new job came with a lower salary. It wasn’t that Dave had done anything wrong, it was simply that the industry was in decline.
Bar rents were on the rise, competition to recruit a smaller number of attractive girls was pushing up dancers’ salaries while at the same time bar takings were trending down. Foreign bar managers’ salaries have been going down for most of the last decade.
Dave’s website provided a small source of income, but hardly enough to live on. He tried to make it work but competition was fierce and advertisers demanded more for less. The golden age of Bangkok nightlife websites mirrors that of the bar industry itself – again, the best days are in the past. Today you need a large and loyal readership to make a living running a Thailand nightlife-centric website – and even then it’s a challenge.
Eventually Dave would leave Soi Nana and take up cheaper digs elsewhere. It was to be a new beginning.
Hanging around the bars isn’t a healthy lifestyle, especially when you’re drinking every night. Dave battled health issues and suffered multiple amputations due to diabetes complications, something he has written about.
The writing has been on the wall for some time. A terrible low season, a high season not worthy of the term and then the hammer blow, Covid-19. There’s not an ounce of exaggeration when I keep saying that this is the bar industry’s darkest hour. And that’s a big problem for those who make a living from it.
I am surprised Dave lasted as long as he has – and I say that very much as a compliment. He is a survivor. He stuck it out as long as he could. Few in the bar industry will survive Covid-19.
Sticking around in Thailand with neither savings nor an income just isn’t an option. Thailand has never been kind to foreigners without money.
The end of the road is proving tricky to navigate. It’s not as simple as getting online, buying the next available air ticket out and jumping in a cab for the airport. Most airlines have stopped operating, there are limited flights and the airport is closed until next weekend. Funds have to be borrowed, a reasonably priced ticket found and then fingers crossed that the flight is not cancelled.
We’ve been in regular contact in recent weeks and I had a long chat with Dave a couple of days ago. He had mixed emotions, while he knows leaving is for the best, and for that reason alone he sounded upbeat. The hard part was actually making the decision. Now that it is made he is looking forward to going home. The word he used was “Home”. England. Home. He kept saying it over and over again. England. Home.
Dave plans to write a book about his time in Thailand, tentatively titled, “Sex, Mugs and Rock’n’Roll”. I can’t wait to read it.
Dave The Rave is an icon of Nana Plaza and a friend to many. He maintained his upbeat, positive and cheerful nature through the tough times, right to the bitter end. Visiting the plaza will never be the same without Dave The Rave there. Goodbye, my friend. You will be missed by many.
Dave and I first met almost 20 years ago. A Canadian friend and I were goofing around in Hollywood on the top floor of Nana, teasing service staff about what a rip-off we thought the 10,000 baht permanent barfine was. It was a con, of course, a 10,000 baht fee usually split between the mamasan and the girl. We pissed some staff off, Dave got wind of what we were up to, came over and his first words were, “You’re Stickman, right?” It would be the beginning of a long friendship.
Dave is known to many as Dave The Rave, but perhaps he should have been called “Mr. Nana”. Most of Dave’s life in Bangkok has been on Soi Nana. He worked in various bars and in various roles in Nana Plaza. And he lived in the soi too. For weeks, sometimes months even, Dave hardly ever left Soi Nana. Everything he needed was right there.
Dave has seen the bar industry change massively over the years. He can remember when bar managers were well-paid and bargirls weren’t, quite the opposite to how things are today.
There was a time when gogo bar managers earned a respectable salary. Many would take home per month about the same as an international school teacher. 15 years ago the bar biz was booming and Dave frequently made over 100,000 baht / month. With a salary like that back then, he never wanted for anything. He lived in an enormous condo of around 200 square metres down the end of Soi Nana. He had a great life, being paid a decent salary to look after a party every night.
Dave was at the helm of some of the best gogo bars in the plaza at a time they had a claim to be the very best in town. Pretty Lady in the late ‘90s. Dave was the manager. The Hollywood bars on the top floor in the early to mid 2000s. Dave was the man. Angelwitch around the period of the GFC. Dave was Matt’s faithful lieutenant. Each of those bars was arguably the best bar in the plaza at the time, maybe even the best in all of Bangkok. And Dave was running the show.
Dave had some short stints away from Soi Nana. He spent a short time in Patpong in late 2015 and while he tried to be upbeat and positive about it, I felt it was like watching a sportsman change code. Dave running bars away from Nana? That would be like Steven Gerrard playing for Man Utd – it would never work. Dave soon found himself back in Nana Plaza, where he belonged.
Dave also did some relief work managing some bars in Pattaya. Like many of us, he enjoyed a short visit to Sin City but he was always keen to get back to Bangkok. At the time he would often remark about how Pattaya attracted a different type of foreigner, and a very different type of Thai, from Bangkok.
In later years when things weren’t so rosy I suggested to Dave that perhaps he pursue a bar manager’s job in Pattaya. He would always remind me about the time he had spent there. The bars may look much the same, but he felt as places to both live and work, Pattaya and Bangkok were very different.
Dave experienced the golden period in the bars, a time when everyone with any connection to the bars was making money hand over fist. They weren’t just the golden years in terms of fun, they were the golden years in terms of making money.
It hasn’t been so easy recently and Dave is the first to admit that he has been riding his luck. The good times we knew were never going to last.
In many ways, Dave’s career in the bar business has mirrored the decline of the bar industry. As bar after bar decided it no longer needed a foreign manager, Dave found himself changing jobs frequently. And it seemed like each new job came with a lower salary. It wasn’t that Dave had done anything wrong, it was simply that the industry was in decline.
Bar rents were on the rise, competition to recruit a smaller number of attractive girls was pushing up dancers’ salaries while at the same time bar takings were trending down. Foreign bar managers’ salaries have been going down for most of the last decade.
Dave’s website provided a small source of income, but hardly enough to live on. He tried to make it work but competition was fierce and advertisers demanded more for less. The golden age of Bangkok nightlife websites mirrors that of the bar industry itself – again, the best days are in the past. Today you need a large and loyal readership to make a living running a Thailand nightlife-centric website – and even then it’s a challenge.
Eventually Dave would leave Soi Nana and take up cheaper digs elsewhere. It was to be a new beginning.
Hanging around the bars isn’t a healthy lifestyle, especially when you’re drinking every night. Dave battled health issues and suffered multiple amputations due to diabetes complications, something he has written about.
The writing has been on the wall for some time. A terrible low season, a high season not worthy of the term and then the hammer blow, Covid-19. There’s not an ounce of exaggeration when I keep saying that this is the bar industry’s darkest hour. And that’s a big problem for those who make a living from it.
I am surprised Dave lasted as long as he has – and I say that very much as a compliment. He is a survivor. He stuck it out as long as he could. Few in the bar industry will survive Covid-19.
Sticking around in Thailand with neither savings nor an income just isn’t an option. Thailand has never been kind to foreigners without money.
The end of the road is proving tricky to navigate. It’s not as simple as getting online, buying the next available air ticket out and jumping in a cab for the airport. Most airlines have stopped operating, there are limited flights and the airport is closed until next weekend. Funds have to be borrowed, a reasonably priced ticket found and then fingers crossed that the flight is not cancelled.
We’ve been in regular contact in recent weeks and I had a long chat with Dave a couple of days ago. He had mixed emotions, while he knows leaving is for the best, and for that reason alone he sounded upbeat. The hard part was actually making the decision. Now that it is made he is looking forward to going home. The word he used was “Home”. England. Home. He kept saying it over and over again. England. Home.
Dave plans to write a book about his time in Thailand, tentatively titled, “Sex, Mugs and Rock’n’Roll”. I can’t wait to read it.
Dave The Rave is an icon of Nana Plaza and a friend to many. He maintained his upbeat, positive and cheerful nature through the tough times, right to the bitter end. Visiting the plaza will never be the same without Dave The Rave there. Goodbye, my friend. You will be missed by many.
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