Story and photograph by Robert Lorimor
When one walks into The Robin Hood, they will see Johnny (Jean Descamps) singing alone on the pub’s corner stage. He is singing the Beatles classic “All the Lonely People.” The song appears fitting for Johnny at first, for Johnny is a one-man-band. However, if one was to stay and listen, they would begin to realize that Johnny can sing all the Beatles songs worth singing quite well. Then, when he begins singing Tom Jones’s “Sex Bomb”, one begins to realize that he sings a lot of songs really well.

Keep reading. One will soon realize that with Johnny, one is always getting more.

And then, when Johnny sings B.B. King’s “Sweet Home Chicago”, one will realize that Johnny can really play the guitar too. We are not talking about just a few simple rhythm cords on the guitar, but really jamming the blues like B.B. King.

I was enjoying the many layers to Johnny’s music when, quite unexpectedly, he asked me if I had any requests. After a little thought, I said, “Roy Orbison.” Orbison’s angelic voice would give Johnny’s voice a good test.

Johnny just laughs and replies, “Roy Orbison, I can do old Roy.” Johnny does Roy Orbison well; nothing gutless or flabby about his version of Orbison’s “Only the Lonely,” “Pretty Woman” and “You got it.”

The pub patrons are now realizing that Johnny can do requests, they throw requests left and right at him. He sings a string of hits from the Moody Blues, Creedence Clearwater Revival and even Pink Floyd with ease. Johnny says, “We are back in the 70’s tonight. You’re listening to FM 107.”

During the break Johnny shows me his song request book where he has over 700 songs all numbered. In the back of the book he keeps a scrap book of newspaper clippings dating back to the early 70’s when he began singing. The photos show him as a much younger man when his stage name was Johnny Mitchell. He began his singing career at the American NCO Club in Vientiane, Laos at the end of the Viet Nam war. More photos show him sharply dressed in black and singing in nightclubs in Paris, France. He came back to Thailand in 1994 and has continued playing and singing. Judging by his performance tonight, he is showing no signs of slowing down. “The more I sing, the better I feel,” he says.

If one could sing and play over 700 songs, he would need a computer to keep track of all of those songs. Johnny keeps his laptop computer in front of him while he sings. The computer plays the “backup” music. It is important to note that Johnny doesn’t just merely follow along with the computer as if it were a karaoke machine. He is also actually playing the lead guitar for the music and his voice would give the original singers a run for the money. So, with Johnny, you are getting a lot for a one-man-band.

The evening is winding down at The Robin Hood and Johnny’s request book is back by the stage. A female tourist is flipping through the pages. Her eyes light up when she realizes that he can sing over 700 songs. “Can you sing Robbie Williams too?” she asks.

“I can do Robbie Williams,” Johnny says. He then adds as an afterthought, “I will sing anything except Kylie Minogue.” Johnny sings Williams’ “Angles” quite well.

Johnny is featured at The Robin Hood every Wednesday night.

Update: Johnny is now featured Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at The Robin Hood.

This entry was posted Thursday, January 20th, 2005 and was filed under Jungle News, Articles. RSS 2.0 feed. Trackbacks have been temporary removed.