dengue fever

11 THINGS: Dengue Fever

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Dengue Fever is Cambodian songstress Chhom Nimol, guitarist and vocalist Zac Holtzman, Zac's brother and Farfisa organist Ethan Holtzman, bass guitarist Senon Williams, brass player David Ralicke and drummer Paul Smith. We caught up with the band somewhere between here and Europe, where it just finished performing at two festivals in two countries over two days. We've always known we love Nimol, Zac's beard and the band's unique brand of psychedelic Cambodian dance pop, but we hadn't always known the following:

1. The quirkiness: "After the fall rains, Ethan forages through Golden Gate Park in search of the King Bolete mushroom. He often goes in the dark with a flashlight to uproot them before the kind Russian folk snatch them up."

2. The homesickness: "When Chhom Nimol gets homesick and tired of the cold gray weather in San Francisco, we take her to the Tonga Room to enjoy the tropical rain and simulated humidity."

3. The quickness: "Paul Dreux Smith is the best basketball player in the band."

4. The coziness: "Last week in the Netherlands, all six of us were forced to share a tiny hostel room with child size bunk beds. Surprisingly, we all got our best night's sleep of the tour."

5. The illness: "Dengue Fever managed to avoid contracting Dengue Fever while performing before tens of thousands of mosquitoes at the former Tonle Bassac stage in Cambodia."

6. The thickness: "While on tour Zac gets asked at least three times a day: 'How long did it take to grow your beard?' (The answer is a year and a half)."

7. The softness: "Ralicke has the softest dog in the world, named Nickel Jones. Nickel Jones gets jealous and chews up his wetsuit whenever he has a female companion sleep over."

8. The sleeplessness: "Ethan is the best snorer in the band."

9. The hatefulness: "Senon is over 6-foot-6 and despises mayonnaise."

10. The craziness: "Chhom Nimol just got her driver's permit, so look out!"

11. The getting down to business: Dengue Fever performs a free in-store gig at the Berkeley Amoeba Music 2 p.m. Saturday as part of the Berkeley World Music Festival, which goes from noon until 9 p.m. www.berkeleyworldmusic.org. Later in the day they perform at Dawn 2008, the grand re-opening party for the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, which begins at 8 p.m. and lasts until dawn. The band goes on at 10:45 p.m. www.dawn2008.org.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/05/NSDT112F40.DTL

This article appeared on page G - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle