My Jakarta: Paulus Panggabean, Hard Rock Cafe General Manager

My Jakarta: Paulus Panggabean, Hard Rock Cafe General Manager
by Zack Petersen

Hard Rock Cafe - Paulus Panggabean

Paulus Panggabean lives the good life. He’s not exactly on vacation 24/7, but it’s close. As the general manager of Hard Rock, Paulus splits his time between Bali and Jakarta. He lives it up in two of the countries hottest spots, meeting the coolest people and listening to the best music—and he gets paid to do it.

The tattooed father of four sat down to quell our jealousy, talk about his favorite piece of Hard Rock nostalgia and let us in on the mystery surrounding the origin of the Hard Rock name.

Question: How many Hard Rock T-shirts do you have?
Paulus Panggabean: So many … I don’t even know. Hundreds.

Question: How did you land the job as general manager of Hard Rock?
Paulus Panggabean: I was working in Mulia Tower on Gatot Subroto and one day I read an advertisement that a Hard Rock was going to open here, and I love Hard Rock. Before that, I worked on a cruise ship and my roommate on the ship had worked at Hard Rock Singapore, so he told me the history of Hard Rock, everything about it. So when I went in for the interview, I impressed the GM from Singapore with how much I knew. I’d always dreamed of working at Hard Rock.

Question: Where and when did the first Hard Rock open?
Paulus Panggabean: In London, in Hyde Park, June 14, 1971. There are so many stories about Hard Rock and how it got the name. Two Americans living in London reckoned that the American food there at that time sucked, so they wanted to open a place that served good food and where the poor and the rich could hang out together, a place that treated everybody equally. Can you imagine that an ex-Rolls-Royce showroom serving greasy food across from Buckingham Palace became the most popular restaurant in London.

Questioner: And now they’re all over the world.
Paulus Panggabean: The Hard Rock logo is one of the 10 most recognized logos in the world. You know you have the Nike Swoosh, Coca-Cola and all that. The survey said that 85 percent of the people recognized the logo. Even if they weren’t sure exactly what it was, they recognized the logo.

Question: It must be rough flying from Jakarta to Bali all the time. People probably tell you every day how jealous they are of your job.
Paulus Panggabean: Yeah, it’s three weeks in Jakarta and one week in Bali. I’m blessed.

Question: What’s the difference between Hard Rock Bali and Hard Rock Jakarta?
Paulus Panggabean: The market is different in Bali; we get more tourists. Here it’s more regulars and repeat customers; we have more functions as well.

Question: How many tattoos do you have?
Paulus Panggabean: Actually I have 11 tattoos, but some of them are sleeves. I got my first tattoo when I was 22. There’s an Italian guy who comes to Bali every year. The next time he comes I’m going to get a Tibetan skull with flowers. I’ll have to do it in two sittings.

Question: What about the music that plays here at Hard Rock. Where does it come from? Do you guys make the playlist?
Paulus Panggabean: Every Hard Rock in the world is given the same playlist. We have this amazing machine called VDS, video data system, and it’s automatically downloading. It’s like a giant DVD player. Every night it automatically downloads or deletes videos. It just plays randomly. Some of the performances are really rare, they’re taken from Hard Rock live shows or other exclusive Hard Rock events.

Question: What is your favorite piece of nostalgia here?
Paulus Panggabean: I have a guitar from Steve Vai. I know him personally. He did a concert in Jakarta, he’s a cool guy. He used to play guitar for David Lee Roth, then he had a solo project and now he’s part of G3, he and Joe Satriani.

Question: You must get comments all the time on the rock memorabilia. What gets the most feedback?
Paulus Panggabean: They love the old stuff, you know, the legendary memorabilia. The young guys are amazed by the stuff from Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain.

Question: When you’re not hanging out in Hard Rock, where do you go?
Paulus Panggabean: I love to go to Dragonfly and I like Blowfish.

Question: How often do you guys have concerts?
Paulus Panggabean: We have at least two concerts a month, but we have live music every night. We have a house band here.

Question: Do you ever get behind the bar and help out?
Paulus Panggabean: Yeah, if the restaurant gets really busy, I help out where I can. I used to be a bartender so it’s no problem.

Question: Where did the name Hard Rock come from?
Paulus Panggabean: There are so many theories about where the name came from. Hard rock was a popular form of music at the time. Another one is that it came from “The Flintstones,” because the cafe is called Bed Rock Cafe. And the third one is a parable. One of the Hard Rock founders [Isaac Tigrett] is a Sathya Sai Baba follower, and Sathya Sai Baba told Isaac everyone in the world is carrying one big boulder, but you chip away your problems and you have one tiny hard rock.

But I think the real story is that in 1970, before Hard Rock opened, The Doors put out an album and on the back cover there is a picture of the Morrison Hotel and underneath there is a door that says Hard Rock Cafe. That was a year before the opening.

Question: What is the next event you guys are hosting?
Paulus Panggabean: Here in Jakarta we have Dance Company on October 2, and on October 9 it’s Andra and The Backbone.

Jakarta Globe Reference

Also see:
- Hard Rock To Storm The City

Sri Sathya Sai – Love Is What We Seek

Sri Sathya Sai – Love Is What We Seek

EDEN Creative Studio’s musical Love Is What We Seek will be staged on Sept 19 and 20 at Pentas 1, KLPac in KL. The musical centres on a young photographer who is distraught with life after a series of disheartening events and much hardship.

The story follows his quest to trace the whereabouts of his long lost sister due to the separation of his parents and his ongoing conflict with his mother, whom he blames for the severance.

This musical revolves around love, the essential value in our lives, as advocated by spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba.

It is produced in collaboration with the Seputih Choir under the baton of Stanley Cheong. Cheong has performed numerous times in India and was awarded a silver medal in the Songs For Religion Category and a bronze medal in the Mixed Choir category in the 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta in 2007.

Tickets are priced at RM20, RM50 and RM100. For details, call 03-4047 9000 or browse klpac.org.

The Star Reference

Sathya Sai Baba - Love Is What We Seek

Love is What We Seek centres on a young photographer who was distraught with life after a series of disheartening events and much hardship. The story traces him on his quest to trace the whereabouts of his long lost sister due to the separation of his parents and his ongoing conflict with his mother whom he blamed for the severance.

This musical revolves around love, which is the essential value / ingredient in our lives as advocated by the great guru – Sathya Sai Baba – and will be brought to life by a group of enthusiastic performers.

Love is What We Seek aspires to put across this message – love begets love; life is love experienced” and hopes that this musical drama portrays Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings.

Produced in collaboration with the Seputih Choir, Love is What We Seek features many original music composed to express the purest human value of all – love.

The Seputih Choir under the baton of Stanley Cheong has performed in numerous performances in India and was awarded Silver Medal in the Songs for Religion Category and Bronze Medal in the Mixed Choir category during the 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta in 2007.

We welcome you to enjoy this musical drama as it will fill your heart with love…(KLPAC Reference)

My Jakarta: Bhavana Sutrisna Tirtadinata

Bhavana Sutrisna Tirtadinata

My Jakarta: Bhavana Sutrisna Tirtadinata

Bhavana Sutrisna Tirtadinata, born and raised in Jakarta, refers to herself as the owner of an “Indonesian heart and an Indian soul.”

The beaming mother of two, who joined the social club Toastmasters almost three years ago, came up short in a recent international speech contest when she was disqualified for going over the allotted time by 0.3 seconds. The sanguine speaker is now preparing to compete in the club’s Table Topic district competition on March 28.

How do you feel about going over time in the international contest?

It wasn’t the first time this has happened. They always say that to understand the value of time, you should ask a sprinter about a fraction of a second. I think I would change that to ask a Toastmaster.

How do you practice?

Usually I am pretty confident; I know I can deliver. I know everybody here, so I feel pretty confident. And then just before the competition I lock myself in the lady’s toilet and go over my speech.

Are you in any other social clubs in Jakarta?

I volunteer for the Girl Scouts of America at my daughter’s school.

Do the Girl Scouts in Jakarta sell cookies?

No, because by the time they get here they’re old, and too expensive anyway. Nobody is going to buy a stale box of cookies for Rp 100,000.

You seem to keep pretty busy. Anything else on your agenda?

A big concern of mine has always been culture, so every Saturday I volunteer for Sathya Sai Study Group Indonesia where we teach Indian kids about our values and culture: Why we have certain festivals and why we have certain customs, like when we touch the feet of our elders, or why we light flames at our Indian alters at home. Most of the Indian children ask us: “If my friends don’t have to do this, why do I?” And this is a chance for the parents to help explain their culture.

Being born and raised here, what changes have you seen in Jakarta through the years?

We Indians aren’t seen as strangers anymore. Initially, if you were Indian, you were alien. Whenever there was a wedding in the neighborhood, everyone would come and look but now they consider it normal and they come and dance.

Would you give any advice to the government to increase tolerance?

I hope that in the way Chinese Indonesians get a public holiday for Chinese New Year, maybe the government could give us a holiday for Deepavali. The government recognizes our Hinduism as basically the Balinese form of Hinduism, but we have different festivals and different holidays. Balinese Hindus get a holiday on their Balinese New Year — Nyepi — but we are deprived of that.

How tight-knit is the Indian community?

So tight that if you are single and you hang around with someone for more than a day or two it is immediately labeled as an affair. There’s always a lot of gossip going around. Every Indian’s life here is under a microscope.

Where do you go when you leave the city?

Mostly Singapore; I have family there. Unlike Indians in Jakarta, the Indians in Singapore are too busy to want to know about anyone’s life.

How has Jakarta changed as a city?

Our neighborhoods used to be safer, and now we are more protective of our kids. We don’t want them going anywhere without their nannies. When I was growing up in Jakarta, all the Indians went to one international school, but now times have changed so many Indian parents send their kids to many different schools. Now my son and daughter have more Chinese than Indian friends.

What do you miss about the old Jakarta?

Nobody has time nowadays. Neighbors are strangers. I don’t know what my neighbors next door do. Back in the old days I could just walk up to their house, but now everybody has double-bolted their doors. They don’t want to know who you are.

What is your favorite place to eat in Jakarta?

I basically eat at home. I eat a lot of stir-fried greens. My husband says I’m like a cow — I can eat a whole bowl of greens on my own.

Are your kids fond of vegetables?

Actually they call me a maniac because whenever they order KFC, the standard is fried chicken and rice and I always insist that they bring their serving of vegetables to KFC and eat it there. They are always so embarrassed and they say, “Can’t you just be normal for once?”

Bhavana Sutrisna Tirtadinatawas talking to Zack Petersen.

The Jakarata Globe Reference