Families, couples and children found a great way to enjoy Sunday's sunshine with an afternoon of live music in San Lorenzo Park.It was the fourth and final Summer Fair, which featured jam rock, reggae and other live music on the Duck Pond Stage each Sunday in August. Spectators sat on a grassy knoll to watch the musicians, and vendors sold organic food and coffee, handmade jewelry, clothing and guitars. 

A couple with dreadlocks chatted with friends near a shirtless man who spun a hula hoop on his waist. A woman at a table offered massages for free or by donation."I think it's really wonderful," said Bruce Abt, a 73-year-old who sat on the grass and watched the music in the warm sun. 

"It's a good way to connect and get together with friends," he said of the fair.The master of ceremonies, who goes by Smiles A Lot, filled time between bands by reminding the languid crowd of a few dozen that it was OK to dance. 

"If you're stressed, have a free massage. She's very giving," he said on stage.Jahred Namaste, 32, organized the Summer Fair events as well as the larger Rujevenation Festival -- also at San Lorenzo Park in May. The Sunday Fair series was an extension of the Rejuvenation Festival, he explained. 

Three bands played free shows Sunday: Sol Horizon, Old Velour and The Mystic Truebudoors. Sunday's turnout of about 150 people was "all right," Namaste said.Namaste mentioned that he also played with his reggae and jam-rock band, Love Eternal, at two of the Summer Fair dates this month. 

His 12-year-old daughter, Zion Namaste, also has her own music group. She said she liked the bands at the Rejuvenation Festival, and chimed in about how much she liked Love Eternal, too. 

First, the mega banks are just fine. In the second quarter of 2013, Bank of America saw a 63% increase in net income, Citigroup posted a 42% increase, JPMorgan Chase recorded a 32% increase, and Wells Fargo "only" logged a 19% increase. Headlines boast of the "record profits" enjoyed by the mega banks. 

Second, community banks are definitely not fine. Even before the Financial Crisis, smaller banks saddled with a growing regulatory burden found it difficult to compete with more efficient mega banks. The result was a greater consolidation of assets in the hands of a few companies. The number of banks with assets of less than $100 million decreased by more than 80% from 1985 to 2010 while the number of banks with assets greater than $10 billion nearly tripled over the same period. A mere 7.6% of banks currently hold about 86% of all banking assets in the United States. The regulatory burden imposed by Dodd-Frank,Our tungsten rings come with a lifetime warranty. the well-intentioned but flawed response to the Financial Crisis, has exacerbated the problem. Brokers who arrange bank mergers are already experiencing a significant uptick in business. 

Third, consumers are the big losers. Financial activities that are fundamental to the average American are only worth the time of a mega bank if they involve a completely standardized product and a completely standardized borrower. You either fit in the box or you don't. As a result, millions of Americans are left out of that box altogether. Community banks traditionally serve non-standard customers who lack the deep credit history or documentation necessary for the model-based transactional lending used by large financial institutions. Self-employed workers, seasonal workers, farmers,This carbon fiber and stainless steel jewelry supplies works for both a fashion. and people transitioning to work are generally unattractive to the mega banks but have been served by community banks. When community banks fail and merge, what is the result? 

According to the FDIC, one in four American households are either "unbanked" or "underbanked." They tend to rely on services like payday loan operations and, increasingly, by pawnshops. These non-traditional lenders impose far higher interest rates and fees than banks -- interest rates range from 2.5% to 25% per month -- that's 30% to 300% per year! In addition, these lenders are not currently subject to the same consumer protection regulations as traditional financial institutions. 

A new report by the New York Times reveals that the pawnshop industry grew from approximately 6,400 locations in 2007 to 10,000 in early 2012. Pawnshops are clearly filling a void left by receding community banks. Robbie Whitten,They are considered nickel free earrings or hypoallergenic stainless steel earring, chief executive of Money Mizer Pawn and Jewelry of Columbus, Georgia told the New York Times: "The way the banks have tightened up so much on making small loans and making equity loans, we've kind of evolved into, I like to call it the poor man's bank." Cash America International, a publicly traded pawnshop company, explains that its growth was due to "traditional consumer lenders ... exiting the market." Jerry Whitehead of Pawnshop Consulting Group notes that pawnshops are focused on consumers who are "getting forgotten in the banking system." 

Accordingly, the areas in Bangkok where OE-ers congregate tend to feel like playgrounds for manic, overgrown children every shade of the sunburn-rainbow. Tuk tuks lurch about like decrepit toys, their drivers pleading you to visit their uncle's jewelry store; roadside pubs and bars leak half-pissed foreigners and elegant Thai women (the latter so much more sophisticated than the former it's almost painful to watch); and market stalls with fresh heaps of counterfeit crop up at every corner. 

If your own personal idea of hell looks suspiciously like the above, you'd be forgiven for avoiding South East Asia in the high season altogether. Let alone Bangkok, whose huge traveler population is partly thanks to its being the springboard to South East Asia as a whole. 

But underneath the tawdry tack lapped up by Gazza from the Gold Coast (there he is, vomiting in the gutter while his friends enjoy a Sangsom Bucket) is an intelligent and stylish city that's world-class in its contemporary cultural and aesthetic offerings.