June 29th '06

So I woke up early to rush "Canon in Z" today. First rehearsal will be at 1pm but I still didn't finish it. So I kept on writing without even thinking if it sounds good, just following my instinct. I don't think it would sound good...

So I rushed until almost 1pm right? I called up KC and told him I'm fucked, I can't be there on time. But he was cool, he said it's ok take your time and shit.

Ok lah, since he said that then I mah rilek loh...

I arrived around 1:30pm, started rehearsing my piece of shit. It was sounding quite funny but later we figured out how to shape it, then it sounded more like music then. One thing is for sure, the ending sucks. It's cheap and tasteless. And too short. (No time mah...)

Then we went to City Square to eat and copy out the parts, man, I had the worst Lemon Chicken Rice I ever had (or will ever have) in my life!!!!!!! Mahai... that dish is full of slimy lemon gravy that looks so artificial you can't even stand looking at it!!! I tasted a few bites, walauweh, tak boleh tahan! So i finished up the chicken and left it in peace. Cuz it doesn't seem to like me as well.

Then later I went to Petaling St. with Putra LRT and met up mama to go home.

After I got home we got out again to visit Masterclass, to let them sell some of my tickets. Dan saya nampak sesuatu benda yang begitu elok dan dahsyat!!!

Suatu insan yang berjantina perempuan~~~~ Oh Tuhan~~~ Tolong aku~~~~~!

Oh yeah~~~

OK, so then next thing was my dinner with my folks with my cousin Ah Let joining in for a drink. I paid for them.

The next thing was me having a drink with Adeline in 1 Utama's New Wing, in Chilli's. Jon the Joker was there also lah (who else would it be?).

At last I got a chance to talk to Ade about the piece she is writing for us!! YES!!!

Thanks Ade, you da best!!!

Recording for Ning

Did a recording for Ning's new song last night, don't even know the title...

Genervie is the arranger, she did a pretty good job. Maybe because she knows how strings work, that's why her string parts are all very executable and yet beautiful.

Jon was the biggest joke of the night! Out of tune, cannot concentrate and shit... Haha! Because he was starving --- or so he said.

I was the idiot lah, thought I would wait for him to go back same car with me so that he doesn't need to take a cab. Then motherfucker keeps on making mistakes until I fell asleep!!! Luckily Gen's bro Nigel could fetch us...

But because of this session, we missed the chance to meet up Ade that night... :( We will try again tonight...

Sick...

I felt so much air inside me yesterday, went to toilet so many times, even made myself vomit a little...

I dunno what happened to me. Maybe because I drank the old canned Nescafe gua?

Funny thing was, when I played in the gig, it was fine. But once I stopped playing and sat in the car or sat in the mamak, I started to feel weird.

Shit lah...

Talking about the gig, people liked what we did. Delighted to know that Kah Ming is the new and upcoming talent in Malaysia! He's got talent, this guy, he should keep it up, which he will!

Back Home

OK, I'm typing this in Manglish, because I'm now in Malaysia.

My aeroplane touched down at 12:27pm KL time. I felt myself starting to smile. Then I told myself, "You chi sin ah?! Smile what lah??"

Then I told myself because I'm home mah, excited lah!

OK, so my first stop after my parents picked me up was not home NOR mamak.

It's UPM.

Strange right? But I guess it's reasonable because it's on the way one, so why not pay Chan and Arif a visit. They visit was delightful. Lam and Indra was there also. Had a pretty long conversation, everybody was happy.

THEN, mamak.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Next day I went to Puan Intan's house with Kett Chuan, had a long conversation, in and out of our recital matters. Sounds like they're experimenting in creating a concert series in the future here. That sounds like a great idea!

Then after that we went to makan in the great Thai restaurant in City Square. Mmm~~~ mm! Still the same taste!! How can I ever miss that lah?

The pandan chicken is still so good, and the mango salad, woohoo~~~~~!!!!!!!!

Then after that we went to KLCC to find music to fill up KC's program, but we couldn't find anything. So I decided to write one myself.

After my parents picked me up in KLCC, I went to ASK to meet up with Joseph to pass him his new toy ---- the Barcus-Berry 3100 bass pickup. Yeah babe, he was so happy.

Then I went to Woh Fatt to look for a 1/4" cord for my violin pickup. They weren't so bad, but maybe can find good ones in say, Bentley.

So we went to Bentley, and the guy inside handed me an Ibanez brand cable. He said, this is the best. So I tried on it, oh yeah, smooth! They give me RM5 discount, so it's RM90, very good price! Better than buying it in US.

Then later we went to Secret Recipe to buy two slices of cakes.

Then Low Yat Plaza. Bitches who know me well might what I was up to.

Yeah I went for pirated DVDs, but fuck lah, habuk pun tak ada! Seems like the government is very strict about it these days. But look at the price of the original DVDs they sell, it's ridiculous! 50, 60, even 90!!

Oi, our pirated DVDs are only 5 or 6 ringgit leh! How much a Malaysian earn a month lah? How can we afford??

Look at America, their DVDs are usually 15 bucks to 20 bucks. Their pirated ones are 5 or 6 also. So if you earn American dollar there, u don't have to consider buying pirated products!!

Anyway, I got home after that...

(What the hell am I writing?)

My Possible Lifetime Record

I flew in to Los Angeles last week on Monday, and yesterday (Sunday) I flew out at 11 at night and reached NYC at 8.30am this morning.

Tonight I have to fly another 11pm flight back to Malaysia, which will take 25 of my precious hours.

I don't remember ever having that much of plane flight in my life!

I think this really worths a blog, Michelle's right! So here it is:

MY POSSIBLE LIFETIME FLYING RECORD!!!

50 fuckin' hours of flying within 2 fuckin' weeks!!!!

I'm da man alright!!

John Williams

It's a bird, it's a plane...

NO!!

IT'S JOHN WILLIAMS!!!

Yes... that what he is for me. He is my hero.

And today, he walked in and rehearsed with us!

I heard he's not such a great conductor, but I think he is!

He has the Hollywood efficiency while working with orchestra, but in the same time, he has the New York intellectual mind.

"Sayuri's Theme" in Memoirs of a Geisha is not such a complicated piece, but he could make magic out of it by working on some details that non-other Hollywood conductors i had worked with would normally work on.

He told us to think about the beautiful sound before we try to play in tune. That is, if you have a perfect sound in your mind, it will make you play more in tune because a perfect sound also includes the accuracy of pitch.

Once the orchestra was in his hands, we sounded 10 times better than before!

Mr. Williams is definitely a great musician, I salute him.

No wonder he's my hero.

California Hangin'

So hear I am, in LA once again, after the big delay in Atlanta. Felt bad for my friends Ken and Fumi who were waiting for me on the car for a fat hour.

Never really like flying.

Luckily this gentleman, this doctor who sat beside me was a friendly man and we talked a lot about many things. Including his son, a medical student who plays the violin and loves Irish music, his daughter who is a stage actor and went to Interlochen, his trip to Nepal 30 years ago...

By the time I reached New York, it was almost 12am. Simply crazy! It should have arrived around 10.30!

Anyway, the next day, the girl who's got the hots for Mr. Hor here came and brought us out for a nice Japanese lunch and went to Venice Beach for a little walk. The beach was beautiful, it was all blue, the sea and the sky.

Then Fumi brought us to Fry's Electronic to buy some computer stuff. It was a big discount day, the things were so cheap. I bought a wireless card for my laptop, a cassette adaptor for my CD player in order to be played on a car, and... stuffs...

After the shopping, Ken and I went to UCLA to catch the UCLA Film Festival, which was featuring the spotlight movies by the students. Unfortunately, we failed to see anything, the James Bridges Theater was locked. Only later that night we found out that Ken has misunderstood the place that shows the movies ---- it was in Hollywood...

C'est Ken...

But anyway, we went to Noodle Planet to have a nice dinner and got home.

I didn't really know what happened next cuz I crashed on the sofa around 11pm something... See how tired I was? Never slept that early for a long time and it was a good sleep. Opened my eyes at 6.30am...

And today, NOW, I'm going to meet up with Bob Lennon in UCLA to play some music!!

Cassie's gig... for real...

So, it was June 9.

Cassie's gig.

I went to her apartment for a rehearsal that afternoon at 3pm. Nice small and cozy apartment, but strictly for person. So I sat on her pillow and she at her electric piano to rehearse.

We did all the songs, I did the stuff that I planned to do and some filling-ins, she was happy, so that was it!

Also, I showed her Chris Howes' CD, she was amazed by his playing.

Then I went off to walk around Times Square area. Planned to go to the Union to ask about the criteria to join them, but didn't remember the address, so I gave up.

Then I thought of going for a movie, so I went to AMC Theaters on 42nd to watch The Omen. Big theater it is, haven't been in there, 25 auditoriums. I was in the 18th.

8pm, I bought a chicken rice bowl from Yoshinoya (first time in New York), then I went off to take 1 train in the 42nd St Station.

Took me almost 30 minutes to find Caffe Vivaldi. Thought I would want to try out my pickup before the gig. Didn't work out though. Joy Askew was singing inside. So I had to wait, standing outside the door.

Then Cassie came with her crew and her boyfriend cum guitarist, Jim Adamo.

We waited for about 20 minutes for Joy to finish her set, then we went on to setup. It hardly took ten minutes.

I followed Pete Teo's advice, adjusted my violin sound on the EQ, and it turned out HOT!!

Thanks Pete. I know I've already told you that, but I want to thank you again.

Gig was cool, people liked it.

Think it's over after I finished the gig? No.

CODA:

This dude, Michael, who's a Russian jewelry dealer came to ask me if I wanna go to Caffe Taci, he said there's an open-mic that night.

I asked him what kinda music they play, he said, "Opera".

What the fuck??

So I went (of course!!).

Two sopranos were tearin' it up on the stage when I got there.

Man, ain't they great?!! The piano acccompanist --- an 87 years old Russian old lady ---- was amazing in following their rubato. For those who dunno, opera is much harder than any symphonies to be played correctly. Cuz singers like to stretch (this is the nicer word for it) and speed up spontateuosly (also a nicer word for it), so it's not easy at all, though you're not the main part.

Then I went on stage to play the famous Musetta aria from La Boheme (forgot the title, but you know what it is). People digged it (did they really?), they cheered and yelled and clapped and shit. It was fun. Open-mic for classical musicians and opera singers, this restaurant's boss IS smart.

So the boss came up and asked me in Italian of what I wanna drink, surprisingly I understoof him. So I said a beer. That made my night!

Met some great singers in there, all of them professionals. Also met this composer who wrote a jazz violin concerto 8 years ago, he said he will dig it out or me to play. I hope so.

POST-CODE:

What is that?!

OK lemme tell u the funniest story in the world.

I think I was too tired, I slept on 7 train once I got on it in Times Square.

When I woke up, I was still in Times Square...

You figure out why! ;)

Chris Howes

That was almost two years ago.

I came out from Manhattan School of Music after my lesson with Mr. John Blake. I carried my violin on the back and waited for the 1 train in the 125th St station.

This big guy came up to me and asked me, "Hi, you're a violinist?" I said "yeah". Then he said, "Do you study here? (as in MSM)" I said no I was taking a class with John Blake. Then he was like, "Oh!! John is my good friend!"

So we went up to the train later, he didn't stop talking to me. I asked him what is that big box carrying, cuz he was having two cases at that time. So he told me it's a baritone violin, and immediately took it out to show me ---- in that packed rush hour train. He didn't only show me how it looked like, he even showed me how it sounds by plucking changes on it.

I didn't know I was getting to know a great man and musician that would change my improvisational life forever.

He told me his name is Christian Howes, gave me his card, and invited me to go to his place to play with him together with his cellist Dana Leong.

I was a new guy in New York then, how the hell would I know who the hell is Dana Leong?

Because I didn't really know him well, I didn't dare to take that very kind offer, I told him I need to go home.

I promised him I will keep in touch with him though.

After that brief encounter, shit started to stir.

I started to see Chris' face on Strings magazine, both in an interview and a Yamaha Silent poster ---- which he is the sales representative.

Only then I knew how big he was.

I went up to his website and listened to his samples and told myself that he is probably the greatest jazz violinist in our time!

I finally had a chance to call him up to ask to play with him.

He immediately said yes and asked me to meet him up in the Musicians' Union.

That was a chilly afternoon before my 2005 summer vacation. Chris was rehearsing with John Abercrombie in the Union.

After he was done, he told me sorry that he couldn't get a room in the Union. "But let's do it outside!" he said to me cheerfully.

I rolled my eyes big and looked at him, "Outside??"

He was like nothing bothered him, "Yeah, isn't it a beautiful day?"

So we went out and went to this high school besides the Union and started to play. After a few minutes, he certainly could tell that I had more to learn. So he stopped me and started to ask me why do I play like that? And also other very simple, almost silly questions ---- that are actually very deep ---- that we usually avoided or ignored in life. We kept on playing till the school security told us that we can't do that in a private property.

So we changed our spot to the sidewalk of the streets, and we kept on going for about 2 hours. The chill penetrated into my bone but I didn't make a sound as a complanation because I knew this was a rare opportunity.

He taught me so many things, and was being strict. He really helped me a great deal!

He didn't want money from me, he said he was happy to be able to help me. I was very touched by his kindness.

And just now, I went to his show, meeting him one year after the lesson. He still looked the same, but his solos were amazing!! That was the first time --- but will not be the last --- I've seen him playing live.

During the break between the first and second set, I went up to ask him when I can have lesson with him. He really tried hard to squeeze out time for me, and suggested a variety of venues, such as his apartment in Brooklyn, and Iridium Club's backstage during Les Paul's show! (he wanted to give me lesson in between the songs he doesn't guest play in)

Unfortunately, none of them works for me because of my tight schedule.

So I guess I'll have to meet him after the summer. I have a feeling it will be exciting! In the mean time, time to start seriously practising my chops!

June 4 2006

I never used a date to be my title, I dunno why I'm doing it.

My day kicked off with La Boheme at 10am, it's a long-hour rehearsal, till 5pm.

Within that period of time, we had to finish running the whole opera (in for acts), while working on some difficult parts in between.

One very annoying thing that might happen in an orchestra is when you just raise your violin ready to play, the conductor stops you and went on to fix things with others while you just sit there looking. No, I'm not talking about once, but CONTINUOUSLY.

It's necessary to fix things for sure, but still it's annoying.

Where the hell is my six-dollar-check from Ambitious Orchestra??? dammit...

Is the landlord Mr. Zhang gonna show up or not? I have a feeling he won't. If he doesn't show up till HP goes home, I'm fucked. Then I'll have to buy the cable myself and then ask for compensation from him.

Oh, forgot to say...

... I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!!!!

Upcoming program/ Flood

As we thought we might be putting one of Mozart's Duo for violin and viola into our Carnegie debut recital, new works flowed in like flood.

First Mikael already agreed earlier this semester to write something for us, FOC, as long as it's performed and recorded. This is further confirmed the other while talking to him.

Then Tyler said he will write something for us too ---- which I always welcome.

Now Momoko's asking us to try out her new violin duo short piece.

And then...

I was chatting with Adee that night and told her our duo got into this thing in Carnegie Hall to do debut there. She was like, "Do you want me to write something for you?"

OF COURSE!!

So there u go!!! Adee!!!!

Plus Paul's Duo Concertante is ready.

So why the hell do we need Mozart anyway? Looks like it's the modern music that rules!

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Talking about new pieces flowing in like flood, let me tell u about the REAL flood.

I was about to take a shower and go to FP's wedding... I have a strange habit to play CDs whatever I'm doing ---- except practising of course. So I switched on Wayne Shorter's JuJu.

Just when the first augmented chord on the piano hits the air, I saw a stream of water flowed in like Yang Tze River!!!

"I'm fucked," I told myself, "can't go out now, no way..."

HP was not at home, so what should I do?

DIY!!!

But the water flowed too fast, it hits the living room and HP's room right away!!!

So I didn't make a second thought and call up Brother Ming who lives across. Luckily he was free and he came to help.

Sigh... It took us more than 1 hour to clean up the whole mess in the house!!

That was a big effort.

So later I bought dinner for Brother Ming in the bakery, had some chit chat. It was still raining.

After I got home, everything was fine, no more water coming in.

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

My computer's fuse was busted... shit...

My fuckin' landlord came and saw the whole situation, he was just saying lightly, "We can't control mother nature."

Yeah right. Why didn't he block the whole first anyway? He knew that the water flowed in from the garage! Why didn't he do anything?

And when I asked for discount from him because my computer was busted, he said, "Oh! My son can fix it cuz he owns and internet cafe!"

Fucker, I knew you are afraid of losing money!! But I haven't told him that my bed is also soaked with water. I'm gonna tell him tomorrow. I swear I wanna get some discounts from him!!!