Thursday, March 29, 2007

音乐学院

铁匠买到好材料


打造
丢进模子
不多时
出来一个样

功能一样
性能一样

没个性

Monday, March 26, 2007

Oh Chloe...

It's been days since I waited for you to reply, but I guess you were busy practising.

It's OK, I understand a virtuoso's life is hard and intense, I don't blame you.

The song is for you, I hope you like it!

It could be the tune that I'm most proud of!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Curse of MTA NYC

The thing that impressed me the most in NYC might be the subway.

Yes, it's impressive most of the time because they run 24 hours, they're on time and etc.

Did you see me typing "impressive MOST OF THE TIME"?

Yes, sometimes it's just not happening.

You see, the other night I finished a gig in Brooklyn, took HJ's car to the "52nd-Lincoln Ave" 7 train station. 7 train didn't run because of construction work.

I mean, it's cool, cuz I know they do that from time to time in weekends or late nights because New York subway is 100 years old after all, there should be something to be done.

So there was a shuttle bus that runs along the 7 line right?

I hopped on to the shuttle bus that says "Flushing Main St". I thought this should be it, so I dozed off in a short while after that. It was 12.30am, I remember.

I was awakened by a crowd that came onto the bus on 69th st Station. They started to make noise right after they packed the bus until some people's faces were almost pressing against the wind shield. I heard this Chinese lady sitting behind me yelling, "Cao ta ma de wang ba dan!! What the hell is going on anyway?! Making us go through all this bullshit?"

Then I started to realize that the driver announced that she will drive us back to 61st and Woodside Station and drop us there for an express train to Flushing!

Retarded right? You don't go forward but go backwards instead.

So you hear all kinds of curse words from different languages on the bus, it was fun. So everybody was pointing at the driver and took it all out on her.

But come on lah, be cultured and more understanding a bit can they? It's not the driver's decision to do so. However much she told them it wasn't her fault, they were still screaming at her. So finally she got fuckin' mad and yelled back to them, saying,

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT?!!!! I'M JUST DOING WHAT MY SUPERINTENDANT ASKED ME TO DO TO DRIVE YOUR ASSES OVER TO 61ST STREET WOODSIDE!!!!!!"

Apparently the crowd was instructed by MTA to go to this station and that, back and forth. So they were fuckin' pissed off.

Hey, I thought New York subway is already over 100 years old? Why can't they learn from experiences in handling these things?

Gargh... that's the story...

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Back to the City...

So I'm back

Into this City

Snow filled

White

Cold

Homeless I am

But never lose hope

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Chick Corea in KL

I missed him by just that little bit...

Not that it's hard for me to see him in action in NYC, but I wanted to meet him up in KL because I thought it would be more meaningful.

So his assistant told me that he won't be coming out into the crowd to do signing or anything, I was a bit disappointed really. But I passed my Evil Twin demo with "Crystal Silence" in it to his assistant anyway, I hope he will pass it to Chick.

Chick, if you're reading this man, please listen to my new stuff, I really want you to hear our rendition of Crystal Silence!

x x x x x x

I met Chick once in New York when I first got there, at Lincoln Center's Barnes and Noble bookstore. He was doing a book signing thing for L. Ron Hubbard's "To The Stars", which inspired him to write a suite that bears the same title for his Elektrick Band.

He was so nice to me he asked me to pass him my CD if I have one, and that he will listen to it. So I did and more than half a year later I found myself holding his letter with his real signature on it, wishing me all the best in my career!

I dunno if many people got this from Chick, but it certainly gave me BIG encouragement in doing my THING. It was the kind of moral support that you don't get everyday from legendary cats with his calibre.

Thanks Chick! I hope to see you some time in NY!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

My two nights with Boplicity

Heard about this band for a while since Julian dismissed his old band Happy People. Boplicity's hitting the scene with storm, I would say, even if nobody knows about it, I don't really give a shit, because they really are.

You know, I knew all the cats in the band except Cher Siang the pianist. I knew how they play and I also know them personally.

But after hearing the first tune they played in the first night in Top Room (March 9th), I felt that I didn't know them anymore.

What the fuck has happen to these people?!

EVERY SINGLE motherfucker in the band played like there is no tomorrow. Holy shit, everybody sets fire under my chair and burned my ass until I wanna jump!

Man to tell the truth, I was too surprised. See, I played with Martin before I went off to study in New York, but since then I didn't know how much he grew, I only knew he was talented and shit. But now, GODDAMN! He can play his ass off man!! He swings soooo damn much better... man if you're reading this, I'm fuckin' proud of you man, really, and I feel honoured to have played in the same band with you before.

Cher Siang, everybody was telling me about this cat, ravin' about him. Damn, he's really somethin' too, he definitely pushed the band so much ahead of its peers. He's the kinda player that would push you to show what you have. Great technique, great chops... what more can i say...

Vincent, damn, always so in tune and reliable, cool man.

Julian, mastermind behind this band, if it weren't him and his passion, this wouldn't happen. So obviously he's enjoying what they're doing on stage, he played his hearts out!!

And Eddie, you little prick, I rarely hear you solo before this, man, they told me you're a very musical person, and lemme tell you what, they're right!! You're deep man, you've got da soul!!! Really, I really enjoyed your solos..

So the second was designated for me, I went up as a special guest, and it became B+1.

I played Manda's Mood as opening, Cher Siang was a funny guy, he quoted the chorus of Chang Hung Liang's "Ni Zhi Dao Wo Zai Deng Ni Ma?" (Do you know I'm waiting for you?), we laughed our asses off. So I quoted the verse of the same song when I soloed. Haha! That was some funny shit. Only then I realized that this pop song actually only consists of 4 chords, Hahaha!!!

Then we played "Chloeithcka", oh my god, Julian on soprano almost literally took a knife and ripped his heart out and show it to the audience while it was still beating. You know what I mean? I think if there really is a God, he would have heard Julian's cry from the soprano that night. It pierced through the ceiling, the roof, the clouds, the atmosphere, the stars... I was touched...

Next, "Riders on the Lost Track". We were literally LOST... Vincent didn't really know how to play a joget bassline..hehe... But Julian saved it back... haha...

"Geylang" was the closing tune of the second set, now I could tell that most audiences didn't know what the fuck was going on with this tune. They looked so lost, as this tune is really experimental. It's based on the Malay folk tune, but reharmed in the way that you can play anything over it with D minor, but then we went while and started to avant-garde our asses off. That was really fun for us, but them kids down there were completely blanked... It was actually a very soulful and daring act of the night, too bad KL audiences didn't dig it.

Third set, was again mainly the Boppers' acts, I only joined in in the last two tunes, I thought I did alright...

The second night was almost the same, except we only played two of my tunes, which was Chloeitchka and Manda's Mood. The fire and passion were still the same from the Boppers.

I had a great experience, seriously, thanks Julian for asking me to play this gig. I felt emotionally, spiritually satisfied after these two long nights. I felt that I gave out all I had, and I felt good.

Thanks Boppers!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

SHIT!!! MY PHONE!!!!

Performance went well, had a nice dinner with CM's profs and Soo Wei too.

This morning, I found out that I slept a little too much comparing than usual, it felt pretty good, and I could use more if I wanted to. But then CM told me that we're going out and that I'm gonna head straight to airport from Bangkok.

So I didn't even bother to take a shower, we just went straight out after I made sure I had everything with me.

CM wanted to show Soo Wei his campus, so we went there by his housemate's car. After that, we hit the cab and headed to Bangkok.

After some typical Bangkok traffic jam, we came to this shopping mall called "MBK". It's a pretty messy place with lots of small stalls everywhere, selling t-shirts and other things, all imitations.

One thing I found out was, their original DVDs and CDs are so fuckin' cheap! So I bought a copy of Naqoyqaatsi which original score was composed by Phillip Glass and solos by Yo Yo Ma. Never a big Glass fan, I always thought that his film scores are way more interesting than his concert works. The price was 56 Baht, which means about RM 5.60!! DVD BABY!! And when I wanted to pay my money, the girl at the counter told me that it's a buy-one-free-one item!! So CM asked me to get the same one for him. I did. So I guess that's considered as my thank-you gift for his nice hospitality? Hehe...

Bought another two t-shirts in the mall, pretty funny ones.

After having McD's, I went up to a taxi again and said bye to CM and Soo Wei.... oh, and Bangkok. Yes, I was heading to the airport.

It wasn't till I got to the security checkpoint that requires me to clear all my pockets that I found out that I was there WITHOUT MY PHONE!!

Cursing "fuck me!" secretly, I was wondering where the hell it was.

Could it be in CM's room? Or his friend's car? Or one of the cabs???

Now that I checked with CM, calling him from home, I was quite sure that the phone slipped out quietly from my pocket when I was on one of the cabs.

Dammit... what a trip...

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

In Bangkok

I arrived on the 4th of March, where CM was already waiting for me outside. My head was still ringing with music that I played with Greg the other night, I only slept two hours after the gig.

Journey was fine, because I slept through the whole of it, and also it's been a while since I sat by myself with nobody else next to me.

I'm looking at Bangkok with a different perspective this time.

Last time I was here, I didn't really have time to look at it, and I was totally bothered by the linguistic problems here, I didn't have a good time, plus the time was short as it was an overnight transit.

Cruising around the streets on buses and cabs CM gave me another experience of Bangkok.

The food here is really great, and cheap too. And you see a lot of beautiful people walking on the streets, but of course you can't be sure if they're real or not...if you know what I mean...hehe

Haven't been CM for more than two years, this little bastard can now speak some Thai with the locals, some vendors around his neighbourhood don't even know he's not a Thai. Haha, sneaky little bastard...

Now I'm sitting in CM's sax professor's room, waiting for the soundcheck and rehearsal at 5pm. Mahidol University has a beautiful campus, with great facilities in the music college. I jsut went to see a piano recital, which they used a Steinway concert grand. CM also told me that they have two other concert grands in the hall.

The hall is beautiful and fully equipped. Wondering when can we have a school like this in Malaysia...sigh...

Getting sleepy now, waiting for the concert...

Monday, March 05, 2007

See? I told you....

See?! Told you nothing would happen!

I always can foretell my life because it's just so predictable...

Boring...

I think I still stick up my good old golden middle finger real high, because I need it...

GJ 2nd night

Didnt like my solos accept African Skies...

Got to know a girl in the gig, very nice...

But so what...

Nothing will happen, I know it...

Friday, March 02, 2007

Groove Junky

First night...

Fun...

A little nervous...

Less smoke but still...

Leader late...

Started late...

Noisy drums...

Hard touch...

Pete was there...

Mei was there too...

Jammed with her...

Let's see 2nd night...