Jenny Scheinman Orchestra

I went to see this group that I've heard so much about in Tonic.

Quite a surprise to see Bill Frisell on guitar, Ron Miles on trumpet (whom I heard him playing in front of a heavy metal band), and Doug Wieselman on clarinets.

My bigger surprise was Alex Greenbaum, my friend, was there playing in the cello section!

Other names worth mentioned were Mark Chung (the guy who has the string jazz directory website), Jennifer Choi, Ron Lawrence, Natalie Haas...

For some reason, the folksy musical style didn't particular move me as much as some other shows I've seen in Tonic.

But I have to say, I learned so much just by watching Ron Miles soloing over the Western cowboy groove, he totally switched the groove from Western mode into jazz mode by adding in some syncopations in the right spot of the beat. I dunno how many people would notice that, but I totally felt it and was amazed by it. That feeling was badder than an orgasm!!

Doug Wieselman played some crazy shit on both the clarinet and bass clarinet, that shit was funky!

Bill Frisell's sound was as spacey as he used to be, can't say I particularly love it, but it does work well in some places.

I talked to most of these people after the set and was pretty psyched!

Lament to Henry Mancini Institute

Done with the last show of TMM, so happy! Got my cheque, banked it in~

Then I went to this totally cool 24-hour diner opened by a Greek, damn the fried chicken was REALLY delicious!!!!

I got home at last, it's 3:47am now... and I'm thinking of HMI...

HJ was right, HMI is too good to exist in the real world. Where can you possibly find another Summer music festival like this: full scholarship for everyone, performing with so many top jazz and pop artists, meeting one of the leading American composers alive, working and taking lessons with top Hollywood musicians, meeting all the famous film composers and get conducted by them, mock-recording in Warner Bros. Clint Eastwood Scoring Stage, and last but not least, learning about how to survive in the harsh music industry.

Coming out of HMI 2005, I became a totally new person who is cautious about so many things that I previously wouldn't notice. I became a more open person and like to talk to people and make connections and friends. And also, I became so much more confidence as a musician, knowing that I'm not as bad as I thought ----- being in the classical world would definitely make you feel that.

I owe so much to HMI that I would love to do anything to help raising fund to relaunch HMI, but I know I don't have that kind of power to do so...

But I just wanna tell all the friends that I knew from there, together with the administrative people like Jill Packard, Craig Michaels, Lisa Vasey, Jona Ang, Brett and Rachel our librarians. You guys are grrrrrrrreat!! Without you guys, what would HMI be like? Geez, I can't imagine...

Please HMI, if you could, please resurrect, we're waiting for you to "re-educate" our new generation of musicians and tell them how to get "A Life In Music"!

...The End...

I had so much great time in there, both last year and this year, but the Henry Mancini Institute (HMI) is closing down for good!

Such a shocking news to hear...

This morning when I woke up, still half asleep, Nick popped up on MSN and told me this shocking news. But he said he couldn't confirm.

After a busy out in Manhattan and Brooklyn, I came back, having Ray Pizzi's mail in my inbox, forwarding Lisa's message: It's confirmed, HMI is going to close down permanently starting from December 31st, 2006.

This is a very shocking news, I believe, to all the alumns and the crews.

But for some reason, I am extremely calm right now...

Working with Akim Funk Buddha

Tonight was the second time I played with Akim Funk Buddha, very very hip and cool Zimbabwe hip-hop artist.

He's not the kinda raw street guy who only knows how to do some rapping and dancing and looks like a gangster. He is far more sophisticated than that, and also more intellectual than that.

He went around the world to learn different types of music, including going to Bali to learn Kechak and Gamelan.

As an artist, Akim knows what he wants but he wouldn't want things to be the same every time. Working with him doesn't require reading, because he wants it raw and fresh and spontaneous.

So you went into the rehearsal space empty handed right? At least empty headed cuz you have your instrument in your hand. You won't know what to do. But he would tell you, "Not knowing something doesn't equal to confusion." I think that's his biggest philosophy, which fits him very well because he is a great leader.

You see, when he's around, only with his body movements (he dances real well too) and her human beatboxing, you can already feel the drive and the energy in him, and when you groove with him, he encourages you to bring it out more, never say negative shit when you did something wrong --- what's wrong to him anyway? Anything can become right when you play with him.

One more thing worths mentioning: My time feel got so much better after I played with him. I mean I was playing a duo with him rapping on my beat, you can imagine how tight my beats were!

A funny thing is, I somehow looks like my cousin brother Chee Kong, so funny!

If you dunno who is Akim Funk Buddha, go check out his website.

Fly away from Neverland...

Yeah so what can you do with some imaginations and some hope when you know there's none at all?

Thus you're hoping to fly away from your dreamland and back to reality.

But when your mind plays tricks with you, telling you that Neverland does exist, can you really see that clear?

You would even look for Tinkerbell for some magic powder when you wanna go back to reality!

So if you think Neverland exists, where is your Peter Pan? What have he done for you?

Grow up!

There ain't such thing as that.

Grow up and stop fantasizing about flying high and seeing beautiful mermaids!

Sometimes...

Sometimes I really think some people should stick to what they're doing best. I'm serious.

When you're trying to be who you're not able to be, you're not just screwing up your own life but also you might be wasting some other people's time. Sigh...

If you are not good in what you're trying to do, AT LEAST be humble and admit what you've done wrong. Isn't that easy? Nobody's gonna laugh!

But well, people just don't see their own problems and will start blaming on others.

But again, you've gotta shut up when that incapable person is creating job opportunity for you. Haha!

You gotta thank him/her, you know what I mean? It's complicated...

Miranda

I still remember her, I haven't seen her for two full years.

I still remember how beautiful and elegant she was, the touch of British taste.

She's a fiery violin player, don't mess with her.

Very responsible teacher as well.

What's more, a beautiful soul.

K and her divorced for a while, but she still cares about me as much as K does --- they're almost like my parents, musically.

Before I left for New York, I sent her an SMS on the phone, tell her that I will never forget her and she is always my "Shi Mu" (teacher's wife) whatever happened. I cried when I typed that. It really came from my heart.

I felt the love from both K and her. They're definitely listed in my top list of the people that I wish to thank the most.

I still remember that she knew that I'd like to get closer to Mae at one point, and brought me to choose flower to give it to her in her performance.

I suddenly thought of it this morning, I had a smile on my face. So I decided to write this article.

What a sweet memory --- the memory of being loved by someone you really respect.

Got it back!!

OK bitches, listen up!

I got the gig back!!

Take it like a man

Yes, I got fired for a gig.

Whether or not I can go back is still a big question mark. I wrote to them to explain why I was late and promised that I won't be late again. But if that woman is a hard nut to crack, then I will lose some money here.

What I have lost I cannot take back.

But I decided to learn it from experience and take it like a man.

That's what the Mancini Institute taught me, they taught me about professionalism, about being punctual. They told me no matter what reason, late means late and they couldn't care less what had happened to you on the way. It's cold, but it's true.

This thing also taught me to hold no grudge to anybody who fired me, cuz they fired me for a reason, and they were just doing their job.

I looked at my Mancini T-shirt that I have on me right now, remembering EVERYTHING what they told me --- the gospel truth of gigging.

A night of great music

I went to see my MySpace friend, Wu Di, playing her piano recital in Bosendorfer Piano Showroom NYC just now. That was something!

She's just terrific! She can play like nobody's business!

It was a recital that focuses on theme and variations.

The program kicked off with Haydn's Andante and Variations, beautiful, almost un-classical sounding piece. Then it was Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Paganini, which is based on the famous violin caprice no.24 by Nicky. Brahms had his very unique way of writing the variations that sometimes it almost didn't sound like a romantic piece --- almost 20th century sounding, if you will. But you can still hear bits and pieces of the original violin variations by Nicky. These two pieces show you how ahead of their time these two composers were.

After the intermission, Wu Di continued the performance with Copland's Piano Variations. Now I have to say I never liked Ari much even though I studied in the Aaron Copland School of Music. Not only his Americana thing, but also his early stuff, especially his Organ Symphony, ew... I don't like it. But there's something in this piece that I like, maybe it's simply Di's mastery on her piano and her giving a soul to this piece.

One thing that really bugged in the second half was the cat that brought a cup of red wine in after the intermission. He was sitting behind my row, very close to me, and he was constantly turning the cup in his hands, which made some noises. But what really made me mad was his constant sucking of his teeth, that piercing noise kept on turning up until I almost turned back to him and slap the shit out of him. He did that even near the end of the recital! Somebody kill me!!

Anyway, the second piece of the second half was Ondine by Ravel. Beautiful as usual! Mo's pieces are usually irresistable, at least for me.

Then it was the climax of the night, LISZT!! You almost don't call your piano recital a piano recital if you don't play something by him. So there we go! Reminiscenes de Don Juan! The only word I could describe this piece was virtuostic!

Wu Di has such technical equipment in her that nothing seems very hard for her. Now I know this almost sounds like I dunno shit about music, because we all know that learning the basics to play an instrument is already hard, let alone learning bitchin' pieces like those she played. But it's true, seeing the tiny Wu Di sweeping back and forth over the keyboard was like watching her cleaning them up with a cloth.

Also, she doesn't look like how old she is now. She's much more mature-looking (NOT OLD THOUGH!!) than her peers, probably because of her experience performing everywhere in the world. And, not to mention she is very very pretty too!

Wu Di --- see it and believe it!

x x x x x x x x

No I'm not finished.

I went straight to another gig after I hung around for a while in Wu Di's reception.

Now this one is totally a different vibe.

It's Dana Leong's regular show in Jazz Gallery --- Rhapsody in Groove!

Damn, when you see that Afro hair walking onto the stage, you better expect something more than a regular "good"!

So these cats went up to the stage and started to blow people's heads off with their strong hip hop beats that would keep your head nodding even though the music stops.

Now my father figure Ray Pizzi thinks that the hop is not really that hip, but I still feel a great deal out of that kinda music. Especially in a more sophisticated setting like this, with them motherfuckers tearing it up on the stage, I would say, it's really pretty hip! Maybe because I grew up in this era... I dunno.

Baba Israel is a fantastic human beatbox! He could make sounds that sound like samples that you could only get from Logic or Reason!!

The keyboardist Adam Platt is some motherfucker too. He had that nasty face when he played some really bad and funky shit. I think he's built for hiphop-jazz fusion. I like his down-to-earth playing.

As for Dana, man, as usual, a master in both trombone and cello. I was especially amazed to see his 3-finger plucking on the cello. The funny shit was one of his fingers got bleeding after he played that trick without him knowing about it!

Later after the gig, I told him, instead of "Thanks for the music" like what others would say, "Thanks for bleeding for us!"

Haha! Ain't that some shit?

Thus saith Wynton...

Wynton Marsalis's Speech to the 2006 Graduating Class:

I'm going to provide you all with very few practical words, the fruits of
many happy years of varied experiences in the arts.
First, congratulations. No one is ever going to ask you to see your grades.

Take all jobs. If somebody says, "Can you ??" say, "Yes, I can."

Leave jobs that you hate immediately.

If you find a job that doesn't feel like a job, don't let others for whom it
is a job make it feel like a job to you.

If you find yourself working at your craft, be happy, because it might not
happen again.

Being dissatisfied is not an achievement.

Every chance you get to perform is important. It could be at an elementary
school, it could be at a rehearsal-every little aspect of it is sacred and
is significant.

And, just as a rule, people are generally more enthusiastic the less they're
being paid. Many times people want to know about commercialism versus art.
Do what you want to do. Don't be conflicted. But realize that integrity is
real, and so is starvation.

Never let pay and the talk of pay occupy more time and space than the talk
of your art. If you find that it is, go into banking, or start a hedge fund
or something.

Also, about pay: understand where you are. When I was 19, I was on a tour
with Herbie Hancock and I started complaining to him before we walked
onstage about what I was being paid. He said, "Come here, man. Look out into
the audience." He said, "Now, do you see those people?" I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "They paid for these tickets. If you don't walk out onto the stage,
how many of them are going to leave? ? Now, if I don't walk out, how many
will leave? ? That's why you're being paid what you're being paid."

Always remember that an agent that you have just met is not your friend.

Never deny a compliment after a performance. "Oh, I love your ?" "No, I
didn't ?" No. No ? Say, "Thank you." It takes a lot less words.

If you sign an autograph, always look at the person before you hand it to
them. Always.

If you've written some music, and everybody is bored, and you even find
yourself getting a little bored, it's boring. Don't worry. I would also like
to debunk the notion that it will be understood later, because if that were
the case, we would have a lot of boring pieces from the 1870s that would be
popular hits right now.

If you notice that everybody at the table has been quiet for a very, very
long time, except for you, you've been talking too much.

Now, to combat nervousness: Number one, practice a lot. Two, think about how
unimportant what you're doing is in the general scheme of things. Three,
breathe very deeply and relax. Number four, envision great success, or
envision failure and figure, how bad could that be? Finally, forget about
all of that stuff and just go ahead and do your thing.

In a crisis, or if you are caught lying, you have to come with the truth.
Always tell the truth in a crisis.

When you get a bad review, never ask someone if they've seen it.

Don't pretend not to have seen it. Never, ever dwell on it-or on them, in
case you get more than one, which you will if you stay out here-so as to
mention it to someone who might not even know or care about what you're
talking about. Too much commenting on bad things or criticism, somebody
attacking you, is really a form of egotism.

Don't eat too much bread late at night after performances. But wine is O.K.

Never take the last of anything off of a table when you are a guest. Let
that last thing sit there. "Do you want ? ?" "No, I don't want ?" the last
of anything.

I also want you all to realize that our collective success as artists, all
of us, is inextricably tied to the taste levels of the world. The concerned,
the refined, the soulful-they're always at battle with the callous, the
crass, and the exploitative. That's why Picasso said that a work of art is
actually a weapon. You know, we fight for consumers. Artists have always had
to fight for consumers. And you all-all of you young artists-you're called
to battle the runaway global descent in the popular taste. You're called to
do that without snobbery, or prejudice, or retreat into the smug, high
ground of the academy-and please, without selling out, or selling people
short.

Use your talent, your good looks, and your education, to transform the whole
world with the power of art. Engage the world through inspired teaching,
through tireless proselytizing, through an unwavering practice of craft at
its highest levels. Engage the world of fellow artists, teachers, audiences,
students, critics and other various haters, with a boundless energy, an
irrepressible zeal, an unassailable humility, and an infectious joie de
vivre. Then you go from being the isolated, misunderstood, besieged artist
to being a powerful testimony for the inevitable transcendence of artistry.

You see, as you all go out into the world, know that you have a very special
gift: a gift that announces itself through music, dance, drama, film,
literature, comedy, painting. You have a gift that survives. It survives the
disappointment of not being famous, or not becoming as great as you thought
you would be. It's a gift that many times actually grows larger with life's
unpredictable and inevitable heartbreaks.

This gift is as old as cave people gathering around a campfire to skillfully
lie about some animals they killed. Or some grizzled old cowboys trying to
shake the trail dust off their brains with an old harmonica and some
out-of-tune song, and some nasty coffee. Or Negro slaves at a jubilee,
healing days and nights of sorrow with the bittersweet balm of a dancing
fiddle and the piercing cry of the blues. Or a stage re-enactment of some
epochal love affair that rekindles again and again the grandeur of romance
between a man and a woman for those who may have forgotten.

This is the gift that caused old, sick, deaf Beethoven to crawl out of his
bed at 2:37 in the morning and put his ears on the piano just to hear the
vibrations. He couldn't hear any notes. This is the gift that had old, blind
Matisse laying up on his bed, looking up at the ceiling with a stick, trying
to put some color on the ceiling, to figure out some way to squeeze the last
moment of something out of his life.

What about Louis Armstrong? The Promethean giant of American feeling, with
lips as scarred as the moon, reaching for those last few, blood-soaked high
C's? Yes, this gift is something.

Whether you play on the main stage of the world or you toil in obscurity,
believe me, you have the gift to create community with your song, with your
dance. Don't sell it short. Get people to gather around, and understand that
we are us, and we become us through art by hearing about who we used to be,
who we are, and, in some cases, who we should be-or who we're going to be.

Use this gift wisely. And if you end up broke, or unhappy, or lonely, it's
going to be by choice, because people love art, and they love artists, and
they love to be touched, and they love for you to touch them, and they love
you. They're not your enemy; they're your friend. And you won't believe the
way that they'll open their heart and the love that they will give you.

In closing, I'm going to go to an old master of plantation trumpet, Enute
Johnson, the early pioneer. He played the cornet around 1883.

A government interviewer found him as an old man, got him a new set of
teeth. He saw him working in the sugar-cane fields, around Vacherie, La. He
observed that Enute Johnson was not bitter at all about his seeming
misfortune. So he asked Enute to reflect on his trumpet playing and other
things that he liked to do.

Mr. Johnson said, "Son, play long, play hard, and play as much as possible."
And that makes life quite sweet, brothers and sisters.

Quite sweet.

New joke from Ray Pizzi

I wonder how does he get all these inspirations:

I once caught my young son masterbating and warned him he could go blind and he said, DAD....I'm over here!

Thanks Martin

Man, thanks for the clothes and thanks for fixing my bow for me!!

And thanks for the ice-cream!

Thanks for the hang too!

You're awesome!

Slept right through!

Damn I slept right through my orchestra today!

Feels so good!!

Shitchyah!!!!!!!!!

Just me and my soju...

In this Saturday night, most other people might be going crazy in the bar, dancing in some clubs, watching a concert or a movie, chillin' in a resturant, doing Halloween party somewhere, wondering around the streets, making love with their lovers...

But I'm just here, drinking my soju, getting buzzed, listen to a newly bought CD, thinking of her, hating myself, talking to my own blog...

That's basically what my life is right now, except playing music and get high on music, it's still music.

I should be happy right?

I should!

But why am I not?

Maybe I'm just another greedy person who's never satisfied with his current life.

I suppose so...

自饮自酌本当自得其乐，奈何佳人无心，君子有意，问天不得回应，问地不闻声息。喜耶？悲耶？岂我俗人可知？未知果实，不可审断之！佳人若他日有心，自当乐而为伴。唯独他人心意岂能猜度？嗟乎！不如一醉天明！

M's Reject

I found a new title for my next tune, it's gonna be "M's Reject".

But I still dunno how the song would sound like. Might sound pretty horrifying or intimidating...

We'll see...

Some new advice from Ray Pizzi...

RPIZZI2 (11:14:54 PM): Stay with it, even when your doing "industry" jobs, stay with it, keep the shit going. Don't wait, devise the means for keeping alive and start as soon as possible. You need to grow past the Evil Twin Syndrome, don't wait and want anymore. Start accomplishing stuff. Stop putting up barriers. Get yourself play records now, get into shape before you play with live guys. That way you'll have a tune base to choose from. Start with standards, eventually the experience and knowledge will tell you when to embark

RPIZZI2 (11:15:43 PM): on your own compositions which will then have harmonic and melodic substance.

RPIZZI2 (11:17:48 PM): If you need any help, I'm here.

Orchestra rehearsal

No, this is not about the movie...

I know, I know... there's a movie by Fellini that has this title...

Anyway, today's Wednesday, so naturally, there was orchestra rehearsal!! Yay~~~

Wait, why do I sound so happy? I dunno. I shouldn't be. There could be a reason. But maybe I reason that I should explain in my other blog.

Anyways...

No, it didn't went well. Was pretty bad actually.

I was sitting with this chick who had no clue what to do but still played as loud as Joe Venuti.

But I didn't get mad at her and show my face or anything.

I know she's not up to that level, she's forced to play music that is WAY over her ability. I'm cool with it. I'm being patient about it.

I think one of the reasons that makes me reacted so was my own experiences (bad ones of course!) from the Malaysian Phil.

I was a hard time in there when some of the members in there were bitchin' at me telling me to keep my volume down and shit. I mean, if they told me nicely, it's fine. They either gave me a nasty look or simply just spitted words like "CAN'T YOU PLAY SOFTER?!!".

There are many ways with dealing with people who are in a lower position than you (experience wise). One is to get pissed yourself and later on piss them off as well; the other one is just to be nice and make him/her feel comfortable.

Now, why make yourself feel bad first of all? You KNOW that they can't be as good as you for the time being, even though you yelled at them and beaten them up.

So I chose to be the second type myself. When I really can't stand it, I would just suggest to them about what to do. Isn't that much better? Even if they didn't like your suggestions, they wouldn't get mad at you.

What an experience in MPO! I didn't only learn how to play in orchestra professionally, I also learned how to be a more decent person.

My student's fucking mother!!!

Chau jibai!!!!!

Pukimak!!!!!!

Lancheow!!!!!!

Ssibal!!!!!!!!

FUCKING BITCH!!!!!

Who the fuck does she think she is????!!!!

Machauhai!!!!!!!

First of all, don't think that if you can pay me a couple bucks and you think you can talk to me like "May I have your credentials" when you ASK for lessons from me for your daughter!!

Eh, jibai, you don't ask me like that OK??? Bitch???

What's more, you're saying like, "I need to know before I make my decision". Eh bitch, YOU'RE the one who first ask lessons from me! I didn't beg you to let me teach your daughter dammit!!!!

Now, after I told you that I already got my masters, you DO NOT ask me "MS in what?"

Bitch, are you retarded? Are you FUCKED in the head??? Huh????

I told you I am a professional musician who performs everywhere in New York, OF COURSE I got my masters in VIOLIN PERFORMANCE!! Do you need to go to school again bitch???

Holy shit!!!!

One more rude + stupid question from you, you idiot, I'm NOT gonna teach your daughter! Just who the FUCK do you think you are???

Motherfucker!!!

Yau ngat lik!!!

One of my favorite videos!!!

Steve Reich @ 70!!!!!!

Man, I can't believe I could get into that concert.

I got there at 7.30pm, there were sooooo many people outside of Carnegie Hall wanting to buy extra tickets. They all held up two fingers on the right hand or less.

So I raised my fore finger indicating that I need one, just to try my luck.

I thought there wasn't any hope.

There's a son of a bitch who came up and wanted to sell a ticket for a hundred, I mean, fuck him. The most expensive ticket is only 68! I should call a police.

But damn, there's this guy who came up and ask if I want a ticket, he would sell it for 20 dollars, that's even cheaper than the lowest price, 28 bucks! So I got the ticket and went in!

The first piece was Electric Counterpoint that Reich wrote for Pat Metheny. It's such a great piece, simple but down-to-earth. Pat performance was totally AWESOME. He didn't miss a single note or rhythm, and yet he was memorizing the music!! I was so thrilled by it! It sounded exactly like the recording.

Then Kronos came out and tore up Different Trains. I liked it a lot too.

After the intermission, the REAL DEAL was up!

Steve Reich and Musicians!!!!!!

They performed Music for 18 Musicians. That work was 60 minutes long but man, I tell ya, I didn't fell asleep AT ALL!! The whole piece was non-stop but SO INTENSE! You could see musicians switch roles from one instrument to another, sometimes you could even see 3 musicians playing ONE marimba!

Steve Reich was very low profile. He didn't stand out to bow especially. He only bowed together with all the other musicians. He didn't show people he was Steve Reich (except his cap, maybe), not until the musicians started to acknowledge him. He already gained my respect by doing this!

What I felt from the whole concert was the joy of music, the organic side of the music --- I know it's mathematical, but I could hear it's ALIVE! And it's not machine-like. The musicians had fun playing the stuff, I could tell, they were so relaxed when they played, especially the pianist that played the off beats for more than 10 minutes non-stop!

Watching cloud is what it's like to listen to minimalist music, watching cloud changing...

I feel like calling...

I dunno man... it's just weird...

I felt like calling people up today...

I just kept on calling anybody that I could think of and see if anybody wants to talk!

Of course, there weren't anybody answering, as usual.

For example, I called up Manda to try my luck but didn't make it. She was with her family. So I thought I should leave her alone.

Ken told me not to call him cuz he needed to sleep before party.

Jeremy just didn't pick up the phone, as usual.

Justin's not at home.

Michelle's having hard time cuz her grandma's in hospital.

I especially wanted to talk to somebody after I got the music from Dong and waited for the bus for twenty fuckin' minutes in the cold night wind!!

Luckily Heun Jeung gave me a call and we talked for a quite a bit! Otherwise, it would be my longest 20 minutes...

I dunno, sometimes I'd just go through all the possible phone numbers and tried to call someone and find someone to talk to.

Why?

This happens only once in a while.

Why?

Is it because I feel lonely?

...

Jimmy Heath's 80th!!!

It's really amazing to see a great musician who lived from the bebop era until now, a living witness of a country's musical evolution, sitting in the audience, enjoying his own orchestral work being performed on the stage, accompanied by his fellow musicians, Frank Wess among others.

Such a great experience!

The house was packed with his colleagues, friends, and family.

The orchestra was full of spirit playing his Three Ears for jazz quintet and orchestra.

Tony Hart and Mike Moss blowing their asses off on their horns. Especially Moss, man, his trumpet could tear down the whole music building!

Jimmy, a little giant --- very short, but when he starts blowing his horn, he was like a 7 feet tall. That's what he is. A very gentle and warm person with super-sharp ears.

Jimmy, hope you'll be with us all the time! Keep being healthy, and teach us all you know about music... and LIFE!

Today, October 17th...

...or should I say yesterday? It's 12.33am now.

Whatever.

Didn't do much today.

The biggest accomplishment I had was that I did my laundry at last!!!

My biggest UNaccomplishment today was I couldn't finish the stupid comics...

Should I plead for their mercy to not charge me late fees?

Going to play Jimmy Heath program tomorrow, I'm psyched!

Musical leadership/ Dong's Vid Rec/ Mark Feldman

These days I tend to write different things in one article, saves my time.

HJ's gig last night was good, wouldn't say fantastic, but decent for first timers.

Hey, at least they get so many audiences to come!

Trin's sound wasn't attracting me at all though. It's not her lines, just the sound.

This makes me rethink the importance of "sound", a word which Julian likes to repeat over and over again.

HJ has the sound, once she bows her cello, she's got that kinda intensity in her sound that Trin doesn't have. It's so distinctive!

But when Chris sat in, man, it was totally a different world! The band basically sounded like new once he stepped in.

Now, of course, Chris is much too experienced than them. But what I learned from him was the ability of his, guiding the band through high and low during his solo. Which means he was playing with the band, not playing karaoke like amateurs.

Sometimes we might tend to think that soloists should go free when doing solo, letting the rhythm section follow us. It's so untrue, no matter what it is, it's still chamber music playing! It's about ensemble and communication! When you have that and not living in your own world, you're leading the band --- then the audiences --- to another world.

x x x x x x x x x x x

I am grateful enough that Desmond called off the rehearsal today when I told him I have Dong's recording to do.

It was a video shooting session. We played excerpts from Appalachian Spring and Siegfried Idyll.

It sounded pretty good. Of course, players tonight were far better than the ones we had before in his other concerts.

At last I got to play Siegfried Idyll a little bit. I love that piece! :)

Too bad Manda wasn't playing...

x x x x x x x x x x x

My Mark Feldman CD came today, the title is "What Exit".

It's a good album, typical ECM sound, spacy and clean.

I like it. I am again amazed by Anders Jormin, the bassist who did his solo ECM album called "Xieyi" (写意). The reason was he showed another side of him that is opposed to Xieyi. He's more active in here, and he even showed that he could do some Indian fiddling on his bass!

Amazing.

I think Mark's compositions are awesome. A little Zorn-influenced, but very easy to listen to.

Great album Mark! I like it!

So drunk...

Chris!!! You da man!!! You inspire me EVERY SINGLE FUCKIN' TIME I see you play!!!

I don't wanna be another you, but I wanna be someone like you!!!

You inspire me even when you're talkin' to me, you know? Seriously man.

Heun Jeung, you a badass muthafucka!!

Keep it up!!!

Your lines are sicker than mine!!! I love it!!!

Keep on being yourself!!!!!!!

I just wanna curse

I dunno what else to do on Saturday but cussing my way till the next morning.

I just feel so undelighted and fucked up every Saturday.

Working from 9.30am till 6.30pm, teaching some VERY uninteresting students, getting peanuts in return!!

If I'd find a better job, I betchor ass that I will QUIT this motherfuckin' job!!!

I just feel like yelling at everybody I see; cursing at every single damn thing I encounter; and shouting like a mad man in the asylum!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Grudge 2 --- really? a horror flick?

Bad presentation

Bad script

Bad make-up

No logic (I know it's a movie, but at least some, OK? How could an old Japanese lady can suddenly speak fluent English?)

However good Christopher Young's music was, it didn't help a bit. Because the pacing of the movie and the editing already lost the grip, I don't think anyone can help!

Why does a movie like this can be rated PG-13??? The kid behind me was crying through some scenes... poor thing...

One more thing, is Takashi Shimizu going cuckoo? Where is his great directing in the Japanese version?

Social Security Card~~~

I woke up at 10.25 or something like that this morning. Damn! Should've woke up at 9.30am!

So I shaved my teeth and brushed my face... uh... I mean... brushed my teeth and shaved my face and went to the school with HP, ready for today's rehearsal.

Since we missed the time to do individual practice, we jumped right into learning the new section of Nilon together, which is page 4 and page 5.

We spent some time working out the time (of couse), and I spent a bit on learning my notes, they're some hard nuts to crack! Then we went back to the 1st three pages to further polish it --- if you can call that "polish"...

And then!! Mr Jordan Kuspa's piece, "Beneath the Magma" (which means hardcore...).

It's a far more practical piece cuz it's written by a cellist, he knows what works and what's not. We basically read through the whole piece on the spot, shouldn't be too much of a problem. But it's nice and energetic, should be a good piece to start the program.

Then we had a short lunch and I went to Jamaica!! I went to apply for my social security card.

I heard people inside the counters yelling and shouting at the applicants, ooh~~ scary~~ Luckily when it was my turn, it was a Chinese lady --- probably the only one --- who served me. When she was my name, she asked me if I was Chinese and we started to speak Cantonese. She was very nice to me. It took around 15 minutes to finish the whole process, and she asked me to wait for 2 weeks the most.

I can work legally SOON!!!!

What'd I do today?

1) Practiced Mikael's piece by myself
It's very hard ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! I went through 3 pages and then...

2) Then I rehearsed that three pages with HP
You know, when playing his shit, we can't concentrate on what notes we're playing.
We spent our time only in figuring out the rhythm. It's very very complicated!

3) Went to Met to buy my orange juice and malt drink.

4) Watched Infernal Affairs II.
I always think this one is even better than the first one. Now that I watched it
again, I reconfirmed my thought. The script is very very well planned, full of
power that most HK movies don't have.

5) Went to transfer HP's Time Warner account to my name.
I also cancelled the TV account. It's 20 dollars less than what we paid for.
Exactly what I want!

6) White Castle
Yeah, I had my dinner in White Castle --- believe it or not, it's the first time.
Food is very good!

7) Ken's new work
Yes, at last, the zombie!! I saw it. Haha! It's very funny. Oi Ken! Put it online
lah!!!

Mikael's new piece and the lesson with Mdm Rhee

I came back from lunch with Manda after the QCO rehearsal (taught her some ancient Chinese homework), had a short nap, and started to practice Mikael's newly written piece for us that I got from yesterday (Oct 10th).

The piece is fuckin' hard, not that it's technically challenging or anything, it's just the counting. I tried to do quarter equals to 72, which is the original speed, but it's impossible. So I slowed it down to 60, didn't work either. So I started to play half time to figure them out.

It got better.

Well... I guess I have to spend a lot of time doing that and listen to the MIDI file...

After practicing for a short while, it was my time to meet up with Firepower to rehearse and take HER lesson with Mdm Rhee.

Mdm Rhee is a very strict teacher, she knows what she's saying and teaching, I have lots of respect towards her. She told me once that I should think more before I do something in the music and don't be like a mindless fiddler.

It really knocks me on the head hard and woke me up!

Yes, I had been pretty careless with such stuff... or rather, I didn't really get enough information about it before, about the stylistic stuff.

So I was wondering about this time. What would she say?

Strangely enough, she didn't say a word about my playing today. Yet, she asked Firepower to listen to how I play and follow what I do!

Wow...

So I bought myself a BIG Strawberry Milkshake in Coldstone later. hehe...

The Departed vs. Infernal Affairs

Saw "The Departed" last night. It's pretty well made. Except it's a little too long for my taste.

I guess the reason is because they tried to give every big star in the movie a chance to act. But this caused some inbalance in the movie.

I dunno if it's me taking sides or what, but I still like Infernal Affairs --- the Hong Kong flick that The Departed is based on. I like the way they present the story, the simplicity of a complicated storyline. It focuses on two men instead of letting everybody shine. But don't get me wrong, the actors in Infernal Affairs ALL had great chances to show their ability to act, because the script is very well written, small roles doesn't mean outplayed.

But I would say The Departed is still worth a watch. You can let me know what you think after you saw it!

The way to avoid rejection...?

Sometimes I'm really wondering if Wong Kar Wai's statement is merely a made-up dialogue, I think it might work well in real-life though:

"To avoid being rejected, one rejects others first."

I think this shit is deep.

And I think I sometimes have the tendency to think that way. But thinking and practicing are two different things.

Sometimes I really wish I could do that, and I think I would be happier and get myself less heart-break that way...

Anxiety, T bro, like I told you... anxiety is what I have now...

My Wonderful Mid-Autumn

Yes, it's Mid-Autumn, one of the biggest Chinese festives.

I had my recording with Smaldone this morning (I only slept 4 hours prior to that...), it was pretty good I would say.

Then I had lunch with Koli, we talked a bit, it was great, haven't been talking to him for a long time.

Then later went to Manhattan to meet up with Manda, she had her flute lesson with Siebert again. We went to 34th St together, she went to Macy's while I went to do some final rehearsing for the French Baroque concert.

The concert started late, because the seminar before it ended late.

I thought I played pretty well today, except some minor problems in La Mort de Didon. Why is it always Didon that has problems?!!

Manda loved it till she forgot to take pictures for me! :P Don't hit me...

Then we went to Chinatown to have Malaysian food in Mr. Lau's restaurant. It's cool, she liked it!

Then we went home to celebrate Mid-Autumn! Yay!

We had some mooncakes and sake, we talked a bunch, then we started to watch "Sepet", the Malaysian movie.

Too bad the VCD was pretty scratched up, it didn't work well. But yeah, still, we had a great time! She got to know my culture more.

Manda, it's been great hanging tonight, I had grrrrrrrrrrreat time!

Thank you so much! 谢谢你！

Can't sleep...

What the hell am I doing here?

Can't sleep... sigh...

I had a big headache just now, and after I slept it off, I couldn't continue sleeping anymore.

I hate this...

So I got up, switched on the computer, and started tidying up my room and my living room a bit, waiting for tomorrow to come... waiting for her to come... waiting for my Mid-Autumn Festival to come...

CV3

OK, Malaysians, I'm not doing a wrong spelling here, this is not about TV3 (it's outdated anyways... who still watch it? Please raise your hands...)

This is about CV --- Cuong Vu, 3 ---- Trio.

Yes, Cuong Vu Trio.

I found out about Cuong Vu Trio's performance 2 days before. I was planning to go to Michelle's show with the Big O Orchestra in Symphony Space, but Michelle told me to go to see CV instead because I should say hi to him and thank him for the kind and beautiful messages on MySpace that he gave us.

I was almost late to the show, and I saw Nick Ong standing near the door when I got in. Cuong was talking about his compositional process before his premiere of his two new pieces for FONT Music (Festival of New Trumpet Music). So before he really started to play, we rushed to the first table and sat down.

The music was fantastic, typical Cuong sound. A trumpet (CV), a six-string electric bass (Stomu Takeishi), and a drumset (Ted Poor).

He played two new compositions, and two old ones. They sounded fantastic, each has their own characteristics, but in the same time, the style is very unified, like I said, typical Cuong sound.

Cuong is a very still player, he doesn't move around, he stood there, lowered his head, staring at the music or his partners, but notes that came out of his horn, man, were somethin' else! Stomu was like a crazy caveman dancing around without shoes, a bright contrast from Cuong. Ted Poor was following tightly to Stomu, I thought they formed a super-tight rhythm section, they did EVERYTHING together, as if they reside in each other's heads.

Cuong likes to mix harmony and beautiful melodies (in its own rights) with noise. Now I don't mean white noise but noise that makes so much sense. The delay effects from Cuong and Stomu were almost over-whelming in the last piece but I LOVED IT! And I also really enjoyed it when the rhythm section was doing some quick pointilistic passages while Cuong's mellow and echoed trumpet sound was flowing over them like moving clouds or dancing Northern lights.

Almost at the end of the show, before the last piece, Cuong specially thanked some organizations and people, while I heard him saying, "Thanks to Dave Douglas for choosing me to play here..." And I saw people's eyesight focused on MY table, apparently not at me, so I looked back behind me (I was backing the table so that I could see the stage) and I found myself sitting right opposite to Dave Douglas on the same table. HOLY SHIT!

And when the lights were on, I looked around the crowd, and guess whom I saw?

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!

PAT METHENY!!!!!!!

Cuong went up to talk to him (Cuong is his trumpeter in Pat Metheny Group). I went up to say hi to Cuong. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi Cuong, I'm Chern Hwei from the Evil Twin.
CV: Hey! I LOVE your stuff!! I really like it!!
Me: Oh, thank you very much!
CV: I wish to see one of your gigs!
Me: Well, IF I get gigs. :)
CV: :D
Pat Metheny: :)

Cuong Vu, saying this in front of Pat Metheny!! It made my day!!

I-House Jam October 1st

Can't believe this shit, I slept at 7am and woke up at 11am looking dumb and shit, and 12 hours later I was in I-House with Heun Jeung and ready to play again.

Ain't that some funny shit? This is a crazy life I'm living!!

After I got all setup, I played Autumn Leaves with the house band, with Anna, our ex-QC student, on the bass. I thought something was funny in the background when I played. Was it me or was it the rhythm section playing some funny shit? I dunno. But I went through it, didn't feel so good though.

I didn't play for the rest of the night, not till the last song, "Nardis", which I had never played before. Surprisingly, the band switched on their funk mode!

So I played funk over Trane... I thought I pulled it off pretty well except I didn't know the changes that well. But I tried to be as singing as possible. And I think people dig it.

Jamming with Jeremy Kittel is pretty fun too, hope I can play more with him!

The jam session ended around 1:30am. Got back to Queens around, 3 something, crashed at 4...

Party at Bodek's

I finished performing with Ensemble 212 (as a violist) and rushed up to Spanish Harlem to attend Bodek's house warming party. That place is really scary. See all those random people that look like "homies" in the movies. When I walked pass them, one even said, "Hey Chink, I got somethin' fo' ya!" WTF...

Anyway, I got so fucked up in the party that I slept on the couch and totally missed the big jam session.

Why am I so fucked up?

I had two cups of red wine, 2 shots of vodka, and half a bottle of the big Beck's beer.

Some people might say I suck at drinking, but hello, I'm an Asian~~

I didn't realize until I got into the house that Jeremy Kittel, the famous jazz violinist that Heun Jeung always tell me about, is one of the roommates of Bodek! We jammed after I woke up (so I played anyway...) and it was so much fun.

I was thinking of crashing on Bodek's couch, but Heun Jeung needed me to accompany her home. So I crashed in her living room instead --- it was 7am then.

自从来了纽约过后，我就好久没有听到雨声了。
今天早上在Heun Jeung的客厅睡觉的时候听到外头突然噼里啪啦的一阵乱响，酒未醒的我朦胧中还以为是有人在外面放鞭炮。清脆的声响像大珠小珠落一盘，非常动听，觉得这声音还真熟悉而且也挺怀念。
到我醒了开门要离开那里的时候才发现原来外面悄悄的下了一场小雨。
空气中无比的清新爽朗，我的一天在11点钟才正式开始...

A hectic but exciting day

So I woke up at 10am. Slept pretty early last night, a whole night's chat with Manda was very satisfying and I didn't feel like staying up so late anymore for some reason.

I had two rehearsals to run for today: 1st being Ensemble 212 (viola), 2nd being the French Baroque performance in CUNY Grad Center (Baroque violin).

I took a shower and got "stoned" in front of the computer (you know, computer and internet are like drugs) for a while, and went to make my lunch --- vegetarian curry rice. Then I came back and found Manda was back from school and was online.

So I started a little chit chat with her until she said she needed to practice a bit before her lesson (her first lesson with Renee Siebert). Later, I met up with her at her place and she drove us to Sunnyside to try to find a parking spot and hop on to the train. But she gave up later because she couldn't find a spot, and also, the place looks scary for a girl to walk in at night. I totally agree with her.

So she drove us straight into the City, and she dropped me in front of Jazz @ the Lincoln Center, cuz I thought my rehearsal was near there. And fuck me, I made a mistake! I couldn't figure out where the Good Shepherd Church was. But luckily there was an old man overheard me asking someone by the streets and came up to tell me that it's next to Lincoln Center. I suddenly realized where it was!! Hell I even performed there before!

The rehearsal with 212 was pretty long but I didn't really felt that way, the rehearsing technique was pretty impressive. But my viola reaidng skills still needs to improve that's for sure! I did well in all the pieces until Classical Symphony. I think Prokofiev was drunk on vodka when he wrote this, because he thought the viola section is the third violin section...

The other rehearsal was almost back-to-back with 212, and I had to rush to 34th St right after the little "makan" (eating) at the church basement. Wasn't too bad, I didn't know that I could take a "1" train straight to the Empire State Building. Ha! New discovery! Pretty handy.

By the time I was finished with the rehearsals, it was like 9 something at night already. I went to Wendy's, ordered some super value items and started chowing while reading the last book of "Uzumaki" by Ito Junji. And hell, I finished the entire book in Wendy's! It was 10.15pm then.

I reached home at about 11.30pm.

x x x x x x x x x x

One exciting thing about today:

I got an e-mail in my junk mailbox, it's from the Downtown Music Gallery that said "Mark Feldman Quartet, etc..." I didn't even look at the other words! The name "Mark Feldman"* totally caught my eyes and I went straight into that e-mail and see what it written in there.

It's Mark's new CD on ECM, with this famous bassist, Anders Jormin, whom had an album out on ECM, titled "Xieyi" (Chinese word that has two meanings: <1> Relaxed life, <2> A certain Chinese painting technique that passes on the feeling to the observer instead of a real figure of something), which is among my decent CD collection. The review was a great one, and I decided to buy it at some point.

So I wrote an e-mail to Mark, telling him that I wanna buy this album and stuff like that. I also attached my MySpace site and the Evil Twin's as well.

About 10 minutes afterwards, I got his e-mail reply which made my heart swell:

"hi I listened to your music of evil twin and It is sounding really good!

New York seems to have been really great for you Your Music has advanced so much from the

CD that you sent to me.

I really enjoyed it and keep up the good work!

best

mark feldman"

*In case you dunno who Mark Feldman is, he is one of the most famous jazz violinist in the world right now. Based in New York, he played for many great names (and STILL playing for some of them), including John Zorn, Dave Douglas, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Uri Caine, Trilok Gurtu, WDR Jazz Orchestra...etc.

B Section is out!!

So I wrote the previous blog, complaining that I can't find a good B section for "Manda's Mood" right?

Manda read my blog and was so happy to see that title. :D We chatted for a long time until I suddenly figured out a more decent B section for it.

Manda said she couldn't wait to listen to it. Unable to beat her curiosity, I recorded a 4-track overdub and sent to her through the net. She said she likes it!

Manda, if you're reading this, I want to say, thank you, and DON'T BEAT ME!!

OUCH!!

OO!!

OW!!!

OUCH!!!

My New Song: Manda's Mood

I have that light and poppish sound in my head, which should be elegant and UNcheesy in the same time.

So I wrote down four bars of shit with chords that goes like this (REALLY pop sounding, don't laugh, cuz you don't hear the melody):

Dmaj7 - - - | B-7 - - - | Gmaj7 - - - | Emin7 - A7 - | and repeat...

Totally pop progression, but I like it simple.

And then I wrote two different versions of the B section, and they all sounded like cheesy Asian pop shit. I hate that sound. In fact I diss that sound, I could I possibly write something like that?!!

Anyway... Manda's Mood will be a work in progress...

p/s: Manda, if you read this, please forgive me and DON'T BEAT ME I beg u...

Improv - Farewell to Momoko - Jam Session

Maybe Trane's spirit enlightened me on last Saturday (his birthday), I let two of my 10 students to improvise over the cheesy piano chords (that's all I can play, so don't laugh!).

The first kid, Rohin, an Indian kid who's really greedy about learning so many instruments, started doing his own thing over the chords. He did some beautiful shit in there, though not very organized. But who cares? It's improv. Plus I told him he shouldn't care, just express himself in his own way. The main reason I asked him to do this was to make him play beautiful sound that he hears in his head, because he's got serious tone quality problem. Well, he didn't really quite make it, but it's OK, it will come sooner or later.

Second kid, Cathy, a pretty little Chinese girl, when I told her that I'm gonna play some shit on the piano and she can do whatever she wants over it, her eyes shined with brightness and excitement and said, "COOOOOOWOL~~~!" She really played some wonderful shit over it. TRULY wonderful. She's got a great sense of melody!

Now I have to say that I NEVER taught them how to improvise. But how did they do it?

Or maybe this question is more important: Why could they do it?

I think the answer I can give right now, is, they're kids.

Kids always have this flexibility that adults can't have, physically and mentally. They're open-minded, easy-going, care-free, and relaxed.

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

I met up with Heun Jeung on Sunday to go to the jam session that J-O organized.

Before that, Momoko came to meet up with us so that she could bring us to get her remaining stuff.

Before we went off, we had a little jam with her.

This is the first time (hopefully not the last time) I ever jammed with Momoko. She's got some sick lines, she's good! She told me I improved so much since last year. She didn't hear me play jazz for a year. I'm glad that she found me improving!

We went to her house to pick up some stuff that she gave Heun Jeung, and we took a picture with her!

We will miss you Momoko! See you again in New York some time!

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

Yeah, jam session in International House besides Manhattan School of Music.

So Brandon Wright was there, Barb was there, Bodek Janke, Antonio Miguel, and of course Jean-Oliver Begin, the organizer, was there too. And Heun Jeung brought Mike Bloch (?), the cellist of Mark O'Connor.

The players were in a very high level, that kicked my ass to play my ass off. I was glad that people cheered and clapped pretty hard after I played the tune of Kevin's choice, Sonnymoon for Two. It was a Blues, something that's very handy for me. I remember Master Ray Pizzi's teaching, "Blues is all about complaining! Frustrations!"

It was a great night. The music went till 1:30am. And I got home at 4am.

Amazing day.

Trane / Daijiro

9/23 is John Coltrane's birthday, and 9/24 is Daijiro's departure day to go back to Japan, then Germany.

Such meaningful days.

One is the arrival day of one of the greatest musical genius in our time.

Another one is the day one of my dearest friends leaving New York.

So in the intersection between these two special days, I met up with Daijiro, one last time before he left New York.

We met in Dunkin' Donuts, talked shit, had drinks and donut for an hour.

It was fun, a happy moment. There's never a moment so precious than spending time with your good friend --- a true friend.

When his bus came, I saw his eyes rolling with tears.

Such a person is Daijiro, full of emotion and sentimental. I still remember him crying after the concert with Prof. Michael Beuerle, hugging the professor.

Man, I'll never forget you! Wish you a wonderful career in the future!

And I hope our musical paths will cross again one day, play some crazy shit together, or, simply, sprechen Scheisse.

Thanks for cheering me up when I first came back from LA. Do you remember your quote? Maybe you don't. Here goes:

"Look at the sky, it's so clear and beautiful. Your heart should be like that too."

Yes my man, I will never forget this and I am putting it in good use.

Thank you so much! ありがとうございます！！ You will be 私の友達 forever.

The Drake Function

Had a session with Marcy Rosen today, playing the 2nd movement of Brahms 6tet no.2.

After that I rushed to Manhattan with Jung Yi on the E train. She went to Mannes, while I went to Madison Ave to play in POA for Drake Management's function.

The spot that we perform in was on the balcony of 16th floor --- yes, open air. We could see so much of the City from a view that we hardly get, it's quite beautiful up there.

We should have started rehearsing from 3pm, but the people in the office didn't like to have noise, so we had to cancel it and do photo session instead. The photo session took about 20 minutes and we were off until 5.30pm.

So Wu Tang and Shao Lin (me) went out to the 5th Ave to have a look in the Gucci shop, also, he introduced me to this boutique shop "Blanc de Chine" (源) which was based on the Chinese traditional design. Hey, I've never lay an eye on shops like these, this is like the first time, a GUY showed me this. I even tried a closed-collar designed jacket, I always liked this kinda design. Man, it was 100% silk, really comfy to wear! But of course, if you look at the price, you will run away.

Then we went to the Louis Vuitton shop to have a look, saw so many Japanese in there, actually in the whole of 5th Ave. So Wu Tang and me were wondering how could they be so rich?

The gig went pretty smooth, except I didn't have my music, and was reading off Wu Tang's stand, but it didn't really matter cuz I knew the music very well. I'm still wondering where the hell did they keep my music?

Anyway... we got our paycheck during the intermission, which was great! Should've ran off with it... :P

Attached are the pics that I took today, and you can see Shaolin and Wu Tang doing their Chinese thing...

I changed my poster!

So excited!

Went to QC today and saw a poster sale in the dining hall.

So I went to look for Miles Davis' poster, and guess what? I found them!

I chose one of the many designs, which is entitled "Miles Davis New York City 1948".

I really like the black n white layout, typical for jazz musicians. He's sitting on the chair casually playing his trumpet. He defines the word "Cool".

Still and calm. Not afraid of anything, but not hasty to show it.

In his own words, "Don't take shit from nobody."

That's the kind of characteristics Miles represented throughout his life. People said he is arrogant, but I would say that's not the only thing he has. His arrogance has a deeper or more transcended manner. It's hard to explain, but I think I hear it in his music.

So here we are, Miles replacing my Star Wars poster.

A change.

I need a change.

I need a metamorphosis.

A brainless day...

Hung over... Slept at 7am...

Got kicked up at 1pm to eat hot pot (thanks HP...)

Then I wasted my time on my bed the whole day, talking to Ken. Still tired over the hang-over.

Then out of tireness, I cancelled the hang with J.O. We will be meeting each other on Sunday in a jam session in International House.

Then Ma Jie and I talked on the MSN voice chat for 2 and a half hours. CRAZY!! She's really fun to talk to. Taught her how to analyze chords in a jazz tune. She said she needs tons of time to learn shit like that.

That was a fun conversation.

But then....I got a call from Choi right after the conversation and I found out that I forgot about Zach Brock's gig!!!!!!!! SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel so brainless now... I can't go there, it's out in Brooklyn, too far for a train rider...

So I went to Liu He to have my pork chop rice and stinky tofu and came back, with LHP dancing with DDR...

That's my day...

華人=民族文化的走狗?

以前在大馬看到很多的華人不懂中文, 覺得很不以為然, 會認為可能是因為我們這裡的人隔了幾代, 所以民族情節薄弱.

來了美國才發現原來根本就不是這麼一回事. 因為剛來到美國幾年的中國與台灣人, 很多已經開始在洋腔洋調的互放洋屁. 明明是從說共同語言的地方來的人, 竟然像自己的語言不夠cool似的, 在對話的時候儘量迪溜迪溜的大說英語. 他們的下一代, 可想而知的, 當然也就不認識一個方塊字了. 我看過很滑稽的一個畫面 --- 街上, 中國媽媽在用華語罵自己上幼兒園的兒子, 兒子則以100%的美國口音英語反駁, 到最後媽媽屈服了, 開始用自己的瘪腳英語來繼續罵. 這很表面上看起來很好笑, 可是想深一層的話, 那其實很可悲.

有趣的是, 我們不難發現, 同樣是東亞人的日本人還有韓國人, 民族意識之強, 令人佩服.

我們可以看到這裡出生的韓國青年日本青年, 絕大部分都會講自己的語言, 會寫自己的文字, 即使英文再好再溜, 很多時候(甚至大多時候)都還是會用自己的語言交流對話.

我曾經教過一個學生, 是一對台灣夫妻的孩子, 姓王. 有一天我記出缺席表的時候, 忘了他的姓氏, 就問他幸甚麼來著. 他說:"W'a'ng", 就是把"a"唸成"欸"(ㄟ), 不是"阿"(ㄚ). 我就馬上更正他說中國姓氏裡面沒有"W'a'ng", 只有"WAHng". 我也不管他媽媽在旁邊聽了有甚麼感想, 反正我覺得身為一個華人, 自己的名字姓氏都唸不准, 那還算是甚麼?

還有, 同樣的這個孩子剛來上第一課的時候, 我就問他媽媽說:"他會不會說華語?" 他媽媽竟然很理所當然的說:"不會啊! 只說英語! 你看你說(華語)的時候他有沒有回答你??" 我聽了馬上就心裡在暗罵, 有這樣的父母, 還會出甚麼樣的孩子?

我不禁問自己, 到底為甚麼只有我們華人會摒棄自己的語言文化, 覺得無所謂, 甚至理所當然呢?

我覺得這跟華人根本的民族性有很大的關聯.

說穿了, 華人到海外生活為的是甚麼? 當然是為了找錢生存. 這本來不是錯事, 其他的民族都一樣. 可是我們華人是那種可以為了利益而不擇手段的民族, 所以我們才能夠在世界各地落地生根.

這種民族性可以是好事, 但如果不加控制, 就會變成唯利是圖.

當利字當頭的時候, 中國人本來崇尚的"忠義"兩德, 自然就拋諸腦後了, 誰來理你甚麼民族自尊? 反正這個世界本來就是誰有權有勢就會有人"尊敬", 有人巴結, 那又何需懂甚麼中文?

各位同胞們, 不管你從哪裡來, 為何而來, 政治觀點如何, 都不要忘了自己的根. 在海外立足的時候, 就只有我們的文化和語言能夠辨識出我們的身分, 我們的背景, 沒了根, 沒了民族意識, 我們就幾乎等同於空雞蛋殼, 一捏即碎!

Dizzy and tired...

I didn't really sleep last night. Went out with Harman for a long time until 2.00am. Then we recorded "Sub-Solitude" in my room, it sounded alright, but can be improved much more.

I decided not to sleep because I had to send Harman to the bus station in 7am. So I talked to HP, my housemate for a long time, talking shit about other people, just like how we used to be when we were together.

Then I finally went to sleep at 5.30am, just for an hour is better than nothing. Then by 7am Harman kicked me up to say bye to me and told me that I can go back to sleep because he knows how to get to the bus station. I crashed back immediately and slept till 11.30am.

I got a text message from Wen Han saying that she forgot what time are we supposed to rehearse. Only then I remembered that we should rehearse today!!

So I took a quick shower while I was still half asleep, and rushed out for Q65A, luckily there was one right away.

Subway system in NYC can be a mess during weekends, and unfortunately today was one of those days. Took me so long to get there.

I reached Manhattan School of Music by 2.30pm, and surprise! Wen Han was there walking towards MSM too!

5pm was the rehearsal for POA, till 8pm.

Went to Chinatown with Jing until 10 something.

Tired now... REALLY tired...

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

A bit disappointed with the gig, disappointed with the turn-up.

But I remember me saying in my previous blog, that a big turn-up in the first gig does not guarantee a big turn-up in the next one.

So maybe this is a good sign, my crowd could be bigger next time, who knows?

Always look at the bright side of life.

Gig in 169

We got there, a dude was starting to sing. Our stomachs were moaning for food. So we went to this Chinese-Malaysian restaurant across 169 Bar and had a decent meal. (The waitress was a bit rude though)

We got back after the meal, with our unfinished Yangzhou fried rice, seeing another guy ready to play. We're a little confused because we're supposed to be the 2nd group of the night.

But anyway, we started our long wait. With those cheesy teen-rock songs...

Only two of our audiences were here (HP and Firepower), so we decided to wait longer. Thus, another act.

Finally we had 4 more people here, namely, Nick, Choi, Josh and a friend of his.

We decided that we couldn't wait any longer, because the music was too overwhelming.

So we started to play our Riders on the Lost Track, people didn't really pay attention, they're making noise, talking, laughing and shit.

Then we started to do our crazy intro for Michael, with all that distortion and stuff, people started to focus on us a little.

By the time we played Get It, it was alright, there were some reaction, but not much.

I guess it's simply because we played in the wrong place with the wrong vibe with the wrong crowd.

But it's OK, it's a first time. It's always good to have a first time.

OK, time to crash, 9.30am student tomorrow, teaching till 6.30pm. Crazy life.

I hate Saturdays.

The Evil Twin in New York

Went to pick up Jeremy last night (this morning?) in Canal St.

It's time to rock.

I'm a little excited (nervous?) about the whole thing.

But I hope it will turn out OK.

I can't let my friends that support me so much down!!

"I will survive~~~!!"

RC CD

I mean, don't mean no respect to RC but I never really liked RC's playing so much.

Now that's not really the reason I didn't want the CD.

My only problem was that it's from Sctt. Why the fuck should I want that shit from him??

I mean, fuck it man, if you see yourself as a friend, just hide yourself in your little hut in the West and DON'T MAKE A SOUND, DON'T SAY A WORD, DON'T DO NOTHING, and I will be happy. Whatchu giving that shit to me for? You KNOW I didn't have good impression about the whole thing that happened, what the fuck you tryin' to prove? You think givin' me a gift can make me feel better? It's awkward in the first place!Damn... But I still want to say thank you no matter what, but I know the one who passed to me didn't pass on that message.

And you, yes YOU, the one who passed me that gift, you outta your mind??? Don't you know my temper??? You seriously think I will accept that shit??? And why did you have to tell him that I don't want it??? Just keep it to yourself and SHUT UP ALREADY! Hey, you have a new CD in your collection~~ Hello??? You fucked up your mind or what???

This whole shit is all fucked up. OK OK!! Blame it all on me!! Jeez...

Malaysia Boleh...???

Man, I'm so "proud" of my own country...

9/11 Musical day out

Yes, it's September 11th.

Some people are freaked out, fearing there might be some serious shit happening again.

But I went out anyway. At 12.30pm, I was in Carnegie Hall with Nick Ong singing Mozart's Requiem in the audience.

Then we had lunch in Hunan Park before he went to his accompanying gig in Bronxville.

So I loafed around Lincoln Center area, and finally made up my mind to watch a movie in Lincoln Plaza Cinema. But before that I went into Holy Trinity Church to meditate, cleared my mind a bit. That short moment of silence worked so well for me! My mind was suddenly so clear.

Anyway, the movie --- "The Protector" (aka Tom Yam Goong. Thai movie)--- was really bad. I mean the action was terrific, but the script was almost amateurish!! Can't believe it. They should find a balance...

Then, it was the highlight of the day --- The New York Voices, 'live' in Jazz Standard!

Best part is: IT'S FREE!! It's under something called the "September Concert", where many countries in the world organise lots of free concerts in the different parts of the land.

So me, Nick, Jido, and two other friends of Jido's went in and enjoyed a set of superior jazz vocal performance. Not to mention that both the male members in the group can play some mean instruments too!

After the gig, I went to lower east with Nick to see what's happening in The Stone. Stupid me, they're close on Mondays!! Fuck me!!!

Then we went to West Village and I showed him some jazz clubs there, and we ended up chatting in Starbucks.

It was a cool day!

Another lone Sake night

Hiding myself in my apartment has become my habit.

Night is deep. Sake is ice cold.

I'm sitting in front of the computer, a little buzzed, writing this blog, together with David Tao's breezy voice.

Do I like to be alone so much? Yes? No? Or maybe both?

I suppose my biggest problem is staying far away from the City, nowhere to go.

Maybe I should go to the Queens College campus sometimes, longing at the distanced city view, lights shooting into the endless night sky. Hearing car honks from miles away. Watching planes flying in bound and out.

Sometimes I feel that finding solitude while looking at business and crowdiness is an enjoyment.

Maybe that's what I am.

Like what I said earlier to a friend, maybe I do not deserve any love and care, because I'm simply cold and selfish most of the time. For people who don't know me, maybe I'm a nice guy.

When one really gets to know the real me, that might not be the case.

Who am I?

A complex organic machine who's too into his own world and couldn't care less what others think and feel.

Maybe I should be married to music instead. I'm already having fornication with her every single second, might as well.

Knowing myself is a hard thing, but all I can say is, I'm quite a fucked up person in general.

Selfish.

Unkind.

Fake, even.

Lustful for more and more musical satisfaction.

Breaking people's heart again and again.

I think before others reject me, I should learn to reject others.

Yeah, don't come near me, I'm dangerous.

Short piece new title

After a few days of thinking, at last I found a real title for my short violin-cello duo piece, formally titled "JY". The new title will be "Sub-Solitude".

Since I wrote that in a subway train, and by myself (can't possibly write it down with somebody else besides me anyway), this is a more suitable title.

Yay, one more job done!

Why such a casual groove and feel for such a sad story?

I was listening to a song by David Tao, it's called "Susan said".
I never looked at the lyrics and thus never knew it was about, cuz you have to know, Tao is not so clear in pronunciation.
Anyway, I took a look at the lyrics just now, I was shocked by the crazy story happened in the words. I can't believe how could he put such a casual and happy groove and feel in to this bitter story of a poor woman.

The lyrics:

"Yeah 蘇三說 Susan 在那命運月台前面 再上車 春天開始落葉 轉接間 話斷了線 離台北 南京是多麼遠 Oh 那諾言 還會不會兌現 Yeah 不在乎愛情裡傷痛在所難免 一個人卻一個世界 Oh 你是否也像我 動搖過幾遍 愛之是個錯覺 Oh Yeah 蘇三說 思念 常常想念不常見面 她懷疑Sam是虛擬的臉 但愛情 還在上演 那是誰 在放古老唱片 那片段 像對未來留言 不在乎愛情裡傷痛在所難免 一個人卻一個世界 Oh 你是否也像我 動搖過幾遍 愛會不會實現 Oh "蘇三離開了洪桐縣 將身來在大街前 未曾開口心慘澹 過往的君子聽我言" 蘇三離了洪桐縣 掛了個牌子在那大街前 被那凶惡群眾包圍 稍微 等一下 過往的君子請你聽我言 哪一位去我南京轉 與我那三郎把信轉 就說蘇三把命斷 來生變一隻狗一隻馬 我當報還 不在乎愛情裡傷痛在所難免 一個人卻一個世界 Oh 我懷疑你像我 動搖過幾遍 是否愛本來善變 Oh..."

Looks like the story is about Susan from Nanjing who was living in Taipei, because she thought she moved in with a man who loves her, Sam. And apparently Sam wasn't as good as he looks, maybe she's his mistress (very common story). He didn't really give a shit to her after she got to Taipei, his face was almost like a computer generated image in her memories. She decided to end her life, and asked somebody to tell her husband/lover back in Nanjing that she will payback what she owed to him in the next life, to do so, she is willing to turn into a horse or a dog, she doesn't mind.

Sad story, but Tao used some really bouncy groove and major key and happy mood.

Isn't that ironic? For a great musician like Tao, I'm sure he did that purposely. It such a big contrast that when you find out what's in the lyrics, you would start to tear!

David Tao, man, he's something...

Exciting post-teaching Saturday

So I was out by 4.30pm from SOS, feeling so good!!

I am a viola teacher at last, never really taught a violist before. This viola student ain't so bad at all. I think she can be shaped.

Anyway, Nick Ong called me up and asked me if I wanna do some shit together, so I suggested DJR's restaurant.

So we ended up meeting each other at 8.15pm (he was late), had a fucking big meal until I could not tahan ("stand" in Malay) anymore. There is always this eggplant dish that makes me feel like puking... I felt so bad after eating just a piece of it, yuck... thinking of the taste still makes me feel like puking!

After the meal, I tried to go to find Martin and Min Jee in the Vanguard even though I was quite sure that I couldn't see them --- I had time anyway.

So of course, the 11pm set was almost started, and they disappeared from the scene.

So I shuffled around the Village and thought of finding out what's going on in 55 Bar, and guess whom I saw? JANELLE!!

That's just so random! She was standing right outside of the Bar, so we hugged and greeted each other and talked. I only heard she's gonna be moving in town, but never thought I would run into her like that.

So me, Janelle, and a friend of hers, Charlie, went to Daddy-O to drink. We went pass Sweet Rhythm on the way, Jeremy Pelt, Louis Hayes and some other people were playing in there. Man, were they killin'?!! We stopped there for a long while!

After the drink in Daddy-O, Charlie and me took a train home, wow! I talked to him so much! Looks like a guy who can get along, pretty cool!

Didn't get the gig

Didn't get the gig, no Social Security Number...

Where's my fuckin' OPT CARD?!!!!!!!!!

An exciting day...

I woke up this morning, around 11 something. (Slept at 5am ok? So shut up!)

I jotted down everything that I need to do today:

1) Send the signed contract to Barry Seroff
2) E-mail resume to the Brooklyn Queens Conservatory of Music
3) Return CD to Smaldone
4) Look for an amplifier
5) Copy out clean parts for my new song "JY"

I sat in front of the computer and added some new info into my resume and sent it out.

The contract I sent out on the way to QC, the CD I slipped into the key drop of the office.

Then I went on to Sam Ash to look for my amplifier. On the way, I got to know a pretty chick in the bus station, she studies in the high school besides Queens College. (Underage huh? I see) Anyway, after I got down from the bus, I walked to Sam Ash, when a lady called me up, telling me that she is a contractor from an opera company, it's a Union gig! I told her I was outside, I had to check my schedule before I can really answer her.

Anyways, I bought a 20 Watts Guitar Research amp, 119 dollars. Not bad. Quite loud.

So now I'm back, knowing that I can do the gig, called the contractor up twice on different numbers, no answers, left voice message, e-mail her my resume...

We'll see how it goes.

One last thing to do before I sleep: Copy out the parts.

By the way, Rachel, thanks for looking out, I hope I can get the gig! Thank you so very much!

Is this insomnia???

Oi, go sleep lar! What happened to you???

Are you crazy???

You slept for 10 minutes and you woke up and can't sleep anymore???

What's the matter with you???

Damn... oh I see Joyce is online... Lemme talk to her...

Webcamming...

Oh, Ken, that bastard is here too...

OK...

BUT WHEN AM I GOING TO GET TIRED?!!!!!!!

Oh damn... Guys, is this what you call an "insomnia"??

Blah...

Just went up to read Joyceh's blog, suddenly felt an urge to write some shit here too. So here I am.

I woke up fairly early, BY MICHELLE'S PHONE CALL!! It's OK Michelle, thanks for making me a normal person --- well, not that normal, but at least I woke up earlier than I used to. Yeah you're welcome, it's OUR gig anyways, we work together, so I have a responsbility to do something. Plus, I got the gig.

Then I started some "mou lei tau" (nonsense in Cantonese) chatting with Ken and Joyceh. Yes, three ways on Skype, pretty cool huh? The function is called "conference", just go and click "Tools", and click "Create a Conference", you can have multiple people to talk to in the same time.

Anyway, I had been text messaging JY for a bit, she told me she really like what I wrote, and she had been playing it for the whole morning. I'm glad. Yeah, thanks for borrowing me your name.

Then I went out to have some buns in the Chinese bakery on Kissena Blvd, met Ming, had some usual guy's dirty talk and nonsense chatting. Then went to the music building and met Dong and Dae-il and talked to them for a long while before I went to see Irving (Yes, that's my original intention to go to the music building, but i dunno what I'm thinkin'). So I made him notice that I haven't get the check yet, once again.

Then I came home, finally had a long telephone conversation with JY, for the first time. Only problem was that the sound was too muffled, couldn't really hear her well most of the time. But yeah, it was a good chat.

...

I had been telling people about my upcoming jazz gig, got a lot of greetings in my e-mail inbox, mostly saying that "I wish I could be there but good luck", that tells a lot. But I'm still thankful that these guys/girls actually took the trouble to reply me and gave me their best wishes.

I'm not too worried about not too many people attending though, because if you get a full house on your first gig, it doesn't mean that you'll get a full house on your second gig. People will either think you're nothing special, or would simply like to spend some money for other bands that they like as well.

You can't get the same crowd in every gig.

And now I can understand why artist kept on promoting themselves non-stop, because they HAVE to reach a bigger crowd so that there will always be a steady number of audiences in every gig. And also, that's why we need to keep on improving our crafts.

(Ray, please tell me if I'm wrong or if you have something to add up in this statement, please hit the "Comment" below and let me know, you know you're my father-figure, I always respect your statements. I know you're reading, man, come on! Start bitchin' at me!)

Music, no, it's not an easy job. Those of you who think we live our lives easily, please think again.

In this business, we always have to think about "What's next?". There is NO settling-down --- well maybe yes, in the orchestra, maybe. (But you still have to practice just in case some assholes wanna re-audition you, right?)

p/s: Oh, by the way, this is Ray Pizzi's quote of the day: "I'm intoxicated by your indifference". Bitchin' huh?

An e-mail to a friend

Hey,

I just ran back from the rain outside, soaked.

Thought of writing to you before anything else.

I'm listening to the duo performance of Kenny Barron (piano) and Stan Getz (alto sax) right now. So deep... full of soul... Makes you wanna lay down and not standing up anymore...

It's the last album made by Stan Getz. Right after he did this live performance, he died.

People say some can foretell their death before they die, I believe that. At least, I heard it from Stan's music. He blew out his sorrow, his low cry, his love, his... Life......

The album is called "People Time", a double-CD.

Go find it and listen to it and get drunk with it.


Love,
CH

Meeting fellow Malaysian

I feel so content, meeting a fellow Malaysian HERE IN NEW YORK!

Believe it or not, I never had a single Malaysian friend since I got here to New York.

It's pathetic and unbelievable I know, but that's how it is here.

One might ask me: What about them bitchin' Malaysian restaurants in town?

But I'm sorry, how am I suppose to get to know a waiter or waitress serving food, thinking about money and don't give a shit anything else in life, not even his/her own country?

Speaking of which, I thought of a mad story happened the other day.

It was August 30th here (already 31st back home), the eve of our Merdeka Day ("Merdeka" means "Independence" in Malay language). I went in to my favourite Chinese restaurant to ask the people if there's any Merdeka celebrations among our community. This one guy --- I CAN NEVER FORGET HIS FACE!! --- was looking at me like I'm a Martian or something and said, "Oh... that... no lah! We don't celebrate our National Day. US National Day we will celebrate!" I almost gave him a punch on this "fellow Malaysian"'s face. Motherfucker, no self-respect! He responded like a total stranger to the National Day of Malaysia, makes me sick!

Anyway, back to the topic. This guy I met is a piano performance PhD student in Juilliard, Nick Ong. Cool guy, looks so young, but never realize he's even older than my buddy Chong Lim! Wow!

Had a Sichuan dinner with him, some really spicy shit. Thus, I shat spicy too. hehe...

I've seen this guy playing the Liszt piano concerto no.1 with the National Symphony of Malaysia --- oh yeah, I was playing in there. Man, he's a motherfucker man, he can play like nobody's business!!! And now this dude told me that we should play together, you can imagine how fuckin' happy I am.

Nick also told me that he had never been home for 6 years... damn... I can't imagine myself staying outside for six years without them Malaysian food ...

If you are wondering what's so fuckin' special Malaysian food, just walk in to one of the Malaysian restaurants in town, and try ANY dish in the menu. Otherwise, you can ask Jeremy mah brotha. He will tell you how wonderful it is. Know why? Cuz he's a Malaysian now! That triggers another story...

While in LA, Ken and me brought our white boy Jeremy to a South East Asian restaurant, Noodle Planet in Westwood. They have like one of the best food down there. Jeremy had a Hainanese chicken rice there before and was diggin' it, so he didn't even think before he decided to go back.

OK, so there we were, two Chinese-Malaysians and one American dude. We started to recommend food on the menu and shit, and then suddenly we found out there's a special dish called "Durian with Sticky Rice". Ken and I, our eyes were like shining bright right away! (Durian is a kind of spiky fruit that only grows in South East Asian countries. The content is soft and slimy, the smell is too sweet for some people it stinks.) We wanted to order that shit, but we were worried that Jeremy can't take it.

So we asked him, "Dude, we gonna challenge you with somethin'. If you passed this test, you'll be officially accepted in the Malaysian gang. Are you willing to accept it?" He said, "Yeah man, I'm open to try", with his easy-goin', not-the-end-of-the-world tone.

Thus the dish came, we wanted him to try the DURIAN ONLY. So he had a small piece and put it in his mouth and bit it and ate that shit. Ken and I were watching his facial expression intensely, hoping to see some disgusted expressions.

But hell no! He didn't! He didn't show that typical look when Western people tried durians!! Then he said, "Why, I would say this is pretty good actually, I like it!"

We were both amazed like some kinda motherfucker and couldn't believe it.

So he's in. He's a Malaysian now.

Starry Sky

No, it's not about New York. I'm sure most of you can foretell.

It's Stowe, Vermont.

I was walking outside the resort, with Jing, talking about our ex-girlfriends. It was dark.

I looked up at the sky, I see millions of blinking stars in the endless dark backdrop.

Yes, Stowe is such a place.

A place with no excessive lights from the ground ----- not even streetlights on the streets.

I see a river of stars, flowing through the quietness of the night. It washed my heart clean.

Yeah... it's really been a while since I saw a sight like this...

Ray Pizzi's Quote of the Day 3

"I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong......if I'm ever wrong"

珍珠奶綠 / Lunch with A-chan

難以相信,回來了快兩個星期,昨晚才第一次去買珍珠奶綠來喝.

通常經過Flushing都會順道買一杯來喝,這一次確實有點一反常態.

連羊肉串也不例外. 我到現在為止,只吃過一串.

看來人真的是會變的.


x x x x x x x x x

Lunch with A-chan didn't happen.

I got her message this morning while I was still in the bed, she said she didn't sleep at all last night, so she needs to catch up with some sleep.

Oh well... Guess we all have our lives to live...

I'm glad enough that there are always some friends here and there. It's always good to have friends. They might seem distanced in usual days, but when something big happens, they're still the ones to go to.

Not the ones that WERE used to be close to you. No way. Those very close ones, once you part with them, they will never turn back...

My first official lesson with Christian Howes

Christian Howes, my Kungfu Master!!!
Yesterday was my first lesson with him --- officially. He gave me a lesson on the streets before, which was REALLY cool!
I got to Brooklyn, in his apartment, and took an almost 2-hour lesson with him.
It was great, I learned so much from him.
The lesson went back to the same problem I always have: Using much ears.
Before I started jazz, it was my sightreading that really sucked.
Now that my sightreading got better (much better), the intuition problem has taken over.
In jazz, I still trust my ears too much, I do not memorize chords too well.
Chris pointed this out to me again and again during the lesson.
He also explained the "4 in 1" theory to me.
So much to learn, so little time...

Oh, yes, he also passed me a gig, thanks Chris! I dunno how to thank you!

In NYC

Touched down late around 11.30pm on Friday night.

I went back home with a Queens Lincoln cab, 15 bucks, not bad.

The house was a mess. Mice droppings everywhere in the kitchen, food got eaten by those dreadful little creatures. Seems like they've open up some doors for themselves again.

Not gonna take care of those yet.

物是人非事事休, 欲語淚先流

Well I didn't cry, but I felt heavy when I saw the same things settling in the house but everything has changed personally.

I couldn't bear to look at it, so I went straight to Dong Hyun's house. He invited me to go there anyway.

We had Book Chang Dong soon doo bu before we headed to his house.

Stayed overnight, tasted my first cigar in my life.

Next day (Sat) was the rehearsal of POA.

After POA, I went to find CY, had lunch with her (actually, with myself, she had lunch). Then I went to her place to chit chat. Then I called Tian up and we met up to have dinner together with his girl.

3 of us met up with CY together again.

We went back to CY's apartment to drink. CY told me that HP called her up to ask her not to let me drink, I yelled in my heart, saying,"Fuck you bitch! Enjoy your sweet time with Sctt and don't bother me OK?!! It's my freedom to anything I want now! What do YOU care about?!!!"

So we all got drunk and BIG LOVE, we talked and laughed. So happy...

Yay~~~

The Evil Twin recording session!!

Jeremy and me are staying in LA for a few days, and decided to record ourselves so that we can put our clips on MySpace, since Ken offered to record us before.

So we finally did it today.

My bow was broken last week because of a small accident, so in the mean time I'm repairing it, I have to have a new bow. I had been thinking of buying a carbon-fibre bow anyways, so today we went to Studio City Music a.k.a. Eric Benning Violin Shop near the big movie studios. I got a Jon Paul Bravo model, original price was 210, but Eric gave me a discount and it became a 200 dollars deal. Out of my expectation, he asked me to choose any rosin I like! He told me to better choose the expensive ones. So I chose the Liebenzeller Metall-Kolophonium rosin, the Gold II series. According to Eric, Liebenzeller is the first person who put metal into the rosin to avoid rapid melting!

I tried out the bow in the recording session when we got back to Ken's apartment, man, I love the bow-chops it produces! It's so crispy, and it's definitely worth more than that price! Yesterday I used Jeremy's cello bow to record a trial take, haha!

Anyway, we took many takes today within the 4.15pm to 6.30pm, including another song, Crystal Silence, with only one take. I think "Get It" had us do 5 takes. Don't remember. We decided to choose the last take. At fist we wanted to choose the second last, but we suddenly realize we didn't switch on the mic... so there were only pick-up sound that sounds pretty ugly by itself. Shit... had to redo it once more, but we were glad to find that it was the best take!!

It's 3am now, Ken is still mixing "Get It"! Thanks buddy, you're amazing!!

Catalina jam

I should post my video when I jammed in Catalina's. You can't really see my face (again). You can also hear HP's voice behind asking Sctt to help her take the video and Sctt's answer. Pretty interesting. But please, focus on the music. Haha!

HMI 2006 (Final Week)

Ray Pizzi's quote of the week:

I don't care what scales or modes you play in a slow ballad man. As long as you make the bitches horny!

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

Last week was a blur to me.

Because I found out something that would make me feel so bitter that I wanna kill myself.

It was in Catalina's, HMI organized a jam session in there. As usual, I sat in a corner with other fiddlers. HP sat with her girlfriends and this percussionist Sctt who likes her together on one table. I felt a gush of jealousy running to my heart.

Then they sat so close and talked to each other's ears and flirt.

Then later after the thing, I saw them got down from the bus and walked towards his car and went away.

I almost killed myself then.

I never knew how much I care. But now I think I know.

But I can't do anything, because I was the one who asked for a breakup in such an ungodly timing. I should be responsible!

The rest of the week was pretty emotional, lots of tears and alcohol (both from me and her).

But anyway, we had our string ensemble concert on Wednesday which went very well, though JC's program was too long. Also, my E string popped when my group started to play the first few bars. But luckily Hebe came in to switch her violin with mine. Later she even put on a new E string for me! Thanks Hebe!

The rest of the week was filled with jealousy and bitterness. I couldn't even remember the music much. For example, the Maria Schneider concert should've been great but all I did throughout the concert was peeking what they were doing in the far side of the plaza...

My heart was filled with anger!!!

But I know I hurt her too much, too much... there's no way for me to go back to her and tell her to come back, that would be shameless!! Plus, I really need time for music!!

See how complicated I am? I don't even understand myself anymore...


Anyway, the grand finale was great! Well of course, if you ignore Ahn Trio by purpose! Haha!

Michael Daugherty's Ghost Ranch was absolutely amazing, and very nice to be played too. Paul Chihara's The Tempest is cute too. Of course, it's Paul! He's cute himself.

The concert ended with Abe Laboriel's crazy bass solo in Peter Gunn. He is AMAZING!!

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

Coda:

Now I'm in Ken's house, after checking out yesterday (sunday, 8/13).

Yesterday we were all very tired because of the crazy Toga/Mattress party we had after the concert.

We came to Ken's place, had lunch, then went on to the airport to send HP off to Portland, Oregon.

Life without HP is a little peaceful, for I don't have to see them being together. But I miss her a lot, I dunno if she feels the same. Maybe not... She has Sctt.

My heart is still aching, and also burns with flame. That bastard promised me that he will give me peace of mind just to go through the last week of the institute, and yet, they went to the beach together, sat so close in the concert... It totally burns me into flame.

Motherfucker...

HMI (3rd week)

It's been a cool week because we didn't have to go through all those difficult orchestra parts. Music's quite easy this week, I was glad. I guess the hardest parts were Tian's and Ulf's pieces. Easy week.

JD and Bill Cunliffe did some crazy changes on Rhapsody in Blue, but it was worth it. I almost cried when I heard Pascal's solo in there. Rhapsody in Blue with rhythm section in the cadenza, man that's a bold but creative move! And fuck that woman who shouted, "Wrap it up!" She clearly doesn't know shit about being a good audience, not to mention knowing music.

JD's brought our spirit up a level this week, cuz he kept on saying, "Playing music is supposed to make you FEEL GOOD. If you don't feel good, those cats in the audience won't dig it. If you feel good, the cats will feel good too! You dig?" Yes I dig, JD! And he always shouted, "SING IT!!! SING IT!!!" We did, it's another tear-jerking moment when we played the slow part. Damn, he's got some magic there, our Mr Penguin.

The concert in Marina Del Rey was awesome, but it can't beat the concert a night before --------- the chamber orchestra concert.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba totally tore it up!!! I saw Marianne's tears after Gonzalo played the first song! Yes, I was totally touched too.

Then Turnage piece is some shit man, I love it!!!

* * * * * * * * * *

Coda:

I really like HRK, but too bad, HRK has bf...

Well, I guess I shouldn't think about that for now, I don't want a gf now, and plus, it's just a summer fling...

But well, my point is, I really like HRK!

Maybe because she looks like Sodam? Dunno... maybe...

Ray Pizzi's Quote of the Day

"Don't play to fill up the space; play to fill some space"