walking in the rain

I did my very first show together with the guys from NA on Sunday. I actually made a trip all the way to Sentosa the day before so as to get a feel of the music and a rough idea of their repertoire, and I think it was well worth the effort. I was covering for Joe that day, and I was glad that Andrew seemed more than pleased with my performance. Jes sat next to me (in the shade, haha) guiding me along and on most occasions I just played on top of the melody. It was actually quite fun since it was my first time although the improvisation for his album tracks was a rather challenging task.

We had lots of fun checking out the games at the Heritage corner during our break, which, incidentally, was on display for the last day. Andrew and Jes challenged each other to see who could throw a marble to hit a row of marbles so that they crossed the line, and we had lots of laughs, unknowingly drawing a huge crowd to the game area.

By the way, I was over at Siloso Beach that very morning hoping to catch a glimpse of X’s band but I was just 5 minutes late and completely missed their set as they started right on time. It was a hot afternoon but it definitely wasn’t a wasted trip, especially when the beach was so much fun – the sun, sand, sea, and babes everywhere.

Anyway, moving on.

There’s actually a cinema in town that I really like. I won’t mention which one it is, but I’ll tell you why. I love it because you can actually hop from one theatre to another, and it especially works best when you ain’t exactly enjoying the show you were supposed to catch.

Well, this happened to me two days in a row last week. I was supposed to catch a preview of The Kingdom on Tuesday and The Tattooist on Wednesday, but I ended up watching Beowulf and Bratz on both days respectively.

I actually didn’t enjoy The Kingdom in the least bit on Tuesday so I left after half an hour or so. On Wednesday, my friend and I was almost late for The Tattooist thanks to the stupid recent summit which caused some roads along Orchard to be closed for a good 15 minutes. We arrived right on time, but by then, the seats were pretty much taken up, so we decided to try our luck at the theatre next door, which had its doors wide open. It turned out to be screening Bratz, which I was actually looking forward to. The theatre was practically empty, so we ended up watching the show without any disturbance and with really good seats. Cool stuff.

Speaking of movies, I just have to say that Beowulf and Enchanted are two awesome movies I totally enjoyed, so go catch them before it’s too late.

I have always found it interesting to figure out what other things people are up to besides their daily 9 to 5 job, especially those who are sneaky and seem to have a lot of outside activities but don’t seem to get caught by anyone.

Well, a good example is my manager, Paul. Or my ex-manager, rather. He always seems busy with outside shows, but I never get a chance to see what exactly he’s up to or who he performs with. Recently, he texted me asking if I could replace him for an important show (with a rehearsal the day before) and I gladly agreed, as the pay was pretty high.

So I pushed aside most of the stuff for that weekend and turned up for the rehearsal on Saturday right after a class at Jurong. It was at a studio somewhere in Simei, so it was a pretty long journey. It was funny to see Paul hanging out with other professional musicians, distributing scores (and coming up with the usual lame excuses (such as his printer not working that morning) when he couldn’t find certain scores), and there I was, playing together with his quartet (made up of 1 Malaysian and 2 China girls) together with a professional jazz band.

The rehearsal was fast and the pieces were easy, since they were mostly recognizable as Paul arranged them (I have played most of them in company). T blurted out lots of incredibly hilarious stuff such as “Ok! Lets start from Letter B! B for Breast!” and “Ok, next song! Beauty And Her Breast!” Wah lau. I almost died laughing.

Anyway, the show was an event by Dairy Farm (which covers Cold Storage, Shop ‘N Save, Giant, Guardian and 7-11). I didn’t expect anything much but it turned out to be a huge dinner with 2500 people attending, with the appearance of MediaCorp stars, performances by local celebrities such as Dim Sum Dollies as well as singers from other countries, together with song and dance, pyrotechnics, and almost everything that you can think of. Each group (mentioned above) by Dairy Farm also had to put up an item each, and it was exactly like any other local contest show such as Live The Dream, except that it was like 10 times bigger. The show was filmed as well, and I have to say the sound and lighting for the event simply blew me away.

I managed to talk to some of the celebrities while backstage, and at about 11.45pm (yes, the show ended at about midnight), poor Hossan was lamenting to me that he had to rush home to sleep as he had to be up again at 5am for the morning show (which, incidentally, he ended up hosting the radio show alone the very next morning). Pitiful. Amidst the frenzy and madness backstage, I also managed to take a picture with Utt, who was really nice and friendly.

Anyway, the entire performance was great fun. It was rather stressful, though, as I had to lead the quartet together with the jazz band, which was placed on the other side of the stage, in front of 2500 people. Because we only went through bits and pieces during the rehearsal, we were sight-reading most of the pieces, so I must say it was pretty exciting as well. Amy, GL and TJ were great musicians to play with and T’s jazz band is the most amazing jazz band I’ve ever seen. In fact, I’m completely in love with jazz now, thanks to them. :)

The entire ballroom at Suntec City turned into a club after the event was over, and the music was awesome. However, many didn’t stay behind as it had already rolled into a Monday morning.

I was glad I managed to catch the second-last bus home that night, as I managed to save some money.

By the way, it was interesting to bump into A and F (formerly from the same company as me) who were the backup dancers for one of the songs. Claudine was around, too. In fact, the entire choreography was done by her. Unfortuantely, I didn’t get a chance to say hi to her, so yeah.

The entire event turned out to be a real blast. Believe it or not, I had so much fun that I completely forgot I was actually paid for it. Haha.

Here are a few photos out of the many I have.

MDC was involved in the ASEAN Ministers Meeting Gala Dinner at Shangri-La Hotel on Wednesday and I was called back to be part of the team, as part of my reservist duties. In fact, interestingly enough, I was asked to set the date aside a long time back, even way before my ORD. I was told that the colonel felt that the String Ensemble was the best musical group in previous shows that he had seen and that my managers wanted the best players (yeah right) to return for this huge event.

So there I was, back after a week or two after I had officially left the company. One rehearsal at company on Monday, another at Shangri-La on Tuesday, and the event itself on Wednesday. It was good timing, actually, as there were no other events which clashed on those days.

I know I keep saying this time and again, but the feeling of meeting up with all my buddies again is completely indescribable. Nothing beats catching up with everyone after not seeing each other for some time, and the fun starts when all the nonsense rolls in. I miss the entire mutton family so much too, and it was nice to see a few muttons around for this show. It’s always nice to know that the mutton family always keeps growing with new members.

The show on Wednesday was huge. I love such shows because of the combination of musicians, artistes and even technicians, which means you get to see everyone again, including the entire company management. I also love such shows because there’s just so much to see and learn, from the way the decoration of the ballroom is done to the stage layout to the lighting design and plotting to everything else. Lighting wise, it’s always interesting to see how cues are given, the different types of lights used, the choice of gobos, the selection of colours, patterns and intensities for different segments, and so on.

By the way, I have to say I love the entire technician crew. People like Joel can be a real asshole at times but when you find a way to get around them and get to know them better, they can actually be quite nice. I was surprised that there were most willing to teach and answer whatever queries I had. I spent some time at the console during the break, checking out the lighting board (it’s Avolite 2008, baby), which was provided by the contractor. Dinner was spent together with the sound and lighting crew, together with the managers from the transport and production department, and apart from the interesting conversations we had, we did have a good laugh over some of the most ridiculous topics that we brought up.

Anyway, I was glad the show went well. I was sight-reading all the way but it was lots of fun because I managed to pull through most of the bits. Oh, and there was a camera crew which filmed the entire event. I can’t remember the name of the company, but it was one of the worst crews I’ve ever come across. The selection of camera angles was so poor, I couldn’t believe it. The director was poor and kept going back and forth between actual filming and still shots. The cameraman couldn’t even hold his camera properly, and his still shots were completely shaky. He continuously did the tilt during the artistes’ performances, which was a total flop, by the way. I thought the whole team was a joke, and well, our technicians couldn’t agree more.

The String Ensemble provided light music during the dinner and there were a few other dance and song segments put in-between, which I totally loved. Taufik’s singing was great, as usual, and I have to say I’m completely in love with the song Rise! The chords chosen are simply awesome man.

I had a little chat with Taufik backstage after the show, and he asked me how our montage went. At first, I was clueless as to what he was referring to. Then, I realized that he was talking about our show segment. He also mentioned about the feedback from the vetting held in camp the other day, which was a complete joke because the volume of the monitors were lowered due to messy instructions.

When the show ended, I couldn’t help but feel sad. It really felt like a dream, which I didn’t want it to end. I know most people think I’m crazy, but that’s the way I feel. I don’t know when I’ll be back again, and even if I do, it probably won’t be the same, since people come and go all the time.

In conclusion, MDC has been really fun. I love my friends. I really do. And I don’t know what I’ll do without all of you.

I hope I’ll be able to live this dream all over again someday.

I dislike people who don’t have manners.

I was on my way to one of my gig performances this afternoon when I decided to stop by Clementi for lunch at my favourite rice stall. I was actually looking forward to it as I’ve not eaten there for a few weeks now.

So there were a couple of empty tables, and I chose one. I placed my instrument on one chair and my bag on the other. I was then off to buy my food.

The next thing I knew, this man actually sat down at that very table and started to have his lunch. I bought my food, returned to the table, and had a good look at him when I placed my plate of food on the table. He didn’t seem in the least apologetic, and I was tempted to roll my eyes at him to show the amount of disgust I had towards him but I didn’t do so in the end.

I would have moved to the next table if not for my relatively bulky instrument, so I ended up having lunch with a stranger sitting opposite me. The food was good, but I didn’t enjoy my lunch.

I couldn’t figure out why he had to choose that seat. I mean, it’s understandable if the kopitiam is full, but there were so many empty tables around. He just had to choose one where I had already put my belongings on two chairs. He must have been really blind not to have seen my huge violin case. Either that or he simply doesn’t have any manners.

Anyway, today must have been quite a happening day as well because minutes later, I actually witnessed a molestation incident at Clementi MRT station.

I was walking towards the gantry at the station control when from the corner of my eye, I saw an old man slip, and, well, almost fall. Or at least I thought. I wasn’t paying any attention to it at all until the lady in front of him gasped and moved back all of a sudden. That was when I stopped in my tracks. I turned to look, and while the old man walked off, I happened to hear the China-looking lady exclaim to her friend in Mandarin, “He reached out for my breast!”, while showing her friend the exact action which the man had done. I was shocked, of course, but because I didn’t actually see it happen, I thought nothing of it. After all, it could have just been an accident.

I walked off, and strangely enough, the old man was there, tapping his card at the gantry. I was also taking the train so I decided to follow right behind him. To my horror, while he was about to board the escalator leading up to the station platform, he actually stretched out his hand and reached for the back of a middle-aged lady who was right in front of him! I was completely taken aback. The lady turned in shock and used her hand to brush off whatever that she felt touched her, but she did not say anything.

At the station platform, I then decided to trail the man for a while. I was pretty certain that he made a certain effort to walk past ladies who were, er, rather well-endowed, but I was relieved to know that he did not reach out his hand to touch those, er, balloons. He walked towards the bench and sat down, waiting for the train, which was in the direction opposite of mine. I could have trailed him longer and even called the police but my train had arrived in a minute and I didn’t want to be late for my appointment, so I left, reluctantly, of course.

Anyway, today’s performance at Republic Plaza was pretty awesome. It was a wedding (nice date, by the way – 11/11), and believe it or not, it was recommended to me by my ex-manager. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received his SMS a couple of nights back. Never would I imagine he would actually ask me to bring my entire quartet to take over one of his gigs completely. It’s funny.

The view from the top floor (62nd) of the plaza was amazing. Well, just when I thought the view from the highest level of Equinox was the best! Anyway, there wasn’t anyone in the beautiful holding room because I arrived early, and the sense of peace I experienced at the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Singapore while looking at the beautiful scenery and the surroundings of the island on a quiet Sunday afternoon in extreme air-conditioned comfort is simply… indescribable. It really is.

October has come and gone in a flash. I must say it’s been one of the best months of the year, and definitely most memorable.

The 1st and 3rd week of the month was spent performing at Sentosa together with C and X, and apart from our 3 daily performance sets from 3 – 6.15pm, we made friends with the staff, and we got a chance to try out most of the attractions on the island. It was absolutely fun, and definitely a great experience. Because we still get paid regardless of weather conditions, we were constantly hoping that it’ll rain, and interestingly enough, our prayers were answered on the very first and last day. However, it was unfortunate as one of my student’s family came all the way down to watch the performance on the last day, and because our last 2 sets were cancelled due to the rain, they were rather disappointed.

I’ll definitely be missing the Merlion, as well as the silly (and some illegal) things that we did together with the staff almost everyday during our breaks, such as redeeming gifts and other freebies, which were meant for the tourists. I’ll miss doing all the things that we tried to accomplish (such as trying out the Luge!) between our 45-minute break after our 2nd set before hurrying back for our next set on time. I’ll also miss listening to the theme song, together with my favourite rift, which I sing over and over again whenever I hear it.

From the very Monday right after my last gig on Sunday, I’ve been working on the artbook album, which will be released towards the end of the year. It’s been so much fun working with T; it makes the whole recording process so much easier! 9 of the 10 track have been completed, and due to a change in miking techniques, we re-recorded a couple of tracks which we did weeks ago, for better sound quality. We were so happy with the results of the morning recordings on both days that we had a mini celebration at Sakae Sushi on Monday and went for a really nice lunch on Tuesday. Haha.

Apart from these, there’s just been so many other things happening. There was the Oktoberfest event, which I decided to give my tickets to Jon and Albert, because I don’t drink. Glad to know they had a blast at the event taking photos with the babes and all. Then of course there was the Black Eyed Peas concert, which was definitely THE concert of the year. I did not manage to win any tickets this time round as I was too busy, so I bought tickets off an auction page at a cheap price and headed off to the Indoor Stadium with my brother. The Black Eyed Peas completely rocked the house down, not forgetting the awesome performance by The Click Five before the concert itself.

Not forgetting the Manga Gallery exhibition at Suntec City, which I went to support last weekend. It was interesting to hear faint strains of my own recording from one of the booths. Glad to know that there’s been a couple of pre-orders already, considering that the product hasn’t even been finalized yet.

Apart from the Sentosa fusion trio gigs, I’ve been doing a couple of other fusion gigs together with my buddies from my ex-company. The first one was at The Legends, for the International Bar Association Conference, which was organized by The Law Society of Singapore. It was a pretty high-profile event. While we were performing, there were a few delegates who stood around the stage area and were simply fascinated by the erhu. The best part of the event was that there was just so much good food to eat. Moses, Rit, Em and I had a blast going around the stalls checking out what they had to offer!

The other fusion performance was just 2 nights ago at One Degree 15, for the ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting. It was yet another one of those high-profile events with a super high level of security. I remember doing a string trio show at this very same venue about a month back but this time round, the event was held at the ballroom. The biggest difference and most amazing fact was that I played the keyboard for this show – something I’ve not done before, not in a fusion ensemble, at least. It was fun, though, smoking through in front of the ministers and hoping to make as little mistakes as possible. We performed sets of mostly Chinese songs in-between the different performances for the evening. I must thank Z for giving us this gig, by the way. All of us had great fun, and especially Justin, Jie and I, were laughing our heads off the entire evening because of a common joke we share. :)

Anyway, amidst all these activities, it was a pity I couldn’t make it for a few other events, such as the Halloween party at the Night Safari last week (which I was so looking forward to, but I was busy, and kinda burnt out after having the Sentosa gig 5 days in a row) as well as the movie preview of Halloween (because it clashed with a dinner with my ex-company colleagues that very evening). Either there’s just too many things going on, or I have no luck with events associated with Halloween. I’m guessing it’s probably both.

In other news, I’m actually revising my Grade 4 and 5 theory these days, because I passed it when I was 7 years old (yes, primary 1, believe it or not) and I almost don’t remember a thing now. Incidentally, today’s the day of the theory exam for many people including some of my friends, and because I didn’t actually complete my Grade 8 theory when I was younger (the diploma theory isn’t counted), I decided to try my luck with the Grade 6 book today, so I hopped over to West Mall after my lesson this morning and actually bought the book. It isn’t as easy as I thought it would have been, really. After studying about 20 pages, I’m on the verge of giving up. Haha.

There are other events that I’d like to write about but I’m too tired to do so at the moment, so I’ll leave it to my next entry.

P.S. It’s true when people say some things in life cannot be taught. Recently, I have seen so many people learn their lessons the hard way. It’s just one of those things, I suppose.