Celcom UOX Play, 13th December 2008.


A stranger, no wait, hmmm...


Szetoo says I see you too!


Stonebay!


The stage was on top of Sungei Wang Plaza, on the fourth floor. What an interesting rooftop stage! I've always thought rooftop stages were cool since The Beatles Rooftop Concert.


Security.


Emcee. Utterly every teenage girl's dream.


Drum slut. And I had just posted how I'd never seen Jimmy drum for other bands and today he drummed for Stonebay and 40 Winks and Tempered Mental!


Do not step on broken glass(es)!


Bus Company. Finally, I got to see this band hailing from Klang after bumping into their members in so many occasions!


When I can't think of a caption, I usually take the oppurtunity to insert some technical data. Like how all the stage shots were with the Sony A900 and Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan. 210mm was long enough, but I gotta love the 70mm end of it, too!


40 Winks with Adlin Faiz Rosli.


Ska gets the crowd going!


"Dude, what does mine say?!?"


According to the timetable, Tempered Mental was to play at 8:30pm. I came on time and found them leaving the stage already, to be followed by funk/jazz rock Seven, who had quite a confusing crowd - some were absolutely lapping up the songs and singing along, and some were booing them off stage.


Ken gets a light shone on him.


Another reason to love my beercan and the bokeh it produces.


While Laila's Lounge jammed on stage, their vocalist sat in a jam. This guitarist also sang vocals.

Laila's Lounge didn't make it to Rock The World 8. They had disbanded by then.

It was then Bittersweet's turn, with their vocalist again stuck in a jam, or missing.

There was a couple who had brought their toddlers to the show. Right smack in front of the barricades! They tried to put the kids to sit on the barricades. The kids in the crowd shouted, "Kak, jangan kak! Bahaya kak!" The mother was oblivious to that and insisted on putting their kids up front. The bouncers also advised the parents to bring their kids back down (they were crying then) but they persisted.

Dumb breeders.

Meanwhile, a drunk punk bodysurfed over to where this scene happened, nearly hitting them toddlers in the head. Somehow, I wonder if a lesson should've been taught to the parents.

And there I was, in a massive sandwich, unable to change out of my beercan to a wide-angle lens to document this in pictures.

I left the insane front-row crowd upon Bittersweet's arrival, cradling my lens as I travelled through the mosh pits (following the flow helped). I was just there casually so I didn't go get myself a media pass.


Then, I found good ol' rocker Sarah and we formed an impromptu Guitar Hero band!


Yeah, I thought it was a pity that the band did not collectively know any harder, faster songs.

After what was like our world tour and 3 encores, looked at my watch - 11:30pm! I had just missed Butterfingers!


At least there was The Super Insurgent Group Of Intemperence Talent. Hard-rockin' rock and rolling!


I'd heard of them on the first Junk CD. Awesome stuff!

From here.

This is more fun than Facebook picture tagging! (I didn't tag these.)

No Black Tie Music Countdown 2008, 29th December 2008.


With Reza Salleh the soulful...


Paolo Delfino Gomez the humorous...


+1 entertainment points to you dude for telling stories between songs!


And Rendra Zawawi the theatrical, featuring a trimmed down lineup consisting only of his brother.

Being a singer-songwriter's round, the stage was set for all three of them, taking turns to sing songs in a round-robin fashion.


Next trio - Shanon Shah, singing songs from the soundtrack of Karaoke!

Well I'd be happy with the Bananarama song or that geeky engineer song but what the heck. :D


Az Samad the amazing wood-knocking fingerstyle guitarist!


And, of course, this excellent, excellent, excellent Jerome Kugan.

A benefit of being in a singer-songwriter's round is that your round mates often chip in with guitar solos and vocal harmonies. Such moments are magical.


Christmas season was not over. Baubles!


Next up - Peter Hassan Brown! He is often the angsty, opinionated folk singer. Some may not find his stuff with his band Soft Touch addictive, but when he sings one of his new songs with a load of gust and opinion, everybody sits up and takes notice. Who else could sing "because singer-songwriters are playing for free" and get away with it?


Only one of the respected otai (old-timers) in the scene.

It's a real pity though, when I hear such biting lyrics, I never get to hear the same song again. I still remember when he sang a random freestyle rap with guitar. He was fired up! That performance stuck in my head.


Markiza, his wife, took a back seat as she was sick.


Then came Zalila Lee, hitting it up with some funk-blues mix. Rare it is to see her without her hat (which makes it a lot easier to photograph her eyes!)


Sharidir and Nizam P playing the blues like we were in a real juke joint and not the classy No Black Tie. I had been looking forward to seeing him since hearing his tune, Sighyoung, from the Voices From Next Door album. Of course, he went by the name Sherry back then.


Zalila, as always, pulled out a shaker out of nowhere to accompany.


When else can you sit on your instrument?


Zalila called Az up again for more accompaniment. Note his awesome Soloette (which almost looks like Az is playing it upside-down, seeing where the headstock is, but I bet Az could play a guitar any way he wanted to anyway.)


Ohai Cindy! Shot at 135mm F1.8 1/2s ISO3200 - good job standing still for half a second!

So what's with the increase in image dimensions? It's my New Year's Resolution!

I wanted to celebrate the first gig I'd post with the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA. I sat at a table near the base of the staircase. That's how far I was from the stage! I like the new perspective and angle it gives as opposed to using my Minolta 50mm F1.4 and cramping my knees crouched in front of the stage while getting shots from their chin.

Oh, and of course, I cannot get any more excited about how crazy sharp this lens is. Peter Hassan Brown never looked so grand! Add to the fact that the increased distance increases depth of field and I get more depth of field on the subject. It's contrasty wide open (I can't say the same about the 50mm F1.4.)

Meanwhile, the 50mm F1.4 captures crowd ambience well. The lower contrast and small diminutive size makes it a great crowd-grabber.

Another flashback - Xfresh X-Gig, Zouk (the original Mainroom, before the crampnovation), 2nd of August 2008.


Roti!


They Will Kill Us All.


With the ever energetic vocalist. I think you can tell by his dance move that he sings emo/indie.


However, I can't tell if he's counting to 4 or 8 or 6 or 12, for the band named...


...Nadia's Picture Show!


How to win an Xfresh T-shirt.

Alright, fine, so it's called XFM now, and the deejays made sure to cut off the fresh, though the crowd reflexively added the fresh.


Aggrobeats!


I absolutely loved their set. Reggae, and a whole lotta James Brown hard-hitting funk!


"Are you enjoy?"


The complex interface that makes the sounds of...


Pesawat!


No other band plays such happy, catchy, rockin' and rollin' like Couple does.


Hey... she's not... whatshername? But cool guitar nevertheless!


Pointing my Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye on my Sony A700 to the crowd. I have always loved Zouk lighting!


Bittersweet! He really does look like someone out of a (Datuk) Lat cartoon.


I've never seen these guys without glasses. I wonder if I'd recognize them.


Classic sound, classic guitars. Looks like something salvaged out of Peterson's old guitar repair shop.


Moshpit in Zouk!


Emcee Haniff gets on stage...


...and ends the show.

One evening, after a wedding, I ended up in Bangsar. And then I remembered my Bangsar-hangin' friend who is now one of the sauciest bloggers around. I called her. "Dey! You in Bangsar aaa?"No no I'm in Brickfields, I might head to Bangsar later!"

And so I wandered around Bangsar Village II taking a slow walk in what was the former Hankyu Jaya. Ah, what memories of many Transformers pored at there! Toys R Us Express was there. I've held off buying Transformers for a relatively long time already and am considering selling some of them, MISBs and all.

I ended up in MPH, and picked up a book with a most enticing cover - wow! I sat cross-legged on the floor until 10pm, reading a most engrossing book.

I normally don't read, so getting past 188 pages was an accomplishment. 188 out of 344.

Before leaving, I flipped to the end and noted the price. I also saw the book's category printed on the back - Self Help.

Tadaa, a punchline!

I related this story to another friend.

She-who-recently-turned-24: Does it have a yellow cover?
Me-who-recently-turned-25: Yes it does...
She-who-recently-turned-24: Oooh, my mom got me that for my birthday a few years ago! Never got to read it. But my ex-boyfriend took it and never returned it.

I know the ex, and it certainly doesn't seem like he read the book. ;)

I guess I'd only read books that are life-changing. Saw Jim Carrey's latest movie, Yes Man? Life-changing! Of all seriousness, I do believe that there is opportunity out there. You meet all sorts of people who will be relevant and instrumental to your life later. Lawyers. Make-up artists. Painters. Photographers. Event managers. Yo-yo players. Clowns. Emcees. Stand-up comedians. Guitarists. Drummers. Violinists. Bassists. Record-shop owners. Camera-shop employees. Personal trainers. Psychologists. Magicians. Teachers. Editors. Writers. Receptionists. Cooks. Bakers. Waitresses. Security personnel. Dentists. Students.

If you've influenced or helped me out in a big way and your occupation is not in the list, comment here!

Rewind to a common path at the Sarawak Cultural Village!


Wish you were here.


...or maybe she's interested in someone in the crowd?


This is why Rainforest World Music Festival 2008 was called a mudfest. It was not fun to walk in this gooey mess at all! Nearest to the stage your feet would sink in, and the mud would wrestle your slippers out of your toes (so leave them behind) and you'd sink calf-deep until your feet land on hard rocks and other treasures found in the mud bed.


Enough of that, here's some clear water!


Su Ann does the "I'm not looking here!" pose.


Liyana (left) and Bianca (right), who claim to be sisters. No shiiit!

Yes, that's Liyana the cute vocalist from Estrella.


Then I bumped into Ted Adnan and his then newly bought Nikon D3 and his ol' Nikkor AF-S 300mm F2.8 VR.

This was the first time I'd touched a D3 and a Nikkor AF-S 300mm F2.8 VR. I bumped up ISO, expecting an epiphany - I didn't get it. It's not exactly clean but it's cleaner and has a different noise look. And I swung the 300mm around, sniped some people and got their ears in focus instead despite having approximately aimed at their faces. Operator error, apparently. And I still prefer all my relevant controls to be easily accessible by the right hand alone especially when wielding such an unwieldly lens with my left hand.


David Beckham lookalike spotted!


Obligatory slow-shutter-flash with Kenny Sia and Ing Hui!


This was a much faster way to wash sandals than to line up at the washroom. Yes we sat at a pier and swished our feet in the water.


I thought he was asleep. He was actually taking a picture.


I am beginning to like this house already!


Kid was not posed. Street!


Yummy! Fresh from the uh... furnace.


Yep, they still make them handmade.


Kids love balloons, even ones they can't reach.


Yep, they dumped more sand into the mud pit. Supposedly, this helped...


And that concludes the series of pictures from Rainforest World Music Festival 2008 that has people in it.

Time to rewind, to the 13th of July 2008, in sunny Kuching...


...taking the bus down to Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong...


...for the Rainforest World Music Festival 2008!

This is the biggest music fest we get down in South East Asia. So I finally got to see what the big hooha was about on this 11th year running. Big props to Waifon for getting the plane tickets (and other unmentionable, or perhaps too many to be remembered) settled!


First act - Kan'id from Sarawak. Holy shit that's Emir of Throne Away, shredding away! I never knew!

I didn't notice it was him until I bumped into him at the beach the next day.

Emir: Hey man, did you get any pictures of me performing?
Me: Uh, when?
Emir: We were the first band.
Me: Uhhh... no? I don't remember seeing you.

Later I went through the pictures and realized it was him up there!


Sape kata tak boleh rock?


Hiroshi Motofuji in a quieter session in one of the big houses.


We plonked ourselves in the longhouses listening to world music.


New Rope String Quartet, a visceral music/comedy act.


Baby's got a glow stick!


It gets hot in here sometimes.


Oikyataan from India.


Ross Daly Quartet from Greece.

They alternated between two stages - the big one and small one, plus more small performances in the different houses.


Kasai Masai tore the house down (well, not literally...)


Sheldon Blackman & The Love Circle from Trinidad and Tobago.


Probably due to my metal inclinations and short attention span for percussion-based music, world music really does not speak to me. (Of course, it might've helped if tuak, a popular local alcoholic drink, was more easily available in the venue as I heard it was in previous years...) So, Beltaine from Poland, with their Celtic progressive sounds, really wiped my feet. (Ironically, feet-wiping was what everybody needed in the crazy mudfest that was the venue.)

Honestly though, would I pay how much I did to go to another Rainforest World Music Festival? Not really... I could get a similiar eclectic feeling out of hearing international bands at the good ol' Sunrise Mont Kiara Jazz Fest. Plus we wouldn't all have to huddle and queue for hours for a bus to take us out on the only route out of the Sarawak Cultural Village to Kuching town. With the Sunrise Mont Kiara Jazz Fest I could just cross the road and head to Burger King or the various mamaks in Desa Sri Hartamas!

Of course, the experience of sunny Kuching and the Sarawak Cultural Village is another thing altogether. And that's a story for another blog entry!