Tempat Pasar


28th December 2008 was the first time I stepped into Marketplace, a quaint venue off Jalan Yap Kwan Seng.


It was Doppelganger Open Mic night, and George Wong was headlining!


He pulls off the emo voice perfectly. Emo glasses? Check. Songs about breakup? Check.


Pick a guitar!


Vei comes up for some stand-up comedy. I think he could’ve warmed up the crowd a fair bit more as there were only a select few tuned in.

Come to think of it, a vital part of stand-up comedy is getting the audience’s attention – after all, we’ve all paid cover charge and redeemed our free beer. We should be able to laugh at anything, so it doesn’t matter if your joke are funny or not.


Speaking of beer, I think the tables are really cool! They have barriers to prevent drinks from falling off the table and spilling.


Then, there was the excellent, excellent Sparanormal!


For lack of better classification, I remember them as indie. Well not a very typical Brit indie, though.


Jasmine Low, who had earlier read poems, then interviews the entertaining Freda DragonStar!


And then, it was George’s friend Rina. She has catchy tunes, so catchy that I’d only heard them once before many many years ago, and yet I remember the songs when she performed them!


Then came the unforgettable Rafique Rashid. This guy is hilarious!


He played songs about being caught on video like a certain health minister, among other local commentary. He even changed the lyrics of The Kinks – Lola to go “Yoga, Y-O-G-A Yoga, yo yo yo yo yogaaa…


Then, Freda DragonStar came on stage to recount funny stories and perform a duet with Rafique Rashid. Amazing stuff!

3 thoughts on “Tempat Pasar

  1. Jaz

    Hi Albert,

    Thank you for your photo and article! So nice to find this again a decade later XOXOX. What a treasure you are! I’d like to use one of your other photos, and will credit you. Take care until we meet again!!

    Reply

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