14th January 2015: Urban Sunset with Crinkle Cut and The Maha Jeffery Band.

Urban Sunset starts at sunset…

…with two bands, performing two alternating 45 minute sets.

First act: acoustic loungey Crinkle Cut!

Ashley’s cute bunny tail.

Second band…

The Maha Jeffery Band!

Malcolm starts on cajon.

What a lovely finish on the guitar!

During the second set for Crinkle Cut, Kelly Siew was invited to sing along. Here she is saying “no no no no no” to Melissa (who is fond of that phrase.)

Frances with Kelly.

Not sure who is taller!

In previous gigs, they’d cover Musiq Soulchild – Sunny (Just Friends) and I noticed that the chord progression was very much like Sly & The Family Stone – If You Want Me To Stay. I’d been bugging them to hear that song and cover it… and they finally did! So here’s their medley… with a twist! It not only included both songs but started with Bobby Hebb – Sunny. I liked how Frances further broke up the rhythm of Sly’s already broken up funk vocals.

Then came The Maha Jeffery Band’s second set, with Malcolm now on drums.

Meanwhile, outside, a tug of war was happening.

These guys are old-school blues rockers!

Fast-forward to the 28th of January 2015.

Yup, same lineup!

This is how a sound engineer gets in the mix.

Diggin’ Ashley’s new hair.

Crinkle Cut takes their themes seriously.

Foreground becomes bokeh, seriously.

Sound engineers, imbalanced.

I worry about other things, like picking the right white balance for pictures. I shoot RAW so I can deliberate on this, but I usually end up picking an in-between that shows the most color tones e.g. I will dial it so there is an equal amount of blue and orange on the primary subject.

Sometimes though, I may keep a bit of warmth or crop more.

This picture had a fair amount of green versus magenta in the background. Picking the middle allows both parts to appear separate.

Another two-tone white balance (you can tell from the face.)

This picture is just here for the pretty guitar!

Fast-forward to 11th February 2015.

Melissa and sexy hair!

Alright, who played a wrong note?

Their on-stage camaderie is always amusing. They have fun!

Guess the theme this time.

I thought this was Darren Teh at first! What a doppelganger.

Simmy watches intently.

The Maha Jeffery Band’s lineup is a bit different today. A few musicians in the audience, had their eyes lit up when the KORG SP-280 appeared!

I’m liking the “Protect saturated colors” slider in DxO Optics Pro; it makes for a consistent color tone even as luminance varies.

Same here.

This band plays quite a few Jimi Hendrix covers with a few tweaks.

I discovered a Sony E-mount lens cap/ashtray!

Grace Cho (left) and Adrienne.

How should the poster communicate that two bands play on an Urban Sunset night? Interesting question. Meanwhile I’m just posting this to say that I took that picture of Talitha!

Raja Farouque’s sister was in town and she got an assortment of cake!

Grace Foo models the before part of a shampoo ad…

…and the after.

Those two pictures above, and this GIF, were taken by Simmy.

Yes, this Simmy. Picture taken by Melissa ‘bokeh’ Wong!

10th February 2015: Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Jaya One ft. Lisa Spykers & Amrita Soon / February 2015 Edition. Here’s emcee and organizer Reza Salleh starting the show!

Isaac.

Ann with Isaac on guitar.

Fariz Salleh.

This next band had an interesting name…

SXS.

Tanisha.

Amrita Soon, first featured act.

At this point, I managed to play with 3 classic lenses – the Contax G Carl Zeiss Biogon T* 21mm F2.8, the Contax G Carl Zeiss Planar T* 45mm F2.0, and the Contax G Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 90mm F2.8…

…all thanks to this dude who I hadn’t seen in 2 years. He also brought an adapter which had its own dial to turn the screw-drive focus on the Contax G lenses, since they were auto-focus lenses when on a Contax G body. The perspective hints that this was the 45mm F2.0.

Sam Soon, Amrita’s sister, with a very nice-looking Ibanez SA160 Quilted-Maple Top in Transparent Grey.

I wanted to get the Ibanez Gio SA370 Quilted-Maple Top in Butterscotch (Amber officially, but I thought it was lickable butterscotch) until I discovered that it had 22 frets only.

The 90mm F2.8.

Jason.

Lisa Spykerman, second featured act.

Anatasha.

Eman, I think? Better beatboxer than most I’d seen.

Reza played again, since it was only 10:30PM or so when the last sign-up performed.

2nd February 2015: BALLSY! An Open Mic Show #22 feat. Armand Tanzarian & Lisa Spykers. I arrived later, catching the tail end of featured act Armand Tanzarian.

Ian Tai.

Wan Watari.

Lisa Spykers, second featured act.

Melissa (Toh) played with my Sony Alpha 7S and Mitakon/ZhongYi Speedmaster 50mm F0.95 Dark Knight Pro edition lens, and snapped a few shots.

This one, for example, of emcee and organizer Shaneil.

This one, with the Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake lens.

And now, for a selfie!

Nicolas Ritom. Awesome stuff – something new, and something real old. I sadly don’t remember because I didn’t write it down.

Shaneil Devaser (joined later by Ian Tai.)

This would be the last BALLSY! at Page 2, sadly. The next BALLSY! was supposed to be here, too, but Page 2 suddenly moved to Ipoh, so it was relocated to Merdekarya 2 days before the event. This is what Page 2 looked like on the night the next BALLSY! was supposed to happen!

1st February 2015: Raising The Funds + Mixtape GUA Vol. 2 Launch at Lust KL.

LS (half of YMY).

Loco, formerly of Poetic Ammo, auctions off the T-shirt he is wearing – a rare T-shirt indeed!

This vinyl of The Mighty Imperials – Thunder Chicken didn’t get much bidding, sadly.

Shame though, because it is a dope funk track!

Lions Of Shadow Moon.

Wait a minute. These aren’t rock stars. These guys look like they rap.

Yup that’s right – my first proper full-on hip-hop gig! I’d been meaning to check out this scene for a long time, but Raising The Bar, usually being on Sunday evening, clashed with either me being out somewhere or being lazy at home, or blogging.

Auctioning a snapback cap to raise funds for the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, badly affected by floods.

NtahSape2Ntah.

Gotta love their T-shirts!

These guys joget to their beats, too!

Karmal.

All stage shots with the Mitakon/ZhongYi Speedmaster 50mm F0.95 Dark Knight Pro edition.

The low light capabilities of the camera help me freeze everything no matter the aperture.

Vandal!

Jin Hackman, host and emcee, hops into the crowd.

Introducing Vandal properly…

…as Vandigital.

I didn’t get the right focus, but I still like these pictures.

The crowd bops!

The Bat Cave.

They had some serious metal riffage in one of the tracks, and the crowd started moshing! I like this scene already.

I don’t know what goes on here.

Members entering and exiting the stage…

…that the only way I can filter pictures for repeats…

…is to identify them by their caps.

I lost count, but there’s supposed to be 10 of them.

Jin is damn cute here.

It’s a bit of a sausagefest though, this scene, as the emcees would note.

Shame, because every act was top-notch in energy and showmanship.

It was also Jin’s birthday, where he turned 28!

The gig was nice and clean and safe and then boom! Drive-by with a NERF gun.

Ending the night: DJ Lethal Skillz.

29th January 2015: NBT PRESENTS: JUNK PROJECT + TALITHA TAN.

The boys of Junk Project are super excited to play at No Black Tie for the first time!

Junk Project is well, jazz and funk, instrumental.

Eizaz doing double duty.

Fascinating MIDI pickup.

Bass and drums.

And now, for some guest vocalists!

Farah Diyanah.

Sachie Amira.

Annatasha Saifol.

Powerhouse trio!

They brought the soul, sisters!

Saxophone break, always the star of the show.

A band picture taken from far back.

Second act, Talitha Tan.

All of them swept up in the emotion of Radiohead – Creep.

It was a dream of hers, too, to play at No Black Tie.

Who’d have thought I’d hear her wonder this at this very venue just last year!

They brought Eizaz up for some sax, too.

Long gone are the days when Talitha would have a recurring theme of having a different borrowed guitar, since this one has a jack!

It seems almost mandatory post-gig…

…to take unintentionally funny pictures.

Oh, and to photobomb deviously.

No photobombs, just bombs.

27th January 2015: Feedback Open Mic ft Four Leaf Clover & Lisa Spykers @ The Bee Publika / January 2015 Edition. Here’s Ungku!

Hameer Zawawi, emcee and performer.

Reza Salleh, host and organizer.

The Evening Play.

Jac & Simmy.

First time seeing Simmy on guitar and not singing!

Campus.

Fikri Azam.

Blund.

Natalie & Shareen.

Lisa Spykerman.

First featured act, from Australia! Her voice goes deep and her guitar goes from soft folk to strummy blues. Simply top-notch!

Four Leaf Clover.

They were the second featured act.

Also featuring Raja Farouque on bass!

Simmy brings the Celtic Wave on.

Ashley, the hard-hitter.

They play Celtic folk music.

Jon & Jon.

Tin whistle!

Lunaktics.

Sid.

Maha Jeffrey Band.

Jack Fuzzbeats.

Jason.

Tanisha. Her Ibanez TCY-10 Talman looks awesome!

Cheryl and gang.

Sara & Marissa.

Hot damn!

Ruben.

Somebody left their capo behind! Go pick it up from The Bee’s staff if it is yours.

13th January 2015: Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Jaya One ft. Jes Ibrahim & Brendan de Cruz / January 2015 Edition. Here’s Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer!

Fariz Salleh, bearing a striking resemblance to his brother!

Four Leaf Clover.

Guest bassist Raja Farouque!

Regular cajonist Ashley Choong!

Simmy brings the Celtic Wave.

Wait, you mean we played 3 songs by accident instead of the 2 normally given to open mic signups?

Jonathan Khor.

LunakTics.

Fuzzy.

I’m not sure who this was, either…

…though some of the members look like they are from The Evening Play.

Saturday Afternoon.

Didn’t catch this band’s name, either.

Jee!

First featured act, Jes Ibrahim.

Josiah Tay and some dude.

It was also Yvonne’s birthday, so we chipped in for a box that made her happy (to tears.)

Ian, who then called on Kirsten Long to sing.

Brendan de Cruz, second featured act.

Riyal is a beatboxer.

Red Panda, who also brought Riyal in for beats.

Blund.

12th January 2015: Melissa Sasa and her accompaniment, at Naked Restaurant & Bar, Plaza Damas.

Melissa, also known as the guitarist for Crinkle Cut and vocalist/guitarist for Dotters’ Division, is on her own this time. Well, almost.

Her accompaniment is Wei Ming, who tends to play in bands named “Wei Ming’s band” (this is not something he came up with.)

Melissa hooked her laptop up to the big screen for a hilariously positioned poster.

In between sets, she played with my camera and took a picture of me taking a nap.

You gotta beware taking naps with this gangster chick around; she’ll pluck your whiskers! (Fortunately, I just had a haircut and shave.)

The performers.

I used my phone to light up the scene, since the screen was overpowering. Could’ve been more imbalanced!

7th January 2015: URBAN SUNSET – 1st Edition 2015 @ Laundry The Curve.

It was also my first time at an Urban Sunset!

Why Urban Sunset? The gig started at sunset, around 7-something.

Plus it was in the urban area of Mutiara Damansara.

And so, here’s the second act of the night, Kelly Siew.

She is quite the expressive vocalist!

Vicky’s expression here is hilarious.

Then came the first act of the night, Talitha Tan. (I took the picture you see in the poster.)

Ha ha, she crops.

First act in the sense that she performed before Kelly, but I arrived late. She was also third act, with Kelly being fourth act. So they alternate for the night.

Her electric band!

Omar on drums!

The electrifying Raja Farouque on guitar!

Sometimes Talitha forgets her chords so Farouque has to show her.

Kelly, as fourth act. She had a leg injury during the second act but she continued to soldier on. Here’s guest vocalist Jude!

Talitha pays her band in slaps.

Here are some random pictures of buskers busking at Publika, mostly in collaboration with Merdekarya.

Francis Wolf, 22nd November 2014.

Vishnu setting up the amplifier and sound.

The man with the voice, Brendan de Cruz.

Telephoto goodness.

The Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 makes for such enlarged out-of-focus points.

A bench, seemingly arranged for an audience.

Shaneil standing by.

We call Vishnu Black Jesus because of his hair and his infinite wisdom.

23rd December 2014: The legendary Alfred Ho.

He recorded a few albums and was even a radio deejay!

He covered many of the hits back then, which we’d consider evergreen.

The older crowd was appreciative, but the young stopped too, because his voice was just well suited and timeless.

He played in front of a local artist’s interpretation of a Christmas tree, where it was localized to be made of rice stalks, like a paddy field in tree format!

Later the same evening, Francis Wolf again.