Author Archives: 2konbla

Feedback Open Mic ft Ida Mariana & Quirky Qwerty @ The Bee Publika / June 2014 Edition

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24th June 2014: Feedback Open Mic ft Ida Mariana & Quirky Qwerty @ The Bee Publika / June 2014 Edition. Here’s emcee and organizer Reza Salleh introducing Flip The Table. Check out that nifty Traveler Escape headless guitar!


Triblues. Three dudes playing the blues.


He sings Pink Floyd – Money and Wolfmother – Dimension!


Solid solos. The theme for the night was Singing The Blues – you don’t have to follow the theme, but the one who follows it best, and stays to the end when the results are announced, wins a prize.


I bumped into Robin Wong and Jackie Loi there (I’ve linked to their pictures from this same night), both fans of the Micro Four-Thirds camera system.

Above is my Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM next to a Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4. My Sony Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F1.4 ZA SSM is the same size as my 24mm, so it gives you a good idea my full-frame lenses scale to Micro Four-Thirds lenses. (Of course, my Minolta 50mm F1.4 Original, with a 49mm filter thread, is closer to the same size as the Panasonic, but its optical quality is probably nowhere near when shot wide open compared to my Carl Zeiss.)

Below is my Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA next to the Olympus 75mm f1.8. Ironically, the Olympus gives a bit more reach!


And now, for the homecoming Ariff AB.


Sharon Chong chilling on the sofa.


Ewaz? I didn’t get his name.


Awesome, awesome singing and loops and ambient wizardry.


Towards the end he suddenly brought this out!


Black & White.


She sang Elton John – Your Song while he sang Jimi Hendrix – Hey Joe. Yup, Hey Joe, a classic blues song.


Saturday Afternoon.


Danish & Natalie with a cover of John Mayer – Slow Dancing In A Burning Room.


Instrumental progressive rock band Black Lightbulb! Raja Farouque on millions of notes.


Simmy, on millions of notes, too.


Zaim keeping it cool. Interesting that the number of knobs matches the number of strings.


Ash on the beat.


Melinya.


You’d normally see her on the other end of The Bee, at the sound engineer’s console.


Ida Mariana, first featured act.


She was backed by the legendary Wan Gigi of Alcentric and John Thomas And The Phunk Mob Experience.


Quirky Qwerty, second featured act.


One interesting cover was that of Herbie Hancock – Watermelon Man.


So yeah.


They normally dress up as a polka band, but in conjunction with World Cup they wore jerseys instead.


Lukarts.


Disco rock!


Calico.


Chairs crowning the table.

Fish De La Musique 2014

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21st June 2014: Here’s the last from the series of Fete De La Musique Malaysia 2014 pictures, except that none of these pictures have to do with musicians performing music.


Instead, here are musicians and their best friends! I think I removed barrel distortion by pulling a slider in DxO Optics Pro to 100.


My Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye, at F3.5, doesn’t let in a lot of light in a place without a lot of light. This was one reason I didn’t bring it out for many years.


This causes some slow shutter speeds to be used, unfortunately.


DxO Optics Pro has this slider to remove Fisheye distortion. Here’s what it looks like all the way to 100.


Another defished picture – though you can still see the fisheye effect, unless you double-defish. A single-defish makes for a good crop, like this picture and the first.


Jia Wen discovers that I am indeed fishy.


She then discovers that she, too, is a fish.


She thinks the fisheye will look good in her belly.


A circular fisheye, as opposed to a diagonal fisheye, has a circular image and covers 180 degrees from opposite ends of the circle. (A diagonal fisheye covers 180 degrees from opposite corners.) This makes the circular fisheye have a wider angle of view, but is much harder to compose without getting everything in. Thus the usual shots are either from the top facing down… (and spot Jia Wen unhappy that she is not eating my fisheye…)


…and facing up.


It cries to be in the center of the action. The nearer an object is, the larger it appears.

Part 2 here.
Part 1 here.

Fete De Late Musique 2014

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21st June 2014: Fete De La Musique 2014 at Jalan Mesui, off Bukit Bintang! Here’s the late evening half of it.


Back2Basixx at Table 23, the Pop Stage.


Knights of vocal harmony.


Hameer Zawawi, prince of dark melody, at Lima Blas, the Traditional Stage.


Caleb Savari (also on guitar, not depicted) at Pisco Bar, the Indie/Electro-pop Stage.


His band of awesome musicians!


I first saw him at the ICOM Celebration Series Tribute to Bee Gees.


Talitha Tan, just over 2/3rds of 23, at Table 23.


Very cool guitar!


Danielle videographing while looking like she’s on a catwalk.


Fete De La Musique, for me, isn’t just about the music, but a mini-reunion of the scene, and bumping into old friends.


The lyrics sheet that doubles as a light source.


Cassandra Mary is pure rock. Lima Blas.


Crinkle Cut, disco at the Pisco. Well no, they don’t play disco.


Frances on soul vocals.


Melissa on backup vocals and acoustic guitar.


Ashley on cajon.


Just a Grace in the crowd.


The vocal effects blows Ashley away.


Nah here no duckface!


Son Of A Policeman (SOAP) at Table 23.


The band also merged with Nate Francis, Aaron Francis, Mustafa Kamal Yahya from Revolution Kingdom, Ravin Puspalingam and Rachel Bridget Chee to form Sabun Kingdom Alliance Force (SKAF). Thanks Joshua for the heads up on the band name!


Rachel.


The guitarist also gets on the melodion.


Eyyy Maria! Their catchy song has a dress code.


Bill Murray spotted in Table 23.


Hameer Zawawi, Table 23.


KissKillMary, actual disco rock at Pisco Bar.


The band.


This was before Jenn asked…


…do you want to take a selfie?


Like Silver.


This, at Nagaba, the Electronica/Hip-hop Stage. Very cool interior.


Left to right: Adeline Chua (also from Halfway Kings), Adlin Rosli (also from Lied), Eng Hooi (also from Sulyn Ooi and Halfway Kings), and Sulyn Ooi (also from Sulyn Ooi and The Vochale Project).


And of course, Eugene (whose bands are too many to list or remember.)


Avril Chan and Arlyne!


Shaneil Devaser with Riz, at Table 23.


Santosh Logandran, Lima Blas. Yes, I attempted to merge 3 separate pictures together.

Part 1 here.

There’s one more part remaining. Soon, I hope!

Fete Day La Musique 2014

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21st June 2014: Fete De La Musique Malaysia 2014 at Jalan Mesui, off Bukit Bintang! Here’s the day half of it; I’ll upload the evening ones and some other shots later. Here’s Santosh Logandran with a cool ukulele strap. I like how it grabs on to the soundhole!


His guitarist. This was the Acoustic Stage in front of Feeka, a new hipster coffee shop.


Christian Theseira, at Lima Blas that had the Traditional Stage (they serve my favorite Malaysian coffee, tasting a bit like Kopiko…)


He had a different lineup – Melissa of Crinkle Cut on guitar…


…and Ashley of Crinkle Cut on cajon!


Melissa and her megawatt smile.


Emcee for another location, Table 23, for the Pop stage.


In Lobby, the Rock Stage, was hard-rocking Black Lightbulb featuring Hameer Zawawi.


I… don’t know her name. She looks like Simmy, but I can’t be sure.


Zaim Zaidee is zen.


Ash and the crash (cymbal).


Raja Farouque (right) with his bandmate from when he performs as Raja Farouque.


More of his bandmates, all in separate bands! Left to right: Grace Cho (in Fazz) and Kelly Siew (as Kelly Siew).


Hameer singing rock vocals, a rare sight – the last I’d seen him like this was for Ask Me Again, back at Rock The World 9, 26th December 2009.


I then switched to my Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye, that makes a circular image. This, however, is a defished image in DxO Optics Pro Elite – de-fisheye slider set to 100.


Farouque’s metal guitar slide for some sweet soloing.


Headbanging Hameer.


Outside, back at Feeka, was a quieter gig.


Joey Tong. Her guitar duty was transferred to the cajon player from this point onwards.

A friend compared the lineups between Fete De La Musique happening at The Curve and Jalan Mesui (on this same day) and said, “oh Jalan Mesui has the husky-voiced YouTube singer.” I don’t know if she was referring to Joey.


But yes, somewhat husky. Cool maneki-neko top!


Cassandra Mary at Table 23.


Another emcee!


Just So You Know.


Talitha Tan at Feeka.


Always the cheery summer child.


Familiar audience!


SICK, back at Lobby.


These guys bring me back…


…to the early 2000s with Limp Bizkit-like stuff. He had an angry song about his ex. I miss songs like these.


Outside, at Table 23, was Panda Head Curry.


Ever quirky, as much performance art as it is music and clever lyrics.


Jumero at Lima Blas. This picture is merged and blended from two pictures.


Back at Lobby…


…was HIX.


Nice! Epiphone Signature Zakk Wylde LP Custom Plus.


Rock, as the stage is.


Sulyn Ooi at Feeka.


Eugene’s sweet neck-through bass.


According to the schedule, this would have been Jocelyn Wong, but I didn’t see her when I dropped by to take these pictures. (Fete De La Musique schedules everyone on at the same time, so you have to do a bit of walking and you might miss some people, unless they have been scheduled to perform more than once at a few venues.)


Liam Callan.

Highso

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I finally got to get my hands on with the Sony Alpha 7s. My only concern was how it would fare versus my Alpha 99; how much better would it be at high ISO?

For the A99 I usually comfortably shoot up to ISO6400. I wanted to see what that would be for the A7s.

The A99 had the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM, while the A7s had the Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4.0 ZA OSS in E-mount. Both cameras were placed on approximately the same location on a raised wall with approximately the same framing, manual focus, F11 and exposure compensated with increasing ISO, by selecting a faster shutter speed. Unfortunately, I did not bring a flash, so I’d be subject to the flickering of the flourescent lighting, hence the inconsistent exposure and white balance (the brown tint being the ambient light while the green tint being flourescent.)

All pictures were processed in Adobe Camera Raw 8.5 with the “Previous Conversion” option selected. Everything was flat at 0. The A99 picture was downsampled using Bicubic Automatic to match the output resolution of the A7s. After flattening, the collage below was sharpened with 33% 22 pixel 4 threshold if I remember, and then 200% 0.3 pixel 1 threshold. These are all 100% crops (except the A99 crop – that would be a 70.66% crop.)

Because of the variance in flourescent lighting, it’s hard to truly say, but I’d say what was ISO6400 on the A99 looks like somewhere between ISO25600 and ISO51200 on the A7s. Still, much better than I expected, seeing that DxO seemed to think it was only 1 stop in ISO difference. I thought the A7s would only be worth it, if it could pull 2-3 stops above the A99, if I was to get the LA-EA4 adapter, that would take away under a stop of light. As for why I’d want to put A-mount lenses – there is no equivalent to the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA or Sony Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85mm F1.4 ZA on E-mount, unfortunately, and I would not be able to crop as much from say the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55mm F1.8 ZA on a mere 12-megapixel A7s.

I was also largely uninterested in the A7 because it was merely 24 megapixels, and I had 24 megapixels since the A900 so this brought nothing new; the A7r meanwhile had 36 megapixels, quite exciting, but it lacked the Electronic First Curtain shutter that the A7 and A99 had, so it had a shutter lag that would not work for action and flash photography. The A7s is better, by having Electronic First Curtain and Electronic Second Curtain so it’s completely silent. In the menu however it’s called Silent Shooting.

Five Ways In Mezze

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20th June 2014: Five Ways, at Mezze Wine Bar & Bistro, Medan Damansara!


Here’s the band.


Jerry Ventura of The Falcons fame.


Richard Gomis of Freedom.


Jimie Loh of The Alleycats.


Edwin Nathaniel of Aseana Percussion Unit.


Boy King of progressive rock band Ash Wednesday.


Together, they play the dirty-funkin’ and hard-rockin’ music of the 60s onwards.


This Yamaha and its strings are beautiful! They started with a request – The Shadows – Apache.


Cowbell!


Richard, surrounded by keys and knobs.


Jerry is a multi-instrumentalist. Here he is with one of many percussive instruments!


Tamborine man. I discovered Uriah Heep – July Morning through them covering it. I love songs with such epic riffs!


The stage upstairs is a wee bit small, and the audience can also sit to the side of the stage.


They funked into James Brown – Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.


Uncle Jimie being cheeky!

Odd that I’d call him uncle, given I’m an uncle myself (which probably explains why I went to go listen to uncle music.)

Pavilion Monday

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16th June 2014: I was down in Pavilion for the KL Fashion Week 2014. Spot the minister!


No seriously, I was there to check out TDH Project (it was Monday.)

Got there a bit early, and had myself a pork burger. Also ordered peppermint tea.

They got back to me, saying peppermint tea was out, so I ordered lime juice instead.

They got back to me, saying lime juice was out, so I ordered orange juice instead.


The show started about 10pm.


Clinton Liew on keys! Amazingly talented musician.


Dean Sim, who has one heck of a killer guitar tone and licks with feel.


I don’t know this bassist.


I don’t know this vocalist, either.


I know this drummer though, Jared Cheow.

Before the show, a waiter asked if I’d like another drink, to which I said no.

I was asked again, later. During the show, I was also asked if I’d like a beer, that I’d need to buy a drink to stay for the show.

Whether this business practice helps with staying afloat, I don’t know, because I felt like leaving and not returning to Tom Dick Harry’s Pavilion, out of principle. Understandably, the restaurant may do this as rental is high – but does rental need to be that high, even if you take into account location? Everything is inflated. We’re in a property bubble. You can earn more than 80% of Malaysian households and yet not afford property (because they either only sell low-cost or high-end.)

Tabloid Party Time!

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14th June 2014: Tabloid Party Time at The Bee, Publika! This would be the first time I caught a full set with my camera, with this exact lineup.


Their new logo, on the drum set, designed by Keat Leong.


Faz on guitar!


Melina on bass in jacket!


Sharon on vocals! She wears many hats, but not today as the ponytails would displace them.


Yvonne on vocals! Both taking equal time on the microphone.


Adriane on drums.


David in a sea of keys, and a vocoder.


Sharon pops, locks and hops all over the stage!


Mystery gizmo on the floor.


Percussion time! This was probably their Outkast – Hey Ya cover.


More keyboard time…


…with Yvonne singing songs that R&B divas sing.


Kevin, sporting a new hairdo, admittedly quite stylish!


Goodnight!

Tiger Translate Kenanga

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14th June 2014: I headed down to Kenanga, next to Hang Tuah LRT station.


An interesting part of Kuala Lumpur that I’d not seen before.


Some shophouses were nicer-looking than others. They all sold textile-related goods.


Quite a cool alley.


I reached Kenanga Wholesale City, in search of Tiger Translate, an event that was not stated on any signboard or poster outside. I had to call Ann Na, who was the proxy to my ticket benefactor (Sepet Vernz), to ask if I was in the correct building.


I tried my luck by going all the way up to the 8th, 9th and 10th floor. When I found nothing, I went to the lift, and discovered that the lift would go up to 15 floors, so I got out on the 15th floor where it said events should be at – and saw a rear door and the event’s loud music booming through the wall.

A security guard told me to go down one floor and enter from there. So I took the stairs down one floor to 13A, and found it was just a car park. I went down again to 13, also finding it a car park. I then took the lift up to 15, getting off when all the people who looked like they were going for the event got off. They, too, were told to go down one floor.

And so, we all took the stairs, since the lift took forever, and tried our luck at the car park – one group going left, the other going right. I followed the group going right, and we eventually saw that the entrance was the car ramp going up to 15. There was no sign, poster or bunting that would hint where it was. A speakeasy event, perhaps?

Even the ticket didn’t say what floor it was at. Apparently, this place was popular for K-pop concerts, but the people who were going for this event didn’t seem to be the same demographic as K-pop fans.


Finally!


Awesome blue versus yellow theme.


Indiego!


Art installation versus art you always carry with you.


Tiger stripes.


Sunclipsing light. (Sunset is technically incorrect as the sun does not set around the Earth.)


Here’s the view from the 15th floor, near the balcony. Pudu Jail! Also, the rest of Kenanga’s shophouses.


This is all that is left of Pudu Jail – its doorway.


Surau An Nur Pudu survived the demolition of Pudu Jail.


Fascinating bungalow.


I didn’t catch this band’s name… but then there wasn’t an emcee announcing it, either, nor a set list.


Good lighting, though.


Bokeh time with the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA.


Good Canto rock, if I remember correctly.


There were also trampolines, and Leonard Chua on trampolines.


Darren Teh on trampoline (as opposed to vocals and guitars on An Honest Mistake, who was not playing that night.)


Manic Sheep, from Taiwan.


Nice aggressive stuff, despite this smiley picture, and a full sound despite being a 3-piece band.


Nearer to sunclipse.


Just a bit after magic hour, where artificial light and natural light is in balance.


Jeremy bounces.


Indirect ticket b-Ann-Na-factor bounces.


Chochukmo.


They hail from Hong Kong!


Drum shot.


Boom.


I left before OJ Law, regrettably, and The Editors, to head to another gig (this was #2 of 3 for the day!)

Boss Shredder

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14th June 2014: I went down to The Guitar Store, Cheras. This is near Cheras Leisure Mall.


I climbed many flights of stairs to the top. Fortunately my journey did not continue up that ladder!


552 The Stage!


Raja Farouque demonstrating the new BOSS ME-80 multi-effects pedal! Probably the coolest thing I saw was using the expression pedal to make divebombs!


Bands give me stickers, and I never know what to do with them, since my own guitar has a quilted maple top in see-thru black, and it would diminish its nice shiny look.