17th April 2012: Feedback Open Mic, at The Bee, Publika. Here’s organizer Reza Salleh!

Jazzbird Mia Palencia!

Bay! She is very adorable. But do you know what could be any cuter than this?

Not a regular shellac-ed ukulele, but a colorful one!

Talitha Tan, who I’d stumble upon later. I was pretty sure it was the school holidays!

Jared Lim Trio rocking out with old-school groove.

They certainly get the hair down.

Ashley covered Clara C – Offbeat, of which I have had the unlikely chance of having seen.

East-side rockers Relent!

They do a mean Foo Fighters – Hero and Kings Of Leon – Use Somebody cover. I do enjoy their originals, too!

Here’s Christian Palencia…

…and Christina.

Prema Yin does something we’ve never seen her do before – play guitar live!

Although she normally writes her songs on guitar, the task of playing them goes to Isaac here.

Joe the hipster bassist.

Raksasa just got out of bed. Who keeps him awake?

Probably these damn nocturnal kids!

Since I’m feeling productive today, here’s a two-in-one update.

5th April 2012 was the funkadelic Dr. Rhythm live at Nerofico, Jalan Dungun!

Featuring some familiar faces like gregarious Gregory Ramanado…

…his brother, Herman Ramanado…

…and his brother from another mother Jared Cheow!

They were doing jazzier stuff with the keyboard and saxophone in tow.

Jamiroquai – Canned Heat and a jazzed-up Deep Purple – Black Night come to mind.

Of course, there was that one cover from the band which I know the Ramanados from – their hit single, Gypsy Girl.

Obligatory teeth inspection shot with Greg.

Fast-forward to the 16th of April 2012, for The Songwriters’ Showcase at The Bee, Publika! Here’s Jasemaine (on the right) emceeing with a girl whose name I did not catch.

Straw Lim!

I’m not sure if this was her band Astrawnomi or not.

Didn’t catch this guy’s name either. They were all speaking in Mandarin, mostly, which I cannot catch.

This was the first time I heard the epic Anna Chong.

Her band and her will draw you in with haunting layers of oriental worldly transcendent music.

All shots from this blog post, from the Sony Alpha NEX-5 with E-mount 16mm F2.8 pancake or Opteka 85mm F1.4 through the Sony LA-EA1 A-mount to E-mount adapter.

3rd April 2012 – Rockafellas – Come Together, for Alda Evan Tan.

Here are the Ramanados!

These boys are the funkiest young talents to come out in the scene in a while! Greg broke a guitar string, causing his guitar to detune (strange, isn’t it, given that it was a fixed-bridge… but it sounded like an intentional off-tune key shift in a pretty cool way.)

Jared “Chad” Cheow.

Jay of bluesmen Rolling Sixers.

Khai on leftie acoustic.

Eddy, frontman and blues harper.

Henry – dreads, a haircut.

Random camwhoring time with Regina and Collin Chin. Wide shots were with the Sony Alpha 77 and Samyang 35mm F1.4 UMC; tight shots were with the Opteka 85mm F1.4.

Rithan of Deja Voodoo Spells!

I don’t ever remember seeing him on acoustic, so this was an acoustic treat.

He did more 90’s rock this time – Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun for one.

Then came the fundraising – an autographed Dragon Red – Holocaust album!

Dragon Red, of course, played.

Switcheroo.

Slyde looking at the beautifully-bokehed Adam Lobo. Some days the 85mm just impresses!

Amil is not used to having his guitar so high up – he normally stands up and rocks. Or so I surmise.

Camero tuning. He was many bassists after Alda, who played with Dragon Red.

Adam, head screamer.

Rithan graciously offered his acoustic Ibanez up for auction! Ironically the Dragon Red boys started bidding madly on this, with the winner being Adam.

Zona, Alda’s sister, flew down. Here Adam was telling a poignant story about a question Alda’s dad asked him. Zona then told a story and we felt the presence of onions everywhere.

Adam and his source of rage.

However, here’s a video of them covering George Michael – Careless Whisper.

Russell Curtis, who runs the bar.

Zaim the groovy.

Eddy joins the blues jam.

Throw in Rithan’s cousin, I think.

Add in Rithan, and whoa! It was 1:33AM when I left, knowing I would not be able to wake up the next day if I didn’t leave, so I did.

A really old picture.

More here:
Earth Hour 2012, Pray For Alda
What Do These Bands Have In Common?

31st March 2012: Earth Hour 2012, at Publika. Here’s The Metaphor!

The police wanted in on the hipster action with the bicycles.

The police were proudly part of the Eco Riders. Nice to see them being part of this, and it would be nice to invite them more to this side of town (when they’d more likely be invited for government-related functions.)

Qings & Kueens made a comeback, without a bassist.

I didn’t catch this band’s name (or its performance) but check out that fanned-fret bass!

Seconds To Collide, who bear some Saosin-ity.

Ryota Katayama on vocals.

I don’t know what was going on here.

Malaysia Ukulele Group.

Pfft, I had one since 4th September 2004, way before all you hipsters. I was a proto-hipster. Credits go to Dustyhawk for the picture-taking.

Darren Ashley, in full band mode!

He played his electro pop out of a shopping trolley. “Hey man check out this I just bought this down at the BIG Supermarket…”

Random audience shot. I am always a sucker for hair light.

Likewise. Whenever I see a professorly German-looking guy I expect him to have played in a UFO cover band in a past life. Granted, UFO isn’t exactly German, but you get the idea better than if I was to say early Uli-Roth-time Scorpions.

Random snipe of Megan Tan and Hansen Lee walking past.

An Honest Mistake, a high-energy band. I always miss their rock kangkang synchronized guitar breakdown.

Luna strikes See “Moon” Mun. They brought me to the next place…

Ecoba, for the Pray For Alda Evan Tan Fundraiser Gig! Here’s Cats In Love, classic rock outfit with the venerable N. Rama Lohan.

Jin Hackman and Coex.

Coex does some mean multi-layered beatboxing! 4 layers!

I like the audience they bring.

Kirstie & Cass3y, I think? They did some R&B duet, among other things.

Roland PK-5 Dynamic MIDI Pedal. Don’t know whose this was or whether I heard it in play.

Relent!

They did a more acoustic, stripped down version of themselves.

Themselves, normally being good ol’ anthemic rock, none of that emo nonsense.

The organizing committee.

Alternate pose.

Freeloaders Inc.

Another good throwback to 90’s rock.

Don’t know why people keep thinking I’ll put their faces in the newspaper or some magazine. But yeah.

Gotta dig the violin bass!

Red Ruby Avengers.

Rendra Zawawi, backed by his brother Hameer Zawawi (far right) and David (back).

Nick Davis brings a modern sound.

I don’t know if this was Zul.

The poster.

This follows my tribute to Alda, here:
What Do These Bands Have In Common?

23rd March 2012: Twin Towers @Live 2012 at Petronas Twin Towers.

Here’s Korean girl group Girls’ Generation/So Nyeo Shi Dae (SNSD).

I’m not going to bother labelling them, because I am not a fan of Korean music, and I can’t tell them apart.

Fans strewed out into the main road from the outdoor area with the fountain where the event was held, on the other side, away from KLCC Park.

James Baum, local hip hop artiste, was next.

His crew.

Reshmonu, a much more worldly musician.

Here’s Bo!

Jojo Struys, emcee of the night.

Nicole Scherzinger!

She brought her ensemble, not in any the Pussycat Dolls which she was a part of.

I managed to get in to the area before the photographers’ pit. I don’t remember how.

That, and the Sony Alpha 77 with the Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8, got me real tight shots. Add that 24 megapixels allows for plenty of cropping.

It does occasionally make it hard to get group shots like these…

…but moving about gives you that leeway.

I’d consider myself lucky this time, as I’d otherwise not get in to the same area the next day.

DAT ASS.

24th March 2012: Day 2, with Faizal Tahir.

A remote-controlled blimp hovers above the crowd.

I don’t remember what this on-stage competition was about.

Orianthi!

I thought I heard Orianthi say that she left her slide at the dressing room but she can get by with a rabbit. Geez now I’m thinking of the suitable form factor of a guitar slide.

She came to fame as Michael Jackson’s guitarist for his upcoming tour, but he died so that didn’t happen.

Nevertheless, she is a shredder in her own right, down to the floor.

EVH 5150 in the back!

So here’s where the 24 megapixels were stretched to its limit, cropping tightly. Also one of the rare shots where her eyes are actually visible under all that mascara!

Another on-stage competition.

She won, I think.

Fireworks ensued.

DJ Nadine Ann Thomas! For when being Miss Malaysia Universe 2010 is just another item on a bucket list.

Kelis! I was looking forward to her, really. I enjoyed her fourth album, Kelis Was Here, but I don’t think she played anything from that album – instead it was a lot of trip hop/electro. I don’t remember if she even performed Milkshake or not!

Her awesome bendy glowstick microphone stand.

The night ended with DJ Nikki.

Feedback Open Mic, at The Bee, Publika, one 20th of March 2012. Here’s Raksasa.

Reza Salleh, organizer, is up on stage next.

Offroads.

These guys play blues rock and roll in the vein of Led Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

You gotta have at least two guitarists, one for the lead lines, and another for the rhythm.

Relent.

They did an awesome cover of Adele – Rolling In The Deep.

Markiza and Peter Hassan Brown, good ol’ folksters. They were joined by Wong Lip Kee on guitar.

Carpark does some hard-rocking rock kapak (80’s metal.)

Najwa joined last minute. Here’s the jazzy soulful singer with Faz on guitar. I’ve not heard her do acoustic, but she was awesome at it. She did a Erykah Badu cover as well.

Her brother joins her for a duet. Man can these siblings sing!

(Of course, this being impromptu, Farhan had to look up the lyrics.)

All shots with the Sony A900 with Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus. Yup, still workable in low light despite the T4.5, if you put your mind to it!