Author Archives: 2konbla

Shameless Covers Night 2


7th January 2011: Shameless Covers Night 2, at PJ Live Arts Center, Jaya One. Here’s Francissca Peter Reza Salleh rousing the crowd with his amazing rendition of Setia.


They also sang songs that were at the top of the charts on the day they were born. Interesting!


Zalila Lee trumpeting her stuff on the saxophone! (I had no idea she could be another saxophone band slut.) This was for their Ace Of Base medley!


Melina William picks the more alternative songs to cover, like Garbage – I Think I’m Paranoid and Alanis Morissette – Princes Familiar. But her cake-taking performance was Ella – Layar Impian!


Surprise, Reza on piano! They also performed many Malaysian classics like Alleycats – Jika Kau Bercinta Lagi (terima kaseyyy!) as well as 90’s classics like Gin Blossoms – Follow You Down, Fuel – Shimmer and Nirvana – On A Plain.


Zalila and Mia Palencia on piano. They all take turns and swap places to play various instruments and sing various parts of the song. Mia played more 90’s R&B, with a most memorable Destiny’s Child – Say My Name/Bills Bills Bills medley.


Melina’s been hiding a banjo! Man she plays everything…


…even the harmonica!

They ended with a fantastic boyband medley. However, we weren’t going to let them off, and wanted more, so for the encore, they blew our minds away with Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody! There was a really cute bit where they reveal Guitar Hero guitars to play the guitar solo (done with a whistle, nevertheless!)

You can find some videos from the show here:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=shameless+covers+night+2&aq=f

And here’s the first instalment:
A Shameless Covers Night!

Unfortunately, Shameless Covers Night was one night only, but Shameless Covers Night 2 ran for 2 nights. Let’s hope that Shameless Covers Night 3 runs for 3 nights! You guys know the tickets will be sold out anyway, based on how fantastic this gig is!

Moonshine presents NBT Acoustic Countdown 2010


30th December 2010 – Moonshine presents NBT Acoustic Countdown 2010, at No Black Tie! Here’s Paolo Delfino on the left and Az Samad on the right.


Moonshine is organized by singing, songwriting, gig-organizing Reza Salleh.


No Black Tie is a cosy enclove in Jalan Mesui, in the back streets of Jalan Bukit Bintang. For such a place it has two floors and a sweet balcony!


Az is playing his emo chord. He also sold his most emo CD to date, Emo Attack Turtle. I can’t say I could get used to emo fingerstyle quickly…


Yin, who would otherwise look blue in color photography when lit by her phone.


Jerome Kugan, who brings soul to electronica. Except he wasn’t equipped with a keyboard or laptop this time, but just a guitar!


Azmyl Yunor, busker statesman, uses only his harp and guitar.


Otam, he got the blues.


The acoustic countdown was down in round-robin fashion – 3 singer-songwriters would come up to stage, and take turns to perform. So here’s Jerome bopping to either Azmyl or Otam, I think, or taking a soulful breather.

Rock The World 10: Part 3


More from Rock The World 10, at Bukit Jalil Stadium open car park, last 26th December 2010! Here is the amazing Rithan from Deja Voodoo Spells ripping a new one in his guitar. (Hmmm, where is his Steve Vai signature model?)


Ainol brings the beats for this tight three-piece shredder band.


Mie on bass.


Rithan can play his guitar upside down, with his teeth, behind his back…


Rosevelt rocks the stage. They will also be rocking the stage before Incubus does, on the 23rd of July 2011 at the National Stadium, Malaysia!


Love Me Butch – for some reason I always take a picture of Meng posing like this.


Shout-rul!


Rithan joins them on stage.


I can’t remember who these were, some drum band.


Mellow singalong not-quite-post-rock band Seven Collar T-Shirt.


Ham is ever the guitar pedal sound effects whiz. I bet it is glowing on him.


Stonebay!


As always they bring us the best of 90’s rock.


Joined by the uh… dustbin percussionists!


Sua Sue Good Morning! The classic veteran The Pilgrims!


Kombat who chugs the meanest metal riffs from a pink Explorer guitar!


Skip back to the Squier Stratocaster you’d win if you won Guitar Hero on stage. She is not in a band, obviously, unless she intends to play like Jimi Hendrix.


David of Disagree.


They bring us a more melodic 90’s rock!


Bittersweet pops off the British scene.


One Buck Short has got some real punk cred now with their more politically-charged songs – such that their song was even used in one of the Youtube videos promoting Bersih 2.0!


Izal always loves crowd surfing.


OAG made a return, just for Rock The World!


Radhi was in top form, doing jumping splits and spinning around, kicking the air!


Yo Emir if you’re reading, this blog entry is for you since you asked me for it. 😀


Finishing the show was none other than Jason Lo, whose record company Fat Boys Records organizes Rock The World every year.

There was also a nostalgic video flashback through the 9 Rock The Worlds before that – that was awesome!

More pictures here:
Rock The World 10: Part 2
Rock The World 10: Crowd

Rock The World 10: Part 2


Rock The World 10, at Bukit Jalil Stadium open car park, last 26th December 2010! Here is Deserters with a flash of catchy rock, at the smaller Indie stage.


Azlan & The Typewriter, at the big stage (you can tell by the large screen behind them.)


Prema Yin, lady rocker with powerful vocals.


Ryan on percussions, and Moe on drums.


I brought my Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye, but I prefer cropping with it.


Bass chords from Zaim, bass extraordinaire!


Then came emo band An Honest Mistake


With Darren Teh, frontman getting up and close with the headbanging crowd in the last song!


Long red hair, well suited for the expression of heavy guitar riffs.


Spot the Spiderman.


Ah, times like these I am glad I bring 2 cameras – one with a wide, the other with a telephoto.


Unfortunately, the stage manager was hassling him to come down as it was unsafe.


In case you’re wondering, that shot looks familiar because I shot a similiar shot of Emir of Throne Away jumping off a stage at Rock The World 7.


Bleeding Mascara!


Hard@$*(&#!core!


Then it was Alda’s emo band…


Car Crash Hearts!


Republic Of Brickfields, reggae representatives of Malaysia, always recognizable by their frontman Aru. Unless of course you hear metal vocals, in which case it is Koffin Kanser instead.


Restraint, a hard band who drew considerable heavy fretpower when performing at the same time as moshpit favorites Dragon Red.


Pop Shuvit has been around the world, but they love Malaysia!


Dragon Red gets the main stage, so I get to do loads of performer-with-performer-in-background shots! Slyde gets all screamo and rapport (it rhymes!)


Adam takes on the tender singing bits since he is not a rapper.


Gotta dig the dragon mane.


Lab Rat, a family band who plays happier music compared to Syahrul’s other band, Love Me Butch. His wife (in picture) is one heck of a vocalist too!


Who will kill us all?


They Will Kill Us All! Gotta love their vintage guitars.


Cassandra, more hardcore!


They are sponsored by Crooz Cloth. I can proudly call my buddy Ahmad Saiful, the founder of Crooz Cloth!)


Bunkface, young new punk rockers.


Gerhana Ska Cinta, big ska band.


C’mon everybody dance!

If you want pictures of your band (I take pictures of everyone in the band, but I don’t post all of them), email me and we’ll work something out.

Worry not if you don’t see your band – there is one more set of pictures coming up after this entry. 😀

More pictures here:
Rock The World 10: Crowd

Rock The World 10: Crowd


26th December 2010, Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, one week after my birthday, the AFF Cup Final match between Malaysia and Indonesia, and of course, the highlight of the Malaysian rock scene – Rock The World 10!

This time round, it was at the Bukit Jalil Stadium open car park.


This yearly festival brings in a mix of familiar and unfamiliar bands in the local scene. However, this post is about the people who attended…


…and the people who emcee-ed. Here’s RockeRina Omar, who is no short of a drummer herself!


Haniff‘s old day job was to give out freebies from a parked vehicle. He now does so on a giant stage, besides pimping out local music on XFM. Well, used to, anyway.


The crowd. They love my fisheye!


If you needed a shade, you could always hang out at the air-conditioned Elevate booths. She looked like she needed some sun.


Why yes, I will do exactly that!


Jin was a rock star vocalist with Vespertine so many years ago.


Skodeng!


Alat skodeng!


Rock is best experienced with limbs extended.


A popular dance is the mosh. It gets violently fun.


Or you could hang out far away from the mosh pit…


Abang Rom, boss of ROTTW, a local magazine promoting local acts in our National Language. The magazine is fond of using fisheye shots from a distance, not exactly the best distance to be using a fisheye at…


Avril Chan, she sells T-shirts. Okay, really, she manages a few bands…


…like An Honest Mistake, which has funky purple T-shirt merchandise, which is what emcee Fadhil is decked in.

Strangely missing was emcee Harooooon, the classic Rock The World emcee we all came to love and rock out with!


Later in the night, there were Guitar Hero challenges, with the winner winning an autographed Squier Stratocaster. I could’ve won that if I went up!


Meanwhile, on the side, at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Malaysia was winning 3-0.


Even the security guards were tuned in via portable TVs! The concert video feed even pointed at the TV, so it could show the audience our victory.

More pictures to come!

The Secret Garden Next To Merdeka Stadium


This is a rewind, as all my posts are, to one of the most memorable Rock The World concerts. Rock The World 8.

It was the first Rock The World where I had a digital SLR, and it wasn’t as hectic as Rock The World 7 with 3 stages!


Rock The World 8 was the last one to be held in central KL – RTW9 and RTW10 were in Bukit Jalil. RTW7 was in Merdeka Stadium as depicted here (note that these pictures were taken on a street shoot, not before Rock The World!)

RTW8 was an interesting spin – instead, they had it in the Secret Garden parking lot, next to Merdeka Stadium.

In chronology:
Rock The World 1 – 1 Utama old wing parking lot
Rock The World 2 – Midvalley outdoor parking lot (now Gardens Mall)
Rock The World 3 – a parking lot near Lorong Perak and Crown Regency Serviced Suites
Rock The World 4 – KLCC outdoor parking lot (still cordoned off)
Rock The World 5 – Merdeka Stadium
Rock The World 6 – Merdeka Stadium
Rock The World 7 – Merdeka Stadium
Rock The World 8 – Secret Garden, next to Merdeka Stadium
Rock The World 9 – Bukit Jalil Stadium outdoor parking lot
Rock The World 10 – Bukit Jalil Stadium outdoor parking lot

I was there for every one except the first. 🙁

Coincidentally, Merdeka Stadium should be seeing a lot of visitors today, in the form of the Bersih Rally – good luck to all of you, and don’t let people declare what is actually legal, to be illegal (which is a shame, since some of them were lawyers making such claims!)

I took some pictures of the peaceful Bersih (1.0) procession from above:
Vote For Cleanliness!


This was the main entrance/exit. All pictures below were taken through such holes.


The entrance.


Flashback to what the entrance looked like, from the inside, after the concert was over.


The upper end of the hill, or the back of the stage.


Across the road was a forest, a green lung in the middle of the city!


I can only wonder how long such greenery will last. The surrounding area had a few schools and stadiums. When was the last time you went to Stadium Negara or Stadium Chinwoo?


Meanwhile, the weather was slightly gloomy.


So this is the famous “lookout” tower from Victoria Institute Boys School! I had heard of people watching concerts by climbing on this water tank to see concerts for free.


And then I walked to Bintang Walk. Construction is ever in progress, and I find it sad that Jalan Pudu used to be the happening place of earlier generations, but is now the retirement home of earlier generations.

Many old men can be seen wandering around, sitting and doing nothing.

Of course, right now, it is the hotbed of tear gas.


Power boxes, rusted and unlocked. Who is to prevent people from stealing and tampering? Power thieves cause us to pay a lot more.


Pudu Jail.

And yes, I am halfway processing Rock The World 10’s pictures! Sadly I am heaps busy and I’ll be in Singapore from the 11th to 14th of July 2011, so I won’t update then.

More pictures here:
Rock The World 8: Part 4
Rock The World 8: Part 3
Rock The World 8: Part 2
Rock The Crowd 8

R&R At Dewan Perdana Felda


16th April 2011 I went down to Dewan Perdana Felda. Yeah, doesn’t sound like the glitziest name, but guess what?


It is g-r-a-n-d!


And so, I was there for a Ruzy and Reez wedding. Yes they were both getting married the same day, in the same hall. To each other, of course.


Bright lights, but the white dress and the lady can fight.


Camwhore time! Thanks to Faiz for taking this shot.

Alright Ruzy I know you got married but don’t disappear from the scene, come out and bump into me just before gigs and shows like you used to!


Faiz and Evanna.

What a funny incident that was, since he was sitting in the next table and I thought he was someone else who I’d never met before, but followed on Twitter. So I DM-ed the other dude and he said he wasn’t there. I then stood in front of Faiz and asked, “are you…” I was surprised when he recognized me!

And so, we ended up geeking out as we did before. Instead of about Sony Alpha we geeked out about smartphones – him with his heavily modded Jailbroken iPhone 4 with a Home button that isn’t responsive anymore, and my rooted HTC Desire. An interesting, solid technical discussion that was! I later went home wondering if people who go through all that effort to Jailbreak and add notifications, proper Bluetooth support, widgets, fake live wallpapers, launchers and all… would be much better served by an out-of-the-box Android, that already does all that. And that people don’t understand at all how multitasking works.

I found out later that his phone got stolen, and he replaced it with a Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung’s flagship Android phone. Congratulations on welcoming the green robot, dude! I don’t think I know anybody else who has gone from been a Symbian geek to a Meego geek to a iOS geek to an Android geek!

Putrajaya Walk


On the 2nd of September 2010, I took a 2-hour walk from the Putrajaya ERL station to Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel. This was where I started – at the ERL.


A helipad!


I find it funny, since a helicopter, heck no a plane, could land anywhere in Putrajaya, because of all the space!


Gotta love the Sony greens. This was from the Sony NEX-5 with Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake lens.


The Zeiss 135mm F1.8 ZA was mostly on my A900, providing an interesting, compressed perspective of Putrajaya.


It pointed up at the bridge…


…and down below it.


Gridlock, something you never see on the road.


Putrajaya is always hot and sunny.


Sweep Panorama with the NEX-5. Effect was intentional!


Keys to the city.


In front of the Putrajaya International Convention Center.


Mission success: Get some color in my skin!

So why did I take a 2-hour suntan/walk? To head to the Sony Power of Digital Imaging launch at Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel, that’s why:
More Than Meets D.I.

Tweetyear 2011

Here’s nearly a year’s worth of Twitter posts, that do not include Tweets just notifying of a blog entry. The reason why I don’t like Twitter or any external content-storing site other than my blog is because there is always that risk that the content you have on whichever site will become inaccessible someday.

On to the bandwidth barrage!

@lynfunkstar so it was like “I’m on a BLEAARUHHHGRH!”
27 Jun

@tenoq but then the road didn’t move under me!
27 Jun

@randomleech @mrkenhong reinstalled Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and had a blast! I spent too many hours in the Jazz Creation Station making maps. 😀
27 Jun

I’m so 1337 I reinstated a shirt button with a staple.
26 Jun


color coordination at a Chinese coffee shop! Kudos to the details.

25 Jun

@AbgSyuk @onggon dunno man ask Azam? I have no wireless radio triggers because I prefer to use Sony’s optical wireless flash system. 😀
23 Jun

Quake turned 15 years old. But I remember another youthful pastime – Jazz Jackrabbit!
23 Jun

@soya_cincau @benjern guess what we can now buy paid apps from Android Market on WiFi-only tablets or phones without SIM cards!
23 Jun

@dianalian who the chick in the video yo?
20 Jun

FFFFFUUUUUUUU RT @craziqbal #awakcomeltapi awak couple ngan pengkid..
20 Jun

This morning I saw a chicken cross the road. It probably asked why, too, and regretted it, as it scampered back.
20 Jun

@liyanafizi eh! Craft Bakers is just a few floors down from where I work! Just had their pastries for breakfast.
17 Jun


Home Screen turn on! (No it’s not a Google TV…) @amirazrael @mrkenhong @smashpop @chapree

12 Jun


@benjern Volume Up as shutter is cool but it makes my pictures dark!

10 Jun


Okay I have to admit the Volume Up as shutter is handy but my picture is dark! @yauhui

7 Jun

iPrefix iS iMportant iN iGniting iNtense iNfatuation
7 Jun

RT @alkarim go Google Apps- cross platform service that will work with businesses that give employees choice OR go Apple and isolate people #greatwork
7 Jun

RT @howtogeek: Only Apple could have an entire keynote where they talk about copying features from Android.
7 Jun

5 of the 11 iOS devices won’t get iOS 5.
7 Jun

@L0rDKadaj no just checking Engadget. @chapree for Android there’s Thumb Keyboard 4.0!
7 Jun

I believe the option to Clear All notifications on iOS 5 is by shaking the phone. C’mon try it! If it doesn’t work, shake harder!
7 Jun

RT @chapree Hello Apple users, welcome to the world of non-intrusive notifications enjoyed by Android users for far too long. #wwdc
7 Jun

Sorry geeks, but 22 minutes into E3 and WWDC keynotes, and JUSTIN BIEBER STILL WINS ALL.
7 Jun

RT @ackPrash Theres an Apple event today, get ready to rediscover all the new technology of the past 2 years being rehashed as new and magical
7 Jun

@sarchan OHC lah.
6 Jun

@amirazrael @mrkenhong like a trollercoaster waiting on top of a hill!
6 Jun

Can’t wait to be trolling and rolling. It would be bad form to do so based on rumors, so I gotta wait. 🙁 @amirazrael @mrkenhong
6 Jun

@tenoq @linkinstreet finally get it after reading past tweets. Proceed at heavily discounted price. Europe is notorious for pickpockets!
6 Jun

@ShaolinTiger indeed! The place is langouriously and deceptively big.
6 Jun

@lslex until now not announced though Gil Scott Heron was HIV-positive.
6 Jun

@tenoq @linkinstreet also the later models mentioned all have infrared and wired remote support. The A500 and A550 don’t shoot video though.
4 Jun

@tenoq @linkinstreet the A350 has 2.5fps instead of the A200 at 3fps and is noisier with a smaller OVF. Better for LV: A33

KLPAC Open, Dei!


Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center Open Day, 23rd January 2011! Here’s a reading.


Switch On, an art installation outside, not quite impervious to rain, though…


KLPAC is right next to the beautiful Sentul Park.


And out of the park after the rain comes the The Gentle Snail!


Noel and his Polaroid…


…and his bright-lensed rangefinder.


A very cheery Afdeza of Poet Stories.


Peter Tan (and Wuan) spotted from afar!

Yup, there is no shaded parking anywhere in Sentul Park.


The day was far more camera-pr0n-ful.


Improv Comedy by AI:IA.


Back outside, the bubble-blowing machine was one of many devices that made sounds, that Switch On was connected to.


One could flip many switches to form a symphony of cacophony…


…which included printers, scanners, alarms, hair dryers…


…and a whole load of electronics.


I was too far away to hear the punchline.


I kept the flyer for the event, but I can’t figure out what performance this was.


Hmmm I have an idea!


Outside, a well-weathered building.


I then headed to Pavilion, since the open day was over before sunset.


Found a new food court at Berjaya Times Square. Why yes, I do like the Taste Of Asia!