11th June 2009: Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show, down at Laundry Bar.

Joshua Foong the singer-songwriter.

He pulls the Nobita look down pat.

Ywenna keying in notes for another band with all-too-familiar members…

…of Rohnie Tan’s band, Naked Olive! Here we get to see him go full force on violin.

There was something nice about having very directional lights.

Objek Bulat was up next!

I wonder if it is hot where the drummer is sitting.

Again, loving the side light!

The classic Power Rangers theme song was played!

Not-so-long-haired Eddy took to the stage for Rollin’ Sixers.

For some reason, this picture of Khai reminds me of…

…the Untalkative Bunny.

And this one, of a Red Hot Chili Pepper headbanging.

Cool shirt dude!

Drum rollin’.

“Whoa how do you do that lick again?”

Eddy has a cool vintage-looking mike for his blues harp.

Dang, I wanna be in a rock and roll band too!

6th August 2009: Down in Velvet Underground, Zouk was TimeOut KL’s Comedy Night! Yes, I braved re-entering Zouk. Here’s Matt the emcee!

Chi Ho, ex-schoolmate, and one of the funniest! His expressions, and ability to make fun of himself, and the flavor of humor (which was a fair bit wittier and clever) makes him a favorite.

Seriously man, his face itself has a kind of disarray which makes you laugh. Which works great with his self-referencing jokes.

Japaneeese in the crowd!

Nick crouches. Being a newbie however, he did as newbies did… eventually tanking.

Oliver Peters, who is funny.

Here he looks like an Indian Jesus. He then lost his hair!

Jimmy North took the stage! (And I was thinking it was a janitor’s shirt – I didn’t realize that his name was really Jim.)

He was on guitar – this was too familiar!

Then came the reason why I braved Zouk – Davina!

She started off alright…

…but as newbies do, they fail to note that stand-up comedy is, unfortunately, very formulaic.

You can’t be an activist and tell jokes at the same time; true comedians are able to bypass all inner boundaries and beliefs, and stuff you wouldn’t talk about, and make fun of everybody as well as yourself. It’s the courage of being able to do so, and the courage to defend oneself against a heckler (and make a joke out of it) that will win the crowd. Once the comedian acquires the skill of heckler defense, he/she is on the yellow brick road to success!

Of course, keep the crowd interested. You can’t take too long telling a story before the joke comes. Only people I saw able to do that were Douglas Lim and Harith Iskander but their stories came much later (and they probably had the crowd knowing they would deliver at the end, so they waited).

Finally, being able to string related jokes for extreme stomach-hurting combos is always a bonus.

Kavin ended the show. He was good. He’s related to Andrew Netto, which makes me wonder if comedy runs in the family.

“Surprise son you’re married!”

Urbanattic at Capsquare, before they added a distracting skyline wallpaper, 8th May 2009.

An interesting setup, is where the pool table is…

…as I can get this angle!

The result being this.

Anyway, it was Free To Fall…

…an all-girl band from Klang.

I love how consistent the lights at Capsquare are.

One of them is Samuel Oh’s sister.

I just realized that this crop is rather eerie…

From the back, there is a glass pane; unfortunately you can no longer shoot from that angle.

And then, for the main highlight of the night…

…a slight variation of the lineup of The Ramanados! Here’s Darren Ashley Thomas of Bus Company (Samuel Oh’s band) playing bass.

Of course, you must have the gregarious Gregory Ramanado on vocals and energy distribution.

The band plays the funk and soul, and he takes that and turns it to human form.

A more Extreme moment sans long hair.

They played a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers songs! I was loving it. Scar Tissue in the first set, and Around The World, Californication and Dani California in the last set.

“Oh no John left the band again!”

Birthday people. Coincidentally, it’s my birthday tomorrow (as of time of writing this). Really.

Other covers they played were Stevie Wonder – Superstition, Bob Marley – Redemption Song, Eagle-Eye Cherry – Save Tonight, and Oasis – She’s Electric…

…and of course their (should-be) hit single, Gypsy Girl.

Guest drummer.

Even the pool players turn around to hear the music.

Harp on it!

Greg doing a Jay Kay during Jamiroquai – Love Fool.

This reminds me of Brandon Boyd somewhat.

Well I’ll be. Chad Smith bald, John Frusciante messing up on the chorus but ultimately pulling off The Bee Gees!

Oh no John Frusciante really did quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

He says that the big rock band stuff doesn’t appeal to him anymore. You could already see in the Poland 2007 videos that he didn’t seem to be as smiley and happy to be rocking out until the solos. I am very sad to hear this as I still preferred the Red Hot Chili Peppers to John Frusciante’s solo music. It is said that he will be replaced by Josh Klinghoffer, who has been playing second guitar (also spotted in the Poland 2007 videos.)

From http://blogs.myspace.com/johnfrusciantemusic:

By the way, I’ve also fixed a bug where you might not have been able to comment. Just discovered it today – send me a text message or drop an email if you do encounter problems yo!

Urbanscapes 2009 down at KL Performing Arts Centre a certain 27th of June!

Gotta love The Times and their retro stylings which include this Thunderbird bass!

Outside there was Shahrider…

…and Nizam P.! They were a crowd turner with their folksy blues and that Babi song.

VIPs inspected the place.

These buskers played true to the blues.

Way out in the parking lot, were boutique stalls!

Under the big tree, thespians acted out lines on paper submissions. Guess what this is!

Little Red Riding Hood is ready to kick some wolf.

Johann-san.

Rachel, PhD in love.

Prakash camwhores with the neck strap on!

Alfred smoking a wrench.

Guess what the line in the paper said!

I mixed this guy up with Tony Leo Selvaraj at first!

Davina auditions for Chun-Li.

Yuna has a lovely white Ibanez Artcore!

In Pentas 1, this long-missing band from Penang made a glorious comeback.

My favorite shoe-gazing post-rock space-rock band, Damn Dirty Apes! I say this even compared to international shoegazers.

Pentas 1 was filled up with people who clapped after every symphony of built-up noise. Most were new songs, though Allied Run, Rebel Scum and In Tents from their last album Ape Kill Ape were also played. Sadly, none of the classics from Valve State Dreams.

Where’s the party at? Outside!

Rewind to 21st June 2009, for the Fete De La Musique! Traditionally done on the longest day of the year but stretched to fit the weekend. Here’s Bus Company!

Here’s Darren and Janice, Paramore fans!

The Fete De La Musique was held at two locations this year – Telawi Street Bistro was one of them. Here’s Bluestankers…

…who did an awesome job of covering Cream – Strange Brew and Cream – Crossroads.

An Honest Mistake, honest to goodness hard-rockin’ emo.

Guest vocals with Nick Davis.

Shiny pedals! Sorry to hear about the theft Darren, hope the cops manage to catch the thief!

Darren is also in Army Of Three, a harder band.

There was a point in my life where I wanted an Ibanez with a Floyd-Rose-like double-locking-tremolo bridge.

Yo yo yo yo!

Man, they got their own T-shirts, too…

Tony Leo Selvaraj with a lovely Musicman.

His lovely fans! He did a fantastic cover of Modjo – Lady.

Then came The Padangs!

They do the kind of screamo I enjoy. Thumping synchronized drums and bass and chugging riffs!

That day I felt like only bringing my Sunpak PF20XD flash so everything is pretty much direct, or bounced up using the PC Sync cable. Though the blue image below is from another flash – this is all one exposure!

Pasca Tragedy, who is all too familiar – I think they were on the Youth ’09 Battle Of The Bands. They did a cover of Nightwish – Nemo which gives you a good idea what they play.

Then came older rock with Minotaur & The Labyrinth – the classic proto-punk Iggy Pop And The Stooges – Search And Destroy was one such cover.

This looks like a style I should explore more often, having long neglected it.

Eve Oh goes OH! (Yes, she wears a very cool T-shirt.)

Then, I headed to La Bodega Bangsar, where the other stage was, and while I missed George‘s performance, I got to catch Cent M…

…who was doing reggae rap, FULLTIME!

Freestyle.

I headed back to Telawi Street Bistro, and caught The Textbooks.

The Metaphor was symphonic instrumental-like pop-rock without the soft and hard bits.

Hello Tomas!

Another cool T-shirt and their T-shirt-selling agent. (Yes, I still want to get one!)

Mustard. Always interesting to see strings and keyboards played by the same person, one way band member consolidation can happen.

That’s all folks!

Rewind to 7th May 2009 for Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show at Laundry Bar! Here’s host and organizer Reza “Robot Shirt” Salleh.

Prema Yin shows us angrrrl power.

Zaim makes a good base.

Prema is always full of soul!

When she is not jumping all over the stage, that is.

Moe drums!

Nisha keys. (Hmmm, have you heard of a certain miss Augello Cook then?)

Not only can Isaac shred, he is sharp on the blues harp!

Next up, some diptychs from An Honest Mistake. Emo vocal pose!

(Yes, I am processing the pictures differently this time. Tell me what it is!)

Yet another ISO6400 shot.

Upside barre.

Sorry ah Eve Oh you cool but I couldn’t help but notice your very cartoony legs!

This dude won a competition and got to play with…

…Izuan Shah who got to play with…

…whoever is left of Butterfingers! Thank you for carrying the torch!

Couple carries the torch…

…of rock and roll, rock and roll, in my heart and in my soul.

Damn they are catchy.

Spot the following:

– a young David Caruso
– Freddie Mercury
– a skinny Arnold Schwarzenegger
– Richard Simmons
– a white Stevie Wonder (complete with shades and head-bob.)

Failing which, you could just be amused by how the 80’s looked.

23rd April 2009 – Stereopath at Laundry Bar! I missed Pitbull Inc. so here’s Altered Frequency.

Those in the know will know this hard-rocking band is no devil’s worship; instead it is Christian.

Spiritual.

And here’s a breather, a slow intro…

…with strings…

…to a band Fizul is not singing in.

Avril is mesmerized by the sonic landscape.

The Laundry Bar Blogger (then) taking pictures.

Would you have guessed – O.A.G.!

Radhi popped on stage like a leprechaun and went into a most patriotic song!

Sometimes you talk to the mike and wonder if it’s listening.

Today I felt like cropping all the pictures square.

Fisheye and flash makes a good combo to catch this energetic rock star!

He uh… shares the mike with his fans.

Yes, I was close enough to have to sing a line or two. I hope I got it right.