Category Archives: Music

Broken Scar, Everybody!

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Now, for pictures from Broken Scar‘s final farewell show, 7th September 2006.


Ariff Akhir of The Sofa Sessions: Eh Daphne, you know ah, you damn pretty lah. I like you.
Daphne the emcee: Ehehehe thank you!


The Sofa Sessions, featuring bass slut Alda. I used 1/3rd-power flash, ISO 200, 1/25th (to expose the colored lighting but keep motion blur down). The 1/3rd-power flash helped to increase detail in the shadows, especially on Alda’s face, but not enough to give him an unsightly blue/white tint.


Top left: Sometimes, slow-shutter flash can make interesting effects; bottom-left: Velan, who runs Jamasia, looks like Gene Frenkle of that famous Saturday Night Live Cowbell skit; right: Daphne shows off her legs.


Spot the odd one out of Qings & Kueens.


Yep, Ariff is not a band slut. Meng played bass for Qings & Kueens, filling in for Kevin Theseira. Vima, frontman, was cracking jokes non-stop. 😀


And now, for Broken Scar, stealing Paul of Qings & Kueens.


Another picture with 1/3rd-power flash; Alda’s face would be dark otherwise.


They played a cover of KISS – Rock And Roll All Night!


I recognize this act from another band!


Post-gig interview.

Kevin, have a safe flight. I’ll miss the philosophical car rides to gigs, and untying my hair and headbanging!

My, So Jam. Best!

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And now for pictures from the Cineleisure MYSO Jamfest, dated 15th July 2006. WHOA!


How do you get to Cineleisure Damansara? Follow The Street! (Note the upside-down trashcans.)


Live music in front of La Cucur, place of scorching hot Teh Tarik.


Clockwise from top-left: Graffiti; artist at work; sumo wrestlers taking a break; headless rodeo.


Before K-sized cars, there were these…


Top: Estranged atop the Xfresh Xplorer; bottom-left: Stonebay; bottom-right: Edge Of Fire.


There was also a skate competition, but I don’t know the names of the tricks so here are some slow-shutter pictures.


It was a sunny evening, so to get perceptible motion blur, I used ISO 50 and Aperture Priority, with the aperture set to F8, the darkest possible for my camera, to get as slow a shutter speed as possible.


Alright, so there’s also some cheap attempt at desaturation.


Don’t judge me I’m slipping!


This would be a normal shot without slow shutter.


This was zoomed all the way in with F8 and ISO 50, the shutter speed was still a quick 1/60th of a second. However, panning (following the subject through the optical viewfinder) gives a blurry background.


The dudes don’t look too impressed.

Rock4Hope!

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Don’t forget to come for Yvonne Foong’s Rock4Hope!

“ROCK4HOPE is a charity concert organized to raise funds for the surgery of 20-year-old 2005 Dream Malaysia Awards winner, Yvonne Foong, to remove a tumor in the brain.

Yvonne, who spends her time studying and writing freelance articles for local dailies, is currently in need of funds to remove a brain tumor called Acoustic Neuroma that had made her deaf in both ears. The avid classical singer and pianist she once was, is now living in a world of silence.”

Yes that’s right, she cannot rock out to Deja Voodoo Spells and A Day At The Zoo! Tis indeed a pity. You know, Deja Voodoo Spells, one of the best shredder bands in Malaysia, with Rithan the frontman/guitarist shredding with Steve Vai once upon a time in Singapore?

What: Rock4Hope charity concert
Who: Deja Voodoo Spells and A Day At The Zoo
When: 7:30pm, 9th September 2006
Where: Multipurpose Hall, Sunway University College
How Much: RM20 only.

I’m going, yo. If you’ve secretly thought that headbanging was cool and was loads of fun, look for me and I can teach you how. 😀

Moonshines And Bazookas

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10th August 2006, Laundry Bar, The Curve: Moonshine KL


Zalila Lee, with Melina of Tempered Mental playing bass.


Jerral Khor plays the same instrument Zalila is playing and sports the same cool chicken hairdo that Zalila is having.


Brainhead.


Slow shutter/night mode flash; flash, then move the camera about.


Deserters were a lot more alive and a lot more indie rock.


…I remember them being atmospheric before; perhaps the other members changed their vibe?


Fathulistiwa Soundscapes. Fathul lost his badass long hair from before.


Shelley Leong and band.


Behind, the never stationary Az Samad.


I didn’t get to stay to catch the open mike acts. 🙁


And now, for some time-space-continuum confusion – a slight jumble! Bottom-left: Az does a tribute to Zack Kim; bottom-right: Az duels with Alda. Top-left: Cheryl and I rock out; top-right: I steal stim-girl‘s funky hat. 😀 Yeah, the upper pictures are from the gig below.


What gig? Project Bazooka presents Rhapsody versus Tempered Mental, 17th August 2006, Laundry Bar as well.


The lighting makes it seem like I desaturated all the other colors, leaving only red.


Rhapsody borrowed Tempered Mental’s drummer, Jimmy…


…and Tempered Mental’s bassist and vocalist, Melina.


Nicole the R&B/jazz/soul diva has an amazing voice.


Are you seeing triple?


Khai-Lee: Alright, Nicole, it’s now time for Tempered Mental to play.
Nicole: But… but… I haven’t finished thanking everybody yet!


Dear God…


…may everybody who watches buy our CD, coz we’re cool, and if you buy our CD, you’re cool.


Heck, buy as many as the number of people you see in the glass!


Alright, so Jack shreds along to Melina’s progressive rock basslines; he interestingly gets a few bars to throw in a solo where there wasn’t one before.

So what about the versus bit? I felt conned. Damn you Khai-Lee and Yu-Ri! Dashing my hopes. Rhapsody and Tempered Mental all got on stage, and Nicole harmonized the backing vocals (while Ywenna played keyboards) to Tempered Mental’s Pure. But that was it! And we all wandered around aimlessly after that, since it ended so quickly and early.

Final Sunrise Set

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And now, for pictures from the third week of Sunrise Mont Kiara Jazz & Rhythm Fest, 11th August 2006 and 12th August 2006.


But first, a stop by Bestari…


…for triple Indomee. 😀


Smile, Mr. Bassman…


…you’re being captured on Suzanne Lee‘s 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM lens. Though the body behind the lens is just as drool-worthy.


Happy potter.


And of course, Mr. Gambus himself, Farid Ali!


Besides shredding fusion ethnic jazz on a funky 12-string, he also sings.


Tinderbox, with Savy on keyboards.

…and Eu Gene on bass.


Damn mountie guards wouldn’t let anybody take pictures. Without a pass, at least.


Thank goodness for Shaz and his pass-getting ways, then. 😀 (No, that’s not a picture of Shaz.)


Familiar faces from the scene on the next day were Jimmy of Tempered Mental, Izwin of Plush Ground Xero Plush. I think.


Andy Peterson! Where’d his guitar shop go?


The order of the day was Noryn Aziz. Piping hot.


As usual, stage games.


I can’t decide if stim-girl is juicier than the apple.


“Then the piper will lead us to reason…”


…with the Aseana Percussion Unit, featuring a guy in dreadlocks whose picture raised a smile on the face of a girl and her younger sister. This one’s for you.


“Damn, he gets all the attention.”


Obligatory black-and-white shot.


This one’s for the ladies gentlemen.

You can also read about the Second Week and First Week here.

Sparks Fly

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I was at The Curve to shoot fireworks.


I went in to Laundry Bar, to check out the crowd, and they started counting down 5 minutes early, so I rushed out, to get stuck near the bar. I present the roof as proof.


Initial overexposure caused a torch-like effect.


I also zoomed all the way in to try panning shots.


Sprinkles!


Corny ears!


Overexposure argh. On a technical note, lower your ISO to its minimum, say ISO 50 or ISO 80, since you don’t need it. Set the mode to shutter priority and dial in EV -2 (to darken the smoke clouds, and to have brightly colored trails rather than whitened out trails). Add a polarizer filter to darken the smoke clouds as well (I forgot to bring mine.) I used shutter speeds from 0.5 seconds to 1.6 seconds, looking through the viewfinder upwards. My neck hurt but I was amazed at how stable that position was! (Bring a tripod next time.)


Shrubs.


Splash into a mash! Handshake can be artsy.


Faster shutter speeds capture fireworks at the apex, like floating spermatozoa.


Watch out it’s the glowing ball of energy, draining power from Cineleisure Damansara!


Longer exposures leave room for more explosions.


Poppy!


Finally, a mainstream fireworks shot everybody loves.


…and one more, for the encore.

Happy 49th Independence Day, Malaysia. I hope you’ll mature and may we not be harrassed by undercover triggerhappy gunmen.

…and here’s some text copied from Alda‘s blog.

From Paul Millott, owner, Solar Power Training Centre, 8, Resource Industrial Centre. Old Klang Road, Kuala Lumpur

The following incident occurred OUTSIDE in the car park, not inside any premises

Natasha (witness):

I was walking towards the restaurant next to Rajoo Flour Mill. Just as I saw Paul at the restaurant and went over to join him, I heard gunfire. The first two or three shots were from the opposite side of the car park, but at first I could not see the gunman.

Suddenly a crazed gunman in jeans and black T shirt appeared, running towards Paul and fired shots into the air. He did not identify himself or give any reason why he was firing his gun. He then pointed the gun at Paul and shouted “You get over there”, indicating with the gun the direction he wanted him to go. He had just fired two shots about ten feet from the people seated in the restaurant They promptly ran, terrified, knocking over tables and chairs. People in the car park also ran but the gunman turned around and ordered them to come back. At this point Paul ran back to the entrance to his cafe, which was empty but one half of the two shutters was still half open. I saw two or three people rushing out of the cafe and the glass door was shattered in the panic. This was plate glass and will cost something like RM2

Sunrise After Sunset

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And now, for pictures from the second week of Sunrise Mont Kiara Jazz & Rhythm Fest, 4th August 2006 and 5th August 2006.


Clockwise from top-left: Sunset on the way to Sunrise; refreshments are blown your way; William Quah the emcee is a star; question the toll.


Clockwise from top-left: Interesting halo cast by light; interesting shadow; Davina‘s hair looks so pretty in the light; spot the hot chicks.


Opening act that Friday – belly dancers.

After that was the first act, Cosmic Funk Express, but I already blogged about them here:

An Ode To Cosmic Funk Express, Part 1
An Ode To Cosmic Funk Express, Part 2


Jupiter@7 was up next.


The vocalist’s posture reminded me of Freddie Mercury somewhat.


…except that they didn’t play anything by Queen, but a few adult-oriented-radio covers. Where’s the Jazz? (Which is incidentally the name of a Queen album.)


Harping.


Backing up on bass.


Clockwise from top-left: Organic organ; percussions; guest percussionist Justin Lim (for all you rabid fans out there); gee-tar!


After the show, the tables were lined up like an obstacle course. Grab the most flags while avoiding paintballs!


Saturday’s show started with Shelley Leong & Jazz Odyssey.


Come away with me.


Watch her play praise-worshipping angel…


…and fiery pop jazz diva.


Alda forgot the chords to this song.


Spot the difference! Teehee.


Stephanie is always hidden behind the drumset.


Nisha Tham on keyboard…


…with Shelley on percussion…


…and later versus Az Samad.


Az is always happy.


Ooo ooo ooo ooo! I remember the notes now!


Az: Kecoh lah mamat ni, blocking the view of chicks.


Speaking of which, Vignes shoots with his legs open, and Davina shows us that she’s enjoying herself.


Next up was John Thomas & Phunk Mob, with Wan of Alcentric shredding to jazz instead of metal.


Check out his MIDI keyboard skills. His left hand controls the tremolo and wah effects; he even played two-handed like Zack of Cosmic Funk Express does. Oh waitaminute, Zack should get one of these instead.


Julian has sax.


And oh boy does he look like he’s enjoying it.


There was also Noryn Aziz, hot chick…


…scatting along to the exact scattered bebop melodies the band was playing.


Oh, and of course, John Thomas, for the ladies.


Who’s your daddy? Jose Thomas, of course. 2004’s Jazz Fest saw him with Mia Palencia in a vocal showdown.

I’ve been ingrained to like funk-jazz, the exact style Phunk Mob plays, ever since the days of Sesame Street. Remember the animation of a pinball going through a pinball machine? I loved it. I loved the music. I loved the animation. I loved the complexity.


After it all, I bumped into Joyce The Fairy and friends at McDonalds, and this is the table she left behind. She insists that she did not drink.

What about the first week? Click here.

Pictures taken using my Canon Powershot A520 and my friend’s Panasonic DMC FZ20. All shots at ISO200, 1/60th of a second or faster, as bright an aperture as possible.

SMS Launch

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It was the Starbucks Music Series launch at Telawi’s Starbucks a 28th of a July 2006 ago, and jazz/R&B/soul duo Rhapsody played, featuring Alda on double bass. Have you ever seen a double bass in Starbucks? Well now I have.


Here’s a picture of Nicole, since cute-eared-Ywenna kept bugging me about it.


Modern rocker Broken Scar played next, followed by Lied.


Adlin Rosli, Lied vocalist, then jumps out in the middle of his angry-white-boy songs with an emo romantic song, Oceans Apart, and proceeds to sing to various members of audience and the sound engineer.


Yeah, something like this, in your face.

Well, More Like Sunset At That Time

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And now, for pictures from the first week of Sunrise Mont Kiara Jazz & Rhythm Fest, 28th July 2006 and 29th July 2006.


Dan Nizam is one fifth of…


…the Rachel Guerzo Quartet, which…


..features her father, Salvador Guerzo…


…and her uncle Louis Soliano.


Vincent Ong included makes five, so it should be a quintet, yes?


Ivan, Shaz and Jasiminne get up on stage with kids to win prizes!


Next up was Lewis Prasagam, hard-hitting drummer, with…


…Chris Wright, who got all the girls’ attention…


…and Wan Asfarezal on bass.


Bruno Leflanchec looks like Paul McCartney.


He also plays a mean flute.


Elvira Arul came on for guest vocals.


Into the void.


Keeran from the Malaysian Dhol Federation.


Jimmy the “Prince of Sax”…


…the photogenic…


…snake charmer.


Funky hair, yo.


And on to Saturday the 29th!


Steve Thornton…


…and his percussion unit.


Jamie Wilson on silent guitar.


Amir Yussof.

And now, for a technical rant. The lighting was bright enough, so don’t use flash! (This goes especially to those digital SLR users, who could afford ISO1600. One Nikon D70s user was afraid to go above ISO200. What the heck?) I’d underexpose by one or two steps (or else the motion blur will cause a white blurry mess). Never mind that the background was dark, as long as the details on white shirts can be seen. ‘sides it would be better to have a dark, broody sharp (due to fast shutter speed) contrasting image than a bright, colorful, but blurry image. Also, the colored lights are funky.

Most shots were in the 1/80th of a second range, ISO 200, F5.6 aperture (on those zoomed all the way).

My next Jazz Fest entry should include a musical rant then. 😀

An Ode To Cosmic Funk Express, Part 2

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A glaring omission to my previous Cosmic Funk Express post would be, of course, super double-tapping guitar-shredding clean-sweeping orgasm-face-making Korean boy, Zack Kim!


His (new) Ibanez Paul Gilbert Model is set up with low action and a fixed bridge instead of the default double-locking Floyd Rose bridge to do plenty of right-hand tapping…


…as well as left-hand tapping. Alda often jokes that he wanted to be a piano player.


So what happened to his previous guitar? Why, he mounted it and placed a hairband (to mute open strings).


The previous guitar, also an Ibanez Paul Gilbert Model, had its Floyd Rose cavities filled up, and the back springs completely removed!


Broken Scar looks like he is shooing Zack off stage.

It’s sad to hear that he will have to go back to Korea. The next he comes back he better be doing his world tour. And I better be getting in backstage to see his groupies flash him.


And now, for a technical note on taking pictures at more formal-like concerts like these; don’t use flash (spotlights give nice color), use a fast shutter speed and higher ISO, underexpose by setting the EV to -1 or -2. The camera, be it point-and-shoot digicam or digital SLR, will still try to expose the background so it is brighter. Screw the background! Let it be underexposed so it does not distract from the performer. It’s better that you lose detail in shadows while getting dramatic lighting. In this picture, it is not underexposed, but the problem with this picture is that there is no detail in highlights; on the right, the same picture was put through Photoshop, Image – Adjustments – Levels, Input Levels – 0, 0.10, 255. As you can see the frets are barely there. In case you’re wondering, the left settings were: 1/160s, F4, ISO 200, EV 0. It should’ve been 1/640s, F4, ISO 200, EV -2.

Oh, and all the shots were photographed with my Canon Powershot A520, or a friend’s Panasonic DMC FZ20, both on ISO 200, and mostly in Shutter Priority mode, 1/60 to 1/100 seconds exposure, EV -1. You have no idea how frustrated I was when my frustrated Nikon D70s owning-friends were going “so blur lah have to use flash!” and I told them off for using ISO 200 on this dSLR. I also went, “Underexpose! Underexpose!” which may audibly make its way to the bootleg videos I will post up.

Yes I sound elitist, but I strongly believe that one should learn up the science of exposure before getting a dSLR.

And now, for less technical things.

After their performance, I bumped into Alda.
Me: After all your calling and promoting the very single Zack, is Zack a virgin?
Alda: Uh gee, I don’t know… is he?
Me: Well, if he is, as band leader you have failed! Failed to give Zack the rock star dream!

Okay, so the conversation was exaggerated, on my part. But hey girls-who-fall-for-guys-in-rock-bands, Zack is as hot as they get, because he’s Korean (aren’t you girls crazy over Koreans now?) and he’s good with his hands. Very good with his hands. You can even bring him over and get him to teach you guitar! He also becomes immensely funnier (and red) with a few beers. Uh. A few beers. Very few, last I remember.