9th July 2013: Open Jam with MOB at Ril’s Bar (Tanqueray Tuesday), at Ril’s Bangsar! This was upstairs.
Alphonse Jerome.
J.J. Rian joined in.
He later performed with David Mark, and they had songs with clever lyrics!
Talitha Tan is afraid of the dark.
Fading-blue Ryan joins on drums.
Ministry Of Blunk, organizers of the open mic.
Now with bass and drums.
Cheryl Tan, jazz bird.
7th July 2013: JUICE Revolver Sessions #1, at The Bee, Publika. A freestyle jam session where the first musician plays for 5 minutes. He/she is then joined by the next musician for 5 minutes, and then he/she leaves, replaced by the next musician, and so on. Fascinating concept!
This is Ben of JUICE, explaining how it works.
Fuad Alhabshi of Kyoto Protocol.
Eddy Lim of Diplomats Of Drums.
Sudarshan of Think! Tadpole Think!. Eddy was now on drums, a position I haven’t seen him in since Triple6Poser where Eddy was originally a drummer and Khai the vocalist. I still remember Eddy singing The Beatles while drumming.
Faliq of Pastel Lite (behind).
Irman Hilmi of KLPHQ.
I walked outside and bumped into colorful Petrina! Warna-warna banyak stim.
Phang of The Infernal Conundrum.
Farah Saad of Shh… Diam!.
Rezza, a soloist.
Ammar Khairi of Maharajah Commission.
Ahmad Ibrahim, a soloist.
Sharidir Syed, of Sharidir & Nizam P.
I then walked over to the TRIBUTE TO A LIVING LEGEND……ZAINAL RAMPA, at Braveheart, Publika, on the same evening!
David Mark.
Zainal Rampa, the original vocalist for the legendary Malaysian rock band, Search.
He had the original eBow! The original has one mode and a red light, while the new one that I have has an extra harmonic mode and a blue light.
Poe.
Left to right: Vishnu of Ministry Of Blunk (MOB), Shane of MOB, J.J. Rian, and Alphonse Jerome.
A bigger group picture.
Alphonse Jerome and Zainal jam loosely based on the classics of rock.
Poe joins in!
I had a bit more time to fiddle with Transformers: Construct-Bots. This time, my objective was to merge just two figures into one, with modern articulation and all the robot parts used. In a way, like Star Saber and Victory Leo. There would be no crossover outside of the two figures involved, even though I had five figures.
View from the side and back. I like how limber the two figures from the Optimus Prime versus Megatron set combine to form.
He’s even double-jointed at the knees! I did not improve on arm articulation, though.
But wait, there’s more! On the right is Soundwave and Triple-Changer Blitzwing combined, with Triple-Changer Bumblebee in the middle to show scale.
The back. It’s a bit different, with Soundwave’s feet sticking to the wings on the shoulders.
He, too, can lift a heavy weapon (or, depending on orientation, a shield!)
Previous attempts:
Construct-Bots, Revisited
Construct-Bots!
6th July 2013: Tabloid Live at Circus!
This is a band full of top-class musicianship!
Sharon Chong dances and prances around the stage.
Jonah the suave.
These vocalists have swag.
Took me a long time to get this shot because of the tiny stage.
Faz is electric.
Melina is bassic.
Sharon then called up on stage, a special guest…
Yvonne Chong!
The sister of Sharon, and no lesser a vocal talent. Here she was doing a cover of Beyonce – Love On Top. We cheered with every upward key shift. Could she do it? Oh yes, and then she did it again, again and again.
Another guest vocalist.
I wish the other colors were projected on the stage. It was difficult to color-correct this set!
28th June 2013: Pop Jazz with Fazz at Nerofico, Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. I just needed to walk over after a late evening at work!
The Sony Alpha 99 through the Samyang 35mm F1.4 UMC.
These guys know how to put on a show!
1940s is the musical theme, with Broadway-styled tunes, and life stories. They also did a cover of Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now!
Full house.
They did a cool medley of Skrillex – Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites to Daft Punk – One More Time and Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child. Didn’t expect that!
Big & Small were musical guests!
Small (Krystal) and Kevin dueted with Queen – Somebody To Love. Two newcomers to the scene, showing us how it’s done!
26th June 2013: I was at the Chan Sow Lin STAR LRT station…
…to take the walkway to the new One Metro Pudu, in Fraser Business Park.
Shops had not opened then.
There’s something about its emptiness.
Looks like a long walk.
I then found the place! Poodoo DIY-BBQ Live Music.
Here’s David Arumugam of The Alleycats!
Ben’s Bitches.
The gig? Back To The 90’s.
Ben.
Ben’s Bitches is always fun to watch, because of Ben and his drunken ramblings and poignant lyrics.
Azmyl Yunor gets on the walkway.
I can’t remember if they played (The Cha Cha Ska Of) Amber Chia.
The wall, adorned with caricatures of pool players.
Kyoto Protocol!
Rocking all out.
They stayed true to the gig name, playing music from the 90’s.
Then came the expected surprise…
Shan’s birthday cake!
This usually ends only one way, but he continued drumming after.
Daft Punk was also present.
Beer drinking competition!
The dude on the far right won… but he didn’t keep it in for long. Nevertheless for his effort, he got to keep his prize.
I exited the other way, and found a better-looking entrance. It should look a lot better now with the DIY-BBQ part built.
25th June 2013: Moonshine & The Bee presents Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Publika June Edition. I like my Samyang 35mm F1.4 UMC. It gives me that ambient shot that gives you the feeling of being there.
Zarul x Hani x Zue. Simply awesome voices.
Nabeel Zulkifli.
Ann Na.
If there was a reality TV show for hipsters, she’d probably get very far…
…partly because of violent retribution if I did not vote.
Lydia on an off-hipster-day and Ash catching up.
Wei Ann & Jared.
She is full of expression!
Christian Palencia.
Mikael & Nazrin.
Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.
Izzy.
I asked Talitha Tan to take a picture of me since she had her camera on, but she instead made this symbol to imply that I was to be the photographer and her, the subject.
I will forever remember this picture. It makes me laugh everytime!
Joe & Pitt, really rocking out.
The Box Focal with Rashdan Harith.
Zaim Zaidee, on the 5-string groove.
David, on the 6-string riffage.
Zero.
Stephanie.
Yasmin.
Klang boys Busco.
This is the band one always mentions that Darren Ashley plays drums for.
Another familiar face, on guitar and keyboard.
Matt.
Sam.
Lizzie Parkinson on ukulele.
I didn’t catch this guy’s name.
The Milkmen. This guitar looked different; it was painted differently then!
Awesome grunge!
Great Tight Jeans.
That is a rather cool-looking Fender bass.
That new band with the unfamiliar lyrics.
Talitha Tan!
Giggly some days, but I won’t spoil it for you, why it happens.
Nice Martin, heh heh.
She was then joined by Darren Ashley on drums and Sean Yap!
Sean Yap then takes his turn. His loop pedal failed, unfortunately. Sounded promising!
Narmi.
Zalila Lee. I had that T-shirt!
Reza joined her on stage.
20th June 2013: Fingerstyle Guitar Artistry – Mike Dawes & Az Samad Live @ No Black Tie.
Az Samad started the fingerstyle guitar-playing night.
Mike Dawes, acknowledged by Gotye himself for covering Somebody I Used To Know and becoming a Youtube sensation.
They jam together to Blue Moon.
19th June 2013: MALAM HIGH & DRY!, a fundraiser for TAP That, a film looking at the rights of communities to clean, sanitized water. This was at Frontera, Jaya One.
Reza Salleh.
Francis Wolf.
Emcees, and Lim Benji looking like the insolent son he played in a movie.
Cool lettering.
I brought out a combo that I don’t usually – the Sony Alpha NEX-5 with Sony LA-EA1 adapter and Opteka 85mm F1.4.
Froya.
Slightly different lineup today.
Yup.
A Korg Wavedrum. Fascinating!
Rashdan Harith. Ash’s expression is priceless!
Fook on bass guitar keyboard?
Aidil Rosli of Couple, by himself.
Bihzhu!
17th June 2013: Open Mic @ The Venue #9 – Hosted by Az Samad! This would sadly be the last instalment of this open mic series. The Venue would then close, to be replaced, a few months later.
Jamiel Said who did a cover of Search – Fantasia Bulan Madu and Goo Goo Dolls – Iris!
Mike Dawes! Yes, that’s a GoPro on this fingerstyle guitarist/Youtube sensation/guitar teacher’s guitar headstock.
Az Samad joins him for a jam.
Big & Small!
They did a cover of James Brown – It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.
Raja Farouque Trio.
Here’s Raja Farouque on a LTD superstrat! I’d normally see him as the double-bass-playing member of Fazz, but this time I saw him in a Steve Vai-ish light. All he needed was a handlebar for his guitar!
Peter of Markiza & Peter Brown.
Markiza. This couple has been singing socially conscious songs for a long time.
Az Samad, emcee and organizer.
Talitha Tan.
Fascinatingly, for the running joke that she goes up with a different borrowed guitar each time, this is her actual guitar, rarely appearing on stage…
…reason being that it doesn’t have a pickup. That does seem peculiar for a Taylor, a guitar maker associated with a great acoustic guitar sound, to leave amplification to an external microphone.
Featured act Paladin did a cover of The Doors – Riders In The Sun.
Lead celloist Florian Antler. For some reason the lighting turned out very iOS7-like.
This, too! Was Jony Ive behind the lighting?
Serious-looking people outside.
Damia.
Aice.
Accompanied by guitar teacher Matthew McKelson.
Sure, you know your chords like the back of your hand, but can you play guitar on the back of your head? This is Rayner Ray (thanks Az for the heads up!)
Aaron Aw, with a very muhibbah song.
Ayuni Wahab.
Boy Castro on guitar.
Ariff AB.
Hameer Zawawi does an awesome cover of Tempered Mental – Automata.