... R.I.P. Leroi Moore ...

Rest In Peace Leroi Moore

(1961 - 2008)

Leroi Moore (aged 46), founding saxophonist of Dave Matthews Band passed away Tuesday 19th August 2008 after suffering complications from an ATV injury on 30th June 2008.

Official band statement on their website reads :
We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.

The Announcement on the official Dave Matthews Band Website.

Coverage by Reuters.

:(

... ESWC / Indie Youth Fest Pt. 2...

Talk about posting that's waaaaaay overdue. More pics from the bands that played after those in part 1.

Band Number 7: Tempered Mental

If you've not checked them out before, you should the next time they perform. One of the two main reasons why I was there that day, the other being that Jaz was among the organisers.

8. Estrella

9. Green Paver

10. Deserters

...and a candid of Reza Salleh and Steph, watching from the sidelines

More pics to come from Day 3 of the Indie Youth Fest, but I'll need to pick out the photos I want to use first. Expect a slow update on that :)

... ESCW / Indie Youth Fest - Pt. 1 ...

The Malaysian leg of the Electronic Sports World Cup, which was held concurrently with the Indie Youth Fest was just concluded a couple of days ago after running for three days (4-6 July 2008) at the new wing of 1 Utama. I actually ended up in the wrong wing on the first day because the advertisements said "Main Entrance" of 1 Utama, and seeing that the old wing has been here almost a decade longer, I equated the entrance to that wing as the 'main entrance'.


I spent most of my time outside next to the performance stage where the Indie Youth Fest was held, which will become quite obvious after I'm done uploading the pictures. I'm also not too sure what happened inside with the ESWC finals, except that Paul Yan added yet another Warcraft III title to his name.

Back on the music side of things, I'm just going to put the pictures up - some bands I enjoyed, some I did not, so I'll just shut my mouth and not say anything about anyone. Bands that performed on the 5th and 6th of July (in chronological order, if I didn't muck it up) are as follows, though I wasn't able to take pictures of every band that went up, nor was I able to take an equal number of shots per band:

1. An Honest Mistake

2. Telephony Delivery

3. Superbar

4. Oh Chentaku

Band numbers 5 and 6 were 'Army of Three' and 'Lightcraft' respectively, but I had run off in search of food during those slots and was not able to catch them.

More pics coming soon!

... are you mental now? Indie Youth Fest / ESWC Finals

when :
4 - 6 July
where :
1 Utama, Main Entrance
what :
Electronic Sports World Cup / Indie Youth Fest
entrance :
free

Music. DotA. Music. Winning Eleven. Music. Trackmania. Music. Counterstrike. Music. Guitar Hero. Music. Warcraft III. And Music.

why you should go : tempered mental

(8.00-8.30pm, 5th July 2008)

They've performed in Canada, they played for Sunburst, and they'll be performing in Korea in a month's time. Listen to them. Buy their album, "The View From Here". Trust me, it's well worth it.

Listen to some samples here.
Read another blogger's review here.


Other appearing notables are:
[4th Jul] [5.30 pm] One Buck Short
[4th Jul] [7.30 pm] Filmmakers Anonymous Screenings

[5th Jul] [8.00 pm] Tempered Mental (in case you missed it! lol)
[5th Jul] [8.30 pm] Estrella

[6th Jul] [3.00 pm] Jasmine Low (readings)
[6th Jul] [4.00 pm] Otam
[6th Jul] [5.30 pm] Zalila Lee
[6th Jul] [6.30 pm] Mia Palencia
[6th Jul] [7.30 pm] Yuri Wong
[6th Jul] [8.00 pm] Reza Salleh

For further information and full performance list, please visit the Indie Youth Fest blog. Alternatively, you could also surf on over to Junk Magazine, or just click on the flyer at the top of this post.

... buy a life!

Finally took the plunge and changed my blog template. The initial urge to do this was about 6 months ago, but I came across way too many blogspot users who lost their older posts and stuff when they upgraded to XML. Just to cut the story short, I backed up what I had and just applied the changes and it was... surprisingly easy! Much thanks to Blogflak for the dummies' guide.


Odd news of the moment
Get a Life!
An expatriate in Australia has just split with his wife, and have decided to start off on a new life - by selling off his old one on ebay! Ian Usher, who has been in Australia for six years has placed his 'life' for auction, which includes his three-bedroom Perth home inclusive of everything that's inside it, his car, motorcycle, jet ski, parachuting equipment, and - get this - his job as a shop assistant in a rug store, and introduction to his friends in the Western Australian city. As he says, the winning bidder gets a complete lifestyle.

Read about it on BBC news.

Currently Listening to :

Pink Martini
Not too sure how to describe their music. I'd place their style as late 1930s - 1950s with a touches of jazz from that period with multilingual vocals (French, Spanish, and English). Think music from clubs during the American gangsters / prohibition era, from clubs that the Mask would go to, and music that quite fits the Grim Fandango soundtrack. Yes, I can tell that my description does not help much, go look them up on youtube or go buy the album.

http://www.pinkmartini.com



The Dresden Dolls
One pianist, one drummer, and they both sing. How much can you do with just that? A pretty darn lot, if you've ever listened to the Dresden Dolls. Their music is self described as "Brechtian Punk Cabaret" by pianist-singer Amanda Palmer, who was worried that they would get branded as simply "gothic". Checkout this video of one of their songs, Coin Operated Boy.

http://www.dresdendolls.com

... R.I.P. Bo Diddley ...

Bo Diddley
(30th Dec 1928 - 2nd June 2008)

Bo Diddley has passed away at age of 79 of heart failure.

... the Passing of a Kool Kat ...

The Alleycats, with Loga standing third from right.

Loganathan Arumugam, better known simply as "Loga" of the Alleycats passed away at 10.50am on the morning of Monday, 4th of June 2007.

Rest In Peace.

... of Revisiting Glamorous Skies...

A friend of mine, Izzy, recently asked me about Nana the movie which I wrote about some time back. Well here's the movie trailer and the video clip for the theme song Glamorous Sky. I couldn't find a trailer with subtitles though.


NANA - Movie Trailer


Glamorous Sky - performed by Mika Nakashima

While looking for these videos I found out that the entire Nana movie has been uploaded onto YouTube in 11 ten-minute segments.

And since I'm video hunting, I might as well chuck in the Trailer and Music Video for Nana 2! As with the previous movie, the song is sung by Mika Nakashima but this time the music was written by Takuro from Glay.


NANA 2 - Movie Trailer


Hitoiro - performed by Mika Nakashima


I'm kinda keen to watch the movie but at the same time, I'm a little hesitant. Nana fans have been giving slightly bad to lukewarm reviews on this movie, largely because of casting issues. One of the main actresses, Aoi Miyazaki has declined to reprise her role as Komatsu Nana and several other supporting actors from the first movie have been replaced. I think this will have quite some impact on the sequel because Aoi Miyazaki's acting fit Komatsu Nana's ditzy-cutesy character and had pretty good on screen chemistry with Mika Nakashima.

Anyone who's seen it, feel free to give me a heads up. Until then, I'll just keep my eyes peeled the next time I go movie hunting.

... Of Waking Up Tired & Looking at Glamorous Days

It's gonna be a shitty day. I've got a gig with Zal tonight at No Black Tie. I've got some sort of audition for a gig I'm hoping to do right before that. I meant to practice with Zal last night but was just too tired to stay up for it and on top of that, I had very restless sleep last night, rolling around and waking up too many times. Now I'm at work after waking up tired and wondering whether I can fully wake up before the audition and the gig.

Yup. It's gonna be a bad day :/

So let's cheer me up by writing a movie recommendation! Wee!


Movie Recommendations : NANA - 113 mins

Komatsu Nana travels to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend who's studying art. Chance finds her seated on the train next to Oosaki Nana, vocalist of a newly disbanded rock band, Black Stones. Although they are characteristically polar opposites, the ice was broken when Oosaki discovers that they both share the same name.

Parting ways at Tokyo station, they cross paths again later on when hunting for apartments to rent. After a small debate on who gets to rent the apartment they both want, they decide to move in together despite their differences. Cool, aloof and introspective Nana and ditzy, cheerful and outgoing Nana soon bonded and became close friends.

The Black Stones reunite with Oosaki after recruiting a new bassist and Komatsu wins a pair of tickets to watch Trapnest, the hottest new band in Japan. Komatsu invites Oosaki to watch the caoncert with her, not knowing that Ren, the Black Stones' former bassist and Oosaki's former love had left the band and Oosaki to further his career with Trapnest.

This movie shows that the course of true love is never always straight and smooth. How do the clashing personalities of the two unlikely friends help each other overcome their own shortcomings? Watch the movie to find out.

Overall Verdict : This is a movie built on a good realistic storyline with decent-good cinematography and kickass music. What I liked a lot about this movie is that it primarily tells a story about people ; their lives, their emotions, their struggles and their dreams. The amount of realism and daily struggle put into it relates to our daily lives. I feel that the only setback to this movie is that it's too short at 113 minutes runtime.

Jerral gives 4 1/2 stars out of 5!

Music Recommendation : Check out the song 'Glamorous Days' (also titled 'Glamorous Sky') written by Hyde Romaji of L'arc en Ciel and Ai Yawaza, performed by Mika Nakashima (Oosaki Nana). It's featured in NANA as a Black Stones song. Interestingly I first heard it on Traxx fm a few months ago, way before I came across the movie.

... Of Musical Methods & Pictoral Efforts

Posting up pictures of gigs in March. Hoping to appease complainants (complaints pertaining to mismanagement of blog content - also known as "no updates") Yin Ee and my only loyal secret fan now that I'm plugging in multiple entries within multiple entries ;)

Two Pics Above : International Women's Day @ La Bodega.

This is where we played!

Foresty pics above: Kampung Fest in Ulu Langat, 26 March 2006

Early Dinner After Kampung Fest! Yum!

Pics above: Zal and Myself - Actors Studio 27 March 2006


Rhapsody - Nicole & Ywenna - 27 March 2006

Kevin Brokenscar with Alda in the shadowed foreground - 27 March 2006

Melina William - 27 March 2006
I wanna be just like her when I grow up! No wait.. I'm older than her. Damnit.

Of Dave Matthewsism and Duplicity

I'm a big fan of Dave Matthews and his band, better known as the Dave Matthews Band. Oh wow. Creative branding aside, they have collectively created some of the best music I've heard in this lifetime. I hope I'll come across them again in the next, if there happens to be a next lifetime for me.

Anyways Dave Matthews music was introduced to me by an old friend of mine, Boon Yew. I was amazed at the composition and fingerwork for "What would you say?" when I first heard Booners play it. I've pretty much embarked on a mission of sorts to convert people to Dave Matthewsism ever since, preaching to fellow musicians who have the bad luck to have to work with me and to the poor ears who has had to sit down and listen to me out of courtesy.

Of course, being Jerral, I'm not only promoting Dave Matthews all this while, but my own brand of music as well. I'm just using Dave Matthews and whoever else anyone wants to hear as a platform to introduce music as per how I think they should be (I don't change Dave Matthew's music though. Quite sacrilegious, if you ask me).

Left - Right: Jerral and Zal performing in the Commonwealth Club a few years back.

People I've tried to convert over the years. They can comment on how successful I've been if you ever get to meet them or if they come across this entry!): Zalila Lee, Fariq "Aminal" Halim, Fiona Jane, Patricia "Ah Pat" Yip, Yineemeenie, Izzy, Ee Von, Intan Bintang, Shelley Belly, Debbie Tang, Ayunami, Davina, "Ah Long" Wei Yein and Puya. Can't remember if Shuks has heard me play or sing, but she should be on that list too. Yes, I have friends with interesting nicknames, and note that Fariq is an AMINAL, not animal.

Feel you should be on the list? Hit me with a comment if you ever see this blog. Gimme a spankin' high comment count so I can compete in some popularity contest or something.

Occassionally (read: once a year, twice if I'm lucky) I get flattered by an unexpected "Hey! I saw you at [insert performance] the other day! Remember me? I was the one who [insert incident]!" to which I would respond with the never changing "Oh yeah! My God! I've not seen you since then! How've you been doing, man?"

If you ever catch me saying that (unless you're a personal friend) then I've probably forgotten you and that incident, but it usually comes back a couple of minutes into the conversation. *Sheepish Grin*

Anyways Dave Matthews himself heard how I've been covering his music and sends his personal support and endorsement below.

Jerral did WHAT to my songs?!

Ayu has complained that I don't mention her whenever I talk about my music. So here it goes - She loves my simplified renditions of miscellaneous Dave Matthews songs and also my version of Jamiroquai's "Black Crow." She's a gorgeous and smart lass and has a great taste in musicians ;) She enjoys a good laugh, is a fan of Russel Peters, has a great sarcastic wit and does not take lightly to being insulted during a game of Literati. Her current whereabouts are to be kept confidential, but several unverified reports have surfaced saying that she has been antagonizing sheep around the region where they shot 'Lord of the Rings' when she's not busy playing Literati. It's best to stay clear from Lamb Chops for a while. :P

Digressing from music, I'm half a chapter away from finishing Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. Might do a review on it if I feel like it over the weekend. Cheers, all!

Song of the Day 1 : Love Me Butch - Freefall. Yes, I'm feeling nostalgic.

Song of the Day 2 : Mono - Life in Mono.

I should mention at this point that Dave Matthews and his band remain a constant inspiration to the little musician who lives inside me. I apologize for any duplicity caused in his name and for using that picture of his, which kind of makes me wish I had a spankin' cool music video myself.