They Turned My Room Into A Band Studio!

Jon Chong kicked off his Starbucks tour on Fri, and it'll go on until 11 April. Tour dates & venues here. I'm singing back-ups for him on selected dates. So anyway, the band came to my house for rehearsals, and I was quite amazed at how my room looked as a makeshift band studio. :)

Jon on lead vox + guit, with his tiny amp from Japan.

Howie on bass

Howie "Killer Licks" Tan with Ivan, our 2nd bassist, in the background. They'll be rotating for the tour.

Lullaby

I met up with dear Berno and Danny today. Thank God for an extra CNY off day from church! :) It was a great time of catching up with 2 dear fwens who used to be such a huge part of my everyday life in BMI. We don't get to meet up as often these days...and the ache in my heart reminds me of how much I miss these incredible folks, our regular jams, suppers, insane Taboo nites, birthday pranks....and just how deeply we've done life together over the past few years.

Today, as we chatted...Danny also managed to sing/play "Love Story" by Taylor Swift and "Apologize" by One Republic for me. haha! And then Uncle Danny also played a lovely guitar lullaby for 2 mth old Baby Esher, who has grown so much since I last saw the fella. Such a beautiful moment...only accidentally marred by my stupid camera flash. I had to stop filming pretty soon cos it was too bright for the baby.

Soundbites

Dawn says: Eh I hv a new song other than "Walk" :) Its currently titled "Time Traveller"
Michelle says: Like the book, 'Time Traveller's Wife"?
Dawn says: oh haha. no lah...different
Michelle says: Why all yr songs abt transportation one?
Dawn: HAHAHA

Mich: *trying to stuff a pair of earrings into a teeny weeny plastic bag*
Amelia: *observing* You might want to give up!
Mich: *stunned silence and jaw drops*
Amelia: Oh...that must have sounded pretty negative.
Mich: YAH! It pierced my hopeful, optimistic Disney heart!!

The Climb

I'm really loving "The Climb" after I heard Alarice sing it. So hopeful, so Disney!! :) Its not about reaching your destination, or how fast you get there...its about building your character.

I don't like the original version by Miley Cyrus though. This version by Ahmir is still quite alright. Quite Boyz II Men-ish.

The Climb lyrics
Songwriters: Alexander, J; Mabe, J;I can almost see it

That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

"Unveil Your Deepest Song"

I attended Alarice's album launch, "Sunday Afternoon" @ the Esplanade Recital Studio with my Dawnie just now. I'm so glad I went although I've seen her plenty many times before. Usually she plays with an acoustic set-up, but this time she had a string section and a full band: Er Chow Kiat on drums; David on bass; Nigel Tan on electric/acoustic guit; Jocelyn Ong on keys; Neli and Tina Atiga on backing vocals! It was a refreshing experience seeing her play with a full band. Enjoyed their arrangements and how tight they were.

I loved loved loved seeing Neli and Tina up there. They added so much with their harmonies. Neli waved at me from the stage too. Love the guy! And when he came in with his part for "First Dance", his duet with Alarice...you could literally hear the collective 'wow!' from the crowd. Smashing lah! :)

Anyway...coming back to why I'm so glad I went for Alarice's concert. I appreciated how natural and open she was in sharing her faith as well, which inspired her to pen many of her songs. And on top of that, I think I felt moved and inspired by her songs...which is prob something I haven't felt in a long while. Together with her originals, and covers like "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus; "Man in the mirror" by MJ and "Only Hope" by Switchfoot, I felt like I was given a huge dose of hope, and a Disney-esque prompting to dream again. Yeah...something I shared with Dawn that I need in this season.

I guess I really need to find myself again, step out in faith, face my giants and chase after the dreams that I've tucked away in the corner of my heart. This song from Alarice's new album kinda describes my state of mind right now. "Oh, midnight train, take me to lands unknown, show me where I need to go."

=================================================================
Midnight Train (by Alarice Thio)
-------------------------------------------------

Left her life in the city
Now her home's on her back
So scared yet so unafraid, of the heroes and giants she'll face

She took the midnight train, to a place far away
She packed her things and her dreams in a suitcase
She flew out the door, to follow her call
And as the clock struck 12, she was onboard
Thinking and dreaming as she headed for, headed for the stars

Oh, Midnight Train
Take me to lands unknown, show me where I need to go


===============================================================
If you missed Alarice's album launch at Esplanade, she has another concert this Sun, 31 Jan.
3pm at Oosh, 22 Dempsey Rd. Ticket details at www.alaricemusic.com

"Sunday Afternoon," her new album, is available at HMV at $14.95. Support local music!! :)

Jon Chong's Gig @ The Esplanade (15-17 Jan)

Last week, I hardly knew how I would survive the wk with 3 rehearsals, 3 nites of gigs, and conducting the choir for Sun svces. Now that the gigs @ the Esplanade are over, I'm honestly quite relieved that I finally have a breather. But it really was a precious experience...every time I gig at the Esplanade is a precious opportunity. It was also great to be able to support Jon in his long anticipated album launch. I was with him when he first started out in his song-writing journey years ago. In fact, back then we were jamming in my room with Danny, and recording on cassette tape!! Haha! How we've grown since then. :)

Through this gig, I met some incredibly talented young musos from La Salle and a very groovy and funny bassist from Every Nation Church. And we had some fun times indeed...am looking forward to more gigs ahead. :)

I was also greatly moved by the show of support from my incredible fwens who came down to 'groupie' me. haha! And some of them even came down 2 nites in a row, although the sets were pretty similar. To be honest, I almost teared when I saw them in the crowd, looking so enthusiastic, cheering me on and even trying to make me laugh with their hilarious antics.

Thank God for the gift of fwenship. :)

Beautiful bkdrop of the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre.

Top row (L-R): Howard on bass, Jon on vox and acoustic guit, Stephen on electric guit
Bottom row (L-R): Naz on keys, Chow Kiat on drums, and me on bking vox

Combined Birthday Celebrations & Christmas Dinner

Amelia, Darren, Muffin & I had a mega belated birthday celebration at 15 mins cafe @ La Salle. This was the vintage robot they got me as part of my pressie. :) I loves it.

A ravenous Darren (what's new?) about to eat the wrong thing. Check out the fear in vintage robot's eyes!

Christmas day dinner @ my place with pizza, choc fondue, ice-cream & a movie! Darren is doing 'S' for Henry Seeley in this pic, while Muffin is trying to counter with an attempt at forming a 'H' for Hillsong. haha! If you look closely at the table, you shld see Brooke, the triceratops. :) I love dinosaurs!!

The guys and Amelia. Our table is filled with fruits and nonsense snacks like Hello Panda, diff varieties of Pocky, marshmallows and cornflakes. Sugar overload!

Muffin using Brooke the Triceratops as a satay stick for his fondue. FAIL!

Cell Christmas Party @ Seng and Dorcas' Place

Dorcas hard at work, stirring Randolf's amazing pot of mushroom soup.

Jem scooping out balls of vodka soaked watermelon. POTENT!

The dress code was red, green and gold. This is obviously the red camp.

The greenies, and 1 goldie, and Arun..the odd one out in white.

Happy group pic!

Christmas Svce 2009

3 bilingual Christmas svces in one day. Plenty many Chinese songs. Many hours of stressful memorisation/studying. It's all over now. And seeing the number of salvations during the altar call....I think its all worth it. Check out our stage backdrop with the pretty fairy lights. Quite breathtaking when they're switched on at Jeremy's drum crash moment! :) Thanks to Uncle Freddy and the lighting crew. [Photo credit: Muffin]

W for Woh-oh-oh?? Haha! Not in this case. W for Wonder Boy, whom its always a joy to serve with.

Wonder Boy to the rescue! More pics will come when Ricky, our photographer, Facebooks them I'm sure. :)

Welcome Baby Esher!

Erica, Danny & I went to visit Berno n Henry Choo at Mt Alvernia yesterday cos Berno had just given birth to her beautiful baby Esher (the name means 'blessed' in Hebrew). Here's a pic of Uncle Danny cradling Esher. :) I'm so happy for Berno n Henry...what a journey it has been.