open call

we have officially ended our set at Oosh,
still looking out for a new place for my pop-jazz setup Little Black Book.


BUT i am still at Wala Wala, Holland Village,
every Sunday 7pm-9pm,
(though the crowds tend to stream in after dinner, about 8pm)
and especially so for Jan&Feb!
before i start touring again.

A big thankYOU to all those who pay me surprise visits,
it always perks me up :D




ok, i admit.

i don't listen to radio,
i don't really watch mtv.
i don't know what is hot anymore.

let me know what has been spinning on radio,
what is happening on movie and drama soundtracks, can?
ie what is good for wala.

i am trying to do my homework... =/
see la, 4 am already.

Livin La Vida LOCAL

i'll be performing at
Esplanade Powerhouse
this coming Saturday
7:30pm - 10:30pm
with Little Black Book :)

drop by and wave!
RSVP here :D

261007 David Tao Concert in Taipei

I tend to have less (to zero) onstage pictures of David's concerts,
mainly because we're right in front onstage in full view of the audience
and have no time to snap any pictures :)


nevertheless, a big shoutout to DTFC!

They caught some of us right outside Taipei Arena
before we went in for rehearsals :)

Like I mentioned, we stay opposite the Taipei Arena,
so we just cross the road and stroll in,
unlike other venues where we are usually ferried in by a van of sorts.


This time at Taipei I visited Elisa's own studio,
she's a fulltime producer-arranger back in her hometown :)

was especially intrigued by this painting on her walls



take a better look.


taipei treats


authentic ice monster


i forgot the name.




yummy 东一排骨便当




the band decks out in David Tao tshirts!
Eh. Jamie is in a special white one. Racist la.


David Tao carries his life-size poster onstage,
and we just HAD to.


togetherly please!



DTFC, please insert concert writeups here -->















Post party time, my turn:


our band leader takes to the piano bar


with 发神 Dick哥
who obviously has to have hairstyles unlike us mortals


we also spent a lovely evening at Lawry's Prime Ribs,








with Jim Lee, our front-of-house engineer, David Tan and Elisa


and needless to say spirits were high,
and spillages were aplenty.






feet in hot tubs,
a great way to end off worktrips :)

241207 Amei Concert in Taipei

Merry Christmas~*!
Amei descends in a snowflake!


Amei called out names one by one, for band, dancers, production crew, etc
and we receive our xmas gift!


everyone gets an over-the-top bright red festive bath robe!


the band!


backing vocal family with Amei!


the dancers from NY and London


dancers from Taipei


we line up on the stairs in the middle of the stage for group pic!



last show!! on christmas eve!!
everyone is in a party mood :)

"Everybody! Give me a RAWWWWKKK pose!!
Come come, LOCK!!"




can't sit down properly without flashing myself :S


let loose yall!




right after the last song we all whip out our robes
and pretend to look like santa



Amei Star Tour! must show!


Amei sings Amazing Grace...


sing&strum with the audience


everyone joins the party onstage!


confetti!!! balloons!!! everyone goes berserk!!!


Amei goes sooooo close to the audience at the back
followed by present-spewing Santas!

everyone at this point is going nuts.
i have crazy videos i tried to take while running all amok on stage.
but they're really too blur :p

i'll try again next time!






the post-party lasts till 5am...

some peeps you might not have seen upclose on my blog

sisqo and joe


patrick


lee, the flipper!!


Diva!!!


still, some 凉面 at 5am before we leave for Singapore in an hour...



The concert DVD should be based on footage from these 3 days,
wonder if they'd include the Christmas segment :)



x0x0,
kewei

McDonald's 福气牛肉汉堡

Have you seen the latest McDonald's TV commercial for Chinese New Year?



Apparently it's playing in Mandarin,
on both Mandarin channels and Channel 5 (with subtitles).



Haha, that girl's voice is Mine! :)


peppered beef for you?


It was my first voice-over recording,
first time in the studio recording my spoken voice, instead of singing.

It was kinda difficult, but still very fun!
Happy to lend my voice to a big client for my virgin attempt! :D



Happy Chinese New Year in advance!

faq 101 on amei :)

ming posted some questions in my comments,
i thought i'd share my answers here :)

Of the 3 A-mei gigs so far in Shanghai, Spore and Taipei that you have blogged here, which one would you rate as your favourite?
it's really hard to rank them!
Shanghai was great because it was the FIRST amei show, and the LARGEST venue I've ever performed at :)
Singapore was great because it was the FIRST 4-sided stage I performed at, and it was at home :)
Taipei was memorable because it was Christmas! and there were 3 concerts in a row... Having 3 concerts in a row is about the max no of shows I've done consecutively, it always feels like a dream afterwards.

Can you imagine what it's like doing 15 shows or more consecutively,
which is the norm in HK?
This is why Jacky Cheung (who has toured nonstop for a year, hitting almost 101 shows this tour, is my Heavenly King!!)



do you feel jaded going thru a similar routine at every concert stop?
I don't think the frequency of the shows I did are near enough for me to feel jaded...
In fact, it's almost always a very emotionally intense experience at Amei's shows, which range from me crying to partying hysterically...
At David Tao's shows, a lot of things were happening for me in the Love Can tour, when I had to sing, dance and play the erhu.
During the 123 Wooden Man Tour, I had to sing more duets with David Tao, so I was always on my toes. No time to be jaded!
At JJ's shows, life is more relaxed, but we have too much fun fooling around to be jaded. haha.

Having said that, Jacky Cheung is once again the hero, who remains so professional in every show even though he's done it literally, 100 times before.



where/when will the next concerts be held?
Amei's shows will resume in May or June, I believe,
since she's now busy with a musical project in Japan :)



what is A-mei like in person?
She is really cute :)
and of course absolutely POWER!
she sings out all the time for rehearsals, and oh man can she sing.
i feel like a miserable ant trying to squeak her songs when I'm next to her.



i love amei!

jacky cheung concert

my friends have watched fish leong,
complaining about how difficult it is to get jay chou's tickets...

but i am happily dwelling in Jacky Cheung bliss :)

i caught the Jan6 Encore concert at the Stadium
and was excited to be part of the thronging masses heading towards
a night of 金曲！

the crowd was nearly mid-20s and above, very few light sticks,
in fact a pretty static crowd even throughout the party songs.



i'm not a regular concert-goer,
the only Mandarin pop concerts I paid to watch were
incidentally, David Tao's Soul Power tour (his first one)...
Lee Hom's 盖世英雄 tour last year...
and this one.
!!!

The only English concert I paid to watch was Alicia Keys.

Anyways!
I figured other than Amei, DT, Lee Hom...
there were really no more vocal powerhouses in the Chinese pop scene,
so Jacky Cheung had to be it :)



The way he promised to sing as many songs as he could for the audience,
it felt like he saw himself as rendering a service to others,
rather than a popstar demanding deserved attention.

I have long heard many stories of his humility and affability,
but it was really apparent in the way he spoke.

It was his 93rd show, long live the Heavenly King!

A full year of touring is unimaginable.
Almost everyone in the crew and production have fallen seriously ill at some point of time.

His voice faltered a little, but he carried on singing and singing.

Like he said before his last song,
我是歌手，不是超人。

He ended the concert with 祝福, my Primary 6 graduation song :)
What memories...

22-231207 Amei Concert in Taipei

packing for 7 days is no joke.

i've been used to the usual 4-days away itinerary,
so trying to coordinate 7 days (while guessing at the weather)
worth of casual tops,dressy tops, comfy pants for the plane, normal pants for the cold weather, shorts, stockings to match my shorts (i brought 4 pairs of different colours in the end), scarves, shoes etc
was nothing short of confusing.


halfway through packing (in 3 hrs time i had to be at the airport -_-")
i discovered this.



a heart-shaped blueblack!!!
i am soooo amused.




zip to transit at KL to Taipei.

plane tickets were crazy booked for the festive season
so we couldn't take a direct flight to Taipei.





zip to Taipei.

we always stay at Sunworld Dynasty Hotel
since it's across the street from Taipei Arena, where the concerts are held.

Next to the Hotel is a shopping complex,
there is a foodcourt at the basement with the BBEEESSSTTTT shabu shabu in the world.

My #1 comfort food after a long day of travel :)
Even the waitresses recognise me and David Tan already!!! OMG.

okay, i was too busy eating and
bathing in thin slices of beef and fresh fish bliss,
so i didn't take any photos.




zip to rehearsals


casey bassy!


i'm not a coffee drinker,
but there are always lattes hanging around at rehearsals.

i was in need of a warm drink,
and relaxing with a gaily-coloured warm drink, to Amei's singing,
is one of the best treats in life.



lunch the next day

roasted chicken wings, spaghetti, corn soup. mm deliciouuuus.


strawberry milk tea!
not just milk, but milk tea!
i love it.


@ the venue:
(p.s. there were several additions to stage props customised for the arena,
since the outdoor stadium in Shanghai was too huge,
and the show in Singapore was on a 4-sided stage.)


this ginormous A that is kept snugly cross the ceiling


meets the audience while they await Amei!

Once the concert starts,
the A slowly rises back into the ceiling
in an A-for-freaking-Awesome fashion.


Jim figures out chords for Amei's sing&strum session


so i twiddle my toes


a very long rehearsal ends, and we seek comfort food :)

shabu shabu in tomato soup!!!


i love edameme beans.
do you fancy some 猪血糕?
gross to me.


1st Day of concert!




曹格 as guest artiste :)





right at the finale, this royal gold curtain descends in front of the stage...
only to fall when amei reappears for the encore :)

a little video to whet your tastebuds.


this show was gonna be recorded for DVD release,
so we were all rather jittery.

but, it had been a while since the last concert,
and ... I still cry at the same lines...


2nd Day of Concert!

萧敬腾 as special guest :)


@ rehearsal


david takes over cymbal rolls for 一眼瞬间 haha!


at the grand piano, during concert



Hypothesis:
height of our score stands = level of commitment to singing accurately.

hypothesis will be proven when live concert tracks are released.


relak one corner


camwhore for a bit



i love shots when the fill lights illuminate everyone.
every night was just party party party...



did i mention... our makeup artists were from MAC!
who released a special edition of shades for Amei!

I was a happy girl :)

I found this on the net while surfing for Amei MAC stuff,
*girly squeal of delight*
it shows all the face-colour charts of Amei
which were designed by the makeup artists for her MVs :)


my cutesy hairstylist duo!


hair and makeup for 1st and 2nd day :)
my makeup was quite different.

1st day:




2nd day: more smoky eyes :)





Weiwei, designer for the band's costumes came by!
she was the one i mentioned who brought me shopping at 忠孝东区 for my crazy thigh-high boots :)


3rd Day of Concert - XmasEve!!!~*
i'll... leave that for the next entry :)
too many pics la!