Carrot Cake Conversations

Ein and I attended the gala premiere of local movie Carrot Cake Conversations,
Michael Wang's directorial debut!

And of course we are there for a reason!



6 months ago,
we were here at Lion Studios,

which does analog recording, on tape... instead of digital recording

Ein on the grand piano, and myself on vocals.

We did our tracks together, live.
What this means is that she played and I sung along at the same time,
so if anyone of us made a mistake we would both have to start over.

Most recordings nowadays are not like this,
the music is usually recorded first and the singer later sings over the track.

I enjoyed this process thoroughly,
we had to feel each other during the song and work together seamlessly.


our experienced audio engineer :)

I recorded 2 songs,
and for each one, we did 5 or less takes ...
and we were done!

I was feeling quite jittery as I was used to re-recording lines to make it sound better, or to emote better,
but both director Michael and composer Kevin Mathews were very pleased with it already!
So I didn't re-record anything
and what you hear is what you get!

Very raw, very real.


Michael, myself, Ein, Kevin, and Jason on guitar :)


actually we are all very tired haha


the hard work paid off!
what you hear now on my blog is a heartwrenching/heartwarming tune
called Always
that appears in the movie... in one of my favourite scenes...






this is Michael giving his speech to a cushy theatre filled with friends and supporters!


Spot Tay Kewei and Lee Ein Ein!
*squeals of delight!*
1st time my name is on a silver screen haha

In all spirit of the movie we headed down for a supper of Carrot Cake!


black or white?


we do the andrea fonseka as in the movie poster...





I know it's been said a million times before,
support the local arts scene blah blah blah

But there is so much effort and energy put into making a film,
so much passion that has to be present to motivate this enormous project... a
nd having being part of it makes me treasure this effort even more.

The least I can do is to help in a little publicity for this very insightful, warm film.

You should also keep your ears peeled for the music in the film of course :)



Visit the official website for more about the story :)







On a side note:

Earlier in the day,
I was at the press conference for the Korean Pop Concert that happened this Tuesday!

I tried to look as Korean as possible.


I was the emcee together with Lee An, Korean singer based in Singapore!


Some new boyband called U-Kiss.
I think they're cute :)


it was my first emceeing experience,
i don't think i'd wanna do it again... haha
i'd rather stick to singing!

011108 Leehom Concert in Singapore

This was the 8th concert in my spate of concerts in the month of October...
so very few pictures :p

i have yet to blog about 5 more ... :p


darling arianna... jamie's daughter
i lurrrrvvveee herrr!
she is wearing pink ear muffs because the drums are too loud
she says she wants to keep her ears quiet :)


we are babysitting in the middle of the stage!


the AMAZING LCD screens that bring leehom so close to everyone of the audience :)




this is you guys!
extremely loud and piercing... now who was the culprit who decided to give you whistles!!

BUT i must say leehom was really really overwhelmed by the passion and warmth of the audience :)


i specially took a picture for the special people in blue :)
spot yourself!





leehom's very hard, very spiky, very shiny... hair


yanzi and kit chan were also sitting in the front row :)


thanks to photowilson!


we get closer to the audience during encore!


my 3 seconds of fame on the big screen :D

how did you find the show??

youtube rocks

i just realised that songs i mention in my blog do get noticed!
so here are 2 more that really means something to me :)

Jamie Lidell, sounding much like Khalil Fong, happy old school soul,
is just the kinda song that i wanna sing and write!



and there is one homemade video that *can you believe it* i always go back to...
ALWAYS.
once in a while i will click on it and replay it over and over again.


mr Alain DeCourtenay's cover of Stevie Wonder's Knocks Me Off My Feet.
in my humble opinion this rocks my boat much more than the original version.

not to mention his dashing good looks.
mmm :9

251008 David Tao Concert in Jakarta

This was the first time I went to the airport alone, and flew alone :)
It was interestingly liberating,
not having to look back,
not having company,
completely ME time.

At times like this, I think up lyrics in my head
and type them in my phone as I step onto the travellator.

Lyrics, mostly about travelling,
about a certain sense of loss when you're constantly away...



Jakarta's airport reminded me of Singapore's East Coast chalets,


with red tiled roofs and wooden beams -


a throwback to the good old days,
so vastly different from the glass-and-steel airports I'm used to nowadays.


Once I reached the venue, Sands Club,
I was brought into a neon paradise of endless free food, massage, KTV and pool.


No night.


Nor day.


i'd say


that my pool skills has improved.




it was a VIP suite to watch the show from


our stage


we had ALL our meals here.


every meal was a similar multiple course affair


desserts scattered on the KTV tables

the manager in our room acceded to our every request -
when i asked if i could go online in the room,
she said: oh, do you wanna go online here?
i said : here?
she: sure, we have wireless.
me: cool, ok.
she: we can bring laptops in.
me, amazed: err, ok!
she: how many you want?
me, more amazed: err.. who wants to go online here? paradise just got better.
(some hands shoot up, others continue playing pool)
me: three?
she: ok.

some guy appears with 3 laptop bags and an entire wireless setup.






More about the show :)




stars who have graced the stage


come come, follow me...












rehearsal starts :)


showtime!

didn't take pictures from stage since we were soooooo near the audience
and i didn't wanna be too obvious about it :)

the crowd took a little time to warm up, but i must say David really worked them well!
it was a shorter show than our full-length concert, which lasted about 1.5-2 hours
so it was a breeze :)

it was also great to meet some of the fans later outside the ballroom,
hello to those who read my blog! :D


people who made this show possible :)


thanks guys!



off to Tianjin tomorrow for Amei's concert :)

I borrowed 4 books from the library to feed my brain.

:D