Hey, it’s the second-last week of the year, the one that includes Christmas, as well as the final working days of the year. It was a super-busy week for me (why is it always like that anyway???)m as I was occupied with reviewing the edits a copy editor did on my new book, putting together a new magazine, and getting ready for the first gig of my band Supertzar, which took place on the evening of Friday, December 24th (Christmas Eve) at Home Club on Clarke Quay in Singapore.
On Sunday I started reviewing the edits, and that and also some regular work took up the whole day (except for about four hours spent at a Christmas party at my publisher Nick’s place, which was good fun). I also spent some time on Monday night, Tuesday early morning before work, and Tuesday evening on it, typically working until midnight. Pooped. All week long I was busy at work getting Issue 102 of my magazine together. Wednesday was a normal day, when I left at a reasonable hour and went home and watched a DVD. Thursday I went to band practice after work, going through the songs for that Supertzar would be playing on Friday night at our gig. That finished at 10:30, and I spent 30 minutes waiting for a bus that never came! I gave up and took the MRT home (since I knew that if the bus actually came it would fill up and stop at every stop along the way) and a cab from Clementi. Sheesh. Spent an hour at home chilling out, eating dinner, enjoying a gin and tonic, before going to sleep totally exhausted.
Friday was the big day. I had a busy six hours at work, which included a simple Christmas lunch with whichever staff was still around, and then off I went to a pre-gig practice. We did a good job, then went for some dinner, and then to the soundcheck. I was nervous before the show, trying to make sure that I’d memorised my lyrics properly, that I wouldn’t screw up. Oh-oh-oh-oh… We got some drink coupons and started on a bit of beer, not too much. There were two bands before us, “Through The Avenue”, four big Malay guys (the bassist was really very very big) who played some pretty good hardcore (although the vocalist wasn’t so great, and one of the guitars was out of tune for some parts of the set), they only played a short set; and “Paris In The Making”, a band with a not-so-great name but a very tight screamo set that sounded A LOT like Isis and Pelican (the vocalist mainly used the scream throughout, without any of the mellow lyrical bits you’d hear in Isis). Very tight, impressive. Our set started off, and everything went without a hitch, although we had to drop a song, so we gave up on “Frosty The Snowman”, the little thing that we dreamed up for Christmas eve. It was fun.
Then the gig was over. Whew! I felt relieved, all of the preparation and aggravation and problem solving and worry about whether the gig was going to happen or not was behind us and we pulled it off without any screw-ups! Hooray!! I stayed for a while, the rest of the band went home, the drummer nursing his wounds, as his hands were bloody from his banging away. A DJ played a set after the bands were done, and the music was great – old ’80s and ’90s alternative music, very cool. I talked to the DJ for a while, Joe Ng, very very nice guy. One of the friends who had come out had a car, and he drove me home, that was much appreciated.
Saturday I called up Naoko and Zen to wish them a Merry Christmas, then did the same for Mum ‘n’ Dad ‘n’ Ralph ‘n’ Nicole ‘n’ Evan ‘n’ Lauren, downloaded from my camera the video we had taken of the performance and had a look at that. I could see a bunch of things that I didn’t like about my performance, so I learned a lot about what I want to change next time we do a live show, starting with my stage gear, and my stage presence. Also, I’ll have to do something about my between-song chatter, it’s not so great.
It was Christmas Day, so I ate the Christmas meal that mum had left me, cordon bleu (thanks, mum). I also opened the little goody that she left in the refrigerator, turns out it was a bar of chocolate and a chunk of salami (thanks for that too, mom). I also watched a bunch of DVDs: “Black Sabbath” (only one of the three self-contained stories in the movies), “Ponyo On a Cliff by the Sea”, “Tears of the Black Tiger”, parts of “The Buena Vista Social Club”. Since the DVDs were due that day, I went to West Mall to return them, then checked out “Tron: Legacy.” After that, I took a bus in the heavy rain and went to meet my neighbour Prakash and his wife Maira for some tapas, then off for drinks at a whisky bar. Great people, great times, great conversation, great food. Got home late-ish, stayed up late doing photo album stuff.
Sunday, woke up at 9:00, did photo album stuff, laundry, dishes, work, reading, and no DVDs. Gonna run some errands and do some work for the company. Sheesh…
Here are some videos from Friday’s gig:
“Never Say Die”
“Iron Man”
“NIB”
“Black Sabbath”
“Sweet Leaf”
“Paranoid”
Here are some recent pics:
My new coffee mug is VERY BIG!
Supertzar!!!
My Christmas goodies from Oma, before...
... and after. It's salami and chocolate, my favourites!
Movie review:
TL
Tron:Legacy – While I’m not a fanboy for Tron, I thought that this would be fun, or at least not an embarrassing father-son movie like Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull; I was right about the latter (barely), but wrong about the former. The movie made no sense at all, and was ultimately terrible stupid. Kind of like Speed Racer, or something, but without the over-the-top CG.