Band Act 2010
Bands in Actions: A lot
Food: A lot
Awards to be presented: A lot
Hot Chicks: A lot
Prince Charming: A lot
Tickets: Not many
Contact: michael at 016 553 5566 to book.
Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Grand Finals Yokohama 2009 Part 7: Guitar Conquering Day in Tokyo
Jan 22, 2010 Events, Gallery, News
read older related posts here:
Part 1: Ohaiyo and First Taste of Japan
Part 2: Interesting Yokohama Bay
Part 3: InterContinental Yokohama Grand
Part 4: Rehearsal Day and the Retarded Bitch
Part 5: Competition Day
Part 6: The After-show Party
Good morning, this is a view from the hotel room at Yokohama Grand, we are going to check out in less than an hour’s time. The lads were still sound asleep while i sat beside the window savaging “final moments” of this breathtaking scene.
when will i see you again… i dont wanna go to the theme park, but wish to walk along the stretch of bridge, park and all the way back to yokohama pier where we paced along on the first day.
however, something more attractive, temtping has distrated me from the scene by now, cos Mr Ng has told us today he’s gonna bring us to the guitar market, ya, guitar market. in malaysia, you heard of pasar ikan (fish market), pasar tani (agricultural market or sort of), pasar malam (night market), pasar pagi (morning market), but in japan, it has guitar market (pasar gitar)…. isnt that so cool…
i was probably thinking 1 kg of guitar RM50, so 10 kg only RM100…
so, without hesitation, i woke up every one, and start packing and go straight to the LRT hotel restaurant for free breakfast…
Wind Rising did some stupid but funny stuff at the restaurant… but it’s not really nice to write here, if you wanna know what happened at the breakfast you can PM their respective facebooks.
after eating i have a little trouble, bcos i had to take 3 of them to the LRT station (about 25 minute walk from Yokohama Grand) and get the train to Ishikawacho meeting up with the rest of the gang. and i aint having maps with me after reaching there.
finally we arrived at Ishikawacho station after riding the train for about 6 minutes only. although some japanese addresses are hard to remember, but this one is easy, you see, Ishikawacho, the word if translated into hokkien is （她是跟我做）, it means… haha… u know what i mean…
so, we got down from the train station, but, got lost in the neighourhood… which road leads to the A Silk Tree Hotel?… so i took them for a mini tour… above is the mini post office.
with bright sunlight, but cool weather. this is a small lane full of restaurants but very quiet. you can see lots, i mean LOTS of beverage vendor machines all along japanese roads, main road, small road, sub road, or no road, lots of them. above picture you can see one just outside the further building.
after some wrong turns taken, we finally met up with everyone, checked in extra rooms and kept our luggage well, its time to ROLL…. to Tokyo
many public places in japan are smoking prohibited, including open-air main roads. the above sign says “终日禁烟” which means when the day ends, you cant smoke, means day time can smoke lolzzz…
this way to tokyo, but before going to tokyo, you must go through the next station called “see breast”, see the signboard above? “看奶“, and before Ishikawacho station, its “Yamate”.. hmm.. that sounds familiar in many japanese-produced movie clips right?
even riding on the escalator is an experience in japan, it is divided into left lane (static lane), and right lane (express lane) where commuters walk or run up instead of waiting for the magic stairs to take you up.
after about 40 minutes of train ride, we finally were now very near to GUITAR MARKET..
thanks to Mr Ng, he had been here before so, we din have too much trouble in our treasure hunt.
soup anyone?
it was about 12.45pm when we arrived, you will be surprised, when it was later 8pm in the day we were still shopping for guitars and music gadgets…. why? read on…
all the shops there so tempting… in terms of u just ate your breakfast, walked out and you already want to eat your lunch, and dinner, and supper.
no smoking on the road yeh…
so, to make full use of this rule, there were many restaurants which offer “in house” smoking, where you can dine and smoke inside… but since you cant smoke on the road, then where do all the smoke go if you smoke inside the restaurant???? wont it be sucked out to the open air as well??
CAUTION: WHOLE LOADS of GUITARZZZZ AHEAD…
this is the first shop (of many many many many…more) we stepped in.
aint it crazy? the shops there made “Bentley” in malaysia looks so average…
before i continue, i need to clarify a few things, my initial purpose of coming to the music market is to “have a look” and not buying anything, since nothing i was missing. so i just look here there, take pictures, try playing out a few guitars… and slowly, very gradually, the desire took over the logical mind…
you see? its like really stupid if you dont buy at least one guitar back home… cos they are much cheaper compared to malaysia, and the choices are countless, it was like if you can find thailand, china, indo, local chicks in alor star, well, in japan, you see united nations…
from shop to shop, and this corner shop, i was thinking of grabbing a few guitars and run away through the side lane… you see the word “Part-2″ on the sign board? this shop which has 3 floors of guitars has 5 branches, two located on the same street.
this is one odd-but-nice looking building located at the corner of one of the guitar streets…
this is Ming Zhi (translated) University, 明治大学，located in the middle of these busy streets.
it shud be a guitar university to make it a perfect match.
we must have at least walked through over 8 shops, saw hundreds if not thousand of guitars, and its time to be tokyo raiders…. tokyo food raiders to be precise.
well, surely i aint gonna eat here, this is for the memories… very attractive deco infact, you can see the fish from afar… as i also said in the first post about one month ago, almost every japanese restaurant has their menu displayed outside, only trouble is…. we dont read japanese.
so much for the restriction sign, this guy showing how cool he is by parking is bicycle EXACTLY in front of the ‘no bicycke parking” sign… and chained it to the metal railing beside the road, just outside some restaurants.
finally seeing one… this typical japanese toilet bowl was found in the restaurant we dined in, all the others we utilized was automatic ones…. this made me remember crayon shinchan…
after a 45minute, lunch, here we go again… next shops till i see what’s worth buying…
as we visit more shops, the accessories i bought increased. first, fancy guitar picks, knobs, and almost bought some never-seen-before japanese BOSS effects.
LARGEST Gibson collectino in Japan… although they are expensive, but still cheaper than you buy it in malaysia, how much fire insurance has this shop invested??
u see u see? these babies are testing my resistance, see how long i can refrain myself from taking out my wallet. p/s: these are all GENUINE USA Gibsons, not some Epiphones or china imitations…
ESP custom shop, you can order your guitar here, from pickups, to wood, neck profile, hardware…
lets see what’s inside…
wow…. it’s a…
…hot chick
i told her, hey, “i know you, you are the superstar on TV”
after taking photo, i overheard she told her friend “these guys thought i am an artiste.”
well, you certainly looked like one…
PRS custom, RM32000… want to buy ah??? i mean, can afford to buy ah?
Forest Brothers, guitar in guitar…. price: ASK
you can really see some weird weird de gutiar designs, some which i think will not help in playing at all but only for collection purposes. this shop cannot stay too long, must move on…
this is from another HUGE (5 floors) guitar store, which tai suan and chin sing eventually bought their new Italia guitars here. displaying on the front panel are three awesome out of this wolrd ESP custom guitars. i not quite like this one, the next two are better. the above shown is like a normal guitar body kena acid and the body started deforming…
this one looks nicer and the deformed ESP… but not practical too because you will have trouble playing it for long period if you notice there is no arm rest, you have to rest your picking arm on the arrows… not ergonomic design, but if the guitar is priced at RM500, i will consider buying it, sadly, it was over RM20000.
now this is the best among the three on display, i will definitely buy it if the price was about RM4000, sadly…. it is a not-for-sale item and priced over RM40,000… siao eh, buy a car better la…
can somebody teach me how to stop myself from about-to-buy a guitar at that time?
so, it was over 7 hours we walking all music shops, and the sky was already dark, my feet were very very pain, as i only wear very thin RM18 sports shoe. Chin Sing Jr has stopped walking as he could not bare the pain and exausted. so, i sat down and started thinking which guitar to buy after over thousands of them flashed before my eyes…
i have narrowed my options down to three:
(1)
Fender aerodyne, which i craved for two years back, kaevin eventually bought it years ago after i suggested, the guitar is thin, neck profile suited me well, nice white colour lining surrounding the body, with matching head stock colour. but Suan said, what the heck, buy la something different which is not common back in malaysia…
kaevin’s aerodyne
(2)
Edwards Guitars, weird shape designed guitar, i think the look is more appealing than the playability of the guitar itself, i think i din really click with it.
now u see why i no like, if u look carefully, it looks like a black cat stretching out his front legs, with his ass up behind farting…
(3)
Burny Hide Signature, this is the likelier guitar that i might part my money with (in this case, part with my credit card credit limit)
after some running here there to a few shops, finally put my misery of dilemma to rest by buying the Hide guitar.
wow! she’s a beauty, i made the right choice. MG145 S, costing RM4,900
job done!!
wow, by this time, i was really thirsty, luckily in japan, the drink vendor machines follow you every where
and as you noticed, the sky already dark, and time for dinner.
now this is really called Pasar Malam Gitar (Guitar Night Market), sky dark liao still no want keep and left at road side, i wish i had a lorry in tokyo, and take all of them away while the shop owner inside having dinner…
well, eventually, we (Chin Sing Sr, Haris and Me) all went back to the same restaurant where we dined for lunch, reason is simple, it serves Chinese food!!! more local (malaysian) taste = more acceptable
outside the restaurant got photoshop, yeah, auto photo shop, not that software, the chinese wordings “证明写真” means prove to me you take sexy photos. LOL!!
but in japanese is ID photo machine
i got a little drunk after dinner, though no alcohol consumed.
you must see these beautiful beautiful night scenes!
if only S90 and its owner were here…
why time passed so the fast…. 2 days to go and everything back to normal…
kaevin also wants to be with Hide…
ok, its about time to head home (Hotel A Silk Tree), lets look at the LRT map…
certainly we are not going to “My Grandson’s Place”, or “Take Hand”
and not going to “Tai Suan” becos it’s a dead end…
here comes the train
let’s hop on to the train, but if you wanna stop it, just press the “VERY STOP” button.
we still have some time after arriving at Ishikawacho, bought some sweets, junks, ice cream, and tai suan bought a rare souvenir in book form for metal sow.
ok, gotta leave right now, below are the colourful packaging sweeties keavin bought for his girl friendsss.
Yamaha Asianbeat Asia Grand Finals Yokohama 2009 Part 6: The After-show Party
Jan 13, 2010 Events, Gallery, News
read older related posts here:
Part 1: Ohaiyo and First Taste of Japan
Part 2: Interesting Yokohama Bay
Part 3: InterContinental Yokohama Grand
Part 4: Rehearsal Day and the Retarded Bitch
Part 5: Competition Day
finally its over, just some photos to share here, not really detailed report.
very many the people!
it was like a huge banquet, minus champagne…
happy faces at the end, the lads grown up a lot. Wind Rising wiped off their make-up immediately after their performance, haiyo, wasted my effort lo, know took how long to draw all your faces cutely?
a winning combination, friends and family.
Wind Rising ride a sudden fame.
i love this japanese couple…
Haris has new fan…
Chin Sing pointing to kaevin: not fair, kaevin and haris got chicks around them, how bout me?
G Eleven, the champions of mianland China, the entire band came from the same college. They already have their own band album out as well.
Zen Kwun… i want that monk costume
one of my favourite bands in the conpetition, Pleasant Noiz, nice people, nice song, nice vocal…
Singapore champs Black, a cool lot to be with, on stage agressive metalizm, down stage crazy gang.
The Lemons from Mongolia, probably the most “got attitude” band in this year’s showdown.
Sonoda Bando, named after the keyboardist Sonoda.
me: how long do you practice on the piano every day to prepare this competition?
Sonoda: at least 3 hours.
Storm Bringer bassist (Mr Chocolate Factory, not in photo) performed a Chris Novoselic routine on stage towards the end of their performance.
after we took some photos, chatted with the contestants, it was about 6.30pm already. (the show ended 5pm), and i suddenly remember i did not eat breakfast and lunch, for my size to bare that is a miracle, so better go search for food now…
we walked across the hall, through the main door of the hotel, and going through Queens’ Bay Mall, and finally reached Land Mark Plaza (about 20-minute walk from the convention hall) ah….. really tired…
this is one huge christmas tree sizing almost three floors of the shopping mall.
and this time, i did not wait for tai suan to search for his favourite restaurant and walked in a japanese style outlet with Haris and Chin Sing Sr, well… at the end, everyone came dining here, we had to wait outside the shop around 10 minutes as it was full. while we went in, there were still many waiting outside…
appetizer before main dish. mushroom salad with tomatos and duno what kind of vege. tasted very very good.
main dish… miso soup, fried brinjals, dried salted vege, slices of cucumber, with lemon and mayonize, oh this is so perfect, by looking at this photo, i want to go japan again soonest…
to end this post, i would like to thank Mr Ng… bcos hoh….
this meal he belanja one… wahahaha…
Yamaha Asianbeat Asia Grand Finals Yokohama 2009 Part 5: Competition Day
Jan 8, 2010 Events, Gallery, News
read older related posts here:
Part 1: Ohaiyo and First Taste of Japan
Part 2: Interesting Yokohama Bay
Part 3: InterContinental Yokohama Grand
Part 4: Rehearsal Day and the Retarded Bitch
welcome back to Part 5, and it’s show down in Yokohama. but before that, there was another rehearsal, stage appearance order and prize-giving run-through.
after a furious day in Part 4, i dont really recall much detail in the morning of Part 5 (competition day) as i am writing now, so i try to pen from what i see in the photos below.
chin sing, haris, kaevin lined up in final program run-down rehearsal
the very pro de Mr Steve joined in the rehearsal as well
now i remember, since i was putting up at the hotel again, i did not manage to have breakfast, bcos MORON had badly managed logistic and did not keep Wind Rising well-informed of rehearsal time, they were late and missed breakfast. see? i told yeah, if we (tai suan and me) were in charge, this wouldnt have happened!
the rehearsal lasted not too long, and MORON told us only one person is allowed into the dressing room while the teams prepare for their turn on the main show. since i designed and picked their out look, i was the only one who stayed back to make up their appearance, and the others went for lunch
i had a few ideas in mind prior to setting up their stage image but since only limited cosmetics in hand, the end-product wasnt quite like what i expected.
first, i planned to do half-face on Chin Sing and Haris. Haris was first to go, and he had a red hot appearance, red hair, red shirt, red pants…
then, Chin Sing’s identity would be like two face the villian of Batman
this is Zen Kwun of Taiwan with Chin Sing and me.
this is Ms Oda, Wind Rising’s japanese guide who speaks good indonesian language and english. we hung out in the dressing room and she coudnt stop laughing when i finished drawing Haris’ and Chin Sing’s faces.
this is one sad soul..wahaha… he was complaining non-stop when i painted his pretty face. mrs ng later came to touch up the eye… he looked cool but similar to being punched in the eye huh.
the afer-show-get-together-hall is ready, each team has its own booth where they can sign autograph, take photos, social with the fans and supporters.
here’s one huge Wind Rising poster (it is now located in muzik sistem display room)
since the time gap between now and show time is quite short, i decided to skip lunch and walked around the hall again.
these guys were every where outside the convention hall, promoting the Asian Beat event, in front of the hotal lobby, at the park in the back lane, right at the point where boats arrived, more and more people were showing up…
left to right: Chin Sing Sr, Yin, Suan, me,Carrot, Mrs Ng, Mr Ng.
a Mexican dude took this photo for us, surely must be from the entourage of Kitchen (Mexican champion)
ok, its about time, and since the organisers (Yamaha Japan) were kind enough to give Tai Suan and me the PASS tag, we have license to roam anywhere in the venue before it opens for the public, look at the wonderful competition hall, so grand, feel like holding your own concert here leh…
this hot seat belongs to ah hui’s (Billy Secondhand) big brother… Billy Sheehan
Tang tang tang… show gonna start..
Initally we (the malaysian entourage) were given seats miles away from a good view, but the cunning Tai Suan and me grabbed much closer seats in the end for the entire gang, gradually, the venue was filled up to capacity. the event started exactly the time stated in the booklet, and whole program was superbly managed as you look at your watch and the stage, everthing was like synced. thumbs up to the japanese.
Billy addressing his welcome and opening speech
the judges joined forces to open the show with “Smoke On The Water”, Nishikawa on guitar, he played the guitar using a metal rod, i’ve seen guitarist using stuff like this, violin bow, beer bottle, microphone stand… however, Nishikawa was the cleanest i ever heard playing with toys on guitar.
Rolly was the toast of the gang as his presence and both audio and visual expression were heavily felt by the audience.
thanks to my budget Canon camera, i failed to capture fine photos of Billy and drummer Satoko San
and our hosts for this evening are: Sascha and Kylie
The Lemos were the first to take the stage. They are popular back in Mongolia and “have attitude” in their music, nice vocal work.
next up were Zen Kwun from Taiwan. they combined modern rock with ancient chinese traditional instrument, fresh stuff, impressive.
here come the three stooges, if only S90 was in Japan…
hello S90, why din you come into my world earlier…
each band was introduced on the giant backdrop screen, performed their entry number, then interviewed by the MCs. Kylie said Haris looked like michael jackson, i say Chin Sing looked like two face while kaevin like a porcupine…. more like a raccoon maybe haha.. apart from their stage sound, they played well and i think were a little better than they were at the Malaysia finals. nice job done. Haris introduced malaysian culture to the japanese audience by ending his answers to the questions from the MCs with one, loh, lah…
Pleasant Noiz from japan, i like the band, typical J Rock, the arrangment, performance was nice, and i thought the bassist was one of the most consistant through out.
Zaitan from thailand, instrumental stuff, fusion and jazzy, sort off. soothing music
G Eleven from china was the “cleanest” band, some swing mood taking you back to old 70’s shanghai, it’s a shame that some last-minute drama occurred and affected the band, they were initially 5-piece, but only 4 came to yokohama. the guitarist was the cleanest, simple and matching solo to the main theme of their song.
at this point, we had a 15 minute break, where i left the hall, when i came back, it was near the end of the performance from Paran Byeol (korea), the bassist (tae jung gwon) came down from the stage, and Chin Sing Sr accidentally blocked her access to Billy Sheehan in the middle of the hall 
Paran Byeol were fantastic, (after watching from video, cos i missed the live) the first thing flashed in my mind was: if i were to guide another band to a competition, i will form a band with the maximum number of contestants allowed. Paran Byeol were dancing and kicking on stage well synced with their song. this made me recall korean groups such as Super Junior and DBSK, both have the many many many de members to dance and sing. maybe next time i ask Chin Sing do somersaults and Haris karate on stage…
colourful and youthful Paran Byeol
Black from singapore was the next band, damn, the band was really tight and the drummer stabilized and anchored the metalizm. the guitarist and bassist taped a torch behind thier headstocks and keep pointing at the crowd, the band should easily got sponsorsed from energizer or duracell.
Kitchen from mexico, a easy-listening pop ballad
the mexican team created some light moments when the guitarist was interviewed.
i cudnt remember the exact words but it literally went sort off…
MC: are you guys couple?
guitarist: yeah
MC: getting married?
guitarist: eh… ah….. hmm… maybe
MC: you gonna marry him (asking the keyboardist, see above photo)
keyboardist: no… bcos he din say “yes”….
truely, very romantic couple where they hold hand in hand even walking on stage. all the sweetest best to both of you…
whoever says that Yamaha Asian Beat competition standard has dropped is so so so dead wrong, this is some world class shit. enter Mr Sonoda on piano from entry number 10 Sonoda Bando (japan), fine, superb, electrifying keyboard work and world class arrangement.
if only there were no guitarist in the band, Sonoda Bando would have been the most balanced band in the competition. balanced in terms of dynamic, technicality and performance, but sadly, the guitarist was like an added-on to the band, i hardly notice there was a guitarist until he raised his hands to invite the crowd clapping with him while the violinist solo-ing, i did not hear a single string, or a single pick of guitar sound from the guitarist.
This is Blaster from hong kong, and their song must be one of the weirdest in Asian Beat history thus far, mood swings, frequent change of tempos, and it made you wonder when is the solo part or the ending. the song moved into different directions quickly and yet, such a unique piece to be enjoyed.
Tai Suan pointed Chin Sing and told the bassist (after the competition) that Chin Sing is Lam Xuet (林雪),but guessed the hongkies din know what Suan meant…
“dont….ever come back, cos i dun wanna see you again…”
lead vocal from indonesia group Walk After Running, singing her heart out, these are stuff which champions are made off. the entire performance was like a drama on show, she narrated the story of the song before starting entering the main theme
finally the last contestants to take the stage~
Storm Bringer of japan bringing down the storm to yokohama, rockability stuff ala Setzer style the entire band was colourful and visually attractive.
oh, the bassist comes from a sweets heaven called chocolate factory
yeng leh Storm Bringer…
before the big moment, unforgettable moment, heart-breaking moment…
japanese guest band Hooidos raised the roof with fantastic original japanese rock music, eh, mixture of traditional arrangement with flute and modern rock beat. however, we (from malaysia) cudnt stop laughing when the front man shouted “pookey stand dup! pookey stand dup!”, can anyone tell me what does it mean in japanese, cos in hokkien is so the funny loh!
Hooidos… great entertainment!
judges gave their overall comments. Nishikawa was amazed to see huge amount of talent on show
Rolly said he din only witnessed some world class bands, but the bands also inspired him to move forward in his own musical voyage.
opps, i’ve forgotten what Satoko said, it was more than two months ago now, have to watch the video to recall. Satoko is the daugther of japanese super drummer Kozo Suganuma.
Billy was the last to give his thoughts, he described the event as “wonderful!”
ok, its about time for the result, tai suan and myself made some predictions, and here they are:
tense moment…..
tai suan~
champion: Walk After Running
2nd: Sonoda Bando
3rd: Paran Byeol
Best Drummer: Black
Best Bassist: Pleasant Noiz
Best Guitarist: Black
Best Keyboardist: Sonoda Bando
Best Vocalist: Walk After Running
me~
champion: Walk After Running
2nd: Sonoda Bando
3rd: Paran Byeol
Best Drummer: Wind Rising or Black
Best Bassist: Wind Rising
Best Guitarist: G Eleven or Storm Bringer
Best Keyboardist: Sonoda Bando
Best Vocalist: Walk After Running
we pretty much predicted correctly (if only i can predict soccer results like this…)
the results~
champion: Walk After Running
2nd: Sonoda Bando
3rd: Paran Byeol
Best Drummer: Wind Rising
Best Bassist: Paran Byeol
Best Guitarist: Black
Best Keyboardist: Sonoda Bando
Best Vocalist: Walk After Running
Paran Byeol, 3rd placing and also winning the Best Bassist award
Sonoda Bando landing the 2nd placing and Best Keyboardist award
champions of Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Grand Finals 2009 (Tokyo Band Summit vs Asian Beat) WAR Walk After Running from Indonesia, also winning the Best Vocalist award, the band also had the most number of vociferous roaring supporters in the venue where they virtually turn Yokohama into Indonesia home ground, and japanese bands became the away teams.
to end this post, i present you a priceless photo of our little friend holding the Best Drummer award plycard, congratulaions kaevin, but it’s time to forget about your success, you have higher mountains to climb now.
Happy New Year 2010 and Hall of Fame Dec 09
Jan 1, 2010 Hall of Fame, News
Happy New Year everyone, its new year time, and like all the years before this, wishing the best… blah blah… good luck… so i gonna make it short. Wish all of you the best, stay alive, work hard, and scale new heights. and here’s the top 5 of Dec 2009:
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In order to encourage all students to strive for success while also enjoying their music lessons, Hall of Fame has been set up.. Every student will be evaluated on every lesson they attend, based on the revision done, homework completed from previous lessons, and also initiative on self-improvement.. No marks will be awarded to students who canceled or stopped for a particular lesson.
Enjoy your lessons and Good Luck.
All students’ marks will be calculated by the total scores divided by the total number of lessons attended. Absents are counted as 0. Top students will be awarded in Annual Award Presentation and Concert Day
Click here for calculation format
Dec 2009 (piano)
Position Name
1 Tan Shen Yang
2 Yeoh Jin Quan
3 Lim Seok Im
4 Edwin Tan
5 Chia Kok Zhew
Dec 2009 (guitar)
Position Name
1 Tan Hui Fang
2 How Fong Seng
3 Ooi Cheong Zhen
4 Liew Kong Han
5 Brandon