CNY Special on Astro Prima: Penang Jazz Festival and Saharadja Special!

Hey all,

For those who missed the Penang Jazz Festival last December, check out Astro Prima Channel 8 for an airing. It's not the whole show, but I think it'll give you a good idea what happened there. This is from EJ from www.alldatjazz.com:

Our dear friend, Hakim Amir shares the following details about Astro Prima's Chinese New Year broadcast featuring highlights of the Penang Island Jazz Festival 2005.

Special thanks to him for responding to our queries in the midst of busyness!

BROADCAST DETAILS :

29th Jan 2006 (Sunday)

9pm - 10pm - Penang Island Jazz Festival Highlights featuring selected performances by Shanon Shah, Sufiah Noor, Zailan Razak Project, Jaja (website), Lazy Monday, Farid Ali & Chie Hanawa (website), Greg Lyons Nonet (website), Saharadja (website), Steve White (website) & Randy Bernsen Group (website).

10pm - 11pm - Saharadja Special : From Bali to Penang featuring performances by Saharadja at the Penang island Jazz Festival plus exclusive interviews with the band members.

30th Jan 2006 (Monday)

Repeat of the above 2 from 12.00 noon all the way to 2pm

GO CHECK IT OUT, Y'ALL!!!

Courtesy of www.alldatjazz.com.

Thanks EJ.

Happy Chinese New Year!! *Woof Woof*

It's da Dog year this year!

I'm so NOT ready for this New Year.. it feels like it's come too fast for anyone to get ready for. But alas, time waits for no man... so... to all my chinese friends, runners, musicians and everyone else who celebrates with us..

HAPPY CHINESE DOG NEW YEAR!!

GONG XI FA CAI!!

I'M CONNECTED!!!!!

Yay!!!

I am FINALLY ONLINE!!!!

I just got my Streamyx connection today, and I'm finally online with the world!

Not without some... drawbacks of course. Minor drawbacks.. TM prefers NEW subscribers so I had to cancel my previous account and open up a new one. So to those who has my previous streamyx email address, it's cancelled.

But I have to give them credit.. they're fast in setting up the port at my area (which is relatively new).

So hello denizens of the World Wide Web!!!

New house..

Guess what..??

I have just officially shifted to my family's new house. It's in Bukit Mewah, Phase 9, Kajang. We've already shifted all the important stuff from our old house to the new one, the altars, the deity statues... we've even "invited" the deities and ancestors (yes.. the ancestral altars with them along) there.

So for the next couple of days and possibly weeks, I'll be without internet connection until I managed to transfer the phone lines and streamyx data lines to the new place. Until then, feel free to keep in touch with me by phone or sms @ 012-2732378. Would love to hear from you guys!

Take care..

All Is Quiet..

After a contemplative weekend, I guess everything is quieting down a little while. Which is good...

Time for me to regroup, and start planning things for the year. And set into motion things that are supposed to go into motion.

Like sports training and racing, it's the "transitional" period for some of us, while some of us have already started training hard for the early of the year races. Even for me as a musician, it's time to take a step back and reassess my goals - musical goals, practice goals, working goals. No football goals though. Except for World Cup 2006..ahahha.. that's something to look forward to.

Anyway, I think I'm almost over New Year's eve post-gig depression. I haven't touched my horn for a week, and I'm itching to already. Which is great, really. Nothing like getting back into something by depriving yourself of it for a short period of time!

Training is still nowhere.. hhahaha.. bloody hell! All funny things happen that get into the way of training. Looks like I'll do more long runs than not, just for KLIM. Still have to figure out how to train on my bike for MMDS-1.

See how it goes..

How's everyone doing?

Happy New Year 2006!

I don't know about you guys, but the past year went by like lightning flash! Without doubt, many things happened, some good and some bad.

To be honest, I haven't even reflected enough of 2004, and I have entered 2005, and having not even finishing on 2004, 2005 is over. But it definitely felt like it passed by faster than previous years! Could be an age thing, or for some strange reason, the space-time continuum seems to move faster in 2005 (sorry, it's a Star Trek thing, I'm in the middle of Star Trek Voyager Season 5 DVD right now). But anyway, I hope I have more time to reflect on the last two years (five, really, for me!). It's only the last five years that I have experienced more things that has changed the way I look at things, than I have in the first 22 years of my life. Some things, to be honest, I would've preferred not to look at or know about. Ignorance is bliss! Or at least it would have felt like that. And there are always things I wish could change about it, but gone is gone, and time waits for no man.

What strikes me most (from the last five years) is that I have begun to really grapple with things I would not have paid attention to, previously... feelings, experiences. In other words, I seemed to be more aware of things around me, and I sometimes feel I'm still trying to make sense of it. What's interesting is that I think I am still trying to make sense about a whole lot of things. Questions I normally don't bother asking arise... things I have taken for granted.

In fact, I feel a whole lot more stupider right now than before. I feel like I don't know anything at all. Maybe it's because I really don't.

Maybe that's what life really is?

I only pray that these experiences can make me a wiser man (boy, at heart!). Mature people say that wisdom comes with age. Perhaps. Or perhaps not. I've seen mature people act like they didn't have any. On the outward, it may seem that mature people I've encountered seemed to act and do things with wisdom... but in retrospect, they're no better than an ignorant.

I wish life was a whole lot more simpler. Peter Pan.

But then again, I keep telling myself, "What's life without some challenges, some fun?".

I've had some fun as well, this year. From a musician's perspective, as well as a regular person. I've also travelled a lot this year too. Been to China three times this year (can't say I like China, though). Been to Singapore a whole lot this year, too. I've played a whole lot of interesting gigs this year, from bands with Farid Ali, Greg Lyons, David Gomes, Sunrise Jazz Festival, and the most recent one, The Penang Island Jazz Festival. I've made quite some new friends in Penang. I think I've played more interesting gigs this year compared to any other year since I started my life as a musician. My last gig for the year 2005, was with the David Gomes Ensemble, at No Black Tie.. a big band jazz show. We did three sets of blistering jazz music, written for a 10-piece band, with a 5-piece horn section.

I've had dengue fever. Thankfully it was a mild one, but an experience that I do not relish going through again. Although, it sort of help make me lose weight and slim down to the most I've ever been! But definitely not fun to experience.

I picked up cycling, got myself a RM3K bike and enjoying my rides, not to mention help lose weight and burn fat! Yay.

I'm still single... painfully single.

I lost my wallet to a pickpocket in a train. Also not an experience I care to go through again as well.

Office politics have begun becoming more apparent in my life. I hate office politics. I just want to play music. And to be able make good music. I don't want to get involved in your political crap. Honesty, as I've realised, is not always the best policy. But then again, that's me. I'm stupid.

Anyway, not exactly a happy post to start off the New Year. But what the hell? Things are not always happy, hunky-dory. I've experienced a lot of wonderful things this year... I guess it's gotta balance out with some bad ones.

God, I pray that I am able to resolve things unresolved, and please give me the strength to find the wisdom to overcome these things, to face the unexpected future , whatever that lies ahead. I also pray that whatever I've experienced will pave way for a more positive outcome in the future, and perhaps I'll be able to experience more wonderful things in the year ahead. And I pray that everyone in the world will, too.

Some New Year resolutions I hope to accomplish (really!):

... get back on track with myself and my music...

... become a better musician...

... get my (slightly lesser) fat ass overseas to continue my studies in music (and whatever musical experiences that entail it)...

...concentrate a little more on my multi-sport training, running, swimming and cycling..

... lose more weight..

... complete a duathlon/triathlon...

... (LOSER ALERT!) get myself a girlfriend...

I guess there are some more, but mostly smaller ones.

I hope you all have had a good year in 2005, and I definitely hope it will be more fruitful and better this year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006!!!