Shared Items for Wed, 4 Nov 2009

  • Ian Fisher: American Soldier Photos
  • Well, contrary to what Cowboy Caleb wrote, it doesn’t make me want to pack up and join the army (eww) but I do empathise with what he went through.

  • TVD Hormats (Salutes) NUH
  • “NUH has been lauded in local papers for practising what is known as responsible outsourcing aka don’t take advantage of low-wage workers. Although the government is sticky on implementing a minimum wage law, it didn’t stop NUH from stipulating a minimum wage when it tendered out its cleaning contract; and awarding it to a company that bothers to upgrade their low-wage workers.”

  • The Bilingual Policy & Its Victims
  • “But the biggest problem with the bilingual policy was not the way the Chinese language (or for that matter, the English language) was taught in schools.

    The biggest problem was the government’s rigid insistence (that lasted for many years) that a student who wished to progress to the next higher stage of education would have to pass both English and Chinese – entirely regardless of what he wanted to study, at the next stage.”

  • Potong Pasir Town Council rebuts ST report
  • “After the last election, the Potong Pasir Town Council has work (sic) hard to implement various upgrading programs to enhance the whole of Potong Pasir, bringing residents many benefits and more convenience.”

  • On medical leave and the employee
  • “The attitude adopted by the majority of companies in Singapore is markedly different. The employee is required to go to a doctor to obtain a medical certificate as proof of his or her sickness, even for just 1 day of rest. Otherwise, medical leave will not be granted, and the employee’s absence will be considered as unauthorised, with the consequences that the absence will be deducted from his or her annual leave or salary, and possibly, disciplinary action taken.

    Why do employers in Singapore treat their employees in this way?”

<ADV> Blues in November.

From: Victor Chen
Date: November 3, 2009 1:19:14 PM SST
Subject: Blues in November

Hi folks,

It gives me great pleasure to inform all of you about the latest development in the blues scene. Louis and myself, together with Danny Loong and Francis Chan of Ublues as well as Crazy Elephant veteran Ray Aziz, are now playing at Timbre Mobile @ East Coast Park from 5pm – 8.30pm every Sunday.

Keeping in line with our dear leader’s policy of grooming the next generation of leaders, we are now working on grooming the next generation of blues musicians. The Sunday gig will also be a jam session where upcoming blues players, hobbyists and old birds (lao jiao) alike will be featured. Any of you who are keen to take the stage to jam are most welcome to do so, especially if you already have a full band line-up. Above all, this is the perfect excuse to have a beer on a Sunday evening and the meet the folks in our little blues scene.

In other news:

  • Shameless plug #1: Double-bill at the Esplanade.
    DATE: Fri, 6 Nov 2009
    TIME: Evening
    VENUE: Esplanade
    TICKETS: $25 from the Esplanade or 4 for $20 each.

    I have been roped in to play with the Stray Dogs for their upcoming reunion gig at the Esplanade on Nov 6, a double-bill with Pest Infested. These 2 bands were the pioneers in Singapore’s nascent blues and rock and roll scene back in the 60s and our setlist includes some John Mayall, CSNY, Deep Purple and Cream among others and of course, a Stray Dogs original recorded back in the 70s.

  • Shameless plug #2: Gigs at the Old Brown Shoe.
    1. Sat, 21 Nov will herald the inaugural edition of The Black Room Sessions at The Old Brown Shoe, where I will be singing (*gulp*) and playing solo for 2 sets of acoustic blues. The setlist will draw from some of the Malted Milk and Medium Rare repertoire, but will include more slide guitar on songs from Robert Johnson, Tampa Red and the like. I will also be playing some of my own songs, since no one else wants to play them. (Ed: LOL!)
    2. Sat, 14 Nov and Sat, 28th Nov will feature Medium Rare.
    3. These 3 gigs will start at 8.30pm.

As always, do check the gig listings for any changes.

Cheers,
Victor

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