Join me in exploring our cetacean heritage.

BONUS: this joke.

Robbie Williams’s take on Human by The Killers. The link here if you can’t see the embedded video.

You can find them here. Just click on the link on the right-hand side of each row.

P.S. I know you might think this ultra-nerdy, and I make no bones about the bookishness of this exercise.

From past experience, however, ‘mugging’ for concerts does have its payoffs. If you can remember the lyrics to all the songs, you can sing along/mosh while the band plays. It’s a heightened experience, and it gives you more bang for your buck. And with ticket prices in the three-digit range for this particular gig, I’m sure you’ll want as much bang for your buck as you can get.

1. The Cure.
2. “In Between Days” by The Cure.
3. Ukeleles.

Imagine my surprise + adulation when I saw this video:

(Link here for those who can’t see embedded videos.)

Amanda Palmer rocks. Why didn’t anyone tell me about her? Nevertheless, I totally want a ukelele EVEN MORE now.

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

1. There is imperfect knowledge in the world,
2. The Internet is a gigantic brain, and
3. The Internet helps to smooth out the imperfections in knowledge,

I decided to pose the above-mentioned question to the almighty Facebook-verse and Twitter-verse. These are the findings on Facebook:

And on Twitter:

People generally seem to think that Jaben Network is the best. Funan Centre comes in second and Epicentre and City Music are tied for third. Brands recommended are V-mode, Sennheiser and Bose.

The conclusion? Well, if you really want to know… ask your own Internet brain!

From: Victor Chen
Date: July 2, 2009 1:29:43 AM SST
Subject: Blues at The Old Brown Shoe in July

Hi folks!

Hope everyone is alright, with the flu going around and having to be probed with thermometers everywhere. The clusters identified so far are schools, churches and army camps so it seems like pubs are still relatively safe. In any case, I’m pretty sure most of us would rather be in a pub than a school/church/army camp on a Saturday night anyway. If not, then good luck with your next game of solitaire…

And, these are the Saturday nights to be at The Old Brown Shoe:

11 July: Malted Milk
25 July: Medium Rare

Both gigs start at 8.30pm, so make an evening of it with a hearty meal and stiff brewskies. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then surely a pint of cider must be good for you, yah?

Cheers,
Victor

From: Victor Chen
Date: June 3, 2009 5:38:11 PM GMT+08:00
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Subject: Blues in June

Hi folks,

A conglomeration of industry-leaders in the blues scene have undertaken to synergise efforts and streamline knowledge management so as to leverage on core competencies and facilitate the development of blues appreciation in Singapore. In other words, we’ve decided to merge our mailing lists.

Some of you may have previously seen Louis playing with Chicken Shack Revival or leading the Tanglin CC blues jam while the rest would know me (Victor) from Malted Milk. The two of us also play together in a duo called Medium Rare, so we decided to put our mailing lists together to update all of you about the happenings with our blues bands.

For the month of June, Malted Milk plays at The Old Brown Shoe on Sat, 20 June 2009, starting at 2030hrs. Due to personal schedules, Medium Rare will not be playing this month but Louis has got something else cooking with Chicken Shack Revival, so watch out for that one!

Cheers,
Victor

(Some background context here: I don’t normally listen to the radio, local or otherwise, because I don’t like 80% of the music that is played, the advertising jangles are lame and the DJs’ banal chatter annoys me. But Virgin Radio was different – the songs played like my iTunes playlist, the advertisements were creative and the DJs at least displayed some degree of intelligence.

This also meant that I was introduced to new songs which I’d like too, which was good, because it helped me keep my knowledge of music fresh and relevant. But I was rather sad when the station stopped functioning, and I kind of lost interest in listening to music between then and now. No more, though!)

Anyway, I don’t know how I didn’t know about the change earlier (or maybe it never occurred to me to check), but better late than never, I guess. If you want to listen to Absolute Radio too, point your brower toward this link and click on ‘Listen Live’ to find out the ways in which you can listen to the station.

To reiterate my point about the music: they’re playing “Patience” by Guns N’ Roses now as I conclude this post.

~

From: Victor Chen
Date: May 6, 2009 10:58:57 PM GMT+08:00
Subject: Blues at The Old Brown Shoe in May

Hi folks,

Hope all is well with you so far, amidst all the ado about swine flu and Singapore’s very own version of Girls Gone Wild: Suntec City Showdown.

Anjana will be returning this month, having concluded her academic pursuits until she decides to inflict upon herself the horrors of post-graduate studies. Louis and I had a great gig last month and will return, making that 2 blues gigs in May at The Old Brown Shoe on the following days:

Malted Milk (Anjana and I): Sat, 16 May 2009

Medium Rare (Louis and I): Sat, 30 May 2009

So there you have it, downhome acoustic blues with Malted Milk and gutbucket electrified blues with Medium Rare. Don’t forget your dose of hops-and-malt-flavoured disinfectant to guard against swine flu so that you can eat delicious pork cutlets or sausages without fear. (Ed: LOL!)

Cheers,
Victor