Brass Keys Duo & Dallas Asia Pacific Connections

Brass Keys Duo and Dallas Asia Pacific Connection which will feature professional music artists namely :

Tyrone Block - Trombone
Joel Griffin - Saxophone
Barry Bradley - Bass Guitar
Joel Thomas - Piano
Nathan Ziehm - Drums
Amanda Lee –Piano


Brass Keys Duo (Amanda Lee and Tyrone Block)

The first half of the concert will take the audiences on a musical journey that spans from the Romantic era to modern day. The pieces to be performed present an amalgamation of traditional western art forms and jazz idioms. The audience will experience the richness of jazz traditions in a classical performance setting.

Dallas Asia Pacific Connection

The second half of the concert features a jazz combo from Dallas, Texas that will fill the evening program with unforgettable mainstream jazz selections!

That was the advertisement handout ... to be truthful, I wasn't keen but it was a charity concert and we were given tickets afterall.  So we went for the concert slated for 7.30pm at Syuen Hotel.

We arrived on time, got the programme and door gifts (Sabah Tea) and found the ball room not filled.  The concert didn't start till 8.00pm (half an hour late) and the organisers did not announce anything.  I guess they thought since it was a charity concert afterall, there was no need for efficiency.

Well to be truthful, I was bored from the beginning.  The music school that was one of the sponsors, had 2 students play - an erhu and a violinist.  They were both not very good possibly because of stage fright.

Then Brass Keys Duo came on.  Before they started, Tyrone gave an introduction and said due to time constraints they would not play all the songs listed in the programme.  Well, I felt embarrassed!  Bad Malaysians late again!!!

Anyway Maria, a friend, told us that Amanda was her college mate before she went off to US to further her studies and Maria went to UK.  Amanda is an Ipoh girl and her music teacher is the mother of HJ's nephew's teacher ... small world Ipoh!

Anyway Tyrone is fantastic on the thrombone though I don't appreciate jazz, and Amanda did ok herself.  Unfortunately as it was purely classical, I got bored :(

That is until Dallas Asia Pacific Connection came on.  Joel gave the introduction this time, and mentioned that US invented jazz.  They played songs that were not in the list either but they were good.  I enjoyed some of the songs but some not.

However, you can't deny their skill and passion!

There were 2 encores after that too, by which time we finished at almost 11pm....talk about time constraints!

The Chinese in Town

In Indonesia, the people call themselves Indonesians; in US, Americans; in UK, British; in Australia, Australians.  Yet in this country Malaysia, most people call themselves by their race; Malays, Indians, Chinese etc.  Or sometimes, Malaysian Chinese.  They call themselves Malaysians most times when they have to fill in forms that request for 'country of origin'.

And why am I bringing this up?  Just to explain that here the title refers to the Chinese in China :)

These Chinese ladies are allegedly notorious for breaking up families here, for being GROs, for being grasping - any man who would provide them a better life than back in China.

Once, when we ran short of Indonesian maids, it was suggested that Chinese maids be brought in for several rather valid reasons:

• they spoke the local Chinese dialect
• the food was somewhat similar
• they didh't cost as much as maids from other countries

HOWEVER, the Malaysian Chinese ladies begged to defer for fear of losing their husbands.  And so the matter was shelved.

I digress though - my reason for this post is to talk about a Chinese lady that I met while walking Bernie in the field.  I had seen her a couple of times with her baby and another lady, but had not spoken to them.

I approached her once when she was alone with her baby and started chatting.  To my chagrin, she spoke in Mandarin, (I didn't know she was from China then) a language I had less than a smattering of :(  We managed though with signs and a bit of Cantonese that the lady understood.  If I didn't understand her I just nodded like a wise sage LOL.

I had thought she was married to a Malaysian and took her baby for an evening stroll as most mothers I see in the neighbourhood.

MIL however had something else to say from the gossip she garnered.  A lady told her the Chinese lived right next door to her and she wanted to move away because of the myriad number of cars with strange men dropping by, the noise, the loud chatter ... and MIL added have you ever seen her husband with her?  and don't tell her where you stay ... (Come to think of it, I very rarely see husbands out for evening stroll with wife and baby)

I added that since the lady is so upset with the Chinese, why move out why not call the police?  To which she replied these poor people come all the way to make a living,  how can you report them?

To-date I am still wonderng what to make of it.

All things Canine

From an email:  WHY GOD MADE PETS


They help out around the house...

They protect our children...

They look out for the smaller ones...

They show us how to relax...

They 'converse' with each other.

They help you when you're down...

They are great at decorating for the Holidays..

They have 'great' expectations.

They love their 'teddies'

They know who's 'BOSS.

AND - They know when we need a good LAUGH!

All things Canine

From an email:
The photographer did a great job of matching up the kids and dogs. This is absolutely adorable!!!




A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need a lift

A friend is someone we treasure for our friendship is a gift

A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy, and grace.

And makes the world we live in a better and happier place.

There is a miracle called friendship, that dwells in the heart. You do not know how it happens or when it gets it's start.

But you know the special lift it always brings.  You realize that friendship is the world's most precious gift!

All things Canine

All things Canine would be a section in my blog where I will upload stuff about canines that I receive by email or others. The article will be accompanied by its source. I hope that this section will be a place canine lovers will enjoy!

Here is the 1st story that I received via email: (you could call it a feel good story too!)

LUCKY DOG



Mary and her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.' Lucky was a real character. Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit they would warn their friends to not leave their luggage open because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably, someone would forget and something would come up missing.



Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's other favorite toys Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box and he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.

It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her she was going to die of this disease......in fact; she was just sure it was fatal.

She scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders. The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky. A thought struck her....what would happen to Lucky? Although the three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Mary's dog through and through. If I die, Lucky will be abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to leave him! The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.

The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and miserable.

Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to nap..

Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed.

When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her body felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life.
He had covered her with his love.

Mary forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further together every day. It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest treasure.

 

A Japanese Couple in Town

Chinese New Year's Eve

Saturday, 13th February 2010

MIL invited Ta-San and Chi-San to share in our family reunion dinner.

Chi-San is her usual effusive self, very excited and honoured to be able to share CNY eve with us. She comes prepared with her camera though too shy to bring it out till I asked if she would like to take a picture of the table groaning with food that MIl had prepared a few days before.

There were the traditional dishes like jui hu char, lor bak, pig stomach soup (picture at top left) and blanched white chicken among others.

MIL's style of cooking is typically Nyonya - Nyonya refers to the women who were descended from the early Chinese settlers in Malaysia. Many Chinese men married the locals which resulted in a culture that was a mix of Malay and Chinese. Though the Nyonya's cultural practices and spoken dialect differ from that of Chinese, the Nyonyas are classified as Chinese.

Nyonyas are also referred to as Peranakans or Baba and Nyonya where Baba refers to the male descendant.

After a sumptious dinner, the cookies were brought out, the traditional one being kueh kapit; as well as the ever famous pomelo best from Ipoh (!).

The family and Ta-San and Chi-San relaxed in the house chatting and nibbling on the food. the couple also brought some gifts for the children and gave ang-pows too! Ang-pows are red packets in which money is inserted and given as a good luck wish to children during CNY.

Chi-San also showed us pictures of her taken during a dance competition in Japan. She wore a very pretty white gown patterned with crystals. She is into ballroom dancing as much as Ta-San is into golfing! Though when she is in Malaysia, she golfs everyday too but misses her dancing because she loves the food in Malaysia very much :)

Now that she is back in Japan she is practising for yet another dance competiton. All the very best Chi-San!

A Japanese Couple in Town

Enoch Fernando

Ta-San and Chi-San are back.

We met up with them this time at a concert by Dr Enoch Fernando a pianist who was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards. You can find out more about him here as well as listen to some of his music.

Dr Enoch plays really well and I enjoyed the concert very much. Had thought it might be boring as in classical piano concerts but I was quite wrong. Dr Enoch played Carpenter songs, hymns, 'You are not alone' by Michael Jackson and 'You lift me up' by Josh Groban among others.

He was born in Chennai, India and at the age of 5 his family moved to California. His mother insisted that each child should learn to play an instrument and Enoch took up accordian lessons but switched to the piano in his teens. (He said the accordian was bigger than he was!)

Anyway, after the concert we took Ta-San and Chi-san for supper in Ipoh old town where they served the best beer in town called 'snow beer'. The coffee shop freezes the beer (Calsberg) at a certain temperature for a certain time (secret recipie!) and the glass mug as well.

And out comes a beer with a very unique and refreshing taste - so I was told by them and HJ since I don't touch beer. To get more information on the shop (picture at bottom) and the beer go to this link