Chapter AwwwwwwSum!

If you've been reading my blog, you would've heard of the great Catalina Jazz Club.

It's legendary. So many of my great heroes performed there.

And last Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to perform on that very stage.

I'm going to give the facts. You might think it's downplaying it's awesomeness but that's your opinion.

I played 2 songs.

1 of them was truly Jazz. I think the only Jazz song performed that night. Which made me feel even more amazing.

The concert was a showcase of the Guitar Department's graduating class.

The concert was put together by MI.

The audience consisted mainly of teachers, students, and parents, but it was open to the public so there could've been others.

Those are the facts. Sure it wasn't a full gig. Sure it wasn't the most public exposure.

BUT I got to enjoy the stage of one of the greatest jazz clubs in town, and I got to perform an awesome Jazz song together with an awesome band.

I'm completely blown away by the experience.

And if you're not, you're not my friend anymore.

PICTURES!!!! (albeit blurry ones. My camera does not do dark shots very well)

Apparently there's video too. The Guitar Department filmed the whole thing so I'll wait for that to release and then I'll clip my performances out and share them with you.

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Chapter not so Brrr

Are you ready?

Are you ready for some awesomeness?

Like really awesome?

Like awesome beyond awesome?

Like angelic outburst of song and dance with fireworks of gold and silver and cherubim?

Are you ready?

Behold, the awesomeness of my Jazz band, and a professional recording.

chapter w00-10

Yes it's the victor wooten night.

I had a shitty seat that night. The club was packed to overflowing and we had to share a table with some other people. There was a pillar right smack in front of me because technically I wasn't in a proper seat. They just skooshed me in somehow.

Thankfully though, the pillar was blocking the part of the stage that Victor decided not to stand on. It wasn't the best of views, but it wasn't completely obscured.

Pictures. Yes.

Surprisingly, those came out quite clear.

Fun facts of the night

- I don't know if you can see from the pictures, but Victor was wearing what must be the most horrendous looking polo-T I have ever seen. You'll NEVER catch me wearing something like that. But then again... who am I to judge fashion sense?

- There was a dude behind me who was sleeping throughout Victor's ridiculously powerful and exhilarating solo. I could hear him snoring. I mean come on... you paid 30 bucks to watch a hard thumping bass man and you sleep during his solo? That's just.... nevermind.

- Many people left before Victor was done. I don't quite understand what that indicates. Was he boring? Did they have other appointments? Was it late? I don't get it. Pay and sit through the show. Why leave 10 minutes before he's done?

- Victor didn't play an encore. The lazy bum.

There's something about seeing this dude live. Sure I've seen the countless youtube videos showing off his impossible abilities to manipulate the bass guitar. But to actually watch it in person is a whole different experience. His hand is literally too fast for the human eye. It's ridiculous.

I want to jam with this man one day. I want to make the Gregg Bissonette face when he does his ridiculous chops in front of me.

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

Chatper Awesome Kuasa Dua

This time around it's Gregg Bissonette.

One of my all time favourite drummers and nicknamed 'The Turtle' by my brother.

The venue? Cafe Cordiale - an awesome little cafe. It was really christmassy inside too and really cosy. almost exactly like the Catalina. And it had an incredibly gorgeous waitress too... err... *cough*

It was a tribute concert to Carlos Vega - another awesome drummer and musician and the night was full of amazing latin music. Just fantastic. It was mind blowingly awesome.

Now for some pictures.

I never thought I'd see 'Satay' anywhere else... But hey, it's that famous! Go Malaysia!

My dinner that night - I actually think I could've cooked better. But hey, it wasn't bad.

And the man of the hour. He's so awesome. He went around greeting everybody before the show. Well, technically because that night's show was full of famous people paying tribute to Carlos Vega... so.. yeah.

And here's some random pictures during the performance that my camera somehow refuses to light properly. I'm getting annoyed because it doesn't do 'dim lighting' very well. It does 'bright' and 'pitch darkness' but that middle ground it just goes 'blehhh'. The night mode won't work because there's too much exposure and the flash becomes wimpy and the normal shots don't work because there's too little light. How annoying. But I took some anyway.

And then, I get to meet Mr. Bissonette! Nyahahahaa!!!! Out with the 'schoolgirl grin' again! He was really awesome. And such an awesome guy. YAY!

I wonder who's the next big daddy I'll meet.

Till next time. Watch out for the next part of the Christmas Adventure.

*And a very very very very very very very (did I say very?) special Christmas Post is coming up that none of you want to miss.

It's filled with so much tender goodness it's bound to tug at your heart strings and envelope you with Christmassy emotion and bring a tear of joy to your eye.

It's no joke. I'm serious on that one.

No really.

Did I say it's very very special?

It really is.

Very.

Very very special.

Don't miss it.

Don't.

It's very special. I mentioned that right?

It's not just 'kinda special'. It's very very special.

And it's dedicated to all (well almost all) of my musically related friends.

So don't miss it.

It's special.

Very special.

Specially made special for you.

Made very special.

Very.

Don't miss it.

Ok?

Good.

Chapter pvu3h4r

pvu3h4r is what you get when I close my eyes and randomly press my keyboard. This post is a flurry of random updates so it's fitting.

Some people have asked if I'm going to keep up this whole 'chapter' business. Well I will.. until I run out of ideas. And since I'm such a creative guy *cough* I think it might go on for quite a while.

It's close to thanksgiving - a holiday celebrated exclusively by Americans. A huge deal here. And they're forcing me to take a long weekend off. I don't want a long weekend off. I want my friday class. I have alot of cool stuff going on Friday. GIVE IT BACK! I DON'T WANT FRIDAY OFF!!

Seriously.. I have my jazz LPW, my jazz class, and my private lesson (mostly jazz) on Fridays. IT'S AN AWESOME DAY and they're forcing me to go on break? UNFAIR! INJUSTICE! I DEMAND A... a... a.. refund. I want my friday back dammit.

Ok, since I have alot of stuff to write about, I'm going to number them.

Number ONE - My Night With Steve Gadd

Some of you guys might remember my first visit to the Catalina Jazz club to see Dave Weckl. Well this time around Steve Gadd was performing there. And I HAD to see this.

He was blazing awesome. Heck the whole band was blazing awesome. If I had the money, I would've gone to see him the next night. It was that fantastic. Some pics from the show - we had a shitty table and my camera doesn't do night shots that well - well, night shot mode is better, but it has a higher chance of being fuzzy, but normal mode isn't bright enough. So I compromise. Better than nothing I suppose.

At the end of the night, I was itching so badly to take a picture with Mr. Gadd, but unlike the night Weckl performed, he didn't hang around to chat. He went straight into the green room and stayed there. So I didn't get my picture. Apparently he did come out on the last night of the gig. And a friend of mine got his sticks signed. And I just erupted with jealousy. Curses.

I promise you Gadd, I will meet you again in the future. I PROMISE YOU!

Number TWO - My New Earphones

TADAA!

Number Three - Goin' Home!

How fitting that the LPW just before the Thanksgiving break would be entitled 'Goin' Home'. Alot of people will be 'going home' so to speak over the long weekend. Sadly I won't be. This does not, however, make me feel homesick. Yet.

It was actually a stellar performance by all the musicians. Me included (shameless boasting). I know the sound may suggest otherwise, but trust me - this was one of those magical times where everyone knew exactly what they were doing and magical music was produced. I don't know how many of you know what that's like especially when you're playing with people you don't normally play with. Most of the time someone somewhere hasn't got it together or just doesn't gel with someone else in the band. Sometimes that person is me (shameless self depreciation - it balances out the boasting). But this performance was that one time where everything worked together close to perfect and it made great music. Not just a great cover, but music in it's own right. It was enjoyable.

Number FOUR - Things to Come

Alot of stuff is going to happen over the next two months.

- Christmas is coming. Christmas in Hollywood. I hope it's a slightly more refreshing experience versus Halloween in Hollywood

- Might be going to the mountains with some friends to get some PROPER WINTER.

- Watching Mike Stern and Dave Weckl(again!) perform at the Catalina.

- Watching Victor Wooten (@theotherKJ - nyek nyek nyek I get to see him LIVE) and band

- New Years in Hollywood?

It's look to be a fun end to a year.

Number FIVE - Nurse?

Welcome to American College. Where teacher wins sports bet.

Number SIX - Nothing

No really. Nothing. I've run out of things to say. I have a hunch I have more that I forgot, but hey I can always post again. Yay for me.

Bye.

Chapter YEAH!

This just came in the mail. YAY FOR ME!!!!

"Congratulations, you are a winner of a free Passion 2010 T-Shirt! Thanks for listening to the podcast.
T-Shirts will be mailed next week.
Please send your address so that we can get one in the mail to you."

Chapter PQRS - *UPDATED*

I literally just got to the computer from the KODAK THEATRE where I just watched an awesome Jazz concert with MARVIN 'SMITTY' SMITH on DRUMS!

How amazingly awesomely fantastically cool is that?

I promise I'll update with pics the moment I hook up my camera. Stay tuned to this post.

*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*

Ok, I'm gonna update on a couple of stuff.. so hang tight for the great big Kodak Surprise.

Firstly, this last weekend we had a purge of the apartment. Literally every corner of the apartment was cleared and cleaned and thoroughly gone over with all sorts of cloth, soap and suction machines. The end result is a splendidly clean room. 

But also, along the way, we managed to purge the place of a whole lot of uninvited guests. These unfriendlies were giving us hard times every night. So we decided to purge them from the apartment as well. The operation is still underway, but the enemy did sustain many casualties that day. If you are squeamish, the following image is not for you.

I did warn you. That was the main enemy base camp that was eradicated from the kitchen table fortress.

***

As some of you might have seen in my latest practice video, it's a lot of hard work to actually go through each night. Let's be honest, pad practice isn't fun. All the drummer people out there will tell you that. And it makes it worse when your teacher gives you these incredible devastating clubs to use.

These are what my normal sticks look like.

And this is the monster that I use for my pad practice.

Will you look at how much fatter and bigger they are. And they are ridiculously heavy as well. If anyone is interested, go to a drum shop and see if you can find the Pro Mark DC10 sticks. Get a feel for them and you'll know exactly what I mean. Otherwise, take my word for it that I could literally beat you to death with them. 

They should arm the police force with those.

****

As some of you know, the USA has officially declared it summer. The universities are on holiday and most students will be returning home. 

Whoever these Official Summer Declarers are, it's clear they need to be fired. This was the scene that greeted me on the 1st of June - clearly a summer month. A month that you'd take to enjoy the warm air and the beautiful sun and catch some waves at the beach or dip into the pool or just lie in the sun with a pack of cold beer. 

REALITY CHECK!

That's what it looks like in summer. Someone somewhere has screwed up the four season calender here in LA.

It's been cold, windy, cloudy, rainy and pretty much miserable for the past week or so. I mean, I kinda like the rain - when I heard thunder today for the first time I actually grinned and laughed to myself. The people around me must have thought I was an evil scientist waiting for lightning to bring my monster made from several different body parts ... wait.. that sounds familiar. Anyway... Like I was saying, I love the rain. But not when it's 20 degrees celcius outside and the wind howling like... a howling wind. 

GIVE ME BACK MY SUNLIGHT YOU UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! GIVE ME MY SUMMER BACK!

***

And now the update you've all been waiting for. I know it's a lot to get through, but I haven't had the chance to blog in a while, and I've only been twittering (If you don't already know, my twitter is on the sidebar) so I've go a whole lot of stuff to write now.

KODAK THEATRE!!! WOOT!!! 

Ok fine... I wasn't IN the Kodak Theatre. I never said I was did I? I was AT the Kodak Theatre. This took place in the Courtyard of the Kodak Theatre.

Look at that crowd! It was amazing! 

And did you also notice my amazingly awesome BACKSTAGE spot! 

...

Truth be told again, that's not really backstage. I mean, it was just behind the band. Anyone could stand there. 

See.. there's the band and the bunch of MI students hanging out at the back. We weren't watching the show. We were watching the Drummer. XD

And there he is, none other than the great Marvin Smitty Smith. He was awesome. Didn't get to meet him and shake his hand and take a picture this time. He was too busy entertaining all the other famous people that turned up. But I will the next time. When I appear on the Tonight Show.

And a thought occurred to me. He's another great drummer who's incredibly short. And I mean... REALLY short. I wonder what that means.... I need to shrink a couple of inches I suppose.

***

That's it for now folks. Till next time.

Chapter THE AWESOME!

Ok, this is one of the main reasons why I started this blog and is perhaps gonna be one of the most awesome posts I ever make in my life. 

Yesterday, me and two friends went to the Catalina Jazz Bar and Grill for a concert.

That's what it looks like inside. Of course due to my camera flash and settings, you can't see the warmness of the place, but imagine that place a little more yellow and much dimmer... Very very cosy and awesome.

And guess who was performing? Chuck Loeb and .... 

*drumroll*

DAVE WECKL!

OH YES, I got to see Dave Weckl LIVE! Not only that, but I was like 20 feet from him the whole time!! And he walked past our table several times!! 

I felt like like a little schoolgirl.

But come on.. one of my FAVOURITE drummers and one of the most AWESOME ever! And I got to see him live!

Sadly his face was blocked by a cymbal from my angle so I managed to take pictures of his hair. But no matter....

I managed to meet him after the gig! And shake his hand and take a picture with him! 

YES! THAT'S ME! NEXT TO DAVE WECKL! WHOOOOHOOO!!

That was seriously an awesome night. And one that I won't forget easily. To be standing right next to such an awesome drummer and to see him perform live and see one of his insane solos up close... that was just amazing. So worth the 30 bucks that I paid. AWESOME!!!

I could barely sleep that night, sniggering to myself over the thought of meeting Dave Weckl... seriously schoolgirl man... I can't believe myself. 

This one goes into the KJ's AWESOME AMERICAN ADVENTURE FILE! (If there was one)

Till next time folks!

DAVE WECKL!!! WOOOTT!