YuriWong.com

A question I like to ask people is this:

“All things being equal, if could work as anything you wanted to, what would you do?”

Some of the replies I’ve heard:

- Beach Bum (I’m not exactly sure if this is a career per se, but lets just say it is)

- Makeup Artist

- Vet

- Musician

- Filmmaker

I’ve never, ever got a reply of ‘investment banking’, or ‘management consulting’, or ‘law’, or whatever. It’s always been something that they have a passion in, something that they wouldn’t consider a chore to get up to every morning, even when the going gets tough.

So the question is this: are you doing what you want to do?

And if the answer is no, then the next question is this: what are you willing to give up to do what you want?

If you’re not willing to give anything up, then be where you are and keep dreaming. Maybe one day you’ll change your mind.

Last night I heard the waves crashing on the cliff walls where we’ve been
Dreams left behind wash ashore
Damp and strained by the sea

Does it feel to you like a winter long gone
Does the sun, at dusk, swear another dawn

Don’t wake me up before it’s time to go
Freefalling so
It’s almost dawn it’s time for us to go
I’m falling you know

What if this fantasy’s only for a while?
Not a sign
Not a single whisper of a dream
In the waking world, how strange it seems

Does it feel to you like a winter long gone
Does the sun, at dusk, swear another dawn

Don’t wake me up before it’s time to go
Freefalling so
It’s almost dawn it’s time for us to go
I’m falling you know

Play/download it from the player on the right sidebar

Will post some more pics (and vids!) up soon.

Oh, and Jacqueline made her debut - yep that’s what she’s called. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Ah, the French.

They sure know how to have fun.

Every year, they have a music festival where everyone just has a great time, with bucketloads of music and good vibes.

I’ll be playing this Sunday for the fete! 5pm @ Alliance Francais

Here’s the flyer:

And for the directionally challenged, a map: (click to enlarge)

Come and join the fun, it will be tres fantastique!

She’s a beaut, ain’t she?

Suggestions for names, anyone? A French name would be perfect!

I remember a palindrome I came up with in secondary school:

“In words drown I”

I’m still pretty proud of it today.

Adrian, My Bro, Myself showing how it’s done back home in Melaka.

Last night was the beginning of the recording for the EP, which is planned to be done by the end of year. It all started off quite nicely, with a home-cooked meal and some coffee and tea, all at the studio pantry. Adrian brought this fantastic beef curry, all the way from Melaka. Mm mm.

With Adrian at the production helm and myself doing guitar and vocal duty, we spent a good 4 hours getting the basic tracks laid for Freefalling. Listened to the rough this morning and I am gut-spillingly pleased with how it’s turning out. Much mellower than how we play it live, which is an interesting and welcome change.

The session went fairly smoothly, with the exception of Adrian spilling black-pepper rice-chips all over the floor.

I’m looking forward to the next session; very much so.

I just spent the whole of last weekend up in Genting watching the inaugural Genting International Jazz Fest. In a word, Wow.

In more words, it was bloody fantastic. The musicianship was brilliant. Granted, some of the acts didn’t play jazz that I connected with, but there were a few acts that totally blew me away.

The two acts that took a jagged-edged knife and slit my throat were:

Hazmat Modine - they call their music ‘whorehouse jazz’, and I couldn’t agree more. Gnarly jazz stuff that makes you wanna drink homemade beer and smoke hand-rolled cigarettes.

Tangalgo - A trio which just bled music from their open veins. My absolute favourite song from the entire fest was this 5/4 piece which started off with the double bass and ended up being about 15 minutes long. My eyes were closed in ecstasy just letting the music wash over me.

Check these guys out. They kill.

Last night’s set at No Black Tie was a blast. It felt a wee bit strange to be the odd one out, doing the full-band thing with all the acoustic singer-songwriter stuff going on. We rocked out, in a very decent, gentlemanly manner, if there were such a thing.

Had dinner with the Vostok boys and some friends at an interesting place a few doors away from the venue, called Palate Palette. You should check this place out. It’s got splashes of paint all over as decor, and the staff there are pretty friendly.

Oh and I really enjoyed Otam’s performance of his song ‘Boba’ - that man has a voice of a 50-year-old black man, I swear! The song was about a spider living in his guitar, named after the infamous Star Wars bounty hunter. Geekout Maximus.

Thanks to those who came, hope you enjoyed yourselves. I did!