music

Gig #125: Monster and Beer; Gig #126: Twenty Eight Bar

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Been swamped with work but I swear I’ll get around to adding more random thoughts to this blog. For now, I’ll share some gig updates.

So after dipping my toes into the open mic scene again, I’ve secured myself another 2 slots in the coming days. One is later today (Sunday, if you’re reading it now) at Monster and Beer and the second one being another slot at the Twenty Eight Bar Open Mic the day after.

First up, Monster and Beer. They’re back with a second round of their open mic (not sure how often they do it, but this is 2.0). I’ve gone there a few times only to drink and had no idea they had gigs there until recently, so that’s exciting. Plus it’s a weekend, so more people can attend (yay).

It’ll be a brand new crowd since the lineup is everyone I don’t recognize. Hopefully, they vibe with acoustic emo tunes. The show starts at 4PM, and my slot is at 6PM, but stick around for some tasty craft beers and enjoy all the acts. There’s also food on site and plenty of restaurants nearby.

Google Maps | Instagram | 28 May 2023 | 4 PM

The next gig will be on a Monday night, my third appearance at Twenty Eight Bar, Bangsar. Was asked to take up a slot since they didn’t have enough sign ups, so if you’re interested in performing, sign up for a slot! Hit them up on Instagram. The gig starts at 8 PM and my set will be at 9.30 PM.

Google Maps | Instagram | 29 May | 8 PM

Looking forward to playing these shows, as usual, come hang if you’ve got nothing going on. I’ll try to make it worth your while.

Gig #124 (#123?) Dusting Off The Ol’ Guitar

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It’s been over three years since my last official live performance. The weirdest part is, it didn’t even feel that long ago. I still remember it pretty clearly. It rained heavily. I played Sunflower. Van backed me up with a cajón. We explored a couple of art galleries waiting for our turn.

Nobody knew the world was going to change in a matter of months.

Fast forward to May 2023. Earlier this week, I visited Open Mic Malaysia’s debut at twenty/eight @telawi. Some performers pulled out last minute and I was asked to fill an empty slot. I had no practice, had to borrow someone else’s guitar (which was tuned to standard), and had a few drinks in me – a recipe for disaster. How could I say no?

Fifteen minutes later, I was on the stage, fumbling with my first song (not too different from my regular performances). After that, I got into the groove of things and successfully completed my set. It wasn’t an outstanding performance by any means but it felt good to shake off years of rust.

Three years is a long time. A lot can happen in a thousand days. Shit, a lot could happen in a month. Just like how I suddenly got transferred to a different department at work after a month of barely getting comfortable in my previous role. But that’s a story for another day.

Either way, the ad hoc performance was a pleasant way to ease myself into the music scene again. It was about time it happened anyway. We’re already five months into 2023 and I’m nowhere near the goal of twelve shows this year.

I’m happy to announce that my performance wasn’t bad enough to get me banned from the bar, so I’ll be returning to twenty/eight@telawi this upcoming Monday, 8th May, to play my second show of 2023. The gig starts at 8 pm. Google Maps.

If you have the time, drop by for some beers and chill tunes. If not, I’ll catch you at the next one.

Less Calls, Replacements

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How many times can I write about having terrible memory? I can’t remember and I’m not bothered to check. Is old age a valid excuse for not being as sharp as I once was? Maybe. Or have I been filling my head with important information that pushed out all my trivial thoughts? Unlikely.

I can still recite most of the lyrics to Stan or The Way I Am even though I haven’t purposely listened to the songs in ages. Those words remain etched in my brain. Why is it harder to remember the lyrics to songs I listen to now? Probably because I put in much less effort.

There are only so many things I want to spend brain power on these days and memorizing lyrics is not one of them. Also, it’s not a very useful skill – unless you perform covers for a living. The only time I find it useful these days is when I’m driving. I get to keep my eyes on the road.

I think memorizing lyrics was a product of the time – back then we didn’t have powerful computers in our pockets. We had to rely on magazine cutouts, album booklets, or transcribing songs on our own. Before I had a CD player or access to MP3s, I would patiently wait for a song to come on the radio so I could record it on a blank cassette.

Then I would play, rewind, and repeat the recording to my heart’s content. It allowed me to listen to songs until I could write down all the words. I have no idea when lyric websites started popping up, but that’s what I did back then. Shit was wild.

These days we just pull up Musixmatch/Genius on our phones. Are we too reliant on technology? Or just making the most of what’s available? I mean, what’s the point of people spending their lives researching and advancing technology if nobody fully utilizes it?

Imagine you work your whole life on something important and life-changing, but people decide not to use it because it makes them ‘lazy’. What would life be like without remote controls or escalators? Maybe we’d be really jacked as a society. Who am I kidding, we’d still find ways to be lazy.

Like the other day, before I left home, I put my wallet in another pocket of my pants instead of its usual spot. As I was walking out of my condominium, I felt different. I put my hand in my usual wallet pocket and noticed the wallet wasn’t there – it was sitting safely in my other pocket.

I was convinced that my wallet wasn’t with me. So I turned around, retraced my steps, went home, and searched for my wallet in my room. It wasn’t there. I started to panic. I looked in my bag, it wasn’t there. Maybe it was in my car, I thought. So I went back down to the car park.

Checked my car, and nope, it wasn’t there. Where could it be? I thought to myself. So I started patting my other pockets. Lo and behold, the wallet was sitting right where I had placed it earlier.

If I had examined all my pockets in the first place, I could have avoided the whole incident. There was no need to retrace my steps, search my room, and make myself panic. Was I so lazy that I couldn’t frisk my own pants before doing all those things? Also, why couldn’t I just recall where I had put the wallet? It was barely 10 minutes ago!

How many times can I write about having terrible memory? There’s a good reason calendar and reminder apps exist.