Bon Voyage, Alex!

I’ve forged an unlikely friendship with an 18 yr-old English boy, Alex. At 6’ 3”, a red mop of hair that is his crowning glory, a whole load of freckles, and the ability to talk the ear off a donkey, he is one helluva Energizer Bunny. We met at a time when I desperately needed to feel like a kid again and he sure as hell drew that silliness and whatever little spontaneity I had, out.

*We walked from one end of Orchard Road to the other in the rain with nothing but a teeny-tiny umbrella for protection. Ordinarily, I’d be bitching about the rain and jumping into the first taxi I saw, but today I just couldn’t stop laughing as we walked into huge puddles and got wetter and wetter until we were hopelessly soaked and soggy.*

Unfortunately he leaves for England tonight to begin university, and train with the Royal Air Force. Sigh… There goes my entertainment. So to celebrate his last night in sunny (now rainy) Singapore, we went to the Ministry of Sound.

Now that is one place a girl above the age of 25 should NEVER go to on a Wednesday night! Yes, even if it IS Ladies Nite (ironic huh...) unless you’re with friends your age and you are just CRAZY about the music they play there. I was surrounded by people 8 to 10 years my junior! I had absolutely nothing in common with them and the worst part is, you’re a target for testosterone pumped 16 year-olds who want to practice their pickup lines! One particular fellow (who only came up to my nose) kept staring at me through at least 5 songs with a huge grin plastered on his face and the minute Alex turned away he literally SWOOPED in, looking all pleased with himself. I was so taken aback I was momentarily at a loss for words. Nevertheless, not wanting to be impolite or appear haughty, I ‘admitted’ him into my dance space. Then at the end of the song, he asked if he could buy me a drink. I wanted to laugh, I swear! I could just picture myself standing at the bar trying to make small talk with him while he tried to impress me by… I dunno… whatever teenage boys do to impress teenage girls. So I simply told him that I didn’t drink and before he could get over his confusion as to why anyone in their right mind would not want to indulge in copious amounts of alcohol, I told him to go ahead and enjoy his drink, turned him around a nudged him in the direction of the bar. Alex was just beside himself with laughter… The ass!

Anyway, back to the point of this post... I’m gonna miss that freckled-face giant. Good luck in Birmingham, dude!

Prissie the Groupie

* Warning: This post contains excessive gushings of a totally smitten fan.*


Ok as mentioned in my previous post, Radio Mundial is THE hottest band I've come across recently. So, my MAIN AIM that last night of WOMAD was to get the autographs of all 5 memebers of the band. AND they had to sign on whatever I was wearing. (Only coz it's less difficult to misplace comapred to a piece of paper, and it's more interesting than getting them to sign on the CD... Honest! ;)) So, armed with 3 marker pens, I left most of my dignity at home and headed for WOMAD.

Seriously, you can't get a better combination in a band... sizzling Latin music and scrumilicious vocalists... Especially when Jean, riffs away on the cuatro in nothing but fitted jeans, a wifebeater and his cowboy hat *SWOOOOOOOOOOON*

(Note: Their photos on the net don't do them ANY justice whatsoever!)

I'm not very proud of it, but I allowed myself to be, as C. has labeled me, a groupie... just for a night. And be a groupie I did, from deliberately getting mehendi done on my hand just so I could catch a glimpse of Jean as he browsed through some carpets at one of the other stalls, to pushing my way right to the front of the stage and screaming in response to every word that left their lips, and reaching up to shake Richard's hand as he leaned into the crowd.

Anyway, back to my quest for their signatures... I managed to garner 3 of them by hanging around the stage after their first performance, and the final 2 after the WOMAD finale, by casually 'passing by' the holding area and 'falling' into aimless chit-chat with one of them. And then, who should come by, but Jean (who recognised me from earlier as 'the girl with the shirt' *rolling my eyes*)... but I got weak all the same. Then he goes on to invite me to the after-party and I was reduced to a puddle. Minutes later, I found myself being snuck into the party, since it was apparently only meant for artists and staff, and had the most amazing time! There were huge coolers of alcoohol and trays of food, none of which I touched, coz I was too busy dancing!

But all good things have to come to and end, and after a couple of hours or less, I reluctantly took my leave and turned down an invitation to join them sight-seeing the next day. It was obvious he was just being polite... the dude doesn't even know my name! :p Sigh... it was a fantastic night, but like I'd promised myself earlier, my groupie status will begin and end at Fort Canning Park. Oh well, another story to tell my grandchildren... I danced and chatted with Jean Shepard. And even though he's probably forgotten that he ever met me by now, it's an experience I'll always remember...

*I am now back to my sensible self but it took me 2 whole days to stop grinning*







*mouseover the photos for descriptions*

WOMAD Singapore 2006

What can I say… IT ROCKED! Of course people would hold different opinions on whether WOMAD rocked but for someone who was in much need of a night of hard dancing, this was the event! Friday night alone got me dancing almost non-stop to the likes of Brazilian Chico Cesar, who got the crowd singing along within minutes in Portugese and bopping to his upbeat tunes. By this time I’d bumped into at least 10 old university friends, half of whom were my clubbing buddies, so we were jumping up and down with great abandon and doing the samba or some version or other of it. I have to say Chico Cesar has great charisma on stage and he knows how to keep the crowd engaged. And of course he was backed up by awesome musicians.

And then there was T-Bone, the reggae-ska-jazz 10-piece band (including trumpet, saxophone, bass saxophone, and a DJ called DJ Puki… yes that is what he’s called!) from Thailand, who pumped the already hyped-up crowed for an hour. My god I don’t know if it was all the pent up frustrations and stress, but I was high on musical release. And all I had was 1 beer and 1 cup of wine. They are a fantastic band, but even though they varied their tempo and rhythm from time to time, I felt that it got a little monotonous after awhile. But overall they still rocked!! Oh the best part was when the vocalist invited the crowd on stage! I sure as hell didn’t have to be told twice. I pulled myself up just as security moved in to prevent more people on. I swear that stage would’ve collapsed if they hadn’t. A dear colleague of mine (whom I’d met there) managed to take a video of me dancing on stage but accidentally deleted it!! Arrrghhh… I wanted to kill him! Oh well… Shit happens.

Korean Dulsori wowed the crowd with their spectacular drumming, and what was even more impressive was the fact that the majority of the members were women! That was some crazy ass drumming they did, complete with acrobatic moves and dancing, continuously for a whole hour! I felt exhausted just watching them! The stamina they must possess!

The closing act for Friday night is now one of my favourite bands. Radio Mundial, headed by Richard and Jean Shepard totally blew me away with their blend of Latin rhythms, funk and rock. My feet were successfully kept in constant motion, and the brothers’ Puerto Rican – Peruvian good looks ensured my eyes were fixed firmly on them… Talk about hot stuff man! The only thing that kept me from storming up on stage, grabbing and kissing them was the buffer zone that served the precise purpose of keeping people like me at bay :p I had to therefore, be content to ogle from below.

Jimmy Cliff closed on Saturday night to a sea of waving hands and a standing ovation. It was the first time I saw 95% of the crowd on their feet for any one performance. There were screams and cheers of encores and he of course obliged much to the delight of us all. Again I left WOMAD on a high (after all, I caught both Chico Cesar and Radio Mundial’s performance again. I even managed to get my photo taken with the latter hehehe.)

I have to mention that the other performances were equally good, just on a different level. I admit that my mood that weekend didn’t really allow me to appreciate them as much as they deserved though I’m quite sure I would have enjoyed them immensely had I been in a different state of mind.

Susana Baca’s sultry voice helped lower the energy a little and allowed us to catch our breaths while enjoying her very relaxing and soothing tunes.

The Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan kept us enthralled with their traditional music, elaborate costumes and dancing.

Bukky Leo & Black Egypt contributed to the event with their afrobeat and jazz funk. I only caught them in the finale which was more of a jam session and so didn’t really experience their music.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch Sam Tshabalala’s performance so I really can’t comment. And I skipped all the workshops with the exception of Radio Mundial’s.

On the whole this year’s WOMAD was the best I’d been to. I’m very glad it wasn’t a repeat of last year’s somewhat low key and unimpressive line-up, considering the amount of money I spent on tickets and other miscellaneous stuff there. TWO THUMBS UP!!!

Why?

Why do we have to make decisions we don't want to and then pay for them?