the look of love

gig on Sat night, pic by Justin

whistle a happy tune....

....huh, am happy, I am :)

while cracking my head deciding on a quote (on love) to use for a card am designing, I started considering using song lyrics. What song lyrics is good to quote for a wedding occasion? (no am not having a wedding)

....till there was you?

....fish got to swim, birds got to fly, I got to love one man till I die..?

and then this came in,

At last
my love has come along
my lonely days are over
and life is like a song...

for months I've been trying to sink my teeth in on this classic. When a client asked for this song to be sung at her wedding as the `march-in' number I got myself the famous recording by Etta James and thought, damn, what have I got myself into now, singing a blue classic?

Suicidal, I thought.

So I tried and tried, I don't have the song in my books so I took the pain to attempt transcribing it on my dusty keyboard and being as efficient as a blind man on keyboard, it was a near death experience but the result was rewarding -- I got the song melody down on paper...in very bad writing, my own scale system.

That helped a bit but when other gigs caught up I put it aside and busied myself with other songs.

Until tonight I tried again, it was hard getting it right...also the original key of the song is too low for me.

....sigh, then I saw my soul mama friend online and thought, wow, this is her song man! We chatted, she said, go girl, sing it!

"Try singing soft and breathy, don't try to belt it." She said.

A few minutes later it was already a lot better than all the attempts I had before! When I stopped trying to sound like Etta James, it became easier....

You must be thinking, why she so stupid earlier, trying to sound like a singer that she is not? Well ya maybe am a bit stupid but now am happy I am starting to nail it!!!!

Sometimes you (ok, me me me) just don't see the simplest thing right in your face till someone comes along and point it out to you.

Thanks babe Izlyn!

Also, on the note of thanking girlfriends...I couldn't have done it without Nic. With her help (as my producer) at the studio last night (recording my demo songs), I managed to squeeze out seven songs in three hours in the studio booth...and of course with lots of help from Darren the engineer.

I recorded these standards

Cheek To Cheek
Fly Me To The Moon
Cry Me A River
Misty
The Way You Look Tonight
Someone To Watch Over Me
Tonight (West Side Story)

Let me know if you want to have a listen :) Getting them from the studio (DJW Studio in Desa Sri Hartmas) next week...

oh oh, speaking of standards, my next outing of jazz standards is on Saturday, at Wine Room on Asian Heritage Row. Come la.

Summary of October & November so far...

Who's doing year end spring cleaning? Don't have to feel bad about throwing them out if you can do it with heart, send them to Jumble Station, a good home for your unwanted goods and for a good cause, read here.
Come Sunday, I'd be shopping and doing some fund-raising (yes, two separate things - former is my sinful indulgence and the latter is for my soul) for Independent Pet Rescuers at the very cool (datang! Jangan tak datang!) junkyard sale at Palette Pelette.

the singing front, also known as the working front now - (am loving the fact that singing is my business)...

Shanghai Tang party on Wednesday at Eest in Westin KL...
cam whoring with mirror...backstage of Tien Hou Temple, Dharma Drum Mountain charity gig (sequined qi-pao from Monica Quen)
working my camera on the Andrew's models at Pavilion's BCBG Maxazria media launch, end of Octoberwith fellow singer, Noryn Aziz, not just a beautiful face...she's got big lungs!

Had my W Wine Room debut on the same day as BCBG launch. Thanks to Fadz the babe who invited me on the line-up artiste to play with September Band (Donne Ray Radford, Bobby, Leonard Tan, Fadz the babe herself) in celebrating the venue's reopening.
Fadz the babe...singer and an occasional door bitch, she works in the management of Asian Heritage Row
and then there were the couples of October...with Joanne & Vei Kwok at Westin KL

my band...Razak (sax), Shah (double bass) & Jason Geh (keyboard)
Yen Li & Seng Kitt at Hyatt on their big day
time flies, very soon it will be Christmas and then new year...another year.

Lunch rendezvous at Mia's..with the M people, Adam (in red), Mia, Sushee, Peter, Nicole & Lawrence. It's now exactly three years and a few weeks since I auditioned for M! The Opera.
Raya weekend was one busy outing with friends. This one taken at The Attic, Zal and Fadz got all dressed up for Raya @ Attic. This is Zal's classy act....Anya Hindmarch slippers.
and Fadz reminiscing P Ramlee's oldies
My godson Max is growing up...as we grow wiser (hopefully). His parents shower him with much love.

on the subject of love, I give you...

I like this poem a friend sent to me , thank you Petra :)

The Sun Never Says

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,

"You owe
Me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole Sky.

-Hafiz