dimanche, août 12, 2007 Exploring new places is a pretty fun thing to do, especially if you've got cool friends who also like chillout places tucked away in cosy corners of Singapore. Ron the Contrite was the explorer with me this Friday, taking me out to say sorry for bailing on me the previous Friday immediately after dinner due to job-related fatigue. Wasn't really necessary, but hey, she felt like going to Timbre, so who was I to deny the girl?.jpg)  Here's her and me (me and her?) and our two pints of Erdinger. That's my virgin pint on the right - I'm usually a strict teetotaler; I've never managed to stomach more than three swallows of alcohol before I'm making a face and wishing I had fruit juice instead - but I know Ronnie loves her beer (I have friends with very alcoholic tendencies), and they were having Happy Hour (3-for-2 special) so I decided to make the exception and, well, pop the beer cherry with her. (I figured, better her than somebody else in a less suitable, less conducive, more roofie-prone environment.) Timbre only starts live music at 10pm; we got there waaaay too early, at 845pm. Good thing she's one of my oldest friends; we just stoned about talking and complaining: you know, about the usual things, like life, work (or the lack thereof in my case), men, guys, boys, the difference between men, guys and boys, national day, etc. My beer went sloooooowly; by the time I finally got to the end of my pint, Ron had started on the next pint, which she finished by herself - and then accused me of being a party pooper because it is "no fun drinking alone!" To which all I can say is - that's why I always tell people I'm a really boring person, really! But nobody ever believes me.  So for the record, Ladies and Gentlemen: I do NOT like alcohol. It tastes like how tape cleaner smells: bad. Ergo, if you equate copious alcohol consumption with a certain level of frivolity and indulgence, I am not your girl. In this case, I am quite happily boring. Give me a good novel any night. Got that? I-AM-BORING. (I should change my blog address to that.)Besides, fun, frivolity and insane indulgences come with the territory when you know me. No alcohol required. ;-) Back to Timbre. After getting completely bored out of our skulls with the band timmy (fronted by a very drunk-sounding mumbly-bumbly heck-care bad-attitude Ngak) and their awful rendition of a really old, outdated set, I dragged Ron to Blu Jaz on Bali Lane (left pic), where Tony was playing with Aya S. We managed to catch their last set, which comprised Herbie Hancock's Cantaloup Island (I would have preferred it with vocals), and an awesome rendition of Miles Davis' Four, which I completely did not like, but appreciated anyhow because of the crazy awesome improvs. The last song's title has slipped my mind completely, but the inclusion of the trumpet AND trombone really rocked my socks. .jpg) Tony was playing again tonight at Bar Stop along Devonshire Road, so I decided to head over there to check the place out. Tony's not let me down before with regard to good grooves and cool places - there's a reason why they gave him a PhD in music! - and Bar Stop was no exception. The lead singer - her full name escapes me, but I was introduced to her as Ann, which makes it easier for me to remember - has a really low and husky voice, which really went down well in the room. I mention this only because it surprised me - stepping into the room, I noted that the entire place was hard - the floors were hard, the chairs were vinyl, and the walls were bricked, with a glass wall for the entrance. I was rather taken aback by this because (thanks to Theatre Studies and the Conservatory) I've met acousticians who've given me running commentaries on performance spaces, and Bar Stop afforded many surfaces for sound to bounce off and reverberate and echo off, creating a horrible undertone which will spoil the overall sound received by the ear, but somehow, it all worked! I enjoyed the band a little bit more tonight than the previous night, mainly because there were songs with lyrics. :-)There was Ann on vocals, Tony on the bass, Joshua Wan on piano, Jimmy Lee (and his 11-year old son Aaron James Lee!) on drums at Bar Stop. The kid played to Route 66 and The Way You Look Tonight. Awesome stuff. I spoke to Ann after the performance - she's apparently only just gotten back from getting a vocal chord operation two months ago, but I told her it was unnoticeable: she sounds great, hitting long and high notes without any problem whatsoever. Her fiance, Olivio, I think, came up to introduce himself to me, and we chatted a little. He was surprised to see someone alone (I do this quite often, I assured him), and thanked me for coming out alone "in search of good music" he said. My pleasure. [Nights out] |
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