My Blog

2007,

As soon as it started it came to an end. Well, what i can say is that it was the most eventful year for me period. I asked god for alot of stuff in 2006 and was blessed with more than i can handle.

i played more gigs than ever in 2007 and i tell you its been one crazy year, sometimes we have stuff goin on for almost every weekend of the month.

i think the hi-lights of the year would be

1) Nailing the asean beat competition. That opened new grounds for the band and bagging teh individual prizes and all was something i alwayswanted to achieve. ( its one of those dreams being realised, the feeling is awesome, im sure youll agree.)

2) We put together an album. A superb and fun journey, albeit there was a lil drama with the production company it all turned out swell.

3) I think i finally got a great line up of musicians for the band. Its hard to get people to share the same dream as you and to work together on similar goals. Im happy to have met these people and playing with them has been the most productive 2 years of Ocean of Fire.

4) Teaching as a career?, i guess that was one bold leap. After some carefull thinking and braving the odds i left graphics in favour of music- an absolutely risky alternative, but the benefits are really sweet.

5) I felt like gving up service, but witha  lil small voice encouraging me im still carrying on. hmm i dunno if this counts as a hi-lite but it sure is something big for me. From the day i steped into service it was already a turning point for me in my life. i guess im not putting my foot down yet despite my short-comings.

6) I made a lot of new friends… well al least i think i did. I think i made a few guitar friends online as well. real nice and humble people and people who are not proud of their skills and peopel who are willing to share… EXCELLENT!!! ( no one wants to jam with people who think theyre great!, and many guitarists are like that…)

7) Me and the boys got our own jamming studio. FINALLY!!!! no more jamming fees… no more looking at the clock and keeping time. We can jam as much as we want now and as long as we want. This has been real productive in keeping our realtionship in teh band active , productive and happy.

Doing demonstartions for roland products was real cool too. The first time i saw a roland road show was when Rob Marcello of the band danger danger play and do all his cool guitar acrobatics. I thought to myslef, wouldnt it be cool if i did some demos too?. Next moment, i got a call from roland and were off to kl, then kuching then penang. CHUN GILA…. we get paid to test and play products. especially since the fender pedals werent released in malaysia at the time, we were some of teh first to actually test thme out. Verdict…. SWEEEETTTT…

7) yes, I decided to switch back to analog effects… YES ERIC KAO… i can hear you laughing. I guess its one expensive move,but u cant beat the sounds of lil colourful boxes and replace em with one space-ship board. Sometiems old is good and more is better, just liek playing more notes. So dont tell me to play less hee hee hee.

Marriage fund… i think thsi is the most funny hi-lite. but i guess if youre into commitment then starting a fund seemed like a very good idea since i spend alot without thinking and i spend a lot without thinking. so yeah…  i spend a lot without thinking….you dig?

oh dear i just realised. i SPENT alot without thinking… So How, I Teruk.

I guess i can go on and on….

I added a new member to teh family-MAX. a cute golden retriever. It craps more than a human being and eats twice as much but it has the most wonderful disposition. Its responsive…( finally a responsive dog inthe house ) and its real huggable, especially on a bad day, hugging this puppy will take some of your anxietys away.

I beleive i lost just a lil bit of weight too. which is good since im not getting any excercise lately. My enthusiastic resolution to hike once a week turned into once a month..then subsequently everytime i have some free time, which is never. u get the picture.

But there were sad moments too.

Shakir left for kl, and elliot had to go thru a series of soap opera dramas and alvin and beh and jeff was wtill away..and wont be coming back for a long time to getehr with kah hock.

these are some of the people closest to my heart. Having spent so much time with them when tehy were around took a lil readjustment when they left.

Its all in good measure though. Thats life, every year u lose a friend. They all have to go some where, relocate and work and earn a living, get married have kids and start a family. Beh said this to me before he left for kl…" kelv…( only my closest buddies call me kelv otehrs just call me kel… its strange but true… ) youre the only one left to hold the fort, so u gotta hold it till we get back! hee hee "

i guess giving my friends a reason/excuse to come back to penang for me being here is somewhat a task as well. But hell, this is home. I was born here and i have so much for me here…. if i wer eto leave, god willing i wana die here. have my blood turned to paint and my ashes be mashed up and put in a guitar, my jackson maybe and hopefully someone will play it too.

Dear God. Thank you for your blessings. Its been a great life thus far. Full of adventure. Full of surprises, cant wait to see what u have for me everyday. weeeeee

just last saturday night i played for a  hokkien service at church. it was quite an experience. it had nothing to do with the music though. 2 things really caught my mind that night.

as would nay testimony or sharing services were, there were people stepping up to talk about how much god has been a blessing to them. and im especially captivated that a causcasian man actually stood up and spoke in hokkien. No not jus any hokkien but the taiwanee untainted type. shortly into his testimony he broke into a hokkien song. brilliantly sung. His story was about how god took him from the place he was and placed him in a foreign land and how he was used to reach the people of taht land where there was little resources on the gospel. This man even spoke with such a deep ocab that he actually verbalised words that i do not undertand at all. His articulation was spot on and he got all the phonetics right- a very tricky thing for non chinese to pick up ( and only because the chinese had the privilege of learning the language from young…many chinks including myself still cant get it right !).

What door god has opened, no man can close.

that really spoke to me as i heard more of god’s work in the lives of these people that were there sharing.

i believe that i was truly blessed to be there.

the 2nd most touching thing ever was ( as i will always remember ) the face of an old lady.

there was an altar call and she clambered out to teh front with the help of some very kind people and there she receievd prayer.

there was a smile on her face. that smile spoke and shone brighter than any other mortal smile for that moment. U could actually see anf FEEL the peace that she had. and even in her most dificult physical condition she clambered back to her seat way afterwards bringing with her something that she didnt come with. a most excellent christmas present i must say.

i can be sure as ever i had more in material than what that old lady had. and my physical condition is in full working order compared to hers.

yet i was jealous. i was jealous that she had something i had longed for but seldom felt.

whats the use of getting the best guitar equipment and being given a great talent. i have a wonderful band , love my job, great mother and sisters and 2 wonderful dogs ( albeit the smaller one can be atad sillier at times ) & a caring girl but not have peace with yourself and with that peace with god.

i guess one of the greatest christmas presents i could ever receieve is the peace of god. it would be a shame to gain everything i have set out to do but still lose myself to the world.

well, what a busy month indeed!. i asked god for a busy year in music and i got real eventful this year. i had more gigs thsi year than any other, played a couple of hi-profiled shows and met lotsa wonderful msuicans and people.

well, this is a very very very late post. especaially when its on an event that happened on the 17th of november 07.

anyway i just wanna thank alot of people.

for those who didnt know…. ( ahem..drum rolls please ) i was the music director and being one of the organisers for the event. But many of you really didnt know the other two MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS. yes there were 3 of us altogether and together we made it happen. anyway a brief overview…..

ALFRED. alfred is the spearhead of teh event. most of the guys dont even see him. many dont even know him. thats becasue he chooses to be low -pro half the time…unlike his THICKSKINNED PARTNER ( me la…who else!). alfred single handedly brought in most of the sponsorship and of koz the dirty difficult work of getting the venue etc. Much much much much effort has come from this man and that deserves all teh recognition, something i will never claim for myself.

ZERO G is the man behind the branding, concept and promo for the event. all the cool graphic stuff u see, everythign form the posters to the logos are puled by this guy. a super one man show indeed. ZERO handles all the media stuff and with his portfolio of previous works i must say its really quite amazing. ( he used to work for astro!!!!).

KELVYN YEANG ( thats me! ). well im music guy!. i get all teh acts together. i plan the stage, who gets in and out. i scout for talents all around, form bands to dancers and i put em onstage. my job is to liase with all the bands and get the program running, make sure the people are happy and i get teh crew together, gather feedback and then bring it up during meetings.

really really really…. my job is a lil much less compare dto what the other guys are doing. and im glad to be working with them.

REALY REALLY REALLY appreciate all teh musicians and performers .

all the hard work u guys did…playting and all.. was awesome.

and of koz teh crew did great especially when there were certain twists here nad there. TARYN U ROCK BABY!, id die in an event if u didnt show up. GRATItUDE!!!!

too mnay names to mention…i guess if i have to name those who were most instrumental…would be these guys…

taryn, theresa, ah hui, schizzow @ shitzu, jenifer, raymond and the oof guys.

wonderful time we had. sponsors were happy. expect the next to pop real soon.

JAZZ FEST

was the bomb. i learned so much just watching.

i metthe coolest musicians, talked to them, and yeah i am so so humbled. the level of musicianship is just awesome.

since i had an "artiste" tag that also entitled me to a never ending supply of BEER. HEINEKEN>… FREEEEEEEEEE…AS MUCH AS I WANT

so i had my own lil party in a way. greta music, all my buddies were tehre and i had free drinkies!. couldnt be better. weeeeeeeeeee

anyway the next happy saturday plans are on teh way.. its prolly gonna be in march.

i thank god for all the good things he has done for me.

really…., when i think about it an di look back, man did god really open up oportunities for me.

Im a rockstar wannabe, living a dream as i sling my guitar and break a few licks to a crowd that knows little about what youre doing. In the musical realm, oportunities are important and knowing the right people-priceless.

i do not think i have achieved any success in a monetary sense as my pockets are still dry and i still dont have my own car. However i am confident enough to say that i am blessed with great friends, occasional oportunities and some recognition. Lil as it may seem but it does mean a lot to me.

just 4 years ago mantaining a band was troublesome. Platforms were hard to come by and getting enough dough to buy great equipment seemed impossible.

Blessings have god showered me. Now im proud to say i have great equipment, tons of great guitars, my own practice space and gigs everymonth. i still remember that days i had only one crappy guitar. Everytime i looked at my peers with great equipment all i can do is wish.

sometimes i still get the stares. ill admit that some people dont like me. Im cool with that, usually i wont even bother as i have better things to worry about. But it does serve as a reminder. I tell myself, that no matter what happens in the world we must remember whose side are we on. If we are on the side of god, then we have nothing to worry about.

boring post?, maybe… but all of a sudden i just felt real touched by the blessings of the lord and i just gotta put it down here.

heres a list of things taht you might find interesting…

i have a big dream. i still do. as i was pretty much struggling to be somebody in my teenage years, this yearning has put a certain drive in me to want to achieve. and with knowing god, lately ive been seeing all these goals i set for myself coming to pass..

i always wanted a great guitar… i only had 1 which i bought with every scrap cent i had. then all of a sudden i had 6,7??? cnat remember as i sold 2 away?… wait i still ahve 6 electrics and 3 acoustics…? wait…nvm… you get teh picture… NO, I NEVER EVER PAID OVER 400 ringgit from my own savings for any of my guitars…they were either given to me or won im competitions.

asean beat…. it was always a dream. i always wondered how it would feel to play in front of a crowd of tons of people, like in an arena or stadium adn represent malaysia in teh finals…i got there…now i know. but it was prayer all the way.

the reason why im still alive is also god. ive been living rather recklesly… well used to. God taught me a valuable in aggressive inline skating. god showed me what it was to value what was given to you and through a "certain" experience i quit smoking.

blessed is the name of the lord.

Yes indeed. MALAYSIA MEMANG boleh. Im proud to say that we are the first south east asian country to have sent someone up to space with someone elses space ship.

You see, for all you sceptics that dont think very far, sending a man to space is malaysia’s answer to all our problems and this may very well set us up in the world map and take us out of our third world status. Im real glad to know that our spaceman conducted various beneficial experiments in sapce as well.

im confident that our "angkasawan’s" experinments will bring an end to corruption in the country as well as improove our roads. Besides, with the technology involved in the super hi-tech experiments our local education system will benefit greatly from it for sure. I foresee in the name of vision 2020 that there will be more graduates and oportunities for the locals who fail to qualify overseas as well.

Singapore,…. theyre probably laughing "jealously" about us now. HAH, we beat you into sending a man into space. You see singaporeans, this space program will also solve our cleanliness problems as well. In future we might be even blasting rubbish into space. this gives us locals soem hope too. now every malaysian kid can dream of becoming an astronut and not just aspire to be just a soldier or a fireman. THIS GIVES US MALAYSIANS HOPE… DONT YOU SEE ALREADY!!!! WERE SAVED..SAVED I TELL YOU.

What tickles me a lil bit is why they gotta go to space to do some zero gravity experiment when we also have zero gravity simulators on earth?. But with further thought i guess drinking water in space with a view of the moon and stars would be a far greater experience. bahhhhh it might cost a couple of million more but so what…THIS WILL SOLVE OUR NATIONS PROBLEMS WAT!!!.

I also wanna be an astronut now. Common knowledge tells us that theres a big  chance he’s gonna be a datuk soon. NO not grandfather datuk but the given title datuk… yes its similar to teh one rumored that can be bought as well. how true this is? im not sure… but space datuk…that im quite confident.

Anyway here’s a list of what i bet you all didnt knwo about what teh space rpogram can solve….

1. Leaking paliarment roofs adn ceilings… and your house ceilings as well…
a famous cabinet member once excalimed when asked about teh matter- " which roof doesnt leak one?"

2. Mat rempit. Now they can go to space and race tehre too so our roads need not be so terorised by these.

3. Now forecasting would be easier since we can have a better look at the moon. Lunar calendar debaters step back… our spaceman will tell u all u need to know.

4. Space anti gravitational experiments will make roads smoother and easier to travel on.

5. We can build a super futurescope to see what lies ahead for malaysia in 2020.

6. Rapist will be less ..same with snatch thieves. Evryone wanst to be a spaceman now…who cares about sex anymore.

7. More versions of negaraku or mamula moon will be composed im sure.

8. Satay stalls with no licenses will cease to exists. now they will concentrate on opening space satay…theres where i wanna be. eevryones goin woo hoo.

WHAT????? DDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMNNNNNNNNNNNNnnnn….
i just read that there is a chance all the experiments conducted in space might be ruined or destroyed rendering everything useless???? WHAT THE….

Nevermind…hes still a hero our angkasawan. MALAYSIA MEMANG BOLEH…
well i know who i wanna vote for for sure now.

i will fully support the PAW ( parti angkasawan wannabe )

yeah you read right. Its the malaysian astronut!.

frankly speaking i really wonder of what use is sending a malaysian astronut into space?. Astronut?… if you were to check out the nasa site, it just states that the malaysian astronut is nothing but a participant. well what can i say?, trust nuts to send another nut into space and hopefully it will bring forth an evolution in their brains, from single celled nutmoebas to proboscis monkey.

Is there a use for this astronut?. Most of us can already think of over a hundred issues that could use the funding of blasting an astronut into space. Well clearly it seems that Malaysians want to be proud to be the first country to have ever sent a nutmoeba participant into space.

We dont even need this dumb astronutmoeba. N.E.P, transporation system, road works, corruption, police, education, development and politics all need more attention and they pump money into this stupid program.

I think some of the nuts up there really need to review on what vision 2020 is anyway.

These guys are really fond of being proud of the stupidest things.

biggest dodol,

largest court, the palace of justice ( why do we need such a big court anyway, does it mean that our crime ratesare so high that they need a bigger litigation space? )

road with most traffic lights? ( pun intended… but there is one such entry in the malaysian book of records.)

what happened to the people we are to be really proud of?, like the high achievers in education….. oh wait a minute, most of them cant get into a local university because of some quota system or biasness that they have to leave the country and do it somewhere else. swearing not to return, these high achievers then pen their own version of Mamula Moon ( this song has a very familiar tune, written long befor our national anthem..chuckels ) called negaraku kuku bird bird.

new ocean of fire cd?

well……. hellll yeaaahhh!!!. its been some time already and im so sorry to dissapoint some who are anxiously waiting/ curious about the kind of material that will be in it.

well heres the spoiler… i guess its really unlike "home studio" since its really a band effort and you got everyone in the band pitching in ideas here and there. yup, the homestudio prject was pretty much a solo one with programmed drums etc. the new self titled cd will feature music recorded in a full band live setting.

if youre looking for super shred and ultra prog, i guess this aint really it since the band decided to talke a slightly different instrumental direction. NO WERE NOT GOIN EMO OR POST ROCK since that would be departing from our style too much. yes yes the shred is still there but not to the ecessive amount found in "race with me" etc.

THE PRICE…iss….. rm 15. yupsies its cheap. 15 buckos for 12 tracks. 10 new ones and 2 old bonus stuff from home studio.

WHERE TO GET?..unfortunately this is the tricky part. as of current the band hasnt any plans for distribution just yet so the material will mostly be distributed the "indie" way. in short…by hand, gigs, etc. or u can just drop me an e-mail and ill see to it that ill mail one to ya!.

NEW PLANS? of course we have. in fact were already accumulating songs for our very next project, which will be a 6 song ep featuring the "ultra prog" stuff since weve got many listeners actually asking us whered the prog stuff go!. it didnt really go la, just that at the moment the band and i wanted to try diffrent stuff thats all. no worries, the prog is back as some will tell u, especially those who have attended our gigs.

well…. many many many many many many many thanks to the poeple directly and indirecly involved in getting this cd out or been an encouragement to us or even an inspiratiuon. our gratitude goes to u guys. im glad ive met u all and im glad that youre encouraging us to go on.

WELL JUST TO LET EVERYONE KNOW, its been a blast and i had so much fun this year from getting the cd out to playing so many shows and all. its been one hell of a wild ride. ITS NOT GONNA STOP, more shows are lined up which means more fun time for us all weeeee

well, i believe that the age of recording has taken a twist. my shoutouts also go to all the people who are producing music at home. all the encouragement has to be given to them. its great seeing the scene grow. as for the people who are not doin any plans for recording and getting their stuff out? ,what are u waiting for? its way better and more proactive  than just sitting at home and writing comments on you tube! in fact ill gladly aid u guys if u ever need any help. all for the scene baby. cheers people .

FACTS ABOUT ME AND THE REDNESS

if youre wondering..whats with all the red and me …

red is my favouritest colour and by now most of you friends wouldve guessed ( duh!) so plenty of my stuff are red! anyway heres some other stuff that might be of interest..

1. i have over 14 red shirts… NO I DONT WEAR THE SAME CLOTHES ALL THE TIME as opposed to what some may believe. since more than half my clothes are red…it just seems that i wear the same stuff. also mor ethan half my pants are black and i even have the same pair of my favourite pants.

2. red and black are the band colours for ocean of fire. wearing red an dblack during live shows are just part of the whole uniformed band thing we established during the asian beat competitions. after putting much thought to it, i guess it was a cool idea so we stuck to it.

3. all my electric guitars have some reddish hue - metllic red, wine red, cherry burst, flamed trans red, magenta burst, marroon. u get the picture… yes ive dreamed oif owning other colours too. but at the moment red is that way to go for me.

4. i always have a pair of red and balck stage shoes for shows. over the years many pairs have come and gone. but as always ill make sur ethat the shoelaces are the brightest red i can find.

5. my favourite amplifier is also red. a marshall mg half stack special edition.

6. u can bet that the cd is gonna be red too lol.

7. no i dont have a pair of red socks or underpants….nvm.

hmmm, this is real subjective…

usually subjective to the amount of money involved! …

yes, im talking bout corruption here in our country. Corruption levels in our beloved country has reach intollerable levels that it has become so tollerable and second nature to the functioning of our nation. did i just contradict myself?, no . what i meant to say is that i dont think we can rid ourselves of corruption for certain flaws in our system not only encourages it but has made it a neccessity.

take for example, everyone complains about our police.

" we cannot trust them la,, theyre alwasy late and no money no talk"

" aiya this one ah… 20 dollars can settle d"

"sekarang lu salah, macam mana mau settle?, takda bagi chance punya……( u put 50 buxx into the book after that…)…ok jalan"

yes. its true. everyone knows and brands cops as daylight robbers, but can we blame them? they get paid a misserable amount of money and are expected to risk their lives in the line of duty…. hell no, who is that dumb. if they dont get paid more , they cant feed their families….so how else la?

we also cant help but notice the amount of illegal betting and gaming rings all over penang. mushrooming all around. also the illegal dvd shops in famed locations in pennag. EVERYONE KNOWS ABT THEM, yet no one does anything. U think the cops dont ? well i really dont know. im not implying anything, u guys decide on this one.

yes, what a month last month is.

bustling with non - stop activities, shows, gigs , etc…

Its been great so far and me and the band are enjoying every moment of it. next month in july sees the band pulling together their first full show concert as well as making their debut in the laundry bar kl together with penang buddies- poseidon and kl buddies - two sides to a story.

also to the many who are awaiting the new ocean of fire cd…well youll be happy to know that itll be ready latest by the end of next month! weve been waiting a long time too actually but were not rushing anyone.

yesterday was the guiatr workshop held at areca center. the students played wonderfully and im really glad to see them do their stuff live. really proud of them all and the guts to get everything together.

of course it was the first time that all of us decded to pull out our stack amp arsenal to unleash its raw power on the poeple. too bad it was indoors so we kept everything at a controllable level but nevertheless loud .

well this isnt the last workshop and it seems positive enough to pull more workshops in the near future to encourage poeple to take up guitar as well as to promote performing arts altogether. Thats what were about anyway, - getting people to perform live.

THings to look frward to for ths month…french art festival…check and some chaity thinggie thing on the 30th of the month. yeapsies!!!