Sept. 15th 2007 - Beautiful Seed CD release show in Los Angeles / AADAP 14th Annual Benefit Show at the Aratani.

15th September 2007 - AADAP 14th Annual Benefit Show at the Aratani.

Well, I'm having my concert this evening at the Aratani Theatre
in Los Angeles. I'm headlining the 14th Annual Benefit show
for the Asian American Drug Abuse Program. http://www.aadapinc.org
Should be fun although I've been feeling a little
more stressed through these past few days. Lord, help me to leave
this day, with all its burdens and joys in your hands.

-------------

So the concert at the Aratani went well. We got there for sound check
around 2 p.m. The sound guy was nice and he got the levels we needed
pretty quickly.

Trying out an 'artsy' pose at the piano during sound check



Kavin at sound check

Craig testing out the kit


Eric looking cool


Andrew at soundcheck


Adrianne and her 'dragon' cello

Eric, Andrew, Kavin, Natasha and I had dinner later at a Japanese
restaurant across the street from the Aratani. The food took
such a long time to come. Poor Andrew waited for his food for at
least half an hour before it came. Kavin and I had the char siew ramen,
which was pretty good. The pork was nice and succulent. Eric had spicy
tuna and california rolls and Ntasha had some hot veg. salad and spring
rolls. The food was good. The service was tardy though.

Next up came meetings with Lincoln (videographer) and Nat (photographer).
After this, I went about doing my make-up and got changed.

'On Ensemble', a taiko drums ensemble were the first act to perform.
Following this, the AADAP (Asian American Drug Abuse Program) had their
presentations and Pastor Ken was presented with an award in appreciation
of his years of helping with the AADAP.

The band and I went on stage at 8.30 p.m. We had a good show
and the audience really loved our performance of 'Little Superhero Girl' :)
I was glad that, having had the experience of singing at the 1600 Esplanade
Concert Hall, singing for a 800-seater theatre audience was not as nerve-wrecking.













After the concert, I walked out to the foyer to sign autographs for the 'Beautiful Seed' cd. It was lovely to see Willy, Olivia and Grace, and many other fans
who had come out to support the release of 'Beautiful Seed' at the concert.
Clinton, Regina and Joe helped to sell the cds; bless their hearts :)





I posted the rest of the photos of the evening here.

Beautiful Seed -The Stories Behind the Album

This is the stuff that is being printed in the Japanese liner
notes when 'Beautiful Seed' is released in Japan in September 2007 by S2S/ Major Chord Records.
Just thought I'd share them with you.

[SPOILER ALERT] - For those who want to explore the songs by themselves, please don't read any further :)


As asked by Major Chord Records :Regarding the Japanese liner notes: would you make some comments on each song -- what did you try to express with those songs, what kind of feelings did you have when composing them? Is there any story behind the songs?

1) Love Song For #1
I love observing nature. I love looking up at the stars, or the clouds and trees, knowing that the God who created all this beauty also created me. This is a song of gratitude and love.

2) Shelter
Friends support and help each other through difficult times. This song is about friendship.
It is a song to a friend to tell her that I will be here for her through the difficulty she is going through. All she has to do is call me and I will help her in whatever way I can.

3) On The Side Of Me
This is a song about the power of love. No matter how unloveable I think I am, there is someone who loves me a lot. Loves me despite all my faults, my failures, despite my bad habits. I think it’s wonderful to be loved for who I am, no matter what.

4) Five Loaves and Two Fishes
This song is based on my favourite bible story. The story is about how Jesus made a miracle happen by taking five loaves and two fishes offered by a little boy, and using that to feed 5000 people.
I think it’s an amazing story about how, no matter how small we may think about what we have to offer, we should trust that our offerings, our gifts are never wasted. Our gifts and our talents should be treasured for they can be used in many beautiful ways.

5) Beautiful Seed
I think people often forget how the smallest, most seemingly insignificant things can have such beautiful possibilities. All it takes is one person to make a difference in this world. People like Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. testify to this fact. But often, we are so afraid to try, to speak up, or to make a difference.

I named the album and the song ‘Beautiful Seed’ because I think that a seed is a wonderful metaphor for our lives. We are all like seeds. Seeds grow unseen in the soil and then sprout, and some seed become the biggest, most majestic trees and others grow to eventually bear wonderful fruit, and yet others, grow to provide shade. We are like trees. When we are in our mother’s womb, no one can see us growing, but we are there. And all the potential for our lives is present in that moment, small as we are at that point in our lives, we are who we are now because of what we’ve gone through. And just knowing that, makes me sad to read about the increasing numbers of abortions that occur. People have forgotten that all the potential for life comes from something small, seemingly insignificant, seemingly lifeless.
Recently, I read about how scientists managed to grow a date palm plant from a 2000 year old seed. How amazing.


6) Leaving
Bad habits are hard to break. But sometimes, the best thing to do is to find a new way of doing things, to leave the things that are not good for us. This song is about making the decision to start anew, to do things right, to leave the bad situations behind.


7) Scars (Stronger For Life)
Scars form whenever we hurt ourselves, if we have an injury to our bodies, our bodies respond by healing, and often, forming scar tissues over the wounds. The scar tissue is usually thicker and stronger than our normal skin. In our lives, we often encounter events, or situations with people that hurt us, for eg, a lot of us have gone through the painful feeling of a break-up with a girlfriend or boyfriend, or the loss of a loved one, or the pain of being ill. I believe that when we go through the sad and painful events in our lives, we eventually heal, and we become stronger as a result of the challenges we experience.


8) City of Angels
I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 8 years and it’s always struck me as a very interesting city.
It is a city of contradictions, a city of opposites, a lot of glitz and glamour juxtaposed with poverty and grit. It is a city in a desert, and in many ways, the desert is often not just a physical, geographical reality. I feel that the desert, has a deeper, metaphorical meaning in this city. People are often thirsty, hungry for love. Of course, this is a reality everywhere in the world, but it feels more intense here in Los Angeles.
So I thought I’d pour my thoughts into a song.

9) My Little Nephew
The first time I held my nephew in my arms was a wonderful moment of realization that I am now an aunty to my brother’s son. Children change so fast as they grow and my nephew lives in Singapore, as does the rest of my family. I on the other hand, live far away in Los Angeles and despite my wanting to be able to see him change and grow, and to be around for family gatherings such as his birthday, it’s hard to only see him now and then, whenever I go back to Singapore. I sat down at the piano one day, and wrote a song for him.

10) Slow Down
It’s hard to watch my grandparents getting older, and walking a little slower as the years go by. I thought about how life starts off with kids, teenagers and young adults rushing around with the exuberance of youth, and how, as we get older, we all slow down.
I also thought about how sometimes, working adults run around so much, focused on careers, on all the things in life that seem so important, that they lose sight of the really important things in life, things like time with the family, for instance.


11) Green-Eyed Monster
The term ‘Green-Eyed Monster’ is used to describe someone who is jealous about somebody else’s success.
I think most of us have been through an occasion where we find ourselves comparing our own achievements with those of our peers. Sometimes, in comparing ourselves with others, we end up feeling bitter and resentful, and that is not the way that we should be feeling. I wanted to write a song to tell myself that there is no use in comparing myself to others. I have my own story to tell. I have my own path to walk. No one else can walk the path I am meant to walk. So I should not compare my own life with others. It is a waste of energy and time. So I decided to write a song about this.


12) On My Way
I’ve travelled a lot over the past few years, to Singapore, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Maine, Philadelphia, etc. as I’m often going to various cities to perform my music. Most of the time, I’m on the road by myself, driving to various venues. Sometimes I get lost, sometimes, I get into traffic jams…
I think that life is like being on a journey. We have a final destination to get to. We’re all travelers on this road of life. I think that life is like a winding road where it’s hard sometimes to figure out where the road is going to go, and sometimes it’s easy to get lost and confused. ‘On My Way’ is a song of hope and encouragement, that no matter how far the journey is, every little step that we take, brings us closer to our final destination, and as long as we keep on walking that journey, we will get where we need to be eventually.


13) 33
When I turned 33 last year, I thought to myself, that Jesus was 33 when he lived his last year on earth. I thought that it was pretty amazing that I was now the same age as him. So somehow, that made me wonder how it would have been if I had lived during the time of Jesus. Would our paths have crossed? Would we have been friends?
It also got me thinking that some lives are so short, just like Jesus’ was, and some lives are much longer. But ultimately it doesn’t matter how short or long someone’s life was; what matters is that life is lived to the fullest, no matter how much time you are given to live.


14) Shelter (Cherry Blossom Edition)
Even though I listen to mostly English pop music, as a child I often listened to the Chinese pop melodies that my grandmother would play on the radio, and my father would teach me some Asian folk songs. I was inspired to write a Asian-styled piano arrangement to ‘Shelter’ after listening to Kavin’s string arrangement for the song. Lately, I’ve been experimenting more with pentatonic keys and modes and so, I decided to try an Asian-styled arrangement on the piano. I loved it very much, so we decided to include it in the album because it adds a different, more dramatic feel to the song.


Besides the above: please see the questions below:

1. What is the major influence in your music? Would you name artists and/or songs?

Growing up, I listened to quite a lot of classical music as I studied classical piano from a young age and had to play a lot of classical piano pieces. My favourite composers were Beethoven and Mozart. As I grew older, I listened to music arranged and composed by David Foster who writes very good melodies. I also listened to the Carpenters and to Abba, and to James Taylor. I loved the musical ‘My Fair Lady’. I also listened to a lot of Top 40 pop on radio. Nowadays, I’ve been listening more to artistes like Imogen Heap, John Mayer, Keane, Bobby McFerrin. I love Joni Mitchell’s lyrics. They inspire my own.

2. If you compare the new album with the previous works, what do you think is the largest difference?

I think my songwriting has evolved. Lyrically and musically, this album is more mature and personal. Songs like ‘Beautiful Seed’ and ‘Five Loaves and Fishes’ are songs about beliefs that I cherish. I think that musically speaking, I am also trying different things in terms of writing more songs in a minor or modal key, such as the songs ‘Scars (Stronger For Life) and Green-Eyed Monster, so there is more of a richness and diversity to the music. I also helped to produce this album with Kavin and so I feel that my musical, creative fingerprints are all over this album as I was more involved in this album with the way the music sounded.

3. When do you write songs? Is there any particular mood or feeling in which you like to write songs?

For this album, I wrote songs mostly in two places. One was at my piano in my room, usually in the night, when it’s just me at my piano, with a candle burning in a darkened room. The other place where I wrote my songs was in the coffeehouse that I went to almost everyday, during the daytime. I would sit at the coffeehouse with a cup of my favourite Darjeeling tea and write from 10 a.m to 2 p.m for most days. I would have at the table, my rhyming dictionary, my favourite pen, and my notebook of ideas, then I would look over the lyrics for songs that I needed to finish and write them, or I would write down ideas for new songs in my journal. I would write most of my lyrics this way. I would also have the melodies in my head and when I went home after writing at the coffeehouse, I would try out my music ideas on the piano in my room.

For writing songs, I have to be in a introspective, thoughtful frame of mind.
So it helps to sit at a coffeehouse. This particular coffeehouse also had a good vibe because there would be classical music playing in the background, and the furniture was very nice dark wood, so it looked classy, but very comfortable.

4. Some songwriters, by writing songs, releases their inner feelings, thoughts or visions, or escape from real world. To you, does song writing make your real life any easier or better?

Songwriting does help me to express my innermost thoughts and to express the things and emotions that I feel strongly about. It helps me to understand myself better and to deal with my sadness, my frustrations and my joys and happiness.


5. Song writing is in a sense expression of feelings or emotions.. Which feelings or emotions (such as, anger, joy, sadness…) is the easiest to express in your music?

It’s funny, but I do find that the easiest emotions to express in music are those that make me feel thoughtful, mellow or sad. I guess that when I’m sad about something, I get more emotional about it, and songs tend to flow easier that way. When I feel sad or pensive about something, it’s easier to sit at the piano and comfort myself by playing a good melody.

6. Is there any particular thing you do to create a atmosphere for recording (such as, lighting candle, etc)?

I turn down the lights so that the lights are not too bright. I like to light candles too, but during the recording for this album, I didn’t light candles because it got too warm in the studio.
For the songs ‘Love Song For #1’, ‘33’ and ‘My Little Nephew’, my husband and producer Kavin, left me alone in the house for a few hours with just the piano and so, it was easier to get into the mood of recording the songs, especially since these songs were more intimate since they are just vocals and piano arrangements. I felt more comfortable just putting all my emotions into the playing and recording of the songs when I was alone, with no one else to observe me.


7. Would you name other favorite writers, film directors, films, etc? Please also name your favorite musicians and artists.

Favourite writers : Pico Iyer, Jhumpa Lahiri, St.Therese of Liseux, Shel Silverstein, Anthony Bourdain.

Favourite films : Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars (original trilogy), Back to the Future, Prospero’s Books.

Favourite musicians : James Taylor, Sarah McLachlan, Bobby McFerrin, Take 6, Imogen Heap, John Mayer, U2, Dave Grusin.


9. What do you do in your spare time?
Take a drive to walk along the beach, or to walk at the farmer’s market, or 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica, go out with friends for a meal, go to the coffeehouse to write my journal or read and drink a nice cup of tea.


10. Please describe your character or preference in simple phrases, such as, outdoor active or staying home, dog lover or cat lover, good at cooking, like traveling, etc etc.

Tea drinker, cat lover, musician, singer-songwriter, good driver, catholic-christian,
piano-player, curious, optimistic.

11. What do you think you will be like in ten years?

Still writing and making music, maybe helping to mentor other singer-songwriters, perhaps having a family of my own.

Beautiful Seed #1 at HMV *grin* - Life's Little Joys...

I was at Thomson Plaza Shopping Centre
two weeks ago with my family.
I was carrying my nephew
Jerome in my arms as we passed by the
Sembawang Music store and he noticed
that 'Koko Corrinne's' (ie. auntie Corrinne)
picture was in the window display. It was
a promotional window display that
the store had set up to promote
the 'Beautiful Seed' album.
It was a sweet moment as Jerome
took the time to have a closer look
at the window display and to ask me what
it said.

My mum has also been telling him
that Koko Corrinne specially wrote a
song for him, and he's been really pleased
to see his photo in my cd booklet :)

Finally, I walked past the HMV CityLink
store in Singapore last week,
and was surprised and pleased to see
that my album 'Beautiful Seed' was
sitting in the #1 spot of the Rock/Pop
charts.


[Thanks to my sis-in-law for the photo :)]

Apparently, it's been #1 at HMV
for the past four weeks.
Yay :)
Thank you to all who bought
a copy of 'Beautiful Seed'.
I'm grateful for your support :)

Novena, 881, Nokia performance, Conversations at CANA, photoshoot @ Milk , bye-bye...back to LA

==============================
Novena and singing @ St. Mary of the Angels
-Sat 25th August 2007

I hadn't been to a Novena for a while,
and so when I found out that my friend
Simon went every Saturday for the Novena
at the Novena Church, I decided to go too.

The place was packed. And according to
Simon, every service, at every hour
from 9 in the morning till the evening,
is always packed to the brim.
There is an immense spiritual hunger
in people, and it's so heartwarming
to see people from all walks of life
making the time to ask for Mary's
intercession and for her prayers.

It was even more beautiful to see
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
So nice to see His face again. :)

Later that evening, we went to catch
the Chris De Silva concert, a benefit
concert held to raise funds for the Franciscan's
charity works. The concert was held at
St. Mary of the Angels church in
Bukit Batok. Chris De Silva
is a music director at one of the
parishes in Los Angeles and the funny
thing is that we're both from Singapore,
but live in L.A

It was great to hear the songs he
had written and even nicer to
hear the Franciscan friars singing.

Janet from the CANA centre saw me
sitting in the audience during the
intermission and asked me if I would
be willing to sing a few songs for them.

I was tickled that even though it was
a last minute request, I had unknowingly
come dressed in a dark brown blouse, the colour
of the Franciscan monks. God has a
sense of humour :)

Bro. Damian and I both dressed in Franciscan brown.


I sang 'Love Song for #1' and'Five Loaves
and Two Fishes' and felt very moved
to see some people crying during
the songs.

When I returned to my seat after singing,
the silver-haired lady sitting beside me,
told me that while I had been
singing 'Five Loaves and Two Fishes',
God had spoken 'piercingly' to her and
she felt comforted that he had
answered her prayers in some fashion.

Then she blessed me, put her hand
on my forehead, drew a cross and prayed
for me, asking God to bless my voice
and my health (I was astounded that
in her prayer, she said the same exact thing
that I'd been praying for, ie. for the Lord
to help my voice stay healthy and strong,
and for the Lord to preserve my health,
that I might sing powerfully for Him)
I could not help but cry.
It was a powerful moment for the both of us.
I was so moved that He had used me to bless
her, and in turn, used her to bless me.

==============================
Catching 881-
Monday 27th August 2007

Finally managed to catch the movie
'881' by Royston Tan. I laughed so
hard in the first part of the movie
at all the hilarious jokes.

The last part of the movie was pretty
touching too. Altogether a good movie.

After the movie, all of us, Marcia,
Stefanie, Bernard, Christine,
Clarence and Alaric had dinner
at a steamboat restaurant in Tiong
Bahru. It was nice to find out more about
each other, as it was the first time
I'd met most of them, apart from Marcia.

It was also nice to trade stories
about our lives as singers with
Stefanie, who has had a tremendous
career with her singing and music.
Kudos to her. It was good to finally
meet her. I must say she's got a lovely smile.

==============================
Fitting at Hugo Boss-
Tuesday 28th August 2007

I stopped by at the Hugo Boss store
in Ngee Ann City today to meet with Chor
Chen and Calvin. Chor Chen has kindly
offered to sponsor some clothes
for my performance, and had arranged
for Calvin, the brand manager's help
to pick some outfits for me.

Calvin, I and Michelle at Hugo Boss in Ngee Ann City


It was fun to work with Calvin
and we picked out 3 outfits. 2 for
a photoshoot I would do with Olivier
of Milk Photographie on Thursday
and one for the event on Wednesday.

==============================
Nokia Go Play event -
Wednesday 29th August 2007

I had a corporate performance today
for Nokia. The other performers
were Li Huei Min and Shirlyn Tan.

Before the performance, Marcia
had helped to set up a haircut
and styling with Michael Lim at Le Salon
and make-up with Beno from M.A.C

Michael was really sweet and
it was fascinating to see the sweep
of his hand as he snipped away at
my hair. I've noticed that every
hair stylist has their own
individual way of using the
scissors to cut hair. The way
Michael used his was akin to
a glider, gently skimming
the surface of a lake.
If ever taichi could be translated
to the way a stylist cuts hair,
this would be it. :)

Beno was great too. He came carting
a whole case of make-up and colours.
By the time he was done, my eyes
looked much bigger and brighter
and I felt more alive :)

Sam, the driver came by to pick
Marcia and I up later and I had
some time to rest at the hotel
before meeting up with the rest
of the musicians for the performance
that evening.

By the time I arrived at the venue,
the string quartet consisting of
Aloysius, Olivia Guo, Jit Min and
Wei Ming were already there dressed
smartly in black. I wore a dress
that Calvin from Hugo Boss had
helped me to pick.

Shirlyn Tan had just taken to the stage
and was playing her songs with her
band. Pretty cool stuff, especially
the catchy song 'Window'.

Soon it was time for us to play
and we sang 6 songs,

Shelter (Cherry Blossom Edition)
Five Loaves and Two Fishes
Beautiful Seed
Angel in Disguise
Save Me
On The Side of Me



It went well and it was nice
to finally get to do the cherry
blossom edition of Shelter
with the string quartet.





Olivia, Jit Min, Aloysius, Corrinne, Wei ming


Group photo with the event organisers, crew and musicians



Shirlyn Tan, Corrinne May, et al.


Later on, the string quartet,
Sammy, Cat and I went
to the Lau Pa Sat to have
supper.

==============================
Budak Pantai, Photoshoot and Conversations at CANA
-Thursday 30th August 2007

The day started off with breakfast
at the Concord Hotel's coffeehouse
with Chor Chen and Joshua Wan.
It was good to catch up with
them.

After this, I met with Marcia
Mavis and the guys from Budak Pantai
at Pregos in Raffles City.

I had met Gordon before, and
it was nice to meet the others
from Budak, K.K, Joe and Michael.
They all have a wacky, fun
sense of humour. Very cool guys.

Gordon, Marcia, K.K (top) Michael, Corrinne, Joe (below)


After lunch, Marcia, Mavis
and I went back to the Mandarin
Oriental so that I could pick
up my clothes, sponsored by Hugo Boss,
from the hotel room for the photoshoot with Olivier.

By the time we got to Milk
Photographie, it was about 1.45 p.m

It was nice to see Beno, the make-up
artiste from M.A.C again and he
started doing my make-up.
Stanley from Le Salon was there with
Alvin to assist him to style my hair.
It was nice to chat with them
and they too in turn asked questions
about my music and career. Stanley
asked about the toughest challenge in
my career and I told him that it
was challenging travelling long distances
and being far from family.
I found out that one of the toughest
challenges of being a make-up artist is
the challenge of carrying around the heavy cases
full of make-up, and that for Stanley, his
challenge is that he misses his family in Penang.
It was nice to exchange our stories as they got
my make-up and hair ready.


Olivier, the photographer was a joy
to work with. I'm usually quite
shy about being in front of a camera,
but he was very observant
in noticing my little quirks
and he put me at ease with his
sense of humour and his understanding
of my self-consciousness. As the time
went by, I got more comfortable with the
whole process and started to enjoy
the photoshoot.






So it was a good shoot and we
got quite a lot of nice shots to use.

Olivier, Beno and I checking out some of the photos taken


Marcia, Olivier, Corrinne, Beno, Stanley, Alvin


By the time we got done, it
was close to 6.20 p.m

Mavis gave me a lift back to the
Mandarin Oriental where I was staying.
I got back to the hotel at 6.45 p.m
and had a little bit of time to quickly eat
some appetizers from the club lounge
before heading for my next appointment.

Christina and Rafael came by to the
hotel at about 7.10 p.m to help bring
me and the keyboard over to the CANA
Catholic Centre on Waterloo street
where I was to give a talk that evening.

We got to CANA at about 7.40 p.m
by which time the moderator and interviewer
Augustine (who had initiated the idea
for the original Conversations at CANA)
was there livening the 100+ crowd
gathered at CANA by talking with them, telling
them jokes and asking them questions,
getting them to respond with claps.
Augustine was hilarious, witty and warm :)

Soon it was time to start the conversations
at CANA session. I don't remember all
the questions that Augustine or the
audience members asked, but I'll try to.

Augustine asked about the pro-life message
in my song 'Beautiful Seed' and I sang
'Beautiful Seed' to illustrate my point
that I hoped that the song would help
women who found themselves contemplating
abortion, an incentive to consider
other options, like adoption for instance.
I hoped that the song would give them hope
and courage to cherish the life within
them.

Answering a questions at CANA

I also shared about how I had sought
Mary's spiritual guidance in knowing more
about her son, and that during this past
year and a half, she has helped me to learn
more about Jesus and to see His hand in
my life with more clarity.

Subsequently, I sang 'Five Loaves and Two Fishes'
as well. I also met Longinus who presented me
with a bouquet and mentioned that he has
'Love Song for #1' on his ipod as he meditates
in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I feel blessed
to know that the music He's given me is being
offered back to Him.

Some asked questions about my songwriting
process and some asked about the challenges
I faced in L.A
I wish I had more time to answer all the questions
that were asked in more detail, but
9.30 p.m quickly rolled around and soon, we
had come to the end of the session.

There were lots more I wanted to share,
but I guess there will be another time for
all that.

Hear the podcast from the conversations at CANA
by clicking here :)

An audience member, Eugene had brought
his guitar along, wanting to play along
with me on 'The Birthday Song' and so
I sang the song to close the session.
It was so heartwarming to hear everyone
singing along loudly to 'The Birthday Song'
I'm amazed that many of them knew the song
by heart! I was surprised and joyful.

I was also very touched by Sister Florence's
closing prayer. There was such kindness
in this lady's eyes and face.
She presented me with a beautiful ruby red rosary bracelet
and prayed for me that I would be a powerful
witness to Him and that Mother Mary
would always watch over me and keep me close
to her Son. Her words moved me deeply.

I met some of the audience members after this
and signed autographs for them.
It was lovely to see some familiar faces
again, Rachael, who had studied in Seattle
before was there, as was Jeanette, my junior
in RGS NCC, Timothy (sean's friend), Ben
and his wife Shirley, Patrick who was there
at St. Mary of the Angels, Ling etc.

Emmeline, Corrinne and Ling


Kelly and Corrinne


Ben and Shirley



Augustine gave me a hug before he left
and I do hope we keep in touch.
I like the guy. Great sense of humour,
quick-witted, yet kind.

Augustine and I

The evening ended around 11 p.m
and I thanked Janet for having me at CANA.
The lady is amazing. She has so much energy
and passion for all she does and I do hope
that CANA flourishes, as does her vision
for how she would like CANA to be,
ie. an oasis in this city.

At CANA.


Thanks also to the lovely people
who helped with the CD sales and
to Rafael and Christina for helping
to give me a lift to CANA and back.

Thanks also to those who helped out
with the sound.

I had a lovely time at CANA.

================================================
Bye-bye...back to L.A -
Friday 31st August 2007

Kian, Cheryl, Jerome and Chiara
came by just now to Changi to send me off
They had lunch at T1 and then met Pa, Mummy
and I at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
around 3 p.m

It was nice to see Jerome again and to
sit him on my lap. I feel that particularly
this trip, this time around,
I've bonded a bit more with Jerome,
perhaps because we've had more time
to play together. So cute, we've been
playing 'making soup', ie. pretending
to cook soup, and some of his concoctions
have included diaper soup and roti prata soup!
He even knows how to say 'Botai' (hainanese
for 'I don't know') in addition to 'Tak Tauhu'
and it's heartwarming to see how much
joy Mummy and Papa get from being around him,
carrying him, feeding him and teaching him new
things. Without the pressure and responsibilities
of careers, they can now truly enjoy the
simpler, but more beautiful joys of
being grandparents.

Jerome got a bit quiet just now at
the Departure gate. I wonder if he
was thinking about my departure.
It's so cute how he's been telling
others that Koko Corrinne wrote a
song for him and that there is a
picture of us in the 'Beautiful Seed'
album.

koko Corrinne looking very aunty-like and Jerome

It's funny how, no matter how many
times I say goodbye to everyone at the
departure gates, it never gets any
easier. I still miss them all the same
when I'm here, sitting on the plane.

The Foo Family sending me off at Changi-
(left to right) Jerome, Papa, Mummy, Cheryl, Baby Chiara sleeping in
the baby sling, James and I

Class 95 FM showcase at Barfly in Singapore

Thursday 16th August 2007

I had two press interviews today before
the Class 95 FM showcase at Barfly.
One was for 8 days magazine and the other
was for Maxim magazine.

Then it was time for a soundcheck
on stage with Kenn Chua on guitars and
Reggie Pereira on percussion.

In the meantime, we were told that
there was already a line of people waiting
to get into the club and that people had
started waiting at about 6 p.m



So once we were done with soundcheck,
I went to the holding room to get changed
and the management let the people into
the club. It was about 7 p.m

The club was packed to the brim by
the time 8 p.m rolled by.



The stage with the banner for the showcase


Standing by for the show to begin

And soon it was time to start the show.

Glenn Ong and the Fly Dutchman DJs
from Class 95 FM introduced me
and we had a short chat on stage
about the 'Beautiful Seed' album.


Then we started with the show
and sang Shelter, Leaving, Green-Eyed Monster,
Beautiful Seed, City of Angels and
On The Side of Me to close the set.









However, the crowd still wanted more
so we came back for an encore
of Love Song #1, Five Loaves and Two Fishes
and My Little Nephew.

"Get back there, you've got an encore to do!"









It was great to see some familiar faces
in the crowd and after signing some cds
and taking some photographs, I spent
some time with some of my old schoolmates
from RGS who had taken the time to come
for the showcase.

Signing autographs after the showcase


Kavin, with my parents in the background. i wonder what they were laughing at :)


I was also glad that Calvin and Holly
from Warner Music took the special occasion
to fly into Singapore around the time
of my showcase so that they could catch
me performing at Barfly.



Also present from Warner Music were most of the
people from the Singapore office, James Kang, Simon
Nasser, Johnny Lim, Sammy Shirra and
Evelyn Woo. It was lovely to have their show of support
and I was grateful that the showcase went well.