My blog
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London Calling !!!
Monday, Sep 1, 2008 11:31PM / Standard Entry / Members only
After a super fun and productive week in Bath we decided to say a few more days in London before moving on to Paris and Le Lot (south of France). This was my first trip to the UK so of course I had to take a ton of pics. Oh yeah, thanks to all the peeps on alivenotdead.com for all the birthday wishes you guys kick ass!
The first thing we did after we got dropped off in town was wander around. After an hour or so we ended up at Trafalgar Square where they had a giant screen setup broadcasting the opening ceremony of the Olympics! It was cool hearing everyone cheer for their home teams as they walked out into the stadium holding their national flags.
After that we wandered down to Buckingham Palace. I just had to take pics of the guards with their unique hats!
We did a bunch of other tourist stuff since it was my first trip here. Having lived in Hong Kong when it was still a British colony I was excited to see some of the landmarks that I used to see on TV all the time.
The legendary Royal Albert Hall! One day.....
The Tate Modern had some cool stuff to check out and it currently has a Street Art Exhibition featuring some great graffiti artist. Os Gemeos, Falle, Blu, Sixart, and JR were even allowed to do these huge pieces on the museum itself!
One thing I love about London is all the historic statutes and the little details you can see around town!
Being a huge Beatle fan I had to go to Abbey Road studios and walk across that famous crosswalk!
Making new friends at Hyde Park and checking out the Richard Prince exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery (he did Sonic Youth's nurse artwork and the latest season of Louis Vuitton bags). There's also a cool installation by architect Frank Gehry!
Portobello Market was pretty packed on Sunday with stalls selling antiques on both sides of the street. This rockabily band was even rockin' out before it started to pour. Oh yeah, a great place for cupcakes is The Hummingbird Bakery if you're in the neighborhood.
Is he real or metal?
We had to check out a good musical and Billy Elliot came highly recommended. The songs were good and the performance was insane so It's definitely worth checking out!
My favorite clothing brand Maharishi at Covet Gardens. More camo!
Gotta get my vinyl on! There's so many good record stores including Rough Trade and Sister Ray. We also caught up with our friend and fellow Alivenotdead artist (and 24 Herbs MV director) Alex who took us to a great jem off Angel station called Flashback. Thanks man!
Rollins was in town which would've been cool but we decided to go watch our new friend Carly play instead.
Carly rocking out. It was great hearing play her own songs and throwing in a new tune that was written during our Creative Exchange project called "Changing our Time." Awesome set!
Krysten Cummings was the host of the songwriters show and Carly recognized her right away. She was the original Mimi Marquez in the musical Rent!
A great show and a good way to end our last night in London!
Good times, good friends, and good memories.........next stop Paris!
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Creative Exchange !!!
Saturday, Aug 23, 2008 1:10AM / Standard Entry / Members only
Just got back our trip last night and I'm beat. Luckily we made it back before the typhoon hit otherwise we'd be stuck in the airport right now. Anyway, here's pictures of Creative Exchange 2008 that I was apart of in Bath, London. It was a joint project between C.A.S.H, PRS Foundation, and Bath Spa University. There was 4 HK songwriters (Rachel Kar, Janet Yung, Ng King Pan, and myself) and 4 London songwriters (Richard Lobb, Sara Spade, Carly Bryant, and Katy Carr) along with Joe Bennett (Music Director), Chris Blanden (Producer), and Peter Sarstedt (Special Guest). The whole process was blogged by Joe and all the songs, lyrics, and project tasks can be viewed here: www.joebennett.vox.com. Enjoy!
Our first meeting! Sara Spade, Richard Lobb, Ng King Pan, Myself, Katy Carr, Rachel Kar, Joe Bennett, Carly Bryant, and Janet Yung!
Introducing ourselves and discussing various songwriting tools via Myspace and itunes. It was really cool having so many different styles of music in our group.
Outside the main building with Josh from PRS (far left). He joined us the first couple of days and became a big part of our new family.
After introductions we were split in two's and had a few hours to write a new song (melody and lyrics) that would be performed and recorded live the next morning. Joe would pop in and out of the sessions and give us great tips and expert advice. Here's King Pan and Sara working on "Mango Tree."
Richard and I working on "People of the World" which focused on the AABA song stucture.
Katy and King Pan added some unique musical flavors to the songs. That erhu and banjolin is pretty hard to play. Respect!
Carly and Janet recording live while we all sat and listened to the new track for the first time!
After each performance we would all sit and discuss the song, lyrics, and what we would change to improve the tune. It was a really supportive environment and having 16 new songs created in 4 days was amazing!
Huddling around Joe as he updates his blog minutes after we just performed our new compositions!
Working at Bath Spa University was great since we had full access to their music facilities that included 3 fully equipped mixing rooms and one big performance room. They even had some really cool vintage instruments too!
Joe our music director and Chris our producer/mixing engineer!
King Pan, Carly, Janet, Rachel, and myself on the last day after we finished all the songs!
The Bath Spa campus is actually owned by the royal family and is surrounded by some nice and peaceful fields. So nice!
Last but definitely not least our special guest PETER SARSTEDT!!! I'm a big fan of his music so I was super excited to meet him. He also shared some great stories from his own personal experiences and sat in on our sessions giving us feedback.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwXVDaCveSY&feature=related
Here is Peter's "Where did you go my lovely?." An amazing song that was also included in Wes Anderson's latest movie "The Darjeeling Limited."
We'll be showcasing our new songs at the Fringe Club on Sep.5th so come one down to check out the cool songs we did!
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Bath !!!
Tuesday, Aug 12, 2008 1:29AM / Standard Entry / Members only
I’ve been out of town this past week working here in Bath, London on a really cool project. I was asked to take part in the Creative Exchange 2008 project between C.A.S.H. (Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong), PRS Foundation (Performing Right Society London), and Bath Spa University. This was my first time working with so many talented people at once and also my first trip to England/Europe so I was pretty excited to say the least. I’ll share more about the project in my next blog update but first I'd like to introduce you to our home this past week-Bath!
Downtown Bath! The Abbey, Museums, Pulteney Bridge, and Kingsmead Square.
The Bath Spas that were built and used by the Romans!
Our home away from home! This being my first time in London it was cool to staying in such a homey place with the rest of the group while we worked on new songs.
Jane Austin is their most famous resident!
While walking around town it was hard not to notice the special pigs placed throughout the streets. I believe there were 100 of them each decorated by different local artists and they’ll be auctioned off to charity next month. The reason they picked pigs was because the city of Bath was founded with their help and you can read more about that interesting story here.
So clean and so fresh!
They even have a some nice half-pipes here in Victoria Park. I should have brought my board….D’oh!
This is pretty cheesy but I had to take a picture in front of Nicholas Cage’s house!
While cruising through Prior Park we stopped for a bite and had some cake with some new friends!
There was also this cat with one eye that was chillin’ with us. And as we started to leave the next thing we knew he ran into the bushes and caught a dove! I'd probably freak out if that was Kinsley...haha!
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Shatin Inn !!!
Friday, Aug 1, 2008 12:39AM / Standard Entry / Members only
We went back to a family favorite today-SHATIN INN RESTAURANT! We used to eat here when we lived in Shatin and every time we came back to visit HK. Definitely a nice low key place to check out when you're in the neighborhood. Check it out!
Located off the old Tai Po road under the newly constructed flyovers lies my favorite restaurant in Shatin!
I don't think they ever changed the menu! They're still wrapped in old plastic like primary school text books. Yeah baby!
The "fat" noodles are great with so much flavor!
The curry is really good there too!
Gado Gado (mixed vegetables with peanut sauce salad) and vegetable curry soup!
My favorite dish here! Beef & chicken satay with peanut sauce. Soooo good.
Crab balls! (No, Chris they're not really......)
The Shatin Inn's famous super thin napkins! I love how they look but they're pretty much the equivalent of using tracing paper to wipe your face...ha.
We used to play here with our friends and cousins while we waited for the food. I'd probably break the see-saw now....
One of the best parts of the restaurant is its outdoor setting. It's super casual and is hidden by some cool trees.
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Eric Haze "Full Circle" !!!
Friday, Jul 25, 2008 1:03AM / Standard Entry / Members only
Last night I had had a great time at Eric Haze's "Full Circle" exhibition at Delay No Mall. After working with the Beastie Boys, EMPD, Public Enemy, and Tommy Boy he established himself as one of the most respected graffiti artists in the world so it was cool seeing his new pieces while hanging with some good friends.
Props to Brian/Annie (24 Herbs, Know1edge, 852) & Diesel for doing a great job putting this event together. I know they worked really hard making this the first MOCA event.
Haze came out strong with some great new work featuring his bold lines and clean style. You also might recognize his work from the 24 Herbs products!
The party people! There was so many old friends there it was crazy. People came in from the US, Malaysia, Singapore and China to support.
Mark and Fa Gsai! A lot of skate friends were also there since Haze is no stranger to the street/skate/art scene.
BadBoyBen (What's Good) flew into town from Kuala Lumpur while newlyweds DJ Tommy and Erica took time from FAMA's busy rehearsal schedule to come down. It was good catching up.
MC Jin and Eddie (24 Herbs) represent! Jin's new album "ABC" comes out August 6th with a bunch of new MVs that were done by the Alivenotdead crew so check it out!
The man of the hour Eric Haze. This was my second time meeting Eric and it good to see him back in Hong Kong. Best of luck man!
