November - December 2010

When it rains, it just pours!

Roger had so much on his plate the past two weeks, it's all thanks to God he survived without even a sniffle to show.

Day #1 - Nov 27, 2010: The American embassy brought the Johnny Rodgers band to Sabah and Roger organised the concerts. The band had been touring Asia for the past month and Sabah was the last lag of their tour. Tonight, they performed their first Sabah set at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah Recital Hall. What a show they gave! The audience were up on their feet and gave the band a standing ovation at the end. How rare is that, huh, Sabahans?

Day #2 - Nov 28, 2010: The band performed at the Centre Atrium at 1Borneo Shopping Mall this afternoon. Right after the show, they flew to Sandakan for their last show of the tour the next night.

Johnny Rodgers is a fun, energetic chap who could get the audience to sing along and dance along and well, have a great time at the shows. So, I think Roger caught of the essence of J.R. in this picture!

While the band flew to Sandakan that evening, Roger, Sara and I flew to Kuala Lumpur...and arrived close to midnight. My brother and his family picked us up and we stayed with them for the next few days. You're Number 1 Bro in my world!


Day #3 - Nov 29, 2010: 2V1G was going to perform for two nights at No Black Tie, Nov 30 and Dec 1, 2010. This morning, after breakfast with family, Roger went off for rehearsals with Winnie and Jeffery and didn't come home till 1AM!

Day #4 and #5: 2V1G concerts are held too late for us to bring Sara along so both Sara and her babysitter (ahem) have never been to a single one of their concerts. Amazing. And to think, they've got a second album out already. Their shows at NBT got rave reviews and packed the house. Rog returned home even later - 2AM!

Day #6 - Dec 2, 2010: We move to a hotel downtown KL, right next to Wisma MCA because the Tommy Emmanuel (scream!) concert was going to back held there the next night. Rog would be performing three songs with Tommy but first, he was one of the judges for the TE guitar competition this afternoon. While he was busy with work, Sara and I were busy exploring the hotel poooooool :)

Day #7 - Dec 3, 2010: If you are a Roger Wang fan - you must be, if you're reading this (otherwise, you're either my dad or my aunt Aeg Luan. Hi!) - you'd know that TE is Roger's inspiration. Watching Tommy perform for the first time in the year 2000 changed Roger's life. For one, Roger realised finger-style was the thing for him. Number two, that was when Roger first met me. (not-so-modest cough)

So performing with Tommy this second time round, after ten years, was a heady experience for him. He was excited and nervous all at once. I guess that's what happens when you meet your idol, huh?

This was the second time I've seen Tommy perform. The first time was at the Johor Arts Festival mid this year. The man is a legend. He commands the stage better than anyone I've ever seen. And at this particular show, the energy was just nuts! The audience was made up for like-minded fans who cheered so crazy loud when Tommy came out on stage. He reciprocated by giving them a helluva show! The vibes were bouncing off the audience and the performer alike, off the walls, the ceiling... Vaam, bam, boom, boom.

And watching him play the guitar... what can I say? If he ever comes to a town near you, drop everything, sell your house, get a ticket and watch him. He left me absolutely breathless. My eyes see him but my brains don't understand how one man can do all that with just one guitar. Mind boggling. Roger is right to look up to this man.

And that's not even the best thing about TE. The best thing about him is how grounded he is. No airs, no pomp. He's just a regular guy, very friendly, humble. Before I met Roger, I thought music and musicians were all about sex, drugs and rock & roll. Turns out, most musicians are just about sax, drums and a little rock & roll. Tommy Emmanuel, Farid Ali, Roger Wang - these musicians are so pure, so dedicated to the art, masters at what they do and they haven't got an arrogant bone on their body. Thoroughly admirable.

The picture above is taken in the Wisma MCA dressing room, just before the night's performance. Standing with Roger is Udo, AER (amplifiers) main man. Both Tommy and Roger endorse Maton guitars and AER amps. See Tommy warming up in the background. And oh, thanks so much for giving Roger the chance to perform with Tommy, Kuah of the Guitar Store.

Day #8 - Dec 4, 2010: We flew into Penang early that morning. Waaaay too early that morning. Checked into Bayview Resort for ...wait for it... the 7th Penang Jazz Fest! Woohoo!

I'm excited about it because - it's Penang! Glorious food. Plus, there's always something fun and festive about the PJF.

Roger's slot was for the next night, 6:30pm. When he got there, Peter Lau and Simon Lau were already there. They were performing with Jonathan Tse for three fringe events. Peter and Simon perform a lot with Rog. Pete plays drums and his younger brother, Simon, bass. Before the show, it was rehearsal time. (left to right: Peter, Jonathan, Simon and Roger)

Day #10 - Dec 5, 2010: Roger Wang Trio kicked off the second and last night of the Penang Jazz Fest main stage show at 6:30 - ish. Heavy dark clouds loomed above us, I swore I felt some drizzle, I was armed with hats, umbrella and raincoats but it never rained. Not that night.

The crowd tonight was bigger, the atmosphere electric. The trio did their 'thang', wowed the crowd, cameras flashed, big smiles all around, cheering, encore. That's the summary. You get the picture?

Day #11 - Dec 6, 2010: After all the performers have done their bit and have gone off to celebrate with an after-festival party, after the audience have gone home, concert organisers run the last lag of the race, working through the night to settle a lot of administrative stuff so that they can send artistes home with paychecks (from CD, book and DVD sales during festival). So my hats off to Capricorn Connection and all the festival volunteers who made this happen again - for making sure everything and everyone sound right, for airport transfers, for the food, for ensuring all events happened when they were supposed to. And hey, this time, I didn't leave my I/C in the hotel and make you drive like maniacs from one end of Penang island to the other so that I can board the plane, eh? Yay me!

This day marks the end of the travelling. We flew home in the evening. Only to face an unavoidable reality of travel - the aftermath: the unpacking, the nine-day laundry pile... shivers.

And oh, did I forget to mention this all-important bit of info? Sometime during these travels, Roger launched his new album, Milestones. It's a compilation of the previous six albums he's done and it's got three bonus tracks. You know what that means, don't you? FREE tracks!