Weekend Update

Friday, Had a meeting with Petrina at Laundry about the planning for the series of shows in May, looks like things are pretty much confirmed now so it’s a matter of organizing and getting the sponsors on board, More writing to do. So much for having time, the schedule’s been filling up fast but it’s all good cause I’ve been able to link with a lot of people in the week that I’ve been here. I hung out at Laundry for a little while before linking with Brian, one of our Silat brothers. Brian’s runs a tattoo studio just around the corner from The Curve called Exodus with his cousin Aaron. Ayi, a longtime Silat brother had planned to get one done, so we met up at the mamak (food shop) for a drink. It was the first time since I’ve been back I had the chance to see Nazri, as I missed him the night before cause he was in JB helping his mother-in-law. After a few drinks with the crew and we headed to the studio to get busy on Ayi. Lydia, Ayi’s girlfriend, sat with us as we tried to figure out a design that would fit Ayi’s personality, finally located a nice tribal design. Going through the books brought back memories of when I got my tattoo done in Bali just over 10 years ago. It also made me think about doing another one, I think it’s about time… so with the stencil pasted on his arm, Ayi got seated and prepared for his first tat. Less than a moment away from the ink and needle he changed his mind, deciding that a tattoo was just not for him. So as Ayi thought about it Lydia got hers touched up and we teased Ayi about being scared. As the wee hours arrived and no tattoo for Ayi I headed back to Brian’s to crash out there because there was no way to be getting back to USJ. Yi Kin was working early and it wouldn’t be right to roll through at like 3am waking him up. As far as ideas go, Brian and I discussed the possibility of shooting a video clip to help promo the shop and do up a song relating to tattooing. Would be cool to shoot it while I get my next one!

Saturday…Yi Kin was working again and I had a rehearsal set with the boys from Transient Vortex, a drum and bass outfit from KL, so I ended up just chilling with Brian and watching Babel. It had been a late night and sleeping on the floor with the cushions wasn’t as comfortable as I thought it could be. Sugs rolled through to pick me up just after 2pm and we headed to Pantai Hill Park to his place to go through the set for Thursday. Years ago when I first arrived in KL to spend a bit of time I stayed with friends in Pantai Hill Park. While Sugs lives in Phase 2, I was up the road in Phase 5 with Huda and David. Memories came flooding back, making beats in the closet for Da Joint and the beginnings of my Milo addiction. Not long after, Sam came by and we were ready to check out the beats and see how flows would sound on the parts they wanted me in on. I’ve only had minimal experience rapping over D&B, so I’m really looking forward to this event next Thursday at Maison! The session went really good, we listened to more tunes, talked about manufacturing in Malaysia and talked music. I’m trying to make a point of expanding my musical horizons this year, branching out to do more collaborations and experiment with other genres and styles, some of which may even be in the commercial sounding realm of things. It’s good to get out of your comfort zone a little. As we got into the evening Petrina invited me to crash at her place to make it easier for us to do Sunday brunch. We met at Laundry and I chilled with Nesh by the DJ consol for most of the night. Kim, a Danish rock musician has been visiting Malaysia and staying at Trina’s place for the two weeks he’s been in town. We had a drink and once Nesh had finished, headed back to catch some sleep before an early start to brunch creation. Finally a bed all to myself!

Sunday… Don’t you just love it when you go a day and only eat home cooked food! Especially when it’s delicious Malaysian delicacies. Trina went all out with her stuffed squid, garden pasta, sliced Chinese style beef and sweet potato curry shrimp. There was plenty to go around, and by the end of it, we were all nicely stuffed. Adding to the food was wireless Internet, another luxury I forget to really appreciate while I was in Canada. At least we got Starbucks out here, where you can you can buy overpriced coffee, plug in and get online. Speaking of which, this blog is being uploaded right now from the Starbucks at The Curve! I was supposed to meet Kelvin down by Laundry but in the end he didn’t make it in time before I had to head across town to Taman Melawati to meet Dr. Wan and his family for dinner. By the time I got there it was after 8pm and it had taken well over 2 hours… from one side of KL to the other then all the way back to USJ again! Salleh had taken it on him to cook up some Kampung style dishes and things were ready to go when I got in the door. The food was so good! I filled my plate a second time and enjoyed the variety of food that was there. I felt kinda bad that I had to leave so soon after arriving, Nesh was waiting to pick me up to go to the studio for one of his projects. One of the boys dropped me of at the LRT station and I headed all the way back across town to Taman Jaya where Nesh came to get me. It turned out the session was postponed and instead we were going to hang out with some of his friends at a BBQ they were having by the pool of their condo, where I stuck to the home cooked food and indulged in sweet tasting potato salad. It turned into a pretty late night actually, so Nesh thought it best I crash at his place cause we were going to meet Jake Man Monday to talk about a few things bubbling on the horizon, but in the end he left me at Yi Kin’s place so he could make it in time to pick up his friend who was arriving at Pudu. I guess all in all it was a good weekend and I was looking forward to the coming week and all the things planned out.