welcoming December + Live and Loud 2007

December is here already.

What did I do leading to the last month of the year?

A little bit of work and... LOTS of fun!


26th Nov 2007
Prince Hotel & Residence, KL

I had the opportunity to check this place out.

From the outside, it was not impressive at all but the service apartments were really nice - gorgeous views, furniture and interior decorations.

Most impressive!




29th Nov 2007
Live and Loud 2007 - Acoustic (featuring Dayang Nurfaizah, Rick Price, James Morrison)
Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre
8.00pm - late





The whole objective of going was to check out if James Morrison is as good as they say he is. He seems to be winning this and that awards. But me being me, I'll make my own judgment, thank you very much.

Because of the heavy rain that evening, naturally everywhere in KL is a massive traffic jam! Left office at the hour, thinking I'd have ample time to get ready, took me 1 and half hours to get home.

MAD RUSH!

Reached KLCC at 8-ish.

Reading from reviews of other Live and Loud shows that the opening act would be the featured local artist, we took our time to have dinner, have a little chat, drink coffee, take a breather before walking over to the convention centre.

What a good decision!

People were still queuing up to enter the place when we reached the centre! Holding the tickets that we did, there was a separate queue, a much much shorter queue. So we didn't have to wait long before being ushered to our seats. By then, it was near 9.

Not long after, Dayang started the show. Not a fan... Hmm, not a fan of any local artist for that matter (edit: except Sean Ghazi of course), so, I just waited until she was done. She can carry a tune, no doubt. I didn't know any of her songs and lucky for me she was only on for half hour!


Next in line was Australian Rick Price.

Alahai, dah tua already.




Poor fella! He was really trying to engage the crowd with his tunes but unfortunately, none of them ring a bell with the mainly young crowd. I think he was rather affected by that because at first he was quite upbeat and telling jokes and stories, but half hour into his show, he was just doing his thing - tune his guitar, tell the name of the song, start singing.



The last number he did was his famous "Heaven Knows" on the piano and that was when he caught the audiences' attention. Erm, well, maybe about 50% of the crowd only la. Sad, sad...

He ended the song, did a quick "It was good being here. You have been a wonderful crowd!", and off stage he went!

He lasted about an hour or so.

As Rick left, the crowd became a tad rowdy anticipating the appearance of the highlight of the show - James Morrison.

We waited for maybe 15 - 20 minutes before he finally appeared.



James opened with my favourite song from his debut album "Undiscovered" called Undiscovered thus catching my attention from the get-go!

-Undiscovered-

I look at you, you bite your tongue
You don't know why or where I'm coming from
But in my head I'm close to you
We're in the rain still searching for the sun

You think that I want to run and hide
That I keep it all locked up inside
but I just want you to find me

I'm not lost; I'm not lost, Just undiscovered
And when we're alone we are all the same as each other

You see the look that's on my face
You might think I'm out of place
I'm not lost, no, no, Just undiscovered

Well the time it takes to know someone
It all can change before you know it's gone
So close your eyes and I feel the way I'm with you now
Believe there's nothing wrong

I'm not running, I'm not hiding
But if you dig a little deeper, you will find me




James sang quite a few songs from his album and 2 cover versions. The ones I can remember taken from his album were The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore, This Boy (upon request from this little boy in the audience who shouted for it and I could see him singing along to it too. Very cute!), Wonderful World, You Give Me Something (second favourite song of mine in the album), The Letter and The Last Goodbye on encore. Can't remember the cover versions.


(Video recording of You Give Me Something)

He's quite a funny guy telling us little stories like how he was trying to walk around KL but did not even last 20 minutes due to the heat and animating melting, how he wrote the song Wonderful World when a deaf drunk guy in London gave him a hug in a bus one late evening, how he says he may sound a bit gay but he really really isn't (hahaha...), erm, what else? He's got a "bounce" in his mannerism much like a kid who cannot sit still. That itself was funny! At first I thought he was high or something but he sounded too lucid to be high so figured it's all him.

James has a combination of nasal and husky voice. Quite an unusual combination thus an unusual and distinctive voice. But at times I can't help feeling like trying to clear his throat for him! Hahaha...
All-in-all, it was a good performance and I thoroughly enjoyed it.


30th Nov 2007
PNB Darby Park, KL

Another service apartment I had the opportunity to check out.

Again, most unimpressive from the outside but what a stunner (!) inside.




1st Dec 2007
Fraser's Hill, Pahang



Dad and Mom planned a weekend getaway for us to celebrate my birthday.
I was skeptical that this was a good idea because I remembered being bored to death every time we went up to Fraser's Hill when I was younger. There's nothing to do there!
Turned out to be a great relaxing weekend. Yup, taste does change with age - starting to appreciate nature much more.

It took us about 2 and half hours to get there. I remembered it to be longer. I remember that we used to take turns to go up and down the hill but nowadays, there's one route to go up and another to go down. A lot has changed along the way too. There's also a new dam built as a catchment area. HUGE, serene and beautiful...




Well, it has been I think about 10 years since we've been to Fraser's Hill.

Nothing stays the same; everything changes.


We stayed at Ye Olde Smokehouse.





The room that I got was GORGEOUS!



Had scones and tea late evening and dinner at their dining room. Blew some candles of course!


2nd Dec 2007
Happy Birthday to me!


(No, no.. this is not my birthday cake. Waay too many candles... )

Lazy Sunday - perfect!

Everyone went to town but I stayed back basking under the sun, enjoying the cool breeze, magnificent view and a book.
Excellent!



What am I looking out at? This...




Headed home around 12.45pm.

Dinner - The Dining Room @ La Bodega with my sweetheart.

Aaaah... What a birthday!


What a way to welcome December...