Lisa Ono 2012 Live at Kallang Theater

Lisa Ono, 2012. one of the famous 'Girl from Ipanema', with airy voice, great rendition of Jobim classics and other Brazilian styled Bossa Novas. This was her 3rd time here in Singapore and our first concert to Lisa Ono. Shown at the Kallang Theater, the place seemed frozen in time, we have completely forgotten how the place looked like as the last time we went was possibly during the 1990s during the Les Miserables, Cats, Miss Saigon era. The stage look really small (we're too used to Esplanade Theater?), and the acoustics were poor but sound mixing made it worse. Maybe due to our seats (quite far stage left as seen from the image), the players nearer to us, (Flautist / Saxaphonist and percussionist), were impossibly loud and Lisa's guitar was non-existant. Scenes of Brazil / beach / was shown at the big screen/ projection behind the band for certain songs and they're reminiscent of poorly done Karaoke tapes of the 90s. The biggest disappointment of all was Lisa Ono. Her pitching was way all over the place. It literally hurts to listen ...*sob*. She tried to do covers on Bengawan Solo, Rasa Sayang, Ye Lai Xiang to add on the the woes. Singing seemingly completely from scores, she might have focused on the pronunciation and completely forgotten the dynamics. The 2nd song of the encore (some chinese song!!) was much worse....we were trying to 'switch off' our ears...

I love Lisa's studio albums, but the 'live' episode couldn't have been worse. I had to get home to listen to some 'proper music' to align myself back. This adds on poor Bossa Nova (which I really love..) live concerts. Lisa Wahlandt, Ana Caram, Olivia Ong, have great studio recordings but their live sets fall mostly flat. Past greats which we'll never see again include Louis Armstrong, Shirley Horn, Ella Fitzgerald, Astrud Gilerberto and one of the favourties, Eva Cassidy!!!!

Now I'm hesitant to have high hopes for other Jazz / Bossa artists. We look forward to Stacey Kent, Diane Reeves (the very best concert we've ever been for Jazz),  Sara K, Norah Jones, Noon, Emi Fujita, Janet Seidel, Alison Krauss!!

Till the next Jazz concert, !

Italin wines: Barbarescos and Barolos!

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After a whirlwind drive,and arriving in Piedmont region in the dark. It was time for dinner. It was at l'osteria Bel Teatro amd we had, Tagliere di formaggi amongst a fabulous chicken flavoured entree (can't remember the dish for this). The pasta was heavenly, with Pio Cesare Barbera which was smooth and easy to go with food. The desert Panna Cotta  was out of this world, and the phrase 'MMmmmmmm' couldn't have been more apt!

It was rise and shine and straight to our first tasting of the trip, at Matteo Correggia! Located at the Roero region, it is not as widely known as Barbaresco and Barolo but Roero region is slowly gaining recognition.

 

Chalk beneath the house, constantly moist and at a cool temperature, the idea conditions for wine!

 

 Impressive line up as well as strong family tradition in the Correggia family with Giovanni (third from left), slowing taking over the role as wine maker!

The next stop: Gaja. Located at Barbaresco town, there is literally just one street cutting across the slopes. With just 600 inhabitants, this is one of the smallest towns in Italy (or in the world?) and Angelo Gaja is famous for all things Italian wine. Angelo is fourth generation in the line of Gajas and he has perhaps made the most significant contribution of them all by introducing cutting edge techniques in the vineyard and in the cellars. Believing that only the best will do, Gaja would conduct green harvest of 50% or more of the crop, to the disbelief of their neighbours. Gaja has also refused to vinify grapes if he thinks it's no up to his standard. Other idiosyncrasies included introduction of Red worms from USA to aid soil regeneration as well as planting crops closer than the norm to encourage them to compete. Gaja also experimented with new world varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon much to the dismay of his Dad Giovanni (but Gaja senior let Angelo experiment anyway).The famous wine is called Darmagi, which translate to 'what a shame' or 'pity', mentioned frequently by Gaja senior!

 

Italia 2012 Day 1

It was off to another grip trip of the year. Wenhui and I went around Germany after Photokina 2010 to one of the trips 'of our liftime'. This time round, it was to Italy! We were all busy and didn't have much time to plan!!

After a fulfilling Germany 2012: *driving on Autobahn @ 220kmh in a BMW 3 series; eating my favourite black forest cake in Black Forest; visiting Porsche, Mercedes and BMW showrooms & museums; drinking 1L beer mugs at the beer festival of the world Oktoberfest; went to 'Waltz Disney's' castle; went to classic Roman spa in Baden-Baden, it was truly fulfilling , can Italy top all that? YOU BET!!

It was the first time we really used Google maps go our advantage, the only issue came when our car didn't have GPS (we were hoping it was included, as we booked a Mercedes), and the subsequent app we downloaded to the ipad didn't have the addresses we keyed painstakingly into google maps, nevertheless Google Maps was great!

We took a flight via German Wings from Cologne airport (only 10mins train from Kolnmesse --> the exhibition grounds of photokina). German Wings was pretty cheap, ~60euros per pax, for a 1.5hour flight into Milan MXP airport. The first image of this post showed snow-covered mountains of the Italian-Swiss alps, magnificent! 

Off we go to our hotel, it was B&B Monza at around 70euros without breakfast. Reaching this place was a nightmare without a good map nor GPS, driving in the night, in the rain, but we made it! Thanks to Wifi at a nearby Macdonalds! Here Formula 1 motives greet us right at the door front, together with the courtesy bear and a lady in the colours of Ferrari!

After coffee (a must every morning in coffee-land Italy), it was off shopping for pre-paid sim cards, water, and food. 'Atas' water was cheap! 0.42 euros for a 1500ml of Aqua Panna! Wifey commented it tasted good. I can't agree more, one water is better than the next? This was 'clear', 'not mineral' and 'fresh'. Do you believe all these?

Wifey at the cheese section, yes..it's mind-boggling! Good champagnes were going for 50euros where it'll cost double in Singapore!

It was off to the main event of the day, a ride in this ~600 horsepower MacLaren MP4 12C. Having missed driving around Nurburing F1 track in Germany, this was a great chance to drive around THE FASTEST F1 track ever! David Coulthard took is Maclaren to 351kmh along the main straight during the V10 3L days in early 2000s.

We took a package organised the PureSport.it, they have regular events at the several tracks around Milan area (there're a total of 5, so someone told me), and they have their regular Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo, Ferrari Italia 458, Lamborghibi Murcielago and more.

The Italia 458 is a real beauty.

Snooped around the paddock area and some class to be and an interview area behind it.

The Maclaren MP4 12C, mentioned by Jeremy Clarkson as a 'fax machine name',--> Mp4 12C --> wtf is Maclaren thinking? MacLaren created the Maclaren F1 to take the title of FASTEST street car EVER at 372kmh back in 1998. This record was beaten by the monster of monsters, the Bugatti Veyron (~400kmh). With the MP4 12C, it wasn't about speed records as it is virtually impossible to beat the Veyron short of putting rockets or jet engines onto a car. With the MP4 12C, it was about creating the best driving experience possible. Developed at the Top gear test track Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, United Kingdom, it become the 2nd fastest ever car to go around the circuit set by THE STIG. 

The simple yet elegant interior of the super car.

Yours truly went for a few rounds in this orange car with funny doors.

A familiarisation lap inside a BMW M3 'drift car'

Yes, it started to pour and here's a look at the most famous podium int the F1 calender, with the podium stretching over the start-finish straight, where the WHOLE stretch will be full of Tifosi- Ferrari fans during Monza F1. The most memorable was when Michael Schumacher, Ruebens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine (ex-driver of ferrari), took the top 3 positions respectively think in one of the 2002-2004 sesasons and it was really great!!

Looks like Singapore rain.

The famous Monza straight.

There was lots of Russians in the crowd waiting for a drive, including quite a few ladies!

Wifey went around the track in the BMW M3 'drift car', and yours truly is in the reflection..hehe

A marvelous day 1! The car was nimble,very responsive to steering and throttle, it's amazing how fast you can brake from going at 200+kmh into a tight corner. Many say F1 cars can brake much later, it'll be an experience to be in a F1 cockpit one day! Now back into the rented Mercedes and onwards to the wine-region of northern Italy,the Piedmont region! WROOM!

London 2012 Olympics and turning 33

It's been a fantastic 2012 Olympics. Faint memories of the 2008: Fantastic opening: esp the 'giant footprints' fireworks leading up to the stadium for the grand opening.

This 2012: the start was pleasantly surprisingly good! The start from the 'birth' of Thames river, to lead into the stadium, decked in Shakespearean era and folklore, evolution into the industrial age with the forging of the final Olympic ring before being lifted to merge with 4 other rings to form the iconic symbol. Notable acts include Mr Bean with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the London Symphonic Orchestra playing 'Chariots of Fire', the 1980s theme song which became any athlete's anthem. The British humour of introducting Queen with a skit with James Bond leading the Queen onto a helicopter in Buckingham palace with 2 dogs, and the Queen + Bond parachutting into the stadium! The Olympic torch is also very innovative with 200+ individual torches coming together to form a giant caldron. The individual torches were to be given to each participating country after the games. Lastly, Paul McCartney with perhaps the most popular sing-along song, of Hey Jude, to end the opening... 

The sports. Swimming began first, and the legend Phelps didn't seem to be able to do a '2008', but he did became the most be-medalled athlete of all time, so kudos to him. Memory swims include the young Ye Shiwen, a 16 year old beating the OR at the 200m IM, even faster than Lochte's time in the final 50meters in the equivalent event. I was in China over a week and Sun Yang's wines is the 400m and 1500m were replayed a 1000 times and hailed a national hero over and over. Singapore's swimmers were crap though. period.

Athletics: The 'core' of the Olympics, to run faster, jump higher, throw further. It's always great to watch this, without the aid of bicycles, racquets, balls, horses!?, boats etc to distract one from the pure physical form. Notable was the triple jump's record at 18.26m by Jonathan Edwards etched in 1995 or Mike Power's 8.95 in the long jump. The past 2-3 generations of jumpers are NOWHERE near such records. It's utterly amazing! Other notable Athletics events include Liu Xiang's famous first hurdle fall, and I watched it live in China, and the crowd in the restaurant were like 'argh!!' and you know something went really bad. Hours of coverage followed over the next few days, interviewing his coach, family, doctors, fellow chinese sportsmen and so on. Also, for Mo Farah's 5000m and 10000m twin long distance win for GBR, a great celebration for him. Finally, the fastest showman in the world, Usain Bolt. I watched both 100m and 200m live in 2008 but didn't manage to get it, and he deserves every respect, arrogance and all!! Bask in his glory, for we may never see another Bolt in our life time.

Other notable events is how graceful Synchronized swimming and Rhythmic gymnastics can be. It's watching a performance.

The closing was a big Brit-Music concert, notable including Spice girls, Queen and John Lennon literally Singing Imagine. Imagine no countries, living life in peace..

Oh, there's 33 candles on the cake today. Not feeling too well. Thanks to all for the well-wishes.

2012 Amsterdam Day 2 - A day at the Museums

 A lazy second day, still pretty jet-lagged, went to Foam, a photography museum!

 Ron Galella was on display for paparazzi photography. Erm...what's so good about paparazzi photography that warrants a paid exhibition!??!?! Isn't paparazzi simply snapping wildly at celebrities while being cursed for your 18 generations for intrusion of privacy!?

 No it wasn't that way. Galella was a pioneer, with popularity of 35mm cameras, Galella started 'haunting' certain celebrities, musicians, politicians and the like. I'd imagine one must be superbly thick-skinned, have a lot of patience, and great contacts to get into hotels, restaurants, private locations before other media can get into, to snap personalities in their 'private moment'. Stalking Jacqueline Kennedy with famous court case between them, getting punched by celebrities and suing them successfully, Galella is perhaps the most famous celebrity photographer of them all. I'd say Galella is a photography of history, photographing Mick Jagger, Brigitte Bardot, Andy Warhol, Frank Sinatra, Penelope cruz and more!

"My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something infamous. That's why my favourite photographer is Ron Galella" - Andy Warhol.

 Bump into another exhibition on the way to Vincent Van Gogh's

 Partial sign of the 'I AMsterdam', with lots of local kids/students!

Vincent Van Gogh, so much talent, great aptitude for learning, willing to travel places. Different works showed the different influences of the cities, places, people whom he met. Either backyards, prostitutes, outdoor nature (such as sunflowers!), and all. Possibly a Gay (never mentioned at all in the museum!). Had serious mental issues, shot himself and died two days later. His brother was buried next to him. A tragic story, inspiring European arts for the next hundreds of years. I wonder what kind of photographer would Van Gogh be like if he's living in our era?

It was off to a break, and a superbly good nap at Morgan's, and an equally superlative Chicken Risotto by Marcus! I was craving for chicken rice during day 1 and also in day 2 (yeah..crazy but true), and this made up for it!

A nice to watch Euro cup match! (cos it was during the evening, see the light in the room at 9pm local time!!). Though an boring and ugly win by Spain against Portugal, (with penalties, no less..pui!) It was sweet dreams next of Champagne and Burgundy!!!