10th Anniversary Charity Jam Session: A real gem of a session

Gerard sings solo

Steele (centre) appears in the first two bands

Rozario as Elvis stole the show

Text by Laura Lee, Pixs by Anthony Tan

As I write this, the 10th Anniversary Charity Jam Session 2009 is ongoing at Uncle Chilli's in Hilton Petaling Jaya. It is a great jam session with lots of music from the 80s and a good wholesome crowd.

Upon returning home after spending a few hours there, I was eager to twit about it so that those who did not know about this event earlier can make their way there before it ends at 1am. Alas, twitter was down.

I had arrived for the function at 2.45pm. The jam session was just about to start. I was glad I didn’t miss much of the opening ceremony which was slated at 2pm.

Like other first timers to this event, we had this idea of grabbing a bite here while we enjoy some music and songs. It was a family event for some. They had brought their children along. The kids could be seen playing some card games while they waited for the organisers to get their act together.

It’s Sunday and idea of a late lunch was not far from many of our thoughts. To learn that food would only be served at 4pm, some of us decided to make some noise and requested for the food to be served earlier at 3.15pm.

We succeeded and got more than just jumbo chicken sausages, onion rings, potatoes wedges and cheese fondue. I went for the chicken curry, satay and roast whole lamb and happily parted with my RM10 coupons for each of these items. Grabbed a glass of beer and a fruit juice as well.

Food and drinks were charged RM10 nett. The coupons were sold at the entrance. A minimum RM10 donation entrance fee was imposed but this entitled you to quite attractive lucky draw prizes such as hotel accommodation stay and high tea vouchers.

The first round of lucky draw was held around 5.30pm with the second one to be held at 7.30pm. You have to be there when your name is called. Otherwise, it’s burned.

The theme of this 10th anniversary charity jam session is No Child Shall Knock in Vain. The bulk of the proceeds raised will go to University Malaya Medical Centre's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) while the rest will be for the Malay Mail Care Fund.

Kudos should go to The Malaysian Association of Hotels, Chefs
Association of Malaysia, The Malaysian Food & Beverage Executives Association, Malaysian Association of Housekeepers and Hilton
Petaling Jaya for putting this event together.

Other event partners include Carlsberg, Harley Motorcycle Owners Club and Mini Owners Club Malaysia.

PICU, the main beneficiary, had their staff stationed to conduct blood and sugar tests slightly past 3pm instead of 6pm, which I was told when I arrived.

Borderline or serious cases were asked to have a tete-a-tete with PICU Professor Dr Lucy Lam Chai See. I was among one of them and
advised to exercise at least three times a week for about 20 minutes each time if I do not want my sugar level to go higher. I was
told to consider carrying dumb bells or weights as well.

Lam, who looked trim and fit, said she does not exercise at the gym. She uses the stairs instead of lifts and would carry her bags instead of using the rollers of her luggage when she is at the airport. She also suggested lots of walking.

Back to the jam session, although 15 bands are listed in the promotional flyer, we got more than what we bargained for. The organisers had
missed out Fats n Vernon, which has been playing for the last nine years in the charity jam session held annually in July except for this year.

Not to be deterred, Vernon Steele called the organisers and had
his band slotted in. Although they were supposed to play much
later, the trio ended up kick-starting off the jam session. One of
the songs they sang is “Reflection Of My Life”.

According to Steele, “We consider this charity jam session to be one of our official gigs. We have regrouped about two months ago after a very long time since 1980s.

“We are trying to get our original members back. We hope to have
a five or six member band and come back strong. We do not want to
play just anything new but good new numbers.

“I believe we are almost there and need to have more regular gigs. We want to recreate something that is long lost,” said Steele, a member of the next band, Ages 3, which played “The last train to London” besides other songs.

The rendition of the third band, Small Stones, included songs like
“And I Love Her” made popular by the Beatles and “You Light Up
My Life”.

The trio had Joe Rozario, one of our local impersonators of Elvis Presley, joining in. Besides belting some songs by the King of Rock n Roll,
the latter also did an old popular number from the late 60s,
Proud Mary, by CCR (Credence Clearwater Revival).

When it was the turn for the fourth band to play, Gerard Singh, apologised he would be singing alone without his friends due to the erratic timing. Despite telling us he has a bad throat, Gerard gave us a convincing Santana number. He mesmerised us with his guitar
plucking.

I had to pull myself away from the jam session due to work commitments. For those who stayed on or trickled in later, enjoy!

Accident movie a hit for us

This Cantonese action movie - Accident or Yi Ngoi - which comes with English subtitles, gripped our attention right from the outset as we witnessed how a traffic jam is meticulously choreographed and turned into what looked like an unfortunate mishap.

It was another “almost perfectly” staged act of crime on a triad boss by accident choreographer, Ho Kwok-fai aka the Brain (starring Louis Koo) and his three-member team, Fatty, Uncle and a nameless character played by Lam Suet, Feng Tsui-fan and Michelle Ye respectively.

I say “almost perfectly” because professional hitman Ho had to pick up the tell-tale cigarette butt left behind by the forgetful Uncle.

He reminded his team that there is no room for such slips no matter how small they might appear to be.

“We are not the only one in this business” and that “accidents can also happen to us.”

What he said here set the tone for the movie as my girlfriend Tina Oh and I watched it seated at the last row of the almost empty cinema hall for this movie preview on 18 September just before the Hari Raya holiday break.

Now showing in the cinema circuits in Malaysia, Accident was presented both at the 66th Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It was acclaimed as “one of the finest Hong Kong crime dramas since Infernal Affairs” by one reviewer.

This fascinating action thriller is directed by Macau-born Pou Soi Cheang, who had started his career as Johnnie To's assistant. Incidentally, To, one of Hong Kong’s leading directors whose stylish action film esthetics have been featured in the major international film festivals, is Accident’s producer.

The movie’s hero, Ho, is brilliantly played by Koo, who has acted in over 40 movies todate. I last met Koo when he was in Kuala Lumpur to launch one of Osim’s massage chairs.

Ho is a real paranoid as he even bugs his own team’s headquarter. He had us convinced that someone is out there plotting to terminate him and his team after their next mission commissioned by their client Wong (played by Chan Mong-wah), who wanted his father killed, accidentally went wrong and cost Fatty’s life.

Ho became obsessed that the insurance agent Fong, played by Taiwan actor-cum-singer Richie Jen, is the mastermind behind the conspiracy to take him out. He strives to kill Fong before he makes his next move.

We are shown a paranoid Ho, who suffers from his wife’s death, which he suspects was a hit and not an accident. He shuts everyone he knows out of his life and even thinks that his own teammates are plotting against him.

Ho subsequently kills one of them, who is played by actress Ye. Rather than take the thunder out of the ending of this intriguing movie, you have to watch it yourself to see how the killers themselves become victims of accidental forces.

Relevancy of Old Media

Old media like newspapers, radio, television (TV), billboards and websites has been described as being “one way street” and “non-interactive” by Vacasia Tours Sdn Bhd managing director Uzaidi Udanis (pic).

He said this in his presentation on Sustainable Tourism Marketing Through New Media at the Sustainable Tourism Conference 2009 held on World Tourism Day (27 September).

Having started with one of the leading mainstream newspapers then (in terms of circulation) as a journalist in the mid-80s, I do not agree totally with Uzaidi.

I see the letters to editors to the newspapers and magazines representing that two-way communication with their readers then. Such columns allowed the readers to express how they feel about the issues of the day and give their comments. Sometimes a reply from these publications is included.

To keep up with the times, newpapers such as The Star, have gone a step further to feature SMS views or comments from its readers on issues related to general news, business and sports without much doctoring of the text messages. Although a name or pseudonym is requested, this is not featured in the paper, which calls itself “The People’s Paper”.

Another good example is the popular Hotline section in the Malay Mail (MM), which served as the avenue for the readers to “interact” with their daily newspaper. When this section was taken off by paper, which called itself “The Paper That Cares”, readers clamoured for it to be reinstated.

Responding to its readers’ needs, the 113-year old MM, which now calls itself Malaysia’s #1 investigative newspaper, the hotline number (03-7947 2222) is back. There is also an email address, hotline@mmail.com.my and fax no. as alternative options for the readers to reach them because the paper believes in their rights to be heard.

I agree with Uzaidi that the new media allows for a more direct relationship between the customer and the supplier unlike the old media where the customer has to go through a retailer and wholesaler before reaching the supplier.

Granted that the traditional ways of marketing using via sales calls, travel exhibitions, advertisements in newspapers, publications, radio and TV are getting to be “very expensive” to use compared to the new media which is free, I believe there is still a role to be played by such mediums.

Quoting the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Malaysia, Uzaidi said the average circulation of dailies in all languages have marginally declined compared to 2008.

According to ABC Malaysia, average daily newspaper circulation stood at 2.5 million copies for the year ending June 2008, down from 2.54 million copies in the previous year.

Uzaidi went on to cite more statistics which showed the average person spending 30 minutes daily on papers while between 15 minutes and two hours are spent on the TV. The rest goes for the online medium.

To reinforce world business guru Seth Godin’s statement which expects 90% of the future sales to come from word of mouth (WOM), Uzaidi said a Neilsen Company survey reportedly showed nine out of 10 Malaysians trust the opinions they know before shopping.

This is followed by editorial content, brand websites, brand sponsorships, and then only advertisements in newspapers, radio and TV.

He said, “The objective of the new media is to maximise on WOM because it is low budget but offers high impact.”

For him to say there is no proper metrics to gauge the success of a campaign in the old media is not exactly true.

I used to hear my ex-marketing colleagues from the papers telling me how their clients would gauge the response towards their advertisements via the use of cut out coupons and calls from readers in response to ads or editorial contents placed, for instance, in supplements pages.

Uzaidi said the new media can show how much you can get back. I agree to a certain the number of hits, visitors count or followers you have using the social media network gives you an indication of the response.

Although the Malaysian advertising (ad) market reported 1% decline in its total spending of RM2.9 billion for the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year, newspapers and terrestrial TV continued to command the bulk of total ads across the media measured at 54% and 35% respectively.

This was followed by radio (5%), magazines (2%) and outdoor (2%), according to the latest Nielsen Advertising Information Services report (where ad figures are based on published rate card except for outdoor, which is based on actual billings) released on 24 July.

It said the growth in terrestrial TV (+6%), radio (+10%), outdoor (+16%), point-of-sale (+7%) and Internet (+12%) has helped to off-set the decline in adspend for newspapers (-5%), magazines (-11%) and cinema (-10%).

Its Internet adspend measurement starts in 2008 based on website spending from Yahoo, MSN, Forbes, Utusan sites, Sin Chew sites and The Star sites (from 2009).

While the old media cannot be ignored, it has also to be recognised that Internet and digital marketing are increasingly being used by both the small and big boys.

However, when a question was posed by Euro-Asia Network Ltd managing director Andre Foresti to Uzaidi on how the use of new media has impacted his sales and affected his inbound and outbound tour operations, Uzaidi’s reply did not come out too well.

“I have a small company established since 1985 with 12 staff. We cannot compete with the big players like Triways Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd and AirAsia. Through the new media, we have a niche and can set up our own fan club.”

Uzaidi is happy receiving a few enquiries on the Internet daily and eager to share the knowledge he has acquired on the new media and how to exploit its full potential to others.

He challenged the 40 plus participants of the Sustainable Tourism Conference to open an account in one of the new social media networks and use it daily.

Uzaidi offered the participants a free workshop on how to turbo charge your business with the new social media network on 3 October. Places were limited to the first 30 who signed up.

Bangkok Smiles Card to debut in July

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is looking at two new programmes this year in its promotion of Thailand's capital city.

Come July, it will be introducing a Bangkok Smiles Card that offers travellers to the Land of Smiles special privileges when they shop, dine or do night sightseeing.

The card will also be giving special discounts to the country's best and attractive destinations as well as for spa, golf and massage.

At the Thailand Travel Mart 2009, which ended recently, Bangkok deputy governor Taya Teepsuvarn said, "Most importantly added on the discounts were the privileges from medical treatment."

The Bangkok Smiles Card can be obtained and activated upon arrival at Bangkok tourist information booths. Its debut ties in BMA's tourism campaign theme this year, The Smiles of Bangkok.

She told reporters that the other new programme is river tourism with three packages of special offers for sights and activities on the Chao Phraya river.

Among them is a one-day pass, sold at 150 baht, which is done in collaboration with the Chao Phraya Association.

Besides a river package offering some of the best prices and great experiences on Chao Phraya, there will be a dining cruise package on this river.

Sayang You Can Dance premieres in KL

Prior to Sayang You Can Dance (SYCD) premiere at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur last night, its movie director Bjarne Wong apologised that the audience would not have the benefit of subtitles until its release date on 12 March.

Being Chinese, I had no problems when certain parts of the conversation were spoken in Cantonese but was a little lost when the smattering of Sarawakian lingo came in. As Bjarne said, "It will be a good excuse to come back and support this local Malay movie."

Among the young cast is Indonesian actor Samuel Rizal, 28, who is said to be a new face to watch after the movie, Eiffel I'm in Love. Apparently, he is Bjarne's first choice for the lead male role, Remie, a poor mechanic who is very passionate about break dancing and wants to win this national break dance competition with his friends.

The audience, me included, loves his deep voice and muscles. According to the production notes, Samuel, an athletic and basketball player, had no formal training in dance like the character he plays.

He has to undergo intensive sessions with dance choreographer Danny Wong from Hong Kong, who, according to his profile fact sheet, has been the dancer for concerts of artistes such as Sally Yeh, who recently performed at the Arena of Stars in Genting Highlands.

Samuel confessed he had only two weeks of training under Danny who majored in hip hop, jazz and pop dancing.

Behind the dance theme is a story about love between Remie and Mia, played by the pint-sized Sharifah Amani, 22, as a rich girl who loves hip hop dancing. Their relationship receives objection from her father.

Sharifah looks like she wearing a wig in SYCD. It makes her look so fake. She admitted last night she cannot really dance. If you stay back after the movie when they are showing the credits and behind the scenes shots, you will get to see how the cast of SYCD are assisted by props. You don't realise that of course while you are watching the movie.

Akademi Fantasia 5 (AF5) artiste Dafi who plays Mia's cousin brother Danial, sang a song for us at the party at Red Box Plus, Pavilion KL after the movie premier. Also featured in SYCD from AF5 is Ebi Kornelis from Sabah who played Remie's best friend Robbie, who looks very macho in the movie.

You can catch actress-cum-model Carmen Soo, 31, cast as Angel doing pole dancing in SYCD. She admitted having problems carrying herself up while doing the pole dancing scene for the movie a year ago. Carmen disclosed last night that she is currently taking pole dancing classes.

She looked familiar. Running through the production notes and her profile this morning after watching the movie, I remembered her in the musical stage play, Rose, Rose I Love You, a tribute to the late Rose Chan.

SYCD production manager Dominique Chiu, who was cast as Mimi, did a remarkable job playing an effiminate guy. He gave credit to his acting coach, whom he calls endearingly as Kak Fati or Fatimah Abu Bakar, my ex-colleague in News Straits Times. How the years have flown by. Now her girls are grown up with Sharifah Amani, 23, recognised as an award winning actress and another emceeing last night for SYCD.

SYCD reminded me a lot about the movie, Diva, which featured a young cast as well and lots of singing and dance. Both movies try to elicit some tears from you but SYCD does it much more subtly. You really need a box of Kleenex with you with Diva, starring Ning Baizura as the heroine.

In SYCD, our supermodel Amber Chia makes a brief appearance. Someone remarked to me just the other day, she is featured everywhere and wondered if this is an aggressive public relations exercise mounted by a PR company.

I don't think so. Having interviewed her for a story on her new house, which appeared in the Malaysian's Women Weekly last September, the enterprising Amber revealed that she has to work very hard in order to maintain and furnish her new home.

The scripwriter for SYCD is Meor Shariman Meor Shafie, whose profile states that he is with The Malay Mail (MM) from November 1991 until now as journalist, entertainment editor and news editor.

A quick check with my MM source revealed that the paper's entertainment editor is now helmed by someone else, who used to be our ex-colleague from The News Straits Times Group years ago and has returned to journalism after her PR stint, which I don't think she did very well.

Among the platinum sponsors for SYCD which really got good mileage was Adidas whose bags and apparels were prominently featured throughout the movie. I was invited by Brand's for the movie premier but couldn't see any presence of its products in the show.

Its marketing executive Ellen Yap Ker Chin told me their company, Cerebos (M) Sdn Bhd, was approached only after the show for sponsorship since one of their brand ambassadors Dafi or Gaddafi Ismail Sabri, 21, had acted in SYCD.

After the party last nite, the guests were given each a two-bottle pack of Brand's Essence of Chicken to take home. Earlier at the party, Red Box Plus gave a new twist to Brand's Essence of Chicken by mixing it into a light drink comprising aloe vera and lychee.

Virgin Frontier

This is momentous for me being able to create a new gmail account and this blogspot by myself and all on the same day. This will enable me to share with friends and industry associates alike the insights gained and the many precious gems or tips collected along in the course of my work and dealings with others.

Allow me some time though to learn how to post all those stories and pixs that are waiting to be told. Appreciate your your patience once again as I grope my way into this new digital medium termed the "new media".

As AirAsia new media department head puts it in the March issue of their inflight publication, Travel3Sixty on "Harnessing the power of digital assets" which I was reading on my return flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur last night, we need to be "open to fresh ideas'' and be "constantly perceptive to changes in trends and developments in our ever-evolving world", exactly what this homegrown low-cost carrier which has created waves in the aviation industry sets out to do.

Succintly put, this will be the very essence of this blog. Fresh, innovative, and if I may use the expression, "pure and virginal".