In Search of an Elusive Band

If I was MR ...

2009-11-15T18:17:00.002+05:30

... I'd pull my best trick out of the hat.

I'd forget about having Presidential Elections next year. After all, I wouldn't want the one reason that would've ensured that I was in power for another 6 years to be the reason that might also take away that possibility. In 2 years time, Sarath Fonseka's legacy might've been forgotten, and by then, the SB Dissanayakes of Sri Lankan politics would again be my opposition at any election.

Coming back to reality, I feel that the opposition and its whole "common candidate" battle strategy (no pun intended) might've been one that has been prematurely ejaculated. In any case, I wouldn't vote for either of these jokers, one of whom will eventually be the one from millions that fertilizes the egg that is Presidency, only to bear yet another stillborn child.

Stereophonics - Dakota - Live Lounge

2009-10-11T11:22:00.002+05:30

Dakota is most definitely my favourite song by the Stereophonics. Having said that, I'm a huge fan of Radio 1's live lounge series, so this acoustic version of Dakota is sensational, and may even move you. Enjoy!

The Bay of Lights

2009-09-27T22:17:00.002+05:30

The bay looked beautiful tonight.

I was distracted. Distracted by its beauty, by the backdrop, by the lights and by my mind. Even the near ear-shattering decibel levels concocted by shiny cars which sped past too fast could not interrupt me from my mind's non-aimless wander.

Today was expected. Yesterday I was expecting today, but never thought it would be today. So I was surprised. My mind, up until today, had been as calm as the bay, as well constructed as the backdrop. Today, it was a gunny bag of contradictions. Relief, cause it was inevitable. Sadness, cause it happened. Frustration, but only with myself. Happiness, but not for myself.

The calm will follow the re-construction, which will follow self-realisation which is already in progress. And then, I will go out on a limb again, but not in the same employ. But I will.

The bay will look better tomorrow, when the lights shine a little brighter.

Nostalgia

2009-06-06T18:12:00.002+05:30

I saw some Indian guava today at the supermarket, and I had to get myself some.

Back at home and sinking my teeth into the soft green fruit, the sweet taste transported me back in time, roughly 15 years ago, to Negambo, to my Aunt's garden out there where my brothers, cousins and I used to pick the pink pera from the trees and devour it with gusto. This would be both before and after a game of cricket in the afternoons, where my uncle used to repeatedly lift my bowling over square leg and between the coconut trees for six. Then my brother and I would go "double" cycling around the sleepy surroundings of Negambo town.

I guess we forget alot of memories, only to be reminded of them later in life to only crave for those moments again.

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you!?

2009-04-23T20:45:00.002+05:30

Is it just me, or has the blogging world gone mad?

My beef is simple. If it's your blog, write what you wish and stand by it. The blogsphere can decide for themselves whether they want to read your crap or not. If they like it, keep going. If they don't like it, still keep going!

But, it's just sad when it gets ugly. There are bigger fish to fry I would've thought.

A Month of Gigs - Part 2

2009-04-18T16:29:00.005+05:30

So having gotten through the first half of my month of gigs feeling like a rockstar for having had such a wonderful time, even though I was broke as a beggar, It was time to face the music, literally, with Naturally 7, Coldplay and Oasis yet to go.

Naturally 7 - 22 march - Esplanade Concert Hall

So I must admit, I have never heard of this band ever before. But I got a couple of free tickets thanks to a TV promo, so I thought what the hell. Naturally 7 were in Singapore, as were Battles, as part of the Mosaic Music Festival, which also featured N.E.R.D (Pharrel Williams ring a bell? the Song Lapdance? :D) and a host of other new and upcoming, or on-the-way-out Artistes. I think Naturally 7 most definitely belonged to the former category.

The only thing I did know about these guys before the gig was that they were an acapella group. So my expectations weren't high. Which is probably why I was astounded by the sheer brilliance I witnessed that night!

What I did get to know is that Naturally 7 are a band that aren't acapella. Self proclaimed, they are of a "vocal play" genre. See acapella is when you use many voices and only voices to make melodies and harmonies using words, lyrics. Vocal play is when you use human voices to create life like instruments, such as a full drum kit, an electric guitar, piano, harmonica, trumpets, saxaphones, BASS GUITARS (yes, that low!), etc. My mouth was literally wide open right throughout their performance and all I could say at the end of each song was WOW. You need to see it to believe it, so check this out:

Well, if you do get a chance to see em, don't hesitate. That's all I have to say. One of the most entertaining bands I've ever seen!

Coldplay - 23 March - Singapore Indoor Stadium

Wow. I'm sorry RD, but I have to say, to see these guys live was a dream come true.

Coldplay played to a sold out arena of 12,000 people. For me, this has been the gig of the year so far. The energy that the band brought out was electrifying. To actually see hits that you have loved for so long to be played for you was magical.

Watching the coldplay show was a little like watching a theatre performance. Set changes, back drops, props (such as massive yellow balloons falling on the crowd all over the stadium during "Yellow"), lights, arty video, and a lead actor in the form of Chris Martin: makes for thunderous applause each and every time.

Coldplay played a total of 24 songs in 3 sets during the performance that lasted a little under 2 hours. Their second set was a beautiful acoustic set, which they managed to play while standing amongst the crowds in the balcony, which was a surprise! They even managed to get the crowd doing a mexican wave with their mobile phones which was great. This gig was definitely goosebump worthy, and I certainly had my fair share of em. And you know what RD? This gig was a lot of fun!!!

Oasis - 5 April - Singapore Indoor Stadium

Oasis were really an out and out rock gig. It was not fun, it was fucking awesome. It didn't involve any theatrics. It was pure in your face rock and roll, complete with the attitude and arrogance Liam and Noel Gallagher are known for.

Having managed to get free-standing tickets, we went 2 hours early and joined the queues. When the doors opened we ran inside so we were about 10 metres from the legends themselves, squashed inbetween a bunch of kids who were probably not even around when Definitely Maybe came out in 1994.

When Oasis came on, the crowd went wild and we went flying forward, pushed from behind. Now this was a rock band, featuring Chris Sharrock on drums (thanks for the heads up RD, he was super!) and a Gandolph look alike on the keyboards.

What made it super was that they played all their old hits, including an acoustic version of don't look back in anger. It was great to join in with the crowd to drown out the band during some of their biggest hits. However, I was disappointed that they didn't play "don't go away", however, had they played that, I might've cried!

2 hours later, dripping with sweat, I had ticked off yet another band off my "To See" list. With much glee might I add.

So now it's back to the old routine, but obviously with cheap lunches and dinners in order to save cash to pay off credit card bills for all these gigs. Oh, but maybe after Vertical Horizon on the 2nd of May :D

A Month of Gigs

2009-04-18T09:44:00.009+05:30

This is going to be a long one. Deservedly so methinks, albeit overdue.

To be philosophical for a moment, so many people have told me that we should save for the future. Then some others have told me to live for the moment cause you might not live to see the future. I prefer the latter line of thought.

So in that light, 5th March began a splurge like never before. For one month only, only for the sake of a good time like no other, without regret of course.

5th March - Jason Mraz - Singapore Indoor Stadium

I saw Mraz for the 1st time at Singfest last year, where he was playing alongside the likes of the Pussycat Dolls, Alicia Keys, One Republic, Panic at the Disco, Travis, etc etc, and he really did bring down the proverbial house. He was energetic and infectious and oh so damn good. So when I saw he was returning to Singapore for the 2nd time in 6 months, I rushed to get tickets. Thankfully I got em, coz 10,000 tickets sold out within a day!

There were 4 of us so after a quick rendezvous at Starbucks, we headed out for the gig. To be honest, I thought Mraz was better at Singfest, but don't get me wrong, he was still brilliant. Maybe it was coz at Singfest the crowd was already pumped by the music before him (One Republic). Maybe coz this time around I was tired, the gig being straight after work. Maybe coz the sound and lighting this time around were not fab. But it was a super gig anyway. He just knows how to work the crowd, and is superbly entertaining. And that is before he even sings.

12-14 March - Royal-Thomian - SSC, Colombo

Royal were having their best cricket season in the history of the school (spanning 175 years!). Add to that the fact that the Thomians' were having a pretty mediocre season and cheap airline tickets, and I had absolutely no reason why not to head home to be a part of what was expected to be a massacre!

When I landed in Colombo the eve of the match, it was pouring! I was upset, cause I didn't want this opportunity of witnessing a Royal victory for the first time with my own eyes since 1991 to be washed away by rain. So I was surprised when play resumed on schedule on the first day, and was never interrupted by Rain for the 3 days! We made it bright and early, after an early morning stop at Arpico for arrack, coke, ice, mugs and an ice box - all necessities for 3 days of heavy drinking.

Royal batted first, and after scoring at quite a pace, we ended up on 300+ and declared at tea. At close of play the Thomians were at 54/4. The 2nd day started with the Thomians being bundled out by 11am for 99! Obviously I was elated, and quite high, so in a common state of inebriation all the Royal supporters started cheering for Thora! Why? well bloody hell we wanted the match to go on for 3 days. A royal victory in 2 days would've been great, but what's the point if we can't make merry on Saturday! Wow, how we regret that move now.

When St Thomas came to bat for a 2nd time, the Royal team, although having picked up 2 quick wickets, relaxed, which resulted in the, now legendary, pair of Saleem and Nirushan batting for through the day, and saving face and, eventually, much more! That was no doubt one of the greatest recoveries by any team at a roy-tho to save a match, so credit is due to Thora. However, I feel there were two points that swung the match away from Royal's favour: 1. When both Saleem and Nirushan were dropped in their 30s; and 2. When the umpire refused to declare Saleem run out on 99, although he was well outside the crease. Oh well, win or lose we booze.

You know, there's a saying "live in london once in your life". I'd say go for a Royal Thomian once in your life. It definitely is a unique experience.

18 March - Battles - Esplanade Concert Hall

About a year ago, Jim, the drummer from my last band 10 Second Rule, introduced me to a New York band called Battles. The music they make is pretty intense, and not for the faint-hearted. Not to say that they are heavy, but they are an indie band with a different approach. There are no, or hardly any, vocals; and the guitarists use lots of effects such as loops and echoes and delays and keyboards and laptops and synthesizers and what not! So it makes an interesting listen, if not mindblowing!

So when I heard they were coming to Singapore, I had to go see em. However, I couldn't find anyone else who had even heard of the band, let alone ppl who wanted to go. So grudgingly I went alone, and I didn't regret it for a second! If I thought they were good on the records, they are fucking brilliant live.

Why are they called Battles? Well, it's cause their two main guitarists face each other, each uses a bunch of guitar effects and a keyboard and they battle out loops and mixes while the drummer and the other guitarist keep the beat going. It's definitely worth checking out. Oh, and for you drummers out there, notice how high the drummer's crash cymbal is!

ok, part 2 will have Naturally 7, Coldplay and Oasis. :)

The Moment

2009-04-14T21:38:00.002+05:30

Strange thing, you don't expect Californication to be the type of medium that opens your eyes to certain life truths. But I've caught myself engrossed and feeling for this Hank Moody, in a "poor guy" kinda way, and not in a "I want him" way.

But today, he said something that is just so haunting and yet true. He said "people have a way of blinking and missing the moment. the moment that could've changed everything".

I hope I haven't missed mine.

Nearly there...

2009-03-07T13:18:00.002+05:30

The Royal Thomian is not a big match. It is a fucking festival!

With only days to go to Royal Thomian week, I'm already dreaming about the match in my sleep, having goose bumps when I'm awake and bloody excited cause I've got a ticket booked to head home for it! Royal is having their best season ever in its almost 175 year history. With 9 outright wins, a lot is gonna be expected from this team, and I know i'm not the only one flying home hoping to see them deliver a win!!

I was just watching some videos of the coverage of the Joe-Pete big match on www.thepapare.com, and i was thinking, bloody hell, the Roy-Tho is a massive deal compared to this!

If I'm not too sloshed, i promise i'll take pics to post up here for those of you who cant make it or havent experienced it, just so that you can get a glimpse of why this time of the year makes all Royalists and Thomians go absolutely nuts!

A thought to last beyond a lifetime

2009-01-10T16:25:00.002+05:30

He may have exaggerated. But he had the balls to do what others won't. For that, I always admired him, and I always will.

In his memory, and with hope for the future of SL, I quote his words :

"Should we fail meaningfully to address the aspirations of the Tamil people that survive this holocaust, we can be sure as night follows day that history will repeat itself... and all the bloodshed and all the sacrifice made to bring the war to a conclusion will have been in vain,"

Oreddy Oso Can Lah!

2009-01-08T05:10:00.002+05:30

The hectic days never seem to end.

So the move was done. It all began with Air India Express, who, god willingly, brought me safely back down to earth not once but twice! (Yes, there was a small part of me that wondered whether I had made the right choice going budget!). The three hour stop over in Chennai, where small talk could not be avoided, was not travel-friendly. But it's done.

Arrived home at 10:30pm on Sunday night, straight to work first thing Monday morn. And every evening has been a mad rush of buying things for the house to make it a home.

So yesterday I had my first session of cricket in 4.5 months and i nearly died! But after cricket, we (the housemates and I) went to check out this couch, which turned out to be awesome, and which is now going to be a housemate of ours come Saturday. Strangely, i'm very excited about the couch!

Still need to get bed linen (yes, i've been sleeping on a sarong for days now), which should get done today.

Hopefully a relaxing weekend to come.

Glenn Terry in action

2008-12-24T10:57:00.000+05:30

Managed to catch a bit of Glenn Terry's brilliance at Barefoot on Sunday afternoon. Refreshing no doubt :)

Look and drool. For soon I will too.

2008-12-08T10:32:00.002+05:30

Reunion

2008-11-28T02:52:00.001+05:30

It's great to be reunited with your uni housemate.

It's better still when he brings a bottle of black label.

Anyone want to share?

Extinguished fire

2008-11-21T19:19:00.003+05:30

This turning into a recluse business is hard work. But, i've mastered the art of not stepping out of the house for 4-5 days at a time, preferring to live out my days (and nights!) in hadu tshirts and boxers alone. I probably get out maybe a couple of times a week. Once for the week's paper, the second maybe to meet a friend or two. And the rest of the time I'm cooped in front of my comp trying to pay attention to useless procedural laws. What a rubbish life!

And it's not like all this staying at home is ensuring that I'm acing the exams. What bollocks! I come out of the papers thinking "what just happened?!?" and then I forget what just happened.

Word of advice? Fuck the attorneys. Both the people and the exams.

In other news, this Kings of Leon track "Sex on fire" is so hot! I've heard it before, but it's grown on me tenfold in the last twentyfour hours. It's a high energy track that makes me crave to gig again. Their album "Only by the night" sounds very nice, even though illegally acquired.

Speaking of which, I was thinking about all this illegal music downloading that we do. If there was some other item of value that was available for sale, and illegally available for free (such as maybe a TV?), I'd probably go buy it legit rather than nick it. But I have no morals when concerning digital content. Should I be worried? Should you be worried?

In any case, CD's just add to the clutter.

I need to get out more.

Corinne Bailey Rae - Golden Touch

2008-10-06T23:27:00.001+05:30

30076 Sujeewa, I wish you were dead

2008-09-23T15:28:00.003+05:30

I just got a ticket and it wasn't my fault! Ok, i'm sure plenty of people have used that excuse, but hear me out!

So there I was driving my grandma, happily waiting in the single file line on Dickman's road heading towards Galle road. The light turns green, and I calculate that I can safely be the last car through the green light. Just when i reach the front, a blue Honda comes from the right (ON A SINGLE FILE ROAD YOU ASSHOLE! [that was for the cop, not u]) and cuts into me, at which point I take evasive action to avoid getting hit and inadvertently cross the junction on the yellow (AS DID THE BLUE HONDA, YOU STUPID FUCK!).

When I turn into Galle road with my horn blazing, I see a traffic cop and think "thank heavens, now stop that other car and charge him!". Instead the cunt stops me, says I ran the red light. At which point I just let him have it.

Me: "Dakke nadda ara vaahane maawa kapapu hati?" (Did you see how that car cut into me?)
30076 Sujeewa (hereinafter "WHOREliceman") : "oya rathu light eka panna" (You went through the red light)
Me: "eka panne ara vaahanen aynvenna. monawa dihaada oya balaang hitiye?" (I was trying to avoid the other car. what were you looking at?)
WHOREliceman: "oya rathu light eka panna" (you went through a red light)
Me: "AGH!. Dickman's paara one lane paarak neda?" (er. AGH!. Dickman's road is a one lane road, right?)
WHORE (for short): "ow" (yes)
Me: "ara vaahaney eliyen enakota, eya aave varadi paththe nemeida?" (when that other vehicle comes on the outside of me, is he not on the wrong side of the road?)
WHORE: "oya rathu light eka panna" (you went through a red light)
Me: "AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. Mama eka panne ara vaahanen ayn venna! eya maawa kapagena issarahata aava. eva oyata penne nadda?" (AGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH. I jumped the light to avoid the car! He cut into me and jumped infront. You conveniently didn't see that did you?)

I just can't even remember much beyond that. I grabbed my ticket and walked the fuck away from him, got into my car and drove off.

I met many other nincompoops on the roads today. Today must definitely be "motorists, leave ur brains at home" day.

Tony Blair on Jon Stewart

2008-09-19T19:08:00.002+05:30

One of the funniest talk show hosts meets one of the few respectable politicians of our time. Watch it here - you won't be sorry.

Home

2008-08-23T08:59:00.003+05:30

It was 6 months out in a place I had only ever been to once before, that when I was 3.

Now that's done and dusted, and it feels great to be home and on my time where there are no work commitments, deadlines or clients. Less than 24 hours in and I'm already feeling the disorganized chaos that is Colombo, where my brother drives like a maniac, brother 2 is in bed with a cast, everything must stop for politicians and buses, and so on.

I liked my stint out there. A lot of people warned me that i'd be bored after 2 weeks. But, as is the case anywhere, you gotta keep your self doing things, and you will love it.

It helped that I found myself in the midst of a great bunch of people. My cousin (the one that RD knows in London) once was telling me that, to people living abroad, friends are their family. Now, although that may seem like stating the obvious, it definitely is true.

So, for four months i'll be here, soaking up my homeland. Then to a not-so-new family.

But first, tonight to Chaar-max's bachelor party!

Singfest - Day 1

2008-08-02T23:38:00.004+05:30

This was never really part of the plan. But with a free ticket for the first day and Travis on the bill, who the hell would say no?

Spent a very chilled day (and night!) lazing on the grass with a great view of the stage watching some great live music. To be honest, I was only familiar with Travis' music and a few songs by Simple Plan. But other big names included Lost Prophets and New Found Glory. So since Travis was to play last, I thought might as well check the other guns too!

My biggest find of the day was Melee. They seemed an easy going bunch who play music that is very easy on the ears and pleasant. Before today, I had thought Melee was more of a Busted-type of rock band - i.e. cheesy rubbish. But I was wrong and, they reminded me a lot of The Fray. I'm definitely getting their album, and I think you should check em out too.

Highlights?

The Bassist of Dearest climbing up the stage scaffolding and playing from about 30 feet up,
New Found Glory playing a cover of Aerosmith's Dont wanna miss a thing,

Simple Plan playing a cover of the hip hop song "get low", Melee,

Travis' set which was brilliant,

and the chilled out atmosphere of the entire event.

Tomorrow, Jason Mraz, Alicia Keys, Panic!at the Disco, One Republic, Jamie Scott, Pussycat Dolls.

Forks in the road on a dark knight

2008-07-17T21:21:00.003+05:30

The proverbial fork in the road is right in front of me, and although I'd bet my last pair of underwear that it was never there 2 seconds ago, now I can't avoid it much like a driver who wakes up a few feet before a lamp-post.

The thing is, I had expected to be cruising along for a long while before I came to the fork, but i must've accidentally stumbled upon the shortest short cut ever and now it's too soon to decide and I can't decide.

The surprise shocked; it appeared at first to be a dead end. But it wasn't, though I never really recovered from the initial shock although I kept a deadpan face.

Then the two roads at the fork appeared. That too shocked. Too soon. Too soon.

But one seems the obvious choice, but it wasn't on the cards. The other was what I was expecting gladly, although I wasn't expecting it to be peppered with pot holes and speed bumps as it is going to be so now I'm not so glad.

On another note, for those Batman fans out there, Dark Knight is a great movie. I think the Batman series has made the best superhero movies by far, when compared with spiderman, superman, the fantastic four, hulk, etc, etc. Well, catch it, and enjoy!

Roo Radio

2008-07-13T16:25:00.002+05:30

I stumbled across Roo Radio (possibly here too) purely by accident yesterday, while looking for something to listen to as my external hard drive that my music is stored on is completely buggered. Hopefully trusty Chaar-max will fix things for me when I'm back home:)

Anyways, if you grew up or are still growing up listening to bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Better than Ezra, RHCP, Dave Matthews, Damien Rice, the Cranberries, etc, you will most definitely love this station. It plays the best alternative music and the quality is great. So check it out, let me know what you think.

Legal Jargon

2008-07-12T15:00:00.000+05:30

It's public knowledge now that the powers that be want to impose that the Law College is to conduct all its courses and exams in only the English medium. As to be expected, there's been plenty of ha ho about the whole darned change with plenty of people opposing the reforms. But I for one think that it is a good move (one of very few exercised by those in power!), mainly because currently exams and lectures are only conducted in English or Sinhalese. No points for guessing what's wrong there.

Secondly, I think it will eliminate the language barrier at least in the legal profession. To me, that's a huge start, and one that's long overdue, for I firmly believe that the language barrier was the cause of our problems and is the obstacle to our solution.

Living in Singapore has opened my eyes to a few things. All this hue and cry back home about safeguarding the language of the majority is a load of bollocks. Chinese make up 75.2% of Singapore's population, followed by the Malays, Indians and Eurasians. However, since independence, Singapore maintained English as its main language, and this has definitely helped bridge the races and attract expat workers like ants to honey.

So hats off to them law pundits.

Beach Touch!!!

2008-07-06T05:12:00.002+05:30

I have just woken up the morning after, my skin is stinging, my legs are like lead and there's sand in my hair!

Yesterday was the Singapore Rugby Union's Beach Touch Rugby Tourney. 50 teams in about 6 categories - Mens, Womens, Corporate, Mixed, Boys under 20 and Girls under 20.

I've played tap rugger on the beach in Sri Lanka since I was a kid, resulting in many fights after cries of "false alarm!". So I thought this beach touch thing would be a breeze. But, the rules are different and I soon realised that I was wrong.

The game is extremely fast, and if your caught napping for even a second the other team can score. Since the attacking team has the benefit of playing 3 on 2, defending can really be a bitch. But it's brilliant! Play is based on 4 touch rules, so the attacking team can make 4 plays before there's a turnover.

This was the first time that the Lanka Lions Cricket Club had ventured into touch rugby, and although we didn't win the tourney, we did play really well against teams that play touch competitively regularly. So much so that we were even made a few offers to join a couple of rugby teams out here to play in the Singapore leagues. Thank god i'm going to be outta here!

What I would do for some crack!

2008-06-27T20:54:00.002+05:30

The book I'm currently reading is disgusting, interesting, sickening, beautifully written, heart wrenching and captivating, all at the same time, not forgetting controversial. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey may be a memoir that is not genuine as the author would like it to be, but it does drill in to you the dangers of excessive use of drugs and alcohol. I'm glad that it's not genuine in a way because I wouldn't want to believe people actually go through the hell that recovering addicts in the book go through, although I'm sure in reality there are those who have.

My question is this. In the book a counsellor named Sophie insists that addiction is a disease. According to her, addiction is an incurable disease and one that can be hereditary. What do you think?

Do you know any addicts?

53A at Timbre @ the Substation

2008-06-21T10:12:00.002+05:30

I've heard alot of good things about Timbre, but i've never really managed to head out there. So finally found the time to go there and boy was it worth it.

So Timbre is an outdoor live music venue. It's very chilled out, very spacious and has plenty of food and drink. But the best thing about it was 53A, a band with a female lead, a crazy talented bassist who has an awesome voice and plays some kick ass drums, and two other guys. But together, they are impressive. Playing alt/indie rock covers and some spice girls, they sure knew how to keep the crowd going. Highlights included "the Pretender", "starlight" and "take me out". It was nice to see the female lead vocals tackle songs from testosterone fronted bands such as U2, incubus, coldplay, muse etc etc. But two thumbs up.

I'm going there again soon...Wanna join?

Ode to Rambukwella

2008-06-21T10:09:00.000+05:30

If what the Sunday Leader says here is true, and I'm convinced it is, Keheliya Rambukwella is an idiot.

Ramith, or whatever his son's name is, and a couple of his mates broke into the office of the Senior Games Master of Royal College and stole a couple of files relating to their disciplin. However, the idiots got caught.

Rambukwella junior is a fucktard

So Ramith decides to deny the whole incident. What he didn't realise is his dear friends, who obviously don't have parents who are celebrities in the tale of our banana republic, confessed to the incident and even concurred that Ramith broke the lock.

Rambukwella senior is a disgrace

So College institutes disciplinary action against the students. However, Old Rambukwella decides to pay a visit to the principal and threaten a fundamental rights petition against the principal for taking disciplinary measures against his kid. Now, if i'm not mistaken, this guy has lived abroad. He is also the defence spokesperson for the government and the Minister of foreign employment. What faith can we as a people entrust in a leader like him when he threatens the process of justice? How dare he even try to initimidate the school authorities? If I was principal I would've kicked Ramith and his accomplices out of the school!

While I'm proud to be an old boy of the school that is unting to stand up against the pressure exerted by the Government, my pride to be a Sri Lankan diminishes with every passing day when I hear of such incidents. When an educated, exposed member of Government cannot comprehend that his blood is in the wrong, then how can I expect much more from his colleague Mervin Silva?

How I pray for the day where the "big" people are made to eat their own shit.

Here goes.

2008-06-07T10:17:00.002+05:30

In my absence from the blogging world, apart from preparing to take the plunge, Chaarmax has tagged for a number of bare-all experiments. So, in the true spirit of things, I shall take this opportunity to bear all while I type the 7 random things about me.

Here are the rules:
~ Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog
~ Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
~ Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
~ Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

1. I'm 6 years old. Really. People say I look older though, although probably not 21 as I still keep getting ID'd.
2. I love being a jack of all trades. Sadly, I don't seem to master any.
3. I'm not a movie/tv person. I'll fall asleep in the middle of a movie 6 outta 10 times.
4. I'm a huge music lover, if it's of the right genre of course. As of late, I've gotten into indie quite a bit, thanks to Darwin who has opened my eyes to some great bands!
5. I'm also a big fan of good sound. I ogle at speakers and amplifiers. I play around with audio software. If I had the money, I'd piss my neighbours off.
6. I'm very conscious of my own hygiene, to the point that I might even sniff my self to see if I smell. But in order to avoid any misunderstandings, let me add that this does not happen on a regular basis, as I make it a point to be clean. Ok, that was very personal.
7. Confab, because back when I was in school, this mate of mine decided that he was going to call me that cause my name sounds like a Confifi cab service. I wonder what he was smoking at the time.

I believe everyone has been tagged already, so I shan't bother you guys.
oh except maybe G man.

Catching Up

2008-06-04T18:57:00.000+05:30

After weeks of leaving it for later, I finally took the plunge today and had my keyboard replaced. 100 bucks and a couple of hours later, I’ve got a fully functional keyboard (no more start menu pop-ups!) and an extra stick of RAM (it was a long time coming).

What prompted me to take action was something that happened last night. Now, for a few weeks I’ve been using an external keyboard and not touching the laptop’s keyboard, which worked fine. But for some reason, while chatting to the missus last night, the damn start menu popped up from nowhere. That was that! No more procrastinating. So it’s done and I’m glad.

Enough about that.

Over the last month I’ve had quite a few visitors. Firstly Jim (remember him from the band?) and Lindsay arrived. Got to spend some time with them which was good, cause I’m not sure when our paths will cross again. Then the missus herself came, and we had a blast for a whole month. Somewhere during that month my cousin arrived. So all in all May was a good month.

May was also the month that the Lanka Lions toured Kuala Lampur. Lanka Lions is a cricket team in Singapore made up of mainly, you guessed it, Lankans. However, the team also has a couple of Indians and even a Chinese guy. The first team is arguably the best in Singapore and features quite a few national players. Now obviously I don’t play for that one. I play for the second team, which plays in a far more relaxed league and the games are fun. So both teams (minus the national players who were playing some ICC tournament) along with Russell Arnold, who incidentally joined us for the tour, set off for KL by coach. We were to play 2 matches in KL against the Royal Selangor teams. We lost both, although the matches were close. In our defence, playing cricket while severely hungover is harder than convincing Hillary to give up her campaign (btw congrats to Obama!). However, Mr Arnold lived up to his name, taking 4 wickets and also scoring 54, which was not enough to pull it off for us unfortunately. Oh well, good times.

A couple of weekends on, the missus and I went down to Sentosa island to check it out. Fuck the cable car ride to the island was super, although I must admit I was shitting bricks at first. When we got to the island, I knew that I had to be on the Sentosa Luge. The luge involves going up over trees and a hill in one of em skylifts used by skiers to get to the top of the mountain. You know where you sit with your legs dangling? Now that was some freaky shit too. I was scared my slippers were gonna come off. I was scared to even look back coz we were going up the mountain. But it was quiet the view from up there, well the bit I dared to look anyway. Coming down the hill was more fun I thought. We had to get into these lil motor-less go carts and speed down the hill, much like sledding but with wheels and steering. AwesomeJ

Last Friday, went out to Novus, which is the bar at the National Museum in Singapore, with a few colleagues to say bye over drinks to a couple of lawyers. The setting is beautiful, situated in a courtyard which has been done up with flowing water, candles, white canopies and low lighting. Apart from the 1 for 1 drinks offer before 9, the two piece band was super!! They were playing all the hits from the 70s and the 80s and it was great. After that wound up, went and plonked myself at Sex and the City with friends and it was rubbish. However, it was strange to hear the audience oooh-ing and aah-ing each time carrie bradshaw came out in a new outfit. “OMG Look at her shoes. They are gorgeous aren’t they lah?”. Agh. That’s when I decided that it’s time to take a nap.

Time in Singapore has gone by super fast. Almost 4 months done, and I’ll be back in the sunny(er) shores of Sri Lanka soon. Too bad I’ll miss the season where all the bloggers will be in town. Don’t drink too muchJ

Back from hibernation.

2008-05-31T22:40:00.002+05:30

So the comp is usable thanks to an external keyboard. Hence, I can finally catch up on all the blog posts I've missed. Also, I can finally blog about the many things i've wanted to, such as my friends being robbed in the beautiful Unawatuna, Novus lounge bar in Singapore, the last month with the missus, KL with the Lanka Lions and Russel Arnold, food picture posting bloggers, and much more.

So give me some time to organise my self, and I shall begin dishing out my wares.

Till then.

hiding under a rock

2008-05-17T17:05:00.000+05:30

ok i can explain my absence. cant do it in many words though.

long story short, laptop keyboard malfunction. trying to get replacement done. should be done within a week.

hence ive missed juicy stories on ur blogs, sharing juicy stories on my blog and also typing without being interrupted by a start menu that keeps popping up and by buttons that dont work.

with u shortly.

Choices

2008-04-13T17:41:00.004+05:30

I was just reading Gutterflower's latest post, and it reminded me about something i've been thinking of lately. It's a concept that's hard to explain, but it involves choices, space, personal idiosyncrasies, personalities, social groups, religions, age and basically everything else that makes each of us so very different to the other.

See, of late I've noticed that a lot of Sri Lankan people are interested in, and have an opinion on, the general subject of "others". This involves the clothes other people wear, the food they eat, the places they go, the choices they make, and so on. I mean, it is inherent in our blood and beings that we are born gossips. But, sometimes it goes a little too far.

For instance, have you ever come across the term "socialites" in Sri Lanka? It generally refers to young metrosexual guys and girls who are usually dressed to kill, party all the time and act in a more "western" fashion than you'd expect from the average Sri Lankan teen (ASLT). Ok they are different from ASLTs, but I've come across many people who don't like partying and that sort of lifestyle but say "oh I'm not a socialite, i don't need to act like that". See, that's the thing that irks me. If it's not your thing, don't judge people who might like such stuff. Just say it's not your kind of thing and move on.

This applies to almost everything back home. I've heard Stigmata being branded as "wannabe's" just cause they dress differently and look strange. But they are the best fucking metal band in town! So if metal and that sort of lifestyle is not your thing, hate the game, don't hate the player!

Even if a person chooses to wear a short skirt, or to listen to Brittney Spears, or to get married at 16, or to walk with their hands, or chooses to do anything else that might be different to your interests, try and understand that everyone is different and no two people are alike. You may have your own beliefs, but the next person to you is not a bad person just because he/she has their own!

One of the reasons people love to live abroad rather than in Sri Lanka is that, when abroad, no one gives a damn about what you do. In Sri Lanka, we make it a point to make everyone elses life our own responsibility.

People were born to be different. Live and let live! After all, you wouldn't want people passing judgement on the way you live your life, right?

We're all but oil and water. Oil and water.

Can I see some ID please?

2008-04-12T05:21:00.003+05:30

Ok, so I have this issue that keeps bugging me now and again, more so out here in Singa-land. See, I'm in my mid-twenties, having turned 18 a little after the y2k season. But people keep thinking I'm around 20 years old, and, while that would've been great if I had been a girl, I'm not sure that's such a great compliment for a guy. Is it?

See, while I was in Sri Lanka I was working for this professional services firm and I had to go brief a client on a few internal issues we suspected they were having. Ok, I admit I had unruly hair at the time, but this director I was briefing looked as interested as my grandma's interest in Incubus. Then she chucked some papers at me and said "talk to me when your manager gets here". The fucking nerve! Obviously she thought I was a kid and was not about ready to take advice from such a vicious breed.

Now, out here in Singapore on my first night out clubbing I was asked for identification by the bouncers cause apparently I didn't look 18! WTF? The only identification I had on me that had my date of birth was my Sri Lankan ID so I had to pull that out and show the "1984" bit (as everything is in Sinhala) to convince em i'm not as young as they think. Thanks, but not thanks.

It's become so bad that it's become a bit of an inside joke amongst my friends here, and whenever I meet someone new my friends ask that person "so how old do you think Confab is?"

The answers have ranged from 17 all through 23, but never friggin 24!

So tell me ...

...do I not look 24 to you?

Drastic Fantastic - Singapore

2008-03-29T08:02:00.003+05:30

(photo by loh_junwei)

I had a few issues about going alone for a gig. But I'm new to Singapore, so from the few people I know, I couldn't find any who liked KT Tunstall enough, or knew who she was for that matter, to go for her gig. So it was decided. I'm going solo and it'll still be a blast.

And it was! I thought it was going to be a pretty intimate gig with maybe about 500 people. But boy was I wrong. The Suntec City Convention Room 603 had been transformed into a gig-hall complete with seating for 2250 and standing capacity for about 500. However, although the gig was scheduled to get on the way at 8, when I got there at 7:45 the place was almost empty! So I was thinking "poor KT Tunstall, she's never gonna want to come here ever again!" But I was wrong. At 8:30 when the gig actually kicked off, the place was full, and it actually was a room full of KT Tunstall fans...I sure wasn't out of place:)

As soon as KT took the stage, the crowd went nuts! She played right into the hands of everyone there that night. The sound was brilliant, the band was tight and not flashy, the back-up singers were hot, the lighting was mood-friendly and KT Tunstall was amazing and lovable! What a combination! Moreover, what a talent she is! She went through the slow acoustic numbers and the fast rocky songs with equal intensity, keeping the crowd focussed on her music more than anything else in such a way that there was pin-drop silence amongst 3000 people. Between songs she'd talk to the crowd and crack jokes, making us all laugh. She'd also explain what her songs are about, for instance "Funny Man" is about a friend of hers that lost his mind, Black Horse & the Cherry Tree is about good and evil, which made the whole thing very personal. KT really won the hearts and minds and, possibly, a few thousand extra CD sales from, the entire audience. She was truly lovable.

The highlights for me were firstly, her solo version of Black Horse & the Cherry Tree, which I had been dying to see live ever since I caught it on youtube, Funny Man, her version of Walk Like an Egyptian and Suddenly I see. What a night. 3 Thumbs up!

Btw, she did mention that it's a fact that when you take all the people who lived on this planet ever, there's only 9 dead people for every live person. Is that true?

Arey Raptha-raa-ra-rah!

2008-03-12T21:12:00.005+05:30

(Memories from 2007)

Here's wishing a great time to all those who celebrate the Roy-Tho spirit. It's undoubtedly going to be a great party back in Colombo for the next 3 days, and I'm sad to be missing it. But I hope the weather holds up and the cricket is captivating, at least until the alcohol starts to kick in. May you drink warm arrack shandied with cream soda for 3 days whilst you have a blast!

On a side note, go Royal!

Converse loving ants, and other stories.

2008-03-12T20:47:00.006+05:30

For the first time in a few days I decided to come home straight after work, instead of wandering around the City. So I gobbled up a yummy chicken fried rice at the station nearest to home and walked down to the apartment.

As I opened the door and took a few steps, I realised I had stepped on water. Now I know it had rained a bit, but the roof couldn't be leaking as there were 12 floors living above me. At first I thought the damn toilet had broken and was gushing water, as it had been giving us a few problems since we moved in, but that wasn't it. I walked towards my room and there was more water. Shit. Panic hit in as I opened the door to discover an inch of water all over my room. My shoes, clothes, guitar, man bag, and suitcase were all in the water! While I was busy at work, some serious rain had obviously pelted down!

I immediately knew what the cause was. Attached to my room is a little balcony like bit. The drain pipe had got stuck with branches and some dried seed-ish looking thing, which resulted in the balcony filling up, in turn which resulted in the water flowing into my room. So there I was, an inch of water in my room, 7 inches in the damned balcony.

My housemates and I spent an hour and a half cleaning away with one mop, one bathroom mat and a pair of slippers, sweeping the water away, while we used a nail clipper to fix the drain pipe - the cause of this mess. Phew, this was not what I wanted after quite a tiring day. So anyway, since the room was FINALLY clean, I chucked all my wet clothes into the washing machine, and put away my wet shoes to dry. I think I'm going to have to put em in the washing machine. Any tips on washing shoes in a washing machine?

Sorry I digress. So anyway, as I was putting my shoes away, I picked up my khaki converse slip-ons. Now this was quite a bargain in India where I picked em up for INR 400-odd. When you're wearing trousers it looks as if you're wearing a normal pair of converse shoes, just without the hassle of wearing the converse shoes. Brilliant. As I pick em up to put em away along with the rest of the banished-but-wet shoes, I notice about 5 ants scramble out of them. Now these weren't your normal ants. Remember when you were in school in year 3 or 4 and you saw these big ass black ants on the trees? Thel Kumbiyo? Well it was em. The sumo wrestler brigade of the black ants, if I may, as they were huge! I hope that's politically correct enough.

So in my hastiness, I chuck them into the tub. The shoes, ants and all that is. At this point about 20 more ants jump outta my damned shoes! So I aim the shower head and turn it to maximum with the hot water on and lo and behold a bajillion of em start trooping out to brave the waters! I had shivers running up and down my spine, and if any of those ants were named shivers, I had shivers running everywhere in my bathroom! Here's proof!

If only I ate ants, what a great time I would've had!

The night that Light Grenades went BOOM

2008-03-08T17:10:00.011+05:30

Might I warn you, this has not been love. This has been infatuation.

I first came across Incubus some time in 2000, when I heard "Drive". Back then I didn't even know who they were, let alone the fact that they'd been around for about 7 years by then. But the song was an instant favourite with me, as it was to a bajillion others. I loved the sound of the funky acoustic guitar riffs coupled with scratchpads, weird noises, great drum and bass, and a beautiful voice! And that was what sparked it. Then I did what every right minded Asian kid did back then, back when downloading wasn't big, especially in Sri Lanka on dial-up.

I went and bought the CD "Make Yourself" for 150 bucks from Majestic City.

I didn't listen to anything else for weeks. Months even. To-date it still ranks as one of my top picks, and it would be with me on the dessert island, should I end up on one. Some of my favourite Incubus songs ever is on that album, such as Pardon Me, Make Yourself, Stellar, and Drive. This was one fucking great band.

Back in 2002, the Lady gave me "Morning View", and it wasn't from MC, so I was in my element! From start to end it was a brilliant work of art. It was definitely not a powderpuff. This was a heavyweight. Packed with a variety of songs such as the red-bull-like "Nice to Know You" and "Aqueous Transmissions", the super-massive hit "Wish You Were Here", "Mexico", "11 AM" and "Warning Signs" amongst others, the album changed the way the world saw Incubus. Or at least they changed my world. But that sounds corny. Nevertheless, this album is what officially made them my favourite band.

Although "A Crow Left of the Murder" did not receive rave reviews, to me it was a great album. I had been starved of new Incubus music for a while, so when it was released I headed down to MC. By the time "Light Grenades" came out, I'm happy to say I had a stable broadband connection:)

So you have obviously gathered by now that I have been dying to see them live for a long time. I missed them in the UK twice because, first I was broke, and then the next time I was in Sri Lanka on holiday. Sigh. Having finished 3 years in the UK, when i returned to Sri Lanka I was pretty convinced that I was destined never to see them. Mind you I had seen a gazillion of their gigs on screen. But I used to think that they'd probably break up before I can manage to find myself at a concert of theirs.

And then there's fate!

2 Weeks after signing on to a new job which was to send me to Singapore for 6 months on work, Incubus announced that it would be playing Singapore on the 7th of March as part of the Light Grenades Tour. I hadn't even started work, but I bought my ticket in December. I wasn't sure who else was going or whether i'd know anyone there, but i didn't care. This was fate, and I wasn't going to play around with a chance like this. However, B, also a die-hard fan, got tickets too. So we planned to do this right.

Having found myself in Singapore, one of the first things I did was pick up my ticket. When I did, I breathed a sigh of relief. On the day, I was excited, but still I couldn't believe that I was actually going to see the band of my dreams live! Unfortunately I was hounded with work, so I only managed to leave office at 6pm. The gig started at 8.

I made it to Fort Canning Park by 6:30pm, by which time there was already a kilometre long line to get in. But the queue moved first, and I managed to position myself in the middle, where I had this view.

I wasn't far from the front, so I wasn't disappointed. The plan was to be close enough to the front to be able to wringle my way through as far as I could go;)

Saosin, dubbed as one of the hottest bands making waves now, opened with an hour's set. To be honest, I hadn't heard their music before, but judging by the crowd's reaction, they were pretty darn popular. Most of these kids knew every word to their songs and were already moshing and bouncing off ppl! I, on the other hand, was saving my energy for Incubus.

The crowd went wild when Incubus came onstage. Chris Kilmore kicked things off by setting off some eerie melodic sounds which was to be the start of "Quicksand" off "Light Grenades", the first ever song I'd ever seen/heard Incubus play live. Thank god they started with a quiet one, cause the energy in the air could've been cut with a guitar fret board. The mellow beginning only lasted for a few minutes, as they quickly lashed into "A Kiss to Send Us Off", and that was it. The sweaty bodies moving, swaying, jumping as one had begun, and it was to last for an hour and forty minutes.

Oh man, from that point on it was all a blur to me. I mean, I can remember everything, but it's beyond description. There was so much energy, so much intensity, so much talent on stage, and not enough water. I can't tell you how many songs they played, or in which order. Some highlights were definitely the whole crowd of probably abt 2500-3000 jumping up and down together for Anna Molly and singing the words to Drive with Brandon and only Mike on guitar. What am I saying, the whole concert was one big highlight. B and I were jumping so hard our bodies still hurt. It was so hot that we had to take off our t-shirts just so that we could breathe. It was just one mass of sweaty bodies, and had the attention not been on Incubus, I would've had a problem with that. When they played the opening chords to Megalomaniac, I dedicated that moment to Mahinda, and then went nuts.

I was thinking earlier today that it was real, I was there, and I have lived.

Now, when will I see them again?

Belated Greetings from Singapore 2!!!

2008-02-23T16:58:00.006+05:30

So I have been meaning to do this for a while now! However, I had net issues. Blogger is blocked at work, which means I can't even read blogspot blogs while working either! Secondly, I thought I was in luck when I found an unsecured network in the apartment complex, yet that turned out to be very very sporadic to the extent that i'd be walking around the house with laptop in hand trying to get connected, and then when connected i'd try and finish as much as possible on the net before I get disconnected, which wasn't very long at all. Sigh.

Thirdly, I found out that stealing internet from someone else's unsecured network is a criminal offence in Singapore.

Shit.

I wasn't planning on stealing forever. I promise! Since we're only in the country for 6 months, we only could get a contract with 1 ISP, M1, whose broadband was over a wireless GSM network using a GSM modem, rather than an ADSL modem. I thought that would be ideal cause we don't have to buy a router or modem, as it came free with the package, and we'd have broadband connectivity at 2Mbps immediately. After having paid a S$200 deposit for being a foreigner with a temporary visa, I took the device to my remotely located condo, only to find out M1 hasn't got great coverage where I live, even though they swore upon their mother's brownies they had me covered. So to cut a long story short, I took it back, argued, got my connection money back although my deposit is going to take a month to get to me! Bummer.

Work finally arranged a connection for us through their own ISP, Starhub. Boss gave me a router and a modem, the ISP came to our office to arrange the contract (instead of us having to go queue up at starhub, which is a minimum wait of 30 mins) and there you have it, finally i'm connected legally at home!!!

So anyway, I spent most my time while not at work walking around Singapore and exploring. Every corner has a food court/hawker market. Every second corner has a mall. Every third corner has an ice cream vendor who sells ice cream on slices of bread that look like ribbon cake.
While exploring, I came across this. Classic.

My work place for the next 6 months is in Raffles Place, which is the heart of the business district. It's a great area to be in for many reasons, especially since I'm 2 mins away from Boat Quay and this view.

Finally picked up my tickets for Incubus AND KT Tunstall. Next Friday is Incubus, and I've been waiting for this a long time. Should I take half a day off from work and join the queue early? Boy am I excited. Let me do a bit of a Darwin and put a pic of the tickets just so I can brag a lil bit;)

More on the Lanka Lions, Lisa Fitzgibbon at a very unfriendly Prince of Wales pub in Little India, soon.

Greetings from Singapore

2008-02-16T20:33:00.003+05:30

Hello and welcome to Singapore!

It's such a nice place, especially when I find an unsecured wireless network at my apartment, when i wasn't expecting to have internet for a week!

The flight was delayed as usual by 45 minutes at BIA, but it eventually arrived at the brand new terminall at Changi airport, which was built especially to accomodate the A380. The terminal is beautiful. The A380, i'm not so sure, as I couldn't get a glimpse of it anywhere on the tarmac!

I must say the roti parata meal on the plane certainly lifted me up from my leaving blues, and prepared me for what's to come. What did come? An apartment that needs lots and lots of cleaning. But even that is ok, now that I have internet.

So after a meal of Chicken Rice at the local food court and 2 hours of cleaning the kitchen and a bathroom, here I am catching up on what i've missed in the last so many hours since I've been online! Plenty going on at Darwin's, fuelled by a plot by a bunch of bearded buggers' to assassinate the makers of dilbert. (Darwin - my sincere apologies for not being able to reply. As you can see, I was stuck in mid air!) My only gripe about that whole scenario is that I wish people would live and let live when it comes to sensitive issues such as race, religion, sex, sexuality, etc.

Anyway, it's bed time, or at least it feels like it even though it's only 8:45pm back home in CMB. There's plenty more cleaning to be done in the morning.

p.s. The album has reached 300 downloads!

Sunday Jams

2008-02-12T08:19:00.000+05:30

Sunday is a night i'd want to relive in my memory forever.

So there we were, the final sound check before our last gig together as this line up; Jim on drums, Aadhil on vocals and guitars, Sarani on Lead, Uvindu on bass and myself on guitars. It was 7:30pm, but we knew no one ever came on time, so we took our time perfecting the sound. If at all, it sounded a little echo-ey, but once the people started trickling in that problem would be solved. It was sounding nice, we were pumped and ready to go, so we left our stuff and sat down.

Sarani, Uvindu and I got there early. Real early! 4pm to be precise. This was our own gig, and the club had given us permission to do whatever we wanted. So there we were, the three of us redecorating the furniture arrangement at Zanziba while the sound people set up. This involved a lot of pulling, pushing, lifting, grunting and heaving before falling flat on the couches, tired of exhaustion. But we were happy with the end result.

Around 9:15pm CC took the stage along with Vidhu, Nuvina and Sarani. It was a great little set from them, however I was disappointed that they didn't play Micheal Jackson's Earth Song as promised. But, as usual, CC was ever competent at wooing the crowd.

Next up were us! We were looking at 2 sets and 15 songs in total. It was the first time ever that I had to play that many songs, and boy did it feel good. There are no words to express the feeling you get from playing live. Maybe RD can help there! But to see the crowd moving to your music gives you a wonderful kick! Although we only played 3 covers on the night, the highlight for me was our version of Matchbox 20's How Far We've Come. In the middle of the song I looked up to find Aadhil on the floor, belting the chorus out!

The whole band was tight on the night. Jim is an amazing drummer, but I've never seen him play any better, and I could see the crowd just staring at him open mouthed and in awe. Sarani just blew the roof off with his lightening solos. Uvindu was just happy to be himself and play his funky grooves. I could tell Aadhil was just having the time of his life, and I was standing there with my guitar trying to soak it all in.

It wasn't a huge crowd, but it was a lovely crowd! It was also the first time that the audience took the stage and jammed. We were entertained by Magicbox Mixup, Cynosure, Anil, Ranil, Spy, Star 69 and a host of others!

What's this post getting at? Well, I'm not really sure. But it was a great experience playing with these guys. All of them have a lot more experience than me, and I enjoyed a wonderful learning curve. So thank you, and I hope we can jam again sometime, somewhere:)

Thank you to all who came, including fellow blogger themissingsandwich . Hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did.

Sunday, bloody Sunday

2008-02-07T11:28:00.000+05:30

So we're gigging again, but I gotta tell you, it's damn hard work! It's doubly hard this time cause we're doing an entire show by ourselves, which involves preparation for 2 sets over 2 hours! Good lord!

The daily routine has been killing. Work during the day, practice at night. But I must admit, the songs are taking a completely different shape with the addition of Sarani. RD, i'm guessing Sarani's our version of what young Rich is to Mimosa. This guy is fabulous, and definitely soon to be one of Colombo's best! Now i'm no Santana, but he makes me feel like a 7 year old with a guitar when he gets going. Definitely a god on guitar!

The gig's on Sunday night at Zanziba. Free entrance too, so if you're in Colombo please do come, as RD did the last time round. We're having CC (TNL Onstage Solo winner) performing with us on the night too!

And a week from Saturday, it's off to Singapore.

Download Link

2008-02-04T09:11:00.000+05:30

Pic by Lindsay

MS3: After the Rain is available for download here.

In other news, no frigging sms till 12? How am i supposed to wish uncle Mahinda?

More abt the trip to Unawatuna which was cut short by Jazz Unlimited which was cut short by Deyata Kirula which was cut short by recent bombings, soon.

Watch out for Independence day

2008-01-27T18:44:00.000+05:30

Another weekend getaway to yet another beach. Went down to Beruwela this time, and by golly it was packed! With foreigners too! Never have I seen a Sri Lankan beach with so many foreigners! But the fun is over, the sand has been washed off, Djokovic just won in Melbourne, and now the things-to-do list is staring at me on the eve of the first 5 day working week in 3 weeks!

First up on the list is the release of the 10 Second Rule album. We've decided to release the album online for free download, taking inspiration from Radiohead of course, on independence day, i.e. 4th of Feb. Album is titled "Monsoon Sunday 3: After the Rain" and will be available at www.rock.lk. You won't be able to do anything on independence day, apart from stay at home, so you might as well download the album;)

Well, off to the showers now!

I want you back...KT Tunstall style

2008-01-24T23:17:00.001+05:30

Good lord, she only keeps getting better! Armed with her acoustic guitar, a tambourine and her trusted Akai E2 Headrush loop/sampler pedal (just discovered that today!) this is KT taking my breath away! Again!

If I Was Prabhakaran...

2008-01-09T09:28:00.000+05:30

...I would be thinking to myself that this armed war type of thing has been going on for a while with not much success. I must prove to those southern buggers that I'm a nice, like-able kinda guy. Cause if the South believes I'm a trustworthy, decent chap, they might actually consider me as a plausible alternative to dearly beloved Mahinda.

So for starters, if I was Prabhakaran, before wasting another suicide bomber, I would blow up Mervyn Silva to smithereens. I'd plant not one, but two claymores on either side of the road so that he gets hit from both sides, much like he did at Rupavahini, only with much more force and shrapnel. That should win me support from the masses.

Tell me. What would you do if you were Prabhakaran?

Running Late

2008-01-04T08:27:00.000+05:30

You know it's not your day when you over-sleep not once, but twice, and then go on to ruin surprise birthday parties that aren't yours in the first place!

The new place requires me to be at office at 8am sharp. So there I was happily dreaming of not being late, which is unusual for me, when my mum comes crashing into my room and goes "shouldn't you be getting ready? it's 7:35!". Fuck. 25 minutes to shower, iron, get dressed, and get to bloody work! By a miracle of some sort, I get to work by 8am on the dot. Distressed but on time.

As I was heading home, the missus and I decided that I shall pick her up at 7:45pm, in order to be at C's GF's house by 8:15, in time for C's surprise, scheduled for 8:30pm. Right, that's not too hard is it?

When I get home round 6ish, I think it's only prudent to have a nap, so that i'll be fresh for the eve. So there I was, prudently napping. Or so I was until missus calls me at 8:20pm and goes "where are you?". In that delirious split second between deep sleep and wide awake (induced by shock) I thought to my self "Is it already time to go to work?". Then it hit me. Fuck. C. Surprise. 10 minutes.

Ran to the shower. Ran out only to see C himself had called me while I was in there at 8:29pm! Now why's this bugger, who was supposed to be surprised a minute later, calling me at 8:29pm? Why's this bugger, who I have avoided wishing all day, calling me now?

So what to do? I call him back! (In hindsight, that was the biggest mistake I made. In my defence, I thought the surprise was over, and he was calling to find out why I was late). So here's what happens.

C : Machang where are you?
Me : err, at home!
C : Ado come for a drink you bugger!
Me : ah, err, ok. Happy birthday machang!
C : thanks. Come to N's (C's GF)!
Me : mmmmm, ok. Where are you now?
C : at N's.
Me : (thinking to myself, fuck I missed it!) no probs, i'm on my way. 15 mins.
C : you are? why are you heading to N's?
Me : didn't you say you were there?
C : No i'm at dinner.
Me : Oh fuck. err. yeah. I'll come once you get there.
(at this point I'm confused as fuck. Is he there? Is he not? Had I missed the surprise? Had I ruined it?)
C : Ok Bye!
Me : bye!

2 minutes later, C calls me back
C : *Laughing away*
Me : (i assumed I had missed it) Shit I missed it nuh?
C : Missed what?
Me : err nothing. See you at N's.
C : yeah machang!

At this point, N had frantically passed the message to those who were at N's already that C might have a clue as to what's going on thanks to me not being on time and thus me not knowing what to say to him. So I get a barrage of calls from all sorts of people there asking what I had told C. So there I was, confused as fuck, thinking that C had already made it to the surprise, and the rest were calling to take the piss outta me for being late. The general gist of the calls were like "ado wtf did you tell C man?" And there I was maintaining "don't bullshit me you bugger, he's already there and you buggers are just taking me for a ride. I'll be there in 15."

Now the story gets better. I hurriedly pick up GF, then rush to N's. Park the car behind C's vehicle, cause obviously he had made it there before me. Then check with N's maid as to what time C & N got there. He says "ahhh dang vinadi 10k vithara avilla". So I think to my self, ah that's cool. So I rush up the stairs to the rooftop, on the way passing N's door, that suddenly slams abruptly. I run all the way up and open the door. "SURPRISE" everyone shouts. I dunno who was more surprised, them to see that I wasn't C, or me to realise that C hadn't yet come up. So they say C hadn't made it yet, so I hurry back down and move my car away, only to hear "surprise" again, while I was walking back up the stairs. C had been in N's room and they had walked up 2 mins after me. Man, talk about fucking bad luck! Obviously I wasn't allowed to live it down for the night.

The moral of the story? Set an alarm.

10 Second Rule - Sneak preview of the new album

2007-12-29T03:22:00.000+05:30

This is very exciting stuff. The first song, "Monsoon Sunday", of the upcoming album is now ready for a bit of a sneak preview. You can find it at www.reverbnation.com/10secondrule .

Please feel free to go have a listen, but pump up the volume first. Let us know what you think!

More tracks to follow.

Religion and bollocks

2007-12-28T19:19:00.000+05:30

Religion - To me, religion is more personal than my underwear. My boxers might show when I wear my jeans, but the strength of my faith and belief is only for my eyes. I'm a Muslim. I was born one. Much like your school friends, you have no choice in the matter. If I was born to another religion, I'd be of that. If you take religion as a faith or belief in a deeper meaning to life, then I'm religious. If you take religion as a division, such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, blah blah, then i'm not so religious. But I still do the basics. Does that make sense?

So there I was at mosque on a Friday, performing my basics. As usual I was drifting off to sleep as I couldn't understand a word of what the preacher was saying as the sermons are always in Tamil. I woke with a start when I heard him switch to English. But soon enough I wish I hadn't woken.

According to this guy, there are two evils in this world - Listening to music and, what he calls, injustice. He kept telling his "respected elders and brothers" that music was bad and so is "injustice", and to avoid the wrath of god we must avoid those two evils. Injustice he defines as sexual behaviour outside of marriage, homosexuality, alcohol, etc., most of which is looked down upon in most religions. I'm not going to look into that this evil too much as that deserves another post altogether. Suffice it to say, I have nothing against sexual behaviour outside of marriage, homosexuality or alcohol. That doesn't mean I practice all that.

So what irked me about his sermon was that he started talking about the tsunami. He started by saying that even pious people died in the waters of the rising sea. But then he was quick to add that the people who died, suffered their fate because they listened to music and were practicing social injustices. I found that utterly disgusting. The only thing that stopped me from getting up and walking out was that I was there to perform my basics, and I wasn't going to leave till I had done so.

I did not want to go to mosque to have some uneducated, misinformed idiot tell me where I'm going wrong. I go to mosque for preachers to tell me the beauty of god, not for them to instill in me their belief or faith, which is incidentally my definition of religion. Moreover, I do not go to mosque to have so-called learned people pass judgment on other humans. One of the fundamentals of Islam is the belief in the day of judgment, where god, and god alone, would pass judgment on the way you've lived your life. No one else has the authority. This is where we should ask "who died and made you god?"

The Quran is read in a poetic, melodic manner. If a tune is carried out in reading the Quran, wouldn't that make listening to god's verse wrongful?

My faith and my belief is just that - mine. It's my personal business as to how I live my life. I don't pass judgment on anyone else, so I don't want anyone else passing judgment on my religious commitment.

Here's news for you mr preacher. I make music. Now does that make me the devil?

Bollocks - Religion. That's what's bollocks.

Love hurts, but sometimes it's a good hurt

2007-12-25T08:29:00.000+05:30

Everything's been looking up since that disastrous Saturday. The mistakes are in the past, but the lessons learnt are for the future. Music is my love, but I won't let it demoralise me.

So on Sunday I went to the beach with friends. We decided to go to Negambo for a change from the usual down south trips. I hadn't been to Negambo in years. All I remembered of it was that it was a lot hotter than down south. Unbearably hotter than down south. I wasn't prepared for the surprises in store for me!

We went to this lovely hotel called "The Beach". The name alone resulted in a lot of frustration in a 'Dude where's my car?' sorta way when trying to explain where I had gone to others who couldn't make it. It went something like this.

Friend : oooh you guys went on a trip? where to?
me : Negambo. We decided a change would be good.
Friend : oh really? where did you guys go?
me : This place called The Beach
Friend : No really? How smart of you. Which hotel you idiot!?
me : The Beach you cow!
Friend : I KNOW YOU WENT TO THE BEACH. BUT WHICH HOTEL DID YOU'LL GO TO!?
me : IT'S A BLOODY HOTEL CALLED THE BEACH DAMNIT! IT'S THE OLD ROYAL OCEANIC.
Friend : Oh, why didn't you say so.
me : sigh

So the hotel gave us a room for the day too, which was very nice of them. The room was lovely, one of the best I've seen at a Sri Lankan hotel (if you discount the boutique hotel rooms I guess). The bathroom walls were made of glass, even the door, which would be quite interesting for couples and not for a boisterous group of 10 like us.

We headed out to the beach (the beach, not the hotel. Although we were at the hotel. So that would make it the hotel's beach. Comprehendo?). The Negambo beach is beautiful! It's so wide and the water was calm! It's the first time that i've seen yellow flags on a Sri Lankan beach! The sand is soft, unlike down south. Did I tell you how wide the beach was? It was as wide as half the length of a football pitch! So after many thrills and spills on the calm waters, and a joint effort at making a sand-car (castles are just boring) that we sat in, it was time for lunch!

Lunch deserves a whole post on it's own. But I ate too fast to even remember what I was eating. But I do remember there was sushi, smoked salmon, cream cheese, chillie crab, lamb chops, roast chicken, batter fried prawns to name a few. The buffet was definitely as good as, or even better than, Blue Water Wadduwa. Slightly cheaper too. It was a big spread, so I was a happy child. It's a must have!

After a lunch like that, the only thing to follow is a nap. So there we were, 10 of us cramped in one bed, but all knocked out from stuffed belly syndrome. A drink, a dip in the pool, a broken bead bracelet, a sprained ankle and we were on our way home.

Last morning I caught up with a good friend, and spent the afternoon shopping for Christmas presents. Came back home and I was ready to drop. But not before I attended to important business. A passport, a credit card, a few clicks and a smile was all that was needed! What was all that about?

7th March 2008. Singapore. Incubus.

Of highs and lows

2007-12-22T23:30:00.000+05:30

If ever I've hit a low as an amateur musician, this is it.

Two vastly contrasting evenings. The christmas party was absolutely crazy! I've not had so much fun in such a long time. It was just pure entertainment, so much so that I felt like I had to be the dancing queen's king. Good food, great company, lots of booze, fun and games, a super DJ, all of which added up to be the best retro party I have been to. When the fun and games were over, most had left, the good food had been cleared, the super DJ decided to belt out some slow tunes to which the great company decided at 3 am that they should add their vocal talents in unison as there was still lots of booze left. By 4am the waiters had had enough, and had surrounded us, albeit subtlely (or not so subtlely, as we noticed), as if to say 'enough!'. We didn't sound all that bad though.

When I got home at 4:30am, with 6 bottles of left over booze, I was indeed a happy man. Until I realised I have to be up by 7.

At 7:30am the day from hell began, where the night from heaven had ended.

By 9 am was at the studio, where the album is in it's last stage of production. By 11 am I was falling asleep, and my attention span was as short as Jehan Mubarak's longest innings. I was craving for some sleep. But it was not to be. I ran home at 2pm, ate, showered, ran out again carrying a 40kg amplifier, my guitar and a man bag of necessities for the gig. We had another drummer playing with us tonight as Jim is out of the country, so I had to run to his house and make sure he was tight with the songs. By 4pm that was all sorted. Got to Rockapoluza 2 as fast as we could. It seemed nice and chilled out. But my confidence was lagging. We hadn't practiced as a band in a while; the bassist hadn't even met drummer-for-the-night properly. To cut a long and horrible story short, when we came up to play we fucked up. It made us sound below amateurish and there's no one else to blame but ourselves. This was the perfect opportunity to dish out some of our music to an audience who had never heard us before. Our song selection was poor, our co-ordination was shit, and we went right after Powercut Circus, probably one of the top 3 alternative bands in town. We really missed Jim this eve. He definitely brings out the best in us, and is the key ingredient to how tight we are as a band.

I had a bad day as a guitarist. I kept missing my notes, and my guitar tone was rubbish. Live and learn they say. One thing's for sure; the bitter lesson is that you should never take any gig too lightly. I swear to you now, I will never play another gig without adequate prep. There's too much embarrassment and humiliation involved in fucking up live.

So this is Christmas

2007-12-18T11:55:00.000+05:30

Christmas. The time of year when the ducks fly south for warmer climes and stronger liquids. Colombo seems a little more over-populated than it usually is, especially at night. But that's a good thing, cause at this time of the year everything is a little more bright and chirpy. Almost makes you forget how dead it usually is.

Met up with the clique last night, most of whom, like the ducks, have flown in from all parts of the world. Actually some have flown north, contrary to regular duck behaviour. Not that ducks don't fly north. Just that popular belief tells me that they don't fly north during winter.

It turned out to be quite a fun night. A little bit of booze, a lot of Flower-drum food. A little song, a lot of filthy jokes. A lot of frazzled nerves thanks to north-flying-duck's driving skills. Fast disappearing dessert at Coffee Stop where a pretty decent band was playing No Woman No Cry. Well they played other songs too, but that was the pick of the lot. And more frazzled nerves as she dropped me home. It's nice to have old faces back.

Still to come this week; 2 Christmas parties (including the office one. oh bummer!), a gig (Rockapoluza-2, 24 bands?:O) which we are probably gonna play with Anik as Jim is out of the country temporarily, and possibly a trek down south for the day on Sunday! To add to all the excitement, I found out that I might have the chance to catch two wonderful acts pretty soon. But more about that later.

Merry Christmas!

You can't fire me...I quit!!!

2007-12-14T10:25:00.000+05:30

If not for the air conditioning and (almost) working computers, I would've thought I was working in a government department.

We've got the works.
Nosy secretaries who want to know everything about everyone and then spread malicious rumours surreptitiously to carefully selected allies faster than a Minister's convoy.

Managers that openly bite each others arse off, in the hope of climbing the corporate rope-ladder.

Staff who sing baa baa black sheep each time a superior walks by. Well not really. Only the 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' bit.

Peons who refuse to deliver docuements to client's in rajagiriya cause they 'only deliver in Colombo'.

And, to top it all off, a director who laughs like a hyena on weed, talks as if she can't be heard, and acts like she doesn't know what she's doing!

To think this is supposed to be a multinational organisation. But don't get me wrong, this is the ONLY department of it's kind in this office. The rest of the people are normal. Too bad my qualifications meant I only fit in here. I'm just glad i'm into my final two weeks.

The show must go on...

2007-12-09T02:02:00.000+05:30

Monsoon Sunday is finally over. For now.

It's been a hectic two weeks in which we put on this show. But the 50 minute set was well worth it. We might've not made any money, but hopefully we have a few fans now.

I'm thankful to all of you who turned up, especially those of you who stayed till the very end! Also to the bands that played, great job guys.

We set ourselves a high bar to jump over by opting to play right after Hollowpoint Halo, who, incidentally, were super as always! If any of you caught 10 Second Rule at Monsoon Sunday, I'd love to hear what you thought.

Hollowpoint Halo @ Monsoon Sunday (on a Saturday)

2007-12-07T15:00:00.000+05:30

Ranil's got a couple of new babies: An Ibanez Steve Vai replica guitar, a 500watt Marshall stack and a Takamine semi acoustic. The new goodies coupled together with the seductive vocals courtesy of Marsh, the awesome bassist Roshan and the chance of hearing some of their music with drums (a possibility to be confirmed) is reason enough to be at Monsoon Sunday. Happens tomorrow (the 8th) at 8pm @ the Zetter. Also featuring 10 Second Rule, Anil Balasuriya, S.A.M. and Cynosure.

Be there...or be a coconut.

Monsoon Sunday : Tickets Out

2007-12-04T22:53:00.000+05:30

It's been a hectic 10 days. Finally got the tickets to hand today. So if you need any, give me a buzz on 0776029141. About 50 have been booked already out of a 150, so get em quick!

I shall return to normal blogging once this gig is over. I solemnly swear not to prostitute my blog, and it's tiny readership, as I have done in order to promote Monsoon Sunday. At least until the next gig.

Cynosure at Monsoon Sunday

2007-12-01T21:10:00.000+05:30

(Monsoon Sunday - 8th Dec, 8pm, the Zetter. ft Hollowpoint Halo, 10 second rule, Anil Balasuriya, Cynosure and S.A.M.)

(write up courtesy Cynosure)

Cynosure is a group of 6 musicians between the ages of 18-21, concentrating mainly on the genres of alternative/slow rock music. They have been in the music industry close to 3 years and have performed in many events and competitions and the highlight of which is Sri Lanka’s premier event for local artists, TNL Onstage.

This group of individuals first formed in school as teenagers and from there on developed into one of Sri Lanka’s well known alternative bands. Some of the band’s highlights have been competing and entering the finals of TNL onstage in the year 2005 and also in 2006.
Another major highlight of the band has been the releasing of their first Original "On a Road" which received very good reviews from various radio stations here in Colombo and also large amount of air play. Other than the Usual guitar and drums this band also emphasizes the importance of the piano be it in the originals or the covers they play. This Fusion of guitar and piano brings out a sound that is unique to the band.

Currently the band has taken up the Endeavour of releasing an Extended Play (EP) better know as a miniature album which will comprise of 4 songs composed and written by the band itself.

Band Members
Shezri Junaid - Vocals
Ruvin de Silva – Drums
Shivane Wickramasekera – Guitar
Ahmed Nuski – Bass
Shehan Michael – Keyboards
Peter Vittachchi - Guitars

Road Rules 101

2007-11-29T15:23:00.000+05:30

A little while ago, I stepped out of commons with the missus after gorging down one of those delightfully sinful chocolate things. You know, the one that's slightly hard, but is made of a brownie casing, with chocolate mousse in the middle and icing sugar sprinkled on top. Wow!

So anyway, as soon as we stepped out, a plain-clothed policeman stopped us and told us to move back towards the door. He said the road was closed. The road was indeed deserted in a way that only Mahinda Rajapaksha can have done on a busy Thursday afternoon. So then the motorcade swept past, at which point my days of reading the Highway Code flashed before me. I've never seen the convoys go by so fast! Here are a couple of the road rules that I noted were broken in the minute of officials flying by at high speeds.

1. Excessive speeding - the convoy was easily doing well over 130km/h on flower road. How dangerous is that?
2. Driving on the wrong side of the road.
3. Driving without a number plate - almost all the vehicles had no plate!
4. Overtaking on the wrong side - a backup jeep over took one of the black beemers from the left!
5. (W)reckless driving - goes without saying. Put's a whole load of pedestrians and road-side buildings in jeapordy.
6. Exhaust emissions being over the allowed limit - the emissions were black. Just the other day I saw a cop stopping a vehicle for the same offence at Maradana junc. Wonder where he is today!

These are the days I wish we had the services of Kiran Bedi, the first female offer of the Indian Police Force, who is famous for being a tough cop - a reputation she earned by even booking the prime minister of India's vehicle for illegal parking.

Monsoon Sunday : The Gig

2007-11-25T01:51:00.000+05:30

With all the confirmations finally in, we have a gig on our hands! 8th Dec, 8pm, at the Zetter (formerly known as Tabu). This is exciting for a whole bunch of reasons!

We paid a visit to the Zetter today and it looks abso-fucking-lutely super! Pristine white interior, with a bar that runs all the way through the club (you'll never be too far from the drinks) and the fanciest sound and lights system i've seen at any venue in Colombo! This is a far cry from the dark and intimidating interior and atmosphere of the old Tabu.

Hollowpoint Halo, probably the biggest band in the Sri Lankan underground scene, confirmed to play, and are promising a new sound, which would be a step away from the acoustic sessions they've been known to play. S.A.M. was one of the most exciting bands at Onstage this year, and we were more than happy to invite them along for the ride.

10 Second Rule will feature a new drummer: The fabulous Jim Sykes, the American that you've read about previously here. Our line up is also likely to include percussionist Ravihansa, which should add to the new flavour that we plan to introduce at the gig.

Over the next 14 days watch this space for more information about the gig. For now, make sure you keep the date free!

The Thing About Accents...

2007-11-19T00:56:00.000+05:30

...is that when it's not your own, you tend to laugh about it. This is true wherever in the world you are. I spent three years in Hull, where the locals probably have the worst accent in the whole of the UK, if not the world, and yet they'd laugh at people who spoke more 'normally'. This coming from people who would cry out "hunnaaay, fern curl fer yoooouuuuuuuz!" and "errrr neeerrrrrrr it's sooondeeeeey meeeernin".

So anyway, in Sri Lanka this accent thing is a big issue. I was at law college the other day, trying to cram in as much as possible in the 15 minutes prior to when the exam started when these two girls who were also about to take the exam started talking in raised voices and varied accents, one american, one british, disrupting the blissful silence. The deafening cackle of foreign voices disrupted the orderly exam preparation that was taking place along the corridors, which made the students sit up, peer at the cacklers, giggle, sneer and then try to concentrate again whilst the conversation continued. However, it didn't stop. Which made me stop studying and ponder.

How is it that when some Sri Lankans go abroad, they develop an accent that they can't seem to lose even when they come back?

While you live abroad, it is invariably true that you develop a particular way of speaking in order for the locals of that country to understand how you speak. That sort of adaptation would avoid the weird looks you would get if you break into "ado that kaalla was bloody hot nuh you bugger?". I worked in call centres for the entire three years I was abroad, so at first people could not understand me over the phone. So I had to adapt my ways of speaking in order to be more clear, and it worked. But i'd lose the 'accent' as soon as I got talking to people who would understand me normally. Hence, when I came back, it was easy to shake off.

But, some people who go abroad for a short period of time, come back with a stunner of an accent that just doesn't seem to go, and sometimes doesn't even fit in the locality where they were based. For instance, a friend from school studied in Durham, but instead of the Newcastle-ish drawl, he came back with a perfect, high class, essex-ish accent. Another example would be the medic who studied in Nepal, and now has an American accent. Maybe my geography just sucks and I don't know what the hell i'm talking about.

But, my question is, if you can acquire an accent by being around foreigners and speaking like em, how come you can't lose it when you're back and speaking with your own kind? For one, you tend to be the laughing stock of the town. Secondly, a foreign accent is not something that makes you cool. Thirdly, I just can't understand you when you go "eeeeeeer i gotta geeeeeeer, fern curl".

TNL Onstage - The Finals

2007-11-11T09:38:00.000+05:30

Onstage comes but once a year. Some say it's a good thing. But it's definitely a great platform for young and emerging musicians to get out and play in front of which was probably the biggest audience you get at a gig out here. Last night were the finals; 6 bands, 6 solo artistes and 4 from the hip hop and rnb category made it. I'd say there were roughly around a thousand people there, maybe more. However, I made the mistake of thinking that this year will be pretty much like last year where it started 2 hours late, the changes between the acts dragged on and it finished at 5am! So by the time I managed to get to the Convention Centre, Thriloka had already finished their opening act, which was a real bummer for I really wanted to see them! TNL had got their act together this time and started sharp at 9pm, and I must add the show was slick!

The stage was magnificent and was made up of probably the best lighting system I've seen at a local venue. The hall was decorated in black tapestries on which there were tiny lights which gave the effect of the night sky, but not so well. There were 2 drum kits on stage, instead of one, which was a great move, and helped reduce the loss of time between the acts! TNL also mixed in the order of performers so that the bands, solo singers and hip hop artistes were playing in random order. Last year the solo singers went first, then the bands. By the time the bands came on last year, everyone had left. So kudos to TNL.

I walked in to the sounds of S.A.M. (which stands for, believe it or not, Surface to Air Missiles!) who play a John Mayerish groove. They did an original of theirs and then did a medley of covers which included a bit of Cannonball, Calabria and ended When the Sun Goes Down (Arctic Monkeys). They were super! I had only been there 5 mins but I was jumping around. However, I still think their name doesn't match their genre.

Gray Mind Domain played a cover of Eric Clapton's Layla, but they failed to impress. It was just another cliche-ic rock band with nothing new about them. Merlock were technically sound, but a tad too heavy for my liking cause I'm not a death metal fan. But they were good in what they did. Could've had better vocals though. Wagon Park played a killer version of Comfortably Numb, and they looked the part of stoner rockers! Icarus started with Snow Patrol's run, which lacked oomph and zest. But their second song was brilliant, and it was an original! I could not understand why they did not play both originals, they would've had a better chance of winning. Hollow was the last band, again a little too heavy for my liking but boy were they good! Their drummer was off the hook! The guitarists had a great understanding and played great licks and leads and combined together very very well! They played The Final Countdown and that just blew the roof! However, being heavily influenced by my musical taste, my favourites were S.A.M. They need a new name though. Did I say that before?

Most of the soloists were nothing much to talk about. But Mariam, who opened by dedicating her first song to the late Ruwani Seimon, was great! She had lots of stage personality and, by the end of it, plenty of young male fans thanks to her gyrating grooves with an umbrella! CC, who was a classmate at school, brought with him a refreshing energy to his performance, which most of the others lacked. I have never seen him sing like he did last night and everyone was stunned! Two thumbs up!

Their were two hip hop groups, Dirty 4 Four and Nouty Coast (sic), who were quite good. The others didn't deserve a mention.

So any guesses for who took it away last night?

Well, I really can't remember who took the hip hop category, but it was one of those two groups. Wow, aren't I helpful!!!

Mariam was the first runner up of the Solo category and CC took away the honours for his scintillating performance! Great work! I hope we'll see more of the two of them!

In the band category, Merlock emerged runners up. The winners for 2007 are Hollow. Doesn't my opinion count though? Maybe it was the name.

Link here for pictures posted by Shehal.

Doctor of Drumology

2007-11-07T00:49:00.000+05:30

5 papers down as of today, and lucky number 5 had to be the worst one. Who bothers with the constitution anyway? Bah!

So after trudging away from the exam hall looking and feeling all too glum, i headed toward the infamous green path hangout. The plan was to jam. On the way, I stopped at Colpetty junc and got a yummy egg bun and a chinese roll. Food always hits the spot right after an exam. Actually food always hits the spot, period.

At green path you always meet new people and, more often than not, they are fascinating! Today was plain ol' Jim, who is doing a PhD in drums and percussion! Now how fucking cool is that? It gets cooler. He's in Sri Lanka for a year to learn Sri Lankan drums as part of his course. So here he is, learning the language, suffering in the heat and playing everything from gata bera to hak gedi to kala, all the while earning more credits towards his PhD. So at the end of all this he's gonna be a doctor in drumology? Woah! Not only that, as soon as we started jamming I realised he's fucking brilliant!

Over the course of a couple of hours, about 8 of us switched between guitars, bass, drums (not me:D) and percussion. Probably the best impromptu jam session I've ever had! I'm still buzzed about it.

Tomorrow, 10 Second Rule heads off to record some new material in a strangely unusual way. I'm excited, but I hope it goes off well. Fuck exams. I know what i'm gonna do my PhD in!

40 - 0

2007-10-28T12:57:00.000+05:30

For the first time in the history of the Royal Thomian regatta there was a white wash. Royal took home all the silverware, including the coveted Boat Race Trophy. 40 - 0 was the end result. Here are a few highlights.

Roy - Tho Regatta

2007-10-26T19:02:00.000+05:30

There's no shortage of tensed excitement at home, and it's kind of unnerving. Tomorrow is an excessively big day for all of us. Royal has not won the Roy-Tho regatta in about 8 years, if you discount the ties and the Thomians pulling out last year. But this year just might be it, fingers crossed! It's a big deal for the family as my younger bro will lead the team that carries on their shoulders an expectation that has been 8 years in the making!

Being the 3rd of 3 boys, I don't think he's expecting any hugs and good luck cards and the like from the older bros. But I'm sure he knows how immensely proud we are! Regardless of how he feels the night before the regatta, i'm having a severe case of goose-bumps!

It promises to be a great day for Royal rowing. It promises to be a great day for my family. Good luck bro:)

Kelum

2007-10-24T16:31:00.000+05:30

He used to come and play cricket with us when we were kids. That's the earliest memory I have of him. Being my maid's nephew, his visits used to be quite regular, and he would come and stay with us at least once a month and we always had a blast. He lives in Kantale.

Whenever we needed an extra pair of hands around the house he'd come down and help. He stayed with us when we moved house in 1998 and again in 2002. Kantale didn't have much scope in terms of employment, so in 2002 he moved to Colombo. Although he was working as a peon at some office, he didn't particularly take to the work. That was when my dad's office hired him as a driver. I had just left to uni at this point.

I saw him in the summer of 2004. He used to be in and out of our house as he was busy with my dad's work. On a day in October 2004, he was walking along the street in Homagama when a speeding lady driver ran him over. He survived, but only as a vegetable.

It's been 3 years since that accident. He now lives in Kantale, the only son to a family who have a shop on the road to trinco. Coming to Colombo to make a better living for his family was harsh, as he soon learnt, or didn't. He now lies in a bed, as he has been for 3 years, in his home, not knowing at all what is going on around him. My maid reminded me today that it has been 3 years since his accident. He must be 28. His name is Kelum.

Once

2007-10-23T19:17:00.000+05:30

Darwin was right. I'm going to start listening to her more often.

Having read her review of 'Once', I thought i'd give it a go and see how it is, especially since she said that it's a must do for music lovers. I just finished watching it and I can't stop humming the beautiful melodies that spilled out during the last one and a half hours. I can't believe they aren't professional actors, but they most certainly have to be professional musicians. If they weren't, they certainly will be now!

The movie is a little slow running, especially if you don't particularly fancy watching what is in fact a bunch of jam sessions. But it was the slow running-ness of the movie that let you fall deep into the threshold of what's happening. The music has a feel of typical British/Irish folk coupled with blues coupled with light rock. Much much like Damian Rice.

Thanks Darwin. Great movie. Even better music. Now to find the soundtrack.

Law, Math, Music

2007-10-19T22:10:00.000+05:30

I'm not made for these bloody exams. I've done jack all today! But i've already started with the papers so there's no backing down now. However, this cramming nonsense just doesn't work. I've already forgotten what I read in the last hour, much like Darwin forgot to shut off that Electro-thingamagig. How so? Well, probably cause it's as critical, since the paper is only a few days away and what i'm studying is completely new to me!

So yeah, I learnt a few things that might be helpful along the way, like how I can sneak into some land you own and if I can live there for 10 years without being kicked out, I can challenge you for ownership and also learnt how big, in terms of land mass, a paddy cultivation needs to be. It's more than obvious why I need the latter bit of information cause 63% of all Sri Lankan males under 25 take to paddy cultivation. Might I add 80% of statistics are bullshit.

My study pattern for today has been pretty simple. Study for an hour, then play guitar for an hour and a half. If I break down that 1 hour of study time, it'll be something like this:

Read the notes - 10 minutes
Stare at the ceiling blankly - 25 minutes
Realise that I'm really not reading the notes - 5 minutes
Re-read the notes - 10 minutes
Look forward to the end of the hour - 10 minutes

At least i'm getting better at the guitar.

You know you're around lawyers when...

2007-10-18T08:58:00.000+05:30

Yesterday began yet another series of wretched exams. So there I was, trudging back to Hultsdorf where the only form of life is of the kind clad in black and white sarees and suits. Well, not exactly zebra print suits, which you're probably more likely to find in Malaka Silva's wardrobe, but I mean black suits and white shirts. If you thought that was bad in this heat, these bloody lawyers top it off with a cape, much like batman, and batgirl (just to be fair) which weighs a ton and does not look comfortable!

In my hand i nervously clutched the short notes that I had finished preparing about 10 minutes before leaving for the exam. I was hoping that, if I clutched them hard enough, I'd absorb the content through an advanced form of osmosis straight from the future. In the midst of trying to put Hart, Pound, Darwin (the real dude, not the blogger:)), Dworkin, Austin and others into the right school of thought, I happened to glance at the notice board at Law College. A few vacancies, a list of failures at the last exam, the usual. But then I saw this notice that caught my eye, which made me realise that I was most certainly in the right place. It read :

NOTICE
An article has been found and it is in the custody of Mr. X.
The owner of said article can call over at his office and collect same.
Signed.
Principal.
Sri Lanka Law College.

Edit - Note to reader : Article, in this context and in lawyer-speak, means an object or item rather than a publication. Instead of expressly stating what was missing, they stated that they found something. It was up to the loser to prove that he had lost it.

:)

2007-10-12T14:30:00.000+05:30

Happy Birthday!

Master of None

2007-10-06T15:22:00.000+05:30

(Spotted in York, UK, about a year ago)

My name is confab, and I want to have lots of love affairs.

There I said it.

Sometimes I wonder, why I find myself wanting to do a million different things. The latest list includes owning an Austin Mini, acquiring a mother of a camera and wanting to travel the world. Oh and getting a new guitar. Live abroad again. Record an album. Learn drums. Ok i'll stop.

So anyway, yes, I'm quite happy being a jack of all trades and a master of none, as long as I can dabble in this and that. I love learning new things, and finding new passions. For that matter, I admire RD, who, being close upon 75, is still keen on improving on his passions, i.e. the drums, and learning new things, i.e. how not to put saffron in dhal.

I don't want to get to the age where I have to wear that t-shirt, only to wonder what I did with my life. And that's what drives me.

Neighbourhood Watch

2007-10-04T13:36:00.000+05:30

Directly taken from the official website of (the apparently) Honorouble Namal Rajapaksa.

"ARMS GIVING CAMPAIGNS - ‘Tharunyata Hetak’ organized an arms giving for the elderly folk of ‘Tissamaharama’ on the 6th of May of 2007. The event was attended by approximately hundred elderly people."

Be extra careful. 100 armed senior citizens are on the loose.

The Long Road Home

2007-10-01T09:58:00.000+05:30

Sri Lankan roads aren't all that confusing now are they? See, the longest drive within the city is going to take you about 30 minutes at most (add 10-15 more for traffic). So why's it that trishaw drivers always mess up a simple point A to point B trip?

Here's the deal. This morning, I walked about half a kilometer from home to where Kirimandala Road meets Nawala Road (point A). Found a bright blue trishaw there. Saw a man standing next to it. Went up to it and said I need to go to Braybrooke Place (point B). He thinks for a while, tells me to take the 176 from there and change at Borella. I look at him blankly and point towards the trishaw. He laughs and points me to the driver who is standing further away. I smile meekly and move on to negotiate with the actual driver. But that's not the story.

So having told him what the best route is and negotiated an apparently reasonable fair of 250 bucks from A to B, I get in and we're on our way. I still haven't gotten over the fact that in Bangalore trishaws charge only 6 INR (roughly around 18 SLR) per km while over here in SL i'm paying close upon 50 bucks a km! While heading down Kirimandala he suggests a different route which is slightly longer, which other trishaws have taken before, so I say to him "yeah ok if that's what you wanna do". So we head up Thimbirigasyaya Road instead of going down Baseline Road towards Kanatte. Generally, the Thimba route involves us turning into the lane opposite Sunethra Lane near the church on Thimba Road, then heading past CR&FC and towards independence square. While I was sitting there with my ipod plugged in I see that turn off pass us by. Then we turn right into Torrington Avenue. This was a new route! So when Torrington ended on Bullers Road I expected him to take one of 2 options, both of which ended up near independence square. But I was wrong, AGAIN! He goes towards Thunmulla along the one way, goes all the way around and comes back towards Lionel Wendt and the Museum and finally to Braybrooke place, adding at least an extra 10 minutes to a 20 minute ride.

I would've thought he might've saved more cash, and me more time, if he actually listened to me and went on the route that has been identified to be the shortest, at least by me! But these trishaws, they've got their own GPS which apparently you can't fool.

Update

2007-09-30T17:05:00.000+05:30

I've been quiet. That's only cause all I ever read is about how gravity is a myth and that in actual fact the earth sucks. Living in Colombo, that's actually all we ever see too. So I've made a conscious effort to keep away from adding to the glum soup. That mindset stopped me pondering out aloud my horrible work place, increasingly irritating, irritated parents (I'm still to get used to living with them all over again), the fact that pay day is turning out to be a myth with the ever increasing cost of living and the horrendous exams looming up ahead.

So anyway, GF and I picked up a kitten a few days back. It was one of these fellows and boy is he cute! He's a little bigger than my palm and extremely playful! I shall put up a few pics soon. Any ideas for names anyone?

Wanted to head down to marine drive today for the Mini Rally. However, the damned guilty conscience, brought about by millions of loose sheets of notes all over my bed, kept me at bay. Another time maybe.

Had a crazy jam session sometime last week too! It ended up being 3 stoners and I, playing random riffs and chanting random lyrics and recording on the spur of the moment. Some of it sounded really funky! We might get together again, when the 3 of them are less stoned, to try and work something out of all that.

Anyway, enough of my mindless, meaningless verbal diarrhea. Carry on on your way then.

3 Chord Charlie

2007-09-21T10:35:00.000+05:30

Inbetween mulling over world peace and the like, I actually got to debating the local music scene with a friend. Being a world class guitar hero (cough cough), and my friend a chart topping drummer (cough cough) (note to self - take something for the cough!), who is maybe only second to RD, we'd like to think we know a thing or two.

It started with Onstage, and the fact that only 12 bands are in the competition this year. Drummer loathes all things Onstage, whereas I don't mind it as it is a great opportunity for bands to get some gig-time under their belt in a city where there really is no scope or hope for original music. So, as you guessed, he was mighty pleased that there were only 12 bands (the number having halved from last year) and I obviously wasn't.

We soon got to this huge debate about the difference between potential and talent. Maybe I'm an optimist, but if I see a great guitarist who can, for instance play catchy leads and sing at the same time, or a bassist who has a great groove and lifts the song, I'm quick to label him/her as talented. However, drummer doesn't agree. He gives them a maximum rating of potential. He says he needs to see more of em to give them that esteemed compliment.

A typical Sri Lankanism.

I love being a part of live music. Not all have a great talent as musicians but it takes a lot of balls to stand up and be counted. Most, if not all, musicians will tell you there's no greater feeling than playing live. So if I do see a band live who are trying to make original music work, I try not to diss em. I try to see em for what they are doing as a collective. I admire them for the fact that they got up on stage.

But in Sri Lanka, our audiences quickly get bored if the bands are not as good as what they would expect from maybe a Counting Crows concert. They are quick to say the band is shit and walk out. There's no room for constructive criticism or scope for musicians to improve. But when musicians are as critical as the audiences are, then there is really no hope.

Oh well. Excuse my rant.

Chakde Bangalore!

2007-08-28T23:32:00.000+05:30

Underworked and underpaid, so when a free ticket came my way I wasn't one to say no. Took off on Friday to Bangalore, India, having convinced my manager to give me Monday off so that I had a nice long weekend of 4 days. It's been almost a year since I boarded a flight and I almost had forgotten how much I loved to fly. Travelling alone and finding myself sitting at BIA waiting for the boarding call, I quickly glanced around to check whether there were any RDs satisfying a kink for people watching, only soon to realize I was doing the same. Oh well.

So anyway an hour later I was in India. The last time I had been there was 8 years ago as a scrawny schoolboy on a (wait for it...ahem) cricket tour with the College junior team. At the time, I was rather proud of it and when people asked me where I was going, I'd turn my nose in the air and say "cricket tour" in a too-cool-for-school tone. Now I realize junior cricket tours are a dime a dozen. Egad! I digress.

So 8 years ago I was staying at the YMCA youth sports hostel, playing cricket on 4 of the 7 days we were there, having to tag along to saree shops with other kids' parents who were apparently coming as 'chaperones', much like the lot from the sports ministry who were planning on heading to japan to support our only athlete. So yes, 14 kids, 20 parents, a coach and 2 masters in charge did not help make the trip a delightful one. So yes, my impression of India was not a very good one.

8 years on I was stunned. People portray India to be a tough place to live in, and maybe it's true. But it's a great place to visit. The myth of the land is no myth at all on the faces of its people. Coming from Sri Lanka, I'm quite used to people dragging their feet. But in Bangalore, there was such a spring to their step. Brigade Road, which became my favourite hangout, reminded me of Oxford Street where you'd have people piling through each other while the biggest brands stare down upon them from their vantage points. Much like Oxford Street, people were laughing and chattering and walking with such purpose. It's greatly energetic and that energy is infectious.

I was introduced to this quaint little pub off Brigade Road named "Peckos" which is dark and mysterious and plays the best alt rock at just the right volume; not too loud to drown you out but not too soft for you to lose interest. The place has murals of the likes of Elvis Presley Jimi Hendrix on the walls and ceilings and what not. I hear the food is great there, but I didn't try it, although I can vouch for their lime soda. I could fall in love with a place like that. Maybe I have.

Just accross the street from Peckos is "Le Rock" where the preliminaries to Nokia I-Rock XXII were being held on Saturday night. Who am I to say no to a chance to see some bands. The show was kick started by After Burn, an outfit that was very grunge, very in-your-face and very damn good. The guitarist was fuckin kick arse! The next 2 bands were rather boring. I was told that one of them was the biggest band in Bangalore or something but it was a death metal band and there's only so much of a screaming grandmother with a sore throat i can take. But I must say, the musicians were great in all the bands. Sri Lanka has a long way to go, original music wise. But anyway, digressions apart, the last band was Caesar's Palace. By golly, I kid you not, they were magnificently incredibly awe inspiring. Comprising of an 18 year old drummer who is undoubtedly better than any drummer I have seen in Sri Lanka, a fatty on bass who, i'm sure, plays bass faster and with more precision than he would devour a plate of burgers, a fender strat clad guitarist who I'm told can play anything put before him and a super, yet down to earth, vocalist. Kishan, Kenny, Anurag and Unni certainly were not unknown to the crowd as I found myself in the midst of a swarm that knew all the words and all the breaks to all their songs. Simply scintillating. Reminded me a lot of Incubus. Great stuff

On Monday morning I headed to 'The Forum' to catch Ratatouille on the big screen. You wouldn't believe it, but at 9:30 in the morning i'm almost positive that at the cinema I saw as many teenagers you'd see in the whole of Sri Lanka! Ok maybe not that many. But too many to count surely! The movie itself was great too. Pixar has created an animation masterpiece! A must-watch.

So what struck me the most is the fact that young people in Bangalore are so lucky to have such a lively city. Although everything shuts down at 11:30pm as per state orders, until that time the city is still alive, the streets are full and the lights on. Colombo on the other hand is fast asleep by sunset, and please don't blame that on our island culture. I had a blast. 4 days was not long enough for me to get bored of Bangalore, but not short enough so that I'd miss the essentials. I shall write more about it as and when I remember. Pictures shall come up at some point too. It's definitely a place I'd visit again. But nehi diya tho?

Thriloka - Live

2007-08-24T00:38:00.000+05:30

Probably the most talented band in Sri Lanka, Thriloka will be launching their 2nd album on Monday 27th August at Barefoot. Show starts at 7 pm and entrance is 500 bucks which includes a free CD. You certainly don't want to miss out on this feast.

5 of them and I

2007-08-23T18:45:00.000+05:30

Music to me is like (if you'd permit the expression) cocks to prostitutes; more the merrier. What floats my boat also changes on a day to day basis much like a new monk having second thoughts. So I don't know what RD was thinking when he tagged me to choose 5 albums i'd have on a desert island. 16 albums made my initial short list. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Counting Crows - August and Everything After
Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
Damien Rice - O
Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up the Girl (the pirated one with 'Name' as a Bonus Track - only available in Sri Lanka - woo hoo!)
Incubus - Make Your Self
Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
Lifehouse - No Name Face
Live - Awake: The Best of Live
Matchbox 20 - Yourself or Someone Like You
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
Oasis - What's the story (Morning Glory)
Paolo Nutini - These Streets
Pearl Jam - Ten
Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
The Wallflowers - Bringing Down the Horse
Timbaland - Shock Value

I'm really struggling to narrow it down, but for the sake of fair play I will. But I will qualify my selection as something I did under duress. So considering the fact that i'll be stuck on a desert island, on my own, with just the albums, i'm going to have to choose them ones that are gonna keep me sane, although by the time i'm miraculously, and theatrically, rescued, i'll be sick of em. Here goes :

Gin Blossoms : New Miserable Experience - It's a Sri Lankan thing. Apart from the US, i'm almost sure the only other country The Gin Blossoms are so popular is in our very own. Some of their best music is on this album, ie. Hey Jealousy, Until I Fall Away, Allison Road and Found Out About You. This album can uplift my mood within seconds. There's this great energy about it and it's contagious. This'll already be in the discman when I wake up on a strange island.

Incubus : Make Your Self - This will be pounding in my ears when i'm building my tree hut, Robinson Crusoe Style. I often find my self analysing every groove, every off beat and every riff on this album. It's a musical masterpiece, at least in my opinion. It'll be like having a stock of ice cold Red Bull on the island. The smash hits Drive, Stellar, Pardon Me and The Warmth are all in here. Ever wondered where the catchy opening riff to TNL's Spinning Unrest was from? You guessed it.

Goo Goo Dolls - (Pirated) Dizzy Up the Girl - Ok, I'm sorry it's pirated and all, but Name is one of my fav tracks and it just adds a completely different twist to an already great album. Includes classics such as Iris, Broadway, Black Balloon and Slide. How can I say no to that? This is definitely coming with me.

Lifehouse - No Name Face - I fell in love with this album the first time I heard it. It's got such character to it and I find my moods changing along with each different song on it. I love every second of it From the infectious anthem Hanging By a Moment, to the mellow ballad Everything. This'll make me sad all alone on the island but it'll probably also give me hope. Tag, your in.

Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York - The sheer musical brilliance of the band finds me packing it away in my 5 CD carrier on my one way trip to the lonely island (although Pearl Jam gave it a tough fight for the last spot in my luggage). Nirvana has never been more convincing, more approachable, more real, or more sober. This session is undoubtedly legendary for the stark contrast it portrays of the band that changed the face of alternative music. Get in there.

All packed and ready to go! Well...not really... Why can't I take 16 albums?

Ass for youth?

2007-08-13T12:00:00.000+05:30

Namal Rajapaksha has been photographed up and down the country playing the role of the incompetent dictator's benevolent son. I've seen pictures of him in the papers giving gifts to wounded soldiers and also playing rugby in Matale with some of the locals there in order to promote his programme, which is affiliated to his daddy's foresight (or lack of it), titled "Tharunayata Hetak". I came accross this group on Facebook (where else!) which is something like the group of supporters of this, dare i say, project. The title is priceless though.

"Tharunnayata hetak ( asspiration for youth)"

Need I say more?

Although I wonder whose ass perspires for youth once he tucks himself back at the University of Nottingham.

The Mind-blowing KT Tunstall

2007-08-12T00:41:00.001+05:30

Mixing some serious talent with a loop pedal, the gorgeous KT Tunstall turns out some amazing music. Check out this version of Black Horse and the Cherry Tree. One not to miss.

Rockapoluzza!

2007-08-06T09:02:00.000+05:30

Although I never did quite agree with the title for the evening, it turned out to be one hell of a gig! In typical Sri Lankan fashion, the gig got under way at 9:15, a good hour and a quarter late, but that was mainly due to the fact that the crowd was slow to trickle in. But, by the time it got going, with 350 people packed into the onyx (including RD - Nice to meet you mate) it was sure to be a good night.

Daddy kicked off the proceedings with a tight, 3 song set, which included their song "Mage Massina". HollowpointHalo followed with Black eyed lullaby, Pardon me (incubus), The Pot (Tool) and Lost Horizon Star. Playing an acoustic set, the line up included Marsh, Ranil, the lil Bass guy and a guy on congos that i'd never seen before. They were tight. They were good. But, to me at least, they lacked the oomph they generally generate.

Next up were us, 10 Second Rule. 'Twas our first gig together and we had a blast. But i'd like to hear what people in the audience thought so please comment:D

Anil was supported by some great musicians and pulled off a good set, which included music from his album "Last few pieces of April". He also did quite a good rendition of Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars, which was well received.

I had been looking forward to getting a taste of Powercut Circus live and they did not fail to deliver. Picture funk mixed psychedelic melodies with an amazing drummer thrown in and some pretty interesting voice effects they were nothing short of different, if not entertaining. I love their compositions. I love how Shehan's bass gels with Dhinesh's beats. It's great! Can't wait to hear more from them.

When I think of Paranoid Earthling, I still think of them as the punk band that played a super cover of The Offspring's "the kids aren't alright" at the 80 Club. Back then their music was more punk, more grunge, and for the faint hearted, more listenable. However, they've taken a turn towards sounding extremely metal-ish. Even favourites such as 69 are sounding heavier than ever, at which point I had to get out of Onyx for some fresh air.

All in all, it was a great night for live music. Rumour has it that the next one is in Kandy.

Live tonight...

2007-08-03T11:16:00.001+05:30

There's been a lot of hype about tonight's gig, which does not help calm my, already frazzled, nerves. This being at work is not help. Neither does it help that the closest guitar store does not have any G-strings, let alone E-strings, in stock when i desperately need one! (having broken a string last night at practices).

Well, all hitches aside, 10 Second Rule is finally about to hit the stage. But I like my blog title so I ain't changing it, although, technically at least, my search is over. I digress.

Excited? hell yeah! It's been 8 months since i've been on stage. it's been 4 years since I last played in SL, and that last time was also at Onyx (then known as MKOP). I digress again. Blame it on the nerves.

It's going to be a dive into the deep-end of a freezing pool to be playing alongside some of the biggest names in Sri Lanka, ie HPH, Paranoid Earthling, and, the soon to be famous, Powercut Circus. But it's a good challenge to take on.

See you all tonight!

10 Second Rule Website

2007-07-26T12:00:00.000+05:30

We're just about to launch the website for the band, where you'd be able to find music, pictures, info, etc. You will also be able to vent ur views on the band. It is built entirely on blogger and is still very much a work in progress. But pls feel free to venture into the unknown and let us know what you think.
www.10secondrule.co.nr

GIG!

2007-07-25T12:30:00.000+05:30

10 Second Rule's first live performance will be on the 3rd of August at Onyx alongside HollowpointHalo, Power Cut Circus, Paranoid Earthling and Anil Balasuriya. We will also be releasing a 10 track album entitled "Monsoon Sunday 2: Storm" on the night. Doors open at 8:30-9 pm methinks. For those of you who are not familiar with venues and who will be down in CMB during that time (i.e. RD) Onyx is at the Taj Samudra.

Be there...somehow!

More 10 Second Rule Music

2007-07-16T20:28:00.000+05:30

I've added 2 more songs from my band 10 Second Rule; "Lord Help Me" and "Still". Pls listen in on the flash mp3 player which can be found at the top right-hand corner of this page!

Rajpal at it again?

2007-07-15T10:39:00.000+05:30

Kaiser Koyabashi (on getting beaten up) and Pradeep Jeganathan (rambuttans in jelly i believe) also found here.

Rajpal Abeynaike and the last 24 hours

2007-07-11T14:20:00.000+05:30

Over the last 24 hours I've been acknowledged, abused by and apologised to by Rajpal. The reason for this post? Just to make sure the blog sphere (and the ever intrusive and secretive Lakbima Reporter) is kept abreast of what went down.

Chaar~max, a friend of mine, asked me to deal with Lakbima news about a post of his that had been published in last Sunday's paper without his permission. We decided that the best course of action would be to ask for an apology and an explanation as to why the author was not contacted for permissions. I called up Lakbimanews and asked to speak to the editor. I was put through to the business editor, Ashwin Hemawaththegama is the name I believe, to whom I explained the situation. He took my number down. When I asked why they did it, he got abusive, told me to fuck off and hung up.

I called back an hour later and asked to speak to Rajpal, and I was promptly put through. I explained what had happened and I told him that we were considering a few options, including taking legal action and also giving publicity to their ways through other media, including other newspapers. He got abusive and told me to publicise it in New York and the Great Wall of China (why he chose those two places still dumbfounds me). Again he swore at me and hung up.

I called back another hour later and told him that I thought the line got cut mid conversation. I asked him why the permission of the author was not sought. He said that since the article was on a public domain, ie the www, it was usable by anyone. At this point I asked him whether he steals articles off sites such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/ without their permission. He didn't reply. I then brought his attention to the fact that there was a disclaimer on Chaar~max's site stating that the material was not for commercial use. He said he had looked through plenty of blogs and had not paid attention to any licenses or disclaimers. How convenient. He lost his cool again and started shouting at me, at which I kept saying "all we want is an apology". Again he told me to fuck off and hung up.

Later yesterday, he posted a comment on a few blogs. Here's an appetizer of what he said:
" we tried to contact you, but it’s not possible in most of the blogs. We did contact some of the others though, who left contact e mails" - then why did he tell me that if it's in the public domain, he doesn't care who wrote it?
"It’s not as if any stuff was published without credits" - with all due respects, giving the name of the author of the article with the article is all well and good when the author is part of the team of journalists working for the newspaper, but when it is taken off a blog, or a website for that matter, sufficient credit is given only when a link to the website is provided.
"As for that one abusive caller…hh, well.. its difficult to tolerate that..to put it succinctly. Can we keep the abuse out of this?" - if I was abusive, why did he bother to apologise to me?

Last night, while I was having dinner, I got a text, the transcript of which is provided below.
"I think it was a bit of a heat of the moment thing. sorry about that. vil it b possible 2 talk 2 u 2morrow past 2pm. Rajpal."
I replied very abruptly "Call me.i'll see what I can do".

This morning he messages me again.
"in fact why i wanted 2 call u was 2 see if u can write fr us direct under yr psuedonym or name. if u do v vil pay u handsomely. Raj"
which was quickly followed by
"make that 'v will pay u reasonably'"

I ignored the first, replied the 2nd and told him that I don't discuss anything over texts and if he needs to talk to me he knows how to contact me.

So, after having lied profusely on his comment, he texted me apologising for his phone conduct and promising to call me today. I still await his call, but not with baited breath. I'm positive he is unable to keep to his word.

Blogs are where some ppl write in order to vent. Some of those ppl, and I admit not all, do not want their work published, especially in the mainstream. Sri Lankans are taken for a ride by their own kind almost all of the time. But I'm not one to put up with it, especially when it's my friends or I who are taken on the ride.

Rajpal, let me remind you, you don't get respect. You earn it.

"unusual relationships"

2007-07-10T11:36:00.000+05:30

So the coach (Aruna Shantha) and captain (Chandima Akarawita) of the Sri Lanka women's volleyball team were fired yesterday. Who gives you may ask? I personally don't. But the reasons for dismissal are hilarious.

The national women's coach has been banned for 10 years from all activities pertaining to the sport while the captain has lost her status for a period of 2 years. So it must be a serious breach of conduct don't you think?

Well, yes and no. The coach was found in a player's room, which, for obvious reasons, is out of bounds for a male when the whole the team is a bunch of females. Now I think it was fair that he lost his spot. I mean, if he wanted to get a fuck, he didn't need to go on tour for it. By letting his hormones get the better of him while on tour, he lost out on his professional judgment and thus should be penalised. Well done volleyball association.

Now the captain? Read this.
"Chandima lost her status for maintaining an “unusual relationship” with a team-mate Devika Kapilakumari who was severely warned and discharged."

What a bloody laugh! What I don't understand is why bring out the players' sexual orientation, which, in effect, should be personal anyway! The reason for the discharge should have been the same as the coach. Why go to extra lengths to disgrace the players and then name them as well? "Unusual relationship"? Bollocks I say!

A little tact would do them good.

10 Second Jam Session

2007-07-06T09:16:00.000+05:30

After a lapse of 2 weeks, we managed to find time to get together for a jam in our trusted joint in Dehiwela. Since we're all working class, the sessions have to be in the night, and this joint is the only one we know of that'll let us play as loud as we want at that time of the night.

The place is not the greatest. It does have air-conditioning which is a big plus. Viran (the owner) has also done a bit of a DIY sound-proofing which adds to the ambience. The room is actually quite small but is big enough for the 3 of us + KP (KP came along to watch us and we ended up making him play percussions on a bass! haha. (yes we're still short of a bassist)). The drum kit could've been a lot better though, considering there's only half a high hat left (the last time we came the other half was there but almost falling off). But, we don't complain. We can't afford to.

So we set up quite quickly, as we play only for 2 hours on one night per week, and had to make the best of our time. We breezed through a 7 song set that included 5 originals and 2 covers (including All these things that i've done - The Killers). We were mucking up in style on maybe 2 songs. Decided to change things around and it sounded great! I decided to do a few things differently to see if it'll add a new flavour to some of the songs. Played around with my amp and put a little delay on the solo for Rain Come and I loved the sound I got. That's probably a change that'll stay!

This is definitely turning out to be a good thing. We're thinking of putting more songs out within the next week or so watch this space!

Jazz Sunday?

2007-07-05T09:28:00.001+05:30

I've been dying to go for ages. But each month something always came up. I heard that this time it had been postponed from the 1st of July to this coming Sunday (due to the CR - Kandy match). Can anyone confirm that?

HTML help needed!

2007-07-03T19:14:00.000+05:30

Bloggers, I need some help! I'm working on the website for 10 Second Rule, which i'm gonna have hosted on blogger, so that it's a band blog rather than a band website. The problem is i'm having HTML woes. I don't know the language at all, so I can't troubleshoot.

See, the issue is, I've uploaded the above picture as my header. On IE7 it sits perfectly, all centred and in the right place. But in firefox, as u can see above, the header jumps the container by about 5px (the grey bits being outside the container). How can i fix that? If any of you can help me, i'll give you the required permissions to the blog in order to rearrange it for me. If you can tell me here, i'd still be grateful!

Pls help! Pls comment if you can help!

A tribute to buffets...

2007-07-02T10:01:00.000+05:30

A lazy Sunday afternoon is only truly complete when you sit yourself down at a nicely laid table and tug at the starched napkin, in preparation to feast for two hours. I hadn't done this in quite a while. But yesterday was THE day.

The Blue Waters Sunday buffet is out of this world. I can't even remember all the types of food that I guided into my salivating mouth, but my tummy sure does when it is still trying to process the hefty quantities, nearly 24 hours later.

So smoked seer and mutton korma apart, our table conversation revolved around buffet manners and etiquette. The girls, being all prim and proper, were not prepared to dig in with their fingers when needed. The boys, on the other hand, were adamant that a little farting and burping is required when stuffing yourself with copious amounts of food. See, the theory behind that is, when you swallow a mouthful, you swallow with it air which is already in your throat. So when the air gets into your tummy, it takes valuable space that could well have been attributed to food. So in order to make more room for the yummy food that the chefs took all morning to prepare, which would, in effect, go to absolute waste if we don't stuff more than what our tummy's can hold, we need to fart and burp a little to get rid of the wretched air in our stomachs. Comprehendo?

So Salads, bread, 2 servings of main course, a hefty dessert and 2 hours later, we were sprawled on beach chairs, unable to move, stuffed to the brim with food and no air, only to be told that tea was to be served in 10 minutes.

X&Y

2007-06-28T19:02:00.000+05:30

Enthusiasm is hard to find. Mutual enthusiasm, harder still.
But when you're looking for mutual enthusiasm, mutual interests, common tastes, individual specialities, impeccable talents, similar people, then you're fucked.

And this ain't even for marriage, for which at the end you would be.

Mud Slinger!

2007-06-24T21:02:00.000+05:30

I was walking with a mate of mine along Dawson street, Colombo 2. The rains had resulted in lots of water laying stagnant in puddles on the road, coloured brown from the mud of the construction sites nearby. It's only a two lane road so here we were carefully dodging both mud and cars while making our way. We got to a place where the pavement was only one tiny ledge about the width of a brick. It was a little bridge for there was mud on both sides. There was no oncoming traffic so we quickly leaped on to the makeshift bridge and treaded carefully to get to safer, less muddier ground.

We were almost there when suddenly this double cab screeched passed, horns blaring while over-taking the line of traffic heading the same direction as we were. The idiot splashed us both with mud. I was covered up to my waist!

The dimwit, after his rather heroic attempt to hit the speed of sound, was stopped by the traffic lights 20 metres away. That was it. I was frothing. I was wet.

The width of a brick suddenly appeared to me like a sprinter's lane on a 400 metre track. I ran off towards the double-cab. Just when I was almost there, the light turned green and he turned on to union place.

Then to my surprise, there was a bus stopped just there so he couldn't get passed the junction. I started my running again. Caught up to him right in the middle of the junction and pounded on his window! I opened the door and god only knows what flew out of my mouth. He had the face of an angel who had done nothing. I noticed droplets of my spit flow out with my intricately selected words and onto his bald head. I noticed no one, even though I was smack bang in the middle of traffic, right in front of KFC on union place, at the centre of the junction. I think i heard an apology, and an offer to clean me up. I flung the door shut and carried on on my way.

That felt good.
(pls take more care while driving not to splash innocent passers-by with road water. After all, it could be me)

Goo Kaapang, Goo Kaapang!

2007-06-23T21:05:00.000+05:30

The Bradby shield is once again ours after a lapse of 2 years. This is in honour of the team that brought it home. Congratulations boys and thank you!

The heavy rains before the match didn't keep the crowds away. It was packed to capacity and then some. Royal played a better game today than the first leg. Even though the grounds were wet, we played less of a kicking game which worked well. Trinity used their captain Shaun as much as they possibly could. It was tough work to bring down that huge, burly forward who was steam rolling through our defences. But we did well to keep him at bay.

The final score of the match read 15 (a goal, a try and a penalty) to 11 (a try and 2 penalties) in favour of Royal. The aggregate score, 35 - 23.

10 second rule - Rain Come. Listen first here!

2007-06-20T21:02:00.000+05:30

The single "Rain Come" ran on radio on Sunday night. If you missed it, have a listen on this blog. Hit the play button on the mp3 player on the right. You might have to wait for it to load thanks to Sri Lankan broadband speeds. Please let us know what you think!
(thanks B for sorting out my flash player woes!)

10 Second Rule debuts tonight on radio...

2007-06-17T12:52:00.000+05:30

10 Second Rule's first single "Rain Come" airs this evening on TNL. The band comprises of Aadhil on vocals/guitars, Myself on guitars, Naveen on drums.
Watch this space for more news.

Royal Up...Shakespeare Down...

2007-06-17T12:35:00.000+05:30

What an eventful day was yesterday! The highlights of which were traffic jams, the rugger match, and the shakespeare girls finals.

I was just about to leave for the Roy-Tho rugger match when i got news that the authorities were checking every vehicle entering Colombo! So an hours delay later I managed to find myself at the CR&FC. Not so surprisingly, thanks to the checkpoints, the stands were far from full.

Great game. Well it is always great when your team wins. It was close at 22-18 at the final whistle. I thought Royal had the opportunity of scoring atleast 2 more tries, but as has been evidenced right throughout the season, Royal lacks the capability and capacity to add the required finishing touch to their plays. Much to the disbelief of Royal fans, the ref didn't see a blatantly obvious forward pass by the Thomian three quarters which led to their second try. This was followed by hoots of "referee horaa!", "referee mahindata puka denava" (incidentally MR's son played the match for Thora), "okath mahinda chinthanayeda?" "heta thamuseta ministry ekak!"...oh well:)...

The Shakespeare finals ended in a farce! The plays were great. But the comedy began when the judges and the organizers took the stage to make the presentations. They made the nominees for each award come up on stage, then picked the winner while the others had to walk off like idiots! The actual result nearly brought the house down. Ave maria walked off with first prize while LC came last. SBC strode in at 2nd place. The general reaction was that LC's performance was a cut above the rest and they deserved to win. The judges thought otherwise. SBC on the other hand were rubbish, and nevertheless ended up 2nd.

hmmm. Hoping for a better performance by the judges tonight.

Two Cents.

2007-06-14T11:33:00.000+05:30

Won Bradby. Super Kandy. Into Shakespeare Finals. Look forward. First Jam Session. New band. 10 second rule. Roy-Tho Rugger. Shakes finals. Good week. I like.

10 ways to keep yourself occupied at work...

2007-06-07T14:43:00.000+05:30

10. Let your thoughts wander outdoors as your stare at a gorgeous day through the window from the confines of your seat. Think of where you'd rather be.
9. Email colleagues and ask em if they want to have a break. (after all it's been a tiring day!)
8. Chat on MSN, on which you will find other friends also lost at work.
7. Take a peak at your colleague's screen. Find out what he's/she's doing. Anything interesting?
6. Daily Mirror - find out which of our political babies wet his nappy today.
5. BBC - for more readable news.
4. Kottu for your daily dose of Sri Lanka bashing.
3. Check your emails...if you haven't got any new ones, read your old ones.
2. Let out the nosy, cough i mean intrusive, choke no i mean inquisitive side in you on Facebook and find out what everyone is upto, who is messaging whom, what the new goss is, who broke up with whom, etc. You know you want to...
1. Keep hitting refresh on your browser while signed into either Kottu, Facebook, or your Inbox and hope for the best...

Disclaimer - This is a work of fiction. I sell kimbula banis at tea time to office workers, and they share their stories with me. Hence this list. I do not in any shape or form have access to a computer at work. If I did, I would never indulge in any such unproductive activity. (it really isn't me boss!)

Band Names Anyone?

2007-06-02T09:08:00.000+05:30

So we're looking for a band name. We're not too fussed. Funny, witty, creative, stupid, dark, etc., it doesn't matter. Have u got any ideas? Please share:)

"Acoustic Jams", what went down...

2007-05-28T18:00:00.000+05:30

Last evening I headed down to Sugar (the new bar above H2O) for the acoustic gig organised by Yes FM. It was a gig that was different in ways, yet plainly stereotypical in others.

It was great to see Yes FM get in on the act in a market usually dominated by TNL, gig hosting wise. Entrance was by invite only, which was great cause there was no cost involved, and the show was scheduled to kick off at the sundown hour of 6; a nice change from what we've come to expect of such gigs which generally start late. Early start meant early finish; perfect for when monday blues are what's left to expect.

The show actually got going at 6pm Sri Lanka Standard Time (note to reader: generally when this is used expect a delayed start. This time please add 30 minutes to the given time) which wasn't that bad. The crowd was trickling in at that time and there was plenty of space to walk around. USB (Usually Sounds Better) played a few great covers to start things off. Ben Harper's version of Sexual Healing was nicely pulled off. This was followed by a mediocre Cynosure. The band has potential, but a lack of creativity amongst their ranks has ensnared upon them the curse of predictability. They pick obviously hacked songs that have been played over and over again and play em as close to the original as possible. I'm sorry but I don't have much respect for such musicians.

Next up was Ranga accompanied by Shafi. Seemed like they hadn't practiced much, which resulted in a so-so performance. Soul Skinner were good, the first band to actually play an original on the night. They are lucky to have amongst their ranks too amazing guitarists who suddenly spring out into dazzling solos.

Azlan took the stage next with his 12 string accompanied by Joel on bass and a bloody amazing lead guitarist. I haven't the foggiest what his name is but I wish I knew. He's the guy who played lead for the soloists at TNL Onstage, as well as at Simplicity. Now you know who he is don't you?:) So anyway, wow this band was nothing short of entertainment! They got the crowd going really well. Again it was all covers, which was slightly disappointing, but done differently so Yay. The highlights of their performance for me were their cover of "What goes around comes around" (JT), when the whole crowd started singing "Time of your life" together, and finally the scintillating and mezmerising leads! This guy has the most humble look on his face when he plays the most riveting lead parts, as if to say that he is too shy to handle everyone's awe inspired appreciation. Top marks.

It was plainly too obvious that everyone was waiting to catch a glimpse of the ever elusive Hollow Point Halo. Ranil, Marsh and Roshan took the stage carrying the burden of everyone's expectations. They started strong with a track that I hadn't heard from them before. This was followed by "Lost Vegas Star", which was nothing short of amazing. Having heard them play the same song at Simplicity, I think they've improved on greatness and achieved what they played yesterday. Next up was "Sacred Ordinary", one of my favourite HPH songs. I can't understand why they've taken it off their website. Finally, and to meet the anticipation of the masses, they belted out their rendition of TOOL's "the pot". Special mention must be made of the pint-sized bassist who matched Ranil's brilliance, off-beat for off-beat.

Having stood for 3 and a half hours straight for lack of seating, my knees couldn't handle another copycat cover and walked out while Jada performed. However, I heard from a reliable source that Shaun (formerly from Jacob's Ladder) had rocked the house towards the end.

All in all, great show. However, I was disappointed with the choice of venue. Sugar is no doubt a great bar. But that's just it, it's a bar, not a live music venue. The stage is set in an awkward angle, most of it is blocked by the imposing bar which looms a few feet away and directly infront of it. Add to that the looming speakers being placed right infront of stage covering half the band, and 80% of the crowd could not see who was playing. Luckily I went and stood my frame right infront, making sure that the remaining 20% had to crane over my shoulders to get a peak. Selfish? damn straight!

Now, what i'd like to see is a great gig, but this time with music the way it's meant to be. Enough of the acoustics, bring on the big guns!