A Month of Gigs

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. :)

Nearly there...

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!

Ode to Rambukwella

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.

Arey Raptha-raa-ra-rah!

(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!

40 - 0

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

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:)

Goo Kaapang, Goo Kaapang!

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.

Royal Up...Shakespeare Down...

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.

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.

Roy Tho 2007 - Pics of 3 long days!

The Good, the Bad and the Completely Wasted...Click to enlarge

What a glorious day for royal...Final day synopsis

So I got to the match around 10:30. The overnight pair had already added 50 runs and were cruising along nicely. As I got there I was flabbergasted by the magnificent stroke play. 4…6…4…6…The ball was constantly on the other side of the boundary rope. The Royal fans were going absolutely mad! The booze was flowing freely. The songs were sung lustily. The cheers were straight from the gut. The thomians were holding their heads in their hands looking rather tearful. Then Fernando reached his 50. 5 balls later so did Tantrigoda. Lunch! Can we actually save this? The pair had obviously been given striking orders at the lunch break and boy did it show during the session right after. Having surpassed the Thomian score, the Royal batsmen put on a further 120 runs but lost 2 more wickets in the process. Declared at tea, and the game was on! The Royal fielders came out to the blaring sounds of the papare, the deafening cheers of the crowd and blue and yellow smoke bombs going off everywhere. The Royalists, who were down and out in the morning, were sensing something good was about to happen. 20 overs. 120 runs. 10 Wickets. The thomians lost their first at 20, giving the royalists some hope. Then 2 quick wickets. 12 overs later the thomians were reeling at 79/7 with just 3 overs left. Light was offered, the thomians took it. And then I woke up…

Roy - Tho, 1st day

So the day belonged to thora. Impressive performance. Peiris (161) and Mazahir (162) put on god knows how much for the 3rd wicket. Amazing partnership. Unfortunately i missed seeing it first hand as by the time i got to the ground peiris had gone, mazahir was just leaving, along with 3 other thomians. Half an hour after i got to the SSC thora had declared at 374/7. Top stuff. Very good declaration i thought. Royal started well: thanks to the extras i must add. When the score was at 28/0, the opening pair were 2 and 6 respectively. The openers went pretty fast. I thought royal made a big mistake by sending 2 night watchmen. Tantrigoda went for 0, defeating his purpose. So we start tomorrow morn at 40/3. Long road ahead. I just hope the match lasts till saturday. The crowd was at about 50%. After nearly 4 years it was so damn good to hear the sound of the papare and see everyone having an awesome time. Gave me goosebumps. I dont think anyone could feel as excited as a Royalist or a Thomian during this time of the year. It's hard to explain the meaning of this match... it's not just about rivalry either...It's good to be back. Win or lose, the baila beat goes on!

The mother of all big matches...

It's officially Royal-Thomian week. The one week where the boys of both schools are officially encouraged to do fuck all. If that isn't reason enough to be happy, the week ends with Colombo's largest gathering of lads, lasses, booze, papare bands, and, as of late, burly security guards, which adds up to the best carnival experience that Sri Lanka has got to offer! Ah i wish i was back in school again. Tuesday would be the day where the prefects would take on the teachers in a softball game and the whole school would be there to shout and (j/ch)eer their favourite teacher. Tuesday is also the day for the highly entertaining Royal - Thomian debate, which usually starts off on a topic of relevance but quickly moves on to mudslinging of the highest order at which point the old boys are allowed to join in too. Wednesday is the day we used to play cat and mouse. The boys would be both : When the boys want to be cats, the mice are the poor students of all established girls' schools in the city(who i'm told actually enjoy being preyed upon. Is that so?). When the cops decide they want to play as well and decide that they want to be bloody cats at that, well the tables get turned. Ah the joys of the cycle parade! I've religiously gone for every single match since i was 5 years old. Thanks to uni, i missed the last 3. So i trudged to College on 2 hours of sleep at 9 am on the 24th of Feb and made sure i got the tickets i wanted for this years match. Now i need to figure out how i can slip off work early on thursday and friday. Nevertheless, Saturday promises to be nothing short of brilliant - if the match lasts that long. Both teams have had a mixed season (a nicer way of saying "unreliable" for all the dimwits and blondes out there). Apparently the scales tip slightly in the favour of Thora, but that's bollocks ok? Take my word for it. So while the other schools kid themselves that their big match is the best, Colombo is getting ready for the biggest party yet!