Quick buzz

Jasha Shimano, Saori Ninomiya, Khoo Teng Jian, some fella, Lo Mei Yoke and Saw Sue-Mae

The concert went really well, which is realistically less than, say, superb - but still, really well, and that's not bad. Concert nerves for me were finally under control, the hall was filled to capacity that extra chairs had to be added (apparently a comment from one of the people entering the hall was, "what? I thought this kind of thing nobody comes what"), the Thalassaemia Society gained more than RM3,700 in donations, and the audience was a warm one. A big thanks to everyone - especially those above in the pic who shared the music, as well as Sneexe from KL, and Bess from Singapore who made the long trip especially to attend the concert.
-

On a personal side, I was actually more relieved than anything that the nerves didn't wreck 5 months of preparation. The Weber was the best I've done live, and the best in the program, methinks, which was a good way to remember Alex Phuah, to whom it was dedicated. The past few opportunities to play before this have been eye-opening, and it's been a good process overall.
-

Of course there are a couple of external elements too - having a little more stage experience recently, and a combination of the three bananas which constituted dinner (apparently the active element is potassium, though reading about it one would hardly think that it'd do anything but make one perky), arriving later than expected for the rehearsal - which made the concert pretty close to the end of the rehearsal (and thus all warmed up) and the all-powerful Viola Joke, which helped to break the ice with the audience at the start.
-

Bess, following a personal joke, but somehow still applicable, argued that of course the bananas would work, coz, "well, you're a monkey."
-

And a brief break from narcissism: congrats to Ray, whom I first met jamming in a back room before a Free School concert. I had a chance to meet him more recently while jazzing in town, and he just won the national-level Digi Celebriteen contest. Bravo!
-

And a congrats to old pal Tan Khoon Tee, who I hear will be getting married later this year. Khoon Yu, if you're reading this, could you email me here.

-
In the meantime, I suppose I should, urm, pack. 7 days and counting! Whoo-hoo!