Got My Suit Pressed

Hey Everyone!

My last post before I leave the US. I know the quality isn't great, but I wanted to get something up here for all of you. The next time I post, I plan to be in Singapore.

Read This

I really liked this op-ed piece by David Brooks in the NY Times this morning. I'm posting it here because I think it is very relevant to the work that I attempt to do every day of my life.


Op-Ed Columnist - History for Dollars - NYTimes.com

strawberry fields forever

We've got a beautiful day here. I wanted everyone, but especially my soon-to-be-friends in Singapore to see how I get to start every morning this time of the year. It is strawberry season, so I head out to my small strawberry patch (I bet that's a new word for many of you) and pick fresh strawberries for breakfast. Look how many I picked this morning!









I'd bring some along, but I think they'll be mush after my 20+ hours of travel.

See you next week!

Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming, Folks

My good friend and avid supporter, Jean Scholz, sent me this question:

Heidi and JJ, is there anything like cabaret (or wandering minstrels, burlesque shows, etc.) in Singaporean music/theatre traditions?

Jiu Jian was kind enough to write this detailed response:

Hi Jean Scholz, thanks for being curious:) for Singapore as we are still a very young country, less than 50 years. So over here ,our music and theatre are still very influenced by the western and china. But we do have our own chinese folk music , we call it Xin Yao that started since 1983. It was started by students from high school and university , with own music and lyric writen by ourselves. it has sort of the contemporary poem style ( in mandarin) , from this Xin Yao music form , it brings out a lot of popular sing song writer or song writer in Asia now adays . I am one of them that joined them near the end of this Music genre, it sort of dies off in year 1991 but alot of us that came from this group remain in the commercial music industry and have been active in our own field till now.
You could google "Singapore Xin Yao " and there should be some write up on it.

as for musical , we are even more young and have only started our own production in the pass 15years. but the english theatre has been growing very strong and local english theatre has already gain a firm ground for local audiences . As for the mandarin musical production its getting more mature for the pass 3 years and there was some very successful production this recent years .

In Singapore cabaret are not very popular but unplugged session are much more common for the young performers.

hope that my brief answers will be able to give you a better picture in our performing scene here in Singapore .

regards
Jiu Jian

Getting to Know Jiu Jian

Finally! I finally figured out how to get Jiu Jian's music out here. Thanks, Mary for the hint about video files. That made my brain click in.

I created a short photo collage to go with the music. Jiu Jian sent me 2 more songs, so I'll be posting more this week.

Enjoy!

And Now, For Your Viewing Pleasure

I decided to try out the webcam on my computer. I know, I know, everyone uses them all the time, but for me, it is still a relatively new feature. Hope you enjoy this quick video!

3 Weeks and It Couldn't Be Better

Actually it is only 2 weeks, but the song I'm referring to in the title of this post doesn't talk about 2 weeks (boy, is that a hint!).

Hey, sorry I've not been posting. I did take a couple of days off for the Memorial Day weekend. Nice to rejuvenate a little bit before I head out. The rest of my time has been filled with details details details...and practicing those songs in Mandarin, as well as the other songs I'm going to sing. JJ and I did decide on the playlist for the soiree. I don't want to spoil the evening for those of you that get to attend. Let's just say I'm singing songs by Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Menken, Jiu Jian Kenn and Michael Ogborn. Some of those names are very familiar, I'm sure. The others SHOULD be. Just because a composer's name isn't familiar to you doesn't mean their music won't be great. Remember that.

JJ did send me some recordings of some of his compositions, but I'm finding it a bit more difficult than I expected to upload mp3s to this blog. Anyone got any great hints on that one? I'll keep trying to figure it out and hope to get those posted soon.

I think I'll be ready to post a rehearsal video for all of you by this time next week. Stay tuned!