Charismatic

Yes. I should have announced this earlier, but December was such a whirlwind of activity. I had barely any time to breathe. Plus, this EP was a last minute project. There are other reasons for not announcing stuff earlier. I might not be OCD, but I have my own perfectionist tendencies. I've always wanted to release a full-length album properly, in the old-fashioned way; along with 3 music videos, radio-play, a tour to promote it etc. I'm still working towards that ideal this year, but it has been taking a long time. The Fire-makers were engaged to hold an evangelistic concert in Pangkor in Dec. Since our air-fares were covered, I decided to do a few extra shows in Malaysia with my fellow Fire-maker musos. I realized that I probably needed some merchandise if I was going to play a few gigs, and decided to prepare a little EP as an 'appetizer' for the full-length album that is to come.  'With me 我身旁' EP cover  Check it out at HERE The EP ha...

Been trying to do more 'singer-songwriter' gigs lately, as opposed to ministry, or musicals, or weddings (though there have been PLENTY of weddings lately. And because they have all been pretty good friends of ming, I've been singing/playing for a lot of them).  I have my jewelry designer/art-entrepreneur  friend, Brendon to thank here, because he is very proactive about encouraging anything cultural or artsy-fartsy in Taipei. We were chatting one day, and he asked me if I wanted to sing regularly for his 'salon'-like group meet called "Dream Gallery" every first Sunday of the month. So I said yes, and I've done it twice now.  Theo accompanied me the first time The little meet was at Brendon's 'paintertainment' cafe called The Escape Artist My lovely lifegroup mates who are always supporting my gigs :D  The multi-talented boss himself, Brendon New friends I met that night who have become fans :D ...

Eva, one of the first people I met in Taiwan [on holiday 2009] The meal was her shout. HUGZZ Pesto chicken risotto. It's the yums! Fettucine with prawns and cream sauce Mojito - <3 my cocktails Layered cake Feeling so much better today. Thank God for friends who remind you of God's grace in beautiful ways.  One of the reasons I love my church is because it's full of people who understand and dispense God's grace. I've never heard condemnation and accusations. I've never heard my church friends around criticize other christians [though I've heard other ppl from other churches do it]. I hear honest feedback if one needs to change and grow. But they exude grace, love and authenticity.  I was whining to Eva today about how success seems to comes so easily for some people, and they don't seem to need to try very hard at all (e.g. mainly thinking about a pair of twins). Recently, one of them got married, an...

Of course, I'm not referring to THAT soap. I'm talking about a loosely constructed organization called the Fire-makers,  a bunch of Christian artists/musos/hair and makeup stylists etc who are...well, young and restless.  After reflecting on 2012, I realised that the Fire-makers have become community for me in the areas of work and ministry. * I am still involved with my 'normal people/normal life' cell-group. They are 'family' in ways that divert me from the music world, which is very necessary sometimes. And they keep me in touch with the 'normal' world of people who work 9am to 5pm [or 8am - 8pm more likely], who don't play instruments, who are experts in other fields etc.  From October to December, I saw most of the Fire-makers every 1-2 days, mainly due to our involvement in the extravagant evangelistic concerts held in night-clubs every Friday. Then, of course, the organization is fairly well-funded by well-to-do socialites and business people...

I like this photo. Depicting a journey... Jaben, Sam and I "It's been a long and winding journey" [quoting Guy Sebastian], and I really don't know when I will finally arrive. Sheesh. The day I can say, "And I'm finally here tonight" seems very far away. In the beginning of this year, I went through the tiresome process of deciding how I wanted to record my albums, particularly my Mandarin album. I often felt paralysed when different people suggested different  and usually opposite approaches. In the end, after countless conversations and prayers, I decided to work with Jeff and my American buddies instead of other top-end arrangers. I've always wanted to record an album with live people [not just the computer], and have everything as organic and natural as possible. The downside to the organic approach is that everything is done really really slowly. A lot of things are not in my control because I am not doing things in the standard 'professio...