A Tribute to those who came forward!

Here is a photo of another fan who came forward to request for "country and western" songs.

I warmly welcomed him..his name is Barney.., to join us at the Mic.
When we later had a break, he took out his name card and handed it to me.
He told me he simply love the old time favourites, especially country songs.

Another who came forward was Mona and Tang Wing Kee, my 2 fellow Active Ager Award winners 2008. Mona could not resist singing some of her favourites with us!

We had generated so much fun, spirit and camaradie among the seniors and oldies that day.

La Bamba !

During the 2nd Day Performance at the 50+ Expo, Suntec City, we had different people from the crowd who came forward enthusiastically to sing with us.
Some requested for songs that are easy to play and to sing as well. But others were obviously a little more sophisticated.
Like this gentleman here..he was singing and grooving so much that he eventually came up to me and asked if we could play " La Bamba".
I told him, " No problem. You sing and we'll play for you. "
He was very particular about the starting key and once I worked that out ...he was a revealation. He got the crowd really worked up with his oomphs and gyrations. They asked for more and so we launched into a few latin numbers. We ended with "Speedy Gonzalez"...and "Moose" ( that may be his nickname) was terrific!

Most Incredible Photo Technology !

This is the MOST AMAZING picture.........

Click on the link at the bottom to open picture.

The control for the picture is in the upper left. Press the + sign to zoom in, or the arrows to move right, left, up or down. If the picture looks fuzzy give it a second to clarify. This is a remarkable panorama of the inauguration. It might not work well with a dial-up modem, but you can actually focus in on faces near the back of the crowd- nearly 1/2 mile!

For fun, focus on Obama (center stage then look behind him). There's Clarence Thomas seemingly asleep, Dick Cheney in his wheelchair, Clinton, Gore, Bush and even Dan Quayle! Scalia is sitting there looking like the Grand Inquisitor. The clarity is amazing!
The technology is truly amazing- and it's un-classified!

Imagine what our spy agencies can see with classified technology!!!

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

The Best Senior Footballer in the world!

I have been
been an avid fan of football for as long as I can remember and that is more than half a century of following, not the soccer ball , but the players who can do wonders with the ball. And there have been many over the years who have impressed.
One such wizard is current soccer magician par excellence...RYAN GIGGS of Manchester United.
Last Sunday night I was watching the game between Man Utd and West Ham "live". It was a very open game with fluid passing and many attacking moves by both sides. The 1st half was goalless. When the 2nd half resumed, I remember thinking to myself...this is the kind of game that will likely need an individual performing a brilliant solo move to end the stalemate.
That wish of mine came true in the 62nd minute of the game.
Paul Scholes, another of the fabulous oldies of Man Utd, got the ball and sent a pin-point pass to Giggs who was lurking on the left wing. Giggs trapped and controlled the ball and instead of crossing the ball decided to go on a solo run.



What a stupendous run that was!
First, he approached the on-rushing Carlton Cole,
dummied to the left but went right. Then there was Scott Parker about to cut him down. Giggs dummied again to the left but went right again and there was a sea of players in front of the goal.
With his weaker right foot he unleashed a curling shot which beat everyone including the keeper Green. Man Utd won that game 1-0 and Giggs won every old timers heart, mine included!

The whole move, with not a single break in stride, was so smooth, so perfect, so sublime to watch...Poetry in Motion.
And that coming from a 35 year old player!
Right winger Rafael was only 8 months old when Giggs 1st played for Man Utd in 1991 against Everton....as the b/w photo showed.

He seems to get better with age...just like good wine!
Last night, I stayed up to watch the magician again. Though he did not score any goal, his control and contribution and assists were instrumental in Man Utd beating Derby 4-1 in the FA match. And he was a joy to watch.

Kampong Kembangan English Sing Along Group

A fortnight ago, I received a call from my good ole' friend Tan Thoo Yang who was a member of S'g Gardens 1st Sing Singapore Champion Team 1988... a 40 strong member group led by me.
It has been more than 2 decades since that historic occasion which was televised live on TV and splashed on the front pages of our newspapers back then.
Thoo Yang told me that he is the leader of the Kampong Kembangan Senior Citizens English Sing-along Group for many years now. They meet up every Friday from 1-3 pm for this purpose. Music accompaniment is provided by him on guitar but as he is now 85 years old ( incredible...he is still driving a car around! ), he finds it a little more difficult to play the guitar as smoothly as before. He was just wondering if I can accept his invitation to join them as a guest musician.
Well, I went out of my normal routine yesterday and accepted the invite. Thoo Yang picked me up at our rendezvous point and what a revealation that was to me personally. Here is an 85 year old, mind you and still able to drive properly, carefully at the correct speed...with no problems as I saw it. Yes, all the way in heavy traffic from Sg Gardens to Kg Kembangan!


Hats of to you.... Tan Thoo Yang!
The singing group is about 20 strong but only half the number was present.
Too Young had his guitar along which was badly out of tune as the tuning knobs were loose. I spent some time to fix the problem and retuned it perfectly.
I had my 2 ukuleles with me...something this group had not had before.
By 12.20 pm, I had started strumming and singing without any song sheets, knowing full well the early birds will join in easily. That set the tone and mood and the session hit off very well as we sang the songs from the compilation they had and from my "special" songbook as well. I played both the guitar and the ukulele depending on the song type. At the end of the session, I was truly amazed when the very last song they sang was "Majulah Singapura", our National Anthem! And they sang it all standing up. This was something new to me...never seen, never happened in other groups I knew.
There is a reason for that. I shall cover it in my next post.

SILVER BLOG Contest...the Winner!

The results for the SILVER BLOG CONTEST is out. The Blogging contest was organised under INFOCOMM 123 portal to encourage seniors who are relatively new to IT and blogging to try their hand at this activity.

Started in November 2008 and ended in December the same year.

You can read all the entries by clicking at the Infocomm 123 widget and check them out under the Silver Blog Section.

Recently, unk Dicko was given the honour of presenting the prizes to the eventual winner Mr Ong Kok Wah, who won for himself a big screen TV set. His 25 year old son, Mr Ong Guan Hong who nominated him, received a valuable IT prize too.

Photo: Chase Ng, Marketing Manager of Atomz..,
announcing the results officially and interviewing the winner.


Photo:
The Ong family being warmly congratulated by me.



Presenting the Big prize to the SILVER BLOG winner...Mr Ong Kok Wah.

The Prize and the winner!

Mr Ong Guan Hong holding his prize while Mr and Mrs Ong looks on.

Before the presentation ceremony, I had time to chat with the family. Ong Kok Wah, 69 has had a stroke which still slightly affects his hand movements. He speaks mostly Mandarin and his blogposts were translated into English by his loving son. His wife told me she too has started blogging...and son Guan Hong has his own blog too.

How nice! This is a blogging family.

My warmest Congratulations to the Ong family!

Let's Sing Another Song !

When I was still a Primary school kid in Geylang English School back in the 1950's ...I remember a song I love very much. It was not from the radio that I learnt it from. It was a song I picked up during my very early scouting days by chance. It was not normally sung at campfires so that's why nobody knows it today. However, we used to sing it when we went camping...especially by the sea.

The reason I am recalling this song is the feeling I felt that day when Suhaimi came to sing with us. It was such a lovely feeling similar to the lyrics of this long-forgotten song called,

" Let's Sing Another Song ".

The full lyrics as I remember it....

Let's sing another song

Before you leave me

We are having so much fun

Parting grieves me

There goes our voice again

Everything is fun

Singing is so much fun

Let's have another one

Before we say goodbye.

Down by the seaside

That's the place we meet

Lot's of sailing and rowing

Everyone is happy

Only good fellows there

And when we're bound to say goodbye

We're sure to say goodnight!

So, let's sing another song...