Unk Dicko entertains at Thank You Dinner

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua recently hosted a Thank You Dinner for the various GRLS in Serangoon Gardens. The evening's programme was a straight forward one...speeches and lots of acknowledgements of the support and hardwork of everyone. There was no other entertainment saved for the later part of the dinner.
That was when I was suddenly called upon to the stage "to entertain our assembled guests with some songs".

As there were many in the hall, I later invited anyone who love to sing to join me on stage.

Now you know, there are many who love singing as seen in the bottom picture!

Dean Martin's "SWAY"...with lyrics!

Photo: From Passion Phtographers

For those of you born and growing up in a world filled with the music of Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, the Platters etc...there is among all these great singers one man with such a smooth voice and style, and with a face that a thousand women will die for...yes the one and only one DEAN MARTIN aka Deano to his loyal fans.

The other day, there was a dinner given by our newly promoted full minister Mrs Lim Hwee Hua to the grassroot leaders of Serangoon Gardens at the Serangoon. Music was provided by a live band. Towards the later part of the dinner, after all the speeches and thank you's were said, I heard my name being called out over the system. "There is a request for Mr Dicko-san to come on to the stage to sing us some songs.!"

I was then eating some desserts, put them down and walked on over. Took the mic and joked a little with the assembly. "So you want me to sing? Yeah! Yeah!" I asked the band if they knew this and that...alamak, they did not or never heard of the songs I named. Then, I flipped through their song file and spotted Dean Martin's " SWAY". " OK," I said," Play it!" I invited others from the floor to join me if they like.

This is one song that only Dean Martin's way of singing can bring on "the magic technique". As soon as I started singing it, I could see people pulling their partners or friends to sway, gyrate and dance! That's the magic and magnetism of this song. You younger readers will not fail to catch the mood too. Play it and listen...then start SWAYING!

Don't forget to stop the Jukebox music first.

Unk Dicko and Shigeto Takahashi...part 6

This video has the Merlion in the background.

The one who is playing is Shigeto Takahashi...one of the best Ukulele players in Japan.

He was here in Singapore recently and met up with me, a fellow ukulele player myself.

Before you click on the video to listen...remember to click pause button on my Jango Jukebox at

righthand side...to shut down the auto playing at Jango.

Sounds of Ukulele at the Merlion !

This is Shigeto's latest video posted on Youtube. In it he plays one of his

signature tune on the ukulele which I loaned him. Frankly, he is such a great

ukulele player that any ukulele would sound good in his gifted fingers.

See my previous posts about " our" recent meeting , here in Singapore.

RIP-OFF at Newton Hawker Centre! Latest Update

The owner of the stall that cheated tourists by
grossly overcharging the food had the temerity and cheek to even attempt an appeal against her 3 month suspension! It is indeed in the public's interest that NEA has turned down the appeal. Hopefully, the other stalls will toe the line and walk the path of "honesty is our best policy". But I seriously doubt it will be so, at least going by the previous history of Newton Hawker Centre's chequered past. You can read my earlier post here.
ST Breaking News Report
THE Newton hawker stall which fleeced a group of American tourists last month has had its appeal against its suspension turned down.
Tanglin Best BBQ Seafood will be closed for three months until July 14. Its suspension began last Wednesday.
The stall assistant who had overcharged the visitors, Mr Ng Boon Eng, has been barred from working there for a year.
The National Environment Agency (NEA), in a statement dated last Wednesday on its website, said the licence for the hawker stall issued in the name of Madam Tan Lei Twri had been suspended because she had allowed her employee to overcharge customers.
'This is a breach of NEA's licensing conditions,' said the statement.
Following the incident, which made newspaper headlines here and became a talking point among food-loving Singaporeans, Madam Tan's stall was dealt a three-month suspension that was to start on April 1.
She appealed against the decision.
Pending the NEA's consideration of her appeal, her stall was allowed to continue operating.
Since her appeal failed, the three-month suspension was re-scheduled to begin last Wednesday.
This is not the first time she has run afoul of NEA regulations. Last August, her licence was suspended for two weeks when she was caught hiring stall assistants without first registering them with NEA.

[ STimes Breaking News online - 21 April 09, Photo source: ST Desmond Wee ]

Unk Dicko and Shigeto Takahashi...part 5.

Poor Shigeto....he and his 3 other colleagues were working very hard throughout the week. They had to travel to Johore Bahru on a company assignment for some work with a sunsidiary firm.

So, I did not hear from him until last evening when he called me on my mobile. They were proceeding to Terminal 3 Changi Airport for check-in before departure.

He sounded a little frantic as he wanted to return the ukulele to me.

I told him over the phone that the ukulele is not important but meeting up again is.

I drove up to T3 and the carpark at B1 and B2 were full. B3 had ample lots as I parked and took the lift to the Departure floor.

Shigeto-san was at Counter 3 waiting for me. We were both glad to be able to meet up again even briefly. He brought me over to introduce me to his other colleagues.

Photo:

Shigeto Takahashi and his colleagues

at T3 after checking in.

I asked if they still have time and they said yes. So, Shigeto started to play a couple of his signature tunes on the ukulele. It was lovely! Other travellers nearby were listening and watching intently at this impromptu performance.

I played some songs from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore as well...as he had not heard of then before.

Soon, his colleagues left for a drink and the 2 of us exchanged much info about ukulele playing, music, chords and working life.
The most important question that I asked him was this: " How many hours of practice do you put in daily?"

I wasn't surprised by his frank answer.

From 2002 onwards, he practised for a minimum 4 hours daily mainly on solo pieces and strums. We chatted and talked on and on while strumming on the uke. He recounted for me his wonderful experiences at the New York Ukulele Festival and meeting up with Da Silva...the founder of Da Silva brand of ukuleles.

And his playing at Yoshimite Nat Park..with Da Silva.

Soon, all good things must come to an end and we hugged and said SAYONARA to each other.

He told me to contact him the next time I'm in Tokyo...as he would like to bring me to a "Ukulele cafe"! He did not forget D2, my wifey, asking me to thank her for showing him around last Sunday.

Well Shigeto-san...Unk Dicko is most happy to have met you and count you as a friend.

All the very best on your performance and appearance at Sweden's Ukulele Festival next month!

You can be sure I'll be following the uploads on Youtube for that event!

Domo Arigato.

The Sunday Nation....part 2

This is page 2 of the same paper featured in my previous post.

Click on the image to enlarge it for reading the fine print.

Then PM Mr Lee Kuan Yew was responding to Dr Goh's report by giving his broad overview.

Photo: Lee Dai Soh our famous Cantonese storyteller who was 66 years old then. It is worthwhile to read what he had to say.

The other two equally well-known storytellers were:

Ng Chia Keng 67, - Teochew dialect

Ong Toh 56, - Hokkien dialect