Archive for January, 2008

CD and me @ Gramophone

bevlyn January 28th, 2008

Siew Wei took this cheeky pic all in good fun…she was so slow to take I felt so embarrassed. Luckily there wasn’t many people around.

bev-gramophone.jpg

After that we went to catch 27 dresses, a movie about this mad girl who loves to be the bridesmaid for her friends, because weddings are lovely events blah blah (I’ve been to countless, and seriously, I can no longer imagine how I want mine to be when that day arrives)

Which brings me to a thought:

Are you in love because you look forward to the day you become the bride, or are in you love because you like being in the relationship?

I.e. are you in love with the wedding, or are you in love with the man?

Gramophone branches

bevlyn January 26th, 2008

I forgot - Here are all the locations of Gramophone branches:

1) Capitol Centre #01-02

Tel : 6337 6828

Opening Hours : 11am - 9.30pm Daily
2) Ngee Ann City #B2-23

Tel : 6235 2011

Opening Hours : 11am - 9.30pm Daily
3) The Centrepoint #04-12

Tel : 6736 1852

Opening Hours : 11am - 9.30pm Daily.

4) Parkway Parade #B1-83F/G

Tel : 6348 2848

Opening Hours : 11am - 9.30pm Daily.

5) OUB Centre #03-01

Tel : 6538 4828

Opening Hours : 11am - 8.30pm (Monday - Friday), 11am - 2.30pm (Saturday) , Closed on Sunday.
6) Holland Rd Shopping Centre #02-14

Tel : 6219 9837

Opening Hours : 11.30 am - 8.00 pm (Monday - Friday) 10.30 am - 8.30 pm (Saturday - Sunday)

7) The Cathay #01-21/22/23

Tel : 6235 3105

Opening Hours : 12am - 10.30pm (Sunday - Thursday), 11am - 11pm (Friday-Saturday).

I was roaming Gramophone (@ The Cathay) with my friend before catching a movie, and voila! I heard my songs in the store! Such a weird feeling. :)

And while I was queuing to pay for 2 Cds of Gabrielle, I caught a glimpse of the lady behind me, with my album.

I was thrilled to bits of course. But I was silently happy (in a strange fashion) that no one knows that album is mine :)

EP Launch at The Concourse, Esplanade (23 & 24 Jan 08)

bevlyn January 25th, 2008

Wow. I survived the 2 days. It wasn’t just the performance jitters I had to face, I mean the jitters came to me only after 4pm, because before that, I had to DIY a lot of things…for a start, I had to deliver my cds to Gramophone myself (all thanks to Fabrice who helped to carry the heavy boxes for me), erm, I even had to type out my own delivery order, rush down to Mediacorp to pass my cds to Chongqing and Lilian, and blah blah blah..So I didn’t really had time to worry about the performances.

I think the 1st evening was not as good as I want it to be cos I was soooo nervous. Yes, for me I need to have home-ground feeling like some footballers; I don’t perform at Esplanade as often as at certain hotel ballrooms. The 2nd set on the 1st evening was much better already. But the 2nd evening was even better. Here are some pics from the 1st evening; thanks to ZQ who took these photos with his mobile phone (will post more when I get more pictures from others). The last one was taken by Shoujie during post-rehearsal lazing-around time while waiting for Matthew to get ready lol:

Matthew (piano & bass), Tien-yao (guitar), Jon Lim (saxophone) and Shoujie (violin) really did an excellent job to bring out my music. I felt the “alive” feeling in my heart when we were rehearsing….wow! How cool that would be if my album is so acoustic!

First of all, I have to say a big thank you to each and everyone who came specially for this launch. Really, thank you. Without you, this wouldn’t have been so successful. I am also very amazed by passer-bys who bought my cds on the spot, thank you so much. There was even one from Israel (Yes Alex, I remember you!).

Thank you for buying my cd and spreading the word around, it means a lot to me.

My next challenge is probably to find more performance opportunities so that more people can hear me live.

And I was thrilled when Chong Qing from 93.3fm introduced this album and played “When I’m 80″ on-air at around 6:16pm yesterday! Wow. I passed the cd to him only that afternoon, that was really fast.

This is just the beginning. Let’s go!

Album Cover

bevlyn January 23rd, 2008

After many days and hours of deliberation (and attempts to make the cover a rather pass

Wooow…

bevlyn January 21st, 2008

I just got all 1000 copies of my album. Hooray!

Come Lounge With Us - Esplanade Series

bevlyn January 14th, 2008

It seemed only yesterday that I had put up a performance at the Esplanade last July, and now here I am again, going to do another performance at the Concourse again. But this time round, I celebrate the fact that I have 2 evenings to share my music, and I celebrate the fact that I’ll have a fantastic band of musicians to back me up this time round!

I’m keeping fingers and toes crossed for the EP album to be ready for sale on these 2 days. I hope to sell them before, during and after the performances.

I really like this poster which Esplanade has done up for me:

small-esplanade-poster.jpg

More info

 

Please come down and have a listen if you are free!

My unsung heroes for the evening will be: Matthew, Tien-yao, Shoujie, Jonathan Lim.

Who knows, I may ask them to sing so they won’t be unsung?

You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine

bevlyn January 14th, 2008

By Michael Bubl

Finally sent to print

bevlyn January 11th, 2008

Yes, finally my ep is SENT FOR PRINT!

Wait until~~~~~~

I was at Music & Movement’s office from 12 to 5pm today, rushing out all possible designs to suit the album. All thanks to creative Chengwei who barely ate and funny Azril who spoke on my behalf, and all-helpful Jack who advised me on things beyond my imagination.

It’s amazing to receive help. I’m liking it more and more. :)

Yes, Music & Movement is helping me market the album, that’s why the delay. Am aiming for cds to be ready by 23rd and 24th Jan so that I can sell them during my Esplanade shows at the Concourse. Mark the dates down ok?

Lalalala~~

New Photos by Gabriel Mendes

bevlyn January 8th, 2008

Voila!

New photos from Gabriel Mendes who was very kind to take them for me. A couple of them may go into my EP album. Check out his blog here. :)

December gigs

bevlyn January 3rd, 2008

01 Dec: Allan & Jane

Photo courtesy of Nick Goh

This wedding got me into tears. It reminded me how fragile life can be, how it could take the most precious things away from you, and give you the things you love most, all at the least expected moments.

01 Dec: Jackson & Magdalene
This has got to be the most special venue I have ever been to for a wedding - Presbyterian High School. Jackson & Magdalene were secondary schoolmates, and to celebrate this fact, they held their wedding there! How sentimental!

02 Dec: Royston & Cherlyn
One of the funniest grooms I have ever come across. He is animated, he is passionate about music and live bands. In fact I felt very honoured to be able to sing for him.

No, he did NOT sing with me…he was posing only! I nearly went berserk when I saw this photo because I didn’t remember him singing a duet with me.

See how cheeky he truly is!! Photos courtesy of Eugene Goh of Chris Ling

02 Dec: Kenneth & Charlene
This is usually how it’s like!

Kenneth and Charlene are extremely lovable. And Kenneth even hid the fact from me that he could speak French! AHH!! Test me huh huh huh! (Photography by Gideon Koh Photography)

05 Dec: Steffen & Elisa

Photo courtesy of Gabriel Mendes

08 Dec: Derrick & Phyllis
Surprise #1. I actually knew this Derrick from a music project previously. We lost touch after that. He even called me up to coordinate a few things but I didn’t realise it’s him. Got the shock of my life when I knew he was the groom.

Surprise #2. I got to know this wedding planner who has not turned professional even though he has planned 38 weddings for his friends. He’s scared he might lose his passion once money is involved. WOW.

09 Dec: Jimmy & Joel

I love the balloons!!!

09 Dec: Kenny & Lynette
Another of those tear-jerking weddings when the bride sang a song to the groom. Lynette sang “Wo shi xing fu de” by Liang Jing Ru. Kenny was trying his darnest not to cry.

09 Dec: Schmike & Alice
90 tables of guests, can you even start to imagine? That’s 900 people in a ballroom!

10 Dec: Philip & Shiwei
A gig of love-and-hate relationship - I was dying to sing I just can’t stop loving you because it’s one of my all-time favourites from Michael Jackson. But this gig had many musicians - vocal teachers, saxophone teachers, and even a British examiner from London College of Music - how daunting! It turned out fine, all thanks to my strong musicians’ backing :)

12 Dec: Mike & Hwee Hoon
I had a fantastic time jamming with Joel (piano) and Leo (sax). Chemistry rocks!

16 Dec: Cindy & Benjamin
I still cannot forget the way Benjamin passed the rose between his teeth to Cindy, ending up in a kiss. WOW.

16 Dec: Shu-er & Nicholas

First time I wore this gold dress, I love it!

18 Dec: Kelvin & Joanne
My ex primary cum secondary school classmate Kelvin finally got hitched! I had no idea he is this romantic when he recounted his first date story during his speech, and even serenaded his wife with ‘Ni shi wo zui shen ai de nu ren‘ (You’re the woman I love the most). I guess you can never judge a book by its cover; not even when it’s a topic you think you know until you flip and read through it.

23 Dec: Huijun & Wern Yuen
Huijun dedicated ‘La Vie En Rose’ to Wern Yuen’s mother because she is a French teacher. I was on cloud nine when she came over and tell me my diction was good! Ahhh… All those sat 9am lessons are worth it :)

And, I finally got to sing extremely cute song - Baby it’s cold outside

28 Dec: Rachel & Stephen
I hope people have not forgotten Too Much Heaven

I mean, who sings and write songs like this anymore!?

29 Dec: Martin & Ying
Another teary wedding! It’s so heart-warming to do things for the one you love, and they cry out of joy. :)

30 Dec: Shiyi & Clement
I knew them back from NUS Geyao (Chinese Society) , and it’s great to learn that they have stuck it out over the years and finally hitched!

And I got the chance to sing this love song - Better Together. Very good songwriter! Sometimes a good song is a good song because it’s a good song, and not because of the arrangement. We need more of such good stuff!

And finally, our ad in Her World Brides Dec 07 issue!

Photo courtesy of Feldberyl

November gigs

bevlyn January 2nd, 2008

1 Nov: Lafarge Distributor Conference
Honestly I do not like to do corporate gigs for many reasons; main reason is I do not feel happy. I think weddings are more my kind of thing. But I do enjoy singing non-wedding songs like Lu Guang (Stephanie Sun) and Bad Boy (Ah-mei). Reminds me of my days at The Ark.

3 Nov: Louis & Belle
This is one wedding which wrenched my guts - the groom tattooed his whole upper left arm with the face of his wife to show his dedication. WOW. Do watch the video clip when he went to get the tattoo. I feel faint already just thinking about it.

4 Nov: Tom & Angie
A really tiring wedding for me, because of the preparation involved. But the couple’s love and passion for each other made everything worthwhile. Scottish men are romantic huh huh huh!

10 Nov: Daphne & Kidd
One of the guests happened to be Xu Qiong Fang, a veteran in the entertainment circuit. When I sang the mandarin classic ‘I want your love‘, she took the lead to echo to us. Now that’s the interaction we love!

11 Nov: George & Allison
My first time stepping foot on Raffles Marina, a breath-taking yacht-resort. Makes me wonder how I can have a yacht!? Or even rent one :)

bev-raffles-marina1.jpg

17 Nov: Jacky & Jasmine
The first time I’m singing for a twin! I didn’t know until the day itself, and at first I thought the sister was the bride. Then I was seeing double.


I also enjoyed learning and singing ‘Till the end‘, a love song by local songwriter David Tan.

18 Nov: Ricky & Mei Mei
It was great to have Shoujie (violinist) to play for us, I am now a hard-core violin fan! Also, finally a chance to sing ‘You Gotta Be‘ in a wedding. I love love black singers!

19 Nov: James & Li-Hwei
This has got to be the most memorable weddings I have ever done - the father performed magic tricks during the customary tea ceremony and sang Jingle Bells to some Hokkien lyrics asking the guests to ‘lim lim lim (drink it up)’; the uncle was the emcee and concert -style singer, trying his best to ra-ra the crowd. Eye-opener for me!

24 Nov: Ethan & Karen
Another special wedding when the bride wrote lyrics over a melody previously composed by the groom, a suprise for him of course. She got my band to perform the song at their wedding live, and Ethan was so stunned when he heard his melody, with words! He had to halt the photo-taking session and grab Karen up onstage for a slow dance.

Photo by Eng Hong of 39 East

25 Nov: Adrian & Joanne
A lovely wedding with lovely couple, lovely sizzing salsa dance, lovely cupcakes and lovely guests. cupcakes.jpg
The most thrilling part for me was getting to sing ‘We could be together‘. I was a Debbie Gibson fan growing up, and this is one song that got and still gets me going everytime I hear the song!

29 Nov: Terry & Su Lee
My ex secondary school classmate Su Lee got hitched and got my band to perform for her. If there’s anything I need to mention about this gig, it’ll be I’m so happy she has found such a nice man! This is really cute:

If you think November is mad, wait till you see my Dec log.

Giving From The Heart (Clips)

bevlyn January 2nd, 2008

Some clips to share from this event:

Not Just A Number

La Vie En Rose
Thanks to Genevieve for taking us down. Yes you can’t see me, but you can hear me for sure lol. Camera phone courtesy of Mad Boy Tienyao, who was performing with me.

Countdown to 2008

bevlyn January 2nd, 2008

Yes, for the hundredth times, I love this Fresh & French caf

Happy 2008

bevlyn January 1st, 2008

Happy New Year everyone!

2007 has been a great ride, and I look forward to the next lap in 2008.

What’s best about 2007 for me, is the help and love I received from family, friends, and people I did not initially know.