red hot!

i was busted in mid valley while taking this picture. There's a common rule or in more appropriate terms, refer as regulations, that one should not take any picture within any stores. Be it a magazine store, food store, apparel store, or record store! The tower personnel actually arrested me, luckily not by force, while i was shooting this. For those of you who wonder why would i do this on purpose, don't worry! i'm not a rebellious teenager. *i wish*

All pictures taken during this session were only meant to be used as a means to best promote our cd, on our website www.blackmachine.com.my for the "GruvAvénue cd is now available at Tower Records" web page. Now the next question is, why shoot at the exact location? Again it's against the law, as here it is refer to the real law as written, that utilising downloaded materials from their website for commercial use is a violation. Fortunately the staff released me after clarifying with their HQ. And no animals were harmed throughtout the entire period!

For everyone who's around mid valley, do check out the tower records. You could sample our cd at their disc magazines, and find our cd beneath this red wall with the shiny sign - 'jazz'.

GruvAvénue Hot Spot : Tower Records @ Mid Valley

Next Spot?

Here's the upcoming post preview : The last weekend was probably the busiest one i had in the month of september, with the GruvAvénue gig at Avanti, and the wedding reception of our little drummer boy Charming Charles.

This picture was taken at One Utama. And visiting the record shops has became one of my regular routine, not to mention the shopping and all the eating. Guess what i found? These record shops are fantastic! They're putting our cd on their "Come On! Listen to This!" disc magazine players around the shops. For those who browse record shops frequently, look for the word GruvAvénue! Anyone who likes watching movies in one utama, check out the record shop beside the cinema!

GruvAvénue Hot Spot : Rock Corner @ One Utama.

we're on The Star Music Review!

We're honoured to be given this privilege. A big "THANK YOU" to local newspaper The Star which review GruvAvénue cd last sunday. For those who missed it, here's the excerpts:

GruvAvénue, the EP, is a collection of original tracks... a mixture of smooth urban jazz and modern fusion, all instrumental and everything executed to near-perfection ... Vincent took his quartet into the recording studio and came out with a six-track EP that reflects his musical passion and beliefs ... there’s an edge in the performance that lends the EP a natural, organic touch. The music, wholly composed by Vincent, will please casual listeners ... this is just first flight. watch these guys grow!

Once again, a big "THANK YOU" to reviewer Sujesh Pavithran. For you all who's wondering. Mr. Sujesh is a music reviewer for jazz and classical genre for over twenty years. He's also a skillful bassist and bass enthusiast. This is definitely the best birthday present for Vincent.

GruvAvénue Hot Spot!

By now you could probably guess that i only managed to put our music in two spots, which is rather pathetic. If that's the case, please pray for me that i won't be fire for being such a slow coach. Luckily the truth is quite the opposite. So far there's more than ten places where you could hear or buy GruvAvénue music. And... i'll try to disclose the rest as frequent as i ...er... blog.
The GruvAvénue cds are made available for purchase at these world-class record stores since last august, thanks to the supportive marketing team in the Tower Records Malaysia. There's something that caught our eyes while we delivered our stock to their head quarters. The giant size Michael Bublé sticker at the door is so catchy, resembling a grammy figure! If you like to shop cds by browsing, this is the place! All cds are arranged in alphabetical order. and if you can't find our cd, chances are it's either at the listening booths or some where behind famous jazz giants of the likes of Coltrane or Miles. If there's any cds you can't find on the racks, just ask the store assistants. And the GruvAvénue Hot Spot is :
Tower Records @ KLCC

happy birthday to ... Vincent!

Yesterday was Mr. Vincent Ong, aka GruvAvénue band-leader's birthday. The initial celebration plan in evening was cancelled since everyone's busy with the mooncake festival or work. Drummer Charles would come back to KL late at night, while keyboardist Clement would be attending his family reunion in Seremban. So we went for our second attempt of food marathon at Chilis in BSC ...*not again!*

... with the help of horn-man, Shazee and his belle, Freeda.

Every birthday can't conclude without a cake, so the marathon ended with a sinful moist hot chocolate cake, top with freezing vanilla ice-cream in a chocolate dome shell. If you're trying to resist this temptation, occupy your fingers by taking pictures instead as Shazee did! yum-yum...Yummy!

we're available!

GruvAvénue CD is finally available for purchase in record shops after much talking with the right people. Thanks to the helpful store keepers and supervisors. Here's one more place where you can hear and buy GruvAvénue cd.

GruvAvénue Hot Spot :

Rock Records @ Bangsar Village!

you hear GruvAvénue at ...

The thought of making a list of places that play our cd, GruvAvénue finally materialise after receiving encouraging responses from all our friends, music lovers, helpful record stores, and you guys! Few supportive outlets have surprised us by playing our cd on a regular basis. A Big THANK YOU to these wonderful people that runs the places! To kick off my goal of completing our list of great places where you could hear GruvAvénue music, without further ado... i give you... the listing in random order!

GruvAvénue Hot Spot : Avanti Italian American Ristorante!

what is this?

If you fancy a walk in space or a journey in the time tunnel, try this! Install the optical fibre lighting. The color changes every few seconds. Pair this with the distorted mirror effect. taa-daaa! i felt like lost in time and space while trying to focus on my reflection. See...

thumb's up!

Music lover and supporter, jazz critic Eugene of alldatjazz.com getting an original copy of GruvAvénue debut album. Here's a tip from him : to best enjoy our cd, set your EQ level ALL FLAT. What's the effect? Get an original copy of our cd, and you'll find out! If you wanna know what's happening in the KL jazz scene, find live performances or free music resources, check out his website. Very informative and entertaining.

my greatest enemy is ...

In fact, that's a good question.

Through out my entire life, my greatest enemy is none other than proscrastination, period.

Together with you, i shall conquer that. At least i'm trying now...

belated happy birthday!

Friday early morning. Vincent, Charles, Julian's aprentice and i were celebrating Jul's birthday at the mamak. No other stores were operating at this hour. Their fried chicken are, in fact, trademarked! Mr. J is looking forward to leave malaysia to study in the U.S. of A. next year, if everything goes well. Wish you'll get what you wants, Jul! if there's a genie, i'll asked for a gf for you. Someone to spice up your life!

tanggal tiga puluh satu...

We went to chill out with vincent's old friends on merdeka eve at the Curve. No traffic jam. No road blocks. There's even plenty of car park spaces and seats around when we arrived around eleven. Our national flags were hanging all around the mall. i lost count after the fifth one.
There's two bands playing. One opposite the marche, with few ladies having fun dancing, pretty much like line dance. The other band was playing within a bistro at the end, which was too packed for me to have a closer look. No fireworks nearby. if you're curious about who-and-who made it there, check out my other blog.