I’m back. Thanks to all those who sent goodwill messages while I was gone. And a big welcome to those new on the list. Japan was absolutely incredible. There is no other word. I had so much fun I almost didn’t come home. It’ll take a while to write you a full tour update. Right now, I have a few exciting things to tell you:
1. Pete Teo@The Actors Studio
Well, this event has actually been on the cards for months, but I wasn’t able to announce it to you till now. As part of Heineken Green Room Sessions for the coming season, I will be playing three nights at the Actors Studio, Bangsar on November 20th, 21st and 22nd. Since this will not be a club gig but a full concert production with lights, stage and assorted bells and whistles, I have procured the event production skills of Badboyben as producer, and I will be backed by a full band (with the excellent Greg Lyons as music director). In other words, a real CONCERT. Ha. Band members for the shows are being confirmed as we speak, and they will include a mix of local musicians, both greats and emerging, and some foreign guests.
There will be a fairly big nationwide media roll-out on these concerts, but right now, please note the following:
Event – Pete Teo ‘Live’ @ The Actors Studio
Venue – Actors Studio, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur
Date – 20th (Thurs), 21st (Fri) & 22nd (Sat) November 2003
Time – 8.30pm
Prices – RM40, RM 55, RM69 (Early Bird Booking). RM50, RM65, RM79 (At the door)
Extras – Gift package from Heineken named ‘Urbanites Survival Kit’ valued at above RM50
Erm… please note the last item carefully.
Yes, you got it. Through my amazingly skillful groveling and the superb generosity of Heineken (surely the best thing in a bottle… hm?), you folks who come (surely all of you… hm?) and see me play at The Actors Studio will get a gift package with a value of more than RM50. Amazing. Ha. And what does the gift package contain? Well, lots of goodies from Heineken including a special edition bottle of Heineken and a special edition copy of ‘Rustic Living For Urbanites’. So there. Don’t say I never look after you. So make sure you come. Meow.
We will be making tickets available for booking soon. What I need now is to know in advance how many of you on this list will be coming. So, it would be great if those of you attending will email me and say you’re coming. Please also say how many people you will be coming with. Such information would really help our planning – so please take a moment to help me out, okay? And you’d want to book your tickets early – as there will be an ‘early bird’ discount. I will announce the time when tickets are available for sale at the Actors Studio box office as soon as I know – so keep a look out!
Thanks!
2. NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO FEATURE ON PETE TEO AIRED
Remember I told you some time ago that a world music programme on the National Public Radio networks in the USA was doing a feature on me? Well, the feature aired on the 25th of September to people in the USA and Europe (the programme is co-produced by the BBC). And if I still didn’t believe this was happening, then CDbaby, my online CD retailer in the USA, was very quick to remind me – I got home from Japan to urgent messages from them saying that they’d sold out my record the day the programme aired and there is now a huge backlog of orders – and so please send more CDs. So I spent the last two days rushing a larger shipment of CDs to them. Let’s hope its not too late to sell a few more.
Anyway, you can listen to the program and read the interview transcript here. Apart from the fact that he got Sabah’s sovereignty wrong, the famous world music journalist Marco Werman did a really good feature. Tell me what you think…
3. NHK FM ONE-HOUR FEATURE ON PETE TEO TO AIR ON 27th OCTOBER
2 nights before I was due to hop on a plane for Japan, Shiori wrote to say she managed to secure a 1-hour ‘Pete Teo feature’ on NHK FM. For those of you who may not be familiar with Japanese broadcasting, NHK is the BBC of Japan. They have a nationwide audience and have millions of Japanese listeners. Anyway, after that piece of good news, I made some frantic phone calls to my fellow indie grunts operating out of KL and promised that I will try to get their music aired when I am on NHK. Then off I flew to the land of the rising sun with a bag full of Malaysian independent music.
2 weeks later, I found myself in the NHK HQ in Shibuya, Tokyo. It’s massive and intimidating. With the help of an interpreter, I was being interviewed by probably the most influential radio DJ on Asian music in Japan. We talked about my music, my tour and the indie scene here in Kuala Lumpur. They played 3 songs out of ‘Rustic Living’ (‘Jesselton Tonight’, ‘Blue’ and ‘Budapest’) and 3 songs from the bunch of indie CDs that I brought from KL. Who got played? Hm. Before I announce that, I must first say sorry to those who weren’t played – I had little say in the matter because the producer chose on the basis of song length to fit the available time slot. Still, the lucky 3 were Mei Chern, Jason Lo and Naked Breed. So, congratulations you 3, you’ve just been played on a nationwide Japanese radio program with millions of listeners! Okay – that’s actually not technically correct – because the program hasn’t actually been aired as I am writing this. Rather, the timing of the interview was determined by my visit to Japan and the feature will only air on the 27th of October. I am not certain whether you can hear it in Malaysia, or even if you can catch a webcast version of it, but I will be asking Shiori to tape the program for posterity. Ha. So, now all of you must bear witness to the fact that Mei Chern, Jason Lo and Naked Breed owe me drinks big time. 20 Tequila shots presented at the post-concert party on the 22nd of November would do very nicely. Thank you.
Other than NHK, I was also interviewed by a radio station in Osaka, and got airplay on at least 2 other Tokyo and Osaka stations. Cool for cats or what? Well, I don’t know how they do it, but here’s to Shiori the magician and her husband Oguri the wise. Not only did they mastermind a breakeven tour for a completely unknown artist in Japan, but they also got me a fair amount of airplay. They sure are one amazing couple. Anyway, I will keep you updated on where or how you can catch the NHK broadcast as I find out more. For now, let’s hope that from such humble beginnings spring a meaningful entry of Malaysian independent music into Japan. Here’s to the rest of our local talents – may the road rise with you. Cheers. Gulp. Bow.