Ben trolling

2012 Grammys

The Grammys this year had a rather solemn mood as three legends of the music industry had passed on. Legendary Blues singer Etta James last month, Don Cornelius, host of hit music television show Soul Train early in Febuary and the great Whitney Houston the day before the event itself. Nevertheless, in the words of Freddie Mercury (or David Gilmour for camp Pink Floyd), the show must go on, and went on the show did.

 The show, true to its tradition in revering its fallen musical icons had two breath taking, albeit melancholic tributes with slide guitar queen Bonnie Raitt and soul princess Alicia Keys honoring Etta James with her classic "Sunday Kind of Love



The amazing Jennifer Hudson amazingly pulls off a heavy-hearted cover of Whitney Houston's hit "I Will Always Love You" which had to be squeezed in last minute due to Houston's untimely demise.



The highlight of this year's Grammys was Adele who pretty much took the show home by snagging SIX Grammys for Best Female Pop Solo Performance on Someone Like You, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video for Rolling in the Deep and Best Pop Vocal Album as well as the most prestigious Album of the Year for 21, beating out her counterparts Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Nikki Minaj who all went home empty-handed.

This massive win also echoed last year's awards where Esperanza Spalding beat out four other hopefuls including Justin Beiber. His type of "music" makes up a huge demographic of the nominations in the Grammys every year and to be honest, my faith in the Recording Academy grew thin also due to Ms Spalding's niche popularity compared to Beiber's teenybopper army.  However, this isn't MTV and NARAS did not to disappoint. Pretentious, heavily Autotuned, hype-centric "music" that was the norm was triumphed over by pure talent and real musicality. This feeling also resonated in Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters (who got themselves five wins this year) in the following speech he made



Hats off to you and your band, Mr Grohl, hats off to you...

The night ended off on a high note where the legendary Paul McCartney and his band (along with Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh) play the awesomest part of the awesomest album to ever be produced - Abbey Road!



"And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make" - The Beatles

I am postponing my return flight to Perth. Why?

Slightly more than two years ago, a certain organization made me trade what would have been a night of aural orgasm courtesy of one of the most legendary bands to ever walk the Earth for a momentary boner from five scantily clad MDC girls dancing to k-pop for an event made compulsory for me to attend.

No more excuses. As a man with free will (finally), I'm putting my foot down...

EARTH, WIND & FIRE @ Marina Promenade, 31st March. Oh yeah...

Flying Pigeons

Not too long ago I stumbled upon a local dealer of Flying Pigeon bicycles. For those of you who don't know, the this iconic brand, based in Tianjin China has been churning out billions of these heavy utilitarian two-wheelers for the past six decades. It has became THE bicycle brand in China, a national icon that has been given to foreign dignitaries, even garnering accolades from post-Maoist leader Deng Xiaoping. Further research on the national treasure of China made me cave in to temptation, so I got myself one.

The bike was delivered right to my doorstep. Its gloss-black frame along with with the matching fenders with white trimmings with a small round reflector affixed on was love at first sight. The old-school rod-accentuated brakes and faux leather seat added an exquisite vintage chic. The bike was also fitted with a chrome rear luggage rack. Because its frame was made out of high-tensile steel as opposed to the aluminum frames of modern bikes, it was by no means light (20kg!). The brake mechanism that ran through he frame did not help with the weight either. With that being said, it was not the kind of bike one would use to ride fast over long distances. It was a workhorse used by old-timers to lug their goods around or trishaw riders. This resonated in one of my friends as he asked jokingly "Ah pek, lu ho boh?"

I went cycling across the country with a couple of friends the day after I received it. Anyway, despite the fact that they were using bikes many times the cost of the bike I was riding and the fact that I was struggling to keep up due to the bike's heft, the humble pigeon seemed to turn the most heads. Not really a fan of attention, but when you receive compliments from random people, you know you have got yourself something right. Even my mum loved it. She told me if I didn't want my Pigeon, she would take it. So since her birthday was coming up, and since riding my pigeon over long distances which I intended to do was impractical, I sold of mine (which was a standard male model) to fund her bike.

Initially, my plan was to get her the more expensive Omafiets (Dutch granny bike), but after a visit to the shop, we decided to call it quits on that model. She just couldn't mount the bike because of it's huge frame and massive wheels! Still we didn't go home empty handed. We got a vintage looking dynamo lamp kit.


Luckily, there was another ladies step-through bike that she could actually get on. It was also cheaper, however, it sacrificed the stylish curves on the Omafiets model for a more utilitarian look. Also and ran on 26" wheels instead of its larger counterpart's 28" rims which help make it lower. This particular one also came with a steel mesh basket. My mother also requested that the standard side-kickstand be replaced by a U-kickstand. The dealer was happy to oblige.

My mum then decided to commence operation beautification. The plain-looking basket at the front was removed and replaced by two pretty rattan baskets mounted using good old plastic cable ties. The finish product:


PS: If you reside in Singapore and keen on getting one of these beauties, do visit the dealer's page at DekiBike. He provides great service and he delivers right to your doorstep at no extra charge!