Performance on Swanston St, Melbourne CBD.

For capturing these fantastic moments with all the lovely kiddies around us on this beautiful sunny day in Melbourne, thank you so much, Thien Kim! We'd like to also thank you all once again for your cheers & support, especially Stephane Dauphin for taking the fantastic still shots of this evening, Ellyn Yiin for finding us accommodation on such short notice & the beautiful couples who had sponsored us on this trip back to Melbourne to play at their wedding receptions!

Facebook users: To view video, please go to www.youtube.com/lucksock

Adventures in Asia!

Burj Al Arab in Dubai

I know we said that we were off to Sydney.. but by some strange twist of events we ended up traveling across Singapore, Malaysia and the U.A.E for the past 3 months. It was a real eye-opener for me to pick-up and go from place to place in short spurts of time... we moved a total of 9 times in the last two months from dinghy hotels to the homes of friends and relatives.

Wants upon a time...

3 months back, Bobz and I packed up and sold out all our household necessities for next to nothing on www.gumtree.com(great place to sell your second hand goods real quick!)... we sold off all the stuff which we picked up off the streets when we first got here.. like furniture, tv, refrigerator, clothes, shoes... and real cheap stuff which we bought like our $900 car, and our $60 washing machine. We made a total of $400 and decided to travel once again with 2 knapsacks and his guitar to wherever life beckons.

And so it came to pass that we did exactly that!

Busking in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We did not manage to get any recording done as anticipated but what I had was a real enriching experience which taught me about the importance of making good judgment about friends, family and strangers. Our travels has demonstrated to me that no matter which part of the world we're in, we are always confronted by a wheelin' and dealin' maze of lies! And that in order to escape this maze, we will have to make certain choices which requires good judgment and the clarity to see through all the illusions; the Razzle-Dazzle, hard-selling, manipulative lies which enslaves us to material goods and attachments, which isn't necessary for our core happiness! Material things are great as enhancements of our experiences in this life, but too often it is sold as the basic need that will fulfill us beyond true interactions with our fellowmen.

Jammin' with the local crew

There is just so much that we have to share... and both Bobz and I are eager to finish our album and speak our experiences to you all. So, we're back and ready to work again. Thx for all your support once again and I'll end this update with a recent article by Bobz on the topic of judgment...


Judgment - simply a matter of choosing sides

Leaving on a Plane

Hi you all, this will be our last update before we leave for Sydney.

As some of you might be aware of, Bobz and I have been traveling and busking together around Australia for the past 4 years.

We kicked-off in Perth; in Northbridge to be exact. Back then we were alternating between playin' the Djambe and doing the acoustic sets unplugged. Perth is a steadily-expanding city... Bobz tells me that there was a time, as a child when it seems, it was a little place where he finds himself connected to every third person or so in some ways by jobs, schools or they'd be friends of another friend. However, people and places are constantly evolving and even from when we were last there, I've heard that much have changed since we left.

Anyways, after a year immersed in the vibrant little party suburb, we bid farewell to family and friends in Perth and we continued across to the Gold Coast where we spent the following year busking and gigging. Now the Gold Coast unlike Melbourne, is a party town where people are always in transit so it's very much fleeting and fancy-free. We don't party much so we spent a lot of time by the pool at the old Motor Inn(converted apartment), which looks more like an algae ridden pond; but the highlight of Gold Coast of course, had to be the endless beach that stretched on forever.

When we finally got to Melbourne, it was the winter of 2007. We were still tanning in the Gold Coast the day before, so you can imagine our shock when we got here and were chilled to the bone. However, as we performed through three chilly winters, we will always remember how you've all kept us warm with your open hearts and your radiant smiles. Sometimes, when we notice you all-collared up in the icy breeze, we wish that we were playing in a comfortable shelter where you can all be out of the cold!

Anyways, we love you all and attached is a little video to remind us some of the wonderful moments which we've shared here in Melbourne!

Here's the link for the video up top: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnOY5hBiAjU

Till we return again,

Bobz and Candy


p/s: We're still steadily on the album. Please be patient with us..:)
--

Going gets tough!

At the moment, we're having all sorts of problems understanding the techno-jargon that comes with music engineering. If we had thought that music is a language on its own, boy! ..sound engineering is a whole new culture! Our minds are boggled by the amount of script we had to go through just to skim the surface of this small part of a whole movement in music making.

Prior to that we spent an entire 3 months troubled-shooting various music programs thinking that we have an incompatibility issue with our midi keyboard.. only to discover that our brand-new keyboard was busted! :(

Reading pages and pages of manuals and 'google help-pages' has gotten us all cross-eyed! Tell me why I have a strange feeling the both of us should have paid more attention in school when we were learning how to speed-read.

Anyways, I will not make you guys read anymore than we've had to. Here's a video of us on Swanston performing one of the crowd favorites... I'm yours!

Go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/lucksock

or: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Colorful-BLAC/6711360678?ref=ts


...and we're keeping at it! Have a sterling week!

Bobz and Candy



Hello and thanks!
A special dedication to our facebook fans: Bob Airol, Jyn Lui, Steven Phanvongsa, Meng Vang, Rachel Cain, Jessica Seah, Jareratt Poewsuwan, Pedro Rosas, Louella De Guzman, Listiyani Astuti , Venus Liao , May So, Arian Prabowo, Jimi te Nana, Yasmin Leila Rahman and every single one of you from across the globe. It is lovely to receive emails/messages from all of you. Enjoy the video!!!

Original Album update - to the Colorful Community.

Hello everybody,

Right now, we are working hard on our original CD even as we find time to reply mails and what-nots in between. Till now, we've finished writing over half the songs in the album. It's been a long process, over a year since we started writing the songs for this album - we have to juggle busking and gigs with learning and expanding our repertoire in between. We also spend a lot of time - in fact most of our days in contemplation - as we need plenty of time to meditate on our being and our words before we commit them to lyrics.

Please be patient with us. We promise that if you like the essence of our performance and our unique selection of hand-picked covers, you will love the original work that we're concocting right now! At the moment, we're not only finishing up with writing out the rest of our songs... we're also studying hard and doing lots of research, to source out and learn to use more up-to-date recording/arrangement programs to bring you the best quality sound possible. So please bear with us.

Thanks...
A special hello to Jackie Whyte, Simon Santoso and John Simpson. Thanks for your sweet sweet notes and for taking the time to send us your appreciations.

Bob Airol... we haven't got a copy of 'Run' recorded... but we will be posting a video of Jason Mraz's 'I'm yours' (courtesy of Irianto) on youtube soon... we'll let you know when we do - It'll be soon!

Robert Hock, Suisse Marie... Thanks for the offers you guys! We're glad you're looking out for us - and Sanjeev Veloo & gt23i too. Keep up the amazing work you people! If anyone's looking(or know of anyone who's looking) for a photographer... do google for 'Robert Hock'. He's Melbourne based and his work is highly commendable.

Rachel Cain for looking after Mifty(nuestro perro - our dog) - you're the best! We'll write you regarding your wedding in Perth in the next day or so...:)

To Pedro Rosas & Gloria Sanchez... gracias por tu notas dulces. Thanks Pedro for the video! Your camera's capture is delightfully clear! and yes... ¡Taco con las salsas, por favor!

Peter Kuttner for his wonderful video response... thanks for sharing the beautiful 'ant & cricket' moment. For those of you who appreciates biodiversity do visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/PeterKuttner for some of Peter's wonderful video captures.

A shout out to Bianca Hatfield! :D Woo Hoo! ..umm, sorry about the gig cancellation back in march. We hope we didn't spoil your plans for the evening.

Oh! And Mardi a.k.a. heatherhurricane for your eloquent compliment on youtube. Your feedback serves as dynamite fuel and is revitalizing to our labor of love.

Last but not least, we're so sorry about not being able to share the mp3 with those of you who requested for it. We weren't aware of the full extent of the copyright restrictions. Anyways, we're glad you like our acoustic version of Sway. Like we mentioned previously, we will promise to work hard at our original album so that we can share a small piece of our work with you soon.

A copy of this update is also posted on our blogspot. If you would like to get to know us a little more, go to: www.colorfulblac.blogspot.com

Okiez... that's all from us for now. We love you all. Pray for the bags under our eyes... hee!

Bobz and Candy

I'd like to teach the world to sing(in perfect harmony)

Someone asked me recently about some of my inspirations...

Just off the top of my head, I'd say one of my earliest inspirations would have been Coca-cola's 1971 hit TV advertisement feat. the song, "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony". The words, the melody, the images and the emotional association they all have with a perfect world of harmony had somehow created quite a stir in me. 

Perhaps I was subjected to an environment of disharmony and prejudices at a very early age. "Certain religious followers will go to hell" and "other-colored skin should be avoided" are ideas that I often hear in the backdrop. It is truly not the most fertile condition for a steady foundation in life.

However, these ideas never made sense in my heart(and I've got a darn strong one) so I've always made it a point never to fall for some of these silly beliefs that adults around me at the time had tried to instil into me. I was pretty much indomitable and although I was tiny, I've always been a feisty and vocal one. As far as I can remember I was always questioning everything and arguing my point till I was often physically beaten into silent sobs by my authoritarian aunt. Then the next day it starts all over again.

Following a great many years of beating, I decided to spend most of the time with my head (and my opinions along with it) buried in books. School books and Enid Blyton stories mainly. Enid Blyton had me itching for adventure. I couldn't wait to go off and do the crazy things I read in its stories.

Then came my big break. At 15, I moved back in with my parents whom by now have become complete strangers(they left me with my aunt and grandma from age 6). It wasn't long before I became aware that my parents had a lack of practice in exercising their authority over me. That, on top of the fact that I couldn't quite see how education would serve the world peace had me deciding to finally quit school and get a job and move out at 17.

Soon I was exposed to a world of clubs, gangs, smoking, drinking, greed and lust. I got myself a girlfriend, hop from job to job and spent a lot of time philosophizing with just anyone. At the same time I was trying to stay out of trouble, trying to live in peace with all whom I crossed path with. Witnessing a whole lot of taking and grabbing on a day to day basis kept me continuing my search for the remedy to perfect harmony. The words from the old Coca-cola advertisement trails on.

During this period, I had also tried my hand at songwriting.  I'd figured that putting down my thoughts this way was the only thing that's provided me with relief from a world too noisy to listen, too busy to care. This went on for a bit and at age 21, my world came crumbling down. All at once, my long standing girlfriend of 4 years left me, i lost a job which I've held down comfortably for a while and my family, siblings and friends didn't care for my ramblings about the state of the world anymore.

The idea of harmony persists.

At this point, jobless, friendless with no agenda and with no one's approval to seek anymore.. I was totally free to see the world unadulterated. I picked up my guitar, took to the streets of Northbridge. It was then that I eventually put one and one together and I decided that I best be a harmony seeker and musical storyteller. And thus began my love affair with harmonic tones and the written word.

It's probably a paradox that I've chosen to take on the path that life has chosen for me. But here I am with a bit of good out of life and a bit of bad - and it all serves to continue inspiring me to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony!

- Bobz