Nothing New Under The Sun

One of our local supermarkets has an irritating television advert playing at the moment.  It consists of people converting vegetables and then playing them in a poor rendition of a NZ classic pop song.

While boring at least the idea had a degree of novelty, or at least so I thought, until I discovered this CBS news item.



Vienna's Vegetable Orchestra plays concerts in all over the world and they even have their own website.  This is not a novelty act. They are committed to " the further exploration and refinement of performable vegetable music is a central part of the orchestra's aesthetic quest".

I never had aspirations to play the courgette.  Classical pianoforte training followed by a misspent youth playing in rock bands  was music enough for my ears.

The New Zealand advertisement and its orchestral clone can be seen in the clip below.

Related articles

• Austria's Vegetable Orchestra (theworld.org)
• The Vegetable Orchestra (lostateminor.com)

Something Hairy

I have discovered something else that Fort Canning is famous for - rock concerts.

How do I know this?

For the past two hours a US Band, Firehouse, have been conducting sound checks and rehearsing for their concert tomorrow night. 

There is nothing more repetitive than a band conducting sound checks, clucking into the microphone and repeating the numbers "1, 2" with a tongue click, ad nauseam.  I should know, I once played in such bands and had hair of a similar length.

Firehouse is not a new band.  It, like many others that visit Singapore, has been around for some time and was at the height of its popularity in the 1990's.

Even the 1970's Australian Group Air Supply put aside their zimmer frames to visit the Republic on an annual basis.

The 'Hairy Ones' a.k.a. Firehouse perform live tomorrow night so I am not anticipating too much sleep.

Singapore Likes and Dislikes

Things I like

Thinks I dislike

The roar of tropical rains The detonation of a thunderclap The scent of pandan The MRT after the morning rush No winters Changi airport The Singaporean spirit of giving The Asian Civilisation Museum The friendliness of the bus drivers on the 111 route The greening of Singapore The verdant growth and colour of the tropics Rainbow mangoes and pisang manis (bananas) The Queenstown Library Chendol Malay food Old Chung Kee curry puffs Ah Teck Bao High Speed unlimited broadband at cheap prices A $1 Walls icecream Durian and Mangosteen The sound of a professional pianist practising in my condo The many good Singaporean friends I have made in my time here The way the country is governed Being able to walk safely on the streets as any hour of the day or night  The Botanic Gardens Marks and Spencers because they stock my sizes Being able to buy good luggage bags at reasonable prices Money changers Being in Singapore during a financial meltdown Lunching in the White Dog cafe at Vivio City Cruising on Superstar Virgo to Phuket and Penang Satay Bee Hoon at Redhill Food centre The kite flying at Marine Parade The East Coast seafood restaurants Cheap drycleaning The Old Ford Factory exhibit The wide variety of fruit and vegetables from many countries Century eggs with sliced ginger Ipoh Pomelo

Waiting at a bus stop on a humid morning Litter advertising on poles Attempts by new immigrant hawkers to cook classic Singapore dishes The MRT during the morning rush The energy sapping heat with little respite Spitting in the street Second hand smoke inhalation Begging False Monks Fundamentalist religions taking advantage of the weak and disadvantaged Being pushed off the pavement by inconsiderate pedestrians The Mediacorp free to air channels for their limited and amateurish programmes Highrise littering Smelly drains Cockroaches of every size and hue Being asked to pay $100 for the privilege of going into the new casinos and lose another $100 Increasing amounts of rubbish in the streets Ang Mo who make no effort to mingle and learn the local culture Not being able to fit any of the local clothing or shoe sizes The bureaucracy and service at the local banks Ditto for Singtel The cost of freight back to New Zealand Singapore Airlines one way fare costs Highly sugared local bread Indonesian 'haze' when it blankets Singapore Singapore Idol Maids scavenging through the condo rubbish bins The Japanese habit of preparing and eating seafood when it is still alive 3 in1 coffee

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• Recently Opened Singapore Casinos and Luxury Resorts (luxury-hotels.suite101.com)