Excessive Nationalism is bad

Nationalism is necessary, it keeps people together & things organised.

Excessive Nationalism is bad. It causes altercations over things like music & dance.

Imagine if National Geographic did a video of a jazz band in Japan & if America thought it was a tourism video by the Japanese government and then accused the Japanese of stealing their culture. Imagine if the Americans started doing things like burning the Japanese flag and small groups in America started calling for war with Japan.

Sounds impossible? But something similar did happen, right here in SE Asia.

All of us in ASEAN are brothers & sisters and we are in this together

We must celebrate and share our culture. We should be proud when we see elements of our culture being adopted by other countries. Like the way the Brazilian Capoeira has ignited across the world, or the way jazz is loved in every corner of the world.

We must use our music, dance and arts to build bridges across our cultures and not use elements of our culture as reasons to argue and fight.

Things have cooled down between the two countries in question, but we must create more understanding between our brothers and sisters in ASEAN so that this kind of misunderstanding will cease to happen.

thoughts on the Thai crisis

Usually when there is some sort of impasse like this anywhere in the world, I will have on opinion on what should be done.

But for this situation in Bangkok, there are so many facts which are not clear from both sides, so I cannot form an opinion or take a clear position, even in the privacy of my mind.

All I know is that I am saddened to see the lovely people of this beautiful country (where I have spent, when I add up all the time spent working here, three plus years of the past eight years) go through these troubled times. I wish them a peaceful resolution.

We in Singapore must watch and learn so that we continue to be, as my song says, "One People, One Nation, One Singapore."

As we expand our space for expression and take steps towards pushing the OB markers in Singapore, our freedom of expression must always be governed by one supreme principal, which is,

Above all else, the greater good of Singapore and its people as a whole, must transcend the interest of any one group or individual.

Don't practice Black Magic (without even realizing it)

Sometimes we as adults practice what I call black magic and cast a spell or a curse on a child without even realizing it.

For example, when we say to a child when they are singing..."hey stop that, your voice sounds like a frog croaking", we think that we are making a joke and the child and us may laugh it off, but some real damage may have been done. The child goes away thinking that his voice sounds like a frog. Some children then become fearful about singing even if they actually have an inherent talent for singing.

Or with a child who has a natural rhythmic ability and who likes to play rhythms on the dining table. Instead of saying. "stop being so annoying...if I catch you making noise on the dining table again, I'm going to spank you!" We could just as easily say to the child, "wow...you really know how to play nice music with your hands, but maybe we can do that together later when everyone has left the dinner table ok?" Or, some kind and gentle words to that effect.

Or sometimes some people say to their child, "if you don't stop misbehaving, I will call the Indian man (or the Chinese man or whatever man) to come and catch you!"

Again we cast the spell of racism on this child who will then grow up with an unexplained bias against a particular race.

To me, when we say these kind of things to children, we are in fact practicing black magic and casting a spell or a curse on them.

When I was a kid, some of my relatives said things like this to me....told me that I sound like a frog when I sang. Right until my early 30s, I believed that and I would be so shy about singing, even though I loved doing it. I loved hearing my sister Claressa sing and wished that I could do it too.

Then in my mid 30s, nervous as hell and still thinking that my voice sounded like a frog, I didn't care...I started singing on my gigs. People started asking me to sing more and told me that they liked the way I delivered a song. All through the years after that, I would continue singing and continued disbelieving or half-believing the nice compliments people gave me.

Then after awhile, my singing become more and more accepted to a point where I started to feel more confident and started enjoying singing more and more.

But still, there was this small voice in my head which said "frog!"

Then one day in 2003 I sang at a concert at the Esplanade on a show which included Greg Fishman, Paulinho Garcia, Eldee Young and Grammy nominated singer/pianist Judy Roberts from Chicago.

Judy went back to the U.S. and wrote a story about the concert in the Chicago Jazz magazine. She said, "Jeremy has an appealing and and expressive voice....you don't expect such a technically dazzling pianist to have such an intimate and wistful vocal sound."

Greg Fishman was quoted in the article as saying, "Jeremy is a consistently excellent vocalist."

And just like that, once and for all, because of what Judy and Greg said, the curse was broken.

Sure I don't think that I am some amazing singer or that my singing is anywhere as decent as my piano playing. But I now do not believe that I sound like a frog when I sing and I feel so nice and free when I do it.

So be careful when you make what you think are innocent jokes to children. Children are innocent and very impressionable and they believe what their parents, aunties and uncles and other caregivers say.

Say things to children which bless them and not things which will curse them. And always remind yourself not to perform "black magic" on anyone, especially children.

Jazz Clubs and Jazz Fans

Jazz fans always clamor for a jazz clubs to be set up in their home towns.

Then when the club is set up, the very people who grumble about not having a jazz club are the very ones who don't go.

In Singapore, rents are so expensive so if one of the 20,000 odd jazz fans in Singapore don't make it a point to go to a jazz club 2 or 3 times a month and have a couple of drinks, the club owners suffer and cannot afford to keep it going.

In recent weeks, I have heard from friends in Singapore that the attendances at Jazz@Southbridge and Harry's Boat Quay have gone down significantly.

The Regent Hotel Bar where I play regularly with Tamagoh and Brian Benson when I am not touring, has also not seen good attendances this year.

I know time are hard, but if you are a jazz fan and wish to see the Jazz Clubs in Singapore stay around, remind yourself in a note-to-self to go support your local jazz clubs 2 or 3 times a month if you can manage it.

Sometimes, we forget they are there so put a note somewhere or reminder on your phone calendar so that you don't forget that these jazz clubs or there, or one day, they won't be, which will be sad I think.

I sometime get strangers come up to me who say..."Hey...I am one of your biggest fans!" I smile and say, "really? Great! How many CDs of mine do you own or have listened to?" They the say..."errr....umm, sorry I don't have any of your CDs and I haven't heard your music...I just read about you in the newspapers". Or WORSE still, they grin innocently and say "Oh...I have downloaded 3 of your albums for free from the internet!".

Sigh...I just smile and repeat Jesus' words to myself...."forgive them for they know not what they do".

Of course, there ARE the loyal jazz fans who do support the clubs, concerts and my work and to those people, I thank you for your loyal support.

Who would you trust?

Would you trust, the Atheist who loves his family, his country, donates to charity, is always honest, does not cheat on his wife, is hardworking and never has a bad thing to say about anybody?

Or, would you trust the person who always goes to his house of worship, prays all the time, always professes his love and faith in God but cheats on his wife, is proud and boastful, lies to his friends and has no integrity in his work and in his financial dealings?

We all make mistakes and we all sin. (Sin is the Greek word pertaining to archery which means "to miss the mark", ie. to miss the bulls eye.)

My point is that Piety does not equate goodness and trustworthiness.

We should trust people who do the work of God even if they don't believe in Him/Her and not the person who professes great faith in God but does not walk the talk.

If you are buying a piano...

If you are thinking of buying a new piano and trying to decide whether to buy a digital electric piano or an acoustic piano, let me offer this advice to help you decide.

If you are into the bells and whistles, synthesizer sounds, auto accompaniment and stuff like that, then get a digital piano.

But if you are into just playing the piano and enjoying the natural acoustic sounds from this lovely instrument, then just buy an acoustic piano.

Space wise, the footprint is about the same, both instruments take up about the same amount of footspace.

Also, an acoustic piano does not consume any electricity (except for the small amount you may use for a heater/dehumidifier) so that will save you money in the long run and not add anymore to your carbon footprint.

I am not against using synthesizers of computers for music making if that is what you want to do. What I am saying is that if you just want to play the piano, then the acoustic piano is best.

When there is a power blackout and none of your other toys work, you can sit in the dark and enjoy making music on your acoustic piano.

Playing the piano is my most favorite thing in the world to do....er wait...except eating...and sleeping, looking out at the ocean, looking at the stars in the sky and did I mention eating and sleeping? Ok rephrase, playing the piano is one of my most favorite things in the world to do.

It really happifies* me.

* yes, its a real word in the Oxford.

Economic Growth or Save The Planet?

When government leaders in the world say to us that we have to continue to strive for economic growth and they also ask us to do whatever we can so save the planet and halt global warming, I feel like asking...which admonition do they really want us heed?

The only way to save the world is to slow down spending, teach people to recycle stuff, or repair stuff instead of always replacing broken appliances, educate people to not want so many material products so that we will use less natural resources which continue to heavily pollute with toxins and waster products which harm the Earth as well as all living things.

But when you do this (buy less), you will slow down the economy, which people also don't want...so as far I can see, unless leaders in the world are willing to entertain the notion of slowing down economic growth, their calls for all of us to save the planet are just LIP SERVICE!

Without the implementation of an earnest plan to do whatever we need to do to save our environment, our planet will continue to get more polluted and more depleted of natural resources and species until the earth become inhospitable for human life.

That is why we have to do our own part to buy less, use less, waste less, produce less waste products, reduce emissions etc.,

Check out this video to understand why we have to do something on an individual basis. We have to collectively get our leaders to really take the issue of environment very seriously.

www.storyofstuff.com