Doctors Versus Engineers

Doctors. Love them or hate them, we can't live (no pun intended) without them. They heal the sick and on occassions, perform medical miracles. But to bring a dead man back to life? Not that I've heard of.

This is where Engineers, namely Computer Engineers, have excelled. They create technological miracles everyday. But for me, none is as spectacular to-date as resurrecting The King himself.

If you've never seen this clip, be prepared to get the wind knocked out of you.

Elvis lives - in the digital world, at least. Kudos to the Engineering geniuses at American Idol.

Vinyl Irony

I love vinyl records. Having been a freelance deejay from the mid-80s till the late 90s, I was frequently working with records. For those of you born after 1990, records are how we old fogeys listened to music before CDs were born. Vinyl records not only delivered great sound (yes, much better than CDs), they last a whole lot longer than CDs if well-maintained.

Many friends describe my music collection as "insane". I might have about 700 odd CDs (and growing - I've lost count) and a good 500 pieces of 12" vinyl records. I only switched to CDs because a lot of music is no longer pressed onto vinyl - which is a really sad thing. So, I constantly tell my wife that I need to shower lots of tender loving care upon my beloved record collection. And in case they get damaged, I am working out a schedule to "digitize" them. "Protecting the music by migrating them from the analogue to the digital world", I always say.

But THIS is not what I had in mind when I said "protecting the music"!!

A company in the US is taking old 45s (that's old-school slang for a 7" vinyl record) and turning them into iPod cases!! How cruel is that? Among the vinyls they are crucifying to protect iPods include gems like Band Aid's Do They Know Its Christmas?, Starship's Nothing Gonna Stop Us Know, Bananarama's Venus, Olivia Newton-John's Physical (this was once banned from airplay in Singapore for being "too suggestive"), Pet Shop Boys' Always On My Mind and the kicker - Revolution by The Beatles.

But what really upset me was the use of Sly Fox's Let's Go All The Way. I used to do a real killer live mix of this track together with Shout by Tears For Fears and Rock Me Amadeus by Falco. It was my signature mix so I take this very personally.

But personal issues aside, I applaud the guys for their ingenuity. I'd rather these gems of the past live on this way than to be cast aside or tossed into the incinerator like garbage. It is also a reminder to current and future iPod toting youngsters how music was enjoyed generations before.

Keen to get one? Pop on down to their website.

Wonder if they'll just send me the records intact if I request. *wink*

You Know The Name, Now Hear The Mix

"Ladies and Gents, DJ Mixfreak is in da house!"

*fans scream and cheer wildly*

Back to reality...

One of the many things I was busy with when I went AWOL from my blog was to get back into remixing. Remixing evolved from my passion for deejaying - and is a whole lot less tiring and stressful. It does help if you own your own studio like I do (ok, ok... I admit that it is strictly home-brewed and nothing like the studios that professional Producers and Remixers work in) and you get to spend as much time in there as you want but only until our 0.5 meter tall apartment warden yells out indicating you've had enough for the day.

Remixing took a back-seat for over a year when I tore down my bedroom studio at our previous apartment to accomodate domestic help when my father became very ill. And I told myself that when everything blows over, I'll get back into doing what I love doing.

So I did. And to spice things up, I entered a remixing competition too! Judging is still in progress but there's no way on God's green earth I'll win considering I've heard my competition. There are some really good 'home' remixers out there.

So, making it's debut on Blogger for the first time, "Highest Mountain" by Robert G, remixed by DJ Mixfreak.

The Other Side Of Premster

Most of the people who have known me from the turn of the century onwards would describe me as a mild mannered workaholic geek. I take that as a wonderful compliment. Aside from enjoying quiet time with my family, I enjoy my work and indulge in gadgets. But there is another side of me that only friends from way back know - and that is I was once... *drum roll please*... a deejay!

"Surely you jest!" or "You've got to be kidding me" would probably be what you're thinking right now. But it is true. I even had a stage name- DJ Mixfreak! Ok, stop giggling. ;)

I started deejaying at the age of 14 when I accidently got roped in to help with a friend's mobile disco (companies that provided disco services at your doorstep). Being one who enjoys music, I was intrigued by how the deejay matched beats and mixed music and that curiousity got the better of me. By the age of 15, I was manning mic and turntables solo, freelancing at clubs and discos when their in-house deejays were on annual or medical leave. I entered a nation-wide deejay mixing competition at the age of 23 - and won. A one year contract remixing for some local performers, deejaying gear and bragging rights were mine.

By the age of 25, I started remixing tracks for local clubs. Most of this was done from my home studio and deejaying took a back seat. I 'retired' from deejaying at the age of 30 due to work commitments and poor health but my enthusiasm for the trade never died. I still remix in my spare time - just for kicks.

By the way, I have an Eid gift for my regular visitors (you know who you are). If you have a Gmail account (or one that can accomodate / receive a file of at least 10MB), please email your address to premster.blogspot.com@gmail.com before 24 October 2006 to claim your gift.

Hear from you soon?

Killing Me Softly With This Song

Maybe I'm just weird. Or maybe it happens to everyone. That's where you come in.

Have you, after many years, heard a song from the past that churned up painful or even forgotten memories? It happens to me all the time. Perhaps it is because I have been surrounded by music all my life. So, when a song is hot on the airwaves and something bad happens in that period, that very song will stir up those same painful memories even years later.

The thing is, the songs that evoke bad memories are in no way crappy tunes. Unfortunately, these bad events ruin them forever for me. If only there was a way to 'reset' the situation - then I will be able to fully appreciate these great tracks.

So, without further ado, here's my top ten songs that guaranteed to leave a bad taste in my mouth. In no particular order, they are :

• Bad Day - Daniel Powter
• Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon
• Where Do You Go - No Mercy
• Ain't No Doubt - Jimmy Nail
• Would I Lie To You - Charles & Eddie
• You And I Both - Jason Mraz
• Friends - Michael W Smith
• Don't Call Me Baby - Madison Avenue
• Se A Vida E - Pet Shop Boys
• You're Beautiful - James Blunt

So, do you have a list too?

Velvet Smooth

This man is multi-talented. He's a singer, song-writer, producer and guitarist. He is none other than Lenny Kravitz (born Leonard Albert Kravitz on 26 May 1964). And if you think that this list of talents is not enough, he also plays bass, piano, saxophone, drums, trumpet and even the sitar. Still not impressed? How about the fact that he plays all the instruments on each of his tracks? Ah, that got your attention, didn't it??

Anyhow, I was down town shopping for a gift for my wife's birthday a few weeks ago and ended up in a music store. That's no surprise for my family and friends. Long story short, they were playing a track called "Black Velveteen" and this caught my attention. I found my feet tapping to the funk beat and eventually, my feet moved to the sales counter to enquire who performed it. When I heard "Lenny Kravits - Greatest Hits", I remembered his other fantastic tracks like "American Woman", "It Ain't Over Till Its Over", "Again", "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and "Mr Cab Driver". If you dislike cab drivers, "Mr Cab Driver" is one for you.

Whipped out my credit card and Lenny Kravitz's Greatest Hits became the latest addition to my massive CD collection.

With distractions out of the way, it was on to my main mission... my wife's birthday gift.

Song For A Bad Day

This is Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Powter's debut album and if this offering is anything to go by, I believe he will have a promising career in the music industry. Growing up, Daniel wanted to become a classical violinist but because he suffered from dyslexia, he had to give it up. So, he channelled his energy into songwriting and the piano. Everything happens for a reason, I guess. The biggest hit off this album has to be "Bad Day".

For those of you who have not heard of it, watch the tail-end of American Idol Season 5's result show every week. "Bad Day" is played in the background as they show the latest "casualty's" journey on American Idol. Or better yet, visit Daniel Powter's official website to check out the video clip at www.danielpowter.com. I hear that album sales have gone up since it was used on American Idol.

If you're a fan of Maroon 5 or Gavin DeGraw, you'll enjoy the sounds of Daniel Powter. Other tracks to check out are "Jimmy Gets High", "Freeloop" and "Suspect".