Quid Pro Quo...

Churning out a set list for your gig can be quite a harrowing experience. . . You want to sound original and bona fide and yet be successful in recreating the music you love as a tribute to the genesis artist.

So, after much consideration, my first demo in tribute to Eric and the blues greats would include the set list below:

1) Crossroads
2) Me & The Devil Blues
3) From Four Till Late
4) Badge
5) Old Love
6) Malted Milk
7) Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out
8) Born Under A Bad Sign
9) Some Day After A While
10) Hideaway

The Martin 000 28EC pictured above is the drool to come... Stay tuned for more...

EC Sightings

With a beautiful friend after playing fussball...

Bristol, TN Speedway 2006...

EC's residence in Chelsea, London...

Self explanatory...
EC and Kim... (notice the Red Wing boot)
EC and friends...
Guitar auction #3???

A fairly recent charity function in London where he raised UKP 35,000/- by auctioning a signed Fender Stratocaster...

The famous signboard, revisited...

Seattle, Washington sound check somewhere in the 21st century...

Enjoying every moment it seems...

A Cream era portrait...

The guitar below, exposed with the legendary initials...

Sound check in New York City with a Firebird...
With Muddy Waters...

Three guitarists...

Bending backwards...

A done deal!
Carrying a koala bear - Down under tour 2007...

With a new bike...
Displaying boredom in a hotel room in Japan...

With a fan... ah... it ain't that bad ok...
With daughter Ruth Kelly...

A game of fussball with Hiroshi Fujiwara...
Having shark's fin soup in Shanghai 2007...
With U2's The Edge & Larry Mullen Jr....
with Steven Seagal...

Photos From Across The Causeway...

Situated along North Bridge Road & Coleman Road

Swee Lee, Bras Basah Complex

A beat up 60s Jazzmaster at Guitar Connection

A rare blue teal colored Firebird guitar

Nice, nice, nice


According to the shop owner, a genuine one indeed...

24 Nights!

I was searching through my old RAW files aka digital negatives today when I stumbled upon this photo taken by my wife in London early this year... It reminded me a lot on Clapton's concerts there, particularly during the 90s when he did many shows at the Royal Albert Hall (pictured above). What a great feeling to be able to re-visit this historic venue, most English rock stars have indeed performed at the Albert Hall at least once in their career... The good news is, it's only a 10 minute walk from our hotel in Kensington, the bad news is, our next trip there is only next year... Speaking bout that, I've just managed to get Eric's office address in Chelsea, so we're heading there next time around, hopefully we can bump into the legend himself! Wish me luck!

Derek & Layla In Singapore

The past few days we spent in Lion City practically roaming the streets of North Bridge Road and its vicinities with our backpacks. This time around (yes, last trip was in January'07) we had a schedule to cover more spots than on our last travel here. Places visited this time were the usual Orchard Road regiment, Marina Bay (just the MRT station...), Boat & Clarke Quay, Peninsula/Excelsior Hotel, Funan IT Mall, Bugis Junction, Bras Basah Complex, Jurong Bird Park, and to a fun fair in Woodlands. Bought a couple of Mac accessories and lots of guitar accessories: strings, strap, and picks (they are really cheap here mates! compared to in Malaysia). The missus and I enjoyed the bird park excursion the most, lots of species and good environment as well. Topping it all was a visit to the Ben & Jerry ice cream stall at the exit of the park; yummy yummy!
Singapore has got to be a haven for vintage guitar collecting at least in South East Asia. Nothing I've seen in this region closer to that in Singapore. The best in Asia is of course, in Tokyo. We had a blast of a time walking around in the basement of the Excelsior and bumping into at least 3-4 guitar stores corner to corner. Kudos to Singaporeans for a very dynamic venture into a business almost non-existent over here in KL. Saw lots of old Strats in one particular shop in the Peninsula Plaza. And man, he has a good collection...
All in all, a productive trip indeed...