Tuesday, March 24, 2009
jon's 27th letter : February 2009Hello, sorry that the letter for february is a couple of days late,the last week has been a little bit hectic for me.
This month was a very tiring one for me. I actually spent almost a whole week on medical leave I got hit by a very bad flu and couldn't get anything done for that week. It was nerve wrecking to know I can't do anything vocally, I couldn't test out melodies and I was too sick to get anything done. I'm still not a hundred percent yet but I think it will take some time and vitamins to get everything back to normal.
Other than that I have invested in a piece of guitar equipment that will help with my song writing and churning ideas for songs. I hope this guitar looper will be able to serve me in writing better songsand getting more ideas for arrangements and what not.
I didn't get a lot of time to read in february but I read the first two books of the detroit metal city series. It was therapeutically humorous, I think I appreciate it as I am interested in both metal culture and pop culture and this manga storyline revolves around these2 worlds. A full length feature film has been made and has been well received at film festivals. Though the DVD is already on sale in Japan, the movie will hit theatres in singapore soon.
I didn't get too good news about some of the songs last week and itseems like a another few steps back. Looks like I need to be more involved in the production process than I already am. I have been sourcing for guitar players and toying with arrangements but there isnothing definite yet. It's a funny business. When ever the subject of money comes into play, reactions change markedly.
With the news being generally negative (more so than usual, I havenever found newspapers uplifting as it seems to show you little, savefor the ugly head of human greed) I hope most of you will be able to carry on with your lives and adapt to the situations that have or will change. Life has to go one, no? However, I do very much understand that money is not everything, but it is impossible to have none.
One high point for me this month was that one of the most anticipated albums for me was just released. Lamb of God's newest installment,"Wrath". They are without of a doubt one of my favourite metal bands of all time. I know most people who are reading this are not into metal but hey, I hope that after a while, some of you will appreciate it. Start with Godsmack, Iron Maiden, Nightwish, and move theheaviness up a couple of notches. It's the "manliest" music I know...On a pop note, I bought The Ting Ting's debut album, and I love it. I read about them online and they have been around for years evenwithout releasing a single album. Stories like this keep me motivatedand help me to keep doing what I am doing.Check out this video. "Sabotage"- Beastie Boys. Great song, Greatvideo with minimum budget, Who says that things have to be expensiveto be creative? Mr Spike Jonze proves em wrong.
I have to go, many things to do still. No rest for me till the album comes out.
Stay positive,
Jon.
@ 10:33 AM
Jon's 26th letter :January 2009
A Very happy 2009 to you, and if you celebrate the Lunar new year... I hope the year of the ox brings you good health to enjoy the many adventures that life offers.
This January has been sort of a month away from music as I have spent the most part of the month in Army reservist training. It was tiring and yet invigorating, catching up with my campmates and going out in the field to do what we used to do during our National Service.
The 2and a half weeks in green was a break away from music I guess. I could listen, but not write. I think the time away gave me some time to mullover new ideas and recharge my batteries.
At the same time, I do feel a little rusty as well, but I think I will get over that in a week. Something very sad happened while my mates and I was in reservist though, a fellow platoon mate of mine passed away from cancer. I visited him when he was diagnosed in 2007 and the sickness did not letup. We all attended the wake and paid our respects. He is the thirdfriend that I have lost in the course of my 26 years of life. I dohope he is resting peacefully and that his family will cope well. Hewill always remain in our fondest memories.
I managed to squeeze extra pockets of time to read two books this month and these are my recommendations for the month, Neil Gaiman's-Anansi Boys and Alan Moore's Watchmen. I think they are available atthe branches of our national library. Our National Library collections are amazing, there really isn't much need to buy books if you lack in storage space or aren't buying the book as a reference. From my correspondence with friends from many other other countries, ourlibraries are top notch! Use them, people!! Don't let it go to waste!Books, music, movies.. taking in any form of storytelling that people poured their souls into creating is the best form of education in my opinion.
Watchmen was a re read for me because the motion picture is comingout this year and I want to see if they did a good job translating themonolith of a graphic novel onto the big screen. Alan Moore (thewriter) actually totally dissociates himself with any interpretations of his work, hence the movie will only be credited to Dave Gibbons(the artist). I think you guys can check up on Alan Moore and his interesting opinions on things by googling him. I think I have said this a few times already, I have a habit of repeating myself becausethere are only so many things that I am realy into, Neil Gaiman'sworks are a must read for me, I am kind of behind, actually... I have yet to read his work outside of the Sandman, American Gods, Mirrormaskand now Anansi Boys. I even missed out on reading Stardust. I onlyrented the DVD. I always have so many things that I want to do. Thereare so many great books, art, music and movies to appreciate. The partis I like to study them, which makes it more time consuming! Having to review them many times when I still have such a long to do list tofufill workwise.
Workwise, I hope to be able to squeeze in a decent amount of practicetime and writing time before the month ends but there are still housesleft to visit for the new year. Maybe I will just enjoy the festive time since it's just once a year.Do stay healthy, get some exercise, eat your vitamins...because health, it's the most important thing in the end.
Warmest regards,
Jon.
@ 10:22 AM
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Forum RevampDear Everyone,
the forum has been revamped. a better new look. still need more improvement though.
but it's ad - free now. we are still designing a new banner, flash banner hopefully
do visit our forum oftenly. It's where we communicate to each other..
www.jonathanleong.net/forum
for those who want to be the member of the forum, simply notice us and send your request upon signing upto allaboutjonleong@yahoo.com.sg with your name, email and contact number
and we will validate your membership.
Thank you and cya around.
Eveline
JL Fanclub
@ 9:04 AM
Friday, December 26, 2008
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!
Join Jon as we count down to a fabulous 2009!
PUNGGOL EAST YEAR END COUNTDOWN
When: 31 December, 11pm
Where: Rivervale Crescent, Hardcourt beside Chong Ghee Temple
If you haven't seen Jon in a while, take this opportunity to see him perform and party with everyone at Punggol!
JL Fanclub
@ 1:10 AM
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Jon's 25th Letter : A Christmas LetterHi everyone,
The holiday season is here again.
Here is wishing all of you a verymerry christmas.
While you are out playing, enjoying and spending timewith your family and friends...
don't forget it's the time of givingand sharing!
Merry Christmas And A very happy New year!
Jon
@ 11:38 AM
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Jon's 24th letter : November 2008Dear all
here's another piece for you for the month of November 2008.
It's heart warming, isnt it? to know that Jon always remember to write for us every month without fail...^_^
keep on supporting him...no matter what... be patience for his album.
we all know that it's going to be a great album...just wait....:)
Cheers
Eveline
------
Hi guys,
how has 2008 been for you? For a lot of people I know 2008 has beenquite trying, if that is the case, hang on for one more month and itsgoing to be 2009. A month swings by really quickly.
The end of the year is many different things to many different people,some see it as the time to start planning for next year, some see itas the time to shop at all the year end sales. Others see it as the time to start to unwind and have more fun. I am already done with my christmas shopping for my family, all I need to do is spend a daywrapping them up and I'm all set up for christmas. I decided to actearly and avoid the impulse frenzy that happens a week before the day.
how has 2008 been for you? For a lot of people I know 2008 has beenquite trying, if that is the case, hang on for one more month and itsgoing to be 2009. A month swings by really quickly.
The end of the year is many different things to many different people,some see it as the time to start planning for next year, some see itas the time to shop at all the year end sales. Others see it as the time to start to unwind and have more fun. I am already done with my christmas shopping for my family, all I need to do is spend a daywrapping them up and I'm all set up for christmas. I decided to actearly and avoid the impulse frenzy that happens a week before the day.
As some of you know (through one of the recent interviews), this year I successfully got my class 2 motorcycle license. I have been meaning to go for a test ride at the Harley Davidson showroom but have not been able to find the time to do so. It's definitely on my to do list. I don't know if I will be able to squeeze that in before the year ends though. There is nothing quite like the feeling of riding a motorcycle. My love for it probably stems from the freedom I feel when I am riding. I used to ride a Motorcycle when I was back in school and it was always great except when it rained or if I had a lot ofequipment to carry with me. Having a big, bad motorcycle to enjoy on sunny days is one of my aims in the future.
I have been busy this month, apart from xmas shopping (which actuallytook a more time and planning than expected as I have a very bigfamily) I have been, as usual working on new ideas for songs... some work and some don't. It seems that the longer I do this for, the more I learn to be a little more innovative with ideas. I have been at itfor slightly more than a year. I first laid hands on a guitar lastaugust/september. Now it is easier for me to know in my gut what worksand what doesn't. It's a long process for now but I am quite sure thatit reap its rewards later on in my career. It's good discipline for me to keep learning new things and experimenting. That's probably thebest way in which I can find myself musically.
The more I write, the more songs that I thought sounded fine a fewmonths back seem to pale and fade into the "out" pile. I hope to comeup with at least ten tracks that are definitive of the very best that my writing abilities can muster at this juncture of my life. I do ask for your patience, I know a lot of people have been pretty anxious about the release of my debut album, many talk to me about thiswhenever they see me. Some felt like I did not strike while the ironwas hot and should have seized the "wave" of Singapore Idol to come upwith an album that could sell because of the popularity of the show.Many also tell me that a lot of people have lost interest in the showand therefore have lost interest in me. People tell me I should haverode on the tv show and cashed in while it lasted. Unfortunately, that method isn't how I like to roll. Truth is, there is much more to itthan just that, but I know people mean well.
Anyway, one of the reasons why that approach wasn't taken was that I didn't feel good about coming up with a "factory produced" album. What I call a "factory produced" album is an album where the record companygoes out and buys songs from various song writers (through their publishers) and fill the whole album with typical tracks and the most that the singer has to show for it is that they laid their vocals onthe tracks, have their picture on the cover and wrote a list of thank yous at the end of the cd sleeve. Don't mistaken me, I am not saying that this is a negative approach or that there is anything wrong with artistes that do this. Its just that I find that albums done in this manner sound very similar. I don't want to put out something that already exists in abundance. If I had done that I would feel like I ripped off the buyers of their cash. The pros of doing that was that the album could have been put out very quickly because all I had to dowas to learn the songs that were acquired and go into the studio to record the vocals.
I decided that I would rather put in all my efforts into writing my own album. At least if people spend their money on my album or choose to say they like my songs, they know that they are really getting whatthey pay for. My songs. My Ideas. My style... from the time of conception to the day its put on the radio. That when people buy myalbum it's because they like my songs. Not a song that i simple sung,but i song that I wrote. Talking about this now makes me realise that it is quite a leap of faith on the part of my record company that theyare willing to go with me on this because it would have been easier to market the album and have better sales if the album was put out rightafter the competition. This is definitely a risk that Hype records and myself are shouldering in terms of opportunity costs. I think it'sgoing to be well worth it. We are spending so much time and effort(not to mention money!) going back and forth with melodies,arrangements, trying this out, trying that out... with the weighted possibility that most of the songs are going to be shared on theinternet. Hahaha. I guess this is the plight of creativity, but one can surely hope.
"You may say, I 'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one"
Since I was talking about personal style and writing efforts, thismonths recommendations are
To watch:
1) Audioslave: Live in Cuba DVD (their style is unmistakenable andbeautiful! I just watched it for the second time today)
2) Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands
To read:
1) Chuck Palahniuk: Lullaby.
2) Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club ( I have been meaning to read all hisbooks, but haven't got my hands on them except for these. He has astyle that I find very cool. If they are good I would recommend themnext time)
Have a good month,
Jon.
@ 9:44 AM
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Jon's 23rd Letter : October 2008Dear all,
Here you go....October 2008 letter from Jon. Enjoy reading...
do visit the forum for your comments...
Cheers,
Eveline
on behalf of JL Fanclub
.....
Hi everyone,
Another month has passed and this one really zoomed by, I spent the
month trying to juggle many tasks at the same time as usual (I know I
need to prioritise, but they all are high on the priority list). When
I spend time on this, I am unable to do that and when I put in time in
learning this, I forgo the chance to be improving on that. It's a
daily struggle but it's the price to pay if I want to be good at what
I do. By now I think some of you have caught the Passion card tv ad
campaign that I was invited to join, $10 for 3 years is a really good
Food & Beverage/ link points card deal. I was quite surprised at the
price of membership.
It has been a busy month, what with the Levi's 501 unbutton event that
I performed at and also preparations for the President's Star Charity
which I think went rather smoothly despite the circumstances. My
friends could not stop laughing at the purple suit. I was informed
that for the second year running my item raised one of the highest
donations of the show and I think a large part of that response is
thanks to all of you who support my efforts in my career, then again,
it could be sheer luck that many people picked up the phone at the
same time. Nonetheless, thank you anyway for helping out the less
fortunate that are trying so hard just to make ends meet. If you
believe in karma (like I do), I'm sure your good deeds won't go
unnoticed.
Next monday I have been invited to be a contestant, in the name of
charity for the new game show "Don't forget the lyrics (Singapore)". I
have not really had the time to follow the US version of the show on
the telly but I do have an idea of what the show is about. I hope I
don't embarrass myself by winning nothing for the beneficiaries, but
we'll see. Remembering lyrics on the fly is much harder than I thought
it was. If they had "Identify the song and the Singer" I think I can
do well at that.
There have been quite a lot of new CD releases recently and I managed
to squeeze in some time to listen to what's out there but there's far
too much to listen to given the 24 hrs a day we all have. Looking at
the way things are going, I think it's really important for people in
the music business to find alternatives for earning a living. As we
don't have a touring culture and a music festival culture here, most
of our recording artists are being shelved because people just don't
buy the albums anymore. I even received news that costs more often
than not are not recuperated. Seeing the amount of time and effort
that goes into an album, it is a rather sad state of affairs. I will
be cracking my head to think of what I can do on my part to better the
odds when my turn for album release comes along.
Having struggled for about half a year with music programming, last
month I ordered a guide book to help me along with the basics of
arranging, editing, programming and what not in Logic 8. I am glad to
say I am nearly done with the book (two more chapters left) and it has
been very useful, though it doesn't teach everything, at least I have
an idea about how it works and what the various functions are. Think
of it as a program like Adobe Photoshop, you can learn what happens
when you press this button and that knob but the program can't teach
you to draw like Simon Bisley or the folks at Studio Ghibli. It's a
tool that will help with time and patience. Sometimes I think about
what it would have been like if I had went to school studying music
and sound instead of english literature and political science. Then
again, everything happens for a reason.
Its been all over the news that the economy is in bad shape, I hope
most of you who are reading this aren't heavily affected by it and if
you are, hopefully things turn out okay. It's a shame that money is an
inescapable part of our society but arguing about it isn't going to do
much. It is the way it is. One of my old friends said this to me with
regards to money and society, he said that in the world, "When Money
talks, bull$hit walks." I hope that won't ring true most of the time
in your lives.
I've always liked recommending stuff to watch and read to people I
know, but it always seems to slip my mind... I want to try to keep it
a regular feature in my letters. Rent them or borrow them from the
library! Don't go spending money on my account.
To watch: 1)Rob Zombie's Halloween (if you aren't squeamish)
2) Monty Python's Life of Brian
To Read : 1) Alan Moore's V for Vendetta (it ends differently from the
Wachowski brother's film)
2) Gotham Knight (Batman animated feature)
Till next month.
Jon.
Here you go....October 2008 letter from Jon. Enjoy reading...
do visit the forum for your comments...
Cheers,
Eveline
on behalf of JL Fanclub
.....
Hi everyone,
Another month has passed and this one really zoomed by, I spent the
month trying to juggle many tasks at the same time as usual (I know I
need to prioritise, but they all are high on the priority list). When
I spend time on this, I am unable to do that and when I put in time in
learning this, I forgo the chance to be improving on that. It's a
daily struggle but it's the price to pay if I want to be good at what
I do. By now I think some of you have caught the Passion card tv ad
campaign that I was invited to join, $10 for 3 years is a really good
Food & Beverage/ link points card deal. I was quite surprised at the
price of membership.
It has been a busy month, what with the Levi's 501 unbutton event that
I performed at and also preparations for the President's Star Charity
which I think went rather smoothly despite the circumstances. My
friends could not stop laughing at the purple suit. I was informed
that for the second year running my item raised one of the highest
donations of the show and I think a large part of that response is
thanks to all of you who support my efforts in my career, then again,
it could be sheer luck that many people picked up the phone at the
same time. Nonetheless, thank you anyway for helping out the less
fortunate that are trying so hard just to make ends meet. If you
believe in karma (like I do), I'm sure your good deeds won't go
unnoticed.
Next monday I have been invited to be a contestant, in the name of
charity for the new game show "Don't forget the lyrics (Singapore)". I
have not really had the time to follow the US version of the show on
the telly but I do have an idea of what the show is about. I hope I
don't embarrass myself by winning nothing for the beneficiaries, but
we'll see. Remembering lyrics on the fly is much harder than I thought
it was. If they had "Identify the song and the Singer" I think I can
do well at that.
There have been quite a lot of new CD releases recently and I managed
to squeeze in some time to listen to what's out there but there's far
too much to listen to given the 24 hrs a day we all have. Looking at
the way things are going, I think it's really important for people in
the music business to find alternatives for earning a living. As we
don't have a touring culture and a music festival culture here, most
of our recording artists are being shelved because people just don't
buy the albums anymore. I even received news that costs more often
than not are not recuperated. Seeing the amount of time and effort
that goes into an album, it is a rather sad state of affairs. I will
be cracking my head to think of what I can do on my part to better the
odds when my turn for album release comes along.
Having struggled for about half a year with music programming, last
month I ordered a guide book to help me along with the basics of
arranging, editing, programming and what not in Logic 8. I am glad to
say I am nearly done with the book (two more chapters left) and it has
been very useful, though it doesn't teach everything, at least I have
an idea about how it works and what the various functions are. Think
of it as a program like Adobe Photoshop, you can learn what happens
when you press this button and that knob but the program can't teach
you to draw like Simon Bisley or the folks at Studio Ghibli. It's a
tool that will help with time and patience. Sometimes I think about
what it would have been like if I had went to school studying music
and sound instead of english literature and political science. Then
again, everything happens for a reason.
Its been all over the news that the economy is in bad shape, I hope
most of you who are reading this aren't heavily affected by it and if
you are, hopefully things turn out okay. It's a shame that money is an
inescapable part of our society but arguing about it isn't going to do
much. It is the way it is. One of my old friends said this to me with
regards to money and society, he said that in the world, "When Money
talks, bull$hit walks." I hope that won't ring true most of the time
in your lives.
I've always liked recommending stuff to watch and read to people I
know, but it always seems to slip my mind... I want to try to keep it
a regular feature in my letters. Rent them or borrow them from the
library! Don't go spending money on my account.
To watch: 1)Rob Zombie's Halloween (if you aren't squeamish)
2) Monty Python's Life of Brian
To Read : 1) Alan Moore's V for Vendetta (it ends differently from the
Wachowski brother's film)
2) Gotham Knight (Batman animated feature)
Till next month.
Jon.
@ 1:00 AM
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Forum ProblemDear everyone,
Notice that we are currently having problem in logging in the forum.
Will try to resolve the problem as soon as possible
and sorry for the incovinience caused.
Eveline
The JL Fanclub.
@ 11:19 PM
