This year’s set is a little different anyway. It’s more or less presenting a ‘soundtrack of my life’. They call it My Musical Diary, I call it Milestones. So it gives me more opportunities to yak away during the entire set and explain why my music tends to be so meloncholic.

I’m a little sad that my partner in crime Gretel wasn’t able to join me for this performance, but we still have the wonderful Calvin and new instrumentalist (for me!), Paul Soh!

Eek – I’m just a ball of excitement and nerves at this point! But I do hope you’ll be there to share in my passion and in my baring a little bit of myself to you.

Did I mention that the yuletide season is officially over and it's 350 days to Christmas?

But there are moments in time, which literally give you that burst of energy needed to pull through. I still want to do my EP for sure – first things first, I need to kickass at the Esplanade gig on Feb, more details to follow!

Originals are a scary thing to share. With covers, you’re basically emoting whatever your interpretation of the song is, but it never really gets personal. Originals on the other hand, is like little pieces of you and it’s a very emotional process.

So tonight, the gig at the Esplanade went well, but when I listened to the recording, it was just not up to scratch, it was like starting from square one all over again and you’re comparing yourself with others. It’s tough. Perhaps I’ll chalk it up to nerves, but I definitely have to get over it ASAP if I want things to go much better.

In any case, this was a really fantastic opportunity and a great learning experience. I’m using this to grow and develop as an artist.

So I hope you’ll listen to my love stories tomorrow At the Concourse, Esplanade, 7.15pm & 8.15pm!
Together with me is Gretel Lee on the keys and Calvin Ng on Guitar.

Tools of my trade: A sharpie and my huge, falling apart at the seams, notebook.

I’m literally going crazy trying to grab at this fickle mistress called inspiration. It flits and flirts and leaves you hanging mid-chorus and you’re unable to patch a bridge together. It’s exasperating! So, in short, the songwriting is going real slow.

In other news? The show at TAB was great and it has inspired me to really write more, but I don’t think I need to repeat myself on the progress. Another reason why it takes so long? I don’t play an instrument and music theory is definitely not my forte. My wonderful pianist Gretel sometimes goes crazy trying to get my phrasing under control. I’m not giving up though. I’ll somehow get it done and try as hard as possible to get my showcase for 2010 up on its feet! If there’s anybody out there looking to collaborate on songs, I’m most happy to be a part of it!

In the mean time, if you couldn’t head on over to gig, you can check out my videos here on nicoleverghese.com or youtube!

In the meantime, I have to focus on finishing up my targeted amount of Original songs by that time. I don’t know if I can make it, but I have to try! This show will be a sort of fundraising show to produce an EP, so I had better get my ass in gear!

Recently, I headed down to The Studio and was given a makeover. Can I just say, it was an utterly fabulous experience. The make-up and hair were professionally done with in-house make-up and the photographer was great, besides being awfully cute. He made posing a breeze and it looked rather model-esque! Very impressive. Best just to show you I think!

I can’t tell you how excited I am that this website is finally up and running. I really do have to thank code genius extraordinare, Angelina Tan – you can find her on Twitter as @awenya. She’s the lovely lady that really helped me to get this place all shiny and fabulous. Look around and make a comment or two!

In any case, this is just step one in my 2010 agenda, so I can tick that off my list. The next step is pretty much finding a home to sing at (a regular gig) and a fundraising show for an EP! I’m rather excited about that. Actually the next big step is printing some namecards. How have I gone on so long without some? Usually I rely a lot on e-mails and follow-ing up, but it’s always best to have a visual reminder on someone’s table, in their day planner or lost within the depths of their bag.

What do you think?

So I looked around a little on facebook and found an old secondary school classmate’s online portfolio, liked what I saw and immediately asked if he was interested.  And yay, he was. We talked shop, scheduled it and well I’ll just let the photos do the talking. Here are some of my favourites from the shoot.

Like what you see?
Visit: http://donaldsng.sg Follow: @donaldsng

]]> http://www.nicoleverghese.com/2010/08/shoot-with-donald-sng/feed/ 1