Dear all,

here you go! enjoy reading...:)

Cheers
Eveline


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.

WOW. so fast & it's our 23rd newsletter! =DD

I actually read this on our fansite earlier. Heex.

So nice to receive every single letter & to read every word of it. =DD

Thanks Bro!

I must say, he really writes so well. That in itself, is a rare and valuable talent.

Thanks so much for making us a part of your life and reaching out to us with your music and words.

I can't wait to watch 'Don't forget the lyrics' on 27th November.

As an aside, I wonder if any of you still listen to Jon's songs - I've 10 of his songs burnt onto a CD which I play whilst driving, especially when none of the radio stations plays anything decent.


:)

i still do! =DDDD

Yes, I do...

All his songs i have are under "My Favorite" list and those are stress reliever for me after long hours study...

And the first photo i took with him is pasted at my study table.. smitten Whenever i feeel tired, i look at the photo and JON is smiling at me :D :D


JON, dont forget to rest well tho u r busy... And

"" Prepare for the worst while waiting for the best""
""Life is not all about what we want""
""Dont try to know what is going to happen in future, just need to know how to handle what is happening now""
""U can be sad, but never give up""


Not to discourage u but just to remind u ..

All the best..

Nandar

Hey Jon

"Don't forget the lyrics" recording was a BLAST! Can't get over the fact that we were there for 3 hours and had such an amazing time at the studio! It was great to see your most natural self in between the many takes, the different sides of you ... playful, abit goofy, little spontaneous expressions or even stumbling on the lyrics which were rarely seen and was full of warmth!

The Passion card commercial was sleek and catchy. Nice to see you acting well in the many interesting setups and storyline. It suited your trendy yuppy image and a good endorsement for you!

There couldn't be such a coincidence of sheer luck?? .... To be able to draw one of the highest donations 2 years in a row, right? You must have attracted signifcant contributions in drawing their support and that MDC should recognise that!

Its hard to be a recording artiste here and sad thing is every artistes are needed nowadays to do many different roles which they may be unfamiliar just to keep going?

At every important stage in our life, we make the decisions which was the best choice then. But along the way, somehow our goals changed and many a time we may decide instead to go on a different path?

You have a wonderful gift and your music has brought much joy to many, so keep enjoying doing music from your heart and livin your passion!

Cheers
Kellyn

Caught the PA advertisement on TV yesterday.

OMG about sums it up. Yummy, too.

smitten

Hi Jon,

Thanks for sharing.
Good to see that you are still in good spirits despite your hectic schedule and the gloomy economy.
Surprised to see you at Beyond's concert. Hope you had enjoyed yourself.

Take care.

Hi there Jon

You set such a good example of perseverence and self-discipline. You have gone through so much, both ups and downs but kept yourself going , learning along the way, managing and coping with multi-tasking which is very common these days in working life.

Seeing your perseverence makes us even more supportive of your music career and we will likewise perservere and walk through this journey together.

Those of us at the recording of "Don't forget the Lyrics" thoroughly enjoyed being there. All 3 of you really got along and co-operated so well. It was truly a wonderful treat for us to get to see you for 3+ hours. And some of us couldn't even get enough of you and insisted on waiting for you at the Radiogate. Unfortunately, I was not patient enough to wait and left while the other faithful gals waited for you and had their picture taken with you.

We hope to see you soon, at least around Christmas. Wow, the year-end is fast approaching, isn't it? But before the year ends, let's enjoy the Christmas spirit and bring joy and laughter to others and including ourselves. (oops, discussing too early about Christmas!)

Keep smiling and here's my $hug
Angelyn