Bonnie M

The dance craze band of the 1980s.

Liz Mitchell born 12 July 1952.

She is still touring, billed as Boney M featuring Liz Mitchell.

 then

and now

Bobby Farrell born 6 October 1949.

After performing with his band the evening before, Farrell complains of breathing problem and died on the morning of 30 December 2010 in Saint Petersburg.

then

 the late Bobby Farrell

Marcia Barrett Born 14 October 1948.

After the group split in 1990, Barrett was recording and touring with her band Boney M featuring Marcia Barrett. Her present appearance was on 20 April 2013 in Novy Urengoi, Siberia.

Maizie Williams Born March 25 1951.

In 1994 she formed her own group, billed as Boney M featuring Maizie Williams and is presently active.

A blast from the past...

Gibson Fined

Guitar maker Gibson has agreed to pay a hefty fine of US$300,000 for illegally importing exotic wood from India and Madagascar.

Gibson will also make a "community service payment" of US$50,000 to the US National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.




The settlement frees Gibson from the criminal charges as long as the company doesn’t violate the agreement over the next one and a half year.



Now back to making the best guitars in the world.

Photography

It began by looking through the viewfinder.




Then comes the digital age.



And look what Steve Jobs created.

Rockers Tool Gibson

Gibson guitar, along with Fender is a definitive feature of rock.

It come as no surprise that Gibson citizens are angry that the factory was raided by federal marshals in 2011.

An angry Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz "We had a raid," he said. They came in, evacuated our factory, shut down production, sent our employees home and confiscated wood. Our business has been injured to millions of dollars. "



The agents were enforcing the Lacey Act, a century-old endangered species law that was signed into law in 1900 amended in 2008, to include plants as well as animals.

The charges against Gibson constitute a felony, and if proven, the company could face fines and the executives involved could face jail terms.

The US Justice Department and the Fish and Wildlife Service have assured that musicians who unknowingly possess instruments made from illegal wood would not be treated as criminals.

Your Song

Hey Jude is a song written by Paul McCartney in August 1968 to comfort John Lennon's son, Julian, during his parents' divorce. "And any time you feel the pain hey jude refrain, don't carry the world upon your shoulders".

Smoke on the Water was released in 1972 to tell the story of Deep Purple in Montreux to record an album. In the Montreux Casino where Frank Zappa performed, some stupid with a flare gun destroyed the entire casino complex.

Hotel California is written about the greed in the music industry of the late 1970s. Don Henley interpreted it as the high life in Los Angeles.



Garden Party is a 1972 hit song by Rick Nelson written after being booed off the stage at Madison Square Garden. He played The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" and the crowd began to boo probably wanting to listen to his original hits. But Nelson wrote and sung "You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself" and the final verse "But if memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck."



American Pie a 1971 hit by Don McLean, with its line about 'the day the music died' is about the air crash death of Buddy Holly in 1959.



The House of the Rising Sun is a folk song of unknown writer. It was about life gone wrong in New Orleans. In 1964 The Animals make it a number one hit. There are 2 versions of why the song was written. One is about a brothel in New Orleans. The other about a women's prison in New Orleans, hence the "ball and chain" in the song.

Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven was written about the pain and loss following the death of his four-year-old son Conor in New York in 1991.



"Leader of the Band" is a song written by Dan Fogelberg for his father Lawrence Fogelberg in 1981.

Thousands of Bulgarians flocked to the country's seaside in the wee hours of the last day of June to meet the first sun rays on the 1st of July. It began 30 years ago as a symbolic protest against the communist government. The song "July Morning" a hit by Uriah Heep in 1972 was adpoted as the anthem of the celebrations.

"Candle in the Wind" is a song by Elton John in 1973 in honour of Marilyn Monroe, who died 11 years earlier. The opening line "Goodbye Norma Jeane" refers to Monroe's real name.

James Taylor's Fire and Rain was a hit in 1970. The song is about his experiences in mental institutions and also about Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend who committed suicide. "Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you"

Foreign Talent

Volkswagen 2011 Women's World Cup held in Singapore from 28 - 30 October.

The event will see 19 of the top women players from around the world battle it out for the title and the US$150,000 prize money.



Interestingly 10 of the women playing for their respective countries are China born.



Feng Tianwei Singapore Born in China
WangG Yuegu Singapore Born in China
Li Jiawei Singapore Born in China
Tie Yana HongKong Born in China
Jiang Huajun HongKong Born in China
Li Jiao Holland Born in China
Wu Jiaduo Germany Born in China
Shen Yanfei Spain Born in China
Wu Xue Dominican Republic Born in China
Li Karen New Zealand Born in China
Li Xiaoxia China
Ding Ning China
Ishikawa Kasumi Japan
Fukuhara Ai Japan
Hirano Sayaka Japan
Kim Kyung Ah Korea
Pavlovich Viktoria Belarus
Hsing Ariel USA
Meshref Dina Egypt



And expectedly it is an all China final.

World number one Li Xiaoxia vs World number two Ding Ning.



Ding Ning claimed the Volkswagen Women's World Cup.

Give Man his Tool

Give Man his tools and he will laugh his way to the bank.

Takamine

Fender

Gibson

Fender

Living Dangerously

When asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, the British explorer George Mallory famously replied: “Because it’s there.”



With that declaration, mountain and rock or alpine climbing have become an obsessive hobby and has become a craze for many people all over the world.



The most outstanding is daredevil Alain Roberts who in March this year climbed the newly built 800 metre, 160 storey Burj Khalifa. He conquered it in 6 hours. “Finally, there was nothing more to climb. I was on top of the world,” he said.



And there is Catherine Destivelle, the French wonder woman.

with sister Claire touching the heaven

Pontian Johor

Pontian Kechil a small town in Johor with a population of probably 60,000.



It is a popular getaway with Singaporeans.

aerial photo courtesy of
laszlo, a cadet pilot

A rare view of the town from the air.

Man and His Tools

Give a talented man the right tool for his trade, chances are he will laugh all the way to the bank.

Charlotte Church

Remembered for her classical renditions of Christmas carols in Bethlehem in 2001.



Then she disappeared from the classical music scene.

In 2007 Charlotte Church became an unmarried mother.



Presently she is trying to break into the USA pop music scene.



The Welsh star is in the city trying to launch her career to the American market and performed a low-key gig in Manhattan.



Hailed as the voice of an Angel, it is a pity she took the other music path.