Play Bar – Beats, Breaks and Hip Hop in Surry Hills

A few Fridays ago I was rounding up an enjoyable evening with some lounge room karaoke, as you do. Sipping away on my coffee mug of white wine, waiting for my turn on the microphone, I suddenly wondered if my…

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When movies, music and dance collide

One of my most memorable movie experiences happened when I was 9 years old and my mom took me to watch “Tjoet Nja’ Dhien”. It was an Indonesian historical piece about the Indonesian national heroine Tjoet Nja’ Dhien’s journey leading Aceh…

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Sonic Boom – Scott Pilgrim shopped for music here!

Disclaimer: I’m from the Compact Disc (CD) generation and I’m not very tech savvy. What the hell is a hash tag?  I may be alone on this one, but I feel the CD is a more practical medium for collecting…

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Thelonious: Jazz and food, improvised

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer, considered one of the best of the 20th Century. For Santiaguinos (people from Santiago), Thelonious is also the name of a restaurant and music venue that combines live jazz and…

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Café Silvana and live music in Harlem

As most of you probably already know, New Yorkers are very attached to their neighborhoods. I live in Harlem/ Central Park North exit, so I consider my hood to be Morningside, West and Central Harlem. The Frederick Douglas Boulevard (8th…

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Reggae – music to my Latin American ears

Reading local literature has been a great way for me to understand another country, but it takes valuable time, especially in a society where working a 10 hour day is making a comeback. Most days I come back from work…

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The music scene in Thailand

Visitors to Thailand might easily get the impression that Thailand doesn’t have its own music scene. A lot of bands at bars play covers of western pop and rock classics. At the discos you’ll probably hear trance and hip-hop.  The…

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DJ Skate Night – It’s a dance party on ice!

Given my warm-weather Filipino DNA, I tend to shy away from winter outdoor activities in Toronto. This year my partner Jeff finally convinced me, after a few years of pleading, to try ice skating. For those unfamiliar with this cold…

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