Personality highlight (2): Brother Andy Soh

Next up is brother Andy Soh. He is a certified busker under the NAC scheme for outdoor entertainers.

Andy's guitar of choice is the Claren Guitars MINI 1. This is a scaled down, single cutaway, electro acoustic which is a very comfortable & super playable instrument especially if you are always on the go. By the way, Andy is part owner of Claren Guitars which offer full solid acoustics mostly, at super prices. OK, I own one. If you have been following me for a while, you'd know that I have this constant struggle with acoustics. I have given up on many brand names out there that offer scaled down versions of their popular models because those are simply not to my liking due to set up & playability issues. I was pretty much done chasing this ideal until Andy himself reached out to me to check out his range of guitars & that was it. 

Andy is actively busking at the following venues: Holland Village, Tanglin Mall, City Square Mall, padestrian area outside Wisma Atria / Takashimaya SC. Please say HI or do one better by contributing generously. He also does private events (birthday parties, wedding receptions) if you are interested. Xmas is coming, so that office Xmas party can be a little special with a live performance, yes? Do reach out to him via his Instagram account: iamsohandy

Pics: NAC / Claren Guitars / Andy Soh

Busking @ neighbourhood

 

Was running errands during lunch time in the neighbourhood, met this busker. Managed to stop & say hello, didn't ask his name though, was in a hurry but managed to talk about his guitar - that's an RG655. Don't see too many people busking with Ibanez. Epiphone & Squiers aplenty but an RG-wielding chap is a rare sight. Hope to catch him again sometime, somewhere. If you recognize him, do share details.

Of busking & waiting

We were at Lot1 last evening for dinner & a meet-up with a certain individual to collect payment for (guitar-related) items. The individual concerned gave a simple instruction, '...just be there at 7 (pm)' which I did.

After dinner we waited at the MRT's station control vicinity & after 20min of waiting my spouse headed home because waiting was never her forte. Also, the daughter was running around the crowded station, often bumping into commuters & we had to apologize to these people repeatedly, which was not the favoured thing to do on an evening day off (we have other better emgagements). But I still waited.

A good evening shower later, my spouse sent a text message asking if that person had showed up. I answered the negative. Time check: 7.40pm & the wait continued.

Finally, the meeting took place at 7.50pm & the payment collection was finalized. Having sent a reply to the spouse saying I was on the way home, her reply was, 'Friends who make you wait are not important. You are being too nice'. So the matter arises again this 2009- am I being too nice?

Would you tell someone to be some place at a stipulated time & show up at the terminal moment? Could you send a simple message to the waiting party to update occurrences (considering the existing technology facilitating this practice)? These are simple considerations which help put our ethics in good stead but we overlook them thinking other people don't mind our rotten ways. As for me, I'm not one to pester others for compliance.

While waiting, I managed to talk to the busker pictured above- he plays an Ibanez RG170 at the entrance of LOT1 just before the MRT station itself, operating with another visually impaired companion who is the vocalist. I told him I was gonna take his pic for this blog & he obliged. The song selections were great, I particularly enjoyed some of the Bangles tunes they covered. If you see them there on weekends, do give generously. God bless.