In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Whoops! I had to take Bat Cat back to the vet because he kept getting the runs, and was becoming so dehydrated that his eyes have sunk in. Poor little Batty Watty! So I couldn't blog my love for you Thursday, but I posted the letter today so you can read it if you want. Please forgive me? I love you!
I meant what I said a some time ago about your coming on stage with me when I perform public concerts, insyaAllah. This is because I would rather they look at you instead of me. This is because my voice doesn't match my body, and I'm sure the people would want to believe that you are doing the singing instead of me, because you are beautiful. Plus my voice is very sensitive to motion, so I can't do a lot of dancing and jumping around. Essentially it's another modeling job, because your microphone wouldn't be plugged in, but you would be lip syncing (to the best of your ability, of course), while wearing pretty clothes and pointing at the crowd. Oh don't worry, I'll be on stage with you, but you would be in the spotlight, while I'll be lit by an oil lamp or something, while sitting on a recliner (or better yet, a massage chair) watching Shadowplay TV. OK OK, a bar stool. I'm sure having to change outfits all the time would be stressful, so we could even probably hire a few of your half-naked friends. They can't be half-naked at the show, though: this is an Islamic situation. How do they live daily lives, going around half-naked like that? Don't they get embarrassed when they go grocery shopping? Wouldn't those wings push cans and boxes off the shelves? I'm sure you don't do that, and that you are modest. Because you are MY girl.
Don't you and your bosses forget that the locals here have little to no interest in dressing chic, so any fashion business should be focused on the visitor, and that the situation is Muslim. The attraction and mass media is global however, and the location is East meets West. The center of attraction should be a closed environment like a building, a concert hall/mall (perhaps Dewan 2020) where both business and audience can be controlled, and where businesses can range from apparel to hospitality. It is ludicrous to gig daily in such a situation: once or twice a week should be more than enough, and the concerts should be marketed as part of a vacation package. On the other days, I should just stay at home and voice train, and make love to my sweetie. I may joke a little to make you smile, but please take my inspiration and ideas regarding this matter seriously as well as our well-being, because my time on earth is short, and I am already old.
Certainly there is much secret plotting and planning going on, considering the scale of events that have occurred. Allah has been my only friend anyway throughout the years, so I put my trust in Allah, to keep the evil ones in check by some complex disaster that will strike them from a direction they did not perceive at a time when they are unaware, like when they taunt God for not punishing them for their words. This is because Allah is always with them. And Allah is always with us, my love. So please pray with me that Allah will bring us together in happiness, success and security soon.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Letter to Julia 20121129
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hello there, my beloved Julia. And how are you feeling today? I pray you are feeling healthy and confident. I'm sorry for being so businesslike yesterday. I do love you so, my precious Julia, and I want you to feel loved at all times, for you are MY girl, and I cherish you so. But yeah, this is a family business, so it's just as important that you understand my work as it is for me to aid your work, as it is ours. Music can be an uncontrollable monster. Do you remember the Beatles? Ya Allah, please help and protect Julia and I, and our family business.
Hello there, my beloved Julia. And how are you feeling today? I pray you are feeling healthy and confident. I'm sorry for being so businesslike yesterday. I do love you so, my precious Julia, and I want you to feel loved at all times, for you are MY girl, and I cherish you so. But yeah, this is a family business, so it's just as important that you understand my work as it is for me to aid your work, as it is ours. Music can be an uncontrollable monster. Do you remember the Beatles? Ya Allah, please help and protect Julia and I, and our family business.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Letter to Julia 20121128
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hi there, my beautiful young Julia. How are you feeling today? I'm suddenly tired for some reason, I had to take a nap before I could write this letter. It's been raining everyday, so the weather is nice and cool. I just finished the backup vocals for "Dragonfly", and am about to mix them down. They're not perfect, but I could always computerize them, or if that fails, I'll just do them again. But making music with a computer is much easier than it was 15 years ago, when all I had was a 4 track cassette recorder. Oh, yuck! I don't know if you are familiar with the technology, but it doesn't matter, Those days are over, thank God!
In case you didn't know, long ago cassette tapes were common before the advent of compact discs, which was before hard drives, which was before flash memory. It's hard to say that optical drives are better than hard drives are better than flash memory, but all of the above are better than cassette tapes. Generally when you listen to music, you are aware of 2 tracks: the left and the right, for your left ear and your right ear. A 4 track allows one to add maybe another voice or a guitar to those left and right tracks, and you could put those new tracks on the left, or the right, or the middle, or in between. Of course, you could start from scratch and record guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, and arrange their position relative to your 2 ears. Back when, the big record companies had 48 track machines in their studios, and they used 2 inch reel to reel tapes. Which obviously made time in the studio very expensive, added to the many more walls available in a studio as opposed to a bedroom. Therefore the cost of making and selling recorded music is what drove many a musician into slavery. Of course this cost is offset by sales and royalties from public performances (radio, TV, etc.) but few artistes are able to garner and maintain mass exposure.
The inventors of computers didn't know they were creating a monster, but they did, and their work was and is rapidly compounded by others. So really, God is the One who created the monster, which currently resides on your cell phone, which could probably be configured as a recording studio. This new technology quickly made the old ways obsolete, and now anyone with a cell phone can be a radio or TV producer. Down with the oppressive media moguls. Truly the Grace of God is for only God to administer to whomever God wills, and is out of reach from the willpower of humans.
Hi there, my beautiful young Julia. How are you feeling today? I'm suddenly tired for some reason, I had to take a nap before I could write this letter. It's been raining everyday, so the weather is nice and cool. I just finished the backup vocals for "Dragonfly", and am about to mix them down. They're not perfect, but I could always computerize them, or if that fails, I'll just do them again. But making music with a computer is much easier than it was 15 years ago, when all I had was a 4 track cassette recorder. Oh, yuck! I don't know if you are familiar with the technology, but it doesn't matter, Those days are over, thank God!
In case you didn't know, long ago cassette tapes were common before the advent of compact discs, which was before hard drives, which was before flash memory. It's hard to say that optical drives are better than hard drives are better than flash memory, but all of the above are better than cassette tapes. Generally when you listen to music, you are aware of 2 tracks: the left and the right, for your left ear and your right ear. A 4 track allows one to add maybe another voice or a guitar to those left and right tracks, and you could put those new tracks on the left, or the right, or the middle, or in between. Of course, you could start from scratch and record guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, and arrange their position relative to your 2 ears. Back when, the big record companies had 48 track machines in their studios, and they used 2 inch reel to reel tapes. Which obviously made time in the studio very expensive, added to the many more walls available in a studio as opposed to a bedroom. Therefore the cost of making and selling recorded music is what drove many a musician into slavery. Of course this cost is offset by sales and royalties from public performances (radio, TV, etc.) but few artistes are able to garner and maintain mass exposure.
The inventors of computers didn't know they were creating a monster, but they did, and their work was and is rapidly compounded by others. So really, God is the One who created the monster, which currently resides on your cell phone, which could probably be configured as a recording studio. This new technology quickly made the old ways obsolete, and now anyone with a cell phone can be a radio or TV producer. Down with the oppressive media moguls. Truly the Grace of God is for only God to administer to whomever God wills, and is out of reach from the willpower of humans.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Letter to Julia 20121127
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hi Julia, my beautiful and precious love. It's almost the end of the year, huh? How time flies, and it's coming to the 4th year since I first proposed to you. I don't remember exactly when, you probably know better than me exactly when, I think it was sometime after February 2009. Well, I'm still game, because I mean it, Julia. I love you, and I want to marry you. I have chosen you for my wife, and I am committed to our marriage.
And I have been waiting all these years for Allah to grant me the means to marry you. I want to give you a good married life, and not my poverty, that is why I wait. I believe Allah will bring us together InsyaAllah, so please pray with me.
I'm not a priest Julia, I'm just an ordinary person trying to be faithful, to God and to you. There is no priesthood in Islam: the imams you see are generally elected officials. God didn't create the priesthood and monasticism: humans did. But there are certainly some sincere servants of God among the many priests.
Hi Julia, my beautiful and precious love. It's almost the end of the year, huh? How time flies, and it's coming to the 4th year since I first proposed to you. I don't remember exactly when, you probably know better than me exactly when, I think it was sometime after February 2009. Well, I'm still game, because I mean it, Julia. I love you, and I want to marry you. I have chosen you for my wife, and I am committed to our marriage.
And I have been waiting all these years for Allah to grant me the means to marry you. I want to give you a good married life, and not my poverty, that is why I wait. I believe Allah will bring us together InsyaAllah, so please pray with me.
I'm not a priest Julia, I'm just an ordinary person trying to be faithful, to God and to you. There is no priesthood in Islam: the imams you see are generally elected officials. God didn't create the priesthood and monasticism: humans did. But there are certainly some sincere servants of God among the many priests.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Letter to Julia 20121126
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hello my beautiful young Julia. How are you feeling today? I pray you are healthy and happy. I just had steak and fried rice, which was really rich and filling. Are you hungry? Do you want some? Perhaps you would join me for dinner sometime.
Oh, I'm so lazy, Julia. I just want to laze around all day, and snuggle with you. You are so beautiful, my love. I have completely lost my desire to tour, like a normal singer would do. Perhaps they should build an airport here at the kampung, so I can gig at the airport. I'm a disgrace to the word "rock star". I don't want to tour, I don't want to be photographed or do interviews, I don't like parties, I don't smoke, drink or do drugs, I don't have any tattoos, I don't want to slut around, I don't want to worship the devil... everybody else in my business is such a conservative fuddy-duddy. I am the rebel.
Hello my beautiful young Julia. How are you feeling today? I pray you are healthy and happy. I just had steak and fried rice, which was really rich and filling. Are you hungry? Do you want some? Perhaps you would join me for dinner sometime.
Oh, I'm so lazy, Julia. I just want to laze around all day, and snuggle with you. You are so beautiful, my love. I have completely lost my desire to tour, like a normal singer would do. Perhaps they should build an airport here at the kampung, so I can gig at the airport. I'm a disgrace to the word "rock star". I don't want to tour, I don't want to be photographed or do interviews, I don't like parties, I don't smoke, drink or do drugs, I don't have any tattoos, I don't want to slut around, I don't want to worship the devil... everybody else in my business is such a conservative fuddy-duddy. I am the rebel.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Letter to Julia 20121124
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hi Julia, my beloved! How is the most beautiful girl in the world feeling today? Yes, you are the most beautiful girl in the world to me. I pray you are feeling healthy and confident, and you are slowing down.
Everyone's a reporter nowadays, don't you agree? Maybe someone took a snapshot of some celebrity with their cell phone while pretending to dial a number, then posted it on their Facebook page with a little report on the circumstance. It is annoying, but there's the crowd for you. On the plus side, it makes them more current and exclusive than the media corporations. It sort of makes those large media groups redundant, going to the point of unnecessary and archaic. Slow moving dinosaurs! My excuse is that I'm too lazy to conform to the vile expectations of the entertainment business. I've never had much love for the press, especially the big clunkers. The press has less foresight than politicians. They think they can intimidate me with irrelevant headlines. Guess what? I put MY fear in Allah! They can't grasp that? It's not my fault that they have no faith. Let them publish a report on something as redundant as themselves, like K-pop and the Billboard charts.
I have decided not to grant anyone an interview except for publications (not reporters) that have interviewed Shadowplay before, back when we were a 3 piece band consisting of Andre, Terry and me in Salt Lake City 1995. Maybe I might place a few ads here and there, if it's not a waste of money. And these love letters to my sweetie Julia are the closest thing everyone is going to get to an autobiography. They're going to publish lies anyway, so why even bother. I put my trust in Allah.
Hi Julia, my beloved! How is the most beautiful girl in the world feeling today? Yes, you are the most beautiful girl in the world to me. I pray you are feeling healthy and confident, and you are slowing down.
Everyone's a reporter nowadays, don't you agree? Maybe someone took a snapshot of some celebrity with their cell phone while pretending to dial a number, then posted it on their Facebook page with a little report on the circumstance. It is annoying, but there's the crowd for you. On the plus side, it makes them more current and exclusive than the media corporations. It sort of makes those large media groups redundant, going to the point of unnecessary and archaic. Slow moving dinosaurs! My excuse is that I'm too lazy to conform to the vile expectations of the entertainment business. I've never had much love for the press, especially the big clunkers. The press has less foresight than politicians. They think they can intimidate me with irrelevant headlines. Guess what? I put MY fear in Allah! They can't grasp that? It's not my fault that they have no faith. Let them publish a report on something as redundant as themselves, like K-pop and the Billboard charts.
I have decided not to grant anyone an interview except for publications (not reporters) that have interviewed Shadowplay before, back when we were a 3 piece band consisting of Andre, Terry and me in Salt Lake City 1995. Maybe I might place a few ads here and there, if it's not a waste of money. And these love letters to my sweetie Julia are the closest thing everyone is going to get to an autobiography. They're going to publish lies anyway, so why even bother. I put my trust in Allah.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Letter to Julia 20121122
In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.
Hey Julia, my love. Assalamu'alaikum. How's it going today? I pray you are healthy and confident, for I love you. Sigh. I apologize if it seems that I leave a trail of destruction in my wake. But it's not really me, I'm just a servant. I can't raise the dead, I can't distort time and the weather, I can't bend probabilities. Allah is the One who does that. Perhaps Allah has granted me a little bit of strength to go with this chimp-like body, but strength will fade like beauty. Whatever strength I have, I will use to look after you and our loved ones. InsyaAllah.
Again, if you are in a hurry to be married to me, please know that this little house needs at least a bathroom for you, the doorways need to be made taller, and we could probably convert the living room into a bedroom. And regardless of how much money we have, you will have to put up with this little house for a little time, while we work out legal and land issues. I believe it best to be patient, and wait until Allah grants me my own wealth so I can help contribute financially to our family. Please pray that it be soon, and that my loneliness doesn't cause a massive disaster in the meantime.
Hey Julia, my love. Assalamu'alaikum. How's it going today? I pray you are healthy and confident, for I love you. Sigh. I apologize if it seems that I leave a trail of destruction in my wake. But it's not really me, I'm just a servant. I can't raise the dead, I can't distort time and the weather, I can't bend probabilities. Allah is the One who does that. Perhaps Allah has granted me a little bit of strength to go with this chimp-like body, but strength will fade like beauty. Whatever strength I have, I will use to look after you and our loved ones. InsyaAllah.
Again, if you are in a hurry to be married to me, please know that this little house needs at least a bathroom for you, the doorways need to be made taller, and we could probably convert the living room into a bedroom. And regardless of how much money we have, you will have to put up with this little house for a little time, while we work out legal and land issues. I believe it best to be patient, and wait until Allah grants me my own wealth so I can help contribute financially to our family. Please pray that it be soon, and that my loneliness doesn't cause a massive disaster in the meantime.
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