JOHO SPAM! Event - Of Babes, Wicked Poems and Roost-Chickin' - 1/1/2010, Roost Bar, The Zon, JB

band Statik
malu-malu lak die
abg ginji aka. feroz omar



SPAM (Southern Project Art Movement) event was held on 1st day of 2010. Organised by JOHO, a facebook-based community movement, it saw 2 of SSP's own poets onstage, crankin' their stuff. A reason to be proud Marsmanner!!
I thought it as a free-flow beer swinger party but turn out to be mini-gathering where fashion-conscious people enjoying good musics & cool patronage.
4 of us (ginji, awe, me n if-neyo) making headways to JB...At 7pm raining cats & dogs made up the most of our journey but the boys keep ridin' not to mention the fiasco when ginji forgot his 'cracky'.
When we arrived, a cluster of people already thronged Roost bistro. Basically, I had no idea about the whole event but catchin' friends in the sleazy ambience of The Zon along wit chip n beer, this well perfectly documentated the BEP's lyric 'I gotta feeling, that tonite gonna be a good nite...' bla la la.
Inside, an acoustic set was played and they were actually Finger Inc. This is ska-punk band that should by now been bigger than Robot Asmara! Comprising 2 female members, joyous set was abound and i sincerely hope they can push their stuff for more commercial & radio airplay. Cos' they got one terrific cover which is 'That Thing You Do'...i cant wait for them to rise and routed away the hell of some fake pop bands we see in KL.
Next, a band called Zig Zipler or whutever...they got roaring cheers from the crowd. I loike their rendition of 'Keroncong Pilihanraya'. Great stuff. band ni dah mabowk so asal tu besh.tak mabok pegi duk umah ahah

Then, Statik took the stage and i was surprised by the lead singer's vox capability to pull his range nicely. Now, i know this is the band who performed that song with the opening lyric 'Sesuatu...dalam hatiku berkata.....'. Beatles-que stuff with C-F-G-Em pop sensibility, Statik proved johor indie certainly has a sound of their own and just maybe, too sophisticated for average malaysiaun's taste.

The MC that nite is our friend, the ever flamboyant Boyd (broken fleet)..ahahhah...creepy stuff he got onstage.sometimes, he got raunchous but managed to keep the crowds.God bless ma man...

Next, SSP's own poet Ginji aka. Feroz Omar took the stage with the poem 'Mawar Kesenian'. A rather laidback recital, feroz can be regarded with heavy Ginsberg approach. We hope we can catch more of him onstage along with his band, Marsman (click www/myspace/marsmanner).
Laila (formerly Laila's Lounge) strut their stuff and again, the sophistication potrayed in every of their songs showed a promising future to Johor's indie scene. Also performing 'Frozen' from their latest release.

Next.i wait for this. there onstage John Da Madman, probably the 'most dangerous poet' in the hood.
Reciting Suara-Suara Retak, John suddenly became celebrity overnight and he pulled the crowd wit a substantial approach complete wit superfulous indon-accent and poetic radicality. i know the moment that put your pubic hair in standing ovation when he spoke from the line, "Aku hidup diantara revolusi, Antara Tun dan tertuduh sodomi, Dan tanpa kamu...kamu...juga kamu..."
How cool is that. my presumption, most of the crowd may not used to such poem-recital but here we go, defining new style to Literature.
Being the invisible member of Marsman, i know the crowd may want to get more pieces of him in future show...Bring back ghost of chairil, pleawse...And i hope, lots more poets from similar genre will emerge soon & destroy the capitalistic nature encountered in DBP & right-wing/mainstream poetry scene..especially if u from Johor where a cultural tradition is strong, i hope a great poetic movement will arise soon in Southville. Like a twilight.
Still, I am proud by the SSP's in cultivating nu artists, avant-garde poets and most importantly, literature outputs that were (either in normal or half-normal mode) constantly stacked on this blog's wall. Separa sedar, indeed!

Last performer, probably the most famous Johor band's right now - Plague of Happiness. just superb. nice set to end the show.

Next, is babes and Roost-Chickin'. JOHO babes strut their stuff on the red carpet, dammit a red carpet ahahhah. They are like the (Kim) Kardashians of the south. Nice one. I saw lots cupcake being sold with some cute buttons & pretty gifts.
JOHO has shown us there's cooler way for babes-scooping and party-romping other than trashy electro & bad rave/tetonic movement usually found on the dance floor...I hope more events unfold so as to reverberate the art (may i read: swinger) movement right in the land of Johor.
JOHO shall be viewed as fundamentally build upon collective musical interest among its members. So, keep the group musically-inclined & artistic. Maybe, a special compilation featuring Johor's breeding musical acts may do...Personally, i do hope so.
On crucial note, the JOHO group may well on course of bigger task towards putting Johor as mecca of new entertainment, and probably a hub where artistry (musics, poetry, literature, theatre, rock fest and all kind of cultural activities) flourishes! May we see renaissance, once again...Southern-style!