Plastics, Plastics, Plastics, Get Rid Of Plastics In SG

Browsing through the blog backward in time, I discovered many useful pieces of information. Here are two comments from good friends, Horace and Henri, who have contributed many articles about SG music from the 60s. Here are two but different i.e. about SG and Plastics. 

The Beach Boys song, 'Don't Go Near The Water', was written in 1971, that long ago:

(1) Horace Wee says:

Those ocean-going vessels from container ships, tankers to cruise ships. Are you telling me these vessels store their garbage till they can dispose of them responsibly when they are in port? Correct me if I'm wrong - I think not! They have scheduled dumping days! What control is there? 

Let's start in our own backyard. The only store here that stopped using plastic bags is IKEA and encourages BYO reusable bags. All the other supermarkets, stores, food outlets, other establishments - it's plastic bags for everything. With only a half-hearted effort by NTUC probably now long ignored or forgotten.

To wait for someone to tell you to stop using plastic bags is wrong. One should start doing this voluntarily as it is the responsible thing to do.
Unfortunately, the method here that only works is to impose a fine on people in order for them to do anything right. Quite pathetic.

(2) Henri Gann says:

Glad that your blog is venturing into environmental awareness. 

Plastic goods are definitely an issue as it has a half-life of 100s of years. In simple terms, it doesn't go away easily. Now many cities, counties, and countries around the world are dealing with it. Singapore should too if it has not.

Discharge into the ocean has been a way of disposing of our garbage for many years. It was out of sight, out of mind. Singapore should stop doing it if it has not including the discharge from the many ships for the protection of its clean waters. And, we can go on and on with climate change, etc.

I often wondered as a kid why there were corals and clear blue ocean water around Kusu Island but not at Marine Parade and why there was garbage swept up to the beach of Katong. 

Many Millennials and Generation X in America like my kids are sensitive to the above issues here. Now they are reminding us of environmental awareness and will even go to the extent of telling us what presents we can buy for their kids. Just think, what presents can you buy for the kids that are not made of plastic. Now we buy only paper reading books which are healthy for the environment. 

Don't Go Near The Water: Beach Boys.

(4) The Beach Boys:
Oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams
Have all been touched by man
Poison (Plastics) flowing out to sea
Now threatens life on land...
(By Mike Love, Al Jardine).

(3) Andy Young Says:
Yes, I am guilty. Still using plastic bags to throw my garbage. A very bad habit that's killing our creatures.

Horace Wee and Henry Gann have contributed articles on this blog. Horace was with the Radio and TV station (RTS) at Caldecott Hill - MediaCorp today - and has written two articles in a book called, 'On Air'.

Henri Gann is an unselfish, kind-hearted and successful businessman who came all the way from California USA, to meet me in Singapore. He used to be with a winning guitar group called The Trekkers here.

Disclaimer:
There is no intention to discredit any business or point fingers at anyone or any organization. Truth hurts but truth tells.

John Gerald BT Tan 
observes plastic on seasides, in garbage dumps and other areas of rubbish as pieces of art after he does some magic tricks with his expertise as a media artist. Here are four pieces of these deadly but beautiful killers caught by natural light. He has names for them.

Many, many thanks, John.

The Swan

Serpent

Humming Bird

Whale Rising

Thank you, Horace, Henri, and John. What would I do without all your help?
Images: John Gerald BT Tan and Google.

So You Want To Be In A Rock Band: Peter Diaz (October Cherries)

Peter Diaz read a copy of my posting about '60s Music Aging Pop Stars And Their Book Biographies'. Since he did a biography too (available on Kindle) I agreed to post his summary on the book. 

Peter echoed that 60s musicians are all getting on, "Well, I for one, certainly am but I am quite contented with my lot and very grateful to God for the blessings bestowed upon me. You take good care mate. Best regards.

So You Want To Be In A Rock Band: Peter Diaz (Published 2017)

"Singaporean musician Peter Diaz recounts with panache and unbeatable positivity his career as a rock musician in this laugh-out-loud autobiography, "So You Want to Be in a Rock Band".

Focusing on his remarkable career as singer/songwriter/guitarist with the October Cherries in the late 1960s and 1970s, Diaz writes for today’s generation of budding rock stars about the trials and tribulations of being a musician in Singapore and going on to seek fame in Europe during the flower-power period of social change and nation-building. 

Peter Diaz EPK (Electronic Press Kit): A short video by students from SAE Institute Singapore, pursuing their Diploma in Audio Engineering, featuring a local musician.

With charm and unfailing humor, he describes early days at school when he self-learned three chords on the guitar and then “found” others. As a teen, he competed in a Malaysian Talent Time contest – the equivalent of The Voice or You’ve Got Talent. The experience was exhilarating and rather than “become something” as his dad orders, Peter leaves home (in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) in search of a career in music with fame, fortune and Ferraris (did they even have those back then?) in Singapore, 1967, with $20 in his pocket and no address of relatives to stay with.

With no family to make life easy, and after a brief “career” selling Encyclopaedia Britannica door-to-door (4 sets sold, although 2 orders cancelled!), by luck he auditions and joins The Surfers – later renamed the October Cherries and embarks on 6 years in the band with all of the ups and downs that comes with being young, “wet behind the ears”, naïve – really naïve, rock enthusiasts driven by testosterone and determined to make it big.

And make it big they do. First as The Surfers, then as the October Cherries, the foursome signed with EMI Records and saw huge regional fame with hits including “Far Away Now”, “Beautiful Sunday” and “All Things Work for Good to them that Love God” (is that a title, or what?). With a wonderful eye for detail and hilarious turn of phrase, Peter describes the band’s beautiful successes and devastating failures in Bangkok, Tokyo, Singapore and Malaysia, and then their attempts to take their psychedelic rock music straight into “the lion’s den” of London, the UK in 1971. 

Without a Plan A or B, the Cherries end up living in Belgium where EMI Records signs them to four albums. But not before almost starving, living off Leo chocolate and driving all the way to St. Tropez for a gig that isn’t booked! The craziness of their gung-ho optimism and how serendipity keeps them intact endears the reader to Peter’s unflagging optimism and inspires today’s music hopefuls and anyone who remembers “old-school” items such as “vinyl records” and even CDs!

Even though the band’s rock style is influenced by the Beatles and other psychedelic groups of the late sixties, the Cherries never aspired to the drug-taking, booze-drinking, sex-crazed stereotype of rock musicians. Instead, we get to know four dedicated young men whose biggest transgression is growing their hair beyond their collars – learning the ropes of life, love and music as they go. On tour in Karachi, Pakistan, they even learn to keep playing the same song 20 times for a gang of gun-wielding drug lords until said drug lords are too drunk to yell for another encore!

From near-death experiences in the skies and hanging out of a toilet window, to dealing with a tour gone wrong in India, Peter tells it like it really was to be a rock band in the sixties and seventies. You couldn’t make this stuff up!"

(I grant Andy Lim my permission to post the Amazon Website where my Kindle book 'So you Want To Be In A Rock Band' can be found. Thank you for helping me to publicise my book.)

Thanks very much Peter for sharing.  I hope readers will buy a copy to experience what you did as a rock singer those years. 

ARTICLES ON THE OCTOBER CHERRIES:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2019/10/rip-jay-shotum-october-cherries-andy.html

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2018/03/october-cherries-recording-with-drummer.html

Peter Diaz (image above) wrote this article. Images were also from him, my personal collection and Google.