Wagon Wheel

We woke up on our last day of the tour and did an interview at our hotel with Rini from the Daily Express.

We have been blessed to come back to Malaysia for the third time and we hope to come back soon. It's hard to believe that we have been to so many countries over the past few years and that the participating US Embassys and the US Department of State have helped us bring American Music Abroad on five occasions. Many thanks to The US Embassy in KL Malaysia, Shannon Pang and Harvey
Roger Wang and SPArKS. Asif Ben Pishori, the Miri Country Festival, Wing Fong Chew, Peter Lau, Genie Wong Frezer, ABOFA and everyone who helped us complete this amazing tour.

When we arrived at the KK airport to begin our long journey home, Roger Wang's daughter presented us with a picture she drew of us all on the plane.

We flew from KK to Singapore and used our 12 hr layover to indulge in our favorite pastime, eating;)

Out next flight was from Singapore to Hong Kong and we had just enough time for a bowl of noodles before getting on the 14hr flight back to NYC;)

Jackson

After and early flight to KK we met our SPArKS friends at the airport and headed to the hotel before heading to our workshop at the Sabah Art Institute.

This was our second time coming back to the Art Institute and it was so great to see our old friends and to meet some new ones. We started the class off with a rhythm workshop where we layered some rhythmic vocalizations and worked on developing inner pulse while walking and clapping in time.
Once the ice was broken and they were all warmed up, Michelle did a workshop on country dance and clogging. The band played Wagon Wheel while Michelle taught everyone the steps.
We then showed how the rhythm section worked in concert during different styles of music.
The students were great and we spent a lot of time with them talking and taking pictures.

The director presented us with some beautiful art work from the students and a banner from the institute.

We went straight from the Art Institute
to the sound check at the Sabah Art Gallery for the evening show. The building was designed in the shape of a traditional local basket.

I was able to take a walk around the museum and even got a chance to see the photos of one of our friends from SPArKS.

After the sound check we had about one hour to go back to the hotel and get ready for our concert, I walked around by the waterfront and took some pictures. Since this was our third time in KK and my third blog about the area, I'll post a few pics, but refer you to my past blogs about KK on this same site;)

I got back to my hotel room and had about 30 minutes to get ready. I closed my eyes for a minute and the next thing I know it's 7:00 and I'm supposed to be downstairs for our pick up.
We got to the venue about 30 min before the concert and luckily there was some Old Town white coffee in the green room. The venue looked beautifully lit and the SabahArt Gallery was the perfect setting for an intimate concert. The sound was wonderful and the audience was made up of so many of our friends from previous trips to KK.

The concert was wonderful and after we were presented with a copy of the book Sabah Songs, Contemporary Music In Sabah by our friend Joanna Funk. We are featured in the book along with other contemporary musicians and there are pics and interviews from our second trip to Sabah.

We signed autographs and spent some time with our wonderful friends from SPArKS and the US Embassy. Of course we celebrated with them over an amazing KK meal;)

Highway 40 Blues

Danny; Labuan Malaysia, Day 3.

We woke up very early to go to the Miri airport and checked in to take the short 30 min flight to Labuan.

We were met by Roger Wang the current Vice President and incoming President of SPArKS; Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah. This is our third time working with Roger and SPArKS. He is a great guitarist/ composer and we have been lucky to perform with Roger on a number of occasions.
After we got checked in to our beautiful hotel on the waterfront, we had a quick lunch before going to the workshop we were giving at the International school.

Roger had set us up with some nice car rentals for the day;)

Just kidding;)

On the way to the school, Peter who is Rogers drummer, took me to his home to show me his mini drum kit inventions. He is a great musician and mad scientist inventor;)

The students at the workshop were very shy during the class, but as soon as we invited them up to talk with us on stage, they opened up and played song after song for us.

We love doing workshops and master classes for the students and we're so happy that we were able to work with the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and SPArKS to make this happen for the third time in Borneo.

We went straight from the workshop back to the main venue to do a sound check for the evening concert.

The concert was so much fun and by the end of the night, Johnny and the band really had the place shakin.
Next stop, Kota Kinabalu;)