As cheesy as it it sounds, we know that the Idol franchise always has an ‘Idol gives back!’ episode, close towards the end of the season, or any time deemed appropriate to contribute a portion of the multi-millions earned, for a good cause. Coincidentally… Jack & Rai happen to have a ‘Give Back’ day this year as well! Imagine that! =P

Haha, not entirely on purpose actually… as some of you might know, we do a fair share of appearances, just to help our friends from some non-profit organizations, or fundraisers for a good cause, or sometimes to raise awareness about a certain issue. Some of the organizations we have helped with performances include ACRES & WWF (Earth Hour)… also partnered the Health Promotion Board in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, and also contributed part of our CD sales to our CDCs to help fund arts programmes around Singapore.

Which brings me to the 5th of June! A very special day on the J&R calendar. Just happens that 3 of the non-profit organizations we support are organizing events to support their causes on the same day… so you have a variety of events throughout the day to choose from to contribute to their causes and to just do a little bit to help make someone else’s life a little bit better.

Starting off our day will be the Habitat for Humanity, in partnership with Barclays, organizing an event called ‘Bare Your Sole 2010′. Here’s a little writeup taken off their website:

Take a Walk with Us

Treacherous roads, uneven flooring, broken glass, scorching ground and discarded sharp objects…
Everyday, people in developing countries disaster-stricken places make their way through these undesirable conditions – barefoot.
Let us take off our shoes on this one particular day in support of these children and adults who live in such dire conditions.
Join us at our “Habitat-Barclays Bare Your Sole 2010” barefoot walk to help raise funds for projects to improve these people’s living conditions by building homes and fighting poverty.

Bare Your Sole 2010
5 June 2010
Flag off time is at 8am
Food, Entertainment and Games will start from 7am till 3pm

Angsana Green, East Coast Park
5km Barefoot Charity Walk
For more info check out www.bareyoursole.org.sg

After that, we’re joining our friends from World Vision at the finale of the ‘30 Hour Famine Camp’. As World Vision’s Goodwill Ambassadors for a few years now, we are regular supporters of this event. In 2009, we performed at Downtown East, sharing the stage with Taiwanese singer A*Mei… and she sure is superb on the mic! We’ll be performing at the finale again this year at *Scape, details as follows, taken off http://30hourfamine.org.sg:

The 30 HOUR FAMINE is World Vision’s annual flagship event where over one million youths take a stand of solidarity against global hunger and issues affecting the poor. Since 1985, thousands of young people in Singapore have joined this international youth movement to show that they, too, care about the poor and the hungry.

When? Where?

More than 1,000 youths will go on a food fast to fight global poverty at the 30 HOUR FAMINE Camp 2010 on Friday, 4 June – Saturday, 5 June 2010 at Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road).
The 30-hour food fast will begin on Friday, 4 June 2010 with an Opening Ceremony at noon, and will come to an end with an exciting Final Challenge and Finale Concert in the heart of town (*Scape). The fasting officially ends on Saturday, 5 June 2010 at 7.00pm with campers partaking in a break fast meal together.

Who?

All youths in Singapore who are passionate about global issues and want to make a difference.
If you are aged between 15 and 18 years old, register as a camper today!
If you are 19 years old and above, sign up as a volunteer now!

Why?

We are very fortunate to live in Singapore, a country where most of our basic needs are met. Participating in the 30 HOUR FAMINE Camp and going without food for 30 straight hours will allow you to experience, first-hand, the hunger and starvation that young people from less privileged countries experience on a daily basis.
You will be confronted with the realities of poverty and injustice that still exist around the world, as you undergo various activities that will put you in the shoes of those who are much less privileged.

What?

With the theme “Dreams. Make them Real”, World Vision hopes to inspire and empower youths to reach for their dreams of making the world a better place, and to help make the dreams of impoverished children a reality.
Through presentations, role play and simulations, campers will engage in mind-changing and heartfelt sessions that will broaden worldviews and generate compassion for those whose lives are fraught with the challenges of poverty. This year, the 30 HOUR FAMINE in Singapore will focus on hunger and the food crisis, as well as the alarming rate of child mortality in impoverished communities due to child malnutrition and disease.

How?

You could be part of the 30 HOUR FAMINE in Singapore in the following ways:

1) Join the 30 HOUR FAMINE Camp 2010 as a camper! Register online now!
2) Sign up as a volunteer (facilitator, game helper, and more) today!
3) Set up your very own SUPPORT A DREAM page and raise awareness of the issues of poverty amongst your friends and family
4) Make a donation towards World Vision’s work in alleviating poverty around the world
5) Join the 30 HOUR FAMINE T-shirt Design Challenge and get your friends to vote for your design! The winning design will be worn by performers at the Finale Concert on stage!

You can also find out more details about the event at the 30hour Famine website mentioned above.

Here’s a little video of the event we’d like to share!



Last, but not least, we round up ‘Jack & Rai give back!’ at *Scape as well, with ONE Singapore: Action against Poverty. We’ll be performing at the finals of ‘Singapore can speak’, a contest to find a youth ambassador for ONE Singapore. Details from the One Singapore website as follows:

Local students are competing to become the first ONE (SINGAPORE) Youth Ambassador, in a series of contests called “Singapore Can Speak”. The theme of the competition is “Making Poverty History”.

“SCS provides young people an opportunity to speak up, share ideas and make it happen together,” says Eileen Feng, who conceptualised the event. “We aim to raise awareness among young Singaporeans of the social issues affecting the nation.”

Contestants from across the island submitted short homemade videos in a preliminary round. The Top 16 submissions were picked to join the competition, which takes place every Saturday between now and early June.

A number of ONE (SINGAPORE)’s celebrity and NGO supporters are lending a hand. LUSH 99.5 DJ Lavinia Tan, TV & radio host Anita Kapoor, AIDHA founder Sarah Mavrinac, Michael Switow, Vernetta Lopez and The Flying Dutchman have all volunteered to be judges. Jack and Rai will also perform at the finals.

To check out the action, head to *Scape for the finals on Saturday evening 5 June from 6:30 – 9:30 pm.

To learn more, check out this article in The Online Citizen, the Singapore Can Speak facebook page and website.

Yup, so if you guys are wondering what to do on a Saturday, why not make it a lil’ more meaningful this Saturday… anytime from morning at East Coast Park till nighttime at *Scape, lots of stuff to catch… so hope to see on the 5th of June when ‘Jack & Rai give back!’.

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” ~ Helen Keller

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Usually i try to post songs that i don’t sing on stage so often, but just had to attempt an acoustic cover version of Jay Sean’s ‘Down’! Plus I’ve learnt to use some transition effects on my iMovie… hahhahah! Always been a bit more audio than visual… well here it is! ‘Down’ by Jay… I mean ‘Rai Sean’. =P

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Now many may find it odd that I’m writing a piece to honor a bassist from a metal band, but well, i’m sure a number of us have been through that youthful angsty phase where we’ve chipped away at our eardrums with our Sony Discman and standard issue earphones blasting at incomprehensible levels. I had that couple of years where Rage Against the Machine (bless you, Tom Morello), Metallica, Testament, Benediction, White Zombie and finally Slipknot (which was one of the last metal bands i listened to), were regular fixtures on my playlist.

Like any good band, a rhythm section is always the grounding factor of the band. If your drum and bass don’t lock well enough, there really is nothing for guitars and vocals to hover above, and create the full soundscape that good bands are able to create. One thing that I eventually learnt about these bands is that much respect goes out to bassists and drummers who can get their act together in a metal-type context, ‘cos in a genre of music that intense, and occasionally, complex, it really isn’t an easy thing to do. And one band that had that down was Slipknot.

Paul Gray was one of the members of Slipknot who was not an Iowa native, he was from LA I think. Good thing he was still around when Slipknot’s 2008 album ‘All Hope is Gone’ hit number 1 on the Billboard 200, as i understand it was the first Slipknot album to ever do so. For Singaporeans, the last time Slipknot was here was 2005 I believe, for their Subliminal Verses tour.

Now i won’t go to the extreme fanboy extent of saying that he was the world’s number 1 bassist, and that noone else comes equal, cos those are really hard accolades to come by. But I will say that Paul Gray and Slipknot were pioneers in a new wave of metal to hit the airwaves, and definitely an act worth catching, and tribute-worthy. So instead of linking a sappy tribute video, maybe u could catch this vid i linked, and get yourself a DVD to learn what this self-taught, left-handed and mean-ass bassist will leave behind.

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Here’s a lil’ tune i played on my Mac over and over again so many times, that i just had to record it down and sing it myself. Something from Snow Patrol, called ‘You could be Happy’.



Lyrics:

You could be happy and I won’t know
But you weren’t happy the day I watched you go

More than anything I want to see you, girl
Take a glorious bite out of the whole world

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