Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sherman Chung Shu Mun Promo Tour in Malaysia (钟舒漫《乐活。道》大马签书会) - 10 & 11 Sept (Sg. Wang Plaza and KLCC Convention Centre)
Hmmmm…..my first ever encounter with Sherman and guess what ? I have only positive comments to say about the singer who started her career after winning 2005 EEG singing contest. Given time, more training, guidance and exposure, Sherman looks set to become the next shinning star of EEG – alongside Joey and Twins. It's a good thing EEG management came to its senses and doesn't "packaged" her into another Yumiko-dance-machine, which I believe was their initial plan. That would have been such a disastrous career move coz Sherman excels in both areas (edgy dance tune and soulful ballads).
Sherman was in town to launch her debut book (乐活。道)and her latest album (5th solo effort)– “Mission.” Let me tell ya,this lady doesn’t disappoint at all with her live performances! She has good vocal control and I luv her low pitch/husky voice. Her sassy short hair seems to bring more spunk and youthful feeling when she performs. Oh..of all her facial features, I have always been fascinated by Sherman's eyes (no, they ain't big or anything but I just like them for some unexplainable reasons) and now that I have a chance to see it "for real", I can vouch that her eyes are indeed mesmerizing.
During the first meet-the-fans session at Sungai Wang Plaza, Sherman woo the crowd with 3 songs - “I Don’t worry” (a fast track) “, ” 童話國” ( a sweet-sweet song that Sherman co-wrote) and the monster hit that made a mark in all the major awards ceremony this year - Angela Aki’s “给自己的信” I was stunned when two elderly guys volunteered to participate in the game session with Sherman. Before I even had time to recover, they were shaking their bod to Wonder Girl’s “Nobody” dance routine with Sherman already ! LOL! One of them even slipped and fell! Even Takki 王若琪 (a new singer signed with Gold Label), who was standing next to me, was breaking into laughter, too. She didn’t stay for long, though.
Sherman is not a just good in singing, she dabbles in composing songs and has a hidden talent in drawing Japanese manga. You can admire some of her works, published in her latest book. You'll be suprised at how well she draws. If I have a bad thing to say about the book, it’s definitely the pictures. They don’t do justice to Sherman at all. If Sherman intends to publish another book, I would strongly advise her to drop the photographer ! The shots and costumes just don’t bring out the best in Sherman.
The next day, I hopped over to KLCC’s convention centre for the annual book fair event, where a few authors were invited to do a short promo for their new book launch, with autograph session thrown-in. Just as luck would have it, the KPI minister, Koh Tsu Koon, who was supposed to officiate the event, ran late and no prizes for guessing who has to pay for it. Anyway, the delay put subsequent schedules in shambles. After Sherman had a brief Q & A with the deejay and 3obligatory songs, she was supposed to go backstage for a short while, before re-appearing for the autograph session. After some poor folks bought the cds and books after getting assurance from those manning the stall that Sherman would sign those stuff,the dreaded announcement came on air - "Autograph session scrapped". Damn! Another boo boo is the dates mixed-up on the promotional poster. The function at Cheras Leisure Mall is supposed to be 11 Oct but printed as 12 Oct !