My Home Town

My Home Town
By Lintang bob Yong
“I took a little trip to my home town…………….” I sang as I drove.
Those catchy lyrics of Paul Anka’s song reminded me that I must, no matter how busy I am, make a visit to the village where I have spent one third of my life time. My home town is in the state of Selangor and about 20 kilometres south of Kuala Lumpur City.
Being busy like anyone else, I have postponed the trip more often than not; even though the place is accessible by easy means of transportation.
My late father, a tin-smith emigrated from China 75 years ago, set up his business in Salak South (now called Salak Selatan ). I was born in this tiny township where all residents were later resettled in a fenced up village, named Salak South New Village. This resettlement was orchestrated by the British Administration during the ‘emergency period’ and is situated just five kilometres away from my birth place.
“I only stopped just to look around………..” I continued singing.
The village I knew has changed beyond recognition and I felt like a total stranger in it. The name has been changed to ‘Kampung Baru Salak Selatan’. The old road leading to the village from a trunk road was no longer there. Instead, I found myself driving along a high-way, named Sungei Besi Highway and I had to navigate myself to find the slip road that leads to the entrance of the village. The notorious landmark; a wooden movie theatre which was then the centre of the villagers’ entertainment has disappeared. This made it more difficult for me to locate my late father’s shop which was just a stone throw away from the theatre. As a teenager, I frequented the theatre often.
Eventually, I found my bearing and stopped by a row of seven wooden shop houses. Shop numbered 2 was where our family stayed and I had great memories of my neighbours’ children as my playmates. We used to play under the cherry tree in front of the shop. The shop was sold after the death of my parents. The cherry tree was gone and the shop numbered 2 had made way for a three-storied concrete building. My childhood friends are also no longer staying there. The rest of the shops, looking the same as they were; though the owners and businesses had since changed hands many years ago are still standing. One particular famous medical shop, known as Thien Teck Tong is still around. I met up with the youngest son whose father was a Chinese sinseh and learned that he has taken over the business after the death of his old man. There was also a bicycle repair shop, the business of which is now run by the grand children and they have turned it into a motorcycles repair shop. I remember that there were also two sundries shops but the businesses are no longer operating now.
Wanted to look around more, I drove along those roads that I used to hang around with friends. In the olden days there were not many motor vehicles on the road so it was relatively safe to play along the roads. Sometimes we cycled to the nearby ponds and caught fighting fish. During school holidays, we even climbed the adjacent hill to the other sides of it.
The birds were singing………..
Continued my journey, I could see some of the houses look the same and familiar but many of the wooden houses are rebuilt with bricks and concrete. I felt sad when my memories flashed back to the times I spent my childhood days with friends playing in their houses. Though I felt a sense of guilt and regrets for not keeping in contact with them, my heart was singing and wanting to revisit my home town again, perhaps with luck, I might be able to meet up with some of my childhood friends.
And so the music, it goes on and on………….

Alleycats Live At The Royal Lake Club

Alleycats Live at The Royal Lake Club
By Lintang Bob Yong
It was ‘Saturday Night Live’ on July 17, 2011 at 9.30 PM. I went to the Batek Bar and found myself staring at so many faces looking at one direction. All eyes were on the stage. Obviously, they were looking forward to watching Alleycats’ performance. Wow! I reckoned there were 300 or more people at the Batek Bar that night; many were seated comfortably; some were standing leisurely and others were happily hanging around chit-chatting. All of these people had one thing in common; they all were waiting patiently for the show to start.
The Alleycats is a Malaysian band which was formed in 1969, and gained popularity in the late 1970s. They consist of musicians from Penang, and became popular in their home state earlier on in their career. The Alleycats had produced all together 27 albums. Their first released album was “Terima Kasih”, with their first single Senandung Semalam.
They have played in Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Over a period of time, the Alleycats’ band members had changed and the present members consist of David Arumugam (vocal), Glenn (vocal), Mike (keyboard), Jimie (Bass), Dina (lead guitar) and Boy (drum). Their music is classified to be of western folk and pop music.
The crowd roared as soon as the Alleycats made their appearances on the band stand. The first number they sang was ‘Sampai Salam’ receiving a thunderous applause, followed by ‘To Love Somebody’ and ‘Jasemin’. I enjoyed their subsequent renditions-‘Oye Como Va’ and ‘Andai-nya Aku Pergi Dulu’. Songs like ‘Pocho Pocho’ and ‘My Achy Breaky Heart’ got all the line dancers on the floor. Coincidentally, the Alleycats sang 27 songs during the three sessions. Each session was 45 minutes long.
The night ended at 12.30 PM with David’s famous trademark shout of, ‘Terima Kasih” and the crowd echoed with more ‘Terima Kasih’. I believed everyone went home happy that night.
“Terima kasih” to all.

Watch more videos on these links.
Pocho Pocho & Achy Breaky Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kHvcFcyJws
Andai-nya Aku Pergi Dulu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd5dxpwcqEE
Knocking on heaven’s door, All shook up & To love somebody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCxCOu9Nvxc
Oye Como Va
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxGGUR0tf8