Toppings!: Deck The Halls With Dashes of Swing!

HO! HO! HO! It's Christmas time again and The Top Room is all set & ready to jingle your bells of Yuletide fever with an enchanting holiday line-up!

Dec 1st & 2nd sees the return of Jazzmamma after an almost two-month hiatus from TTR together with jolly ol' saint David on piano [Friday], Tay Cher Siang on piano [Saturday], Ismail Komando on bass [don't worry, he only terrorizes his instrument] and, special guest, Tan Boon Gee on drums who's coming in to town for his annual pilgrimage to Petaling Street for bass drum-loads of Hokkien Mee! You can't miss this one-off treat as TBG is rooted to Jazz @ Southbridge way down South, not in Birmingham, but in the land of the spewing Merlion!

Then TTR takes a weekend break on the 8th & 9th for closed-door affairs of the non-controversial kind, with Top Hat playing host to 2 back-to-back weddings. The only way you can get in is if you knew the wedding party :(.

As of this writing, 15th & 16th December is still being negotiated with a diminutive young lass with the voice of a Christmas angel so keep watching this space for updates!

Closer to Christmas, the inimitable duo of David & Junji return for a Christmas special on the 22nd & 23rd of December. Once a year, they get to revel in the magic of Christmas playing those wonderful carols of old... and making them sound new! Plus, the pair will do songs taken from "It's Christmas Time Again", an album they launched in 2004 [and still selling like hotcakes yearly till today]. If you haven't got a copy, pick one up from House & Co in Bangsar Shopping Centre, Victoria Music outlets & Love Music in Ampang Park. Or, if you can't be bothered to get out of the house to battle the infamous KL traffic, click here and order online. But, if I were you, I would just make a trip to TTR and get 'em copies from there. Heck! You could even get signed copies & a handshake from them if you come on any of the weekends stated here.

Christmas Eve is always a grand family tradition at Top hat. Ring around the dinner table and enjoy a sumptuous spread prepared by Top Chefs [Paul or Richard... or both]. Check out www.top-hat-restaurants and get in tune with their Christmas fare. It'll be online soon.

Then, as 2006 draws to a close, get in the party mood with Julian Chan’s Boplicity on the 29th. On the 30th, hit that G-spot with David Gomes & his sidekick Mrs Gomes, on vocals, in a solo piano & voice affair-of-the-heart for that pensive moment before all hell breaks loose in the frenzy of new year's eve.

And for the all-consuming ruckus of New Year's Eve... well, we are planning something b-b-b-big but we'd like to just take another week to finalise the details and you can expect to read about it here...

Till next post!