Tuesday, May 1, 2007

The Final Tally and Farewell


Well, this is it. Thanks to the dedicated members of the RAWK Foundation, our supportive lecturer-advisor Mr. Srikumar, the good staff of Taylor's College, all our big-hearted sponsors, each and every talented performer from our events, and you, the reader, the honorable guest, the audience.

All of you played a significant role in bringing our society closer to reaching and embracing autism. All of you have touched the lives of the less fortunate, and made an effort in changing them for the better. And that, ladies and gents, is something you should be proud of.

We raised a grand total of *drumroll*............ RM18,000!

Committee of the RAWK Foundation: [Left-right] Sze Chin, Karen, Aiman, Miranda, Cheng Han, Kelly, Swee Ling, Sha, Sarah, Sunitha

As we now close this chapter and life carries us into other adventures, we hope that the legacy of the RAWK Foundation lives on, in hearts and minds, and in the most pleasant of dreams and memories.

Goodbye!


Saturday, April 7, 2007

'Twas the Night Before Easter..




The night began slow due to the moody weather, but the hall quickly filled only minutes before the show started! Kicking it all off was a video presentation of the RAWK Foundation's visit to the National Autism Society Of Malaysia only 2 months ago. The inimitable Yugi and Isa, our emcees for the event, then introduced the first guest performance of the night--The ComeBackKings!

They had a little surprise for the RAWK Foundation--

--their very own RAWK t-shirts! It was a heartfelt gesture and a great opening to a great night.

The ComeBackKings were promptly followed by finalist #1: Ben and Friends! The band featured a chinese flute and played an unplugged cover of Assuredly Yours by Paradise Life and Guy Sebastian.


Finalist #2, Ain, wasn't able to come due to illness, and so finalist #3, Inspire, took the stage next with a funky and energetic medley of hip-hop grooves.


Hot on Inspire's heels was Aura, finalist #4, with an acoustic performance of a Juliet the Orange cover.



Neo Classicism
, finalist #5, then stormed the stage with a spicy fusion of Hindi and English dances.



The sixth finalist, Tidal Sessions, followed by soothing the audience with their guitars and an ukulele.



But the hall quickly got fired up again by finalist #7, It's Me, with a crowd-rousing song and dance number.


For a change of pace, finalist #8, T-Magic, wowed the audience with umbrellas that popped out of thin air and a mysterious, levitating stick.


Next up was Syden, finalist #9, with an interesting fusion of cha-cha, jive, ballet, hip-hop, and freestyle dancing.


And once again an unplugged, acoustic song came to soothe the crowd after a rousing dance. This time it was finalist #10, the Afro-Asian Brothers, with a song entitled Asian Queen.


Mustang Crew
were next, and did a street dance funk style animation based on popping and electric boogaloo.


The twelfth finalist, Ballad of Fallen Angel, then took the stage with an original song with an anti-war message.

After the last finalist performed, the emcees announced that it was voting time! Members of the audience then wrote the name or number of their favourite talent in a voting slip found in their programme booklets and passed it to the RAWK ballot-collecting team.

While the ballots were being counted, guest performers Ghetto Republic took to the stage with their flavour of hip-hop.



The audience making predictions and discussing who to vote for while the contestants look on.






From right to left: RAWK Foundation Project Manager Kelly Ch'ng looking anxious while lecturer-advisor Mr. Srikumar and VIP Mia Palencia enjoy the guest performances.




Guest performers and renowned local indie band Project Ei8ht then came on-stage and performed an awesome RAWKin' set!


By now, the crowd was restless and anxious to find out who the winners were!




3rd prize goes to... (the crowd goes silent)




T-Magic!



And in 2nd place is..





Ben and Friends!!



Yugi and Isa then get the crowd to shout their pick for numero uno, and it is none other than.. (*drumroll*)





Mustang Crew!!!

The Champions of the Talent Showdown with emcees Isa and Yugi, RAWK Foundation Project Manager Kelly Ch'ng and lecturer-advisor Mr. Srikumar

A gazillion THANKS to everyone who came; guests, performers, audiences - each and every single one of you made the event a memorable experience!

Until next time..

Keep the RAWK spirit alive!
- The Reach Autism With Kindness Foundation -
From left to right, 1st row: Cheng Han (Assistant Project Manager 1), Mr. Srikumar, Kelly Ch'ng, Swee Ling (Assistant Project Manager 2). 2nd row: Aiman, Fong, Charles, Izham, Sha, Kenix. 3rd row: Cyndy, Grace, Stephanie, Suraya, Bernice, Joe Anne, Meng Yen, Maisara. 4th row: Karen, Miranda, Sarah, Sunitha, Safira, Egisty, Khysa, Bao Li, Huai Yee, Sharon. 5th row: May, Jessica, Jet, Apple, Esther, Jordache, Zareena, Mary, Eva, Rupini, Hannah.
Taylor's College Petaling Jaya
April 2007

P.S. Check rawkfoundation.multiply.com for more photos!

Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Chosen Ones [updated April 5]

Finally! It must have been a tense, anxious couple of days for some of you contestants, but after a very competitive and very tight preliminary round, we've narrowed down the top twelve performances who will make it to the Talent Showdown this April 7! The panel of judges during the prelims included Ariff Akhir of Purple Sound Productions and formerly of The Sofa Sessions, Azmyl Yunor of the Troubadours, and Nigesh and Matt Ho of The ComeBackKings.

Wednesday's panel of judges.

Friday's panel of judges.

Here are the finalists, in alphabetical order:

1. Afro-Asian Brothers

2. Ain

3. Aura

4. Ballad Of Fallen Angel

5. Ben & Friends

6. Inspire

7. Mustang Crew

8. Neo Classicism

9. It's Me!

10. Syden

11. T-Magic

12. Tidal Sessions

This Saturday, April 7, from 7:30pm to 11:00pm at Multi Purpose Hall, Taylor's University College Subang Jaya, these truly talented performers will be vying for more than RM5,000 in prizes, including handphones courtesy of DiGi, an electric guitar courtesy of The Guitar Store, software packages, hampers, vouchers, and up to RM1,000 in cash prizes!

They come from colleges and universities around and beyond the Klang Valley, including Alif College, APIIT, HELP University College, ICOM, IMU, Inti College, Lim Kok Wing University College, Sunway University College, TAR College, TBS, TCPJ, The One Academy, UNITAR, University of Nottingham, and more!

What you will experience is a very eclectic and exciting mix, including some awe-inspiring guitar-playing, flaming-hot fusion dances, a mesmerising magic show, a swooning Nigerian pop tune (ladies beware!), as well as a one-of-a-kind song and dance involving a feather duster, toilet brush and.. ahh, but words cannot describe, that needs to be seen yourself!

And if all that doesn't pop your eyes and mouths wide open with amazement, guest performers The ComeBackKings will bring you to tears with laughter, Ghetto Republic will get your groove on, and Project Ei8ht will rawk your socks off!

Remember, the audience votes the winners and there are goodie bags to be given away, so get your tickets quick as you can! For you may never see a show with a line-up this special again. Ever. (Or at least until the next RAWK Foundation project. ;))

Tickets are RM20.00 each. Call Sarah (017 6017656) / Kelly (016 3015566) or email rawkfoundation@gmail.com for reservations. See you this Saturday, April 7, at 7:30pm!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

For those about to RAWK, we salute you!

Registration for the Talent Showdown is now closed! Thanks for signing up, everyone!

[March 29 update: To contestants who have not yet confirmed with us your time slot for the preliminary round, please do so by today, Thursday March 29, 5:00pm, or we will consider you disqualified!]

The preliminary round for the Talent Showdown will be on March 30, in The Auditorium at Taylor's College Petaling Jaya between 10am and 4pm. It is a closed-door event, and contestants are required to come during their time slot to perform before a panel of judges.

Contestants will be judged based on Showmanship, Originality, and Technique. All contestants will then be notified on March 31 on their eligibility to qualify to the Talent Showdown on April 7. Note that contestants may not have to perform their entire routine due to time constraints.

The schedule on March 30 (Friday) is as follows:
Time Slot----------------------Performer Name
11.00-11.05-------------------Ain
11.05-11.10-------------------Puteri
11:15-11:30-------------------Klan G
11:30-11:45-------------------Tidal Sessions
12:00-12:10-------------------Mustang Crew
12.10-12.20-------------------The Rising
12:20-12:30-------------------3 Blind Mice
12:30-12:40-------------------Shazana
12:50-1:00--------------------Simple Guys

1:00-1:10----------------------myo
1:10-1:20----------------------Roshan, Kugan, Guna, Romy, Maha
1:30-1:40----------------------Kiera
1:40-1:50----------------------Jonsen
1:50-2:00----------------------Leo
2:00-2:10----------------------Grace & Laura
2:10-2:30----------------------Give Us A Name
2:30-2:40----------------------Mysterious Spark

3:00-3:10----------------------Inspire
3:10-3:20----------------------Ong Lee Chin
3:20-3:30----------------------Coyote
3:30-3:40----------------------Syden
3:40-3:50----------------------Suhairah
3:50-4:00----------------------Neo Classicism
4:00-4:15----------------------Ling Tau Kien
4:15-4:30----------------------Ben, Dawson, Elsa, Tessie, April & David

For contestants who are TCPJ Diploma in Communication students and won't be available on March 30 due to the Mass Colympics, we're holding a special session on March 28 at LT1, Taylor's College Petaling Jaya, between 12:00 to 3:00pm.

The schedule on March 28 (Wednesday) is as follows:

Time Slot----------------------Performer Name
1:30-1:40----------------------Dice Dentari, Nick & Sara Mak
1:40-1:50----------------------Deep-jeaNNie
1:50-1:55----------------------Ashleigh, Vanessa, Aina
1:55-2:00----------------------Audrey C., Audrey O., Kerry, Denise, ----------------------------------Chandni, Jacqueline
2:00-2:15----------------------Atriumn
2:15-2:30----------------------The Brothers
2:30-2:40----------------------Indhuja

Good luck and all the best, everybody!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Important update to Rules & Regulations!

Due to numerous requests, we're making a significant change to the Rules & Regulations: Groups with members who are not college/university students are now allowed to sign up. Previously, all contestants needed to be college/university students to enter. Now, a group only needs at least 1 member who's currently enrolled in a college/university to be eligible. Please download (provided the server that's hosting our files isn't down again..) the latest Rules & Regulations and overwrite it over the previous versions (or view it here!).

If you're having problems downloading or opening the registration form, you can also register simply by sending an email to rawkfoundation@gmail.com with your name, stage name, performance description, required equipment, and contact numbers.

So those of you whom we had to regrettably put on hold while we discussed the issue can now send in your registration forms! See you at the preliminary round!

Monday, March 19, 2007

RAWKin' the Media

A compilation of media coverage on the RAWK Foundation:

The Star Education, March 18, 2007


Yellow Post Issue 24, March 16 - 22, 2007


The Star Metro, March 14, 2007


The Star [R.AGE], March 2, 2007


Inkslingers, February 26, 2007