The 2nd One

The 2nd Charity Nite was at Co-chine Restaurant, Bar Savanh; held on a Thursday of 27th July 2006.

Charity Nite then, was held on Thursday, partly because it was difficult to book a top restaurant/club on a Friday. Our bargaining power was weak. To go to places like Bar Savanh or Hard Rock and ask to book the whole place on a Friday, with a "mere" crowd of 200-300 people was not enough. Coupled with our request that the place give our members 2 free drinks and some food, for below RM30, it is obvious we could not get the preferred Friday nite.

But the 2006 Charity Nite was the turning point of many things to come. For a Thursday nite event, 428 people were there that night. The hugely successful KL Bar Idol was held for the very 1st time. In a discussion with a close friend, I had suggested that we copy the American Idol format, except every singer is given a donation box. My friend thought it was a great idea. The person who collects the most donation, wins; whilst all the money go to Charity. The result : a massive RM20,000 collected that nite. 

We had an audition, and we nervously waited for people to sign up to sing. By this time YLC has swelled from 12 - 15 of us to 50 over committee members; and we all held our breath to see if any lawyer would ever sign up to contest in our own Idol. A "Plan B" was in place, in case we dont get the necessary numbers to sign up to sing. Plan B was never used. For 13 lawyers signed up to try be the 1st KL Bar Idol. 4 finalists were chosen, and Mark Ho & Izral's Band (The Thin Izzy) would back up the singers. 

The 4 finalists continue to train and I had the honour to watch in one of the sessions and even took part singing too. 

In the end, the KL Bar Idol winner were all the 4 finalists who gave it all and the lawyers who turned up; loved it. 

YLC then knew, we now have the product and numbers to move the event to Friday and in 2007, under Dipendra, Charity Nite was held at Maison, on Friday.