JAZZ FEST IN BORNEO

The U.S.-based Johnny Rogers Band jams at the Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival. 

Before we travel somewhere, we usually send emails to nonprofits or charitable organizations operating in the city/town/village where we're heading, in hopes of finding a volunteer opportunity.

For example, before we got to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo, we sent messages to local groups such as Habitat for Humanity Borneo and to the organizers of the Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival, an annual music festival that raises money for numerous local causes.

Sometimes, our emails will go unanswered. Others, like the one to the festival, get a positive response.

As it turns out, the jazz festival folks were working with the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia to promote the upcoming event, to help with fundraising, as well as to highlight one of the acts performing there, an American group called the Johnny Rogers Band. They needed an extra hand with their marketing efforts and asked if we could do some photography and writing for them while we were at the event.

Count us in.

While there, we took tons of photos for the organizers and the embassy, we got to interview bands, and we managed to have a little fun in the process. Afterward, Kip even published an article about the event for the Huffington Post.

Check out the story and photos here.

Us with jazz guitarist and co-chairman of the festival Roger Wang.