Monday, May 30, 2005
Memorial Day
Last Memorial Day was pretty eventful for me. Was back in DC and went with my 80-something mom to the WWII memorial events (mentioned in this blog).
This year we are staying home, packing, uploading songs to iTunes, and mentally preparing for our big move.
This year we are staying home, packing, uploading songs to iTunes, and mentally preparing for our big move.
From NRBQ to Baby Macaroni
The last extant band to have played at Woodstock, NRBQ, appears to be taking a hiatus. www.NRBQ.com lists three of the memebrs playing as Baby Macaroni. The NRBQ listserv has been bizarely void of comments on the band's status. Looks like the keyboardist and main vocalist, Terry Adams, is taking a break.
The band almost always has a summer gig at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, so it'll be sad not to see them this summer.
The band almost always has a summer gig at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, so it'll be sad not to see them this summer.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Some Great Battery Dance Photos
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Black and White World
I'm at work listening way too loud to Elvis Costello's all-time greatest album, Get Happy! He calls it his soul album, a label I have trouble recognizing, but it is best played very loud.
Black and White World
I'm at work listening way too loud to Elvis Costello's all-time greatest album, Get Happy! He calls it his soul album, a label I have trouble recognizing, but it is best played very loud.
Figured It Out
...that bag of tea leaves is for Thu-hang's psoriasis. Apparently a green tea bath is supposed to work wonders.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Strange
There is a lawn-and-leaf bag full of green tea leaves sitting on our kitchen floor. Not quite sure why it is there.
The Definition of Slob
Yesterday I had a drink and peanuts with a colleague at the local cafe in my apartment building. After two drinks each and a bowlful of peanuts, I looked down and noticed my half of the tabelcloth was littered with nut shells and drink stains. My friend's side of the table was immaculate.
The New Jersey humorist Jean Shepherd used to have a Museum of Slob Art. I think I could have out myself in it as a living exhibit. A little like the real people who pretend to be basket weavers in Dr. Rageb's Pharaonic Village in Cairo, but only for unkemptness.
The New Jersey humorist Jean Shepherd used to have a Museum of Slob Art. I think I could have out myself in it as a living exhibit. A little like the real people who pretend to be basket weavers in Dr. Rageb's Pharaonic Village in Cairo, but only for unkemptness.
Monday, May 23, 2005
The Spanish Apartment
A great move that for some unexplicable reason was on the normally shlocky satellite TV channel Star Movies yesterday afternoon. It followed True Lies and Terminator 2.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000C9JFO/ref=pd_sim_dv_2/002-8639125-3268848?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000C9JFO/ref=pd_sim_dv_2/002-8639125-3268848?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846
Battery Dance
The Battery Dance Company performance at the HCMC Opera House, preceded by four workshops with arts colleges and dance groups, was a stirring reminder that 'pure culture' is a very important part of public diplomacy.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Calico
We have one of the most vicious cats ever bred. A little too smart as well. We have scratch marks on our feet from her mad midnight assualts as we get out of the bed to go to the bathroom or get something from the fridge. If she were just a little bigger we'd all be dead.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Little Joy in Life
Tuesday nights are 2-for-1 pizza and pasta at Al Fresco...and they delivery in District 1.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Last Big Fling...
The Battery Dance Company from Manhattan is in town. Three days of workshops with local dance and theater schools, then a big matinee on the weekend at the Opera House.
www.batterydanceco.com
This is the last major performance I am going to work on before I leave Saigon.
www.batterydanceco.com
This is the last major performance I am going to work on before I leave Saigon.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Sonic Trout
As part of my iPod digitizing project I am putting all of my Chandler Travis/Incredible Casuals CDs onto the little red and black metal box. The Chandler Travis Philharmonic records on one of the great low-fi labels of all-time, Sonic Trout records:
www.SonicTrout.com
www.SonicTrout.com
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Rainy Season
The rains started just a couple of days ago, almost a month earlier than last year. What a relief! The monsoon season cleans the streets and makes everything feel renewed. The season lasts straight through November.
When we were in Cairo it rained maybe half an hour the entire three years we were there, so since then I have never been ungrateful for rain.
When we were in Cairo it rained maybe half an hour the entire three years we were there, so since then I have never been ungrateful for rain.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Another Nha Trang Memory
Last week while in Nha Trang we took a fast motorboat south of NT to a series of small islands that have some of the most expensive food products in the world...bird's nest. We climbed over rocks and down into a crevice where a certain species of swallow makes her nest using only her own spit (yuck)...but people all over Asia crave the extract from the nest for medicine and health. The guy who discovered the bird's nests back in the 14th century was shipwrecked, got tired of eating fish, and tried the bird's nests one day. He found it restored him to health and after being rescued spread the word.
Nowadays the tiny islands have more than 150 guards (one kilo of bird's nest costs several thousand dollars), and it is pretty hard to get a chance to come down and visit them. We were lucky.
Nowadays the tiny islands have more than 150 guards (one kilo of bird's nest costs several thousand dollars), and it is pretty hard to get a chance to come down and visit them. We were lucky.
