JarJar Nixon's Blues Kitchen

Associated Press Worldstream

June 28, 2007 Thursday 6:18 AM GMT

Although few believe Vietnam will advance in the upcoming Asian Cup,
fans in this soccer-crazy country are eagerly anticipating the most
important football event the nation has ever hosted.

Vietnam, which hosts Group B, faces strong squads from defending
champion Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Even their own coach says the team's chances of moving to the second
round are remote. But like millions of other Vietnamese fans, Nguyen
Hong Quan has a different opinion.

"Playing in front of chanting fans at home, our team will win," said
Quan, who sat with a group of friends recently at a Hanoi cafe, chatting
about the cup.

If they are lucky enough to get tickets, the group will bring a huge
Vietnamese flag to My Dinh stadium, Vietnam's largest sports venue,
which was built for the 2003 Southeast Asian Games. They will also bring
a traditional drum and bang it, hoping to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

"We talk about the Asian Cup almost every day," Quan said.

This is the first time Asian Cup games will be played in Vietnam, one of
four Southeast Asian hosts.

Vietnam is pouring US$1.2 million into organizing the games, much of
which will be used to provide security at the 40,000-seat My Dinh
stadium in Hanoi and Quan Khu 7, the 25,000-seat stadium in Ho Chi Minh
City.

"We organized a great Southeast Asian Games in 2003, which has left us a
lot of experience," said Duong Nghiep Khoi, deputy general secretary of
the Vietnam Football Federation. "All preparations have been almost
completed. We are ready to stage a successful tournament."

Vietnam aspires to host more major sporting events and sees the cup as
an opportunity to prove itself.

"We want to show that Vietnam has the capacity and is a strong bidder
for hosting international sports events in the future," Khoi said.

Three weeks before the games, welcome banners and flags were unfurled on
busy streets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Ticket sales have been brisk
and both stadiums are expected to be packed.

During the 2003 SEAGames, when Vietnam's team performed beyond
expectations to reach the final before losing in extra time to Thailand,
hundreds of thousands of soccer fans across the nation poured onto the
streets, racing their motorbikes, painting their faces, chanting and
waving flags to celebrate every victory.

As the Asian Cup approaches, stores are stocking up on the red and
yellow Vietnamese flags and ribbons.

"These will be best-sellers once the games begin," said Nguyen Thi Quy,
a shopkeeper in Hanoi's Old Quarter. "We have been preparing since early
June."

The excitement is building even though Vietnam's chances of advancing to
the next round are slim.

"They are better than us in all aspects," said Vietnam's coach, Alfred
Riedl, in an interview for the Asian Cup website.

The Austrian-born coach is putting his faith in young players. He
selected
12 members of the 23-man squad from Vietnam's Olympic team, whose
members are all 23 or younger.

Riedl is under great pressure to win, but he tried to downplay
expectations.

"A good style of playing which shows improvement can satisfy fans,"
Riedl said.

Vietnam's three Group B rivals have good records in continental
showpieces.

The United Arab Emirates, which is coached by Frenchman Bruno Metsu, won
the Gulf Cup championship in January after defeating many strong
regional squads.

Asian Games medalist Qatar will also be a tough competitor.

But toughest of all will be Japan, whose squad includes Europe-based
stars Shunsuke Nakamura of Celtic and Naohiro Takahara of Eintracht
Frankfurt.

Realizing the long odds, the Vietnam Football Federation has not set a
specific goal for its team, as it usually does in regional events. The
federation says its only goal is to host a successful tournament.

http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2007/Mekong/index.html

Through craft demonstrations, dance and musical performances, and hands-on activities, Mekong River: Connecting Cultures will introduce visitors to the diverse cultures of the Mekong River. The Mekong region has been a cradle and crossroads of cultures for many centuries and more recently has become closely connected to the United States through the more than two million Americans who trace their ancestry to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and the Chinese province of Yunnan. Visitors will experience the region's diversity firsthand through the presentations of artists, performers, craftspeople, cooks, ritual specialists, and presenters. Five stages, including a family learning center, will feature traditions as diverse as Vietnamese opera, Thai shadow puppetry, Cambodian classical dance, and Chinese gourd flute music. Exquisite Lao textiles, Naxi calligraphy, and mural painting will be only a few of the Mekong craft traditions presented. The Mekong has many different meanings to the peoples of the region as well as to Americans who may know little of its complexity. Mekong River: Connecting Cultures will help broaden everyone's view.

This program is produced in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Thailand, the People's Government of Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Information and Culture of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and in collaboration with Aid to Artisans, Amrita Performing Arts, China Yunnan International Culture Exchange, Connecticut College, and the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre.

Major donors include the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional donor support from the McKnight Foundation, American Express, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

A couple of month's ago Cal's school hosted a Model UN mock General Assembly for other schools from the Far East. He was Deputy Secretary-General for his school for the past year.

From last March. Luke and Josh, mometns before they had an eating contest. John cheated by kicking Luke in the groin while Luke was stuffing food in his mouth.

At the summer palace of the last king (emperor?) of Vietnam, Bao Dai, in Dalat. Decembe 2002.

http://www.sonictrout.com/bands/chandler/tarnation/tarnation.html

The first Chandler Travis Philharmonic CD in five years makes up for lost time with forty-eight (yes- 48!) tracks of utter insanity, including magnum opuses like "I'm Chandler's Butterfly", complete with sitar, mandocello, and 4 drum kits; the afro-pop influenced "Vasco Da Gama", which features about 50 vocal tracks; the Dave Brubeck-ish instrumental "Ronald"; and the Prince-inspired "Dance Godammit" (not to mention a "heavy", gothic, minor-key version of "Brown Eyed Girl" that could very well bury that one once and for all.)



http://www.newyorker.com/arts/events/nightlife/2007/05/28/070528goni_GOAT_nightlife

MO PITKIN’S HOUSE OF SATISFACTION
34 Ave. A, between 2nd and 3rd Sts. (212-777-5660)—May 23: The Chandler Travis Philharmonic. The irreverent guitarist, singer, and composer Travis, who lives on Cape Cod and has been known to perform barefoot and in his pajamas, has been in show biz for nearly four decades. For years, beginning in the seventies, he co-led the musical act that opened for George Carlin on his tours. His other band, the Incredible Casuals, got its start in the eighties and is a fixture on the New England music scene. This visit celebrates the release of a new album, “Tarnation and Alastair Sim,” and one can expect Travis’s set of original songs, which mix mind-bending wordplay with Dixieland jazz, shimmering rock, and horn-fuelled R. & B., to go on well into the night: the new album weighs in at a hefty forty-plus tracks.

Inaugurating Embassy Seoul's 26th Window on America, this one at Chungbuk National University...

One of the leading traditional music ('pansori') singers in Korea...

Darrell, our Cultural Atache, played drums in a farewell set with his band Easternox last weekend in Seoul.