Apologies for another long break between updates. I suddenly found myself very busy or otherwise distracted from the blog, which also means I have a lot to update... that's the catch-22 though isn't it? Anyway, I'll try to be brief as possible, and hopefully bullet points will help me be succinct.
-I spent almost all of last weekend "cooing" (what is cooing, after all?) over the new baby, Kyle. He's so adorable and after only a month he's developed these unique personal habits, like pursing his lips after a big yawn, or this wheezy snore while he sleeps (Uh oh! that's the Tran in him..) More pics to come as soon as I can get them up.
-While Kyle napped, we killed over a dozen hours by reviving the Playstation with old games Kim successfully Ebayed before she came down. For the record, Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Bust-A-Groove are new official favorites, and both come highly recommended with my seal of approval and a certified top tier addiction rating. Despite the lovely weather, we treated the weekend as if we were snowed in and aside from playing video games, we basically had a 2-day long feast with all my favorite foods (Ca Kho, Thit Kho Chung, Thit Nguoi sandwiches, etc...).
-Monday night, I dragged a bunch of my friends with me to see Thao Nguyen play a gig at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington. She had actually emailed me to give me a head's up about a DC-area show, which I found to be a nice gesture and impressive personal fan attention. In any case, the show was a good time, and despite any initial misgivings about the Galaxy Hut atmosphere-- it gave off a bit of a "too cool for school" attitude (but what else is to be expected of an artsy indie venue that holds 48 people?)-- it turned out to be a nice, intimate place to enjoy new music. It's always interesting and somewhat refreshing to hear that really raw and gritty garage-band sound that comes through in these tiny rooms with less polished live acts.
Thao was impressive; I can't remember the last time I saw a female artist jam out on the guitar the way she did. She's got a great mix of bluesy, folksy, alternative with a voice that is calming and reminds me of French music. I picked up her new CD at the show so I'll be able to see how the rest of her studio work sounds. After seeing The Waifs last week, it was another great moment of feminist inspiration for me... I must be on a roll!
-To starkly contrast my typical indie-crap-schpeel as seen above, tonight I returned to my pop roots and attended the American Idol concert at the MCI Center. Indeed, this experience proved to be at the opposite extreme of my night at the Galaxy Hut. When Co Chau offered us her company tickets, my initial reaction was "There's no way I'm going." While I did watch the show, taking the next step and actually attending the concert and dealing with thousands of screaming kids and their moms did not seem particularly appealing. But after hearing about the Nextel executive suite and realizing that I did, in fact, enthusiastically watch the entire season of Idol, I figured I was not being sensible. When Auddie, Skelbs, Alli and I arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find popcorn, chips & salsa, hot dogs, buffalo wings, a fruit plate, and all sorts of other goodies waiting for us in the suite. I felt like Macaulay Culkin in the "Home Alone" scene when he discovers he's got the house to himself and raids the family kitchen. It was not a bad setup at all, and I thank Co Chau for hooking us up with the Nextel connection (no pun intended! hah!). As for the concert, I was expecting it to be mostly cheesy musical numbers with the whole Top 10 crew on stage together. But it turned out to be two or three songs performed by each person, with a couple duets and other fun highlights (Nikko did a nice version of "Like I Love You" that evoked JT/Usher.) Despite the total awkwardness and cheesiness of Anthony Federov, who kept blowing kisses and waving to the audience, and the continued unlikeability factor of Jessica Sierra (strange, but true, unfortunately), I'm not about to lie and say I didn't get on my feet and scream a couple "whoos!!" tonight. Snake-eyes, eye-liner Constantine did another impressive version of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and his stage presence was unmatched by any of the other idols--well, except for Bo of course, who easily got the biggest crowd reaction.
I'm sure a very small majority of my blog readers (you know who you are) are interested in all the other details of this concert experience, so I'll stop there in order to retain even the slightest shred of my music credibility ;) Hehe.
But hey, at the least, in ten years I'll be able to say I participated in this ridiculously huge cultural phenomenon. (Hmmm, I think I used the same justification when I saw the Backstreet Boys on their Millenium tour...)
-I'm off to Cali tomorrow with the fam, so expect another hiatus for about a week...
Cheers.
-Monday night, I dragged a bunch of my friends with me to see Thao Nguyen play a gig at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington. She had actually emailed me to give me a head's up about a DC-area show, which I found to be a nice gesture and impressive personal fan attention. In any case, the show was a good time, and despite any initial misgivings about the Galaxy Hut atmosphere-- it gave off a bit of a "too cool for school" attitude (but what else is to be expected of an artsy indie venue that holds 48 people?)-- it turned out to be a nice, intimate place to enjoy new music. It's always interesting and somewhat refreshing to hear that really raw and gritty garage-band sound that comes through in these tiny rooms with less polished live acts.
Thao was impressive; I can't remember the last time I saw a female artist jam out on the guitar the way she did. She's got a great mix of bluesy, folksy, alternative with a voice that is calming and reminds me of French music. I picked up her new CD at the show so I'll be able to see how the rest of her studio work sounds. After seeing The Waifs last week, it was another great moment of feminist inspiration for me... I must be on a roll!
-To starkly contrast my typical indie-crap-schpeel as seen above, tonight I returned to my pop roots and attended the American Idol concert at the MCI Center. Indeed, this experience proved to be at the opposite extreme of my night at the Galaxy Hut. When Co Chau offered us her company tickets, my initial reaction was "There's no way I'm going." While I did watch the show, taking the next step and actually attending the concert and dealing with thousands of screaming kids and their moms did not seem particularly appealing. But after hearing about the Nextel executive suite and realizing that I did, in fact, enthusiastically watch the entire season of Idol, I figured I was not being sensible. When Auddie, Skelbs, Alli and I arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find popcorn, chips & salsa, hot dogs, buffalo wings, a fruit plate, and all sorts of other goodies waiting for us in the suite. I felt like Macaulay Culkin in the "Home Alone" scene when he discovers he's got the house to himself and raids the family kitchen. It was not a bad setup at all, and I thank Co Chau for hooking us up with the Nextel connection (no pun intended! hah!). As for the concert, I was expecting it to be mostly cheesy musical numbers with the whole Top 10 crew on stage together. But it turned out to be two or three songs performed by each person, with a couple duets and other fun highlights (Nikko did a nice version of "Like I Love You" that evoked JT/Usher.) Despite the total awkwardness and cheesiness of Anthony Federov, who kept blowing kisses and waving to the audience, and the continued unlikeability factor of Jessica Sierra (strange, but true, unfortunately), I'm not about to lie and say I didn't get on my feet and scream a couple "whoos!!" tonight. Snake-eyes, eye-liner Constantine did another impressive version of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and his stage presence was unmatched by any of the other idols--well, except for Bo of course, who easily got the biggest crowd reaction.
I'm sure a very small majority of my blog readers (you know who you are) are interested in all the other details of this concert experience, so I'll stop there in order to retain even the slightest shred of my music credibility ;) Hehe.
But hey, at the least, in ten years I'll be able to say I participated in this ridiculously huge cultural phenomenon. (Hmmm, I think I used the same justification when I saw the Backstreet Boys on their Millenium tour...)
-I'm off to Cali tomorrow with the fam, so expect another hiatus for about a week...
Cheers.
2 comments:
Damn! How I wish I didn't have 4 hours of class last night and could have attended the AI concert, with all its sweet box seat hookups. Sigh...that's the LSAT, I suppose, ruining all chance of a social life!
-C
The AI Concert! No way. I thought I was the only one who could juggle indie arty stuff and fluffy pop.
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