Miles’s Sound

Miles Davis on his own sound:

Sound is important to me. I have a mid-Western sound. I used to play the cornet, so I prefer a round sound. If I can’t get that sound, I can’t play anything. The sound I have is like a round voice. I’ve practiced my tone for almost… fifty years, and if I can’t hear my tone, I can’t play…. If I lose my tone, I can’t fuck, I can’t make love, can’t do nuthin’. I’ll just walk into the ocean and die.

Advertise on Visualgui.com

Now you can promote your product, event or service on the Visualgui.com’s homepage. Find out more about advertising opportunity and pricing on the advertise section.

Once in a while, I receive inquiries from various readers asking me the price for putting up a banner on my homepage to promote their upcoming events. I use the space mostly to promote my own work and occasionally support something I enjoy like a new CD. I want the banner to be changing to keep the site fresh and I also would like to experiment with the concept of ads are content: “Advertisements and promotions contribute to the experience you provide. Like any other content on your site, ads should be useful, relevant, and current.” Since I am making the ads part of my site, both the content and the design have to be approved by me.

To kick things off, I am offering $100 off for September. So contact me if you want to schedule an ad.

Listen

Advice from Miles Davis:

When you play music, don’t play the idea that’s there, play the next idea. Wait. Wait another beat, or maybe two, and maybe you’ll have something that’s more fresh. Don’t just play from the top of your head, but listen and try to play a little deeper. Don’t play what’s there. Play what’s not there.

Ode to Freedom Concert

A concert to commemorate 35 years since the end of the Vietnam War and remember the 9/11 victims. “Ode to Freedom” will present the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (KSOC), including around 100 professional musicians and singers from Ukraine, with participation of a community chorus from the Washington DC area and some Vietnamese singers from California.

When
September 11
6:30pm

Where
Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center
Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria campus
3001 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22311

View poster

Help Me Please

Yesterday my wife asked to get some fried tofu from Thanh Son so I took Cu Dao with me. I put him in the car and gave him a bottle. We listened to some Miles Davis and drove about twenty-five minutes to Eden. By the time we got there, Duke was already fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake him up nor did I want to leave him in the car to go buy some tofu. So my other option was to ask for help.

I pulled up into an empty space a few cars away from Thanh Son. I asked an elder woman standing outside if she could go in and buy me $10 tofu as I pulled out $20 from my wallet. She told me to go in and get it and she would keep an eye out for me, but I couldn’t leave my boy with a stranger. I spotted another woman coming into Thanh Son, but before I could even asked her she already shrugged as if I was begging money or something. I thought it was kind of hilarious. I was being dissed in my own community.

I didn’t give up though. I knew someone would kind enough to help me out. So another woman walked by, I stopped her and showed her where Duke was sleeping. She was a bit hesitated, but I handed her a $20 bill anyway. She smiled and went in to get me some fried tofu.

Back From San Antonio

We took a short vacation to San Antonio for Dana’s annual family gathering. We flew out last Saturday and returned last night. Cu Dao’s first flying experience was great. He walked around the airport prior boarding; therefore, he napped on our arms as soon as we took off. He woke up two hours later and just hang out until we landed. He didn’t cry at all when we were landing. He was probably fascinated by the scene outside the window and didn’t realize that we were going down.

Dana’s family rented out two houses by the river. One of the houses was alway packed with more than 20 people. It was great to meet and hang out with the everyone ranging from 15 months (that’s Cu Dao) to 80 something. We rented our own hotel right downtown so we could escape all the craziness inside the houses.

Because of the heat and the changing temperature from inside air conditioner and the outside fire, Duke got a fever for two days, yet he was no less active. One of our cousins was a pediatrician so we had him monitored. He was doing fine when we flew back. We got back home a bit late last night and he was already asleep. He didn’t want to get up but we had to drag him to daycare. I dropped him off and he cried a little.