In 2008, I began collecting Vietnamese songs arranged in jazzy styles for my own listening pleasure. Then I lost motivation and just stopped. As the years went on, more Vietnamese songs produced with jazz flavors. I recently picked it up where I left off.

I am curating 127 songs and I would like to share my collection with anyone who would be interested in listening to Vietjazz. I want to create a simple music app or a webpage that would stream these songs randomly. It would be great for long road trips. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to create a simple music app. I could create a webpage, but the bandwidth to host these songs will put a hole in my pocket.

I am thinking of just to create a simple page with all the songs information listed, but I don’t know if that’s useful or not. Nevertheless, I spent a couple hours this morning typing up all the song titles, songwriters, and singers. I even put in the styles for each song. I did all of this on my Apple Music App. Then I uploaded to my YouTube Music account. YouTube Music allows me to share the playlist, but listeners would need a YouTube Music account to access it. If you like to check out the playlist, sign up a free YouTube Music account.

I will continue to add more songs in the future and I will continue to think about making the free streaming music app. It would definitely be a good learning experience. If you have any suggestion about making the app, hit me up. For now, you can enjoy Donny Truong Presents Vietjazz on YouTube Music.

All the pretty girls.
Parsley, sage, salt, glue.
And you’re a big help to him
says my husband’s father
when I share his news of promotion.
Hey, hey, buckle my shoe,
No sing me a new song mama
says my son before bed.
All the pretty girls.
No another song.
Lost my partner what’ll I do,
lost my partner what’ll I do.
Skip to my lou my darling.
No a new song.
Hey little girl is your daddy home
did he go and leave you all alone
I got a bad desire.
Where am I going with this
I’m thinking while he watches
his pillow to picture the words.
All the pretty girls.
He fucked the shit out of her explained
my father about the plot of a movie.
The pretty girls.
Dad do you have to say that to me?
Mama another one. Mama a new one.
Well I’m sorry but that’s what he did.
You’re a big help to him.
All the pretty girls.

Taije Silverman

We were planning on going to Seven Springs, but my wife cancelled the trip because of the rain and the warm weather. Luckily, she was right. Seven Springs is pausing its operation today and tomorrow.

At 8:00 am, I dropped my oldest son off at his school and headed to Liberty. Despite the rain and the warm weather, the trails at Liberty were snowboardable. I determined to learn short turns so I could ride the double-black-diamond slopes. When I learned to ski, I picked up short turns early on and I still use them to ski the double-black-diamond slopes.

I arrived at Liberty around 9:45 am and started off on the green trails. With the rain and the warm weather, the snow was slushy. It was not an ideal condition, but I just had to work with what they had. I tried to jump to get my board around. Because the slope was flat, I had to jump a bit higher. After four jumps alternating from heel to toe turns, I was tired and my feet were in pain. I was not in good shape to do this on snowboard.

I gave up the green slopes and went to the back side to try the blue slopes. Surprisingly, the jumps were easier on blue slopes. Because the slopes were steeper, I didn’t have to jump so high to get my board around. I slid out a few times on my toe turns because I was leaning backward instead of forward. When I fixed that, I was able to complete my turns.

After three runs of doing the jumps on the blue slopes, I was exhausted, thirsty, and hungry. I should have brought a bottle of coconut water with me, but I didn’t. I went back to the front to get lunch and a drink. I wanted to test out the jump turns on the black slope, but it was closed. I had to take the green slope back.

I ate a cold sandwich I packed. It didn’t taste too good. Luckily, I brought along a bottle of mango margarita wine to wash down the bread, turkey, cheese, and prosciutto. After lunch, I headed back to the back side. Since I was able to do the jump turns on the blue slopes, I might was well test them out on the double black. Even though I was not planning on snowboarding on the double black, I went for it once the wine kicked in.

On the first run, I fell because I didn’t commit my jumps. Unlike my previous attempts, however, I fell with my board down the slope instead of my head sliding down the slope. I could stop sliding down with my board; therefore, I was able to get up and try again. The second and third runs, I fell a bit, but I was able to get my board around. The fourth time, I finally made the commitment to jump. Unfortunately, I was too tired after that. I could barely lift my feet. Around 2:00 pm, I called it the day.

It was definitely a great learning experience and a fantastic workout. I am looking forward to doing some more to master the jump turns.

Whether writing about the loss of his son, the revenge of his father, or the sweet sound of Benny Goodman’s clarinet, B.H. Fairchild brings out the extraordinary of the ordinary life on the page with lyrical emotion. I didn’t understand every piece in the collection, but the ones I did I loved them.

Don’t you know your Latin said the poet who wanted to kiss me
repeating cupio dissolvi until I wrote the words down

on a placemat. He was taking me out again for dinner.
He was telling me every small thing I should hear. Grinzosa

means wrinkled; beltá is like beauty but no longer used.
You weren’t here, he wasn’t you, what’s my crime, come on.

It means love for the end is what he tried to explain, but saying
I had to drink more wine because he wanted to.

Eliot called Pound the better locksmith in Italian
although a poet loves inloveness more than any iron gate.

Today’s the Day of the Immaculate Conception and so
the locksmith shops aren’t open. I had to call a number listed

under SOS after locking myself out of my apartment and when
the locksmith learned that I’d come from the city of Rocky Balboa,

he agreed to stay for a cup of coffee. Cupio means wish
but also yearn for and hunger, to covet, to crave and to need.

What’s the difference, I asked the poet, between love
for the end and for pretty young bodies-good question, he said

and he puzzled like a stoplight, but there is one, there is one, there is.
I wanted him to want to kiss me too. The locksmith is a widower.

He never thought his wife would die, not once
in forty years, he said-it just wasn’t a thought he ever had.

We agreed at our stupidity but in his eyes was loneliness I didn’t want
to recognize; I know he’d feel the same and didn’t blame me.

I want to ask the poet what’s the difference between beauty
and a beauty that’s no longer used, or the difference

between death and to dissolve. These aren’t the kinds of questions
I would ask you. Husband, you’re the absence of longing.

And I promise I’ll grow old and die. And I promise I’ll give you my life.

Taije Silverman

A versatile Neo-Grotesque type family, Macan, TIGHTYPE, balances utility and vivacity. While Macan focuses on functionality, Macan Stencil brings quirky quality to the family. Both solid and stencil versions support Vietnamese. Its acute, grave, and hook above stack to the right of its circumflex. I had the pleasure of reviewing Vietnamese diacritics for Macan. Check out the Macan Vietnamese specimen.

After reading Stanley Crouch’s Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker, I had been waiting patiently for the second installment to drop. The first installment was so darn good and it took Crouch a long time to finish it.

Kansas City Lightning released in 2013, which was a decade already; therefore, I thought he should have released the second installment or he should be finishing it up already. I did a quick Google search and to my dismay Stanley Crouch had passed away in 2020 at 74. I had no clue.

I hope some other jazz writers will pick up where Crouch left off. It would be a great loss if the second part of Charlie Parker’s life and music will never release. RIP, Mr. Stanley Crouch. Thanks for the works you have left behind.

It took me a while to get through Cole’s latest Netflix Special since I only watched a few minutes here and there during my lunch breaks. I was not a fan of raw sexualized materials, but I was glad I stuck to the end. Cole talked about the pain he felt when he lost his mother exactly one year ago when the special was taped. It was an emotional one and I could relate to what he had been going through. RIP, Ms. Charleen Cole. Your son is a hell of a comic.

Âm nhạc Việt Nam vẫn bị trong tình trạng ca sĩ mới hát nhạc xưa. Ca sĩ mới nhiều đến nỗi tôi không thể nhớ tên. Còn nhạc mới thì dường như tôi chưa từng được nghe một bài nào trong vòng 5 năm gần đây. Chắc tôi theo giỏi âm nhạc không đúng chỗ hoặc cách nghe nhạc của tôi bị lỗi thời.

Tôi không nghe nhạc đơn (single) mà chỉ thích chiêm ngưỡng trọn vẹn một album. Thường thì ca sĩ thu âm album chỉ hát nhạc xưa. Chẳng hạn như Nhật Thảo với Những ngày thơ mộng. Giọng của cô cũng rất là già dặn và cô trình bài “Bão tình” (nhạc Hoàng Trọng & lời Duy Viêm) rất thấm cùng với lối hòa âm rất mộc của Đạo Nguyễn. Cô hát “Kiếp nào có yêu nhau” (nhạc Phạm Duy & thơ Minh Đức Hoài Trinh) hơi bị run. Tôi không hiểu vì lý do gì vì phần orchestration của Đạo Nguyễn cũng rất nhẹ nhàng. Nhưng anh đem lại một bất ngờ khi cho tiếng súng nổ vào phần hòa âm của mình.

Nam ca sĩ Tuấn Anh không những được song ca với Nhật Thảo qua ca khúc “Một ngày không có em” (nhạc Y Vân & lời Nguyễn Long) mà còn được hát đơn ca khúc “Bước chân dĩ vãng” (Nguyễn Hiền & Lan Đài). Với giai điệu blues ngà ngà say, Tuấn Anh cướp đi phần trình diễn của ca sĩ chính trong album.

After reading Nathan Heller’s “The End of the English Major” in The New Yorker, I want to pursue a graduate degree in English just for the humanities of it. I just looked up Mason’s MA in English and the concentration in professional and technical writing appeals to me. Since I love reading and writing and I can get free tuitions, why not? My wife disagreed. The kids are my priority. She’s right.