With a sultry voice and a voluptuous figure, Thanh Ha is a bitch of a singer. On her latest release, Chia Khoa Tinh Yeu, she tries to mind-fuck both your body and soul. On the front cover, she teases you with a plain, simple white dress that could easily pull right off. On the back, she’s already on the sheet in her arousing lingerie waiting for you to take her home and make luscious love to her.

With Roland Casiquin and Duc Tri holding down the board, Thanh Ha makes a huge success in making Chia Khoa Tinh Yeu sexy and fresh even though the repertoire is scattered all over the place, which prevents the album from being a booty-call soundtrack. You could probably get your groove on with the jazz-arranged “Dem Do Thi,” but how do you make love to the cha-cha “Sai Gon Dep Lam?” Sai Gon is hot as hell, especially in the summer, but you will piss off a lot of people if you try to make love to her even though she already lost her virginity to the other regime. I have no idea where I am going with this, but I like Thanh Ha’s effortless flow on both track.

If I were given the opportunity to shape the direction of the album, I would start off Chia Khoa Tinh Yeu with the seducing remake of “Tinh La Soi To.” The funk-rock production is perfect for a strip tease. Like what the lyrics suggested: “Hay biet hom nay minh van con nhau day / Neu lo mai sau tinh troi vao dang cay.” That’s right, no one knows where love will be at tomorrow. So just make as much love as you can today. Once the clothes are all off, I would slow down the vibe with “Soi Buoc Em,” a powerful, gorgeous ballad that showcases Thanh Ha’s soulful side along with the sensational “Hoai Cam” and “Mong Manh.”

If Thanh Ha could throw more slow, blues-jazz ballads such as “Tinh Lo,” “Noi Long” and “Mua Thu Canh Nhau” into the mix, this would have become a great baby-making album. You wouldn’t need to pay thousands of dollars for IVF. Just buy this album and play it again and again with your partner and you’ll guarantee to make a beautiful baby in no time. In a more serious note, Chia Khoa Tinh Yeu is a proof that Thanh Ha is, without a doubt, the one who holds the key when it come to love even though she also has the ignition.

Everyday you came home from daycare, you got food all over your clothes and even some stain on your face too. Seeing you holding the spoon feeding yourself, I could imagine how it all happened.

You’re showing your independence by not letting us spoon feed you anymore. You rather do it yourself even though most of the food makes on instead of inside your belly. Watching you focusing on getting the food from the bowl to your mouth is a real joy. You scoop up a little at a time and sometimes nothing in your spoon at all. With frustration, you just dump the bowl onto your face like you did today with Bun Bo Hue. It was also hilarious they way you torn up the pig thigh after watching me struggling with it myself.

In addition of feeding yourself, you also like to brush your teeth all by yourself. You got mad when I tried to help you out. I am liking the independent attitude of yours. Keep that up, son. Keep being independent. Keep smiling. Keep blow kisses. Keep weaving. Keep walking freely and explore anything that you find intriguing. Seeing you grow and enjoying your life are all that I could ever ask for from a father.

Grandparents will arrive later today to stay with you for a week. Mom was in the kitchen making bun bo hue and I was cleaning up the house. You chose to hang around me. My guess was that you were intrigued by the vacuum. For whatever reason, thanks for keeping me companied. You sure are a fast learner. You already figured out where the power button after watching me turned it on once. You pressed the button and ran toward me. I guess the sound was not that pleasant.

Spending time cleaning up the house with you reminded me of my father. When I was a kid, my dad was not around often. He would only come home about a couple days a month; therefore, all the time we spent together I could remember clearly. One time he was home before Lunar New Year so he was cleaning up the house and I was also hanging around him. He was sweeping and singing to me a song that I could only remember a few lines, “Co loi khong nhan loi la hen / co loi ma nhan loi la ngoan.” Basically what the song trying to tell you is that if you do something wrong and you don’t admit it then you’re a coward. But if you could admit it than you’re good. He told me to repeat the song. So I did, but I changed the words a bit: “Co loi khong nhan loi la khon / Co loi ma nhan loi la ngu” (If you do something wrong and you don’t admitted then you’re smart / If you do something wrong, but you admitted than you’re a fool.”

Obviously my dad was furious. I could still remember the reaction on his face. He almost whipped my ass, but it was closed to New Year so he let me off the hook. I could see the little naughty in you just like me. Like father like son.

Jan Tschichold:

White space is to be regarded as an active element, not a passive background.

Via Veerle

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.

Today is your last day being a baby bear. You’ll be off tomorrow and get to stay with grandparents for an entire week before join the growing giraffes. Snapshots of you were posted on the front door this morning and you weren’t crying when I dropped you off. This is a good sign and I hope that you’ll enjoy your new class and get to meet new friends.

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

Lineup
Afro Bop Alliance – ’08 Latin Grammy winning/Grammy nominees Latin Jazz
Jason Moran & the Bandwagon – Triple Downbeat ‘Rising Star’ winner
The Bad Plus – Explosive indie-rock & Jazz fusion band
Tierney Sutton Band – 2-time Grammy nominated vocalist & ensemble

When
September 11
1pm-7pm

Where
Gateway Park
1300 Lee Hwy
Base of Key Bridge
Arlington, VA

For more info, visit rosslynva.org

When I first learned that Thu Hoai was making her debut album with an acoustic jazz trio, I was very excited for her. I got nervous, however, when she told me the tunes she was going to cover including “La Chanson D’Orphee,” “Autumn Leaves” and “Cry Me a River.” These are great choices of standards, but would she able to pull them off? After listening to La Chanson D’Orphee, I am not alone. Thu Hoai was nervous as hell as well.

“Autumn Leaves” leads off the album with a bossa-nova groove. I heard Thu Hoai performed live a couple of times before, but never in such a constrained approach. She fluffs from French, English (even mixed the two) to Vietnamese and the band damn near drowns her out. Likewise, she struggles to connect to the musicians on “Besame Mucho,” another Latin flavor. The piano’s ostinato comping into instead of around her vocals. When she drops out, the drums and bass play stronger and tighter accompanying the piano solo.

Through her stilted flow and lacking of confidence on the title track, it is apparent that she is not from the school of jazz. She doesn’t possess the chops to improvise her ways through timing, phrasing and interacting with the band. On “Moon River” she latches on to the slow tempo and she recites rather than sings the words.

“Nang Thu” is the turning point of the album. Thu Hoai sings with much more confidence even the rhythm section kicks up a notch. She sounds at ease with the trio and her phrasing comes across much more natural as if she could feel the beat. Although she has also loosen up on the fun, up-tempo “‘S Wonderful,” it is her version of “Nang Thu” that makes me wish she had recorded the entire album reinterpreting Vietnamese compositions.

The intention of wanting to attract an international audience is very ambitious. No crime in that, but start from the core first before branching out. Even Shakira didn’t become an international sensation over night or with just one album.

A quick glance at the tracklist on Le Quyen’s Khuc Tinh Xua worried me. It would be a damn shame to witness one of my favorite female vocalists goes down Dam Vinh Hung’s path: fucking up classic sentimental ballads. As soon as I heard the first bar on the opening track, however, my worry was gone. Le Quyen not only didn’t let me down, but she also gave “nhac sen” an elegant makeover.

Le Quyen has learned the art of covering timeless golden tunes. She also understands the challenge of respecting the work and at the same time making each tune her own. In the leadoff track, Truc Phuong’s “Mua Nua Dem,” she bares her soul without being overemotional and expresses the lyrics without belting out her big, smoky pipe. In the second track, Thanh Binh’s “Tinh Lo,” she refined the tune to its core by stripping out the pathos and getting straight to the pain. She sings each word like she lives it. Her version of Hong Van’s “Doi Thong Hai Mo” is not just a threnody. She sings as if she also wanted to buried her soul next to the two graves.

From Y Van’s “Buon” to Tuan Khanh’s “Chiec La Cuoi Cung” to Anh Bang’s “Em Ve Keo Troi Mua” to Minh Ky’s “Tinh Doi” to Tran Thien Thanh’s “Han Mac Tu,” she makes these tunes fresh and “un-sen” with her gentle-but-grainy voice and soulful-but-never-schmaltz delivery. With the exception of the album closer, Anh Bang’s “Ngon Truc Dao,” which ruined by the dull beat, Khuc Tinh Xua is Le Quyen’s most consistent set yet. Some of the productions could benefit from simplicity, but Le Quyen’s voice is right on the money. She had demonstrated how classic ballads should be covered: thoughtful and tasteful.