Thanh Lam and Le Minh Son reunite once again on a new release, Noi Binh Yen. Thanks goodness that Thanh Lam has toned her vibrato down a notch. The first two tracks, Le Minh Son’s “Noi Binh Yen” and “Em Yeu Anh,” are the proofs. Over the soothing semi-classical arrangements, she delivered each song in a relaxed, laid-back approach.

Even though she whipped up her pipe on the classical-pop “Goc Nho Rieng Em,” she did it just about right to bring out the emotion of the tune. The smartest move she made was abandoning her operatic screaming. On Nguyen Vinh Tien’s “A Nho Anh,” she recruited an opera vocalist to do the soprano soaring for her and Bich Thuy has done a damn fine job of wrapping her ghostly voice around Thanh Lam’s smoky timbre. Unlike Bich Thuy’s opposite attraction, Tung Duong is a perfect match for Thanh Lam. Their duet on Le Minh Son’s “Buon” is simply luscious and Trung Dong’s seductive trumpet added a sensational sadness to the jazz flavor.

Thanh Lam sounds most sincere on “May Trua Da Ngu.” Through Duong Thu’s lovely lyrics and Duc Tan’s delicious piano playing, she gives us a glimpse into the heart and soul of Thanh Lam as a mother. Glad to see Thanh Lam got over her dramatic hump. Noi Binh Yen is an indispensable comeback since Nang Len.

Hai Yen has a serious pipe, but the materials on her debut, Va Anh Se Den, are mediocre. Quang Duc’s pop-rock “Chi Con Toi Voi Toi” is a vocal workout while Ky Phuong’s “Nhac Khuc Cho Tinh Yeu” is a romantic cool down. What keep the album from being sleepy is her occasional wailings.

A quick conversation with my cousin who was holding Cu Dao in her arms:

Cousin K: “He’s strong boy. Stronger than Andy when he was two months.”
Donny: “Oh yeah? So when will Andy have a sibling to play with?”
Cousin K: “We’re done.”
Donny: “Already?”
Cousin K: “Yes. I wouldn’t mind one more if I have a father like you.”

Coming from my cousin K who doesn’t BS, that’s a compliment. Still, I don’t deserve such a high praise. Cu Dao’s mom is the one that do most of the hard work, such as feeding him in the middle of the night and putting him to sleep when I fail to do so. Last Sunday, I was supposed to make him fall asleep, but I got knocked out first. His mom had to pick him up and soothe him to bed.

It’s me who is lucky to have a son like Cu Dao. He changed my world. Before him I couldn’t sleep at night if I had a cup of coffee in the morning. Now coffee hardly works anymore even when he screams at night. As you may have already noticed in the photos, Cu Dao smiles quite often these days. All I had to say is “Cuoi di con” (smile my dear) and he would laugh like I just told him the funniest joke in the world.

In contrast, Cu Dao could me laugh without even saying a word. About a week ago, after he already fell asleep in his crib, which located next to our bed, we laid back to rest and tried to enjoy a quiet moment. The peaceful night was erupted by a loud passing-gas sound from his direction. We looked at each other and couldn’t hold our laugh. It was the most innocent fart we had ever heard. We still crack up every time one of us mention it. It was just price less.

The International Institute of Tourism Studies gets a new look. I always liked this peachy scheme, but it has been passed up until now.

Last night, Cu Dao slept almost six-hour straight. We put him in his crib around 10. A midnight, he made a few coughs (not sure where they come from) and we were expecting him to get up, but he went back to silence. We waited and waited and nothing happened so we felt asleep. Almost 4 o’clock, the train finally came. Dana nursed him and I lulled him back to sleep, but then he got up again around 5:45.

Cu Dao also loves to sleep on the bean bag. Whenever he stays at her aunt’s house, he would sleep on it like a little puppy. He likes the way the bag wrap around him. Just put him on the bag, push the bag around a bit and he would snore like his daddy. (Dana complaint hearing both of us snoring on both side of her ears.) We are going to get him a bean bag as well.

Out of the blue, I received a package from songwriter Pham Anh Dung. It turned out to be an unofficial copy of an album titled Quynh Ca with a sticky note reads: “Donny, I have enjoyed reading your web site (Visualgui).” I was flattered and immediately popped in the CD.

Quynh Ca is a compilation of Pham Anh Dung’s poetry-turned-music compositions about Quynh flower. “Quynh,” the only tune PAD had written the lyrics himself, gets a sensual, intimate performance by Dieu Hien whose voice is slightly raspy and simply intoxicating. There are two versions of “Dem Nguyet Quynh” (poem by Vuong Ngoc Long). I have not heard of Xuan Thanh before, but her take is much more soulful than Bao Yen’s. The track starts off with a poem’s recitation backing up by the Vietnamese zither and flute. Xuan Thanh’s gorgeous soprano floats like a nightingale in a dark sky. Who else could express “Quynh Lan” (poem by Pham Ngoc) better than Quynh Lan herself? Her recording of “Quynh Nhu,” “Quynh Le” and “Voi Quynh” are no less hypnotizing.

After the first spin, I was impressed. I contacted PAD to get more information about the album to write a review. Unfortunately, Quynh Ca is only a “burn” album for friends. Still, the concept of Quynh is so clever that I decided to mention it. If any singer wants to cut a themed album, this is the way to go. Hint. Hint. Hint.

I have a concept for a motion piece that requires beautiful photographic of Ha Noi. I have the song in mind already, but don’t have any photos to work with. If you are a photographer and would like to collaborate, get in touch with me. If you know any photographic works, please let me know as well.

Like most of Thuy Nga’s typical video releases, Paris By Night 96: Nhac Yeu Cau 2 is more on cleavage and less on content. Unlike its musical presentation, which shows no sign of innovation, Thuy Nga tends to push the sexual visual to the edge.

Take Tu Quyen’s and Nhu Loan’s “Lien Khuc Hoi Nguoi Tinh” for example. Most of the time, the singers are the main attraction and the dancers are just the supplement. In this case, the dancers who wore nothing but white panties and covering themselves up with a white piece of cloth damn near pushed Tu Quyen out of the frame even though she looked cute. Even when the topless dancers left the stage, Nhu Loan couldn’t top those sensual broads. Although Thuy Van can’t carry a note, she sure knows how to present her body. As always, she looked trashy but sexy. I am not mad at her though. Someone has to entertain married and bored Vietnamese men. Paris By Night is the alternative venue for those of us who can’t make it to Café Lu or Di Vang 2.

By fulfilling the popular demands, Nhac Yeu Cau 2 is filled with Chinese-translated hits (“Tinh Em Ngon Nen”), “Medley New Wave 80” and sentimental ballads like “Thoi Doi” and “Nhung Doi Hoa Sim.” Although Tran Thai Hoa sounded weak in “Tuong Niem,” he gave a surprisingly decent performance of traditional folks with Ngoc Ha. Quang Tuan made his first appearance on Thuy Nga’s stage with Y Lan. They don’t seem to go well together on stage. While he looked like a piece of rock, she looked like a piece of gum.

The diva duet between Bang Kieu and Tran Thu Ha was nothing novelty, but Bang Kieu’s acting in Nguyen Ngoc Ngan’s skit, “Ao Em Chua Mat Mot Lan,” was. He has the perfect voice for the character. Mr. Ngan is very clever in his gay-bashing/embracing storyline. (He first slammed you in the face then handed you an icepack.)

If I have to pick one song from Nhac Yeu Cau 2, it has to be Ngoc Anh’s “Giet Nguoi Trong Mong.” With her gruff voice, she gave Pham Duy’s tune a killer rendition.

Way before I came on board, the International Business department went out on its own when the School of Business couldn’t provide what it needed, which is PHP and MySQL. Since the school server runs on ColdFusion and the department had everything tied into PHP and MySQL, the challenge was to bring the site back to the school and keep everything else running. As a result, I worked closely with the department’s web developer who resides in New Zealand to redesign and remerge the International Business web site.

Lil Duke had me good last night. He literally got me whipped. It was midnight and he still didn’t want to sleep. He was crying in his crib. I didn’t want to wake up his grandma who has been with him during the day and his mom who has been struggling at work due to lack of sleep; therefore, I got up and patted him a little. It didn’t help and he cried louder.

I picked him up and rocked him a bit until he felt back to sleep. Half an hour later I tried to put him back down, but he was brawling again. I picked him back up and went downstairs. I tried to sit on the couch and rest, but he wouldn’t let me. I had to walk around the house. Around one something, I was so burnt out. I put him on the kid mat where he usually played in the morning and laid next to him. He started to cry and I determined to let him cried out. I consulted the doctor and he told me it was ok to let him cry. Eventually he would get tired and fall asleep. Half an hour went by and his cries crescendoed.

I couldn’t let him go on any further. His cry was like a knife cutting straight through my heart and mind. My head was pounding and my soul was shattered. I gave up. I held him tight into my arms and the guilt of letting him cried took over me. I didn’t know what to do. If you’ve been through this, please advise.