Melody Gardot found her love for music after a severe car accident that caused her sensitive to sight and sound as well as left her with short-term memory loss. Since Gardot played the piano before she was hit by an SUV while riding her bicycle, a doctor encouraged her to use music as a form of therapy. Now, Gardot is an outstanding musician with a style of her own.

Gardot’s newest release, My One and Only Thrill, featured exceptional originals and a sensational cover. By wrapping her smoky timbre around the Brazilian rhythm, she gives Harold Arlen’s classic, “Over the Rainbow,” a refreshing flavor. From “Baby I’m a Fool” to “Deep Within the Corners of My Mind” she takes us on a journey of soul-searching and bittersweet introspection through her personal stories and honest deliveries backing up by Vince Mendoza’s lust, wistful orchestration.

Although Gardot’s lack of training in jazz is apparent on her scatting on “If the Stars Were Mine” (the way she rolls her Rs is somewhat irritating), her confidence in experimentation is made up for it. It’s not about technique; it’s about exploration. My One and Only Thrill testifies that if you like Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux and Diana Krall, you’ll dig Melody Gardot.

A heartfelt photo series of a bride who died five days after her wedding. Cancer stole her life.

Eminem’s cover for Relapse, his new album, has been revealed. His face is made up of various pills with a prescription label reads “Prescribed by Dr. Dre.” It’s quite a clever concept.

Quach Thanh Danh used to imitate Tuan Ngoc; now he is imitating Manh Dinh. On his fifth solo, Chuyen Hen Ho, the dude gets super wimpy. He sings like a pussy on the title track and dramatizes the shit out of “Ngon Truc Dao,” “Lanh Tron Dem Mua” and other “sen” songs with his campy phrasings. It’s a damn shame to witness such a great potential get sabotaged by the mainstream.

This dude fooled me. It takes me halfway into his debut Chang Trai De Thuong to realize that he is a dude. The title track is quite misleading. At first, I thought the singer was singing about a cute boy, but he actually sings about himself. “Kut Kit” is another track that is impossible to tell it’s a male voice. Move over Bang Kieu, Thanh Duy is the new bitch on the scene.

Just launched a page featuring student video. Portraits by Julie Woodford. Videos by Carl Meyster. Web design by yours truly.

Nguyen Khang is a cool, very down-to-earth fellow. He was quite animated when we talked about music and the Vietnamese music scenes both in Viet Nam and abroad. It was fantastic to hear his side of the whole industry in his wit manner. He showed tremendous admiration for Tuan Ngoc and often spoke highly of him.

In our last conversation, I took him back to his pre-big-production days when he used less technique and more feeling in his singing. From “Chieu Mua Thu Ha Noi” to “Em Oi Ha Noi Pho” to “Da Khuc Cho Tinh Nhan” to the live recording of “Tinh Khuc Thu Nhat,” the rawness in his voice and his unrestrained delivery mesmerized me. His take on the pop hit “Hay Ve Voi Anh” was a phenomenal and yet he cut it in less then ten minutes. At the time Nguyen Khang was fairly new to the game. He was free from all the pressures and all of the burdens. All he had to do was going into the studio and singing his heart out. The producer already picked out the tunes for him.

He felt that Pham Duy’s music is not suited for his voice, yet his version of “Con Chut Gi De Nho” almost put me to tear. I was driving home from work one day on the cold, lonely road in Poughkeepsie and the tune struck my chord. The way he phased “Ở đây buổi chiều quanh năm mùa đông” sounded as if he could feel my lonesomeness and despondency at the time. In this icy, miserable place, I was thankful for that special someone, “May mà có em đời còn dễ thương.”

When we walked toward the bar, chicks just came up and kissed him. Despite all the limelight and all the love he gets from the female fans, he is still a very lonesome soul deep inside. Listen to his version of “Tim Ve Chon Hoang Vu” (Bruce Doan and Nguyen Ha) and Pham Duy’s “Tam Su Goi Ve Dau” and you’ll feel him. Enjoy the selection.

P.S. I love you too, man!

I finally dragged my old ass to Diamond club for the first time last night and it was a rambunctious site. I am indeed too old for this shit. The techno DJ was loud; the band was even louder. It was just depressing to watch Nguyen Khang wasted his voice in the joint.

My main purpose for going to the club was to approach Nguyen Khang about my ideal concert. After his first set, which I can’t even remember what he sang, we went backstage to discuss my concept. We had a good conversation and I really felt his pain. The industry is killing him. He needs to be resuscitated. I can still see the fire in him when he gave a heartfelt rendition of Nguyen Anh 9’s “Co Don.” It was undeniably the best performance of the night. That was the real moment of Nguyen Khang pouring his soul over the simple-backing keyboard.

Although, I have to admit, his upbeat version of “Delilah” was quite catchy, he doesn’t belong in that club. He deserves an intimate setting with real accompaniments. He liked my idea and encouraged me to make it happen. We’ll get there some day.

Even though my ears are still buzzing for all the noise last night, I had a good time. Thanks to Khanh Le, a new friend who is an artist I have met through Visualgui.com, for accompanied me last night. I also ran into an old friend from Lancaster who celebrated his birthday at the club. I am sure the club makes some nice revenue off the drinks. I had a few shots of Patrón, which was $12 a pop. Big shout out to my wonderful wife for cutting me lose for the night. Thanks for the trust, baby!

Our furniture from Marlo was delivered today. We kept the sectional sofa and sent back the dining table and chairs. The tabletop had a thumb-size chip and five out of the six chairs aren’t leveled. The two delivery guys (African-Americans) weren’t too happy about the return, but I couldn’t except damaged merchandise.

I still liked the dining set and was going to reschedule for another delivery, but the guys had done a great job losing the sale. I understand the heavy lifting all, but their attitudes turned me off. They had the audacity to blame it on my hardwood floor for the unevenness of the chairs. How could my floor uneven when one of the chairs didn’t rock? I can even see with my naked eyes that some of the legs are shorter than the other and none of our own chairs were rocking.

We paid a hundred and thirty dollars for the delivery charges and they acted like they were doing us a favor. Their grumpy attitudes not only lost my interest in their products, but also the tips I intended to give them. We’ll look for another table elsewhere.

“Autumn Leaves” is somewhat sloppy, but they nailed the speedy “Mr. PC.” Check out two tunes from this week’s session.