One is a jazz piano prodigy. One is a bluegrass banjo virtuoso. Together Chick Corea and Bela Fleck crafted The Enchantment, a master of art. The secret behind the success is the way the two musicians communicate through sounds. Cue into the end of “Joban Dna Nopia” (at 5:50 to be exact) for instance, you will hear how Corea makes his keyboard sounds like the banjo by playing at the high keys to perform in unison with Fleck, and then vice versa. Whether exchanging melodies, trading counterpoints, accompanying one another, or charging tempos against each other, the harmonization between the two is an unbreakable spell of fusion.

Admire me or despise me, deep down you can’t forget me. The more you think about me, the more difficult for you to get rid of me. Like a ghost, you creep up once in a while to let me know that you’re still around. I wish I could bring you back, but I couldn’t. You’re…

So do you like my review?
What review?
Paris By Night 88
You call that a review?
Why not?
You didn’t really say anything except you didn’t fall asleep.
That’s not enough? What do you expect me to do? Go through track by track like she looks amazing, he did a great job on this song, and this one is a skipper.
No, but say something about the show.
Like what? All the chicks looked lovely in ao dai, and there was Ha Tran looking like she just got out of an institution.
You’re so mean.
I know
That’s why no one reads your site anymore.
That’s not true. You and I read it.
How do you know I do? I am not you.
Look in the mirror, fool.

An interesting conversation on rock music came up last Friday while two of my colleagues and I were having lunch outside where we heard a band practicing some rock tunes. Just when one of the guys complimented how decent the band sounded, they messed up. Speak to soon, I told him. That was how the discussion started, and I was surprised that these two white guys who listen to rock all their lives concurred that you can’t take rock any further than what it already is. A musician’s skill doesn’t have to be superb to play rock. In order to play like John Coltrane, however, one would need tremendous technical skills. One of the things the guy pointed out was that drummer Tommy Lee tried out for the college band in a reality show, and couldn’t make. He simply couldn’t play and read what the band required even though he is one of the most popular rock stars. He concluded that rock musicians might be good at what they know, but can’t move beyond that. In general he is probably correct.

In his latest piece for The New Yorker, David Sedaris describes his character:

From a distance, her hair looked white, but now I could see that it was streaked with yellow, almost randomly, like snow that had been peed on. If she seemed somewhat mannish, it was the fault of her clothing rather than her features. Both her jacket and her blouse were kitted out with shoulder pads, and when they were worn together she could barely fit through the door. This might be a problem for others, but Rosemary didn’t get out much. And why would she want to?

Tom Bachtell’s portraits of George W. Bush.

Borders’ cafe, A Prairie Home Companion, a gigantic dish of shrimp pasta, “Nu Hon Goi Gio,” countless emails, Tuan Ngoc, Ngoc Ha, Khanh Ly, “Bien Nho,” jazz, Billie Holiday, chao ga, chicken wings, wine, beer, broccoli with egg and soy sauce, steak with rice, sushi, nightly Starbuck coffee, books, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Las Vegas, Virginia, New Yorker, badminton, Barnes & Noble, cheesecake, the park, rain, NYC, egg custard, pho and lau de. Wow! It’s been a wonderful year!

“Nua Doi Yeu Em” is one of my favorite tunes from Lam Phuong and Don Ho has done an exeptional job of expressing the pathos in it. These two lines, “Hai con yeu nhau bang tam hon biet xu / Doi tim ghep lai bang kho dau nua doi,” brings out the melancholic vibe every time.

From “Boy arrives in Canada for life-saving surgery“:

Hoang Son Pham was abandoned by his parents at the age of three because of a facial hemangioma, a benign tumour of blood vessels. Over the next seven years, the tumour continued to grow, causing difficulty with everyday tasks such as eating.

You can find more updates on the boy as well as donation information at Children’s Bridge Foundation. Big up to Kate Maslen!

50 Cent’s new joint featuring Justin Timberlake sounds more like pornography than techology.