Below is an informal conversation with Jazzy Da Lam by yours truly. At first, I wanted to do a formal Q&A, but Jazzy is such an easygoing individual that I decided to throw all that out the window, and just have a normal interaction with her. As you can see, I have never done this before, but (thankfully) Jazzy has made it painless and enjoyable for me. Hope you enjoy this special exchange that can only be found at Visualgui.com.

Jazzy: Hi Donny
Donny: Hi Jazzy, I have not prepared anything.
Jazzy: We can wait till you’re ready… then we can chat. [Giggles]
Donny: Let me listen to your album [Moon & You] more carefully first.
Jazzy: Uh oh… Listen carefully for more criticisms, hihihi…
Donny: Hahaha… Are you mocking me?
Jazzy: Mocking, no. Shaking, yes.
Donny: You’re living in Germany?
Jazzy: Yea.. Munich, Germany.
Donny: You know German?
Jazzy: Yes! But not that good.
Jazzy: Would you like me to sing in German for you? [Laugh]
Donny: I would love to hear it, but wouldn’t understand a thing.
Donny: How about English? You sing English pretty good.
Jazzy: Many said that I sing English not too clear, but some like it and very supportive (they probably trying to make me feel good… by encouraging me), but I did my best… There are always two sides of things, praises and criticisms… I understand the ones that praise me are encouraging me, and the ones that criticize would like me to work harder; therefore, I appreciate both positive and negative feedbacks.
Donny: You sound pretty clear to me.
Jazzy: oh… thanks Donny.
Donny: I have listened to quite a few Vietnamese singers sing in English, but their pronunciations are way off. Did someone train you in English or you’ve trained yourself?
Jazzy: Oh I have asked several friends both Viet and American to hear how I sound. Overall the reaction is good. They said I have an accent, but that’s not important because sometimes the accent makes the song more exotic (That’s what they said).
Donny: Yes! Definitely.
Jazzy: American friends don’t expect me to sing like an American; therefore, they love it [when I sing in English]. And so… I don’t learn anything from them… I have to listen to CDs to learn on my own.
Donny: Your accent sounds really cute. I am not saying that to make you feel good either.
Jazzy: Ok ok… No more shy… I can now lift my nose up, huh? [laugh]
Donny: How did you come up with “Jazzy?”
Jazzy: Online friends came up with that name for me.
Donny: Although your name suggests jazz, your debut is consisted of jazz, blues, funk, pop and classic. Which one is your style?
Jazzy: That’s my style, everything. A little pop mixed into jazz, funk, blues…
Donny: Then you need to change your name to Jazzymixy? [Laugh]
Jazzy: hahahaha… yea
Jazzy: As a child I learned classic piano. Love Chopin, Bach and Debusy… Therefore, they influence my music.
Donny: And now, piano jazz?
Jazzy: Yes.
Donny: Who is your favorite jazz pianist?
Jazzy: Oh, many. At the beginning, I listened to Oscar Peterson. Then Bill Evans and Keith Karrett were my heros. And now I have paid more attention to Michel Camilo & Rubalcaba Gonzales.
Donny: How about Thelonious Monk?
Jazzy: I like to listen to him, but can’t play like him.
Donny: Why not? Too choppy?
Jazzy: My hands are too small. Playing like him is impossible. [Laugh]
Donny: I love him and Duke too.
Jazzy: I have a live DVD concert of Monk… just amazing!
Jazzy: Duke’s arrangements are wicked too.
Donny: How is your album doing in Vietnam?
Jazzy: It sold more than 1,000 copies in the first two weeks.
Donny: Congrats!
Jazzy: thx
Donny: I think my review has something to do with it. [Sniff Sniff]
Jazzy: hihihi… sure.
Donny: Just kidding. I am not that arrogant. [Laugh]
Jazzy: We have something in common [Giggles]
Donny: Absolutely [Giggles]
Donny: Speaking of my review, I did mention the scats at the end of “Khuc Dem.” Have you thought of scats for the whole song like Ella Fitzgerald?
Jazzy: Ohh, I used to perform “Shadow of Your Smile” with bossa feeling, and I have to scat 2-3 choruses. But this CD is for Vietnamese listeners, and it’s also my debut… I would like to keep it calm and quiet.
Donny: You mean not to make too much impression?
Jazzy: Yes. Something like that.
Donny: Hmm… Very humble!
Jazzy: Hehehe… humble?… Yeah! I am being “humbled” just to trick you. [Laugh]
Donny: Speaking of calmness, you’re a mellow person huh?
Jazzy: I think I am, but the person opposite from me might not think so.
Donny: Oh yeah, who is that “opposite” person?
Jazzy: You…[Laugh]
Donny: Yeah…sure [Laugh]
Donny: I am a mellow guy too. That’s why I appreciate “Vat Trang.”
Jazzy: You like “Vat Trang?” Can you give me a reason?
Donny: I didn’t get it at first, but once I am on the road at night, “Vat Trang” comes to life. It’s like Serenade.
Jazzy: Serenade is a form of Nocturne (a night song), and “Vat Trang” is like that. Or “Mau Dem,” “Dao Khuc,” Vong Dem,” Khuc Dem, “Trang & Em.” They all pitch black. [Laugh]
Jazzy: You like “Mau Dem” the best right? Why?
Donny: Didn’t I give a reason in my review? Just kidding. I like the tranquility, the quietness, the calmness, the urge to sooth, and your nightingale-like voice near the end.
Jazzy: [Blushing]
Donny: Are you touring now?
Jazzy: Yes. I am on the road with my funk band in Austria and Italy. In Munich, I am in a group called The Tulips – an Acapella Gospel Choir.
Donny: When will you be in the US to show us some love? [Wink]
Jazzy: I would love to have an opportunity to perform for the US audience, but my schedule is not working out this year. Hopefully next year.
Donny: What are your plans in the future?
Jazzy: I have many upcoming projects. One of them is an album in which I will perform my favorite jazz standards and another one with new materials including instrumental compositions I have written.
Donny: Sound very exciting. I am looking forward to both. Thanks for your time and good luck.

We are conducting a series of interviews with some of the Vietnamese Americans behind successful websites. First up is Donny Truong of Visualgui.com.

Donny Truong runs the popular Vietnamese American blog – Visualgui.com. We caught up with him to chat about running a website, the design business, and blogs.

Talking with Michael Nguyễn from Tiếng Magazine

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Donny. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What is your background?

I was born in My Tho, Vietnam and came to the US 12 years ago. I am currently a web designer at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. I am also running a personal website (visualgui.com) and a tribute site to a talented Vietnamese singer Ngoc Lan (iLoveNgocLan.com) with a couple of dedicated fans. I love design and it is probably the only thing I am good at.

Your site Visualgui was rated best Vietnamese blog by a couple sites. What do you think goes into creating a successful blog?

Oh really? I am not even aware of it. From a designer perspective, a successful blog must be attractive, accessible, and easy to use. Obviously, content is still the heart and soul of the blog. I write regularly and I choose topics that interested me. For example, Vietnamese food, Vietnamese music, hip hop music, design books, and inspiration.

Has your Vietnamese background influenced the way you design websites?

Good question. I don’t think my background influenced my design but Vietnamese music has inspired my work. For example, the motion piece I created called “Một Chút Quà Cho Quê Hương” was inspired by Việt Dũng’s emotional lyrics and Ngọc Lan’s remarkable performance.

Could you describe the Vietnamese American community (if there is one) over on the east coast? Over here on the west coast the community is quite large – how does it compare over there?

From where I am living now (Poughkeepsie, NY), I can’t even find a Vietnamese person, except for the nails parlor at the mall. I wish there is a Vietnamese Community here.

Did you immigrate here with your family?

Yes! I came here with my mom and older sister.

Has the internet made it possible for you to find a Vietnamese community online?

Yes! The Internet rocks. It made it possible for me to get to know many Ngoc Lan’s fan around the world. Even though we have never met, they are like a big family to me. We even call iLoveNgocLan.com our home on the web.

On my own site, I have met quite a few fine Vietnamese folks who have great taste in music and I learn a lot from them.

Last questions, where do you see the Vietnamese community online heading? Have you noticed a bigger presence online? What’s in the future for you?

Obviously there are tons of Vietnamese organizations on the web but I think we are still behind with technology. I haven’t seen too many sites that use Web Standards and CSS. Fortunately, I see that in Tiếng Magazine, good job! I am glad that you have started on online mag gearing toward young Vietnamese American. I don’t see anything in the future for me as far as the Vietnamese Community.

Thanks for the interview, Donny.

As you already know how much I love 2pac’s music. Here is my tribute to Pac. Not only I love the way he flows but his inspirational messages as well. Here are some of my favorite at this time:

Not to disrespect my peoples but my poppa was a loser
Only plan he had for momma was to fuck her and abuse her.
– Still I Rise

Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice
I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots.
– Keep Ya Head Up

And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it’s time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can’t make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one
So will the real men get up
I know you’re fed up ladies, but keep your head up
– Keep Ya Head Up

I ain’t a killer but don’t push me
Revenge is like the sweetest joy next to gettin pussy
– Hail Mary

I love Cali like I love woman
Cause every nigga in LA got a little bit of Thug in him
– Live & Die in LA

I see no changes all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let’s erase the wasted
– Changes

I have a lot of respect for Dodo’s programming skills. Not only she had written quite a few very useful php scripts, she also created many hacks for b2 weblog. The most useful one is the toggle of ‘read more’ script, which I use on this blog. Lately she had written ‘reply to comments’ and ‘comments links’ which works nicely but I don’t find them too useful. The ‘reply to comments’ is fantastic but you can’t really tell who is the latest commenter. The ‘Comment links’ is quite nice but it shows that the site’s owner just slaps up the links without even actually visiting the sites. It doesn’t show the owner’s effort to personally write down the links. Whenever I post a link on my site, I always make sure that site is worth visiting and not just slap a link on because someone commented on my site. As a commenter, I wouldn’t want my name to be part of that list. Why? I didn’t comment your site to get a link. I commented your site because I like what you wrote and not to get my site promoted. Anyhow, I still wish I had half of Dodo’s programming skills. Keep up the great work, girl.

Woohoo! I got a raise from Vassar. This is really exciting. I will continue to create clean, attractive, usable, accessible and easy-to-maintain websites for Vassar. On top of that, I will continue to push Vassar moving toward web standards using CSS and XHTML.

Wish Keish was still here.

Oh Keish! What can I say? I am going to miss you like crazy. You’ve been such a wonderful friend. I love all the moments we shared. Go out to eat, go to the movies, cook at your place, and share stories about our families. I have so much fun being around you and thanks for listening. You’re the one that I can really open up to. This job has brought you to me and I am thankful for that. Things will not be the same when you are not around anymore. You had made it really enjoyable. I admire your design skill, adore your personality, and love your cooking. You’re such a talented individual and I’ve learned so much from you. Please keep in touch with me wherever you go. I do not want our friendships to fade because of the passing of time. I will always remember you.

Love
Donny

It’s always great to spend time with family and friends. Sammy is so cute with a new haircut. She loves Monsters, Inc. She has been watching it everyday for the past week. Sammy pointed out Boo, the adorable little girl, and said, “That’s be Tu. Ma Tu hong co quay (But Sammy doesn’t misbehave)” She pointed to Sully, the big monster, and said, “Cau Doanh.” Then she laughed at me. I tickled her and made her kissed my cheeks. I kept on demanding her to kissed both of my cheeks. After the sixth times, she got tired of kissing me and just simply pushed my face away. After the movie, I put her to sleep and she was doing the sign language “You go to sleep” just like Sully did to Boo. Man, I love this adorable little girl so much. I hope she will grow up to be successful. I am kind of worry about her being too smart. She might think she will get away with everything because of her smartness and ended up ruin her life. I knew this one girl when she was eight years old. She was a cute little girl and absolute smart and outgoing. I was thinking to myself, “This girl will grow up to be somebody, maybe a doctor or a lawyer.” At the age of eight, she was baby-sitting her little three years old brother while her parents out working days and nights. Even as a smart girl, without directions, she ruined her life. At the age of fourteen, she got pregnant. When I heard the news, I couldn’t believe what I heard. Both she and her boyfriend were still in middle school. How the hell are they going to raise this kid? She dropped out of middle school to take care of the kid. I felt so bad for this poor little girl. She spent her youth babysitting her little brother and now she is spending her teen babysitting her own kid.

While at Wal-Mart yesterday, I spotted a Cambodian girl. I remembered her from high school so I came up and said, “Hey! How’re you doing?” She looked at me and replied, “Sorry, I don’t remember you.” Then she walked off with her boyfriend/husband. I felt mad idiot. Luckily her boyfriend/husband didn’t whoop my ass. I knew her when I was a freshman and she was a senior in High School. She helped me figured out where my classes were and we talked a couple of times. It’s only been eight years and she doesn’t remember me at all.

Another incident happened a couple of months ago. I saw a guy who was in my 8th grade class. I knew what his name was and I even pointed to him the class we were in. The only response I got from him was, “How are you going to pick out my brain like that? It’s been ages ago.” So next time when I see someone I know but I don’t think that person remembers me, I just pretend I don’t remember him/her to save my embarrassment.

VisualGUI is an innovative design studio that combines creativity and simplicity to produce an enjoyable web experience.

What is VisualGUI? There is a double meaning behind it. Obviously, GUI stands for Graphical User Interface. A good interface design is not only intuitive and usable but visually attractive as well. The second meaning is about me. I am a “visual guy” and this site displays a collection of my visual designs, thoughts, and inspirations.

VisualGUI was formerly known as D3 (Donny Digital Design) Studio. D3 was started in 1999 for a class project (Electronic Visual Communication) at La Salle University. Fortunately, the success of the site opened the door to freelance projects. As a result, D3 evolved into the birth of a design studio because of the continuous growing body of work that resolves around it. The purpose of D3studio was to showcase my work only; however, I decided to include my journal in January 2003. The main goal of adding my journal is to release myself and improve my writing skills. It also serves as a stress management. In April 2003, I changed the name to VisualGUI to reflects both my professional works and my personal goals. As a result, VisualGUI is a combination of a portfolio showcase and a personal weblog. I could have created two separate sites but maintaining is a big issue. Keeping one site up to date is hard enough. On top of that, I am currently a full time web designer at Vassar College which takes up a big chunk of my time but I enjoy working with all the wonderful people and talented designers.

I hope you find this site enjoyable. If you are a potential client and would like to check out my works, please ignore my personal weblog. Although I have nothing to hide, my weblog is very personal and it contains all kinds of explicit contents that might give you a wrong impression about my design. However, if you don’t mind my personal thoughts, I encourage you to explore and enjoy both of my worlds. You might figure out why I design the way I do based on my personality.

Michael Lebowitz, class of 94 Vassar graduate, gave a great presentation on Interactive Design for the Film Industry. He is the co-founder of Big Spaceship, a design company that specializes in graphic, interactive and web design for film sites. Big Spaceship portfolio includes: Gangs of New York, Identity, and Down With Love. I don’t know if I should reveal this but these guys are paid in full. The budget for Gangs of New York site was 150 grants. They also developed Battle for the Sudan, an award winning multi-user game powered by Unity Socket Server. Mike is an awesome guy who willing to push the envelope in digital media design. Make sure to check out his company’s upcoming project called Underworld. I saw the teaser and it looks hot. Thank Mike for the fantastic lecture and thank Rain for the great sushi dinner. It was a wonderful evening.