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Archive for the ‘Thao Nguyen’ Category

Thao (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2022) [DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE]

Posted in Death Cab For Cutie, Philadelphia, PA, Thao, Thao Nguyen, The Met Philadelphia on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 29, 2022] Thao

Initially the band Low was supposed to open for Death Cab for Cutie on this leg of the tour.  They had cancelled for health reasons (drummer, singer Mimi Parker is battling cancer).  I haven’t liked a lot of Low stuff (they’re a bit too slow for me), although their newer stuff is a bit noisier and more fun.  And obviously I hope Mimi is okay.

But I was pleased to see that Low was being replaced by Thao.

I have known about Thao Nguyen for years.  She was primarily known as the leader of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down.  She dissolved the band earlier this year (no idea why) but has been playing shows with new band members.

She just goes by Thao now and she knows how to control an audience!

We missed the very beginning of her set (we were a little late getting there and then we forgot that the GA area has to go through the far door, so we had to go in and back out before we could really enjoy her set).

Thao was up front in a cool white suit and she sang with the intensity I knew she had.   She also played a wicked guitar, which I did not know she did.  During one of the songs (I don’t know titles), she played a spectacular, noisy guitar solo while the rest of the band jammed around her.

Her band includes Micayla Grace who played an amazing bass guitar (she was all over the fretboard creating wondrous sounds).  Lilah Larson played guitar and keys and seemed to be making sounds out of nowhere.  And her drummer Jon Sortland (who also plays with The Shins) was amazing.  He created rhythms and stacked them on top of rhythms and they all worked perfectly.  Considering he just got off of tour with the Shins a few days earlier, the fact that he could do such amazing stuff with Thao is really impressive.

And then there was Thao herself.  She dedicated a song for a woman’s right to choose.  She played a great song (called “Oh No” I believe) which not only had great audience participation (this side sings Oh No!; this side sings “But I loved you the most,” but which also seemed to have two parts–a really rocking section and then a slower part that built and built.

She also serenaded us with a song that she wrote for her wife, which I believe was “Marrow.”

She ended with a song I knew, “Temple,” a catchy song that looks back at the fall of Saigon.

She played a great set and I would think she’s be amazing as the headliner.

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Bryan Washington–“Heirlooms” (New Yorker, August 3 & 10, 2020)

Posted in Anti-war, Antiracism, Black Lives Matter, Calvin Trillan, Cooking, Coronavirus, Death, Essays, History, LGBTQ, Lottery, Lucinda Williams, Luck, Martin Luther King, New Yorker, Parenting, Quarantine, Racism, Shirley Jackson, Short Story, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Thao Nguyen, Thao Nguyen, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on August 12, 2020| Leave a Comment »

download (71)SOUNDTRACK: THAO NGUYEN-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #56 (July 28, 2020).

download (70)I have enjoyed a lot of music from Thao Nguyen and her band Thao and the Get Down Stay Down.  She plays an idiosyncratic type of indie rock that’s catchy but also quirky.  Although I haven’t heard much from her lately.

She plays three songs here and she talks a lot between songs.  What she has to says is both powerful and meaningful.

For her Tiny Desk (home) concert, Thao Nguyen opens with a somber version of “Temple,” the dance-oriented title track from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down’s new album. The song is an homage to her parents, who were refugees of the Vietnam War. Thao sings from the perspective of her mother, honoring their hard-fought freedom and their hopes that their daughter is blessed with the ability to pursue her own happiness. She recorded it as a trio with cellists (and neighbors) Elisabeth Reed and Andy Luchansky. It’s a powerful rendition that celebrates, in Thao’s words, “being queer and being out in my career, something that being out publicly has caused a lot of turmoil and unrest in my own life.”

I hadn’t heard the original of “Temple” before this, but after, I had to give it a listen.  The recorded version is faster and a lot more dancey.  This spare version is quite striking and really brings the lyrics to the fore.  Thao plays the guitar and the addition of Reed and  Luchansky makes the song far more somber.  She said they created this version just for Tiny Desk “because you deserve nice things.”

She says she’s been reading about addressing anti-black racism in Asian and Vietnamese culture.  She has become more educated about what has allowed Southeast Asian refugees to settle in America. Black civil rights leaders, the Black Power movement for directly and informed change in immigration law and made it less racist.

We also hear “Pure Cinema” from Temple which has another interesting twisting riff that she plays quietly as she sings.  She also plays a slightly atonal guitar solo which is really interesting, too.

She ends with a mandolin version of “Departure” from her 2016 album, A Man Alive.  Once again there’s a cool riff and she does some really cool slides up the fretboard as she plays.  I’ve not heard mandolin playing like this before.  I’d love for her and Chris Thile to do a mandolin show together.

[READ: July 31, 2020] “Heirlooms”

This story felt a lot like an excerpt.  I often wonder if pieces in the New Yorker are excerpts–usually when a story doesn’t feel like it ends properly.  This one actually ended pretty satisfyingly, but it just felt like there could be a lot more.

So this is an excerpt from Washington’s forthcoming novel Memorial.

I had read a story from Washington back in January that I really liked.  I’m not sure if that story is also from the novel, but it features a main character who is similar to the one in this excerpt.

The narrator is a man named Ben.  His boyfriend Mike has just left for Japan to be with his dying father.  Although the same day that Mike left, Mike’s mother Mitsuko came to visit.  This is not, apparently, a coincidence.

So this excerpt shows Ben trying to cohabitate with his boyfriend’s mother whom he has never met before.

Ben is angry at Mike.  Both because he has left his mother here, but also because Mike’s father left him for Japan when Mike was a teenager.  Mike hadn’t heard from him in over a decade, but he rushed off to him. (more…)

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Tiphanie Yanique-“God’s Caravan” (New Yorker, November 4, 2019)

Posted in Adele, Anderson .Paak, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Andrew Bird, Barbara Hannigan, Bernie and the Believers, Bible, Blue Man Group, Brandi Carlile, Café Tacvba, CHAI, Dan Deacon, Dirty Three, Dr. Dog, Fragile Rock, George Li, Gogol Bordello, H.E.R., iLe, Jorge Drexler, Juanes, Julien Baker, Laura Gibson, Lizzo, Mac Miller, Marbles, Martin Luther King, Memphis, TN, Michael Jackson, Mitski, Mon Laferte, Monsieur Periné, Mucca Pazza, Natalia Lafourcade, Neko Case, New Yorker, Noname, NPR/PRI/PBS, PJ Morton, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Racism, Red Baraat, Religion, Rev Sekou and the Seal Breakers, Short Story, Superorganism, Tamino, Tank and the Bangas, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Thao Nguyen, The Cristina Pato Trio, Tiny Desk Concert, Tiphanie Yanique, Tom Jones, Vic Chesnutt, Yusuf on November 4, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TINY DESK PLAYLISTS (2019).

As on October 1, NPR has started the Tiny Desk Playlist page.

As of today there are 9 Playlists on the page.  I’m not going to comment on them, as I’ve already posted about all of these shows (except CHAI as of now).  I might disagree with some of these lists, but whatever the case they are a good introduction to Tiny Desks if you haven’t already seen one.

5 Tiny Desk Concerts That Will Literally Make You Cry
• Julien Baker (read more)
• Yusuf/Cat Stevens (read more)
• Bernie and The Believers (read more)
• Rev. Sekou and The Seal Breakers (read more)
• Barbara Hannigan (read more)

The 5 Most Uplifting Tiny Desk Concerts
• Lizzo (read more)
• Superorganism (read more)
• Fragile Rock (read more)
• Dan Deacon (read more)
• Mucca Pazza (read more)

The 5 Wildest Tiny Desk Concerts
• Gogol Bordello (read more)
• Red Baraat (read more)
• The Cristina Pato Trio (read more)
• George Li (read more)
• Dirty Three (read more)

The Best-Sounding Tiny Desk Concerts, Vol. 1 [selected by “the guy mixing the performances and bopping his head along just off (and sometimes on) screen” Josh Rogosin].
• Monsieur Periné (read more)
• Andrew Bird (read more)
• Nick Hakim (read more)
• Tedeschi Trucks Band (read more)
• PJ Morton (read more)

The Best Of The Very Beginning Of Tiny Desk Concerts
• Laura Gibson (read more)
• Vic Chesnutt (read more)
• Tom Jones (read more)
• Thao Nguyen (read more)
• Dr. Dog (read more)

The 5 Best ‘Before They Were Stars’ Tiny Desk Concerts
• Brandi Carlile (read more)
• Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals (read more)
• Adele (read more)
• H.E.R. (read more)
• Mitski (read more)

Tiny Desk Trick Or Treat: Our 5 Favorite Concerts In Costume
• Neko Case’s Halloween Special (read more)
• Blue Man Group (read more)
• Mucca Pazza (read more)
• CHAI (read more)
• Preservation Hall Jazz Band (read more)

#ElTiny: The Best Latinx Tiny Desk Concerts, Vol. 1
• Natalia Lafourcade (read more)
• Jorge Drexler (read more)
• Juanes & Mon Laferte (read more)
• iLe (read more)
• Café Tacvba (read more)

Lianne La Havas’ 5 Favorite Tiny Desk Concerts
• Tank And The Bangas
• Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals
• Noname
• Tamino
• Mac Miller

[READ: October 28, 2019] “God’s Caravan”

This story opens with boys crouching in the dirt shooting marbles.  I assumed it was set in the 1950s, so I was surprised to see that the boy knew of Michael Jackson’s moonwalk.  But it is set in Memphis, Tennessee–“Soulsville the black part.”

Earl was kicking butt and winning marbles left and right when the boys heard an ice cream truck trundle up.  But this was no ice cream truck.  Rather it was a van and it was playing “I’ve come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.”  On the side of the van, painted in “blood of Jesus” red were the words “God’s Caravan.”  The speakers then broadcast “When I say, ‘Ride or die’…you say ‘Amen.'”

The voice said “Ride or Die” and Earl and the other boys all shouted back “Amen.”

The door opened and there was the pastor, dressed in black judge’s robes.  He said he had sweets for their hearts. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #43/There is a Country: New Fiction from the New Nation of South Sudan (2013)

Posted in Adventure, Arid Gamal, Arranged Marriage, Avery Monsen, Biography, Catherine Lacey, Charles Baxter, David L. Lukudu, Death, Doogie Horner, Dreams, Drugs, Edward Eremugo Luka, Essays, Fears, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Iron Maiden, John Oryem, Letters, LGBTQ, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, McSweeney's, Military, Nathan C. Martin, Noor Elashi, Nyuol Lueth Tong, Patrick Shaffner, Poetry, Political Humor, Rachel Sommerville, Samuel Garang Akau, Short Story, T.C. Boyle, Taban Lo Liyong, Thao Nguyen, Threats, Translation, Victor Lugala, Violence, War, William Wheeler on June 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

43SOUNDTRACK: IRON MAIDEN-Killers (1981).

killersKillers picks up right where Iron Maiden left off–indeed many of these songs were written at the same time as the first album.  The difference is new guitarist Adrian Smith.

It opens with the great (but simple) instrumental “Ides of March” which segues into the blistering “Wrathchild.”  And it’s on this song that you can tell some of the rawness has been removed from the recording.  The guitars sound a wee bit more polished.

And you can tell the band are getting a bit more symphonic with the bass harmonics that intro the wonderful “Murders in the Rue Morgue” a song that feels long but actually isn’t.  It has several parts that all seem to signal the end until Clive Burrs drums come pounding in to restart the song.  Very cool.  “Another Life” is another fast punky song, and while I like it, it is probably one of the weaker songs on the album.  But that’s okay because it is followed by one of Maidens greatest instrumentals–“Genghis Khan” which has beautiful symphonic soaring solos over a cool propulsive beat.

“Innocent Exile” opens with another great noisy slappy bass riff that only Harris was doing at the time.  “Killers” is a classic track: fast and yet complex, with a very cool riff.   “Twilight Zone” sees Di’Anno reaching for higher more operatic notes.  He makes it, but you can just tell that the band needs more from their vocalist.  “Prodigal Son” opens with a pretty acoustic guitar intro.  I used to like this song quite a bit (whatever Lamia is), but I can see that it’s actually quite long and meandering (maybe this one is more like “War Pigs”).  It’s pretty but could probably be a bit shorter.  “Purgatory” sounds like track off the first album–fast raw and punky with screaming riffs.  “Drifter” ends the disc with a cool bass line and some more thrashing.  It’s a solid ending for an album that overall works pretty well, but which kind of shows that the band had to either do something big on the next album or get stuck in a rut.

[READ: June 1, 2013] McSweeney’s #43

And with this issue I am almost all caught up with my McSweeney’s.  More impressively, I read this one only a few days after receiving it!

This issues comes with two small books.  And each book has a very cool fold-out/die cut cover (which is rather hard to close and which I was sure would get caught and therefore ripped on something but which hasn’t yet).  The first is a standard collection of letters and stories and the second is a collection of fiction from South Sudan.  Jointly they are a great collection of fiction and nonfiction, another solid effort from McSweeney’s.

Letters (more…)

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