HCMC music scene

(100th post! I'll make it a good one)
5.29.09

What a fun weekend of music!



Friday night was Ratatat at Pacharan Tapas and Bodega, right next to Caravelle Hotel and behind the Oprah House on Hai Ba Trung Street. I love this band (great study music because no lyrics!) and have not been able to see any of their small touring shows in the US - so what are the odds that they would be playing in Vietnam in the same city and date that I am there? Clearly it was a sign that I had to be there.

Super small and intimate venue, basically in a small room with a bar - it was packed so tightly that it took maybe 30 minutes to get a drink. Clearly a fire hazard and the music was BOOMING. The guys were so crazy and amazing live, but I could only stay for a bit over an hour because it was so loud and hot and sweaty inside that room. And also I had waited for the show since 9 pm and they didn't take the stage until 11 pm. hrmpf =/ Oh well, got to hear them play some new stuff and one of my favorites, so it was all good!




RATATAT playing "Lex" from their "Classics" cd!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO. ^_^

Saturday night I met up with em Thao and 2 of her friends for dinner. They are all from the same city, Bac Lieu, about 6 hour drive from HCMC and all have graduated from medical school. Minh is an OBGYN intern year at Benh Vien Tu Du, the hospital with the children's dormitory. Her fiance, Tuan, is in his third year neurosurgery residency at Cho Ray Hospital - the largest hospital in the city.


We must have been hungry - look at all of that food!!! haha

em Thao is sitting across from them - I see her about once a week so we have become good friends. She is in her internship year as a physical therapy and rehabilitation specialist.

We had dinner at Mon Hue - restaurant specializing in Hue food - and talked a lot about medical school, working as a doctor, and international and public health. Apparently Cho Ray hospital is very popular as an elective rotation site for foriegn doctors, especially in surgery and emergency medicine - no Vietnamese language necessary. Which I found a bit odd, but Tuan explained to me that there are many international doctors that work there and so the language is not an issue. Very cool, something to keep an eye out for when I get to that point. That would be awesome!

Their stories are really fascinating - Tuan's older sister was the first and only person in their province to get a full scholarship to study medicine in Australia. Full scholarship! Medical school in another language - INCREDIBLE!

They invited me to their engagement party in Bac Lieu over the weekend. How awesome - a countryside party!!! And I get to wear my ao dai =D

After dinner we went to Sax 'n Art Jazz club (intersection of Le Loi and Pasteur Streets), home to a great house band that includes a famous saxophone player, Tran Minh Tuan, who actually studied music out in California.



I'm usually not a huge fan of jazz music, but Chu Tuan mixes classical Vietnamese songs into the jazz style and it's amazing. And all of the other players are so great at improvising - they invite anyone from the crowd to join them and are able to play along, it's great!

I met up with my friend em Na, a fellow student in my class who studied music and goes to this club every weekend. He is a regular and so usually goes on stage to play with them - tonight they asked him to join! His parents were also there so he had a big fan club


Group Shot: em Na, me, em Thao, Chi Minh, and Anh Tuan
Sax n Art Jazz Club

Drinks were about 95,000D for mixed drinks, 50000 - 75000 for beer; $3 for cover charge for the Jazz Club.
It was a really fun time, the first weekend that I stayed out late and attended an event. I know that the med students don't usually do this either, so I think it was a treat for all of us.

And I am really excited to be attending the engagement party, how cool is that!!