A great article written about The Props

http://www.dtinews.vn/news/sports-_-entertainment/props-drop-debut-album-in-hanoi_3677.html ...CUT AND PASTE THE LINK OR JUST CLICK ON THE TITLE!!!

Cha-Cha-Cha Changes

A few things have happened since our last post. Our long time roommate, Mark, has returned to Germany leaving the room on our second floor vacant, as well as the room on the top floor. We put an advertisement into the www.newhanoian.com and found ourselves some replacements. Now we have Elise(Holland) and JT(Australia), that are both currently taking a Celta course to become qualified English teachers. So, the living situation has changed drastically. The work situation is the same for me, working at Oxford English UK and Hanoi Hotel while Karen has moved over to ACET (Australian Center for Education and Training) She has joined the ranks of such illustrious teachers as Brady(Vocals/Harp of the Props) and Andrew "Vinyl" Vennemore (Guitar/Vocals of the Props) and seems to be enjoying her new place of employment.
On a sadder note, we have lost a member of the band. Tom Lancanster has left the Props due to family and work obligations. He was an invaluable member of the band, and his songs and presence will be missed by all. The props, as a band, are trucking on. We played the Hype festival as a four piece with a surprise appearance by the recently de-propped Tom, for the last two songs of the set. We are currently considering replacements for the irreplaceable, which will be no easy task.
The Hype show went over with a few hitches, but overall was an enjoyable experience. We shared the stage with Killa Kela and the drummer from Franz Ferdinand as well as some other hip-hop/DJ folks, The Backyard Dogs Van Ho Ba, The Hanoi Bossanova band and a crazy instrumental band called Gibbon Suburbia that came out in masks and fur and completely rocked the house. After we got off the stage Jagermeister was being offered to anyone who was interested and as usual, I was interested. The rest of the evening gets kind of blurry after that, but I was told I had a lot of fun.
That is it for now, other than anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Mother and Daughter to Hanoi in July, it is straight on work and occasional play until said arrival and a three week vacation that shall ensue immediately. Can't wait. Edwardo needs a vacation bad.
Till next time, Keep your grip loose and your eye on the ball but most importantly, try to kill it with every swing, otherwise it just ain't worth getting up to bat.
-E

Clogged Drain

I haven't posted anything for a while so I might as well get back into the swing of things with an unusual one. We have a new roommate on the third floor of our house who went away to Bangkok for the week before Tet holiday. We went up to do some laundry, as the washing machine is in the bathroom on that floor, and noticed the sink was half full of really disturbing looking water. I attempted to unclog it with a wire hanger and was unsuccessful. Karen and I came to the conclusion, from the look and smell of the water, that he had thrown up in the sink and because of that the pipes were completely clogged. Instead of telling us, he went away for a week and left us to make this particularly gruesome discovery days later. We called the always helpful Ai and asked her to contact the landlord to send a plumber as soon as possible as Tet was only days away and we didn't want to deal with this for another 10 days. The landlord was there 15 minutes later. He showed up with a weather beaten plunger and made his way up to the third floor. He spent a few moments trying to force the drain to clear and then went at it with the wire hanger. He was as successful as I had been. This is where the story takes a strange and repulsive turn. Karen and I are standing directly behind this man, looking over his shoulder as he takes on the sink. ***I need to describe the third floor bathroom before continuing this story. There is a shower stall, a basin and the washing machine. The washing machine, basin and shower all empty into a drain in the corner of the room fed by pipes. There is no toilet in this bathroom.*** To the complete horror/dismay/surprise/shock/outrage of Karen and I, the landlord unzipped his fly and began to urinate into the drain. I didn't know if I should give the man some privacy or roll up a newspaper and whack him across the nose before rubbing his face in the mess he just made on our floor. In a true tribute to the level of desensitization that Vietnam has inflicted on us over the past 44 months, we simply walked away and went downstairs. the landlord came down and,because he doesn't speak a word of English, wrote a time for later that same day on a piece of paper. With that, his business was finished and he bid us a goodbye. " Ok, thanks for coming into our home and pissing on the floor, you disgusting animal." I replied cheerily. He nodded to me and hopped onto his scooter and sped out of our lives for the time being. The plumber came later and fixed the sink. To the best of my knowledge he didn't relieve himself on any the floor of any of our rooms, so we have that going for us. For those of you still checking in on us from time to time, Happy Tet and may the year of the tiger bring you much luck and prosperity.
Pray for our sanity,
-E

Thailand Ultimate Explorers

We have sent in an audition video to be one of the couples selected for a contest being put on by Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). We recorded a video and threw in some of the video and picture we took in Bangkok on our previous trips. Now that we have submitted our application we just sit and wait and hope that we get chosen. It sound like an amazing opportunity and Karen and I are both hoping we get chosen. We would be brought to Bangkok and given an awesome vacation that we would then twitter, blog and facebook about while we are doing it. There are five teams competing and the winner of the five teams wins a grand prize. There will be a voting process over the next little while so stay tuned and help us become Thailand's Ultimate Explorers.
Clink on the title to go to the site.
-E

The New Hanoians take on Halong Bay

The 1st annual Grass Roots and Bamboo Shoots in the Bay occurred on Saturday, September 26th. We gathered in Downtown Hanoi for some breakfast and coffee at 7:30 am on Saturday morning and waited to board the three buses that would be taking all 150 of us to Halong Bay. The trip was long but not uncomfortable and everyone was anxious to get on the beautiful junks, we could see awaiting our arrival, anchored in the bay.
After a short organizational stopover at the Bhaya building we were ferried over to the junks where we were showered with rose petals as we made our way onto the boat.We were led upstairs to the dining area and given a welcome cocktail. We all found a seat and listened while the organizer welcomed us and gave a short orientation speech.
Our names were called out and we collected our room keys.
The rooms were awesome. Private balconies and soft, plush double beds. It was so much better than any junk I had ever been on before. We quickly settled in to our room and hurried upstairs again to have lunch. I filled my stomach with surf and turf and then it was time to decide if we wanted to go swimming, kayaking or take a nap. WE took a nap.
I was woken up an hour or so later and told we had to head over to the cave right away to do soundcheck. I jumped out of bed and gathered everything I needed. I was still rubbing sleep out of my eyes as I boarded the little shuttle ferry for the 20 minute ride to the cave.
The cave, or Grotto if you prefer, was outstanding. It was massive and wide with steps leading up from the water. We took a few moments to take the amazing location in before getting down to business and doing soundcheck. With the help of Sean, soundcheck went smoothly and we were ready to have a cold beer or two by 5:30.
The rest of the people arrived about a half hour later to more rose petals and insane but very appropriate music creating a surreal atmosphere that everyone was quite taken with.
The Jagermeister, rum and beer were attacked with gusto and everyone was able to have a drink or two before sitting down to yet another wonderful bbq buffet. The band got changed and made our way to the stage after dinner. We played two 45 minute sets in the coolest location I have ever seen. With free rum, beer and jager flowing all evening, it can't be too hard to imagine that people got a little tipsy. DJ Kulture came on after us and spun tunes until they finally had enough and kicked us out.
We finished off the evening with some bottles of wine and some Bitburger beer on the top deck of boat 3. It was a fantastic ending to one of the best days I can remember having in a long time. Great work Eliot and the rest of the gang at New Hanoian and Bhaya cruises. Well done.

The Props Live at R&R Tavern

Ed



This is my new band, The Props, playing at R&R Tavern last Friday evening. This is the fourth band I have been in since landing here in Hanoi. This band is, by far, more my style than any of the others. I enjoyed playing in all of the other bands, but The Props is more like the music I would be writing myself if I were currently writing music, which I'm not. Maybe I will start writing again soon if I ever get some free time to do so. Anyway, I am heading back to the candy cane stacks once again with my lovely wife Karen and we are hoping to see all of you a few times, at least, while we are there. We are only going to be home for just under a month so we have a lot of stuff to squeeze into that time frame. I look forward to seeing everyone and there is a second half of this video that i will post soon. I had to cut it in half as it was too large to post as one video.

Take 'er easy.

The Yard Dogs LIVE!

I have enjoyed practicing with Mike, Simon and David for the past month or so. It has been a great way to spend a Sunday. We were preparing for a one time only show before Simon heads back to the UK and France for the summer. Our one show turned into two shows as we were invited to play for a benefit being put on for a poor local boy who has lost both hands and a foot trying to save a friend from certain death at the hands of a live power box.
The basement of Al Fresco's restaurant was filled with friends and acquaintances for the Yard Dogs first show. We had some help setting up the sound from Shaun, and we'd like to thank him for everything. It was a great evening that I am still recovering from as I write this. I am including a video of some highlights from the evening. Next stop, the Matador on Wednesday evening for an encore performance
-E

Just a post to show we are still alive and well.

I have nothing exciting to write at this time. Be patient, it is coming. I will post this amazing quote by the legendary Hunter S. Thompson, I couldn't possibly say it better than he does....

Security ... what does this word mean in relation to life as we know it today? For the most part, it means safety and freedom from worry. It is said to be the end that all men strive for; but is security a utopian goal or is it another word for rut?

Let us visualize the secure man; and by this term, I mean a man who has settled for financial and personal security for his goal in life. In general, he is a man who has pushed ambition and initiative aside and settled down, so to speak, in a boring, but safe and comfortable rut for the rest of his life. His future is but an extension of his present, and he accepts it as such with a complacent shrug of his shoulders. His ideas and ideals are those of society in general and he is accepted as a respectable, but average and prosaic man. But is he a man? has he any self-respect or pride in himself? How could he, when he has risked nothing and gained nothing? What does he think when he sees his youthful dreams of adventure, accomplishment, travel and romance buried under the cloak of conformity? How does he feel when he realizes that he has barely tasted the meal of life; when he sees the prison he has made for himself in pursuit of the almighty dollar? If he thinks this is all well and good, fine, but think of the tragedy of a man who has sacrificed his freedom on the altar of security, and wishes he could turn back the hands of time. A man is to be pitied who lacked the courage to accept the challenge of freedom and depart from the cushion of security and see life as it is instead of living it second-hand. Life has by-passed this man and he has watched from a secure place, afraid to seek anything better What has he done except to sit and wait for the tomorrow which never comes?

Turn back the pages of history and see the men who have shaped the destiny of the world. Security was never theirs, but they lived rather than existed. Where would the world be if all men had sought security and not taken risks or gambled with their lives on the chance that, if they won, life would be different and richer? It is from the bystanders (who are in the vast majority) that we receive the propaganda that life is not worth living, that life is drudgery, that the ambitions of youth must he laid aside for a life which is but a painful wait for death. These are the ones who squeeze what excitement they can from life out of the imaginations and experiences of others through books and movies. These are the insignificant and forgotten men who preach conformity because it is all they know. These are the men who dream at night of what could have been, but who wake at dawn to take their places at the now-familiar rut and to merely exist through another day. For them, the romance of life is long dead and they are forced to go through the years on a treadmill, cursing their existence, yet afraid to die because of the unknown which faces them after death. They lacked the only true courage: the kind which enables men to face the unknown regardless of the consequences.

As an afterthought, it seems hardly proper to write of life without once mentioning happiness; so we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?

- HST

Another year over, and a new one just begun

It has been far too long since our last post and for that we apologize. We are now recovering from the week that was Christmas and New Years. We had as much fun as was possible considering the vast distances between us and our friends and family. R&R Tavern was our home away from home this holiday season. We enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner on Christmas day with co-workers from Oxford English UK. Huong outdid herself with a fantastic meal that made us, if only for a short time, feel as though we were home enjoying a turkey dinner with all of the fixings. Next was NYE where we also celebrated the coming of the new year with friends at the bar. It was a good way to ring in the new year so far from home. Thanks again, to Jay and Huong for their efforts this holiday season. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years and we miss you all and were thinking of you over the holidays. I will do my best to not let so much time pass between posts.
Bring on the new year and year number four for the Merlins rocking South East Asia.
Ciao for now,
-E
Please enjoy this short video of clips taken by Karen over the past year on her cell phone.

40 Days and 40 Nights, well not really but...

It has been raining here for more than 24 hours and it just won't let up. The flooding has become a real problem on the roads and I am starting to worry about our first floor. Karen shot some video of the condition of our city streets, and we apologize for the quality of the video as she shot it on her cell phone, but she did a great job of catching some of the madness at its worst. So here it is. The state of Hanoi as I am writing this, and it is only getting worse. Awesome.
Happy Halloween
-Ed

PS. Click the title for some pictures

Hanoi Rocks!! Regurgitator Live

The show went down without a hitch tonight, and I had the best stage experience of my life. There were thousands of people in attendance for My Favorite Uncle's last performance. Yes, that's right, I said our last performance. Paul, our singer, is heading back to Australia and the band as we know it will be no more. It was fun while it lasted and I will remember it always. We brought in a whole new age of rock and roll to Hanoi, as until now, there had never been any shows like this before. I will always be happy to know I played such an important role in the bringing of rock to a place like this. there have only been three major shows in Hanoi this year and I played them all. Your welcome Hanoi, and I hope you keep up the good work. These people are desperate for good live music and I can't be around here much longer to bring it to them. So bring it y'all. Make the scene where there isn't one.
Regurgitator rocked the house and made it abundantly clear why they are professionals and the rest of us are just amateurs. They drove the Viets crazy with song after song of hard rock mayhem. I got caught up in it myself a little bit, I am not ashamed to say. The crowd was hungry, and we served up some prime riffs. I have never in my life, experienced such an enthusiastic and energetic crowd. They were amazing. I have included a video of the goings on this evening and Marty and Mel, I didn't get your autographs but watch the video all the way to the end, I think I got you something almost as good.
Chao for now,
E

(My 100th Blog) Last Show at Lo Su

Yes, Ladies and gentlemen, it is my 100th blog and I am using it to display some video from R&R Tavern, our home away from home here in Hanoi. The bar will be moving to a new location and the venue will be changing a little bit. A few of us got together and brought the end out in style as we drunkenly butchered other peoples songs all evening long.
Thank you R&R, and Jay and Huong it's owners, for providing a hell of a nice place for us to forget we are in Hanoi, while we are there at least.
Stay tuned as tomorrow I am playing an outdoor festival with Australian power pop group, Regurgitator.

Keep on, keeping on.

Ed

REGURGITATOR!!!!!! WHAT? WHAT? YEAH BOY!!!!

Alright, to be fair, I had no idea who this band was. I can not be blamed for this, however, as I am a North American, and as such I am not privy to this particular band. This is an Australian band. Those who like them, like them a lot. ( Nice right, An Alexander Kieth's reference, from Hanoi, in the middle of Asia. Who rocks? Me, that's who.)
I have heard Australians, and let us remember they are the only country in the world to be their own continent, tell me how awesome Regurgitator is. They are like Canada's Tragically Hip, apparently. So I am excited to announce that your's truly will be opening up for them at an outdoor venue where there are supposed to be 3,000 to 5,000 people in attendance. Yeah, that's not a lot, but I ask you, Have any of you played for that many people? I rest my case. I know some of you have, so shut up!
Regurgitator are being brought in by the Australian Chamber of Commerce, or Auscham, as they are lovingly referred to around here. I say lovingly because they rock! Having attended Canada day here in Hanoi and being bored to tears by the festivities, I must say, Australia knocked it out of the park for the Big Day Out. I am a fan of Australia now.
It will be a true rock-n-roll day, with an outdoor festival followed by a party back at the hotel. C'mon, that is awesome. I apologize if I am coming off as a bit of a braggart, but I am not there with you to passively-aggressively shit-talk my own work in hopes of you telling me how great it is. Ah Hem. Anyway, I am super stoked, and looking forward to a great night. I, of course, will be writing a blog about the evening so I hope you stay tuned.
Word to Big Bird,
Ed

2 years in Nam

It has been two years since we landed on Vietnamese soil and still I haven't decided what I think about this place. I can tell you that I have never in my life felt more free than I have driving the streets of this Socialist Republic after midnight. I come from Canada, which is considered to be one of the most free countries in the world, and while I agree with that somewhat, I never would have realized how much fear I was carrying around with me while I was there. I would drive my car and feel afraid of speeding or if I had a beer or two that was always on my mind. While I was working, I was always afraid of being caught screwing around, like I always did, by my bosses. I was consciously aware of the fact that I was working for other people in Canada, where here it feels more like I am working for myself. There are so many things to fear in Canada that I was taking for granted until I left.
These people are barbaric, innocent, honest,unique,playful,ambivalent,creative and welcoming. I have complained long and hard about the Vietnamese over drinks at a local Western bar, but there is a sincerity with these people that I would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. Vietnam is like a second home to me, and especially now that we are discussing leaving here and going back to Taiwan, for a short time, before finally heading home to end this epic pilgrimage. I want to make the most of this situation and get everything I can out of these people and this place, by finally shaking off my Canadian hang-ups and pre-conceived notions, and just letting myself enjoy this chaotic and complicated country. I love Vietnam and I love the Vietnamese in a way that you love a long losing baseball team or an old beat up car you just can't let go of.
We are leaving. that is a fact and a foregone conclusion. Yet, I am already missing this place before I have even left it. It has ruined me in a lot of ways and I have a lot of changing to do, whereby I can even fit back in to the Canada I have left almost four years ago. It will be interesting, and I guess that is all that matters. we are short-timing now in Asia, and we will see where this road takes us. I can't wait for the trip.
-Ed

China Beach, Danang, Vietnam

We decided, at the last minute, to travel with R&R tavern owners Jay and Huong and their two children Ross and Patty, to China Beach in Danang for a week of sun and surf. Some of you may recall China Beach from Apocalypse Now, it is the place where "Charlie Don't Surf". We spent four nights and five days in what may very well be the hottest place on earth. We arrived in Danang at about 5pm on Monday after a short flight from Hanoi. We shared a taxi for the fifteen minute drive to China Beach and were in the South China Sea by five-thirty. The water was a beautiful mix of turquoise and blue, framed by white sandy beaches with powder soft sand. We grudgingly removed ourselves from the water and went back to our hotel to change and shower before dinner. We returned to a little thatched hut restaurant, where we would be eating all our meals for the following week. Karen ordered a plate of king prawn and I ordered a standard Vietnamese dish of stir fried Beef and vegetable with a side of white rice. My food was alright, but Karen's Prawn were awesome. I hate seafood, and never eat it, but upon prompting from Karen I tried one and ended up eating half of the .5 Kg King prawns myself. Delicious. With full stomachs, we ordered a bucket of cold beer and spent the rest of our first evening sitting on the beach sipping cold Tiger beer, allowing our food to digest while listening to the waves crash on one of the worlds most famous beaches. The next day started early for us and we spent most of the day swimming and sitting on the beach. I, of course, got burned as I always do whenever I go to a beach. The heat was more extreme than I expected, with temperatures reaching 40+ and the sun was like a mean snotty nosed kid with a magnifying glass and we were the ants. Even Karen, who never gets sunburned, got burned the following day. Day three was much like day one and two, with the exception of heading up the beach about half a K, to a resort where the six of us ended the evening drinking cocktails and watching the most wonderfully absurd band I have ever seen. We went late so we only caught their final set, but it was amazing. It was a three piece Filipino band who were insanely enthusiastic and had a bit of a hard time with pronunciation of some of the words in the songs. I was truly delighted to hear, in their rendition of Another Brick in the Wall, "All and all we're just another brick"s" on zee wall" It was a great week. Karen tried surfing for the first time, but the waves were a little small that day and her attempts were futile. We did exactly what we wanted to do, be lazy on a beach, and got to experience a few new things. Surfing for Karen and The Final Touch band for both of us. The last thing I want to write about is our trip home. Karen,myself,Huong and little Patty left a full week earlier than Jay and Ross. We shared a taxi to the airport for the flight back to Hanoi. The weather had been perfect for the entire trip but sometime after we checked in and walked in to the departure lounge the weather turned nasty and violent. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes while the hardest downpour I had ever seen erupted from out of nowhere. The sky turned black and thunder began to shake the walls of the small airport and lighting lit up the skies. The worst had past but it was still storming when they called us to board the plane. I looked over at Karen and I said " I don't like this. " I asked her if she wanted to wait and fly out in the morning on another flight. She declined and said it would be fine. I conceded and gritted my teeth as we headed out to the tarmac. It was the first time I was actually afraid to fly. It was a rough take off and an even rougher landing in Hanoi where it was also storming. It was an amazing and frightening experience to be on a Vietnamese budget airline, with lightning arcing all around the plane as we made the roughest landing I have ever felt in my more than 40 flights. Well, we made it and it was a great ending to a memorable week. I have included some video. Peace out, homeys. P.S. Charlie still don't surf!
Ed

Cholera night boys! I've had enough.

It took three years but I finally caught cholera! It was so much fun. I spent four days doubled over in pain punctuated by bouts of vomiting and almost constant violent diarrhea. Jealous much? I bet you are. Now that I am better, I miss it so much. I am going to start licking small denominations of currency in a bid to bring my new friend back. I hear 2,000 and 5,000 dong notes are the best for Cholera.
All joking aside, this was a hardcore illness that really messed me up for days. It made food-poisoning look like a silly head cold. I had to send Karen out of the house the first day it was so awful and our one bedroom apartment just wasn't big enough for the both of us. Luckily she has seemed to avoid contracting this nightmare illness,so far, and I hope to God she manages to continue to avoid it.
I had to cancel my classes for most of the week as I would have made for a piss poor teacher in my condition. It was not only debilitating in every way, but it cost me a considerable amount of money in lost wages. All in all, Vietnam bared her teeth and bit me in the ass. I will take every conceivable action to avoid ever contracting cholera again. One down, only Malaria and Dengue fever to go. I can't wait.
Now, moving on to a lighter side...
I have to post this picture of a moth I found on the window in our hallway. I want to mention that it is in no way doctored or photoshopped. This is actually how the thing looked. I tried to take pictures with our good camera but none of them came out. This picture is one that Karen took with her cell phone. It is the only one that does this freakish little creature justice. So here it is, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the Vietnamese Insanity Moth AKA Donnie Dark Moth

Short Update

Hey folks.
We are sorry it has been so long since our last post, but to be perfectly honest with you there aint been much happnin. We have been existing in a routine of working and sleeping mixed with evenings at the pub. Nothing even remotely noteworthy since Bangkok.
The summer is fast approaching and a relaxed work schedule making for more free time may give us some new experiences to write about. Until then, We hope everyone has a great summer full of good times and better friends. Talk to you soon.

The Merlins

4 Days in Bangkok

I went in to Bangkok with rather low expectations, I just figured that it was a big crowded, dirty city. It is those things, don't get me wrong, but it is so much more than that. We ate awesome food, drank beer on the street watching cars stop in lines so that elephants could walk down the road while their handlers extracted money from foreigners to feed the elephant by hand. It was bizarre ,stimulating, exciting and most importantly it was fun. I can't wait to go back to Bangkok as I already miss it terribly. I am going to spare you the long play by play I usually write after a trip, as I feel the video really speaks for itself.
Enjoy the short film,
Ed



4 Days in Bangkok

The Hanoi International Music Festival

(Click the title above for Voice of Vietnam Article with an interview with yours truly)

The Hanoi International Music Festival was a celebration of the Minsk Club's 10th anniversary. For those of you who don't know, the Minsk is a soviet motorbike that has a cult status in South East Asia. These durable machines seem to be indestructible and while noisy and smokey, are driven with pride by expats and Vietnamese alike.
My day started off with a 9:30 am sound check in drizzly rain and grey skies. While we were not to see the sun for the entire day, it did stop raining and there was a wonderful breeze that kept the festivities cool and comfortable. After sound check I went back home to drop of the motorbike as I was planning on being in no shape to drive by the end of the festival. I came back at noon to see the first band play to very few people. When we hit the stage at 3:30 there were a few hundred people on hand. The show went well except for some problems with the last song. We had a great reception from those in attendance.
In the hour following our set, I was interviewed by Voice of Vietnam and had my picture taken by photographers from different publications. I was a bit of a Vinastar for the afternoon. I got a lot of great video and will be putting something together for the site. I will have to edit it for length as the file will undoubtedly be too large to post. Stay tuned for that video.
There was much drinking going on with beer stalls all over the place and a store next door providing cheap bottles to be smuggled inside. Everyone was feeling fine when the final bands took to the stage to disturb the entire neighborhood surrounding the American Club. But, considering we were on American soil, the local police did not have a lot to say about it.
This was the first show of its kind in Hanoi, and based on the size of the crowd, was a complete success. I hope that it paved the way for more festivals like it, down the road. Speaking of which, we will be playing another outdoor festival on May 10th called The Big Day Out, which is a bit of an Aussie tradition, we are hoping this years event will be the biggest one yet.
Bye for now,
Ed
P.S.
"In Minsk We Trust."

The Benefit To Our Benefit

Rory Dwyer is a friend and a regular at R&R tavern. He got into an accident early one morning a few weeks back and ended up in a coma with severe head trauma. His time in Vietnam, at least for now, is over. With his medical bills piling up and an emergency medical evacuation from Vietnam looming, some of his friends decided to have a benefit to raise money for Rory and his family who flew over from Ireland to collect him.
My band, Your Other Favorite Uncle, offered to play some music at the benefit. I was looking forward to practicing the set we are going to play on Saturday at the International Hanoi Music Festival, (click on the title of this blog for more info)
However, to my complete surprise, on the evening of the benefit we found out that our drummer,Mel, had been called away to Saigon at the last moment. We played our set without a drummer until when for the last two songs, Thuy, the drummer for Maysons Children, (R&R house band) stepped in and played with us. It was a little rough as far as que's and whatnot as he didn't know our songs, but he kept a solid enough beat for us to rock out a little at the end. All in all it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be, playing a set with no drummer. At least on Saturday we will be a full band for the large outdoor event that is pulling bands from Australia, the UK, Japan and Ukraine.
There was a raffle at the end of the evening where there were many good prizes raffled off. Karen and I sat as every prize came up and went to someone else. We watched as Zippo's, art, Leg of lamb, bottles of scotch and many more prizes were given away...to other people. It was time for the big draw for the trip for two to Bangkok, Thailand and a two night stay at the Westin. We held our breath as Tim, the MC, wasted time and fumbled about drawing out the anticipation of the crowd. Then suddenly he called the number 137....Ed. I was stunned. I actually won something from a raffle, and not just anything, but the grand prize. Needless to say, Karen and I were overjoyed. We received many "Congratulations ya lucky bastard."'s and other such nods. The only thing left is for us to pick the weekend we want to go.
As for Rory, the evening was also a success, with proceeds hitting almost thirty million by the end of the night. Good on ya, Hanoi expat community. Well done.
Talk to you soon,
Ed