My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi 1/10/08

A newspaper in Hanoi wrote this in French: "The public Hanoi will have the occasion to discover Bob Livingston, a famous American group of music country, which will interpret some of the titles which made its success like Country Rain, Cosmic Cowboy Memory, Ballad of The West and Better Thing To Do. Wishing to share its love for the music country with the Vietnamese music lovers, Bob Livingston, the father of this family of singers, affirmed to want to transmit through its songs a message charged of humanism."

I didn't know any of the songs they mentioned, but no matter, we were in famous Hanoi. So many TV newsreels washed over me as we drove through the city. "The American War!" Somewhere there were bombed out structures preserved as museums, but I never saw them. There was never time for sight seeing, we were on a mission. One thing for sure, we were in a progressive city with Land Cruisers, motorcycles and airplanes whizzing by.

The show at My Dinh Stadium had everything, including a certain amount flying by the seat of the pants (on the part of the promoters) and magic (on the part of the musicians) snatching victory from the jaws of humiliation and eternal damnation to musical hell. In the end the concert, on live national television, went off without a hitch...

Meanwhile, here are a couple of images...

Hey, I'm back in Austin. Here are a couple images to keep you occupied while I'm thinking of something to say and getting some more photos ready. We have literally hundreds and hundreds...

The first photo is of Tucker and me in front of My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi for the “Hello Vietnam” concert. It was a nationally televised show and there were about 12,000 folks there. There were several other bands on the bill, including Graham and Donna Greene and their hard rock band, Resonance. They were a fun group of cats from Australia (pictured here with Tucker in front of our hotel waiting endlessly for a ride to the gig) and we had a good time hanging out with them before and after the show.

More on all this later...

Homeward...

I'm in the Tokyo scareport waiting to catch a train to San Francisco. This might take awhile so my second option is to take the plane leaving in an hour or so....

It's been a wild trip: enlightening, grueling, insane, fun, heartbreaking (I broke my guitar and have to take care of it when I get back), but most of all, utterly fascinating. We have met and made hundreds of new friends and discovered much about their culture I never knew. I'll write a last briefing when I get back, get some sleep and assimilate everything.

Sorry I couldn't post more photos but for the last several days, I've been in internet cafes and I can't patch into the computer with my camera. I'll take care of it when I get back.

Thanks for tuning in. See you in Austin!

Love to all,

Bob

A funny thing happend on the way to Bangkok...

So...

Yesterday we went up north to play at a college, a "master class" with music students. The auditorium was packed when we got there - 200 music students and their teachers sitting quietly and staring. We were getting out our stuff and I opened my guitar case and looked in. I saw a string askew, brushed to one side. Thinking I had a broken string, I picked it up and said as much before I noticed the something out of place on the headstock. Tucker looked over and said, "Oh my god!" To my surprise and horror, I found that the neck of my Gibson J-45 was broken. A big major break, almost in half! What happened I will never know, but there I was about to play a show and no way to do so. The students just looked at me, nobody knowing what to do. It was so weird. Finally, one of the teachers, a young man with long hair, ran to get an Ovation he had in his office and he loaned it to me for the show.

We flew back to Bangkok last night and I spent the next several hours screaming around the city trying to find something to borrow or rent. We went to a music store here called Yellow Mama. The owner loaned me his personal Marton OM-28. It's a stellar guitar and he was ever so nice and really pulled me out of a jam.

Tonight we play a "house concert" for the US Ambassador to Thiland and about 200 guests. Then one more show on Thai TV tomorrow and then....HOME! I'm really, really ready to get back.

I'll try to post something tonight or tomorrow morning.

Onward!

In search of a foot massage...

Hey! I'm in northeast Thailand in an internet cafe off a side-street. The name of the city is Kohn Kaen. Cars, motorcycles and wild laughing out on the street. We played today and the day before and the day before, etc, etc. I haven't been able to post anything because here in Thailand, at least at the hotels we've been staying at, the internet is astronomical and I haven't made it to an internet cafe because we haven't had a second to spare.

We go to Mahasarakham tomorrow morning early early to play at the university there. We're doing all these shows with local musicians and videotaping it all. The musicians played a traditional song in A minor and I started singing The Thill is Gone over it. Great fun.

I ate REAL Thai food two for days in a row now....

Nightmare experience: both Tucker and I sent out our laundry at the Intercontinental in Bangkok and we were still thinking (moneywise) in Vietnamese dong instead of Vietnamese bhat (which we were used to for two weeks) and our bills for a few shirts and socks was over $100 for both of us! It nearly killed me and I am determined to wear everything three to four times as long to get the most out of it.

After tomorrow's show, we go back to Bangkok and play at a party a the US Ambassador Eric John's house. I have found these "official" parties to be great fun. We'll be playing with some top notch musicians. East meets west again and again...

I have to go, this place is closing. I'm getting a foot massage next door...

Thanks for tuning in!

Halong...has this been going on?

We played tonight in Halong Bay at the Halong College of Culture. There was a packed house of verry appreciative and enthusiastic students and teachers. Have I mentioned the fact that we have had a packed house every where we have played on this tour? Once again we played with Vietnamese musicians. One hilarious thing is the past two nights we played Oh Susanna with them. Apparently, that is one American folk song everyone knows. They really love the tune but don't have a clue as to the words. I said I'd send them along when I get back to ol' Texas.

We've shot about 15 hours of video so far. We played two nights ago at the Welcome Vietnam festival and on live TV and they are going to give us a copy of the show. They also filmed tonight's show for TV so we'll have plenty of footage to add to our continuing docudrama of the flaming exploits of Bob & Tucker...

Tomorrow morning we are going to take a boat ride in the bay. You need to Google Halong Bay, you won't believe what you are going to see. Limestone islands covered my the deepest green jut up out of the water into the sky. It looks surreal and the boat ride takes you between these formations. There is a legend how these amazing peaks and cliffs came to be. Something about a dragon fighting another monster and water spirits and land spirits fighting it out. The dragon was cut into a hundred pieces and scattered in the bay and that's what we see today. We'll be filming a video out on the water.

So I better get to bed, we have to get up very early and be on the water by 8AM. We're going back to Hanoi tomorrow after the trip and have a long drive ahead of us. Tucker and I are both about to drop from exhaustion. We literally haven't stopped moving since we got hear and haven't had a day off. BUT...YAY - we have tomorrow night off and fly to Bangkok on Monday. It looks as though the schedule has changed drastically because of the Thai King's sister's death and the enforced mourning period. But they have filled in the canceled shows with a lot of university programs and we're playing for the US Ambassador and a lot of guests. I'll post the updated schedule and some photos tomorrow.

If you like what you are reading on Bob's Blog, why not comment...one way or another. Let us know you're out there or send an email to Bob@TexasMusic.org

OK, this is really it. 'night!

No Rest For the Wicked...

We've been so busy I haven't had time to write much on this blog lately. I have a few minutes before we have to go to the next action packed adventure, so here goes...

The people of Hanoi are really wonderful and I like this city a lot. Hanoi will celebrate it's 1,000th anniversary soon. It's the cultural center of Vietnam and the capitol.

Night before last we played a few songs in a demonstration session with some very traditional Vietnamese musicians. There was a singer and two musicians including a 90 year old man that played a type of archaic music that was only played for kings and the royal families hundreds of years ago and is lately making a resurgence led on by this group. The woman singer is one of the most famous in Vietnam and they explained that the music was hard to understand or appreciate unless you were of royal blood. Maybe I was Prince Roberto in a past life because I enjoyed it - it was fascinating and strange. Very quiet and somber with a strong atmosphere. The old gentleman was the string player. I hope I'm still able to play at that age... We also heard another trio that played traditional music but was more lively. There was a sort of hammered dulcimer, a two stringed instrument called a "moon" and a mono-stringed instrument that the woman player played very gracefully. I'm posting a couple of photos here so you can get an idea of what the instruments were like.

Yesterday we had a master class and the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music and a performance in the theater of Hanoi University. We invited some students up to play with us a few guitarists and some traditional players too.

Tonight we play a festival with seven other bands from all over the world. It's in a stadium and we're told there will be 25,000 there. it's also on country-wide live TV with a potential audience of 20 million! I'll let you know how it goes.

We've so slammed with shows, workshops and demonstrations, we haven't seen any tourist attractions or museums yet. We head out for the Viet Bac College of Culture and Arts in Thai Nguyen tomorrow morning...

Onward To Hanoi

Last night we played for a party/reception at the American Consul General's house. There were diplomats, musicians, artists, media people, business men and women - a good group that was interested it seeing "the Texans." Texas music and barbecue. We played with a Vietnamese saxophone man and the Canadian Consul General sat in on piano on a number - he was pretty good and we were rockin'! Tucker was feeling sick and ducked out early, but I found my hangout chops and stayed late. It was really a fun night.

The morning before, we held a 'Master Class' at a music conservatory and that night we played at 17 Saloon. Yehaa! It was a country western club in the heart of Saigon and was made to look like a log cabin and the waitresses all wore six-guns. The joint was jumping and the place was packed. They presented us with funny leather hats and statues of cowboys on horses. (See photo...)

It's a beautiful day outside and we leave for the scareport in an hour so I've gotta get packed. Next stop, Hanoi! I hear it's a great old city and it's supposed to be cold there. We have a show/workshop with students from the Hanoi Music Conservatory tonight. More later...

Saigon Traffic

A thousand motorcycles and scooters bearing down, their drivers wearing helmets and masks to give some protection for the overwhelming air pollution. Cars, lorries, bicycles weaving in and out, honking and breaking. Pedestrians dodging, running, looking this way and that. Bicycles going the opposite direction. You have to cross this street and there is no letup in the oncoming streams of traffic going both ways. You have to take the first step and enter the melee. If you don't, you might stand on this corner forever. It requires courage...and some experience. You take one last look at the traffic flow, trying to gauge the speed and distance of the first motorcycle hurtling down the street, and step out. You pass the first hurdle, slipping behind 14 scooters in a pack. You take a few more steps and a Mercedes is coming right at you. At the last second, it veers slightly, enough you you to step ahead and go a few more feet. A bus is belching smoke and taking up three quarters of your vision. It's horn like a nuclear bomb. Suddenly, there is a break in the traffic and just as suddenly it closes and you are surrounded by a moving island of honking, speeding cycles taking no quarter and giving none. Trapped like a rat, you have to move straight ahead or retreat. If they see fear in your eyes, you're a goner. A car turns left from the far right lane. The sea of vehicles part ever so slightly to let it pass through. There's your chance, and you dart ahead only to be confronted my another hoard coming the other way. You realize you have made it halfway across the street. Putting your life in your hands, you keep moving and bob and weave and play the game. And that's what it is. The craziest game in this big, bustling, loud and progressive city of Saigon. A sea of humanity and vehicles all speeding ahead, turning and changing lanes with no signals, all hurrying to get somewhere, all the lives in balance. You let three or four cycles pass dangerously close, make a bit more headway, a rickshaw passes, another step to the right, then two cars, a few more steps...and you are THERE. On the opposite corner - sweet success! And all this done with a good natured determination on everyone's part...and with no malice. Only four more blocks to go...

Jet Lagged...to the Max!

Jet lag has descended on me like a mountain of numbness. I found it very hard to get out of myself most of yesterday and especially at last last night's show. It's funny because I didn't feel so bad the first couple of days here. Someone told me it would hit me after three days and I would crash mentally and physically...and they were right. Back in the day, I could hit the ground running after flying halfway around the world with no sleep and still power through a grueling tour with not much problem. I'm hoping for a better day today.

We drive back to Saigon soon and play tonight at 17 Saloon. I'm going to get a foot massage somewhere...

East meets West

Last night we played at the Youth Cultural House, a beautiful theater in HCMC (Saigon). We had to use a translator to introduce the songs and my stories were probably too much and too long. It got me off my rhythm a bit because I actually had to think of what I was saying. Try it sometime... We played with a wonderful young
woman musician named Linh Phi (see photo left) that played two traditional indigenous instruments," the T'rung and the Cheng. The T'rung is like a bamboo xylophone and the Cheng is a stringed instrument played with fingerpicks. She was very acquainted with western music, really soulful and was a monster player. She and Tucker had a great time trading leads. It was a blast playing with her and when we get back to HCMC we'll do another show Sunday night with her at a club called 17 Saloon. They have put up a 10 foot tall poster of us on the club. It's hilarious.

Right now, we're in Vung Tau on the South China Sea. It's about two hour's drive south. We're playing at the Dien Bien Theater with a different T'rung player. She is much more traditional and doesn't know a western lick, but it's going to be very cool. It's beautiful here and the ocean breeze is a welcome relief from the big city. I'm going to go jump in the water before tonight's show. The waves are roaring in...

Vietnam reminds me of India - green jungle with jam-packed streets ringed by shops selling everything you ever wanted. We drove to Vang Tau with our State Department officer, Sunshine Ison and Mr. Luan. Sunshine is a young woman of 30 from Kentucky and she can speak Vietnamese pretty well which comes in mighty handy when we are traipsing around the countryside. Everyone is friendly and helpful. No one talks about the "American War" much. 2/3 of the country is under 25 and they either were born after the war or don't want to remember it. This is a very "hip" and modern country, not at all what I expected. The internet is everywhere, cell phones on every ear and Toyota's, Chevys and Mercedes screaming along beside bicycles and rickshaws. There's lot's of nightlife too with rock music spilling out into the streets. Everyone is young and happy.

I'll let you know how the show went tonight, but right now the sea is beckoning...

Some Bad News

Yesterday, I received this email from Bangkok: "Thailand's King's sister HRH Princess Galyani Wattana passed away on January 2 and the Thai government announced that there will be an official mourning period of 15 days - to last thru Jan 16. This effectively means that all government institutions including the State Department's partner universities are not to engage in any celebratory events like public performances or concerts during the mourning period."

What this means for us is that many of our shows, including the Rhythm of the Earth Festival on the 18th have been canceled. The Festival will be postponed until March and we are hoping to come back for it somehow. We're still going to Thailand and will be playing quite a bit, but all public shows have been canceled. They are going to schedule several private workshop/performances at music conservatories. This is sad news all around and we are very disappointed, but I'm sure we will still have a lot of fun and play a lot of music. I'll post a new schedule on my website just as soon as I know...

Tonight we Rock!

Today is our first show on this wild east odyssey. We play at the Youth Cultural House here in Ho Chi Minh City tonight. There is supposed to be a good crowd and we're ready to get on with the tour. We have a rehearsal/soundcheck with A local musician Nga on a bamboo xylophone type instrument called the T'rung.

Yesterday, we had a press conference at the American Center with about eight reporters. We had our trusty translator, Mr. Laun, with us and had a lively exchange. We've had a lot of press so far, much of it in Vietnamese. (If you Google Bob Livingston Vietnam, you can come up with quite a few online stories.)

Tucker has been up way before the crack of dawn everyday wandering about the city. He says that at 4AM the parks are full of folks exercising and practicing Tai Chi and other martial art forms. Everyone seems really fit here and I have not seen any obesity what-so-ever. I have tried to get on a normal schedule of getting up at 9AM or so. Due to the massive jet-lag, I do wake up at 4AM, but try "power" back to sleep.

Food has been somewhat of a problem for us so far because Tucker and I are vegetarians and have had some difficulty finding places to eat. But today we went out and found a little hole in the wall called Pho that had fantastic soup and pure papaya juice. To our surprise, there were several large pictures of President Clinton eating there in November 2000. While the crazed recount was going in in Florida, Clinton was visiting several countries around here and eating some mighty spicy food. So we must have been in the right place...

Good Morning Vietnam!

We arrived late late last night and saw the sun rise over Ho Chi Minh City this morning. A big, beautiful, noisy city with motorcycles, taxis honking, foot traffic stomping, all going this way and that. Lot's of roundabouts you have to negotiate with extreme caution. Tucker and I got on the back of two motorcycles and went to see the Reunification Palace and a gigantic open air market. I'm still jet-lagged, but we got an eyeful. The people are wonderful and everyone is friendly and inquisitive.

We had a press conference first thing today. Questions was translated for us and our answers were translated back by Nguyen Luan, a new Vietnamese friend that works for the State Department. The reporters were from every major newspaper in the city. They wanted to know about us and our thoughts on country music. We said, "We're here to play country music. What country? That's the question!"

Tomorrow, we'll play our first show and we have a Vietnamese musician or two to rehearse with around 2PM. So far, so good. I'll have another post later on today about Thailand and some new developments there...