Tag: Hard Rock Cafe

The Filipino Invasion

You will find a bunch of Filipino bands around Saigon, from Hard Rock Cafe to Acoustic.

When the British rock bands gained noteriety in America back in the 60’s, the phenomenon was coined The British Invasion.

Now Vietnam is experiencing similar invasion by their neighbors.  They got the language (English), the look (still brown-skinned), and the connection (E2 in cross-cultural distance).

Acceptance rates have been high.

You will find in Saigon clusters of APEC (Japanese Alley, Korean district , backpackers district and Chinese district).  The Filipino bands just show up, when it’s their turn to play.

Rap and rock.

All with long key chains, tight jeans and wool caps.

Some Western faces were there in the audience. Beer choices are also varied, from Tiger to Heineken, Corona to Coors.

To see Saigon of the future, you need to tap into this crowd.

Kids who first are in step with the beat from strange shores, then to eventually be resettled there (Ivy League even). It happened to me with “California Dreaming”. Now, a bunch of my classmates are living there.

This Christmas will see a wave of Vietnamese from overseas back for a vacation.

Fuel to the fire.

Rock on.

The irony is the Filipinos who taught ESL in the refugee camps back in the early 80’s, kept staying put, while their Vietnamese students (the audience in this case, which often had a feel of a “repeat after me” English class ), moved on to America, where the British Invasion once took place.

For now, while the set last, nobody noticed if you were black or white.

Music unites. Especially when singers stick their mikes to the audience during the refrain “I try so hard, and get so far, in the end, it doesn’t even matter”.

Social dynamics

Like aerodynamics,  social dynamics involve working with conflicts, not avoiding them.

Since we are all made differently, we accept change at various speed.

That’s why some ideas are voted down immediately.

Others might take some arm-twisting.

For instance, it took a while for some emerging countries to introduce the condoms. Used to be a cultural taboo to mention the subject of sex.

Now, you can find Condom Store in Vietnam.

Years ago, people there were rushing abroad to seek better life.

Now, they would rather see returnees marry them and settle there: best of both worlds.

The West has lost some of its luster.

Besides, “Western” draws have made their ways there: KFC, Carl’s Jr, Domino Pizza, Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks and LV handbags.

Why not stay home and wait for it (the West) to come.

I came back to SF airport and found on my flight mostly of Asian origins. Are there any Westerners touring Asia these days?

In Asia, people tend not to disagree with you out right.

They accumulate the points of differences, and give them back to you in one fell swoop.

Ouch!

You thought silence was consent.

People skilled in diplomacy anticipated opposite reaction and worked that into their presentation. It’s called getting the buy-in.

But in the end, it’s all in the relationships.

People-people bonds are stronger than idea-idea boundaries.

Let’s build more bridges than barriers.

Knowing in the absence of conflict, we don’t have real dialogue.

Differences define us and strengthen us as people living in a pluralistic society. Like aerodynamics, social dynamics need to face some headwinds and opposing ideas to rise.

Little space lots of room

Saigon wasn’t built or planned for 10 million (back in the 50’s, its population was 1 million).

And certainly not when scooters are on fire as happened lately.

Raging hot. World in flame. Flashback of Monk Thich Quang Duc protesting dictatorship (Tunesian’s style).

I fight for my jogging lane, negotiating between the sidewalk and the drainage.

It’s a busy street (CMTT). Any time of the day. Even at 3 am when seafoods merchants divide their catch.

Even in the alleys, you will find more shops: alteration, general stores, beauty salon etc…

People live in boxy homes. But not cardboard boxes (rainy season has just started ).

No evidence of homelessness as much as in Skid Row or S. Central LA.

More room in the alley, little space in the streets.

Mexicans would feel at home here, hearing loud music from retail stores.

Fashion stores, sweet-cake and coffee shops (western-style cappuccino, espresso, smoothies).

The Filippino band found their new home at the Hard Rock Cafe. The Pitch Black got a bright future . Not bad for kids from Barangay, near Bataan (where Vietnamese and Cambodian made their stop on the way to America back in the early 80’s). As of this edit, I heard they were disbanded.

When I am back to the US, jogging on the trail of a deserted golf course, I will miss all this.

Little elbow room, yet lots of heart.

Nuong nhau ma song (relying on each other to make it through).

There was always one more bowl and a pair of chopsticks back when I was growing up. Anh xoi com chua a? Have you eaten today?

Rock Rage

Rage, rebellion and Rock seem to fit together. Gone were Happy Days and the Mamas & Pappas.

As soon as we got color television, it were as if innocence had vanished along with the Black- and- White TV sets.

Rage against the machine. Against materialism and modernity.

Against the wind (symbolically speaking).

Rock, or stone, needs to roll. Rolling Stone.

Born to run. Like Einstein’s line, life is like riding a bicycle, so you need to keep moving to keep your balance.

Free yourself. Free against the very notion of freedom as articulated by either side to appease donors.

Rock stays neutral, always on the run like gypsies.

In but not of the system, yet itself turns into a religion. And an expansive at that at Hard Rock Cafe.

Like Charlie Chaplin who finally got inducted into Knighthood, Rock and rollers first need to dress the part i.e. tatoo, nose rings, a lot metallic, and key chain. High maintenance.

Rock cannot go off grid, even though its essence is against it.

Plug in.

One and two. Testing.

Sure mike and Yamaha instruments, Bose speakers and Marlboro.

Big names, big bucks and big sponsors.

Can’t go against the grain.

Can’t do with it, or without it.

Money or love?

Man or woman?

Rage on, cry on. Heartbreak and headache.

Bring down the house and with it, ourselves.

Yet Rock lives on. Always with new “buyers.”

New converts, new sacrificial lambs.

New groups and groupies.

New lyrics and looks, with new rhythm and refrain.

Same 7 notes, but in different style and sensuality.

And the Reason is You.

No more Beach Boys, only Bad Boys.

You gotta have it, and have it yesterday.

There is no time as it used to be.

Hotel California, you can check in but can’t check out.

Turn on the machine, and it needs to be fed, with new meat and new sacrifice.

Rage for rage’s sakes is OK too.

Just hit the right notes. Turn up the volume. And shake those hair.

Adrenaline will take over and take care of the rest.

Rage on. Rock rage.

Re-release

Platoon, Thelma and Louise, Star Wars etc.. this time, in Blu-ray.

Translation: making money twice on the same repackaged product.

It’s as if the banquet hall offers to cater for your wedding the second time around. Or your high school decides to hold a prom again (this time, it’s even more difficult to get a date).

I advocate a return to school though, since knowledge advances so quickly, while employers are reluctant to subsidize continued education. Like happiness, one needs to take personal development (i.e. to fill those skill gaps) into one’s own hands.

What’s your take on China? the economy? tech bubble? sustainability and electric vehicles? social network? doomsday prophecy? threat of terrorism? gun law? etc.. It has been said that the financial bubble was caused mostly by ignorance from the part of the public and regulatory agencies. Those CDO‘s and derivatives are too hard to understand  (a leverage of 40:1).

Hence, the need for “re-education”, in a good sense. After popularizing globalization, Friedman tried again with the environment, which is the flip side of globalization . Interestingly enough, China now leads the world in producing solar panels (while in the West, every time gas price dropped, you were told to go and hug a tree).

Malaysia and other Southeast Asian nations now follow suit.

With younger demographics, SEA is poised to be the next group to enter Middle-class kingdom (tickets to paradise): theme parks, experience economy, leisure and trade-up consumption. It’s here where the celluloid culture of Tinsel town can gain some traction: multi-screen/dining, pop corn, tie-in posters and T-shirts, CD‘s and Facebook fan pages.

Vets upon visiting Vietnam will recognize the music (the Doors), the name (Apocalypse Now) and the brand (Hard Rock Cafe). What a surprise! Give it some time. People will always catch on. But not by force. Maybe this time, mom and daughter can both go and see “Thelma and Louise”, and discuss the high price of “ism” be it feminism, chauvinism, or consumerism. Heck, if they can take a beautiful dream, albeit a legitimate one, of owning a house, and turn that into a “financial instrument”, they can certainly turn your dream of a career or re-education (educational bubble) into a re-release of Nightmare on Wall Street, part II. Coming to a bank near you.

Census in our mind

1976. Washington D.C. Belt-bottom pants and boom-boxes. The city was predominantly black.

2011 Washington D.C. Gentrified, half-black and half others.And that’s just one stat in the 2010 data.

Asian population in Arizona, Texas and elsewhere like Philadelphia should surprise any demographer.

While America went to war in Europe, European ended up at America’s shores. Then America went to wars in Korea and Vietnam. Asians ended up here in the US. “I see living people” (to paraphase “the Sixth Sense”) i.e. Iraqis, Afghans and Syrians in the US in next Census count.

More mosques and more tolerance, by osmosis.

Take KIA as an example. It is claiming the spot where Toyota and Honda Civic used to be: affordable, aesthetic and long on warranty.

We no longer discuss “Is America ready for a Catholic (or black) President”, we discuss “Is America ready for a Mormon President“.

This is to show how Bin Laden and  cohorts have become irrelevant. America has always been a moving target (no punt intended). My recommendation is that we should take the Census every five years. A decade is now too long to update policies. It’s ironic that after 9/11, we increased the amount of surveillance cameras by the millions. But those images were served up for security reason only, instead of for change management (as of this edit, this move served us well in the Boston Marathon apprehension).

Back to census in our mind. We have a mental map as opposed to the true map out there.

It’s called prejudging. We look for what eventually reinforce  what is already in our mind (a priori).

Texas is Marlboro country. Arizona, cactus. Las Vegas, casinos (- the Echelon). New York, well, high rises – Twin Towers.

Chicago, w/ Sears tower. California, gold rush?.

Often times, we refuse to absorb and adjust new information. So, Washington D.C. is all black. Chicago all Polish. And the White House, always “white”. The question to be asked is, what year was your census taken? or what century? Many backpackers travel to Vietnam were surprised to see new high rises and a Hard Rock Cafe. Naturally, the reaction is to follow “Lonely Planet” guide, to spend a day underground in Cu Chi tunnel and stay around “pho Tay” (backpacker’s quarter). This was like having an American compound in Baghdad, insulated from the real action. Just close the drapes, and open the old census in your mind, if that suits you. The next time you venture out into the open, be on the look-out for a Chinese debt collector who might serve you a notice. Back in 1971, the US economy was roughly 5 times bigger than China’s, and we laughed at Korean or Japanese-made cars. Now we can’t even afford a KIA Optima. Let’s see what your FICO score is, so we can put you in the right vehicle TODAY  i.e. Nano or Cherry (Indian and Chinese, respectively).

Vespa in Vietnam

The brand is revitalized and resuscitated here in Saigon.  If not for the helmets, I would think it is a replay of A Roman Holiday.

Back then, the burning monk was pouring gasoline on himself and asked a younger monk to lit the fire.

He earned a memorial in that intersection.

Another Buddhist temple a few blocks away took collection to renovate. The presiding monk took off with the proceeds, leaving behind an abandoned project. Good monk bad monk. It’s Mid-Autumn Festival. Children with lanterns and adults with sweet cake. Fairy tales that had to do with an uprooted tree now replanted on the Moon. VIet Nam in the Sputnik and Space age.

The city is now catering to whatever clients demand and could afford: Gloria Jeans Coffee and Ha Long Bay tours (without Catherine Deneuve).

And back to my French coffee, Italian Vespa and USA‘s Hard Rock Cafe. You would have thought I am someplace but Vietnam.  I can assure you it’s Vietnam, with multiple English schools and exam prep “store fronts”.

Young Vietnamese design games, play games online and love watching soccer. They have street racing here too. And while doing it, they might as well feel the wind by taking off their helmets.  Electric bikes couldn’t make an inroad here, especially after they changed the regulation which required electric bike riders to wear helmets.

So forget the love for sustainable environment or the disgusting gas price. Young people zoom by on Vespa, adopt I-phone and continue to play games online. There isn’t enough open space for them to play soccer ( I notice a strange absence of basketball, US urban youth favorite past time sports).. On this Mid-Autumn day, my old neighborhood gets one less choice of temples: the abandoned Temple is still sitting there, “torn”, but not completely torn down while Vespa after Vespa zooms on by. Thang Cuoi in a Space Age. I will never look at the Moon, or Vietnam, the same way again, even with some familiar handles into the past like Vespa and lanterns on the street.