Happy Birthday Jacob
Jacob turned ten last Saturday. We had a veritable 24-hour celebration. He had another handball tournament in the morning, then a batch of friends over for hours. We took them all to a teppanyaki dinner and then four kids slept over, including…
Original Chinese blues
Check this out. A very partial clip. Song written and sung by bassist Zhong Yang.
More Vietnam photos
Jacob came out for me for a lunchtime bike rideone sweltering day. We took a tandem bike and itwas really fun.I was proud of the way he acted, saying "Hello" toeveryone and even being friendly to these ladieswho wanted to touch his skin and…
Beijing Blues
We played a fun gig Friday night at Janghu Jiuba, our favorite little downtown hutong bar. Becky came with a few good friends, including the Camerons. Wyatt C. filmed this. It's our new arrangement of Beijing Blues and I like it, even though…
Happy New Year/band news
Tonight is the Lantern Festival, 21 days (I think) after the New Year and the official end of the holidays. It's just unbelievable what is going on outside. Fireworks have been booming for hours and will , I think, continue until midnight .…
More Awards
Becky's reporter Shai Oster won a Polk Award for his great work exposing problems at the three gorges Dam. This became a news story followed b everyone else and widely reported and written about after Shai and company wrote about it.The Polks…
Vietnamese Art
There is some great art in Vietnam. We went to a gallery in Hanoi that was highly recommended ad below is some of the stuff we liked. In the past when we've bought art, it's been easy because we have been in agreement right away. Not so this…
Hanoi characters
Here are a few particular Hanoi characters we came across. The top one is a shoeshine and repair guy. He noticed Eli's Geox were coming unglued and chased after us, pulled Eli's shoes off, gave him slippers to wear and went to town, gluing,…
Hanoi
Wow. Hanoi. The name has such resonance and power. We stayed in the M Hotel, almost directly across the street from what remains of the Hanoi Hilton prison, which we will all be hearing so much about in the next six months, the place John McCain…
Gambling in Pittsburgh
It's hard for me to believe there will be casinos in Pittsburgh next year. Considering the aging population of Allegheny County, maybe one of them will feature a Dixieland theme and need a house band. Then some familial good will come from this…