VudooSoul's Xanga

Saturday, August 15th... BATTLE in CALI!!!

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:21:05 GMT

Helloooooo out there, music lovers!!!

It has been a very long time since I've blogged, some of you may have wondered whether or not I am still alive hahaha. Well, I've been laying low, doing a lot of soul-searching, creative prep and writing some great new material. My outlook and new music are lookin' up... I can't wait until I can unleash it upon y'all!!!

For now, tidbits.
Did an interview & acoustic performance on VAN-TV's "The Kristine Sa Show" recently...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbzwXBPAs7o

And a Michael Jackson Tribute at Kollaboration NY to honor the King, R.I.P....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUWSa7zM-G8

Up next, I'll be competing in a Battle of the Bands show on Saturday August 15th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Cali (7,000+ seats!!!) against 6 other bands for a $10,000 GRAND PRIZE! Each band gets 25 minutes to rock the stage... The winner is determined by none other than *you*, the audience vote. So I'd love your support at this monstrous show!!! It's also got a 70's/80's music tribute theme, so I will be jammin some soul classics as well :D

Viet Music Festival 2009
Saturday, August 15th
Anaheim Convention Center
800 W Katella
Anaheim, CA 92802
Show begins @ 3:00pm
(Exact time slot I'm on TBA...)

Check it!! ---> http://www.vietmusicfestival.com/?page_id=7

TICKETS ARE 50% OFF UNTIL 11:59pm SUNDAY, AUGUST 2nd! Just mention that you're coming to support me. =)

To take advantage of the fan discount, please email Johnny D. Nguyen at johnnyd@vietmusicfestival.com or call at (714) 248-5649. Please provide the following information:

- Full name
- Number of tickets
- What level: VIP, Riser, Loge, General Admission
- That you are supporting VU/Vudoo
- Payment Option: Paypal (Fee of 2.9% + $0.30, please see www.paypal.com for any questions), cash
- How do you want your ticket? 1) Will-call, 2) pick up at MV Productions, or 3) mail to address

That's it!
Grab a big group of friends & family, buy the tickets while they're cheap!
I've got a killer show I'm prepping with my R&B band, you will love it.

If you have any questions or just wanna say hi, great to hear from ya, feel free!
Take care y'all, more updates in the near future... =]
~ Vu

My First Foray Into Acting: Promo for "Owl & The Sparrow"

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:40:26 GMT

It is a fresh New Year!
All I gotta say is that it started off with a crazy bang.
Thank You to Angie for taking me to the most random, fun-filled NYE I've had in years.

So back in early November, I took a quick trip back to Cali to film a promo trailer for the beautiful indie movie, "Owl & The Sparrow." I saw it last April and well, pretty much everybody cries watching it. The good kind of crying. Stephane, the director of the film, asked me and a bunch of other Vietnamese American celebrities (Dat Phan, Kristine Sa, Tila Tequila, Nhu Loan) to do short segments to help promote the film, which debuts in a bunch of small theaters around the states this month!

I have to say, when this promo trailer came out yesterday, I was pretty nervous. Put me behind a mic, I'll throw down baby. Behind a camera? Dude, I was dreading how I would look and act. And um, ACT. Add to it that I watched it with my parents. ARGHHH NERVES!!! Hahahaha.

So there it is! And there's Nhu Loan, very famous (and super damn gorgeous) singer in the Vietnamese community. It's not hard to act like an over-anxious teenage boy when you're working 2 inches away from such a hottie. Come out to support the movie when it debuts next Friday the 16th!

http://www.owlandthesparrow.com/

Coming to theaters

January 16, 2009

Los Angeles - Laemmle Sunset 5

Orange County - Regal Garden Grove 16

Orange County - Irvine Westpark 8

January 23, 2009

San Jose, CA - Camera 12

February 6, 2009

Houston, TX - TBD

Dallas, TX - TBD

February 13, 2009

San Francisco - Sundance Kabuki Theater

Hellooooooo there 2009!

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:42:00 GMT

2008, you were wonderful and I learned a lot from you.
You made me take a real good, hard look at myself.
So hard, that I already began my resolutions for the New Year... months ago.

Feels good to get a head start on something for a change.
I am SO ready to embrace the New Vu in the New Year!!

Have a safe, wild, whatever-you-want kind of New Year everyone!!!!!

Tatum Jones, Live on www.USTREAM.tv

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:36:49 GMT

More and more folks are doing this live online streaming concert thing! Very cool.

On a Wednesday night, you will probably be at your computer, so why not listen to my Tatum Jones buddies do their thang, while you do your thang?

See y'all! (Sort of.)

A msg from Mike Lee (the guy on the right):

TATUM JONES will be performing LIVE online THIS WED. night @ 7pm!

View our LIVE online performance from the comfort of your own house or office. All you need is a computer with an internet connection.

Visit www.USTREAM.tv

WED. evening, 12/17

7-9pm PST.

We will be streaming LIVE onto the internet!

7pm - Acoustic Performance // 8pm - Q &A

Please forward to all of your friends and families or post a banner!

Simply cut and post desired dimension banner into applicable sites (ie. myspace, facebook, blogs, etc..):

Indulgence.

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:26:51 GMT

I have this tendency. An achille's heel of sorts.
I do my best to avoid TV and movies, etc... I claim, oh I'm just so busy I don't have time.

But the truth? ARGHH.

It is like opening Pandora's box.
The unstoppable destruction that begins the moment I peek into the cracks.
I resist and escape unscathed...
But I do fall victim.

I'm the type to watch show "x", after avoiding this show "x" for months, even years of people talking about how they can't wait for season "y" of this amazing show "x".

"VU, did you see episode "z" yesterday? WHAT, you've never watched show "x"?? AT ALL!?"

WHY, you ask??

Because unlike my handsome friend Edward Cullen, once I take that bite, I can't stop sucking. I won't go into too much detail (to preserve my dignity.) But for instance, I thought one night (long ago, before the loss of innocence), taking a break from work, it'd be a cool idea to see one episode of this popular show called "Heroes."

I watched all of Season 1 AND Season 2 in one sitting. Didn't even leave my room to go to the bathroom. It was so PAINFUL. But it hurt so good. Soo... gooood....

And I'm only writing about this because last night, my friend told me to start watching Season 3 of Dexter.

The hunger, the cracked-out, just. One. MORE.
All reason and human physiology designed to prevent my self-destruction...
Suspended.
Again.
*Sob*

Damn you, o-friend-of-mine-whose-name-I-shall-not-mention-but-want-to-strangle-and-hug-all-at-the-same-time. Dexter murdered me. And I loved it. All 12 non-stop, painfully delicious hours of it.

List of Shows I know will RUIN MY LIFE (but haven't yet.)

Lost
24
Gossip Girl
Bleach (Anime)
One Piece (Anime... Ok, I'm stopping.)

Damn...

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:41:59 GMT

If it ain't rain & hurricanes, it's wild fires, destroying homes beyond our control.

Just hoping that everything's gonna be okay out there.
I'll be home soon... I hope the ashes in the air won't still be lingering.

Change.

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:11:42 GMT

The times are tumultous and tensions are higher than they've ever been. For everyone.

Every day for the past month, I've been reading and pondering the ongoing battle between our presidential candidates. I, who have been apathetic to politics all my life, could no longer ignore what has been my right and privilege.

This opportunity to be able to speak freely and choose our future leaders... is something that my family and people fought and died for in a country that still denies such freedoms. The past reminds me today that what I have here is extremely precious. So to this freedom, I owe a great sense of responsibility. I owe this to my ideals, my mother & myself.

The weight of these thoughts have grown even heavier in the final hours.

I always speak about my mother. Whether I'm always able to realize it or not, she will always be the foundation, the thread, the light which gives my life definition. For Barack Obama, his grandmother was also one of the greatest driving forces in his life.

It has brought me to tears to see that on the eve of Election Day, Obama's grandmother died in her battle with cancer. I don't even want to imagine the kind of pain he's fighting at this moment.

But it's moments like this where his strength, poise and grace render my admiration even deeper. Beyond the policies, numbers and rhetoric, I've discovered the story behind a person whose life and family really do embody the American Dream. A struggling minority family, finding his identity, working hard and honorably to rise and succeed in his schooling and career. And though I've studied the hell out of both sides presidential platforms, it is the character of Obama's journey and demeanor that convinces me most. I believe in Hope the same way Obama does. Not the kind marked by wishful thinking and desperation... but by a carefully architected vision and perseverance fueled by compassion. As an MIT graduate as well as a life-long dedicated Artist, I am astounded by a man whose revolutionary use and deployment of technology parallels his ability to touch and inspire the hearts of people everywhere.

So in several hours, I will vote for the first time.

This year, I've personally gone through much distress, but faith and hard work have allowed me to undergo great changes. This amazing new chapter in my life is ready to unfold... and I'm hungry for everyday's new beginning. I am ready for this change.

I hope that Obama will be that change.

Familiar Hillsides

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:37:16 GMT

A lovely memory crept up upon my mind's eye, as I was driving past the peaceful nothingness of the Lone Star State's highway hills. Last I saw these rolling fields of green, she and I cuddled in my blanket, on a greyhound bus towards who knows where. Gatorade and chicken wings were saving us from a night of excessive laughter and singing.

As she happily hogged the blanket, I remember gazing out into the landscape of a world quickly passing by. Though our true destinations unknown, I knew at that moment in my life, I was doing everything that I could do to work hard and love harder. Anything that I desired, I could strive for. Yet, as with many things in life, it was relinquishing control over things uncontrollable that brought calm revelations.

"Baby... I think this is what it feels like to be happy."

Much has changed since that warm memory tucked itself into the fabric of my heart. But the philosophy, like my heart, remains stronger than ever. I'm quite far from being perfect. But I'm becoming more perfectly aware of it. And it's becoming easier to work hard when you know why you've been working so hard in the first place.

Somewhere, among these hillsides, we can walk this road of joy. Elusive, if only because it lies beneath our each and every step.

Hungry Hungry Hippo

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:41:06 GMT

Bloop. Hard at work.

On what? The not-so-obvious.

Meanwhile, I've been voraciously searching for new music again... it's a pleasant ache.
When was the last time you felt like you were just... hungry for new music?

Part of me has come to believe that if you lose the hunger for life, you've allowed yourself to begin dying.

Last Minute Wedding

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:46:29 GMT

Yesterday morning, my phone was blowing up around 10:30am. I had been up working until 8am, so totally wrecked, I wanted to ignore it.

But it was Angie.

My insanely fun, loud and talented friend Angie. I hadn't seen her in a year since we played our last show together in Cali, but overall, nobody on the East Coast had seen her in more than 2 years. She was traveling the world playing with Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am, Pussy Cat Doll's Nicole Sherzinger, and sometimes (lol) K-Fed.

Angie was distraught & frantic. The whole reason she was in Boston this past weekend was to catch Melinda's wedding, one of her best friends from high school. Last minute drama left her with no place to stay, no ride, and no date.

Enter Vu.

And two of these. (Ouch.)

It's an early August weekend, so just about every car in Boston has already been rented out. I luck the hell out somehow, and one Zipcar a block away from me became available by 2pm. In my hazy daze, I jet through getting a haircut, 29725 errands, and suiting up to leave for the wedding just in time.

My trusty Verizon GPS-enabled phone got us to podunk Ipswich, MA trouble-free. The wedding was literally in some kind of CASTLE. A national landmark of some kind. Damn, son.

Has anybody ever watched 'Real World: Austin' before? Apparently, Angie's friend Melinda and her hubby-to-be Danny were on it. They met on the show, and even got engaged while on the show. I don't watch T.V. much, so I had no idea who they were.

But wow, I have to say that I've never been to a wedding where I've seen so many beautiful people. Bridesmaids and family from Milwaukee. And I swear, I saw a girl who was just about the closest thing to Carmen Electra ever. Angie and I were in awe of the sheer fineness surrounding us. Equally, the two of us got curious stares as the only Black and Asian at the wedding, complete with mohawks, spikey hair and rock-star rings.

In between the giddiness of it all, I was so taken by how loving and beautiful of a union it all was. Not just Danny & Melinda themselves, but how loving the two families were to each other, proud to become one.

It made me think about my someday.

I wonder if I'm going to marry someone in my little world of entertainment? Or maybe I'll meet a girl from some little town no one's ever heard of? Big wedding? Small wedding?

Yes, I'm a dude, and dudes aren't normally thinking of those kind of details. But when you come from an Asian family with 900 aunts, uncles, & cousins, it's hard for a wedding to not be huge. And Asian families (at least mine) probably wouldn't exhibit the kind of sweet, warm American love and kinship I saw at this wedding. Maybe I just want my wedding to be my closest of friends, just a fraction of family.

Ah, but that's where the drama begins. Haha, the who and who-not's...

By having a prohibitively-expensive wedding in an orbiting space shuttle, I think we have a solution.

[Disclaimer: This entry had no real point, climax, nor claim to any entertaining value.]