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Freedom for Viet Khang

photo courtesy of nguoi-viet.com Read More Việt Khang In Vietnam, Việt Khang wrote and recorded two protest songs, “Việt Nam Tôi Đâu?” (Where is My Vietnam?) and “Anh Là Ai?” (Who Are You?) …

There’s a happy update on the Viet Khang story.

Khang was arrested in 2011 for writing and recording songs, “Anh La Ai” and “Viet Nam Toi Dau”. Despite the international attention from the world, the songwriter was trial and sentenced to four years in prison with two years of probation in October 2012. His friend, Tran Vu Anh Binh, was sentenced to 6 years and 2 years probation in the same trial for “Propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”.

After serving his time, Khang was brought to the U.S. on February 8, 2018, thanks to the Vietnamese community and help from the government (particularly Senator John McCain and lawyer Shu Ming).

Most of this struggle is well documented by Vietnamese-language television SBTN.

Now that Khang is in the United States, Khang can breathe a sigh of relief. There’s no fear of imprisonment for singing or writing songs. This is a small victory, but we have to remember that some countries, like China, can imprison writers, who criticize the government. For example, poet and critic Liu Xiaobo, who was arrested in 2008 and died in prison in 2017.

So, welcome Viet Khang to America.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Good Morning, Vietnam

VIETNAM
vietnamtheband.com

VietNam is a rock/blues band from Brooklyn, very confusing because the 80s band of the same name are still around. Funny enough none of those bands are actually from Vietnam, kind of like of Montreal are actually not from Montreal or any of those Barcelona bands not actually from Barcelona…

Anyway, VietNam are returning with a new album, an A.Merican D.ream, coming out February 26th, 2013, on Mexican Summer.

Michael Gerner is back for the first time in five years with a new six-piece lineup, which I am assuming you can witness yourself on their upcoming national tour.

Vietnam tour dates:

02-28 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge 03-07 Baltimore, MD - The Metro Gallery 03-08 Charleston, SC - The Royal American 03-09 Savannah, GA - Savannah Stopover 03-11 New Orleans, LA - Siberia 03-12 - 03-16 Austin, TX - SXSW 03-17 Dallas, TX - Spillover Showcase 03-18 Springfield, MO - Black Box Revue 03-19 Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups 04-19 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel 04-20 Asheville, NC - Double Crown 04-21 Atlanta, GA - The Earl 04-23 Nashville, TN - The Stone Fox 04-25 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's Downstairs 04-26 Austin, TX - Austin Psyche Festival

04-27 El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace 04-30 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar 05-01 Los Angeles, CA - The Satellite 05-02 Visalia, CA - The Cellar Door 05-03 San Francisco, CA - The Independent 05-04 Portland, OR - Dante's 05-05 Seattle, WA - Chope Suey 05-07 Boise, ID - Neuroplux 05-08 Salt Lake City, UT - 1133 Richards St 05-09 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge 05-10 Omaha, NE - Slowdown 05-11 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue 05-12 Fargo, ND - The Aquarium 05-13 Iowa City, IA - The Mill 05-15 Chicago, IL @ Schuba's Tavern

MINH minhmusic.com Minh, Vietnam-born, currently based in Las Vegas, is releasing a new single "I Think We've Peaked" on March 5th, 2013. You can get a sneak peek at the song with his music video. His music is said to blend John Legend and Michael Buble.

VIET KHANG wikipedia.org If you were wondering about whatever happened to Viet Khang - the singer/songwriter who was jailed for writing and performing two protest songs. Since the last report, he had his day in court at The People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City on October 30th, 2012. He was sentenced to four years in prison with an additional two years house arrest/probation, despite the White House rally and worldwide interest in the case.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Last Christmas

Wham! - Last Christmas Wham! The Carpenters-Can't Smile Without You The Carpenters

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day - you gave it away!"

That very next day, well that's today. In honor of the day after Christmas, Cover Lover presents: "Last Christmas"!

Wham!'s "Last Christmas" song is possibly one of the best Christmas pop song. Released in 1984, it dominated the charts and is still very popular even today (especially in Japan and Southeast Asia). Re-issues after re-issues, song is one of the best-selling single in UK chart history.

All that success lead the music publisher Dick James Music, to sue George Michael for plagiarism for the song "Can't Smile Without You". If you listen to the song by The Carpenters from their 1976 album, A Kind of Hush, it does bear a heavy resemblance - and eventually the matter was settled out of court.

Britt Nicole-Last Christmas

Twelve Girls Band - Last Christmas

I've previously already mentioned Britt Nicole and Twelve Girls Band's version, so be sure to check them out. I will comment that "12 Girls" is a misnomer, that there is actually 13 girls in the band. I have thought about it later and realized that the Chinese are very superstitious about luck and numbers. 12 is lucky, while 13 is not.

Anyway, here are some more covers:

CRAZY FROG www.jamba.de Crazy Frog - Last Christmas As much as I admire and love British culture, I could not understand their love for that Crazy Frog (Europe's love for the Crazy Frog sent him to #1 in the charts - simply by selling ring tones!) If you've never heard of Crazy Frog, it sounds to me that they just remix music by other people and through the brilliant marketing of an animated frog. Thankfully the craze never made it over to the States, and if it does, I'll bet you that Americans will complain about the Frog's penis. If you were wondering about the woman singing on Crazy Frog's housey "Last Christmas", it is by singer Nicole Bolley.	ASHLEY TISDALE ashleytisdale.com ♥ ashleymusic.com Ashley Tisdale-Last Christmas Like many other modern girl pop singers, Ashley Tisdale came out of the Disney school of music... or better known as High School Musical. Hate it or not, it's hard to ignore the impact of HSM on popular culture. In 2006, Tisdale decided to release her studio recording of "Last Christmas" for Warner Brothers Music. The song was eventually released only as a one-track radio promo, and only available as a digital download. However, if physical CD is your thing, you'll find the song as a B-Side on her He Said She Said EP. If you get a chance to listen to the sort-of-whiney version of "Last Christmas", it doesn't really add much to the song. It's definitely more modern and pop.
I'M SO LOOK YOU myspace.com ♥ imsolookyou.blogspot.com I'm So Look You-Last Christmas I'm So Look You is from Japan, I think mostly driven by DJ Muranao. I couldn't make any sense of her myspace or blogspot, as it's mostly written in Japanese, so I can't really tell you much about her. She seems like a young woman with a talent for mixing. Anyway, she recently remixed "Last Christmas", adding a little jingle bells, "Joy to the World", violas, synth, and techno beats to the original song. The vocals are modified enough that you might not recognize that it's George Michaels. She'll be DJing in the Nagoya area, check it out: 12/24/08  domina "パジャマ de オジャマ de KISS!!" 12/31/08  club buddha & R-base cafe "年越しパーティー☆" 01/10/09 GOLDEN CHILD CAFE 01/14/09  SARU 01/24/09  club EDITS "藤澤志保 Release Tour" 01/29/09  domina "HEIDI" 02/01/09 club EDITS "TRASH" 03/13/09 club buddha "LOVE LIFE MUSIC!!!"	HILARY DUFF hilaryduff.com ♥ myspace.com Hilary Duff - Last Christmas Hilary Duff is probably best known as Lizzie McGuire (yet another Disney child star). She ventured into music obviously, and from her first real studio album is actually a holiday album called Santa Claus Lane, released in 2002. The title is a fictional street, as originally referenced in the 1947 song "Here Comes Santa Claus" and probably inspired the poppy "Santa Claus Lane" song on the album. No surprise, but I don't think Duff wrote any of the songs on the album, they were either written for her or established songs. Some of the covers I did recognize is Paul McCarthy's "" and Wham's "Last Christmas". Incidentally, the "chicawah" sound effects on "Last Christmas" made Duff's version very cheesy. The quirky effects are also applied to other songs on her album. Someone should've stopped the mixer/producer from over doing it.
BILLIE billie-piper.net (unofficial) Billie - Last Christmas Billie Paul Piper or better known simply as "Billie" is a British singer and actress. Unlike her teen pop contemporaries, she's not of the Disney music school. However, they're all pretty much interchangeable, aren't they? She dabbled in music, but have only managed to released two albums (strangely securing a "Greatest Hits" album based on the two previous studio albums) and seems to have taken more into acting. Currently, she's better known for playing Rose Tyler next to the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who (2005 to 2006), where she's won numerous awards for "Best Actress" to GQ's "Woman of the Year".	DAM VINH HUNG damvinhhung.ws ♥ myspace.com Dam Vinh Hung-Last Christmas Dam Vinh Hung is a pop singer from Vietnam. It must be hard to be a singer or actor in Vietnam because the state of things in the region is that everything is bootlegged and you can forget about money and royalties from legitimate sales of your records or DVDs. It's gotten to a point that people prefer the bootlegs due to the attractive dirt cheap prices. Anyway, the cover song is sung entirely in Vietnamese and contain the opening dialogue. I'm probably mis-translating it, but he said something to the extent of: My love, do you remember me? I know you don't love me anymore.

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