A Thank You Note

Our program director Thăng Củ sent out this note to all who participated in the entertainment program. We have his permission to post it here to publicly thank these people:

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My dear friends,

Couple days after our beautiful and memorable event, my soul is still glowing, warmed by meeting old friends and your whole hearted enthusiasm in contributing to the program. On behalf of Ban Mua Viec and as the coordinator of the musical program, I express my sincere thanks to all of you for making our gathering such an emotional party for all of us.

• Bao Khanh, please relay our thanks to your friendly husband for playing the keyboard for us, rescuing us from our lack of knowledge of the song Ga^`n Nhau Trao Cho Nhau, and then be the main leader during our songs of the dance event.
• Big thank you to anh Tai Huynh and your friend Khuong for yoursefless effort, driving from San Diego the day before the event, encountering tornado wrecked roads, tired, hungry, and still joined us for the final rehearsal in the last hour. Your being there gave us a boost and the confidence that we will be just fine. Your keyboard playing and DJ’ing contribution is a great part of our success.
• Thank you, anh Hu*o*ng, the guitarist. You have helped us at many Van Nghe events during our college years, and once again be a big part of our “biggest” event in 25 years.
• Thank you, Thu’y Dung for your gutsy performance even just coming out of laryngitis and still “game” enough to sing Truc Dao… and was not discouraged when I “axed” your original Bang Bang song.
• Thanks to Kieu Lien, Rosanna, Hiep, Mai Thanh Tung, for joining the gig, 60 Nam Cuoc Doi was lively with your participation. You were lightening quick in response to my recruitment. Your enthusiasm gave us additional excitement. Rosanna (Hoa`), Hiep, Tung… did you say you will organize the next reunion?
• Thank you, Ti, for bringing us once again the heart warming memories of Ma^`u Ky? Nie^.m. We really miss Li and seeing both of you laughing at our corky jokes.
• Hoa` and Die^.u Thu’y, for bringing us laugher, a funny and true reflection of our once romantic and dreamy poems to today’s reality. Hoa`, you are still a great performer. Thu’y, I admire your stage presence, still glowing since the days of Miss Ao’ Da`i.
• Thank you to James, our young, talented, and the newest member of our Van Nghe group. We were apprehensive whether James, only 25 years old, a young grad of UCB, could fit in with our “old” crowd, whether he could even speak Vietnamese… well, James proved me wrong. Not only could he speak Vietnamese, he sang most difficult Vietnamese song of the event, and to top that, the best voice. It is not easy to be an outsider, having the courage to join our crowd. We are very glad he came to us.
• Thanks to anh Phu Bui, our appointed historian. You brought our true past back once again. I wonder, sometimes… how did you collect these valuable bits of memories, in words, sound, pictures; how do you archive them. How do you remember who’s whom, who did what, our complete names, days, and events. Wow, I truly admire you.
• Thank you to Thu* and -Da?m, for coming to the rescue in the last minutes. As Thuy Dung was coming down with laryngitis, I scrambled to find someone who could fill the spot. Despite that I had turned Thu* and -Da?m away previously when the program was full, you came back to the rescue… even more so, the song you duet together was so romantic, we should have voted you for the HOTTEST UCB COUPLE.
• Thanks to Frank (Tha`nh), who overcame his initial reservation, then dedicatedly came to EVERY rehearsals. Such warm voice that escaped our school years Van Nghe. You came through and received well deserved flowers.
• Thank you, to Song Xuan; despite not playing the drums in ~25 years… she bought the new drum-set, committed to practice, hosted all the rehearsals, listening to Youtube to learn the songs, be the girl in the band. That was really awesome. I’m sure your husband, son, family and friends were impressed and proud of you.
• I thank my buddy Thu.y Ho, for helping me out during the event, tracking down the performers, reminding them of their slots, distributing programs, lyrics… You are a big part of making the show so smooth.
• Thank you, to the MC’s… unforgettable Hu`ng Hawaii and Ba?o Khanh… what more can I say about you. Everyone were excited to have you two mastering the ceremony. You were both as smooth as sweet ice cream. We love you.
• Hu`ng Pham, you are our great leader. Your insights, your direction, suggestions, humble and not-so-humble opinions are always inspirational. We had our disagreements in the event, but you always had the ways to settle and have everyone fall in line. You brought us together for this most memorable event. Keep on blogging, I need that addictive fix.

I treasure working together with Hu`ng Pha.m, Hu`ng Hawaii, and Ba?o Khanh. Khanh made up the original program, the four of us bounced it back and forth, and with contribution from Hoa Do, after 15 revisions… up to the last minute… we had a program that was thoughtful to the band, the singers, the MC, the flow… it couldn’t be any more perfect. I thank other BMV members, Kim, Ha`, Die^~m, Thu.y, Tru*.c, Die^.u Thu’y, Tu`ng Mai, Tha(‘ng Vo~, Ho`a -Do^~, for their tireless dedication to the event and let me Mua Viec, be part of you. It is truly a task I thoroughly enjoyed.

I can’t wait to see the photos and movies that you made.

Tha(ng cu?

(The winner of the best forehead).

PS: I hope I didn’t miss anyone… do let me know if I did.