I'm a little bit country...

So, as a part of the ongoing celebration of 50 years of glorious relations between the USA and Laos, the Embassy brought in a real, authentic, American band to play a concert in Vientiane. Yes, boys and girls, the Jesse Dayton Band were here....LIVE!

It was actually pretty great. Last night they played to a select crowd of Vientiane movers and shakers at the Ambassador's house (a bit of MTV unplugged-style music I guess), then made their Vientiane debut tonight at the Don Chan Palace (pictures to come, but probably not until Tuesday, once I get back to work).

Last night they went out to the Win West bar after their gig at the Ambassador's (who knew there was a country/western bar in town (okay, I did, but I hadn't been there...and still haven't)). Anyway, they liked the bar band, and decided they should open up for them tonight. SO...there we all are at the convention center at the world famous Don Chan convention center and the lights go down. The Lao band comes out and starts playing....Desperado, by the Eagles. And if you closed your eyes, you might not have thought it was the Eagles, but it could have been Joe Cocker, which is strange when you open your eyes and see a Lao guy singing.

To complicate matters, there was an electric cord (y'all got that...CORD) snaking up to the front of the stage. So tons of Lao and Falang kids were running back and forth over the cord (yes, a raucous show, I know), so, in addition to enjoying the show, I also was in charge of making sure no kids unplugged the mixing board by tripping over the cord. All the while listening to a Lao band play Desperado. ROCK N' ROLL!!!!!!!!

But, all in all, the Jesse Dayton band was pretty damn good. I would say they remind me of Donny Osmond, in that they were a little bit country....and a little bit rock and roll. And, where else are you going to be able to spend a few hours listening to some good ol' American country music? I guess at the Win West bar from now on. Every night from 10:00 to 12:00.

Anyway, it's now 12:40 am, and I've got to psyche myself up for another 3 hours at the travel agent tomorrow. Not that I don't love our travel agent (he finds good fares after all), but I spent about 2 1/2 hours there last Saturday buying tickets for various trips, and I have to go back tomorrow for more. But it's all done with love, so I've got that going for me.