-^-for posterity-^-

the other day there was a concert at the university presented by ms. cam ly. she is quite famous and everyone and their sister turned out for the show.

this is what happens at a concert of a famous singer in the mekong delta:

the stage was set up in the main court yard of the university a few days before. it consisted of towering structures, lots of lights and two giant sized pictures of the singer staring off into the distance, her face beckoning the question, ‘where am i?’

the night of the concert is electric. in front of the stage there are about three hundred tiny plastic stools set out for those who come first. to the left, right and back of those stools are hoards of people standing silently. we stood with the masses seeing as how we arrived quite late.

the show begins. first there is a bit of a warm up from a man wearing a black shirt, a giant gold medallion and a suit made out of rose colored material with swirling designs on it. he had the crowd clap and throw their hands back and forth for a bit. the clapping and swaying were interspersed with random outbursts of, ‘are you ready for cam ly!’, which elicited tepid responses.

next there are speeches by important people thanking everyone for this and that. the speeches are long and the man in the rose suit must emerge again and yell and make us all clap.

the show. first there is a troop of dancers dressed in red pants and shirts. the girls are carrying giant maple leaves that are covered in plastic. the music is soft and the dancers run about and the girls twirl their leaves. cam ly starts to sing behind the stage. some girls start to cheer and most of the boys ask each other if they can see her. the fog on the stage is intense, much like a battle scene. the lights flicker and flash like bombs. the girls are on the ground waving the leaves softly while the men stand in an odd cluster. cam ly arrives.

she walks slowly and at the back of the stage. hopefully no one will see her. she is wearing jeans and a red shirt and she is quite short. the crowd claps and the boys stop wondering where she is.

the song continues and the dancers perform to the peak of their profession. there are lots of swift hand movements, emulations of boxing moves and jumping. it’s all quite interesting and i don’t remember when they let their maple leaves go.

the song ends and she tries to get the crowd excited and talks about how lucky she is to really be down in long xuyen. she sings some slow songs with lots of pink and purple lights and two or three machines that make bubbles. she stands under the bubbles and holds her hand up as if they are rain.

we left early because we were bored.

incidentally, cam ly drives around vietnam in a 86 lavender cadillac. we stood around the car before the concert started and admired its bulk and made fun of its color.