Vienna Teng at Duke University

Written: April 9, 2003
Last Updated: April 10, 2003

There's a Ford Windstar arriving at Duke University!

It's wet and rainy in North Carolina, the site of Vienna's performance at Duke University at the Armadillo Grill in the Brian Student Center (similar to Princeton's Frist Center or Stanford's Tresidder Union) last night. We thought that the chapel looked a lot like Isengard from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though students like to refer to it as Astro, the family dog from the Jetsons.

Though Vienna's music is universal, it seems like there are more Asians who are listening to her than other races. This was very evident at the 'Dillo, where it seemed like the entire Asian population of Duke was present for her performance! It was especially funny (or sad) to see her start playing and have all the non-Asian people start to walk out of the place. Hey, we're all-inclusive, no need to leave? I guess some of those people felt uncomfortable being the minority. Hehe, welcome to everyone else's world!

Thanks to Christina for organizing the show on such short notice, and for the Asian Student Organization for coming out to see it.

During this trip, not that many people have recognized me from my web site. That seems to be changing as we make our way down South. There was Henry at Club Iota the previous evening in Arlington, VA and another last night. Ailian first heard of tow.com while doing research on digital cameras. From there, she came to know about Vienna's music. It's always neat to meet people who follow my adventures in cyberspace. I appreciate the kind comments and greetings!

Now that our traveling group has become three with the arrival of Jim, we noticed over dinner at the Western Sizzlin that all of us have web sites! Out here in the East, that's a much rarer occurrence, we've been noticing! We did have a great conversation with Andre, a former ballet dancer for the Paris Opera! I love to meet new people and to hear their stories, and this tour has been a great in allowing me to do that. There are so many stories yet to be told by those who don't have voices or faces. The Internet is a great enabler for that, but how do you get the Net to these people?

There are more photos in the photo gallery. Click on the link below to see them!

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Reader Comments

Thanks for putting up Ailian's picture!! I'm sure she'll be very happy to see that =)
And I love the Isengard picture!!!

--posted by Yvonne @ Thursday, April 10 2003, 18:00 pm EDT

Your visit to Duke was just what we needed at Duke and for APAHM. Thank You to Vienna & your crew for performing, taking pictures, and sharing your experiences with us. It'll be a night I'll remember fondly as a graduating senior. I'll be in touch.

--posted by Chris @ Friday, April 11 2003, 2:51 am EDT

I suspect the non-Asian people left when Vienna started playing because they were probably expecting some sort of Asian-centric music that they couldn't relate to. Too bad. You couldn't tell what the person who was singing looked like if you just heard the music. I think Vienna wants to emphasize the fact that her music is not race-specific. I think the reason why so many Asians came out to see her is that it was APAHM for one thing, and Asian-American singer/songwriters are relatively uncommon (though probably not all that rare).

--posted by Norm @ Friday, April 11 2003, 11:40 am EDT

I would imagine that the reason only mostly Asians showed up to the concert is because it was promoted by an Asian student organization...

--posted by Nick @ Friday, April 11 2003, 13:46 pm EDT

Ailian looks like the proverbial cat that swallowed the canary.

--posted by Jason @ Saturday, December 13 2003, 20:08 pm EST