A Night Out with the Prince

A good friend and his brother came into HCMC today. He was with family so the time I could see him was limited to an evening. The brother is dating a girl in HCMC (who is Vietnamese) and the two families wanted to meet.

So where do we go to meet. A small piece of commericialized Americana called the Hard Rock Cafe. Where the booze, food, and music was American (even though the band was from the Philippines). They did three sets of music from 9 to midnight. The first set was pop music that thankfully we missed. The second set was heavy metal, I was rocking out as the rest of the group (Thai and Vietnamese) could not make heads or tails of the music except for the Prince.

The Booze

I went for a 20 oz draft, I missed the taste of something not from a can or a bottle. But it was Carlsberg (a far cry from my memories of Fat Tire or Sunshine Wheat). Tram ordered a margarita (first time for her) and enjoyed it (I think the combination of sour and salt and the sulfur of the tequila made a good combination), and the Prince ordered his favorite (Jack and Coke). The rest of the group ordered mixed drinks but I have no knowledge of what they were.

The Food

Nachos and French Fries were ordered. The French Fries were eaten in the standard SE Asian manner, dipped in ketchup and chili sauce. But the nachos were very unfamiliar to them. When a sauce was made by mixing ketchup, chili sauce, and a small amount of salsa to dip the chips in, I knew a Mexican would of slapped them. The guacamole was untouched because of the garish green color, but ironically avocados are much loved as a food (a brief taste was made but not explored further). At the end the fries disappeared and the nachos remained (sadly I was not hungry or it would have been a nacho apocalypse).

The Music

The Filipino band was good, it was a drummer, a bass guitarist, a lead guitarist, and two singers (a man and woman). The singers put forward a good stage show, but the rest of the band just played the music and had little stage precense. Some of the songs in the second set (the set I enjoyed) were: Stupify by Disturbed, Highway to Hell by AC/DC, One by Metallica, Welcome to the Jungle (I am bored with this song), and other seriously heavy songs.

In the third set, it was all request songs. One individual on the table put in the request of November Rain by Guns n' Roses. I was then requested to play stump the band, so I put in the requests of: Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, 21st Century (Digital Boy) by Bad Religion, Promenade by Street Sweeper Social Club, and Freedom by Rage Against the Machine. All these songs have faced radio play and should be known, the only one that would seriously stump the band is Promenade. I could have done songs by Bowling for Soup, They Might Be Giants, Atreyu, All That Remains, Hatebreed, Lamb of God, etc. But I wanted to ensure it was a challenge, not impossible.

But as the requests came in and the band played pop songs. /sigh Pop... Hard Rock Cafe....Pop Music. The hardest song played was 21 Guns by Green Day. Before our songs could play the rest of the group decided it was time to call it a night. I wanted to see them attempt one of the requests.

Oh well, it was a fun night out. My complaints are non existant, not wanting to go out because people eat food differently or the some of the music you hear is not entirely enjoyed will turn you into an elitist misanthrope.