Tequila's boobs didn't calm crowd

Tila Tequila, whose real name is Tila Nguyen, got on the receiving end of rocks, beer bottles, and feces thrown at her at the Juggalos music fest last weekend, according to the AP here.

The Juggalos is an annual festival that stretches over 4 days, organized by Insane Clown Posse and featuring mostly artists from their own label. Tequila was there as a guest artist on their “Ladies Night.”

As she went on stage, the crowd started throwing things. Apparently, this crowd loves throwing stuff because security is already on stage batting away things.

The crowd screamed for Tequila to take her top off – which she did, while still prancing around singing. The crowd got even worse, says MTV here.

According to comedian Tom Green who was there, “a mob of hundreds chas[ed] Tequila from the stage and surrounding a trailer where she sought refuge. They rocked the trailer and smashed its windows,” he told CNN here. (Watch video shot by Tom Green at the end of this entry.)

Tequila told E! Online here that she wants to sue the concert promoters.

It’s a strange day when a crowd actually gets upset at seeing Tila Tequila’s boobs.

Born in Singapore of Vietnamese boat-people parents, Tequila is probably the most famous Vietnamese TV star in the world.

She formerly hosted the reality dating competition show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila on MTV, which ended after its second season.

Tila was named the hottest artist on Myspace in 2006.

In 2008, Tila Tequila starred in an ad calling attention to human-rights abuses in Burma. Read here. The ad was directed by Timothy Linh Bui (Green Dragon) and was one in a series produced by the Human Rights Action Center.

Last year, Tequila sued, and got sued back by, San Diego Charger Shawne Merriman after she claimed he choked and falsely imprisoned her. Merriman said Tequila was too drunk to drive and he was just keeping her safe until a taxi could arrive.

In a strange twist in the case, a few days after filing the lawsuit, Tequila got on the internet, stripped naked, and accused Merriman of an assortment of vices, including drugging underage girls and having sex with them.

That’s a far fall for a man who came out of nowhere to become a leader of two major protest campaigns, and who even was convicted of assault and battery for the cause.

Apparently that was then and this is, well, not then.

Back then, Trong Doan led the protest against the Viet Weekly magazine, and moved on to lead the protest against Nguoi Viet Daily News. He was one of three defendants named in a lawsuit by Nguoi Viet, which he lost, and which made him now subject of a permanent injunction against messing with the newspaper.

He was also the defendant in a criminal case arising out of pushing and shoving a Nguoi Viet reporter (now an editor at Viet Herald).

But that was all history. The protestors against Viet Weekly capitulated, and several of the protest leaders, including Assemblyman Van Tran‘s henchman Hung Phuong Nguyen and Trong Doan, now work for Viet Weekly.

The protest against Nguoi Viet fizzled out, and in fact of the three named defendants in the lawsuit, Doan was the second to stop showing up.

It is in Doan’s current position as Viet Weekly reporter that his former friends boycotted him.

They accused him of coming to events and asking questions that exploit personal conflicts blah blah – in general, off-topic and weird. Which is what he does. All the time. But apparently they’ve only now noticed.

What they were most pissed about, though, was that Doan supported the concert they were protesting.

And we all know that if you’re not with the protestors, then you’re a commie. So now Mr. Big Shot Red-baiter is a commie.

Officially, the protest organizers on Thursday called on all community groups to boycott Trong Doan (plus two others, including one Nguoi Viet reporter) and have no contact, no interviews, no advertising, no photos, and no admission into their events.

Read the statement in two pages of Vietnamese, dated the day before it’s proclaimed, here and here.

OK, so if you don’t know Bui Kim Thanh, you may want to revisit this, this and this.

Now, maybe the woman has a medical condition that makes her prone to fainting. Or something.

But anyway, so there was a concert at the Anaheim Arena on Saturday, and hundreds of Vietnamese-American protestors (600, according to Anaheim PD Sgt. Chris Pena) came out to protest. Because Dam Vinh Hung – the victim of Ly Tong‘s criminal act – sang there.

So anyway, Bui Kim Thanh scored herself a ticket. When she passed the security check point, but before entering the arena, she stopped, whipped out a couple flags, and started shouting slogans and trying to stop people from going in.

Security came and asked her to leave. She said no, wait, I need to call 9-1-1.

So she picked up her phone, and dialed something.

Then she spoke into the phone, in Vietnamese: “Is this 9-1-1? I am lawyer Bui Kim Thanh, communists are terrorizing me.”

(Bui Kim Thanh has been calling herself “the people’s lawyer” since her days fighting the communist government’s land-grab in Vietnam.)

Security asked her to leave, she wouldn’t. Security called the cops, and when cops came she said she don’t speak English. So they got a Viet cop.

A Viet cop came. (Pena is the cop to the right, below.) He asked her to leave, or else he’d put her under arrest.

That pissed her off. She yelled, “You have no right!”

“This is the USA, I’m calling 9-1-1, I have a ticket, why are you making me leave,” she yelled.

And then, referring to the time in Vietnam when the government arrested her, she said something that made no sense to the Bolsavik:

“I went to prison to protect U.S. rule of law. I’m not going to leave. This is the law of the jungle.”

So, really, what does getting arrested in Vietnam (for a good cause, granted) have to do with U.S. rule of law? No idea.

Anyway, so if she ain’t gonna leave of her own accord, cops are gonna make her.

Half way down the hall, she caught a fainting spell again.

Told you so. If she fainted once she certainly will faint again. So cops called EMS, and cuffed her.

EMS came, took one look at her, and put her on a wheelchair. Cops wheeled her away, took her to the station and charged her with trespassing and obstruction of business.

Last year, when Bui Kim Thanh protested VAALA, she asked VAALA to give her the ride home. And they did.

It’s not clear who gave Bui Kim Thanh the ride home from the police station this time.

Ly Tong, the man who spent the last 14 months or so on the fringe of Vietnamese-American society, thrusted himself back in the limelight by dressing up as a woman and pepper-spraying a singer from Vietnam at a concert in Santa Clara.

It’s not the first time Ly Tong made news with a spray can and women’s wear. Last year, he spray painted an artwork and glued lingerie panties to it.

Nguoi Viet Daily News has a detailed story here (in Vietnamese), including accounts from an eyewitness.

According to the witness, she was sitting 3 seats away from Ly Tong at the concert featuring Dam Vinh Hung, a singer who frequently goes by the name Mr Dam.

Ly Tong came in drags, accompanied by a woman. The witness told Nguoi Viet:

“He was wearing a dress but his legs were all spread out. I and my friend were telling each other, ‘That guy’s so gross, dressing as a woman.’ At first we thought maybe Dam Vinh Hung is gay and this gay guy has a crush on him.”

Halfway through the show, Ly Tong came up and assaulted the singer. A press release from the Santa Clara Police Department says:

Ly accomplished the assault by posing as a woman. He purchased a ticket at the door to gain entry to the event and approached the stage acting as if he was going to give Hung Dam a flower. When the performer approached to take the gift, Ly sprayed him with the chemical irritant.

Ly was taken into custody immediately after the assault by Santa Clara police officers who were present at the event. Ly’s motive for the assault is thought to be political in nature.

The spray affected not just Mr Dam but also another singer on stage with him, Mỹ Tâm, and members of the audience.

The police’s press release says, “the audience of several hundred people had to be evacuated temporarily. The show resumed after the venue was ventilated and Santa Clara Fire Department personnel administered first aid.”

The audience member who spoke to Nguoi Viet also said the chemical was spreading throughout the room. “When he sprayed it, everybody knew it’s just pepper spray. At first, the people in the front row, the VIP row, were coughing. Then it spread and me, in the cheapest seats, next to the last row, also coughed.”

Ly Tong is being held in Santa Clara County Jail “on several charges.” Attempts to raise funds to bail him out failed, so Ly Tong announced that he didn’t want to be bailed out.

As news of Ly Tong’s actions spread throughout the web, on Facebook and on the listservs, right-wingers rejoiced.

Many applauded Ly Tong and professed their admiration of him. Which goes, of course, to prove that Vietnamese love children.

One man who’s probably not amused is Congressman Joseph “Anh” Cao. He appeared at the protest outside the concert, but now he’s totally upstaged.

Meanwhile, Mr Dam showed up in Orange County and spoke with members of the local Viet press. He’s scheduled to be part of a concert at Anaheim Arena on July 24, and Mr Dam said he’d be there despite threats of protest.

Said he, “The older people are determined to destroy my show this time, destroy it once to be a lesson to other singers. On the side of the promoters and organizers, including myself, we are equally determined to be there to serve our public.”

The promoter, however, isn’t so sure. Dung Taylor told Nguoi Viet’s reporter that next time he may not ask Dam Vinh Hung to appear.

Watch:

Yes, you heard it right, the man just asked another human being to go kill himself.

WTF.

Gives whole new meaning to “spilling his guts”!

Concern by the faithful over what happened to more than half a million dollars in parish funds led to a raucous meeting Sunday at a Vietnamese church in Biloxi, Miss., where police had to be called to keep things from boiling over, reports local TV station WLOX here.

Last October, Fr. Jimmy Pham arrived at the parish (pictured below at his installation, with the bishop). The Redemptorist priest, better known by his Vietnamese first name Bích, had been in Minneapolis before that.

Sometime after arriving, the priest found a contribution fund, worth $530,000, in a savings account under the parish name but is actually not controlled by the priest. The savings account was administered by a financial committee elected by the people.

So Fr. Pham disbanded the committee and had the half-million transferred to the parish account.

Parishioners also tried to find out what happened to profits from a recent festival. Instead of getting answers, they found the priest had changed the church locks.

That made people really mad. At a meeting Sunday, “shouts of anger rang through the house of worship,” reports WLOX.

With Biloxi police watching, Vietnamese Martyrs parishioners demanded Father Pham tell them what happened to more happened to $530,000.

Parishioner Siem Nguyen spoke through an interpreter. “We have a financial committee with the funds of the church. That has a responsibility. He (Fr. Pham) came in and within a short period of time, he’s removed the funds from one bank account to another bank account without consulting the financial council.”

The priest, however, has the backing of the diocese, which must be so happy to find the money under the mattress. Biloxi Diocese Bishop Roger Morin wrote a letter disbanding the parish financial council, and for good measure he disbanded the parish council as well.

Diocese spokesperson Shirley Henderson said the old way the church kept its money was not acceptable. “These parishioners put the parish money into secret accounts that the priest did not know about. When that was discovered, it was rectified. The priest is accountable for the parish moneys.”

So, what’s happening to the money? What’s happening to the profit from the festival?

None of your beeswax, says the diocese spokesperson. Or at least that’s how the Bolsavik reads her statement as reported by WLOX.

“Henderson says now only the priest and a Diocese official have the ability to access the account.”

The church has had only two previous priests in its history: Fr. Dominic Phan Đức Đổng, now retired; and Fr. Joseph Trịnh Quang Trường, now at Lumberton and Poplarville nearby. Fr. Dominic Phan was at the church during Katrina, and participated in the Mass that installed Fr. Pham.

Fr. Pham Jimmy Bích, despite his somewhat advanced age at 56, is a relatively new priest. He was ordained in 1996 in Carthage, Missouri as a member of the Congregation of Mary Co-Redemptorix, known as “Dòng Đồng Công” and is the site of the Marian Days festival. (The same one where Texas pilgrims died in the bus crash.) In 2001, Fr. Pham left the congregation and joined the Redemptorists.

Say what you will about Andy Quach, the Westminster City Councilman rides the best car of the entire Tet Parade.

That’s him riding in the car. The parade started without him in the car and then somewhere along the line he jumped in it, so, there he is.

Anyway, here’s the same car waiting to go.

See the painting on the trunk?

That’s the reason why Andy Quach wins the Bolsavik’s Best Car In Parade award.

Click on the jump to see a head-on shot of the trunk.

Here it is:

Then she sued him. Then she got on the internet, stripped naked, and accused him of an assortment of vices, including drugging underage girls and having sex with them.

Apparently, at some point Merriman decided that enough is enough, so he sues Tequila back, says the San Diego Union-Tribune here.

In the newspaper’s story, Merriman complained about how Tequila’s antics have hurt his relationships with fans and the team.

What’s interesting, though, is he chose to sue Tequila, whose real name is Nguyen, in federal court by including a copyright claim. Read the federal complaint here.

The copyright claim is hinged upon Tequila’s use of Merriman’s photos on her web site. Like a tail wagging the dog, the copyright claim seems to serve merely to bring the main dispute into federal court. (It may be possible that Merriman’s lawyers are using it to threaten Tequila with statutory damages that theoretically can reach the millions, but, really, how many people think the max will be awarded?)

The Merriman side also strengthens its entry into federal court with a trademark claim. That one is based on Tequila bashing Merriman using his nickname – or, as the lawsuit points out, his trademark – “Lights Out.” Badmouthing someone using the person’s trademark, however, has been held by many courts not to be an infringement, making Merriman’s claim tenuous and more indicative that the whole point seems to be to manufacture federal jurisdiction.