Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

Thao and The Get Down Stay Down is a San Francisco, California-based (formerly Falls Church, Virginia) alternative folk rock music group. It consists of Thao Nguyen (vocals, guitar) and Adam Thompson (vocals, bass guitar, keyboards). Frank Stewart (lead guitar, production) and Willis Thompson (drums) are former members of the band.

History

Nguyen met drummer Willis Thompson while studying for her degrees in Sociology and Women's Studies at The College of William and Mary. Willis Thompson was a member of Camp Tigerclaw, Acousticore, and Murphy's Kids. He is also a contributing member to the band The Light Footwork. Thao Nguyen and Willis Thompson met Adam Thompson (no relation) during a show at the Harrison Street Coffee Shop in Richmond, Virginia. At the time, Adam Thompson was performing as a solo jazz-influenced act under the moniker The OK Bird. Frank Stewart, member of the bands Durian and Verbal, would produce the first full-length album Like the Linen in 2005 and join the band as a lead guitarist. Although only Willis and Nguyen initially performed live on tour, the four members began touring as a group during the Kill Rock Stars' Sound the Hare Heard tour during the summer of 2006. The name of the band was originally suggested by a former bassist of the band. Nguyen would expand the initial suggestion of "The Get Down" to "The Get Down Stay Down". Thao Nguyen still occasionally performs as a soloist, including a European tour with Laura Veirs and the Tortured Souls in August 2006.

Vietnam Idol

Vietnam Idol (Thần tượng âm nhạc: Vietnam Idol or Thần tượng âm nhạc Việt Nam from season 5) is a Vietnamese reality television competition to find new solo singing talents. It is part of the Idol franchise; it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller. The 2010 season is being produced by Vietnam Television (VTV6) and the BHD Pictures, replacing the joint-venture between Ho Chi Minh City Television and Dong Tay Promotion before.

History

Vietnam Idol was created based on the British show Pop Idol and U.S. show American Idol. The show debuted in 2007 in Vietnam, broadcast by Ho Chi Minh City Television under the production of Đông Tây Promotion. After two years active, the TV station and production company lost the license to produce a season to BHD Corp. and Vietnam Television. The show then under a name Thần tượng âm nhạc: Vietnam Idol, which only mentioned previously but not included in the title card. The show was renewed for a fifth season under a pure Vietnamese name regarding on regulation of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Thao Nguyen

Thao Nguyen (born c.1984), also known as Thao, is an American singer-songwriter originally from Virginia and now based in San Francisco. She is a member of the band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, with whom she has collaborated with Joanna Newsom and Andrew Bird. Outside of the band she has collaborated on projects with several artists including Merrill Garbus, The Portland Cello Project, and Mirah. Her music is influenced by folk, country, and hip hop.

Career

Born in Virginia and raised in Falls Church, Nguyen began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of twelve while helping out at her mother's laundromat. She began performing in high school as part of a pop-country duo with friend Brenna Clerkin. She attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County and studied at the College of William & Mary, where she double majored in Sociology and Women's studies. After recording an EP that differed from her initial style, she began performing as a soloist with her acoustic guitar. With her fellow college students Adam and Willis Thompson she formed Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down. After graduating she toured extensively, both with the band and as a solo artist.

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese ⁱ/ˌviɛtnəˈmiːz/ (tiếng Việt) is an Austroasiatic language that originated in the north of Vietnam and is the national and official language of the country. It is the native language of the Vietnamese (Kinh) people, as well as a first or second language for the many ethnic minorities of Vietnam. As the result of Vietnamese emigration and cultural influence, Vietnamese speakers are found throughout the world, notably in East and Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and Western Europe. Vietnamese has also been officially recognized as a minority language in the Czech Republic.

It is part of the Austroasiatic language family of which it has by far the most speakers (several times as many as the other Austroasiatic languages combined). Vietnamese vocabulary has borrowings from Chinese, and it formerly used a modified set of Chinese characters called chữ nôm given vernacular pronunciation. The Vietnamese alphabet (quốc ngữ) in use today is a Latin alphabet with additional diacritics for tones, and certain letters.

FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia Group is a British international television content and production/distribution subsidiary of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's largest TV, radio, and production company. Its world headquarters are located in London.

The company acquired various British, Australian, and American production companies including Talkback, Thames Television (the last two later merged as Talkback Thames), Reg Grundy Organisation, Crackerjack Productions (now merged to become FremantleMedia Australia), the Carruthers Company, and Goodson-Todman Productions (later Mark Goodson Productions, now FremantleMedia North America). Early on, it merged with Germany's largest television production company, UFA.

Production and rights holdings

The company holds the rights to shows such as Let's Make a Deal, Family Feud and Press Your Luck. Fremantle also produced Temptation and an interactive gameshow Quizmania for ITV Play.

In addition, they also own (along with Columbia Pictures) the rights to most of the post 1948 Bob Hope film catalog that includes The Seven Little Foys, The Lemon Drop Kid, and Son of Paleface. They were also the distributors of the television series Baywatch.