Five hours before the concert, a platoon of coolies moved into the open-air concert area and enveloped it in a cloud of insecticide to kill off the mosquitoes. An hour later, two coolies armed with spools of adhesive tape started affixing location tags to the rows of folding seats. At C-hour-minus-30 minutes, the national flags of Viet Nam and the U.S. were in place. As the darkness gathered, the men of the orchestra took their places, and promptly at 8 p.m. the conductor raised his baton. Moments later one more corner of Asia was introduced to the strange and wondrous sounds...
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