Eventual Rebound Girlfriend

Nam Chi Vu of San Diego’s Riboflavin is a rare multi-threat talent. As a bassist, she’s among the city’s two or three best, comfortable playing classical, jazz, and rock. Now she’s involved in a local film as screenwriter-coproducer and has a costarring role. If Sly can pull it off with Rocky, maybe she has a shot!

“I’m working on a rock-and-roll film entitled The Predictables, which will be filmed here in San Diego,” says Vu. “The movie is about an English rocker who falls for a girl on the Internet and moves to San Diego to be with her and pursue his rock-and-roll dreams.”

Filming takes place over the first two months of 2009. “It’s the lead character’s first step into a new country,” says Vu. “And it’s his entry into the music business. San Diego, I always felt, is the perfect stepping stone. It’s a big city, but not as scary as L.A.… The movie starts with him breaking up with his online girlfriend and joining this local band, and he experiences how wonderful, humiliating, and exciting the San Diego music scene can be.”

Vu herself plays the rocker’s bandmate and eventual rebound girlfriend. “My character Cecilia gives him shit and pokes fun at him — so it’s basically a comedic love story, with lots of drinking-buddy humor.

“The production is funded by the film crew out of the Bay Area, me, and the director Son Nguyen. Our plan is to have a screening at one of the locations seen in the film and then to have it streaming online amongst fans.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE RIBOFLAVIN’S MUSIC IN ONE SENTENCE?

“It makes you want to laugh and cry…or perhaps make you laugh so hard that you want to cry.”

WHAT’S IN YOUR CD PLAYER?

1. The Ting Tings, We Started Nothing. “I love the percussion, the hooks, and the harmonies.”

2. Franz Ferdinand, self-titled. “I love the European grooves.”

3. The Beatles, Love [Cirque du Soleil production]. “I think most people would have thought that modern arrangements — done digitally, putting the songs through Pro Tools — would have messed them up, but the music was significantly enhanced.”

MUST-HAVE DVDs?

1. Amélie. “The movie is about self-discovery and good karma.”

2. Gia. “It’s about women who take risks, without even knowing it, and end up making history.”

3. Once. “That one magical moment is all it takes to change somebody’s life.”

4. The Beatles Anthology. “It’s their story told in a collection of DVDs. They tend to hit you right in the heart. I think it was the director’s doing.”

5. The Secret. “If you ask the universe for negativity, then that is what you will receive…if you ask for good fortune, then that is what you will get. It’s like the genie in the bottle.”

FAVORITE BOOK?

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. “It allowed me to see life as a journey and not a destination.”

MAC OR PC?

“I like the PC for office work, but for music and for a laptop, I go with Mac.”

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE POWER OF INVISIBILITY?

“If people can’t see me, as a result, they can’t judge me. So if I secretly do something nice for them while I’m invisible, they won’t question who did it…they can’t ask why I did it. I think this would bring more positive energy into people’s lives.”

BRUSH WITH FAME?

“Jerry Heller of Ruthless Records once told me that if I’m the first at doing something, it will always be remembered. This explains why there are some people who make history even though there are others who later took what they did and maybe did it better. The originator gets all the glory.”

DRINK OF CHOICE?

“A nice, hot cup of green tea.”