Shanghai Diaries - June 27

I also like Cold Fairyland. They are talented musicians, and a little geeky, as in they should stick to playing verses dancing. Keep the diaries going dude... Rock On...

cool! I liked Cold Fairyland, they sounded vaguely like old Genesis.

I have a western friend in Harbin who's been touring with his Chinese band mates in Beijing and other places. Damn I can't remember the name of the band - but he does have a music film project he called Megawoman. I know they play some Doors cover tunes. He cracks me up, says he's the reincarnation of Jim Morrison. Any idea about this band?

Rock On!

has anyone heard of:周先生(zhou xiansheng), 果味vc(guowei vc) 声音碎片(sound fragment) or 与非门(Yu fei men)? Those are some of my favorite chinese bands in addition to 新裤子(new pants)

Oh, here's a link to Living The Shanghai Life: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2008/06/living_the_shanghai_life.cfm?Fsr... from the Economist. Anyone care to comment?

Alex, when I visited Tianjin in 2001-2002, I used to go to Sgt. Peppers with the Motorola (now SMIC) guys. Is that bar still around? It had decent bands back then but not sure these days.

Unfortunately, I was in a drunken haze when I visited the other bars and clubs, and don't remember any of the names. They're probably all gone now... oh well.

Kaisa that's so spot on. "Silly foreigner" is one of my most successful facial expressions (sometimes comes with crazed hand gestures just to really throw them off) - actually because my Chinese is still pretty basic, I don't have to try too hard to get a genuine confused expression happening.

I was in a Beijing taxi a few weeks back with an Australian mate of mine - he first came to Beijing in 1992 so sounds like a real Beijingren, which the taxi drivers always find funny. We almost hit some poor old guy who walked straight out into the traffic and my mate yelled some colloquial Beijing dialect expletive, which sent the taxi driver into fits of laughter. He told us that the taxi drivers have been told they're not allowed to use swear words during the Olympics, particularly in front of foreigners, or they will be fined, which he thought was stupid because they don't understand them anyway. We jokingly said "so what about after the Olympics?" and he replied quite deadpan "oh, that's fine, then we're allowed to start swearing again".

Oh and another bit of news from Beijing - all the KTV bars are being closed but the funniest bit of all, at the city's only gay club, Destination, they've been told they can keep the bar open but have to shut the dancefloor until the end of August. Can't let disco bring shame to the nation.

Lol Kaisa, Good point with the "silly foreigner" look. I'll be in Tianjin for a three month study abroad stint and will be putting that to good use!

I was in Beijing/Tianjin in 2005 and the pollution was bareable, anyone know if the pollution has really changed much? Would it be overkill to get one of those CO2/pollution masks?

Also, can anyone recommend any good bars or places to hang in Beijing or Tianjin? When I was there it seemed like the clubs/bars closed and reopened every week with new names.

Thanks!
Alex

Thanks, SDSteve

I just put on my "silly foreigner"-look and walked right past them. That works most of the time. Just look like you don't understand what is going on and you can get away with quite a lot of things :) And the line was not too long, so I was able to rush past it.

Kaisa, thanks for the posts! I'm curious about how you avoided standing in line at the metro. Did they just wave you past?

One more thing I just noticed: they have started a new 3 month period of heightened subway security, I saw an x-ray machine and more security guards today as I took the metro. The funny thing was that all the Chinese people were lining to be checked and I just walked past the whole thing. So at least in some places foreigners are trusted more than the Chinese people...

Well it's the same old thing...

Pollution is as bad as ever, even though the officials say it's getting better. Their argument is that what you see/smell/taste is not the same as scientific data. I go to http://english.sepa.gov.cn/ almost daily, but I don't really know if I can trust it.

Some of my friends got visas, one for a year and another one until January. Others have been kicked out. They go to Korea, Thailand, Vietnam until the craziness is over and then try to come back. I will leave in a few weeks, as my studies are finished here, but I might come back for a while next year.

My parents came for a visit and I was talking to some people in the hotel's massage place and they said thay are having some difficulties because of the Olympics. Before they were really busy, customers were lining up, but now they are all gone. They had to cut back on the staff, now only one person is working at a time, unless there are more customers. And the hotel is half empty.

The "Bird's Nest" is now finished, the airport security is tightened, government officials are told to be more frugal, there will be more restrictions on traffic... Otherwise everything appears quite normal.

Part of me will be sad to leave, and the other part just can't wait to get out of here.

kaisa - I agree! D-22 is great, as is Mao Live.

how are things up there, can you give us a Beijing Update?

Hi Aric!

I love your show, have been watching all of the videos.

I just saw Hedgehog last Saturday, have seen one show by PK-14, totally loved both of them. A few other great bands that I like are Carsick Cars, Joyside, Snapline and Candy Monster.

The best place to hear new Chinese bands (in Beijing) is D-22. If you are here, you should check it out. The place is small, but they really do all to promote and support new bands and artists. (End of commercial ;)

Good luck with all you do, hope to hear more from you even after you leave China.

glad you all liked it - and a good suggestion! amazing how a few good tunes take out of a funk.

speaking of funk - here's a 1/2 chinese, 1/2 foreign band called 'pharaoh' that is quickly gathering a huge following:

http://www.reverbnation.com:80/pharaoh

New Pants toured Australia with one of my favorite Aussie bands Regurgitator and performed as part of a top programme that was part of a huge Andy Warhol exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Aric thanks for the intro to Cold Fairyland - I got butterflies listening to that short clip - nothing beats discovering great new music.

Yo Aric...

What a happy pod! Of course, if it's anything to do with music it will always have a "positive" result.

Once I saw a documentary about Fela Kuti, the amazing musician who created the Afro-Funk genre from the slums of West Africa. Incredible musician, and a great story.

Anyway, Fela said that most people, even many musicians, do not understand that music is a gift from God, and if properly used has the power to raise the consciousness of the masses. If misused, well, we all know what happened to some musical geniuses that burn out so early in their careers because they seem to forget where their gifts came from.

Uplifting pod Aric. Your mood seems much lighter. Glad to see it.

Hey... I just want to know one more thing... where's the damn hip-hop culture in China. Cold Fairyland rocks, and I would love to see more of them, but I know there's got to be some genius rappers brewing in the big cities. Find me that future hip-hop legend who's uniting the people with his or here rebellious lyrics.

Peace, Love, Safe Travels Aric

I love the last one "coldfairyland" thats such a great sound. I love it when musicians combine the old and the new.

Ahhhh, new music! Thanks for the fix, Aric.

Christine, the music was great and the interview even better. Kaiser really sounds like an interesting guy to chat with and know.

Aric, is that a taiko drum with Cold Fairyland or is there a Chinese version of the same thing? Speaking of taiko drumming, sad news... Daihachi Oguchi, the dean of taiko drumming who popularized it all over the world, was hit by a car and died yesterday in Japan.

I hadn't heard New Pants before, would love to see them! Thanks for sharing the bands today!!