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Aug
5thGrooving in the Grasslands: Behind the scenes at Zhangbei InMusic FestivalZhangbei, around 4 hours drive from the capital, close to Inner Mongolia, has been referred to as China’s Woodstock, but it commonly known as one of the more chaotic, gritty local festivals on the calendar. I went out there for the first time on the last day of last year’s festival and had so much fun I wanted to head back again this year. This I was planning on heading out again on the bus and camping, but the offer of joining friends who were performing was too good to turn down, so at 7am on the Sunday morning I headed out on the musicians bus with a bunch of sleepy bands due to play on the last day of the 3 day festival. 4 hours later, after passing wide open grasslands, wind-power turbines, and leaving the grey skies of Beijing far behind we arrived at band central, a holiday park full of chinese tourists staying in permanent yurt-style rooms just across the fields from the stages. If we were still in Hebei, it didn’t feel like it, during lunch we were serenaded by three horsehead fiddles – with a backing track of drum & bass and flashing lights and dancers! After last year’s experience, and the drama I had heard about, but not been affected by myself, this year seemed a lot more organized. Sure the acts were running late, starting the day about an hour behind, and ending up over 2 hours late, but I can say behind [...]
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Dec
1stScary Mass of Commuters Stranded on Subway Platform in BeijingBeijing Weibo user, 北京号外, posted this picture of the mad rush jam on Beijing Line 4 subway this morning!!! So folks, you think you have it bad if you’re stuck in traffic for 45mn in a cozy and warm cab? think again! Apparently, the trains stopped running for a good 30mn and there was no explanation from the subway management or whatsoever…. I am just horrified at that ocean of people stuffed onto a platform. Here is the original post on weibo with almost 2000 forwards already http://weibo.com/2367310827/xzYJeqRDs NO FUCKING WAY IN HELL…. I WILL WALK
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Nov
15thVintage Flea Market at 2 Kolegas all weekendThe ever amicable Mushroom, that you’ve seen around 2 Kolegas for the past few years, happens to run a company that makes some quality leather gear… pretty good stuff! This saturday and sunday, They’re putting together a flea market with secondhand books, clothes and high-end and vintage bags just to name a few.. Make your way down to Rfactory’s Flea Market, a two-day affair of food, drinks and shopping – that includes their own collection of Rfactory bags, as well as all the participating vendors that they’ve invited. It fits really well with the gig planned saturday night where 2 of the most fashionable bands in Beijing will be in stage: DH & The Hellcats and Free The Birds… both front women are know for vintage good looks. November 19-20. Noon-6pm. 2 Kolegas (6436 8998)
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Oct
19thBeijing Real Estate Prices Force Batman out of his caveHolly Batman… Even Bruce Wayne and his fortune can’t keep up with rising real estate prices in Beijing. As you can see from this picture, the increase in prices has forced Batman to ditch the batcave and relocate to a street sign on di’anmen wai da jie: This weibo user snapped the picture this morning in Beijing. It’s probably some sort of prank.. a fun one that is!
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Aug
3rdFestival’d out? No way! Long Live Rock in the Grasslands!There’s been a lot of talk about the over abundance of festivals in China this year. Jon Campbell and China Daily, both have interesting posts on this. I agree 4 festivals competing in one weekend in Beijing is just stupid, but this my year of seeing more of China, and taking advantage of festivals and shows outside the city is a great way to see a little more of this country. BD went to the West Lake Festival to see his beloved Concrete Blonde last month and last weekend’s In Music festival in Zhangbei was my perfect excuse to escape the oppressive heat in Beijing and chill out under the blue skies in Hebei. My at first eager friends were all put off by reports of last year’s mud fest, trash & transport problems and bailed on a three day camping trip, but I managed to find one metal-head buddy willing to go for one day, so we planned to make our way out on the direct bus put on by the festival on Sunday morning. We arrived at the long distance bus station 5 mins too late and watched the first bus pull out as we walked in, meaning we had to wait for enough people to arrive to fill the next bus. By the 2 hour mark there was a group of angry festival goers arguing loudly with the organizers to let us on the bus, finally they caved in and the bus took off at 12noon. We [...]
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Mar
1stThe Final Countdown: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from GBoB Finals in KLIt promised to be a great night, 17 awesome bands from around the world (Jindabaad from Nepal didn’t make it) including our own Amazing Insurance Salesmen, plus a special performance from last year’s winners Rustic. I had hoped to live blog the event, but the crappy local 3G service sucked my battery dry in around an hour, so here’s a wrap up of what happened … Let’s start with THE GOOD The music! Here’s what I thought of the 17 bands who played … The top 6 (according to the judges) The winners Dubtonic Kru from Jamaica Congratulations! But I have to say, I really don’t get why these guys won. Sure they’re great at what they do, but they’re coming from a country full of great reggae bands. I guess I was expecting something different from them, some way of going beyond what we know about reggae. They were a fun band and put in a great performance, but they weren’t in my top 6. In 2nd place – Salvador from Russia I missed thees guys when I was backstage, as they were drowned out by the Jamaican hand drummer warming up. When I checked out the GBoB website before the show they were actually the only band whose music I turned off before listening to it all, so I wasn’t disappointed to have missed them. Going by Chris B’s impression they were strange, and not in a good way! The judges must have liked it though … In [...]
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Dec
14thSantacon 2010: Santa Brings Cheers to Beijing, Media Brings ControversyI think by now, most people are aware that Santacon Beijing took place over the weekend on saturday! Yours truly took part in it and spent most of the day busing around Beijing with a merry group of locals and expats having fun and enjoying a beautiful Beijing day. Picture courtesy of Jonah Kessel: There are some really good accounts of the event so I don’t need to go over that again. Read all about it over at: Beijing Boyce: http://www.beijingboyce.com/2010/12/13/beijing-santacon-diary-with-mulled-wine-christmas-carols-a-tiananmen-scuffle-and-more/ Jonah Kessel: http://blog.jonahkessel.com/2010/12/12/santarchy/ Sadly however, some media organizations chose to focus on the negative with headlines about Chinese security kicking Santas off the square: AFP: http://www.zigonet.com/no%EBl/les-peres-noel-vires-de-la-place-tiananmen_art18182.html Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/0,1518,734449,00.html Global Times: http://beijing.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-12/601197.html I was there and it didn’t go that way!!! When we first arrived to the square, security was definitely aware of our impeding arrival! They had English speaking guards who were extremely polite directing traffic and asking all the santas to gather in one spot for a picture. There was absolutely nothing bad about their attitude or behavior.. until… One particular photographer who was following the group of Santas decided to get in the face of a guard and start a confrontation. The guard politely asked him to put his camera away but the photographer kept screaming and displaying the kinda of attitude that was not welcome or needed at such a gathering. Said photographer had made himself noticed earlier when going through security by constantly banging on the X Ray machine and screaming “come on” as he [...]
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Dec
10thSantacon Beijing: The Other Red Army is set to roam the streets of Beijing Dec 11It’s that time of the year folks: the white bearded read army is getting ready to swarm the streets of Beijing tomorrow December 11th 2010. In case you’ve missed out on the action last year or you have no clue as to what I’m talking about, please refer to The Official Beijing Santacon Website. Santa has been a busy old bugger this year preparing many surprises for those that have been good and having a few Aces up his sleeves in regards to the naughty ones! See his interview with Beijing Boyce for some of his favorite pit stops ( reindeer must be allowed). SantaCon starts this Saturday at noon from two locations: Bang! Bang! Pizza in Shuangjing Rm 103, Bldg 24, Hopson International Park apartments, Shuanghuayuan Nanli Area 3, Shuangjing, Chaoyang District 光华北一街, 合生国际公寓24号楼 t: 136 0100 0343 Map Pyro Pizza in Wudaokou Basement, Building 12, Huaqing Jiayuan, Wudaokou, Haidian District 成府路, 华清嘉园12号楼B1层 t: 8286-6240 Website Map Click here for walking directions from the nearest subway stops. Santa likes pizza. A lot. The east side and west side Santas will merge into one merry crew later in the day, after we carbo-load with drink and food specials offered by our friends! If you can’t join for the start or get lost, get the mobile number of someone who can help you catch up later. We will be updating our locations and status throughout on route, so check our Twitter feed, add us to your Google Buzz list or sign [...]
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Dec
23rdSantaCon Beijing ’09 or how the Other Red Army Roamed the streets of BeijingThis past saturday December 19th 2009, the streets of Beijing witnessed a folly that left many a local scratching their head: some hundred odd people donning Santa outfits roaming around the streets and bars smiling, dancing, singing and drinking: Santacon Beijing ’09. I tried keeping a rolling blog of the event but a dead battery got in the way that day. Here is the whole story: Festivities on the East side of town started at noon in Shuanjing’s “The Brick”, a newly opened bar in the are. A dozen people or so turned up for this first step and got ready with coffee, hot cocoa w/ peppermint shnapps and some pub grub. Big props to the Brick for welcoming the Santa crew. At 1:00 p.m. The Other Red Army started their march towards Tiananmen by subway. There were two exchanges to deal with during that journey: first at Guomao from Line 10 to Line 1 and then Jiangguomen from line 1 to line 2. During the commute, Santas tried their best to spread the cheers and give fellow subway riders something to smile about by singing christmas carols, waving and shouting out ho-ho-hos. around 1:45, the east side santas arrived at Tiananmen hoping to meet up with the west side crew. We learned that they were still up in wudaokou and were less than thrilled. The square was cold and we were not looking forward to just waiting around until the “Lazy” Santas got their act together. That said we [...]
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Dec
16thLocal ho ho ho: 10 questions with Santa about Santacon Beijing 2009So I was minding my own business last night, sipping on hot cocoa when there was a knock at my window. I turned around and saw this angel face looking from the outside: Santa was right up there floating outside my 21st floor window! W00t w00t, Santa answered the call for the interview to tell us about Santacon in Beijing this saturday December 19th 1- What’s going on in your world? This is your chance to plug your stuff: It’s crunch time in the North Pole, but we still have the energy to throw down for SantaCon, our holiday party this Saturday. 2- How are the preparations going for Christmas? Are the elf managing to get all the gifts ready? I have been checking the nice and naughty lists, the elves have been working overtime wrapping gifts, the reindeer have been strength training the past few months (we expect the sleigh full of gifts to be especially heavy this year). We’re all busy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way! 3- Talking about gifts and naughty people.. How do they get on the list and how do they get off of it? More importantly, where do I stand? Everyone is on The List — whether you’ve been a good or bad this year decides where you place on the List and how you’re rewarded. I think you already know where you fall on The List. 4- How is SantaCon 2009 in Beijing Shaping up? any theme this year? My [...]
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The Mini Skinny
What once started as my personal ramblings has morphed into the number one collective resource about underground live music in Beijing and China. All bands, all music, all Rock n Roll, all the time with a little side of eclectic topics.. best of all, it's still as BIASED as ever
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- Joann on Quickslants: Jurat, PiL, XTX, Yangjima for a Loaded End of Week
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