Dave O’dell | BeijingDaze

Aug
8thQuick Slants: The Punk Uprising, Boredom BrigadeS, Backyard Secrets and a Rant

This is really a boring summer musically folks. I love my Beijing bands but really, even the quickslants are becoming redundant with the same bands playing every week and in some case, 3 or 4 times a week. I understand that musicians must make a living as well but someone has to sit down and slam some sense into them about dilluting their brands. It’s just not doable any more and it’s hard to muster any sort of excitement as far as seeing some of them. I wish they could go back and see what Michael Petis did with Joyside and how they boomed after that. Anyone remember Pet Conspiracy’s monthly shows at Yugong Yishan and how much of a packed affair that was? I don’t mind so much Out of town artists are now doing a couple of dates a week in Beijing in case people can’t make it to one gig and they play different sides of town but not the local ones… loses all charm— it’s another type of Boredom Brigade. This week is looking a bit different though with some interesting one off gigs that might make me feel a little better about the scene and I’m quickslanting things i don’t usually do. Thursday August 9th 16 Min @ Temple I’ve loved these guys sound since the first time i stumbled on their douban last year but i still have not gotten around to seeing them live. Maybe tonight is the night! It’s an interesting fusion [...]
Jul
17th[Book Review] Dave O’Dell’s Inseparable: the Birth of Punk Anarchy in the old P.R.C

I generally consider myself pretty lucky to be here in Beijing at this moment in time, being witness, chronicler and sometime participant to the ever growing underground Rock n Roll scene. These are amazing times and I’d never thought in a million years that i’d somehow be part of it. And While I’m pretty knowledgeable about the current scene, I love getting more information about its past and compare it to what we have now. Good friend Jon Campbell wrote his Red Rock with was nothing short of amazing: a beautifully constructed dissection of Yao Gun and its roots! It’s probably my favorite history book so far. Now, we get another gem in the form of Dave O’dell’s Inseparable: The Memoirs Of An American And The Story Of Chinese Punk Rock . David O’Dell was one of the earliest supporters of the Chinese punk rock scene that started taking shape in 1995 in Beijing both as a friend of the scene and as a musician. He is now a Physics teacher over in Texas. The book is a rich and uniquely personal collection of stories, over one hundred previously unreleased photos and translated song lyrics from the earliest Chinese punk bands and the dizzying development of the scene I got my paws on this baby quite a while back and i kept forgetting to write about it when i really should have… and for many reasons: The book is a beautiful, honest and slightly biased history of a specific era [...]