Summer has been fairly good to me, but not so much to the blog. I wanted everyone to know that I'm heading back to Beijing for a short trip in early September. The first half will be all work, but I'll have free time from around September 6th through the 13th. If anyone's around during that time, let me know. Maybe we can get together for a beer or three.
I'm hoping to do some CD shopping while I'm there, at FMusic and the Sugar Jar, and hopefully I'll be able to catch a show or two.
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One of the regular jokes among laowai music fans in Beijing is the prevalence of well-meaning but naive young western students that are terribly fascinated with the Chinese punk scene and ready to write a thesis, make a film, or (ahem) start a blog. "It represents the changing face of China!" With that in mind, I didn't have high hopes when Kevin Fritz sent me a review copy of his film about Beijing punks Joyside. Wasted Orient was a pleasant surprise, though; it's a very enjoyable trip following the gang of drunks on their first tour.
The first portion of the film doesn't stray far from the hutong where singer Bian Yuan and bassist Liu Hao live. Each of the four members gets some time to talk about their daily lives, their homes, and their family, while they buy beer, drink beer, head to the public toilets, and buy more beer. The shots of unglamorous old Beijing neighborhoods surrounded by construction are charming, and enough to make me miss Beijing.
Once the tour itself begins, The band and their manager hop on hard-seat trains, annoy their neighbors, and drink lots of beer. The band members can be quite charismatic. Yang Yang, a Japanese guitarist who joins the band for the tour, provides plenty of laughs, and Liu Hao drinks an amazing quantity of beer. As the tour stretches on, it begins to wear on the band. Bian Yuan withdraws, and the new cities seem indistinguishable.
For a movie about a band it's a shame, but the music is the most disappointing part of Wasted Orient. Joyside's performances have always been hit-and-miss, but there are few shots of the band performing for any length of time and Fritz unfortunately clutters up one of the longer sections with needless effects. Scenes with music have music, but not the band's. Don't get me started on the introduction—the music is grating and annoying. That's something that could have easily been left out.
The film is at its strongest in the conversations with the band members. Near the beginning, Liu Hao discusses what his family thinks of his life. "They think it's strange.... They don't have a clear idea of what I'm doing. They just know I drink everyday and play in a band. They don't know what I am thinking," he says. "I'm also not so clear." Wasted Orient is particularly good at showing the difference between the reality on the ground and the conceits of western reporters who claim that punk rock shows the new face of China. These kids (and they really are kids) don't have their own lives or places figured out, and it's foolish to place any leadership, cultural or otherwise, on their shoulders.
Fritz's work exceeded my expectations completely. Anyone with an interest in Chinese music, or hell, even just China should seek this out. If you're in Beijing, Wasted Orient is showing at Cherry Lane movies this Friday and Saturday. It can also be ordered directly from Fritz for $10.
Fareed Zakaria's new show, Foreign Exchange on PBS in the US, is, from what I understand, a well made, serious news program on foreign policy and world news. Last week, they also took a little side trip to a punk show in Beijing.
In Focus: Anarchy in the PRC
They are part of China’s first generation to grow up with both prosperity and exposure to Western pop culture. Members of Reflector, a Chinese punk rock band, have adopted expressions of dissent that not long ago would have cost musicians their lives. But today, punk rock is Beijing chic
Jesus. It's like every single reporter's first "article" about China. Oh my! Chinese people like rock music and some fans in one of the richest cities have mohawks! CHINA IS CHANGING!!1!
Bullshit story aside, they follow Reflector to their underground practice space, have a chat with Tian Jianhua (in English), and spy on some people waiting for a show outside of 13 Club. The whole show can be streamed from that link, or check the sidebar for just the "Anarchy in the PRC" clip.
It took long enough, didn't it? Sometimes life gets in the way of my other plans. But today I had a spare half an hour, so you get a half hour of music.
718 - "执一 (One/The Funeral Song of Cosmos)" (非攻 [Nowise Assault])
Some of the links to thew new Chaile Wiki are empty at the moment. The others have content thanks to Azchael from Rock in China, who has been doing great work adding in information from his own database.
Please let me know what you think, either in the comments or by email at adam at chaile.org. And please look past the fact that I sound like a complete dork.
My super-secret spy, aka Red Heart, sent me some great photos from Yang Fan's set with Funny Noise last week. Dig the glasses. It's a shame they only had the two weeks to play together before they had to return to Japan. Yang Fan sent me a recording the did for fun, and it sounds great. Here's hoping she finds a new band to play with. Thanks to April, too, for telling me about the show.
Some friends have passed along information about shows coming up soon, and I thought I'd pass them on:
Saturday in Beijing:Modern Sky showcase, with Joyside, Re-TROS, and New Pants (Xin Kuzi), and special guests. My super-secret spy friend has told me that Yang Fan, former guitarist from Hang on the Box and frontwoman for the late, lamented Ourself Beside Me will be performing. I don't know in what context, though. Tonight at Namless Highlands.
Saturday in Shanghai: Shanghai Streets presents Beijing's finest, SUBS, along with Living Thin and Slit. Awesome.
Starting on March 24th, Microfabrique will be held every Friday. Both the 24th and the 31st feature one of my favorites, B6.
That's what I get for moving apartments. Sorry for the lack of updates—work, school, and moving to the best apartment ever have exhausted my fragile body. I'll be back soon. Thanks to Tom and Azchael for their updates to the Wiki, and to everyone who's commented on the idea. In a couple or three days I'll have some new additions. And next week? Maybe another podcast?
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As I've mentioned before, I'm no expert on... well, on anything. I'm just a fan who tries to learn what he can and pass it on to anyone else that's interested. But since I'm not in Beijing any more, I can't keep up on what clubs are actively having shows, and I only know about band activity via the Internet and through friends.
So instead of letting the venue information grow staler and staler, I've decided to drop it into a wiki, and hope others will come by and help each other. I remember trying to find Nameless Highlands and Loup Chante the first couple times—some good directions would have been handy. And I don't have a clue about venues in Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, or elsewhere.
In addition to venues, I'm also keeping a list of artists/bands and later, labels and shops. I'm certainly not the first to do this: Azchael has a very detailed list at Rock in China, the Chinese Rock Database is more comprehensive than I could ever hope to be (but in Japanese), and Chinese New Ear has a list as well. I think there's room for more than one. My intention with ChaileWiki is to keep information up to date, especially for links to bands' websites and activity, especially for those we've been discussing here on Chaile most. While being utterly comprehensive is great, I think I'll focus on what I like, and hopefully others will add to it and edit as they see fit.
You'll notice right off that there's not much content on it. I plan to add a couple of entries each day until I can remove the venue information from the main chaile.org site, and then go into the artists more. If any of you want to help the effort, create a user account and edit away. If there are major differences in style/structure, we can discuss it on the forum (or in the wiki discussion pages). If you need help using the system, there are docs at mediawiki.org (also in Chinese).
I hope it's useful to someone.
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If anyone out there is a designer or aspiring designer, Reconfiguration Records is looking for someone to help out creating t-shirts for the label. If you can help or have some ideas, send an email to gzzjh8 at yahoo.com.cn.
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