shu and joe

Sondra and Ahram’s band Silver Summit played at Doug Fir last night. They sounded great and the venue was incredible. The first time I’d ever seen an organized drink line. Courtesy is not dead!

I laughed out loud when I saw these “Chinese” characters promoting Olympics-related prizes for a German shopping rewards card. I especially like the elegant Chinese ladies in their traditional qipaos (this is how most people dress in Beijing). Usually on my days off you can find me in my coolie hat and red pajamas swinging over the city! Whee! The Charlie Chan looking guy playing the gong seems to be a kung fu master (also very true to life). I wonder if the Bird’s Nest might benefit from having a pagoda built next to it? Maybe they’re on to something? I didn’t put the fortune cookie illustration into my montage as it seemed too obvious a cliché.

Lisa bought some gloves and they seem to have a life of their own. Thanks to the patrons at Marlowe and Sons for not getting mad at us.

This last one’s for Lisa.

The New Museum members’ opening in NYC. Florian gave us a nice tour, and we got in a lot of sneaky photos (though the guard busted me at one point).

A beautiful and unexpected lookout point.

Jon Santos and Joe.

The ladies, as art directed by Jon.

Had to re-do the same photo with men only.

More of Jon’s handiwork may be seen in this well-art directed group shot in the museum’s auditorium.

Note the angry expression on the guard’s face. This is right before he tells me that this is a photo-free zone and being friends with the project architect will change nothing.

And then there was the special German-themed dinner at Lorelei.

It’s a temporary goodbye. Can’t believe it’s been two years.

We’d never actually seen Re-TROS (Re-establishing the Rights of Statues and Rebuilding the Rights of Statues) play live but we’d heard a lot about them from our friend Damon, who’s been extolling the band’s virtues for several months now. We finally had the chance the other night at one of Beijing’s most popular live venues, the Mao Livehouse. One of the more established indie bands in Beijing, the three-piece had the place packed with their biggest fans. They sounded great and we were pleased to hear a few Bauhaus covers towards the end!

Beijing music connoisseur and promoter extraordinaire, Neebing, is launching his new restaurant/bar venture, Song, inside of The Place on Guanghua Lu. Described as a location to “promote local creativity in Beijing, Sòng has brought the best local design and creatives together to create a warm, cosy and chilled environment for good food, great music and drinks.” The opening party on December 12 will feature the seminal dance music duo Coldcut.

In addition to the global art world arriving for the opening of the Ullens Center, this weekend also saw the opening of The Boiler Room. The Boiler Room is a factory conversion project in the center of old Beijing that looks to become something of an architect’s park in the vein of Shanghai’s Bridge 8. Both SMC Alsop and Graft have set up shop on the premises, with more creative-industry types sure to follow.

Albert enjoying the local vintage.

The opening also featured a party space complete with ice bar, courtesy of Alsop.

FM3′s Tuesday night performance at 2 Kolegas was certainly a treat. The defining element of FM3′s sound is the drone collage – a technique they developed through their much lauded Buddha Box performances. The highlight of the show was the final number in which the drone of loops and guitar built to a glorious crescendo with Jonathan Leijonhufvud of PK14 joining in on drums. When the fog finally settled, the set closed out with the audience joining the band in an a cappella rendition of a traditional Chinese folk song. One of the few moving performances I’ve seen this year.

Pleasantly surprised by what I heard at MAO Live House last night. After catching the end of New Pants power-pop set, I ran into James Chang, who happened to be VJing the next act. He seemed pretty confident that it would be worth hanging around for – turned out he was right! IGO is a new collaboration between B6, a well-know electro dj from Shanghai, and vocalist JJay, who sings in English and has clearly studied at the alter of Dave Gahan. Throughout the show I was reminded of Red Flag – another Depeche Mode disciple that played big, catchy hooks and danceable melodies, but never quite stepped out of the shadow of its influencers. These aren’t sounds you haven’t heard before, but they are fun, well produced and refreshingly not in line with Beijing’s largely punk-based music output. They’ve got a few tracks on their MySpace page. Give em a listen.