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Houhai Lake
Where the Jazz club is located Though it is tough for us to go out and see music with our schedule of working late and early most days, we have managed to get out and hear several bands in our time here. Check it out!
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Jazz - For my birthday in October, I really wanted to go hear some Jazz at the East Coast Jazz club on Hohai Lake in downtown Beijing. Not really knowing our way around the city yet, we set off with some friends and finally found the location. However, bands did not go on until after 10PM. With the subway closing around 11PM and not knowing how to get a cab back to our place, we did not get to hear any Jazz after all. We are hoping to get back there before we head home in August.
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Cat Power - We weren't sure we could make it to this show because of work timing so we didn't buy tickets ahead of time. When we got to the Mastercard Center, we found out that we couldn't use our Mastercard. Huh. So as we searched for an ATM we were swamped by scalpers. No secrecy, no shame. Once we got some cash,
we returned to the booth to find out that the cheaper seats were sold out. Meanwhile, the scalpers were right there. I asked the ticket lady if the scalpers had legit tickets. She shrugged so we went for it, no problem - 200 RMB each ($30). Ugh. We were so excited to see this lady. I love her sad, clear voice, her guitar and piano skills. Unfortunately, it seems like she is once again under the influence. We got the old Cat Power with apologies and cut off songs. Also, the venue - The Thinkpad space at the Mastercard Center was terrible. It was clearly used for trade shows and the seats were ugly banquet chairs. Though there were some glimmers of good music, in all it was quite disappointing.
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Bluegrass - Upon returning to Beijing after Spring Festival, we went to hear some Bluegrass music with our friends from school. Two guys from the US performed at the Bookworm, a really cool space in Downtown Beijing. At the Bookworm, there are thousands of used books. You can go there to hang out, browse, eat some food, drink some wine or you can become a member and borrow books. The
Band, The Hutong Yellow Weasels, was a lot of fun and got the crowd singing along for some shanties. It was really fun to be there with the Chinese teachers and hear their reaction to this uniquely American genre of music.
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Bruno Mars - Wow, this guy is hot and he came to Beijing! Again, we weren't sure about the timing due to work so didn't get tickets ahead of time. It turned out that Kendall had to work later so my friend Crystal and I went down to check out tickets. We didn't want to spend too much money and with the success of Cat Power tickets, we tried our luck at scalping. The show was supposed to start at 8 PM and we got there at 8 so we figured we could get a good deal since things start on time in China (no opening bands + noise ordinances saying you can't go late). We weren't having much luck until about 8:30 when we got the price we wanted. At this point, Kendall decided it was too late to come down so Crystal and I headed through the gate. Unfortunately, our tickets scanned as fake…..The workers asked us
where we got them and showed us that the stub and the tear off dates and seats didn't even match. We showed our pouty faces and told them how badly we wanted to get in. Hanging around for a few minutes, one of the workers took pity on us and gave us legit tickets with better seats! Amazing! In the States, we would have gotten in trouble for having bought scalped tickets. We ran in and took our seats. Bruno was fantastic. What a charming and comfortable performer. He played multiple instruments including the drums, piano and guitar with a super fun brass band backing him up. The crowd was huge and clearly energized by this guy.
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Tortoise/Jade Kirin - I was very excited to see this band in Beijing. I haven't seen them since Coachella 2003. On the go again, rushing out from work, Kendall, Crystal and I set off for the venue that I had researched - The Mao House. We got there a couple of minutes after the band was to start. Some warning bells began when the price was less than half of what was listed online. We saw no posters for the band on the
way to the stage. Once there, we found no Westerners and a Chinese metal band on stage. China doesn't seem to have opening acts but we still weren't sure. We hung around and listened to this super fun band called Jade Kirin. After the shouting, jumping and mosh pit, there was a break and we were able to get online. I found that I had the wrong venue…oops. Tortoise was playing at the Mao House in Shanghai and Yugong Yishan in Beijing. Oh well, we listened to some sweet Chinese metal and got some food at our favorite Korean Taco restaurant run by our friend Michael from LA.
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The Album Leaf - Last night we finally got to Yugong Yishan where Tortoise played. It was a little shaky at first since popping out of the subway, we encountered a torrential downpour with high winds. After waiting a while, we braved the rain but could not find the place. After asking around a bunch, we finally got there. This is a fantastic space that reminds me of the old Tonic in NYC - a little ragged, good sound, simple and well priced. We got to see the entire Album Leaf set
LA Palms after Metal Show
The owner Michael is super cool from LA and started this Korean Taco restaurant. After dinner, he showed us his baby geese. and it was great. They are truly abstract artists layering so many sounds and instruments to create a really pretty piece of work.
Hopefully, we will get out to hear some more music while we are here. What have you been going to hear lately?
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