Editor’s Picks, November 26-29
The weekend is a fickle mistress, but what a hot broad. If you are like us, people who live for live music, you love the weekend. You know it biblically. Sure, there are shows during the week, but many can’t fully enjoy them due to work constraints the next day. Friday, 5:01, 3:31, whatever time you’re clocking out, that’s the furthest from Monday you’re getting.
But the weekend can be disappointing, like all relationships with fickle mistresses. We always start out with such high hopes. Then something happens—the show sold out, the taxis never showed, or you got stuck at home on the couch and fell asleep early. If sleep is the cousin of death for weekend plans, then the couch is its bitchy, still-hot ex-wife.
The Monday after a disappointing weekend can feel a bit like being a jilted lover, but there’s no need to worry. You know why? Because Editor’s Picks is your marriage counselor, that’s why. We’ll get you back on good footing with the weekend.
Thursday, November 26th
Indie Heart Attack at Not Me, 9 PM
Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday. Maybe on this one I will follow the meal with indie rock, rather than football and Trivial Pursuit. Tune in next time to find out what happened!
No cover
Not Me
21 Dongping Lu,
French Concession
Hengshan Lu and Wulumuqi Lu
Hao Ting ft. Nat Alexander at Anar, 9 PM
Or maybe it will be house music! You never know. What I do know is that this VOID guy gets around and that he is spinning the goods, rather than clicking them (vinyl versus computer). For some reason this just sounds cooler.
No cover
Anar
129 Xingfu Lu,
Changning
near Fahuazhen Lu
F-Visa Ghetto
Friday, November 27th
MONO at MAO Livehouse
This is the choice salmon sashimi cut of the weekend. Check out my semi-coherent preview right here on Layabozi, your one-stop shop for long-form ramblings. I have a feeling this one could be Alfred Packered (well-attended, not cannibalistic) so do not dally if you want to get in. Support from Sugar Plum Ferry and Hua Lun.
180 kuai (advance) 200 (at the door)
MAO Livehouse
570 Huaihai Lu, Building 32, near Hongqiao Lu
Ashura at Yuyintang, 9 PM
This is the second band to come into Shanghai from Chengdu recently. I listened to a few songs and I thought it would be fun live. If you’re turned away at MAO or you want a cheaper option, this is the show for you. The two are not far apart, geographically speaking.
40 kuai
Yuyintang
1731 Yan’an Xi Lu,
Changning
Entrance at Kaixuan Lu
Quality Control presents Tucker at Shelter, 10 PM
JAPANESE INVASION!
Just kidding.
False alarm.
This is just one of three Japanese musical acts that will play Shanghai this week. It leads me to wonder if they take the same plane over. And are they teppanyaki, Haiku, or Oyama type bands? Tucker is a one-man, electro artist. One of my best friends used to be a one-man band and, let me tell you, it is never not fun.
50 kuai
The Shelter
5 Yongfu Lu,
Xuhui
near Fuxing Lu, Metro Line 1 Changshu Lu Station
Saturday, November 28th
Shanghai Rock 2009 Release Party at MAO Livehouse
So I was doing my scientific “research” for the Editor’s Picks column and I was like: “What the hell is going down on Saturday night?” And then I realized it was this, only this. This is going to be fun. Come see some music that started out in a dingy hole in the ground and now hits the bright lights of MAO Livehouse. By the way, every time I enter 0096 or Juju or Shelter, I think: “Thank God there hasn’t been a nuclear attack on Shanghai.” Nothing I can think of would be worse than holing up in one of these rat’s nests to wait out a nuclear winter.
This is also a bargain pick because your hard-earned 50 kuai includes entry and a free CD
MAO Livehouse
570 Huaihai Lu, Building 32, near Hongqiao Lu
Verse at Yuyintang, 9 PM
Verse is China’s purported premier funk band, an assertion that I will not dispute because I have not heard many Chinese funk bands. Could be true, though. Maybe you should check it out.
50 RMB
Yuyintang
1731 Yan’an Xi Lu,
Changning
Entrance at Kaixuan Lu
Sunday, November 29th
Sultans of Swing, Yuyintang, 9 PM
Farewell and Welcome Party, House of Blues and Jazz, 9:30 PM
It seems that the music gods want you to wind down a bit at the end of the weekend with some blues at these two venues. Or you could just lounge around the house in your underwear like me.
30 RMB at Yuyintang
No cover at House of Blues and Jazz
I already wrote (cut and pasted) the Yuyintang address twice in this column so you can damn well scroll back up, you lazy bastard.
House of Blues and Jazz
60 Fuzhou Lu,
The Bund
near Sichuan Lu, Metro Line 2 East Nanjing Road
福州路60号
近四川路, 地铁1, 2, 8 号线人民广场站
By the way, I just got Hotspot Shield and checked out Facebook for the first time in awhile. Check out who friended me!
Bonus time-waster:
It’s scary what people are searching these days.
Read also:
Editor’s Picks, November 12-14
Editor’s Picks, October 30-November 1
Editor’s Picks, December 17-20
tags: 0096 - Anar - Ashura - Hao Ting - House of Blues and Jazz - Hua Lun - Indie Heart Attack - Mao Livehouse - MONO - Nat Alexander - Not Me - Quality Control - Shanghai Rock 2009 - Sugar Plum Ferry - Sultans of Swing - The Shelter - Tucker - Verse - Void - YuYinTang
You’re right about Nuclear bunkers. If you ever look in one, you’ll realise the level of insanity at government level around the world. As if living down there until the radiation clears (probably not your generation) then emerging into a razed world is any kind of option and that somehow the nation-state will live on after that. Like it’s worth it at all or that it would even happen.
Hmmn, I wrote a song about that
I’m sure you can spot the title from the options.
Yeah, that’s one of those “We can’t do anything but must look like we’re doing something kind of things.”
BTW, what is going on with Expendable? Haven’t heard much about it in a long time.
Also, I always was amazed that you guys picked up on the Rachel Corrie thing after such a long while (not sure when the song was written). That girl went to my college (The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA). I didn’t know her, but it was a really sad story.