About fucking time!

I’m still here.

Today was my first day of work with Immersion Guides. It was a taste, I suppose, of the Real Shit. That means preparing an index for a new Beijing by Foot book, and copy editing the listings for this summer’s Olympic map.

It would have been fairly mundane, except that in the process of working, I learned of multiple restaurants across town that sound amazing and cheap, as well as what sounds like the twin brother of my ultimate favourite store in Beijing, 金五星 aka Golden Five Star, which sells just about everything you could want, from pool floats to bathtubs in which to frolic.

Also, the Real Shit I have to look forward to involves going on excursions from Beijing almost once a week (with or without a friend) and checking out spots new and old. That, and you know, writing about some friends’ new record label and (hopefully) proof-eating restaurants reviewed. Yesss.

Around two in the afternoon, I felt as if my vision was getting blurry, staring at the computer. It was as though I couldn’t keep my head straight, or focus. Eventually, someone said something. All of us in the office were feeling the same thing. We stood up and could feel an earthquake rocking 12th floor office. It turns out that in Sichuan province, outside of Chongqing, there was an earthquake that registered 7.8 on the Richter scale. Things look kind of dire around there. Hopefully rescue teams will get things under control.

As an emotional palate cleanser and an appropriate segue into things musical, here’s a video to a song that has been stuck in my head for the past two days.

Apparently the Mae Shi count as a noise band, which is just dandy. I always think that Hot and Cold (who sort of sound like vibin’ TV static by comparison) are still kind of a rock band, albeit without a drummer, guitar, choruses, clearly discernible lyrics… etc. There’s still rhythm involved. And we’ve totally mastered the totally rocking use of total repetition.

Anyhow, our first show is tomorrow, at 2 Kolegas, a little-ish bar in a drive-in theatre area not too far from our house. It’s for the weekly Waterland Kwanyin experimental night curated by poet and musician Yan Jun.

The last time I went to Waterland Kwanyin, I had the privilege of being stunned by an improvised piece by jazz drummer / spazz drummer Justin, saxophonists Li Tieqiao and Li Zenghui, and the chubby-cheeked noise guitarist from a band called Walnut Room whose name I can’t recall. To say the least, when their set picked up momentum, it was as if a train was in the bar. It was one of the most awe-inspiring performances I’ve seen in Beijing, or anywhere.

Less cool-sounding but mind-blowing on the concept front was a silly looking Mexican guy who made what can only be described as a megaphone chandelier. Thirteen megaphones were attached onto a metal hula-hoop that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. The guy then stood in the middle of the hoop, rotating it as he recorded loops, resulting in total cacophony that transformed into a round of “Happy Birthday,” the megaphones’ preset song.

When we play, we’ll be using projections for the first time: both art projects of Simon’s and a 10-minute semi-narrative Simon, Caitlin, and I filmed on Saturday. Depending on the tone of the music accompanying, the film is either a murder or love story involving a panda (Manicom) and a mysterious, bike-riding worker (myself). Shot in our car park on a still camera with video capabilities, we warped the film with shitty computer effects and did minimal editing. Either it’s about the troubled relationship between industry and nature in China, or it’s about flashing lights, a bright blue uniform, running around, primary colours, and a fucking Panda mask.

I think it’s the latter.

[If you read this, let me know. Maybe I will take special effort to strategically insert your name into posts so as to ensure your continued readership]