Kids Who Yaogun

Photo by Cai Ming

Midi ain’t just for young punks any more… Or: It is, as long as we tweak our definition of both “young” and “punks”

 In celebration of Children’s Day (June 1; yes, a bit late, but worth the wait, I’m sure), Midi, the people behind the eponymous rock and roll school in the suburbs of Beijing and those that brought you many-a music festival in various Chinese locales over the past dozen years, held a kiddie event in Beijing: Midi Kids.

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From the Vaults: The Foreign (Musical) Experience

Fans of This American Life were treated to a bit of China this week, with an episode entitled “Americans in China.” With that in mind, I figured I’d drop a little piece of my own China experience; an article that the Globe and Mail published back in May of 2005. Literally every foreign musician playing in China will have similar stories.

This is one of those stories.

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CCTV and Metal

Yaogun is still at that point where it’s news when it gets on television. Particularly when it is shown on China Central Television (CCTV) — though in the Chinese television landscape, there is no less “Central” television station, the impression one gets when one says CCTV is of the Government’s living room.

Suffocated (Cai Ming via midifestival.com)

So when word came, via Rock in China‘s Max and the rest of the gang at the RiC Facebook group that metal band Suffocated was on CCTV-5, it got my attention.

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North by Northeast by China…

NXNE, Toronto’s counterpart to Austin’s massive SXSW, takes over the city from June 11-17. A part of that chunk of time is for films. This year, a China documentary is on the bill. Down: Indie Rock in the PRC is a film by Andrew Field and Jud Willmont, and looks at a few bands that the filmmakers came upon in their search to document the yaogun scene in 2007.

I’ve been asked to attend the screening and be a part of the post-film Q&A session, and have graciously accepted. The screening goes down Thursday June 14 at 12.30 p.m. at the National Film Board (150 John St.). There’s more info here.

Toronto: We Are Official UPDATE: Now with Video!

A belated and large thanks to all involved in March 24’s Red Rock launch at the Gladstone Hotel…!

(Thanks to Anna Withrow for shooting pics!)

I did some yappin’ (here, on China’s journey from Mao  to now via Deng Xiaoping’s Journey to the West and beyond)…

 

Through Cui Jian’s career, and onwards, to the present…

 

 

 

Nova Heart did some playing (here, lead singer Helen Feng and bassist Bo Xuan, he formerly of Hedgehog)…

Al Di, former journalist (ALDTV is something that must be experienced to be understood) and current Live Nation China promoter/booker/man-about-town; Helen Feng, she of Nova Heart; and I did some more yappin’…

…And folk-yaogunners Shanren played a final set, that had the crowd doing what the band called Chinese Disco Dancing.

Highlight of the afternoon: An audience member approaching me in advance of the talk to ask if I was, in fact, the drummer from RandomK(e), which, luckily for both of us, I was. He’d seen us play a few years ago and dug it. Then he found out I wrote the book he was there to learn about and, well, the rest, is history.

Big thanks to the folks at TINARS, as well as those who traveled from China to participate, and, of course, to all who came, in person and in spirit.

Stay tuned for video evidence… Here’s the video evidence, with big thanks to Meredith Wright:

Red Rock from Meredith Wright on Vimeo.