Turn-Of-The-Millennium Beijing

In a recent interview with China-music website Pangbianr, Jerry Chan talked about his early days in the Beijing punk scene. The article comes in advance of an event centered around former Beijing punk scenester and author of Insperable: The memoirs of an American and the story of Chinese punk rock, Dave O’Dell.

Jerry spoke of his time in the short-lived all-star group Cocktail 78, and of the scene at the turn of the millennium. He also mentioned a project we worked on together. Back when the magazine now known as the Beijinger was known as that’s Beijing, I was Bars & Clubs editor. We put together a Mid-Month Music Showcase, to extend our work beyond the pages of the magazine. It was ten years ago, almost to the day, that I remember a packed CD Cafe singing along with CMCB (Chinese MC Brother) about what they wanted to do to our mothers’ (expletive removed). It was ten years and one month and two days ago that I, like Jerry, here in the interview, remember the collective jaw-drop of the same venue when VJ Zhao Liang’s video accompaniment to Huzi’s set showed imagery of 9/11 on the first anniversary of that event.

I was wondering when having some of the old posters on hand was going to come in handy…