Journal entries:
2/26
- 3/12 | 3/13 - 4/2 | 4/2
- 4/19 | 4/20 - 4/27 | 4/28
- 5/4 | 5/5 - 5/11 | 5/12
- 5/18 | 5/19 - 5/25 | 5/26
- 6/1 | 6/2 - 6/8 | 6/9
- 6/15 | 6/16 - 6/22 | 6/23
- 7/3
June 23 -
July 3
Wednesday June 23-
Seemingly
our first "day off" we took a long walk around Shanghai and tried to get
a grip on its rich history. It was the most affluence we had seen openly
displayed for the whole tour in China. People had been right to a certain
extent when they told us Shanghai is about money. Still, the architecture
was beautiful, if a bit incongruous to its location being so heavily laden
with European influence. Marylise and her friend, Jue, invited us to a
traditional Chinese acrobat performance at one of the hotels in the evening.
It was a delightful performance and quite a nice break to not be the ones
on stage.
Thursday June
24-
We relaxed
in the morning and got ourselves over to the ZooBaa for a 4:00 p.m. soundcheck.
The one contact who showed up for the collaboration was Zhu Fang Qong,
a singer/poet/guitarist friend of Wong Fan. He was so energetic and excited
to play with us that his guitar became frequently and rapidly out of tune
and the improvs took a very radical direction. It was fun for us, but neither
the patrons nor the club owners seemed to wholly appreciate the performance.
Friday June 25-
We spent
the afternoon at Zhu Fang Qong's house eating and listening to or talking
about music. He had recently moved to Shanghai because his girlfriend found
work there, but it was difficult for him to find musicians to play with.
He also described Shanghai as void of culture. We invited him to come back
and play with us that night at the ZooBaa. He did, but the event was dominated
by an improv first with DJ Bobby, and then with DJ Bobby and Coco, a beautiful
jazz singer/performer and the first openly gay Chinese person we met in
China. Kika was there with all her energy and introduced us to her friend
Caspar, a record label executive and the first openly bi-sexual Chinese
person we met in China. The owners cut us off early so the disco could
start and we ran out of time to play again with Zhu Fang Qong. We told
him we were staying for a few more days and we would look for another chance
to work together. Kika was really angry with the ZooBaa owners and threatened
to cancel the planned third event scheduled for the following night. We
left bewildered.
Saturday June 26-
Kika did
cancel the concert, but forgot to inform us. When we showed up for soundcheck,
the whole place was closed. We couldn't contact her, so presumed that it
had been cancelled and went to check out the option of joining the weekly
jam session at the Cotton Club, a very upscale yuppie-type jazz club in
the embassy district. When we got there, the owner Gregory told us that
there could be a chance for us to sit in and to leave our equipment backstage.
The place would open much later, so we went around the neighborhood trying
to find something affordable to eat. When we got back the place was hopping
with all the people you never want to know and the house band (in which
Gregory plays) was already on stage churning out the standards. It wasn't
long before we realized that a "sit-in" was very far from happening and
we took our leave to go have a few drinks in the quieter, if still yuppified,
Mallone's Irish pub. We found ourselves longing for the struggling alternative
scene in Beijing. We were still trying all night to find Kika, but no luck
so we went back to Marylise's a bit frustrated.
Sunday
June 27-
We did nothing
all day. Burnout was settling in slowly and we just holed up to write postcards,
do laundry and other daily life activities. We wandered over to Malloy's
American Café, but no go for a venue there. We did finally contact
Kika and she gave us the story on the ZooBaa, the owners, how she can't
work with people like that, etc.
Monday June
28-
Christine
and Nchan phoned in the morning from their hotel in Shanghai. They had
arrived! We arranged to meet them at the Hard Rock Café (memories
of Ankara...). We talked over burgers and fries about their travels to
monasteries and Tibetan communities and our tour since Lanzhou. On a tip,
we went later to the Hard Rock Bar (now embroiled in a legal battle with
the Hard Rock Café) to see about a venue option. The owner, Tony,
is also the guitarist in the band the MANIACS. He was sympathetic to our
plight and suggested his friend's place, the Tribesman's Bar. We went over
there with him and after a few beers, they agreed to have us and a collaboration
there Wednesday night. We were satisfied. We called Zhu Fang Qong, and
invited Tony and the singer of the MANIACS, Bruce. It didn't seem like
we would find any other artists at this point.
Tuesday June
29-
Marylise
had arranged an interview for us with Shanghai TV in the morning. The TV
interviewer came, but with just a pad and pencil. We never found out how
she intended to broadcast that. We spoke for a while about the tour, CESTA,
and our impressions of China. In the evening we went out with Caspar and
Kika and Christian searching out possible happening parties at the gay
clubs in Shanghai. After several duds, we wound up at the very specialized
Martini Bar, not exclusively gay, but exclusively martini. It's owned and
operated by a young couple, also good friends of Kika and Christian, and
we all gathered round the fluted glasses for another evening of intense
discussion. It started raining that night, seemingly a normal storm...
Wednesday
June 30-
We woke up
in the morning to a flooded city. Every street was at least knee-deep with
muddy water. It kept raining and we ventured out to a nearby cafeteria
to meet Marylise for lunch. The workers struggled to scoop the water off
the floor with the cafeteria trays, and we laughed along with the workers
and other customers at our stupidity for trying to do anything normal that
day. But later we would push it. Over on the other side of town in our
basement club, we worked for hours trying to dry out the floor enough to
set up the equipment. Perhaps it wasn't worth it for the equipment, but
it sure was for our last Chinese show at the Tribesman Bar. We opened up
with a few SABOT songs and then invited anyone and everyone up for the
last and final jam. We thanked everyone in the place before packing up
our gear for the last time this tour.
Thursday July
1-
Since our
flights were leaving the next day at 8:30 a.m. We decided to spend the
day packing, shopping, mailing cards and getting everything ready to go.
We had a nice dinner with Jue and Marylise and went to sleep as soon as
our anxious minds would allow.
Friday July
2-
We boarded
the plane at 8:00 a.m. and slept straight through to Amsterdam. Without
problem, we caught our connection to Prague and after a taxi, two planes,
a minivan, a train, and another taxi...
Saturday July
3-
we arrived
in front of our door in Tabor at 2:30 a.m.
THE
END?
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