Rocking in the Free-ish World

Walking down the street at any given time here in Shanghai, you're bound to hear music blaring from a stereo outside of a small shop. Subway stations, malls, offices and more all play music constantly. Normally, I would love this. I mean, a world saturated with music should be nothing but awesome. Should be, I guess.

Music here in China is pretty much awful. Going through the evolution of music, as we Americans chart it out at least, China apparently skipped bebop, the blues, Chuck Berry, and Elvis. They've started immediately in the 1990s, just after grunge died. Celine Dion and the Backstreet Boys rule here, and Chinese pop stars all emulate this nauseous sound. Talking to my students about what they listen to, they always reply "soft" music. When the Chinese media criticized the new Guns N' Roses album on the sole basis of its name and title track, they mentioned that many people think [rock music] is noisy, and thus don't like it. That reviewer was talking about old men who sit on their porches shaking canes at youth and pretty much anyone in China.

One of my explicit goals in coming to China was to spend two years teaching people how to rock. With that in mind, I went out to ZhiJiang Dream Factory on Saturday with some friends to see SUBS, the preeminent Chinese punk/rock band, and made a point of pulling random people into the mosh pit. Like basically all of the good Chinese rock bands, they come from Beijing, and they managed to skip all those early rock elements, too. Luckily, they somehow found the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, not to mention the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Video From an Earlier Shanghai Show

As great as this band is, and as fun as their concert was, I still insist that the best method to teach these people about rock is not total assault. Remember when Jimmy Page played in Beijing at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games and it was dead in the arena? Hard rock doesn't fly here, not yet. Thinking back on the evolution of rock, I think that the best approach is to take it slow. Show them more melodic, and less noisy bands, like the Beatles or the Beach Boys. It's rumored that Eagles are coming to Shanghai next year, and they'd be perfect for this task, too. (That goes to explain "Hotel California's" presence in almost every Filipino house band's set) I think if we break them in slowly, they'll get there one day. We can worry about the Guns N' Roses controversy all we want here, but let's remember that there was a time when Elvis was rebellious and controversial, too.

So, let's go, Shanghai. Let's bring out the golden oldies. I'm sick of hearing Christmas songs all year long just because people think the melodies are "nice."

The Opening Band, Out of Shanghai: Pink Berry

Commericials are Amazing

And you thought my friends had time on our hands...

I'm pretty sure this is in China, too, so not only is it a cool video, but it's kind of relevant.

I Wonder What I'd Look Like Getting Punched in the Face

Curiously enough, there's one thing that I'm always amazed I've never done: participate in a fist fight. Sure, I've punched someone before (one shot to the gut and he was down for the count) and I've even been punched in the face once, although he was too drunk to really make solid contact. But I've never been in a fight. For whatever reason, I've long fancied that I'd do well in one. Maybe that's simply the natural inclination of men. I really do imagine I'd be able to put up a strong fight, though: I'm pretty strong, pretty agile, and I have a good, high tolerance for pain. I'm not a violent person and I'm not known for having a temper. And, I guess I don't really put myself in situations where fights are warranted (if there truly are such situations). For some reason, though, I've always wondered how I would fare in such a situation.

For your enjoyment, here is a link to a video of people getting punched in the face at 1000 frames/second:

http://edge.famecast.com/actionfigure//AQ_PUNCHES_EDIT.mov

Armageddon

Often, when I get bored, I start thinking of hypothetical things. Planning how I might spend a few million if I were to win the lottery really passes time. Similarly, I often think about movies, and how they might have ended if the heroes failed. Either there are plenty of other people out there that think about this, or it's just a coincidence that as I was pondering what might have happened if Bruce Willis didn't sacrifice himself at the end of "Armageddon" someone was kind enough to post the following totally awesome video.

glumbert - Massive Asteroid Smashes into Earth