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Shiyi … Time To Geddafug Outta China! By Berwin Song Dang, what a kick-ass month of music we had in Beijing this past October, right? We had a couple music festivals, a bunch of big-name international headliners, a whole bunch of local record releases, venues openings … and well, I just happened to miss all of it. Yep, I was out of the country for most of the month, taking advantage of a combination a week-long holiday with a couple (okay, a lot) of my own vacation days added on. In China, everyone gets to celebrate the birth of the People’s Republic by taking the first full week of October off – one of three “golden weeks” throughout the calendar year. You’re thinking this sounds pretty sweet, right? Like, “the Chinese don’t mess around with Labor Days – they give Labor Weeks!” Well, just try to picture what happens when everyone in the world’s most populous country goes on vacation – let’s just say it ain’t the time to visit that place in China that you heard was worth visiting. No, when Golden Week rolls around, it usually means it’s time to geddafug as far away from this country as possible – and no, not on a train, but a plane (that is, if you’ve got the means, which most Chinese people don’t), which is what I did – or, if you’re a tireless event promoter in Beijing, doing your part to make this city the fun and exciting cultural stew it is, you start planning for some huge she-bang that’ll take a week to recover from … and because Beijing just happens to have plenty of these soulless – er, tireless event promoters, it’s pretty easy to fill your golden weeks to the brim with plenty of shit to pass the time. This year’s Shiyi (that’s Ten-One, the date, for you pinying-illiterates) was no different – except for the fact that there were a few shows happening that I would have actually gone to see in the States as well – but, as I had made my plans far earlier than the events planners had, I was long gone before any of the yanggui even arrived. Fortunately, of course, there were plenty of shows in the Yay I wanted to see as well, as so: instead of Talib Kweli (performing at the Star Live on Oct 2), I caught Q-Tip; rather than bopping along with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (headlining the Modern Sky Festival in Haidian Park), I two-stepped to something more my speed: a hardcore set of raw roots reggae, chanting down Babylon for almost four hours (the St. Croix band Midnite, in case you’re wondering). I was kinda bummed to miss out on the opening of the new Yugong Yishan (and subsequently, being in the awkward position of not being able to give my opinion of one of Beijing’s premier music joints upon returning) … it would’ve been cool to catch Busdriver, but I definitely did a one-up on that ersatz Beijinger, the amateur bluegrass’er Abigail Washburn (who no doubt will want to go into the yaogun annals for inaugurating the stage) by chilling out in Golden Gate Park for the Strictly Bluegrass Festival, where Washburn’s boyfriend Bela Fleck (who accompanied Washburn around China during her 2006 performances here – some might argue Fleck was marketed as the main draw) performed with the Flecktones (including yes, Victor Wooten, another name forever tied to Beijing, for a much-hyped show that never materialized … yes, in this town, even the non-shows make history). Not that the Flecktones were even a big draw for the festival – they were relegated to an early afternoon slot – but the coolest thing had to be that the whole thing was free. Not that there’d be anywhere to collect admission tickets anyways (ahem, Chaoyang Park) – but picnicking was encouraged, as of course, was a strong message of cleaning up after yourself … but shit, can you imagine a free, not to mention chairless, outdoor music festival in Beijing? One with big-name bands that quietly do their thing without any additional propaganda (unlike say, um, the Beijing Pop Festival, which is very far from being free and chairless and very far from being nonchalant about even their most washed-up acts … and not to mention, very far from the idea of letting you bring your own picnic, let alone your own water). Of course, it’s no contest comparing what’s cool about San Francisco to Beijing, and to be fair, things have come a long way here. There’s a growing normality to the Midi Festival, which will soon have a decade of experience under its belt, and their latest jazz-focused effort in Haidian Park wasn’t too far removed from the laid-back attitude found at Strictly Bluegrass. And as for acts, well, the list continues to grow, with less and less bumps along the way – just the week before I got back, for example, Chick Corea went back to back with Yo-Yo Ma at the Forbidden City Concert Hall. Sure, when it comes to rock shows, there’ll still be plenty of inept organizers and bands, who can’t figure out the rules of international travel and complicated things like International Date Lines and such (Pretty Girls Make Graves … I’m looking at you. Oh yeah, and you too, Yacht – I heard you got a plane ticket arriving the day after your gig – though I never heard of you before and I probably never will again). And of course, the local scene is going strong … plenty of notable performances over the holiday, as well as a couple album releases: the freaking final cut of the Hedgehog album finally made it onto the market, making their debut at the sales tents at Haidian Park during the Modern Sky Fest. Ditto on the Hang on the Box release; though at least I got back in time to catch their “maybe final performance ever” at MAO Livehouse, which was looking as slick and professional as any place Bay Area (the venue, that is, not HOTB – I’ll reserve my review of their talentless poseuring – whoops, kinda gave it away there, huh? – for my day job work. PS: Atom’s excluded from that comment. Besides, she’s just filling in). But still, there’s aren’t many artists making waves in San Francisco that you can just go and strike up a conversation with (well, you can try, but they’ll probably just look at you with that hipster disdain), and in the end, it was good to get a fresh perspective on Beijing (newsflash: that’s really not fog – San Francisco has fog, not Beijing). I’m looking forward to getting caught up on the local rumblings … with events like, say, the TTR X-mas Party! So, take it away guys … (and goddammit, never ask me to do this again!)

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