China Opens Door to Western Live Shows
I miss the Sunday Times. I miss waking up on Sunday mornings and opening my apartment door to find that fat edition of the New York Times waiting to be scooped up and read. The next stop is the garbage can, where the multitude of circulars and advertising gets discarded before I can sit down with some coffee and begin reading. The Times gives a extra large helping of special interest stories on Sundays, and for those of us in China, who wait on Sunday evening with a cup of tea for the edition to pop up on the net, it means a few more China stories. This week, the China feature dealt with a topic I’ve written about numerous times: Western rock in China, a strikingly conspicuous topic lately as a string of Western acts have “rocked” China in the last two months. Two weeks ago I wrote a post called “Connections, Corruption and Concerts” about the new concert landscape in China. In my assessment of how far live music here has come in the last couple years, I wrote “Just two years ago, the announcement of an Ice-T concert at the now defunct Pegasus Club in Shanghai was described as ‘Breaking News’” by an English-language media site here. And in Sunday’s New York Times feature, music writer Ben Sisario writes, “Five years ago a concert by Kenny G was big news.” If you’re thinking I’m going for a plagiarism charge, think again. That would be ridiculous. I merely wanted to show you that when Flumesday and the New York Times say the same thing, the imagery here is just so much richer. Kenny G has been an obvious punchline for years. Ice-T is ripe to become a punchline. And I actually went to the trouble of finding a story tagged “Breaking News” about an Ice-T concert in Shanghai instead of just proclaiming it “big news.” Because I must correct Mr. Sisario on his assertion that a Kenny G show five years ago was big news. He makes it seem as though China has changed so much in the last 5 years, that a K.G. show wouldn’t be big news in China today. In fact, a Kenny G concert this year in Shanghai was HUGE news. The Jewish soprano saxophonist is like a beardless Jesus in the mainland. Everyone knows this. I’m glad the New York Times has taken notice of the China rock scene and for all those interested in this subject, Sisario’s piece gives an in-depth look at the growing tide of Western acts performing in the mainland.
•NYT: Western Pop Acts in China
•Flumesday.com: Connections, Corruption and Concerts