Music Merry-Go-Round: Zooma hops on again

We received an email yesterday from Fabrique telling us about a "re-opening" party on Saturday, and we wondered, How many re-openings can one club handle? But this most recent incarnation looks a little more interesting than previous ones. Zooma, formerly of the old Tang Hui and formerly of the new Tang Hui, is now the GM at Fabrique, which will now be known as 4 Live (same name as the party held at the club not too long ago). Here's the musical line-up for the re-re-re-opening party: Blue Garden, Honeys, Crystal Butterfly and Zooma himself. No invitation is needed for the party and there in no cover charge. Doors open at 8 pm and there's an open bar from 8 to 10 pm. The email we received said going forward 4 Live plans to have live bands before 1 am and "underground electro music" afterward. We tend not to get too excited about such things because the live music scene in Shanghai changes so frequently, but this at least sounds promising. It's a good venue in a non-residential area that is used to music and crowds. And with his connections, Zooma could potentially bring in some solid live acts. Let's keep our fingers crossed -- and hope they start adding their events to our Public Calendar.

So, where does this leave us in terms of live music in Shanghai? Well, let's see.

• Yu Yin Tang: After a brief hiccup caused by a lack-of-license scare, YYT is still going strong. They have a Five Dollar Shake party this Friday at 8:30 pm featuring the Georgia Sam Blues Band, Boojii and Banana Monkey. They too might want to add more events to our calendar (it's free, guys).
• Live Bar: Brad Ferguson just re-opened Live Bar last month and, thanks to the static nature of the scene here, that's enough to qualify him as a grizzled veteran. Live Bar has a steady flow of acts, including Jazi, an alt-rock act out of Hangzhou, on Saturday.
• Tang Hui: Still reeling from this, Tang Hui has been trying its darnedest to stay alive ... but we keep hearing about these rules against having no drums played with sticks at the bar, and that makes us confused doubt whether it will ever be a rock venue again. Yes, they have brought in a seemingly successful hip-hop night, but at the same time other DJs are leaving house because of repeated visits from the police when things get too busy and some other internal issues. It's also been said that they are bringing in a questionable cover band down on the first floor (one with no drum sticks, we suppose), and this band's sound (or lack of sound) could further damage the venue's rep.
• Gig Live: The aforementioned Brad has left Gig Live and Aric, the other Gig guy and Shanghaiist contributor, said the weekly show at BonBon is "up in the air" UPDATE "still going, just sorting things out" -- Aric just informed us there is indeed a GigLive tonight, as there was last week ... he's just not sure exactly who the bands will be (long story). We are also almost three weeks removed from the last GigShanghai podcast. We're sure Aric will update us on the status soon.
• 021 Bar: We don't know much about this place, but they appear to have some gigs lined up.

We very well could be leaving something out here. If anyone has anything to add, please leave a comment.

4 Live, Bldg 8, 8 Jianguo Lu, near Chongqing Nan Lu, Metro Line 1 Huangpi Nan Lu Station (建国中路8号8号楼,近重庆南路, 地铁1号线黄陂南路站 ). Tel: 64150700.