Interview: Grace Before Meals post-rocking Shanghai
Around Shanghai: No more airplane temperature checks, but we're getting a Wall St. Bull and Linkin Park!
Fatal bus crash on Shanghai's Yangpu bridge
Xinjiang riot leaves 3 dead, over 20 injured
Week Around the Ists
It's possible that we just caught the recently opened Piccone Live Music Bar on a bad night, but honestly the most interesting aspect of our experience was the toilet in the men's bathroom.
We checked out Piccone (we're not sure where the name comes from ... perhaps the owner's last name?) because it pitched itself as a live music venue, and it came along at time when other supposed music bars and legit live venues were either shutting their doors or experiencing a change of direction. And it was right around the corner from our house.
In theory, Piccone has a pretty good location: the corner of Dongping Lu and Taojiang Lu, on the second floor, above a fruit stand. It's not a big place, and kind of has the vibe of a hotel bar, but it's got a decent performance area, a big projection TV and could be a cozy hangout with the right musical accompaniment. On the night we went, now almost two weeks ago, we were promised the musical pairing of a "famous" singer and a "great" guitarist at an "already well known musical place." They were supposed to be followed by a folk duo. PIccone, the ad said, focuses only on "Rock, Pop, Folk, Blues."
We got to Piccone between 9 and 10 pm on a Saturday, the time the band was supposed to start playing. We waited and waited, no live music. Some guys walked in carrying instruments, but they just took seats at the bar and started drinking and chatting. Maybe they didn't play because we were the only two customers in the bar? We would have hung around longer — but the live music DVD playing on the projection screen was maddening. Some might try to classify it as "new age jazz," but it was elevator music, plain and simple, being played by middle-aged guys who appeared to having entirely too much fun playing elevator music.
We headed to the bathroom before leaving, and what do you know, there was a faucet on top of our toilet's tank. We were befuddled. And after looking around for hidden cameras, we tested the faucet to see if it was operated by motion sensors. Nope. But sure enough, when we flushed, water came out of the spigot. Was this a joke? We opened the door and looked around — the only other sink we saw was inside the women's restroom, and it was a proper one. Were men actually expected to wash their hands on the toilet? We took a couple (bad) photos of the men's toilet and used the sink in the ladies room — no one seemed to notice.
Piccone, 1 Taojiang Lu, near Dongping Lu, 1 桃江路 (桃江路/东平路), but the entrance we used was on Dongping Lu. Tel: 13917611512. An Asahi draft was 30 RMB. The wife ordered a vodka cranberry, and they charged her the listed RMB 35 for the vodka plus RMB 15 for the mixer, and the glass was very small. Most cocktails are RMB 50 or more. Supposedly every Sunday at 6 pm they show "cult movies" on their big screen. Live music tomorrow: "Primitive Sax" with Paul Haggis.
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as for the "faucet" on top of the toilet tank, that's a design used quite commonly in Japanese household bathrooms, it saves water. just thought i'd share that
Soysauce is right. It's actually a pretty cool idea in my opinion. Using water which has gone through (at least some relatively) expensive treatment processes to just wash out toilets is kind of waste. This way, you can wash your hands with that water first, so it's at least doing double-duty.
It is good place to hung out and this article is fake because Piccone did not pay for commercial at shanghaiist
If shanghaiist bitched about every bar that didn't "pay for commercial " (nice one Ivan Drago, er, Marty) they'd have a hell of a lot more content then they do now. Dan! Get cracking!One down and 673 more bars to go!
Have one of these toilets in a HALF bath we put into our rental property. Its a great way to save space and the way it works is the handwash water leads straight into the flush zone so it actually does not stay in the resevoir. Probably a Toto, japanese do such a good job at efficiency. Great way to conserve space and water...and hey, if it makes it THAT much mroe conveneint for people to wash the f---ing hands afterwards? Why not!
I was going to post the same exact thing as soyasauce, jenming and yu888, but they all beat me to it. It's a pretty common design in Japan. And a great water saving idea.
@ everyone
The toilet/sink (and, yes, I believe it was a Toto) may very well be a great space- and water-saving invention. It's just that I had never seen one before, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, and I think confusion mixed with skepticism would be a normal first reaction to such a contraption, especially when the water only flows when you flush. Now I know.
@ marty
I'm sorry you feel my post was somehow "fake." Unfortunately, it was my honest impression of the place based on my visit. As I said, it's possible we caught Piccone at a bad time, but we also happened to catch Piccone at a time when we were led to believe there would be live music. And there wasn't. And my dislike of the DVD that was projected of the big screen could very well be a matter of taste, but honestly it was the DVD's elevator music jam band that kept us from hanging around for another drink. My post very well could have been very different had there been live music on the stage while we were there (unless, of course, it was another elevator music jam band). As I said in the post, Piccone has potential to be a nice cozy little hideaway ... if it provides the right atmosphere. I think Shanghaiist readers have come to expect honesty from our posts, and if I happen to go back to Piccone and enjoy it, I will surely say so.
And, for the record, Shanghaiist never tried to sell an ad to Piccone. How do I know this? We have no advertising sales staff.
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Message from one of the owner
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Dear Dan,
Thanks for your last comments. As I said next time try to see more of a bar by just getting there and making conclusions of your one hour visit.
There are enough videos of Piccone linked to you tube on www.piccone-sh.com to make your own judgement on the music there.
There are Rock, Pop, folk, Blues musicians coming in the bar because they like to jam together. There are even 2 foreign music producers (Blues and rock) coming very often. I do not think they like to hear elevator music.
I still believe that putting such an article on front page is too easy and unfair. Especially for the team and young people who work there on making of this PuB a cozy one.
The place is born from an idea of 3 friends musicians who wanted an open place for musicians and music lovers to get together. None of us needed such an investment to make easy and good money as we are all professionally involved in other (commercial) activities. Some of us have/had already a pub and others.
The idea was to keep the the price of drinks low for the area at 30 RMB for 450ml (67 RMB/liter)to not having only wealthy expats but also local contractors and students as customers.
We sure make some mistakes because it is the beginning and sometimes we have to deal with bands who are not coming on time but at the end of the day we always have at least a band playing on the week-end days. Mostly we will have 2 and a jam session. We try to be friendly for sure whatever happens: some customers always come and take always bottle full price and some others ask for a free drink. That's the way it goes.
Natasha (from Belgium) is the "floor manager" there. She is very nice and makes easily friend with people. Some people come alone, or in group. We join them and sit with them sometimes because it is friendly. There is no commercial thought behind. Nobody is treated regarding to what he is spending.
Dan, I am not angry or something. I just want to place this at the right level. I would appreciate people coming at the pub telling me what they think is wrong (or good). It is certainly the best way to move forward and improve ourself. I am sure they will be plenty of comments. As I said to you: no Hard feelings anymore about that article. I buy you a beer next time.
We will continue to work on this nice project and make the best of it based on all the comments we get.
The thing I am wondering is whether we should keep the toilet :) I guess now there is a whole story around this. I must admit that this is a very strange one, indeed. At least your visit to Piccone's toilet will never be the same (haha!).
This week end I will be there. This evening (friday and saturday) we will have some bands playing. I hope people reading your article can come to me and say honestly what they feel about the music and the rest in pub. It is a cosy place indeed. I hope everyone could help us o keep it and make it better.
" it's a long way (if you really want to rock'n roll) AC/DC"
Cheers,
Laurent (laurent@piccone-sh.com)
i personally think an hour is plenty of time for someone to get an honest impression of a bar. laurent, how long would you expect someone to stay? if the bar doesn't give a reviewer a reason to stay, it's not the reviewers fault. i still planned on visiting your bar after reading the post. and i would never have known about it had it not been posted on the shanghaiist. maybe you should advertise.
yes it is true Stanley but Dan came when Steve Elson's band was supposed to play and they cancelled for personal reasons. We had another band later on . Dan came at 9 o' clock which is quite early indeed without live music.
You are welcome Stanley....see you around maybe.
OK, great, please tell us who's playing this weekend, upcoming etc...
As for the toilet, so long as it's clean, I don't care what style it is.
keep the toilet! in fact you could post a note above it to educate people that it's a water-saving toilet (i've seen this in other countries). You might inspire a positive trend.
hello Zedsdead, This week end (Friday and Saturday) we will have from 10pm Paul Haggis, A pretty girl Chinese girl with japanese musician fellow after that and Jam untill late. If you want to have a better idea here are youtube links I took from last week:
Paul Haggis with his PrimitiveSax (with Kubo at drums) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gHnj7o7zMw
Paul Haggis on Neil Young cover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSkxKUBdqfo
Chinese singer during Jam session http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqtJ4v2G0uE and
You can visit our famous toilet! :)
BTW, did Piccone lift its logo from the Detroit Red Wings?
@ DTW
My guess: Most definitely.
http://www.piccone-sh.com/
http://www.detroitredwings.com/