That's what we get for buying tickets right in front of the speakers. But the hearing loss was worth it — The Legendary Roots Crew, the hip hop band from Philly, put on a damn good show. And yes, they even did a brief Led Zeppelin cover (and A Tribe Called Quest and Biz Markie and many others). But for the most part, Black Thought, ?uestlove, Hub, Kamal Gray, F. Knuckles and Captain Kirk Douglas rocked their originals, and the seemingly capacity crowd at Yunfeng Theater (packed predominately with expats) loved it. The musician solos were intense — the boys can play. Also a highlight was Black Thought's uncanny ability to work the word "Shanghai" into just about every song they performed. After their two-plus-hour show, The Roots hung around on stage, shook hands, signed autographs, posed for photos and hurled autographed drumsticks into the crowd. No injuries were reported. more ›

It's only Tuesday, but it already hasn't been a good PR week for the Apple Snail. The Amazonian creatures, popular in fish tanks in the West and restaurants in the East, have been blamed for sending at least 50 Beijingers to the hospital with parasite-caused meningitis (but it's not really the snails' fault people decided to eat them raw or half-cooked). As if that wasn't enough, the mollusks (which can get as big as 6 inches in diameter) have also been credited with the destruction of nearly 400,000 acres of cropland in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Farmers are using pesticides to kill the snails. Sounds like the beginning of some kind of tragic domino effect to us. more ›