These days it seems Vice magazine is trying its hand at almost everything. Besides the iconic music magazine and record label they do some interesting web documentaries at VBS. Like every other news organization in the world they decided in the spirit of the Olympics to do a month of pieces on Beijing and China. Since their main focus is music they did a bunch of interesting little stories on bands like PK-14, Subs, Demerit,......

By Jeffrey Wasserstrom This posting about the politics of pop concerts in Shanghai is mostly about an American duo (Jan and Dean), whose hits included “Surf City,” and the hard-to-categorize Icelandic songstress Bjork, who last week made headlines and drew the ire of the Chinese state by saying the words “Tibet, Tibet” after performing a song called “Declare Independence" (on the heels of which, there was apparent tinkering with Harry Connick Jr.'s song list at......

Of how many movies of late, or any time, can you say that "it took courage to make this film"? Summer Palace (颐和园), can be safely said to be one of those films. We've been seeing copies of it around the stores and snapped one up, but didn't get around to watching it until now. This is the only honest piece of Chinese filmmaking we've seen in a long time. Get a copy of it......

The JZ Festival came to a roaring close today, unfortunately with a much lower afternoon turnout due to the rain but once again a satisfying mix of music, fully dug by those of us who did attend. But we skip ahead -- first back to details of yesterday's festival. Saturday Saturday was a very successful day for the festival, drawing medium-sized crowds again in the afternoon and selling out completely the evening portion. The......

The latest news from the former Fuxing Jazz Festival is that it is going to take place up in Jing'an district at the New Factories on Yuyao Lu (余姚路), and will be called the JZ Festival (爵士同乐 in Chinese). It will feature many of Shanghai's locally-based jazz groups including Coco and his band Possicobilities, Alec Haavik's Friction Five, and the JZ All-star big band. Also featured will be major Chinese rock stars Cui Jian and......

September is quickly sliding into history, which means for all us music fans that the orgy of music festivals Shanghai will experience in the first weeks of October is almost upon us. And of course Shanghaiist is here to bring you the latest in festival news..... The 1234 Beach Rock Festival - A scrappy fighter always getting knocked down but never going out for the count (did that make sense?). Postponed once again, it is......

Shanghai, typically a live music wasteland, is preparing for a gaggle (Shanghaiist has the hippest vocabulary) of music festivals, all scheduled for the normally dead October Golden weekend. Get ready for 4...yes, count'em....f-o-u-r....music festivals, with some pretty damn exciting bands. October 2nd-4th - 1234 Beach Rock Last year the Beach Rock festival was a blast for the few people who braved the weather and long 2 hour bus ride. This year the location has changed,......

Or more like who won't be performing. We've already told you about Live Earth, Al Gore's 24-hour, 7-continent series of concerts on 7/7/07. Well, lists of performers at different venues (cities participating are: East Rutherford, New Jersey [near New York]; London; Rio de Janeiro; Maropeng [near Johannesburg]; Tokyo; Shanghai; and Sydney) are starting to be announced. First up, the US and the UK. Here's who will be playing at Wembley Stadium in London: Beastie Boys,......

Lyrics to “Nothing to My Name” (一无所有) were already echoing in our head when we passed through the door of JZ Club on Monday night for Cui Jian's show: 我曾经问个不休 你何时跟我走 可你却总是笑我 一无所有 I have asked you endlessly, When will you go with me? But you always laugh at me with, Nothing to my name The place was packed, mostly with Chinese in their 20s and 30s. We saw just a few foreign faces scattered......

We are told he played to a packed house for two hours straight. Look for a show report soon on Shanghaiist. Also on Shanghaiist Cui Jian to play live at JZ Club, Jan. 29......

Yes, that Cui Jian. The godfather of Chinese rock. The one some call "China's Bruce Springsteen." The guy they put on the cover of the first Chinese Rolling Stone. The guy who last year shared a Shanghai stage and accompanied (kind of) Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. Yes, that guy is playing an intimate gig Monday night at JZ Club, and we wouldn't have known about it had we not walked past the place......

Sensing that our caffeine levels were low, we recently made trip to the convenience store at the end of the block. There we saw Christina Aguilera on the cover of a magazine on the bottom of the rack, which upon closer inspection was the new Chinese Rolling Stone. You might recall that we wrote about this back in late March, after the inaugural issue came out with Cui Jian on the cover. They ran into......

Our guess: two. By now, you have likely heard of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and his run-in with a coconut tree. But did you know he almost suffered what sounds like it could have been a much more serious head injury in Shanghai? On stage? Danwei has the dirt: The onstage incident, which has not been reported in the traditional media, occurred during the encore. The Stones had cruised through their hit-heavy set, largely......

Tim Kao, musician...

We didn't go to the Rolling Stones concert last night. And we have only heard from one person who did go, second hand at that. Here's the message we received today: my mate said the stones were ho-hum. bad sound. late start. no cabs at the end and rain. no beer. but mick jagger pretty strong performance. The Associated Press, the AFP and Reuters all had people at the show. They all talked about the......

The Rolling Stones arrived in Shanghai yesterday and the media noticed. We read a couple of these stories before we got bored. The San Francisco Chronicle reports on how a "mix of censorship, daunting bureaucracy and an immature commercial market" make Mainland China a "wasteland" (read, Michael Bolton, Elton John, Backstreet Boys, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, etc.) when it comes to an international music scene. The story says 65 to 70 percent of the Rolling......

As we told you in November, Rolling Stone, the once relevant music magazine, has plans for China. Well, now they have materialized. The inaugural issue, with Chinese rocker Cui Jian on the cover, hit newsstands over the weekend. Pictured is the copy we bought for 20 RMB on Nanjing Xi Lu (price includes a Rolling Stone baseball cap). Based on interviews with a couple news vendors in Beijing, The Times of London has proclaimed the......

The Halloween weekend is coming up, and the indie rock scene is here to answer Shanghailander cravings for unsigned talent with several shows lined up: As we all know the weekend starts on Thursday, and this weekend is no exception, with B6 and his gang ready to lay down some beats at the underground (how appropriate) C's bar. Word is that Ozone will start off with 80s goth/industrial/Belgian New Beat (get it? Belgian New .........