Don Dworkin is the bassist for Reggie's Red Hot Feetwarmers, that are about to finish their 3-month residency at the House of Blues and Jazz (60 Fuzhou Rd.). The Dixieland band hails originally from Albany, New York. They were joined in Shanghai by Juli Aymi, a clarinet player from Barcelona and Mako Ruan, who danced alongside the band until last week when she went back to Vancouver. They'll be putting out a live album in the future with her on the cover. In the meantime, they play every night from now until Sunday starting at 9:30pm. We sat down to talk to Dworkin about Shanghai, jazz and everything else.

Every Friday, Weekendist brings you our picks of the best of what's coming in the next three days. more ›

Shanghai's calendar is looking quite eclectic this week, with musical offerings from jazz to house to reggae. But when you're not lounging on the Bund or jammin' at Shelter, you could also check out a CouchSurfers meeting, an American Apparel fashion show, or a talk on China's growing desertification problem. more ›

Earnshaw Books will host an evening of performance to celebrate this month's release of two new titles - The Peace Correspondent by Garry Marchant and China Rhymes by Shamus A'Rabbitt, featuring a new foreword by Andrew Chubb. more ›

Lin Dongfu and Song Lan have spent an extra-long time (and extra-huge amount of money) making the new space just right, using the same wood paneling decoration concept as the last place—in fact much of the paneling came directly from the old building. They have 2 levels again, but this time the second level has a whole section where you can look down onto the band. They had to rebuild the frame holding up the second level, as the original framework was rickety and unreliable. They have replaced all the windows and installed a central gas heating system so as not to have to use air conditioners blowing air to heat the place in winter. The stage is just big enough for a normal-sized band, certainly larger than the last one but in a bit of a strange shape we think. It's an even square, but because it's facing both into the bar area in one direction as well as the main music listening seating area, no one side can be considered the front. Instead, the front seems to be the corner that faces both the seating area and the bar area. We'll just see how the shape works out once people start playing on it. more ›