Results tagged “jamesbrown”

Carlton J. Smith will help us celebrate the United States' 233rd birthday by performing at the Boxing Cat Brewery Fourth of July party. Born and raised in New York, New York, this R&B artist is a dynamic and engaging performer who writes, produces, and sings all his own music. Strongly influenced by a James Brown concert he went to as a child, his funky beats have given him the nickname "Soul Brother Number New" (first coined by James Brown's road manager), and he makes sure to live up to that name every time he steps on stage.

So the rumors we heard over the weekend at Kiito's were true ... and sooner than expected. According to SmartShanghai, China West — the outfit that brought, among others, Norah Jones, James Brown, Black Eyed Peas, The Roots, Incubus, James Blunt, Kanye West and Kylie Minogue to China — was "unable to maintain a profitable bottom line" after five years here. SmartShanghai says China West is "bowing out of the Chinese market for 2009," so perhaps they not ruling out a return to the market in 2010 or beyond. Either way, a shame. And then there was one? (OK, maybe two.)

Underground Resistance's first foray into mainland China last Saturday at The Shelter was truly a significant milestone for Shanghai's underground scene. DJ Dex aka Nomadico unleashed a set that's been described as a "real history lesson in dance music" — one that took the 800 or so revellers from the pre-electronic routes of modern dance music in the shape of parliament and James Brown, right up to the proper "electro" from the Advent ("program da...

For one reason or another, when it comes to nightlife, Shanghaiist has its reservations about the Bund. Sure, we do the promenade/requisite bar crawl when out-of-towners come to play but, at the end of the day, we’re just not sold on it. (Our aversion was further amplified upon recently discovering a Facebook group called “THE SHANGHAI ELITE” – yes, they’re so elite they need to shout their name wherever they go. The activities of this group – Shanghai American School repruhzent! – revolve around “wild, breathtaking, heart aching, crazy and absolutely WiCkEd and crazy SHIT”. Among the ELITE’s favourite clubs, according to a recent thread, are Bar Rouge and Attica. We rest our case.)

All you reggae fans who missed the legendary Byron Lee on his Shanghai tour last year must be kicking yourselves. (Actually, everyone missed the legendary Byron Lee on his Shanghai tour last year, because his band showed up on stage at the Shanghai Centre but he didn’t).

Now that all the fuss and excitement surrounding Robin Gibb and Air Supply has died down, what do we have to live for during the coming cold and brutal winter months in Shanghai? In addition to our beloved electric blankets and space heaters, there's going to be a little something for everyone to look forward to as we plunge into the cold.

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 problems with the publications authorites back then, and it looked like that even coming out with a second issue was going to be a problem.

Admittedly, we attended the Black Eyed Peas show with a detached sense of superiority -- but ask anyone, even those of us who don’t “get” hip-hop, it was, to quote the girl behind us, “a show that made my summer”. Parts of the show that made us forget about those annoying glow sticks?

LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad, drum and bass DJs

After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this...

James Brown might be the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, but yesterday Shanghaiist felt like the Hardest Working Man in Shanghai. Which is why this post is a day late. And because we were recovering from the "Sex Machine" after-party at Mint.

Well, we predicted it. In a prophetic piece of posting from the very early days of Shanghaiist’s existence, we raised the possibility of a James Brown concert in this city. Or rather, we suggested it would be a very welcome thing.

There are strong rumors that four Englishmen in their 60s will strut what is left of their stuff on a stage somewhere in Shanghai this April. At this point they are still just rumors, but here are some reasons why Shanghaiist believes the Rolling Stones will bring their A Bigger Bang tour to our fair city this year (unless China's "mysterious" disease du jour once again scares them away):

If the internet itself is relentlessly unreliable when it comes to the dissemination of accurate information -- aside from Shanghaiist.com, of course -- then internet forums really take the cake. And recently we've witnessed plenty of unsubstantiated statements tossed about on Shanghai's plethora of online discussion boards like so many Double Happiness cigarette wrappers in the street.