Well, 2007 is pretty much over. This Shanghaiist has never really been a big New Year's person, maybe because we always end up the odd one out at midnight or the one that has to break up the drunken fights that erupt. But, in the spirit of the season we have decided to do that traditional (way over done) recap of the past year. 2007 was a big year for music in Shanghai and below are our picks for 2007...and of course this list is biased, memories are subjective to each person and the most memorable shows for me usually tend to be because of personal involvement at some level.
Year in Live Music and what to look forward to in 2008
Fueling the live music rumor mills
Shanghaiist finally made it back from the Beijing Pop Festival and had a great time. We give respect to the organizers bringing some great international bands to China, but do recognize that this festival has a lot of logistical and organizational flaws to work out before it can claim to be of global standards. Being great at weaseling our way into places we don't exactly belong, Shanghaiist was able to get on stage during the Marky Ramone set which was all the more exciting by the presence of Joe and Dave of the Queers on guitar and bass. The Queers are excited about a China tour that might happen next year.
Today's Links: Mistress revolt, Thomas Friedman and the AIDS epidemic
The emergence of China as a commercial superpower is, by some way, the most important economic phenomenon of our time. In the last few years, analysts of the global economy have had to rewrite their computer models and recalibrate their slide rules to cope with the People's Republic.
Live Music: Get the weekend started early with Flare
Shanghaiist usually waits until Friday to update you on this weekend's live shows, but this week we decided to actually get something in a timely manner (actually we are going to Beijing for the Pop Festival so will be partying way too hard to write this later). Yuyintang, those stalwart music promoters, are back with a show tonight (Thursday) at the Zendai Moma out in Pudong. If this morning's weather holds out it should be a great night to make the schlep out to the boonies and catch Norwegian, brit-popish band, Flare and Shanghai based Boys Climbing Ropes. We have also heard from various sources that 2nd Hand Rose will be in town playing at some sort of art function tonight.
Public Enemy in Beijing and Megadeth for all
Hardcore Public Enemy fans in China, don't attempt to kill yourself or your flat mate just yet. According to Beijing promoters, Public Enemy is not canceling their BJ Pop Festival appearance scheduled for the 8th of September. So put in your gold teeth, hang some bling around your neck and get your ass on a plane.
PE, Crazy PE: Public Enemy cancels Shanghai gig
Two days ago, we received this email from a local event promoter:
Exploited's China tour is dead
Punk might not be dead, but it seems that, due to permit issues, the Exploited tour is. What Shanghaiist can't figure out is why the Exploited, in all their anti-government glory, would even apply for permits (many of the bands who come for China tours do it on tourist visas). Any one who has already purchased tickets for the show will be able to take them back to 4Live for a full refund.
Busdriver taking us to school
Shanghaiist loves good music gossip, and we are tickled purplish-red (our face usually turns this color after being overly tickled) to be the first to report that Busdriver, underground rapper extraordinaire, will be coming to China in October. Don't know who Busdriver is? Well, damn it, you should.
Public Enemy, Nine Inch Nails to play Shanghai?
Yeahhhhh, boyyyyyyy!
Inside the "new" Chinese Rolling Stone music magazine
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.
Extra! Extra! Jay-Z, hanfu, and four color theorems
"The Japanese have the kimono and the Koreans also have their traditional.clothing. But not the Han people, although they represent the largest of China's 56 ethnic groups," said Liu, who actively promotes cuture.

