A last-minute add to the program over at JZ, the Copenhagen-based group called Jazz Kamikaze who have been getting rave reviews will be playing this thursday night at JZ Club. In fact, when Shanghaiist was in Copenhagen last February, we didn't hear the band but got to jam a bit with some of the players in it. They were great, very creative and vibrant musicians. And killer players! So we're expecting a great show from......

Quality and beauty are the two features Andrew James looks out for when he sources for contemporary art. This was what he liked about Dorothy M. Yoon's works when he first came upon them at a London art fair. Last Saturday's opening reception for Dorothy's first solo exhibition in China attracted a good number of people, presumably intrigued by the bizarre portraits of Asian females in all kinds of blonde wigs imaginable. While surreal......

Shanghaiist was back at Yu Yin Tang after the extended New Year's break. Gigs have been slow to restart after Spring Festival due to announced renovations of their space over by Tianshan Park. Alter-Ego played on Friday and we went down to Saturday's 0093 Rock Showcase. Our first discovery was that the renovations have not actually been finished. The performance space is unchanged and it's the entry way that's getting expanded. Basically, there's a roof......

A group of Shanghai residents who had applied to the government for the right to hold an anti-maglev protest were rejected by the government. Despite this, small numbers of them intended to go on another "walk" in order to publicly air their grievances. This time, they were stopped by some other residents. According to this AP article, this is what happened: Residents in armbands used a megaphone to warn people not to "linger here too......

It wasn't that long ago that Shanghaiist headed straight to Crystal Jade in Xintiandi for our regular weekend dim sum brunch. Since then, however, our new loyalties lie with two restaurants closer to headquarters. Our first impressions of Lynn back when it opened early last year was that customers were paying the bulk of the price premium for its sleek, modern decor and presentation rather than the quality of its traditional Shanghainese fare. However, dim......

Not that free jazz hasn't landed plenty of times already here in Shanghai, in fact all too often jazz bands that come through town are a bit too "free" for most audiences. But such is the nature of that beast called free jazz...it's certainly not for everyone. But in any case now it has begun to have its own regular performance by a locally-based group, so those of you who do like this unique musical......

Winopete has 'read' the dregs in his wine glass and come up with the following predictions for the Year of the Rat:Another 3 or 4 night clubs will open, and another 3 or 4 will evapoRATe into Shanghai's failed business netherland, with at least 2 or 3 of them being reincarnated as something else. We're not naming names yet to avoid legal complications.Pudong will remain a wasteland for iRATe pub-goers, with salvation only delivered by......

Feeling a little "under the weather" (hah!) from all the snow we're getting? Those rapscallions over at Void have just the answer for you. On Saturday night, they're bringing respected house music veteran Jason Hodges to drop some bombs at The Shelter. From their web site:Following their successful mission at The Shelter opening party in December, VOID is back and will bring Canadian house DJ and producer Jason Hodges to the same venue on February......

Despite being around for a while now, Morrocan eatery Marrakech is holding its grand opening tonight. The details we were given were rather brief, but apparently visitors will be able to sample the food and drink between 6pm and 9pm. The place is well worth a visit, if not for the tasty (if somewhat small-portioned) fare on offer, then for the after-dinner Afro-beat sessions and belly dancing to be had in the bongo room, complete......

For all of those of you who stayed at home, hunched over the computer, waiting for an update on the happenings in live music this weekend....well, we apologize. Dust yourself off, pick up the shaver and take a shower, today is a big day for music. Getting things started early, 4:30pm at 4Live, are Taiwan indie pop duo, Natural Q. Seems to be the season for indie pop, after performances last month by Carrchy and......

It's criminal to live so close to the fantastic JZ Club and actually get to the place as infrequently as we do, but we're determined to mend our recidivistic ways after spending a thoroughly spot-on Sunday afternoon there this weekend. There are few other places you can just blunder into from the street and, without spending a groat (though yesterday the Guinness proved too much of a draw) to be blown away by some great......

Though never a fan of Starbucks, more because of their bland-ardization of the world's greatest drug rather than due to any kind of deeply held anti-corporate leanings, Shanghaiist nevertheless enjoys supping the occasional hot chocolate from a Medusa-emblazoned mug. With this Monday being particularly harrowing, we were looking forward to a dose of sickly sweet cream-topped womb regression, only to have our fragile psyche strained to within an inch of another long, expensive course of......

The Shanghai Special Olympics concluded yesterday. Over the past two weeks, 7,500 athletes, 40,000 volunteers, and 3,500 event officials descended on the city to stage events for 25 sports. Highlights here. At the closing ceremony at Jiangwan Stadium last night, Kenny G played a rendition of “Butterfly Lovers” (梁祝) as women in butterfly costumes descended from cables strung to the stadium lights. When they reached the stage, they claimed a Special Olympian and escorted......

The mercury may be falling but there's still lots of sizzle left in the grill. It's time for another great big cook-off, and The Naked Cow is hosting the Shanghai Rib Cook-off in two weeks! And it's all for a good cause! 10% of all proceeds from the day will go to Shanghai Bo Ai Children's Rehabilitation Center which aids local children with cerebral palsy. Now we just need 20 gallant teams of three each......

For this Shanghaiist, lunch during the work week typically consists of lukewarm slop served downstairs in the company canteen. So, when we get a rare chance to take a day off from work or telecommute, we like to venture out and take advantage of the many lunch specials that are offered by Shanghai's popular restaurants. Boonna 2 has already earned its reputation as a hipster favorite with its cozy and laid back vibe. It's now......

Shanghaiist has been hearing a lot of rumours of late of dodgy, well, more dodgy behaviour along the Tongren Lu bar strip south of Nanjing Road. This morning, Shanghaiist was forwarded an email by our golf-enthralled editor via one of his trusted acquaintances. The email contained details regarding the assault of two expat males on Tongren Lu this week. Peter was beat up pretty badly and left unconscious in the alley/parking lot behind the bars.......

Spago is a new fusion restaurant located opposite the Fenshine Plaza fake market on Nanjing Xi Lu. Spago's proximity to a knock-off market is ironic in light of an apparent and blatant trademark violation by this Shanghai 'branch'. It is easy to miss Spago from the street as it is tucked away in an alley like an inconspicuous noodle shack. Walk through the door and you are immediately greeted by a very cool bistro café......

Enduring eight straight days of work ahead of the Golden week? Take this opportunity to let off some steam and get out and hit what Shanghaiist thinks that Shanghai has to offer before you either vamoose out of town or bunker down to avoid the May 1st Holiday crush. Today, April 24th Indie legends, Sonic Youth play at the Shanghai Concert Hall from 8pm tonight. Contact the promoters to find a spare ticket on 6474......

And it is "a match for anything on the Bund"! No surprise there. But wait, there's more. Spago "has already become a popular lunch spot with pasta, Western, pizza and Asian sets for ¥19, 29 and 39" and is perfect for "fashionistas on a shoe-string." What? Huh? Nowhere in its four-star review of new Shanghai restaurant Spago (595 Nanjing Xi Lu, 南京西路595号, Tel: 6271-3777) does City Weekend mention that "this versatile new space" maybe, just......

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). But now you can make amends. Ziggy Marley plays the Yun Feng Theatre tomorrow night — the same venue where James Brown tore the house down and Dirty......

One of our favorite Hammond organ players, Steinar Nickelson, is coming back to Shanghai for a few weeks. Another fantastic Norwegian musician, drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen, will be in town also for only a few days and will play a short concert with Steinar and — shameless plug alert — the writer of this post at JZ Club this Monday night (the 26th). We will play one set, performing a selection of original compositions written......

Which reminds us — we need to go to the gym. Cold Stone Creamery — the fast-growing American chain of ice cream shops featuring servers who, on top of a (you guessed it) cold stone, mix just about anything you want into your serving and, unfortunately, sing while doing so — will open its first Mainland China shop in the basement of Shanghai's Raffles City mall near People's Square on April 23. We have been......

In two weeks time (April 5), we Shanghainese are going to celebrate the Qingming Festival. Tomb sweeping, or honouring the deceased, is one of the important Qingming Festival rituals for most Chinese. Eastday (in Chinese) said already around 30,000 Shanghainese went to Suzhou for tomb sweeping last weekend, and from the past years’ experience, the 10 days before and after Qingming Festival is the most frequent travel time for people, therefore, more people are expected......

The monthly MobileMonday meeting will be held in Shanghai today. Interested in the future of mobile shopping in China? Here's the official invitation: “M-commerce”, “mobile wallet”, “Near Field Communications (NFC)” or “m-ticketing” are not savvy marketers’ jargon anymore! Like a vengeance, mobile payment & transactions is back in the limelight in China, for good this time. More on the official MobileMonday website. The event will take place tonight from 6.30pm at Kathleen's 5, 325 Nanjing......

This happened early yesterday morning on Tianshan Xi Lu. near Suining Lu in Changning District, according to this report: The 110 police call center received the alert at 2:50am when another taxi driver who happened to be passing by the scene noticed a body lying lifeless on the street. According to witnesses, the man was found lying on the ground about two meters away from his vehicle. He allegedly had multiple stab wounds and was......

Having just spent some time in Denmark ourselves, we were delighted to discover that some great Danish musicians would be arriving in Shanghai to play so soon after our return. These guys are quite well-known in Denmark and Europe, having recorded and toured around the world a bit. When we asked our Danish friends about these guys, they said that drummer Emil de Waal is famous as a player of every kind of music, not......

We think that's exactly what we said when we read this email from the fine fellows at China West Entertainment: We have just confirmed the legendary, Grammy winning (and nominated for 2 more in 2007!), #1 hip-hop band in the world, THE ROOTS to perform in mid-April in Shanghai and Beijing. Press release and materials forthcoming, but in the meantime, here's some facts and ticket prices ... Let us repeat: Holy shit! The Roots! Here......

The Shanghai Daily reports that The Longhua Fashion and Gift Market is struggling to attract patrons. The Longhua market attracted the bulk of the vendors from the closure of Xiangyang market last June, however it appears that patrons have decided to give this location the big swerve. The main reasons that spring slowly to our mind include the distant location from downtown (yes, Xujiahui isn’t downtown people), and the relatively poor transportation options to get......

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......

Last Saturday night, Shanghaiist fancied going to this new place we heard of — the bar where you can drink cocktails with Absinthe — called Tara 57. Located on Fuxing Lu, just next to Boona 2, and opposite JZ Club, this “cocktail lounge”, as they call it, is a very small place. And that is actually a good thing — it's very cozy. Even more (and this is important for us), there is a coat-rack,......