Good Morning

Whatchyallknowbout Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings?

Just finished Natural Born Lover and moving on to Stranded in yo' Love

And this album makes me jig my way around this living room in my chupa, wrapped up and ready for this cup of coffee i got infused with anti-viral honey from Andrea Shanti's store, check it out and get you some.

Good Morning Ya'll

Bumpin it in China

So here is a lil blurb about the music scene in China and below is my man Himmler's response:

the article is pretty accurate. one point I'd add though is that the falling cost of producing music (the digital era - hardware is effectively obsolete at this point) happened ten years ago and hasn't yielded significant gains in china. they absolutely play to the lowest common denominator and anything that rises above that bar is thoroughly suppressed. I'm under constant pressure at my gigs to play music that (dumb) chinese people can understand and relate to. but I generally don't comply as it's not in the best interest for myself or the handful of people in a club of 500 that are actually listening.

All of my people in China are mixed in with the music scene in some way. My man Big Tenz just finished a many month many city tour of China with his girl Aliya and they made somewhere between 5 - 6k US a month. Music is lucrative in China. Djs can make 400 US a show at least. Some more some less. Peep Himmler's website and you can get a feel for what's going down.

I have an earlier post here about Eli, a rapper in Chengdu. He's aight (sorry homie) for US standards, but he is an ambassador of hip hop in China. He might make bank, he might just be rappin in front of a newly opened supermarket in a dumpling suit with a band of laowai playing pop behind him.

Proximity Butterfly have made music in China their Great Quest. They are all up in the scene -- going to the MIDI Festival, shows everywhere, making CDs and such.

My man Boogie cracks-out in dingy Chengdu apartments puffin herb he grew and synthesizing ill beats and grafting them onto old Chinese tracks to make a palatable hybrid for the discerning Chinese listener. Of which (evidenced by the quote above) there are few.

But the scene is growing. Mad love to my peeps, whether you be in dumpling suits, Mule Uniforms or just picking up hot Chinese women as the house Dj at Babi ... its all good.

The devil came down to Clifden ...

“The devil came down to Clifden, lookin for a soul to steal, he was getting kinda low and don’t ya know he was willing to make a deal …”

Johnny went through Clifden one day and listened to the Irishmen play, they hit their fiddles with a mighty cry and sang to the darkening sky. They brought tears to the old men and made the women flush, their voices held the longing of a race and the sighs of a million souls. The hills turned green as they strummed and drummed and the rain came down soft and light, the island misted over and the castles rang out, this is what Johnny saw …

He played them Red House, like they’d never heard before, he bent the guitar and stretched the sound and it was clear that he was throwin it down. Next he played Alligator Wine and that’s when he went to far, his good eyes shone like the slave in the song and his bad eye grew cold and hard. His face went pale and he started to sweat and he felt himself swoon and moan, that’s when he turned to the fiddlers in the band and this is what he said:

“Hey there fiddlers I’ma need yer help”
“At your service young man”
“I got the devil in me now and he’s got to go, can you play a Charley Daniels song”
“You mean the one with fiddles and the band o’ demons, lad?”
“Yep, that’d be the one.”
“You can count on us, boy, just turn to the crowd and let them carry you along …”

When it was all over Johnny was smiling again, the women came up and washed his brow and the young boys gathered around.

“Is it true what they say about the crossroads,” said one
“What is it they say,” said Johnny
“That you can sell your soul to the devil and learn to play like you …”

Johnny didn’t say nothing and just looked at the boy, his cheeks were red and his eyes were blue and he would have made a deal right then.

A mother came up and looked up at Johnny, askin when does the devil come

“Whenever I touch the guitar, good woman, whenever I sing a song. But the devil was an angel first, ya know, I’m just playing along.”