I spent the day unpacking boxes, wiring up gear, testing things, and setting up before the meeting starts tomorrow. While that could sound tedious, it actually went by pretty fast. The conference room we’re in has a glorious view overlooking People’s Square, with huge windows watching over masses gathered and passing by. Not a bad view to contemplate for a week… there’s massive ads on all the buildings also. There’s a huge Yao Ming poster roughly 50 feet tall, where the image of Yao is actually comprised of other people. The image makes it look like he’s the embodiment of tens of thousands of people... saw another huge building size ad like that, for Nike, with a woman (probably a Chinese Olympian) trying to block, and there’s a sea of invisible people behind her helping her block. It’s reminiscent of a Rivera print, or early communist art where seas of faces explicitly manifest the belief of strength in numbers and solidarity in struggle. It’s an interesting technique and visual style to use in the service of hawking sneakers… but the brands here are omnipresent, deified neon logos offering the Chinese people a tangible form of posterity long denied to them… its quite the spectacle…
After a long day of work I spent the early evening wandering around with Rosalie, until we happened upon a massage parlour offering hour long footrubs for 38 RMB, which is roughly 6 US dollars. That sounded good to both of us, since we each carted about 100 pounds of work-related equipment in our luggage out here, so we walked in and spent the next hour sitting side by side as two very amiable Chinese masseuses worked over our feet. Reflexology is something different from what the folks in China do to feet, but after a hot soak, an herbal application, and 60 minutes of kneading, prodding, and cracking, we both emerged from that boutique feeling renewed. It’s nice to have someone trigger all your pressure points in new ways…
Met a bunch of Burnett folks for a drink at the hotel bar on the 65th floor. Crazy view of the city. Skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. Savored a few Lychee Martinis while catching up with the usual suspects, and then when the DJ finally turned up (to a largely empty bar – this being Monday night), I headed over to the tables to pick his brain and find out where to buy records out here… everywhere I go, there’s different sounds, so I make it a point to pick up a few things that I’d probably never find anywhere else. But not this time… The DJ’s name is Jiggs, a total hipster with a residency at the hotel, but he tells me that everyone gets good music off the internet or from abroad. He’s the fourth person I’ve asked and that’s what they’ve all said. Apparently there’s not much Chinese electronica out here, he tells me that most folks interested in progressive sounds find themselves drawn to the underground rock scene, which is centered around a bunch of righteous rabble rousing Beijing bands playing secret parties. I’d buy some of that, but I have no idea where to begin… It’d be nice to come away with some tracks to spin in Chicago, but it doesn’t look like it’ll happen this time. Still, it was nice to meet Jiggs, DJs are a motley bunch of audio-inclined packrat geeks, and it’s nice to converse with someone 12000 miles from my home turf about playlists, genres, hot tracks & what makes people jump…
After a long day of work I spent the early evening wandering around with Rosalie, until we happened upon a massage parlour offering hour long footrubs for 38 RMB, which is roughly 6 US dollars. That sounded good to both of us, since we each carted about 100 pounds of work-related equipment in our luggage out here, so we walked in and spent the next hour sitting side by side as two very amiable Chinese masseuses worked over our feet. Reflexology is something different from what the folks in China do to feet, but after a hot soak, an herbal application, and 60 minutes of kneading, prodding, and cracking, we both emerged from that boutique feeling renewed. It’s nice to have someone trigger all your pressure points in new ways…
Met a bunch of Burnett folks for a drink at the hotel bar on the 65th floor. Crazy view of the city. Skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. Savored a few Lychee Martinis while catching up with the usual suspects, and then when the DJ finally turned up (to a largely empty bar – this being Monday night), I headed over to the tables to pick his brain and find out where to buy records out here… everywhere I go, there’s different sounds, so I make it a point to pick up a few things that I’d probably never find anywhere else. But not this time… The DJ’s name is Jiggs, a total hipster with a residency at the hotel, but he tells me that everyone gets good music off the internet or from abroad. He’s the fourth person I’ve asked and that’s what they’ve all said. Apparently there’s not much Chinese electronica out here, he tells me that most folks interested in progressive sounds find themselves drawn to the underground rock scene, which is centered around a bunch of righteous rabble rousing Beijing bands playing secret parties. I’d buy some of that, but I have no idea where to begin… It’d be nice to come away with some tracks to spin in Chicago, but it doesn’t look like it’ll happen this time. Still, it was nice to meet Jiggs, DJs are a motley bunch of audio-inclined packrat geeks, and it’s nice to converse with someone 12000 miles from my home turf about playlists, genres, hot tracks & what makes people jump…
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