Adventures in cabaret

ha! I did read your earlier post on the Melting Pot and, for that reason, I still haven't been there. As for the quote about the government supporting live music, I put it in because I thought it was such a ridiculous thing to say. Unfortunately, it lost some of its mocking tone when it got edited down

Hey Jake

Lisa just commented on the next post defending the Melting Pot a little. That's a pity you lost the context a bit on the quote. Although any of us in Shanghai can easily see the problem.

I personally don't buy the idea that Bar 288 is just 'local style'. Lisa puts it as 'Shanghainese friendly'. The people at YYT are Shanghainese and they have no problem running a proper venue/bar in the rock indie style. But I do follow her comment that it's still important to have places that are stable and let bands on.

Also, It is the nature of the small scene that you can put bands on at your bar then be a scene figure, so to speak.

Anyway, I don't want to become on a mission to slag down a particular place, so I'll leave it at continuing on from Lisa's new comments. Thanks Lisa.

And, to elaborate. 288 rather fills the role previously served by Ark: owned by foreign businessmen (Japanese for Ark, Taiwanese for 288) and definitely commercial, but with music guidance from stalwarts of the Shanghainese rock scene (Huang Sihan at Ark, Wang Hao at 288). Like Ark, 288 provides a regular stage and reliable income for young bands, and is a non-intimidating intro to live and rock music for white-collar Chinese. But that format is understandably criticized as "inauthentic" by hipster foreigners. It's not "cool" - it's cozy and a little corny, but that's okay too.

288 and YYT are very different "business" models; one's a non-profit performance space, one is a commercial bar where people hang out and the music is just a part of the offerings. What's nice about 288 is that the rock community congregates and interacts there, and it fosters the sort of cooperation that ShRock needs more of.

As for the government half-assedly trying to support rock, it's nothing new. A few years ago for the Tourism Festival they did a free concert by Cui Jian - backed by The Honeys and Crystal Butterfly. During APEC in 2001, the government website on culture in Shanghai included an article about Crystal Butterfly. And Ruby has gotten previous official support for rock music, with the 2006 Fringe Festival when 288 hosted the musical portion and brought in some pretty good young Hong Kong bands.