Hi all.
Firstly, Jake is back from his hols and blogging like a mad diarist sweating out his opium binge in a candle lit Victorian study.
Don't ask.
Anyway, I'm supposed to take it easy on the ole PC in general so be sure to check Jake's blog and add the feed for the main flow of posts at Kungfuology. Prolific as ever, his feature in the first edition of Shanghai Time Out on BCR's Little Punk is outstanding too.
So, over at Smart Shanghai, all round good guy Tom Mangione has writtten an excellent piece on local blues guitarist Joe Chou. Read it in full here.
Here's the part where he explains why he made the shift to a full time music lifestyle.
He told me that Joe had played music all of his life, but it was only after a serious car accident that almost killed him that he became serious about it. Before then, it was just a hobby that he dabbled in while working in Beijing real estate. However, after the car wreck, Joe decided that he'd do nothing but play music, and music alone. As Joe himself put it when I asked him about it later, "I was sick. I was diseased, and I didn't even realize it. Every day I would go to work and talk to people who I didn't like and do things I didn't want to do just so that I could make money. It was all I cared about. So many people are like this, especially here in China. But now I've found a solution."
Zhou Chao is a fenomenal guitarist. Saw him in YYT (unplugged) last Spring - Lin Di said the way he played the guitar is similar to that of Guqin and there is a lot of truth to that. He's unique and authentic, which is very uncommon when I look around... I could not make it to Mao today and wonder how was the perception of his music and personality in a large venue. Please keep us updated.
Oh, and very nice article - thanks for the link!