At some point, successful underground bands and musicians rise out of the rathskellers to play in mainstream venues, at which point they and their promoters leave behind the tatty bars and Monday night performances. As a result, there's always a need for promoters who truly hang out on the fringes in search for the next big thing.

Pangbianr is the latest promotion to do just that. Founder Josh Feola, who launched the bilingual website on June 1, is aiming for high-detail, low-volume promotion that highlights the city's experimental musicians and artists who really, actually deserve your attention.

Either people aren't talking or they know nothing about the Nanluogu Xiang developments we reported this past Sunday. Among many residents, there's an unsettling uncertainty regarding the potential car park to be placed somewhere between Qianyuan Ensi Hutong and Qinlao Hutong. Meanwhile, officials are passing the buck best they can, and keeping lips sealed.

Nanluogu Xiang was made for days like these, when sunlight sieves through russeting leaves and visitors toddle to and fro as if their internal stoplight was stuck on amber. Walking around, it’s not hard to imagine how this hutong caught the attention of would-be shop owners six years ago. And it's also clear why landlords are constantly trying to raise rents: this place has become a bona fide tourist magnet.

Dominic Johnson-Hill of Plastered T-shirts, one of the first stores on Nanluogu Xiang, informed the Beijinger yesterday [Saturday, November 6] that authorities are knocking down most, if not all, of the shops from Qianyuan Ensi Hutong off Nanluogu Xiang to the alley just south of that, Qinlao Hutong, to make room for a car park. This is a strip near the middle of Nanluogu Xiang, off the east side, that includes the long-term business Guitar Bar.

Malcolm Gladwell, in Tipping Point, describes three types of people with a "rare set of social gifts" who are integral to the success of an idea or development: mavens who accumulate knowledge, salesmen who sell ideas and connectors who put the right people in touch with one another. It's to this final class that Brian Bodecker Gale and William James Heathershaw -- the respective organizers of NetworkClub and ORIENTED -- firmly belong, and if you want to experience the power of knowing the right people, come to their joint event tomorrow at Club Le at 7 pm. Read on to find out how to get half-price admission.

Expat women in China can probably all recount an unpleasant experience of being objectified and typecast as just wanting to have fun. Miss Laowai China, happening September 11 at 21st Century Theater, can't be said to help perceptions -- after all, what screams objectification more than a beauty pageant? -- but organizer David Sinkala insists his show will be different from the others.

"If the ultimate goal is world peace," he says, intentionally borrowing from the beauty contestant phrasebook, "then what is the initial step to attaining that? If I'm not peaceful in my heart, and I'm part of the world, what world peace are you talking about?"

Using that as a guiding principle, Miss Laowai aims to be -- believe it or not -- a community event that effects good on multiple levels.

At 4 o'clock this afternoon at Capital M, renowned playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) and director Leigh Silverman will give a talk about director-playwright dynamics -- using themselves as exhibit A -- and preview their latest project in development. Admission, which includes a drink, is 65 RMB -- a bargain for theater enthusiasts and anyone else interested in hearing accomplished artists discuss their craft.

Jack Dunn, a former Division II college football player, is as unlikely a Latin dance instructor as you'll find. In physique, he still has the outsized build of a defensive end -- the position he played -- and yet, to know Dunn is to understand his passion and commitment to everything salsa.

Dunn is among a small group of leaders in Beijing who have dedicated themselves to an ever-widening community of Latin dance enthusiasts (though we should mention Dunn is a self-proclaimed "mostly Irish" American). Later tonight, his biggest project comes to fruition: the first annual Summer Latin Festival, a four-day event that includes a pre-party at Club Le;  a performance, For the Love of Salsa (ticket reservation highly recommended); 10 workshops, including five taught by world-famous instructor Sekou McMiller from New York; and DJs, music and parties every night, including a Latin Pool Party and an All White Latin Party.

Read on to find out how you get a discounted fare to all the activities.

Wu Promotion, a local performing arts promoter founded in 1991, has been active lately bringing European classical musicians to Beijing for special one-time concerts. The company's at it again, this time with an award-winning duo -- Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs and Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze -- who will be playing at the National Center for the Performing Arts this Sunday at 7:30 pm.

Unless you’ve been living in a bubble, you know the air’s not that great here. But all of us who’ve been in Beijing a while also know that whining about said air quality is the worst of the expat clichés: we have willingly traded a bit of pulmonary discomfort for the privilege of living in this city of opportunity and excitement.

And so it's always with slight trepidation that I pick up any book about China's environment. It's bad. We get it. But Jonathan Watts, a longtime Guardian reporter and veteran of the China beat, gets it, too, which is why his book about the environment, When a Billion Chinese People Jump: How China Will Save Mankind - Or Destroy It, will soon be a must-have for everyone seeking to understand the shades and layers of China’s environmental challenges and our incredible potential for change.