britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Wed, 09/19/2012 - 15:11

"Pathetic and ridiculous..." Yes.

"China needs to realize how stupid they are making themselves look..." Not in our lifetimes.

This goes deeper than logic or reason.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

bottle-o's picture bottle-o Submitted by Guest on Wed, 09/19/2012 - 11:50

This whole thing is pathetic and ridiculous, the equivalent of a bunch of spoiled children crying because they gave up a toy and want it back when someone else plays with it.

Hatsune is owned by an AMERICAN and staffed by CHINESE people, I'm not sure about the other venues listed above but yesterday Yoshinoyas were closed too, again, these are CHINESE owned franchises. Chinese people are only hurting themselves. China needs to realize how stupid they are making themselves look by reacting in such a violent, immature and petty way.

britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 15:37

I do love that Invincible Ramen is standing strong. Would just seem so wrong to see a restaurant claiming to be invincible listed in the closed category. Though I guess it's the ramen, not the restaurant, that's invincible. Perhaps a few other restaurants should lay in a supply of that Invincible Ramen.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

gdbill's picture gdbill Submitted by Guest on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 15:00

BJnerd wrote:
gdbill wrote:
Ah, yes ... Chris Devonshire-Ellis is quite accomplished.

He's an accomplished fraud:

1. The Scottish barony was purchased for about 65,000 pounds sterling and not 'awarded" to him or handed down to him as he implies.

An accomplished liar:

Remember all those periodic personal interviews he had with various Chinese ministers and other high-ranking government officials? They were all lies. Finally it came back to bite him in the rear when the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China publicly labeled him a liar for inventing stuff that never -- ever -- happened.

There are also his claims of being an attorney and even to this day his claims of having a legal degree when the fact is he doesn't even have a university education.

Ah, but he does like his music. Smile

Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, but I grow a bit tired of all of the CDE bashing on the China blogs.

Purchasing of the noble titles is something that has been going on for many, many years. I understand it was fashionable in the earlier part of the last century for the rich US industrialists to marry into the (increasingly broke)aristocratic families in the UK, just to pick up some of these titles.

While the purchase of titles of nobility may not be uncommon, lying about it and claiming that you inherited the title is not.

I do hope you can actually name a few of the US industrialists who married into aristocratic families for the title. In any event, I wonder how many of those same US industrialists actually had to solicit clients based on fraudulent claims of connections to high-level Chinese officials.

"Truth is not a commodity in short supply: The problem is, there's very little demand for it." -- ???

BJnerd's picture BJnerd Submitted by Guest on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 14:20

gdbill wrote:
Ah, yes ... Chris Devonshire-Ellis is quite accomplished.

He's an accomplished fraud:

1. The Scottish barony was purchased for about 65,000 pounds sterling and not 'awarded" to him or handed down to him as he implies.

An accomplished liar:

Remember all those periodic personal interviews he had with various Chinese ministers and other high-ranking government officials? They were all lies. Finally it came back to bite him in the rear when the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China publicly labeled him a liar for inventing stuff that never -- ever -- happened.

There are also his claims of being an attorney and even to this day his claims of having a legal degree when the fact is he doesn't even have a university education.

Ah, but he does like his music. Smile

Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, but I grow a bit tired of all of the CDE bashing on the China blogs.

Purchasing of the noble titles is something that has been going on for many, many years. I understand it was fashionable in the earlier part of the last century for the rich US industrialists to marry into the (increasingly broke)aristocratic families in the UK, just to pick up some of these titles.

Newest comments here: http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/new/0

MarshallPlexi's picture MarshallPlexi Submitted by Guest on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 13:55

Being from Melbourne, Australia , we have a very large and strong local music scene. Combination of many types of live venues, pubs, clubs , restaurants , cafes around the city offering live music. Free Street Press Newspapers (Beat & Inpress) every Wednesday available at all Music Stores , Fashion Outlets, CD/DVD Retailers around the city. Each have circulations of over 300,000 copies weekly. These 2 are approx 40+ pages of News, Reviews, Interviews & Large sections in the back of who is playing where that coming week both Local & International Acts. This allows the kids to immediately see who is playing on which day at all venues around town in one paper.

It takes time to establish and grow a scene.You need a combination of all the above to promote and give access to live music for both established and young bands. It also helps if you have Int Acts touring with local bands supporting to get exposure. Beijing is heading in the right direction. Club,Bar & Venue owners need to work together to promote the industry as a whole. Support young bands. It is only through having places to play in front of a live audience that young musicians /bands can hone their skills and get better. Festivals etc also are great and things will develop in the future. Many genre's of music - Electronica, Rock, Blues, Jazz , Folk etc need to develop and grow.I'm sure the local & expate's in Beijing will support it if venues are available around the city to offer these different styles of live music. Once you have a solid live scene you then have overseas acts wanting to come play making it viable for them. When Major Acts come for Australia's Festivals you have spin off gigs where those acts will do solo shows in smaller clubs/bars. Many world class Blues performers have played small clubs in what they call "Sideshows" aside from the large festivals. Indie bands also from overseas. Having the clubs/bars etc works hand in hand with the Festivals to promote live music.

Melbourne's venues also allow the bands to sell their CD's and Merchandise (T-Shirts) etc at the gig,also helping to promote the bands. They employ promoters to promote the upcoming shows at a venue, and also bookers to look for new and interesting bands/performers to book for the venue.

If the everyone supports the local scene and venue owners work together , it will grow which will be great for Beijing. It's a great city of the World and deserves a strong grass roots music scene with world class local bands and performers.

coffeeandtv09's picture coffeeandtv09 Submitted by Guest on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 12:38

Fair criticism of some of the expert's picks, although a lot of them have improved over time. That being said, a cover band is still a cover band. They might be technically proficient, but they're ultimately just part of the scenery.

I guess people probably go out to see the "Beijing Beatles" or whatever, but beyond that I've never known anyone to make any special effort to go watch a band play songs written by other people.

bottle-o's picture bottle-o Submitted by Guest on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 11:37

It's weird, I have driven past this a dozen times but never thought it was a capsule hotel a la Japan, I always just assumed it was a typical case of China abusing a catchphrase/buzzword "Pod" as in iPod.

In your web search you didn't see all those photos of hotel rooms?

http://www.podinns.com/YLMember/YLPhoto

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g294212-d1419747-Reviews-Pod_Inn_Beijing_Zhongguancun-Beijing.html

fatboy's picture fatboy Submitted by Guest on Mon, 09/17/2012 - 23:56

I'm a little disappointed this music focus of thebeijinger has not included the Hard Rock Cafe band. I saw them a few months ago and they played a note-for-note Deep Purple's "Child in Time". Singer sang the high-C climax. Those guys, albeit commercial, are better than most of the experts' "best" bands, as the experts' bands miss too many notes. Also, the experts' choices are compromised by their relationship with chosen bands.