I took part in the 2009 West Lake Music Festival as a guitar-player in 'Zuo Bin and the band' on Thursday, May 28th. It was fuckin' cool when we performing and the audience were all excited.
We played 5 original songs and covered the brilliant Knockin' On Heaven's Door (G N' R version) in the end. For some reason the voice of my 2nd solo sounds not right, but it's still OK, I think.
Now here are some videoes recorded by Sohu.com:
Last month I went to Phuket Island, Thailand with my wife to spend my holiday. It was a wonderful trip.
I booked a single room in the Lamai Guesthouse for my accommodation through the internet. Although the hotel is not very close to the main beach, it's very cheap and the attendants are very kind. It costed me only 600 Baht (25 dollars) per day, and I could get free internet access there. If you want, you could rent a motorbike which is very familiar in Phuket and I think the price is about 150 Baht per day.
There are about 7 or 8 beaches around the Phuket Island and they are not very far away with each other - you can get one from another in 20 minutes by motorbike. The most famous one is Patong Beach, but our favourite is Karon Beach because it's too crowded and flourishing in Patong. We enjoyed the peaceful and clean beach in Karon.
Many tourists go to Phi-Phi Island for diving and snorkeling. It is an amazing island which has gorgeous scenery. The price is about 1,000 Baht (35 dollars) for one person/one day from Phuket to Phi-Phi, which includes free drinks and a buffet lunch. We spent a night on the island.
Well, of course we ate seafood endlessly! Tong-Yam-Kong is also recommended.
Last Thursday I performed as the lead guitar player in a band named 'Zuo Bin and the band'. The songs Zuo writes are like 80's hair metal, awesome.
Star Live is the biggest livehouse in Beijing and it's the place when Testament performed in China. This concert is a R 'N' R celebration ran by Sohu.com and Redbull. 8 bands and 2 famous Chinese rock stars (Zheng Jun & Zhang Chu) performed and it was really high. The style are various with each other, metal, pop, folk, hard rock, post punk, low fi, even hip-hop.
We played 2 songs of Zuo, 'What can I do' and 'Perfect world'. 'What can I do' is a fair-sounding love song, like Brian Adams' style and 'Perfect world' is a heavy, riffs-and-howling-and-solos rock song. When we performing the audience were jumping and screaming, it's very nice.
Recently I mail-ordered a card game named Lost Cities (designed by Reiner Knizia in 1999) from Hongkong. It's a simple and dapper two-player game, not like the Axis & Allies and Risk needing several players, or the War of the Ring costing 2-3 hours to play.
The object of Lost Cities is to mount profitable expeditions to one or more of the five different lost cities (the Himalayas, the ever-shifting sands of the desert, the Brazilian rain forest, ancient volcanoes and in Neptune's realm). Card play is quite straightforward, with a few agonizing moments sprinkled through what is mostly a fast-moving game. If you start a given expedition, you'd better make some progress in it, or it'll score you negative points. If you can make a lot of progress, you'll score quite well. After three rounds, the highest total score takes the day.
Here's a introduction from Board Games with Scott:
Finally, our Axl Rose agrees to put on sale this CD album which has been produced for about TEN years. 'Chinese Democracy' will be released in 00:00 on November 23th. G N' R's MySpace blog is changed into a red-carpet and luxury special page to presale the album, and we can listen to the FULL album cause it's streaming now.
And here's the address of their Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/gunsnroses
Well I heard a lot on their MySpace, and I have to admit that Axl did a great job on this album. Some songs are really awesome just like those in 'Use Your Illusions' although Axl's voice has lost a step. It's a solid effort from Axl Rose, but I think this is a little far away from his originally industrial music dream (the reason why he fell out from Slash).
Slash, Duff and Matt have recently released their 2nd album 'Libertad' and it's a really hard rock masterpiece. Someone said it would be nice to have Slash and Duff on a few tracks in 'Chinese Democracy', but I think it might take hades to freeze over for that to happen. Let's wait and see what happens on Axl's this album.
Some Chinese people shouted out that this album should be burned out for the song 'Chinese Democracy', because it denigrates China. What a spoffish saying. it looks as if you can't blame anything in China, or else you're insulting Chinese people. As a Chinese I'm really ashamed of those BLIND patriotic fools.
The band Today had a celebration concert for releasing their first album, 'Feeling in Garden'. For the purpose of performing perfect, the band had 8 members this time (5 guest-musicians, so luxury): singer, 2 wooden guitars, lead guitar, bass, keyboard, drum and a chorist. And I played the lead guitar for them.
As Lau and Wei(the song writers of Today) wished, the concert was perfect. About 300 audience came to MAO Livehouse even it was not weekend. It was crowded and we played well, and there were lots of people bought the CD after the concert (I got a CD for free, and the serial number is 0906, it's my birthday number).
You can see some live videos here: http://www.douban.com/video/569/
Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows
The West Wind comes walking, and about the walls it goes.
'What news from the West, O wandering wind, do you bring to me tonight?
Have you seen Boromir the Tall by moon or by starlight?'
'I saw him ride over seven streams, over waters wide and grey;
I saw him walk in empty lands, until he passed away
Into the shadows of the North. I saw him then no more.
The North Wind may have heard the horn of the son of Denethor.'
'O Boromir! From the high walls westward I looked afar,
But you came not from the empty lands where no men are.'
穿过罗罕越过沼泽和旷野的草莽，
西风漫步而来在墙头逡巡回荡。
“噢！游荡的风你今晚带来什么西方的信息？
你可曾见到博罗米尔高高的身影披着星月之光？”
“我看见他乘风踏浪飞过七条河水辽阔茫茫；
我看见他走在空旷的原野直到身影消失；
在那北方的阴影中从此音讯渺茫。
北风也许听过德内索尔的儿子把号角吹响。”
“噢！博罗米尔！我从那高墙上遥遥西望，
那空寂无人的旷野再也没有你的足音回响。”
From the mouths of the Sea the South Wind flies, from the sandhills and the stones;
The wailing of the gulls it bears, and at the gate it moans.
'What news from the South, O sighing wind, do you bring to me at eve?
Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve.'
'Ask not of me where he doth dwell - so many bones there lie
On the white shores and the dark shores under the stormy sky;
So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea.
Ask of the North Wind news of them the North Wind sends to me!'
'O Boromir! Beyond the gate the seaward road runs south,
But you came not with the wailing gulls from the grey sea's mouth.'
南风从大海的出口从沙丘和岩石处吹来，
它在门前呻吟着带着海鸥的鸣声呜咽悲哀。
“噢！叹息的风儿你今夜有什么消息从南方带来？
英俊的博罗米尔他在哪里？迟迟不来令我悲哀。”
“请勿问我他在何处滞留——暴风雨的天空下，
黑海岸和白海岸都躺着无数的尸骸。
你去问问北风吧，是它告诉我他们的消息——
千万具遗骨从安杜因河漂向奔腾的大海。”
“噢！博罗米尔！门前的道路通往海滨朝南而开，
你不再随着海鸥的哀鸣从灰蒙蒙的大海归来。”
From the Gate of Kings the North Wind rides, and past the roaring falls;
And clear and cold about the tower its loud horn calls.
'What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring to me today?
What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.'
'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought.
His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought.
His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest;
And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.'
'O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze
To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.'
从诸王之门北风刮来越过轰鸣的瀑布，
寒冷而清晰传来高塔上的号角声嘹亮。
“噢！强劲的风你今天给我带来什么北方的消息？
勇敢的博罗米尔怎样了？他久已去往远方。”
“我在阿蒙翰听见他的呼喊，他在那里力搏众敌。
他的断剑和破碎的盾牌卷入大河的波涛。
他的头高傲的扬起，容貌安详，四肢平放。
劳罗斯啊，那金色的瀑布张开怀抱把他带上。”
“噢！博罗米尔！守护之塔将永远朝北遥望，
注视着劳罗斯那金色的瀑布直到地老天荒。”
Yesterday I heard from Xiao that the singer of Smartkin, Xia, had already quit from the band, and Xiao himself was looking for a new singer. Maybe it's a bursting news for the band's fans, but as a guest guitarist of Smartkin, I know it's forseeable and unavoidable. Ah but it's still lamented!
Xiao is the song-writer and the lead-guitar player in Smartkin and Xia the girl was the singer. They both and I are old friends for more than 10 years. We played in several bands with each other in Wuhan, then Xiao and Xia formed Smartkin in 2002 and get a contract from the biggest record publishing company of the time, Modern Sky. When their first album was published Xiao went back to Wuhan, the band paused for 5 years. In 2007 Xiao came back to Beijing and was ready to turn over a new page. They wrote about 10 new songs and became popular again. As a friend of them I played the rhythm guitar when they performing on the stage. We have performed for about 20-30 times in Beijing and Wuhan and those were really wonderful days.
But there was a conflict between Xiao and Xia. Xiao has no job and he thought that the band was everything, he wanted to do anything for Smartkin. But the girl Xia has her own life, and she has a full-time job. She thought the band is only a part of her life. So they usually quarrelled with each other about the affair of Smartkin. Sometimes I can do something between these two guys to ease the pressure, but actually I can do nothing about the situation.
So it happened. I really don't wanna see this but what can I do. The good news is the band has already endded the agreement with Modern Sky and they're free now. Xiao is going to record the guitar and bass' parts in Bridge Studio (run by Tom Lau) and the same time, looking for a new girl to take the place of Xia. Well I wish god bless him.
James bought the The War of the Ring board game from England for me. It costs me 420 Yuan.
The War of the Ring strategic board game allows players to experience the dramatic event and epic conflict that occureed before the end of the Third Age of Middle Earth. It allows players to not only control the military might of Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and the forces of Sauron, but also Tolkien's legendary characters, making the fateful decisions of the Fellowship of the Ring or guiding the dreadful servants of Sauron as they hunt for the Ring-bearer. The War of the Ring is usually playable in under three hours but can last longer if played with more than two players.
This enormous game includes a gameboard depicting a large color map of Middle Earth; 200+ plastic figures representing the Armies and Characters of the Lord of the Rings, including the Nazgul, each member of the Fellowship of the Ring, Shadow Army units, Free People Army and Leader units and Minions of the Shadow; 135 die-cut cardboard counters; 100+ cards for Events and Characters; and over 20 dice.
Smartkin, the band in which I playing guitar, was invited by whrock.com to perform in "Wuhan Rock Festival" during the National days. You know that's pretty nice cause the 4 members of Smartkin are all from Wuhan. That means we can get free tickets to go back to hometown and enjoy the holiday.
And of course, the performance was wonderful. We met lots of old friends, and Gao (he's the singer of my former band, a talent photographer) took tons of photos for us.
You can see those photos in my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/messbook/sets/72157611945464246/
Posts
All Comments
