so on a serious wander through the wikiforest and blogosphere, i landed at the demise of disco and the birth of house music. apparently that started in Chicago, one of my least favorite cities.
this track comes correct though. static intact.
Z-Factor - The DJ (Remix of the Remix) - Dub Mix
Also, I can’t resist PSA’s, especially when they’re from Canada.
Something wild went down at a convenience store near People’s Square yesterday. At least once a week, I stroll this street’s mix of showy chinese restaurants for government officials and business people, street hawkers (lots of stuffed animals), and massage parlors. Literally everyone smokes on this street, all the time. I go for the RMB30($4.50)/70 minute massages. Unlike any other massage parlor I’ve visited, body massages take place in an open room of eight beds where everyone can chat/annoy others with their barking cellphone conversations. The staff, who wear matching pink Brickbear t-shirts, all come from Jiangxi province, as does the owner.
On my way to my second massage of the weekend, I stopped in a All Days (convienence store) for a water, and in bursts a far-past-prime woman in her fourties donning a drab masseuses’ uniform and a reasonably attractive girl, maybe 19, in suggestive casual attire despite the cold and far too much make up. In a hurry, they asked to examine three or four bottles of lotion, bickering about the price (the most expensive was RMB7/$1.03) before becoming clearly fed up and storming out. Through the automatic door I heard “Ni Ganma!?” (What are you doing!?) and I turned to see the young girl yanking the older one to stop her from digging through a garbage can. Then they walked into a massage parlor that appeared to offer a higher degree of privacy.
d00d, hip hop was so much better back in the day…
.
Showbiz and A.G. - Fat Pockets
Showbiz and A.G. - Soul Clap
How much can I sell these for in Michigan? $200? $400? Probably more if I say I got them from Japan, not China. I’ll probably just loiter outside the Urban Outfitters in East Lansing and slang these like Clipse slang white.
Sorry for the lack of posts these past few days. Been too caught up in money making scams like this.
Can’t do 5am nights twice in a row, so tonight I just ate jiaozi and drank sweet plum wine at my boss’s house, then broke down and bought a space-heater/radiator shopping at Lotus (no longer shopping at Carrefour, as I’ve decided to boycott all things french, sans the deli across the street). Must eat goat cheese…
Too bad this space heater sucks and it’s impossible to return anything in China.
Sorry to bitch about weather again, but to all the Shanghainese who complain about Shanghai’s “special” cold weather that’s fictionally particular to this city, try a) not building apartments out of concrete and dust, b) insulating them, c) using double pane windows.
Going back to Michigan for a few weeks in a month. Ummmm, Jennifer Granholm, what’s up with the Robocop project? Michigan’s pretty much falling apart, it seems about time to send a potentially unpredictably robot in to clean up the streets a bit. Just don’t send this model.
I’m willing to pour all of my dirty RMB into that. If not I’m just gonna buy nine houses for $48 altogether and ride that out until I can get a one way ticket to Crete.
I downloaded seven of Pitchfork’s “best of 2008″ albums, but haven’t found anything really worth posting yet. Still sifting through. Until then, it’s my all time favorite Italo-disco track.
Mr. Flagio - Take A Chance
Fuck air conditioners in China. Instead of blowing nice, warm air into my room to combat the frigid cold that plagues the city this time of year, mine blows hot dust, fungi, and other construction materials into my room. So now I’m mad sick, in an antibiotic haze. I went to the Taiwanese hospital yesterday, and accidentally went to the local Chinese hospital first. “First we take your temperature,” says the woman at the desk as she pulls a thermometer from a bucket of murky black water. “Is this the Taiwanese hospital?” I ask wearily. “Oh no, that’s next door.”
Side note: Fuck all the Canadians who walk around smugly, saying “it’s not that cold.” I’m from close to Lake Michigan, where it gets well below zero with snow so deep that only an antler and liters of blood tell us what just caused our insurance premium to skyrocket. Shanghai gets cold, and combined with terrible insulation/no central heating, it can get miserable.
Luckily there’s something happy to write about - Youzi! (Pomelo)
My new favorite fruit. Sour with lots of citrus and sometimes as big as soccer ball, it’s like a better grapefruit. The first time I bought this from the fruit dealer down the street, the dude asked me to translate a sketchy text message that said
“I’ve just transferred 1000 Kyat from bank of Myanmar.”
Here’s the inside of a Youzi I cut open with a Rambo knife.
And here’s a electrofunk injection from 1982.
Tyrone Brunson - The Smurf
For some reason, an editor at City Weekend felt the need to make several retarded edits on some promotional material for tonight’s show, including referring to the genre Italo-disco as “‘Italo’ disco.” They also changed the word “crunkness” to “crunchiness.” Perhaps they didn’t know that we’re living in a post-urban dictionary world. Anyway, I stumbled upon the Internet equivalent of a bum in the alley selling old records for crack money, except it’s the Internet so they’re completely free! Peep this Italo classic.
Mr. Master - Dog In The Night
Also, I can’t play this tonight, but it’s priceless
It’s Wednesday, which means the love explosion goes down tomorrow. Mad, mad thanks to Nan Nan for helping me navigate Taobao (the Chinese eBay, ish) and get a Maya 44 sound card shipped overnight from Jiangsu province. Unlike the real eBay, where some dude might just promise to send something then take the cash and spend it feeding his twelve kids Chef Boyardee for a few weeks, Taobao holds the buyer’s money in escrow until the correct goods arrive.
Excellent Chromeo remix by one of my favorites at the moment, LA Riots
Chromeo - Bonafide Lovin’ (LA Riots Remix)
Also, for those wondering what the fuck Baile Funk is:
Sinden + Count Of Monte Cristal Featuring MC Thiaguinho - Tamborzuda (Sin Rave Mix)
Just stumbled upon an absolute goldmine of italo-disco while reading about the French collective Valerie. Side note, the more I listen to “Tour De France,” I’ve realized that so much modern hip hop, dance, etc. comes from that single track. I’ve also heard it sampled about twenty times in the last week.
Heatwolves! and Mau Mau party on Thursday at windows UNDERGROUND on Nanjing Xi Lu. Expect to hear a lot of excessively-danceable tracks, old and new (think Archie Bell, Fake Blood, ESG, Soul Sonic Force, LA Riots, and other non sequiturs). Also, Yao Ming, Jack London, and Nikolai Gogol are stopping by. I told Yao to hide some 40’s of Steel Reserve in his coat when he comes so Mau Mau and I can get extra crunk when we destroy our equipment and buy more to stimulate the global economy.
There’s so much lamb near the club too. So if you don’t like the music we play (fucking unlikely), you can go nibble on kabobs until your stomach lining crumbles.
I got another great answer to a homework question in my English class today. We’re studying how to give and request advice now, and for homework I asked everyone to write two questions to an imaginary advice column. Today in class my students switched questions and wrote responses, here’s my favorite:
Dear ESL Class,
“I can’t sleep well at night, because my neighbor’s dogs are too loud. They always bark when they hear any sound. I told to my neighbor many times but it doesn’t work. I want to move to another house. However, it cost me too much money. So how should I do?”
(Response)
“everyday you can’t sleep well? You hear the dogs sound and call police and complain of a pain. another way is if you visited neighbor’s house you hit the dog and write paper and attach on the elevator”
I then asked this Korean student “what would you write on the sign?” and he responed “I write ‘beware, next time I beat dog, very strong’”
