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(post
:title "One Night In Beijing"
:date (string->date* "2010-07-14 00:00")
:tags '("music" "youku" "video" "show")
(p [When I noticed that the online voting system for the big Niuren
2010 event was not to be trusted, I was pretty convinced not be
one of those chosen to perform on stage in Bejing. In order to
be sure, I wrote a message to my friend at Youku. Some hours
later I was informed that disregarding the number of the votes
(which did turn out to be comparatively high in the end) I was
supposed to be invited to give a performance on the Stick. After
all formal issues were agreed upon, I prepared to leave for
Beijing on Sunday morning with the Chapman Stick in tow.])
(p [When I arrived at the venue I was surprised to find the stage to
be a lot larger than I anticipated.])
(wide-img "niuren2010_beijing_stage.jpg"
"The stage in Beijing")
(p [When it was time for my soundcheck the clouds had formed a dark
opaque blanket across the unattractive skies of Beijing and at
times rain drops mixed with the soil on the vast meadow to form
squishy mud. The crew seemed to marvel at the impression of
hearing two instruments’ sounds, each articulated by one
individual hand on its own set of strings but on one
instrument.])
(p [At about ten o’clock in the evening, the show began. It only
lasted for about 15 minutes as the occasional rain proceeded to
grow into drowning vertical streams of water. The stage was
lacking any sort of rain protection and it didn’t take long until
the stage lights went off as the cables were drenched.])
(p [The show was eventually cancelled which only made sense
considering that most of the mud-dwellers in front of the stage
had given up their hopes for better weather and had left the
premises in shoals.])
(p [Disappointed we returned to the hotel. When finally everybody
had returned we discussed with the organizers how to proceed, how
to salvage the investment. At first the idea was going around to
stage the event on Monday evening, without an audience, just
recording and pretending it all happened the day before. This
idea was soon discarded, though, when the organizers learned that
most of had would be flying back home on Monday morning. A
compromise was found when the decision was made to record
individual performances—or rather very pale and primitive
versions of what was originally planned—in the lobby of the
hotel.])
(figure "niuren2010_beijing_lobby.jpg"
"Recording video clips in the hotel lobby at 2am")
(p [These clips—all of which were recorded between two and three
a.m.—are supposed to serve as teasers for the actual show which
has now been postponed to some time in August or September. I
will add the links to those video clips in the next few days,
provided I can find them. A new entry will be posted once the
date for the postponed show in Beijing has been confirmed.])
(p [,(strong [Update (July 29):]) The short video clip has been
uploaded. You can ,(ref
"http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTkzMzc1NDI4.html" "watch it on
youku").])
(p [,(strong [Update:]) Gao Ming interviewed the participants during
the preparations of the show. There is a 25+ minutes ,(ref
"http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg5NzMwNDI4.html" "video clip on
youku"). At about 2:40 he comes across the table where I am
relaxing with other participants.]))
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