Friday, June 24, 2011

Recently, on The Barstool...

Gosh, it's been 7 weeks since I last did one of these roundups. There must have been lots going on over on the dark side in that time. Let me go and have a rummage through the archive...



Well, the first half of May was largely preoccupied with the looming round of polls in the expat magazines to determine Beijing's supposedly 'best' bars and restaurants. The Beijinger magazine's Bar Awards particularly vex me - I made suggestions for improving them, predicted the winners (with somewhat mixed accuracy!), and listed my own picks for nominations and winners in the main categories.

There was a brief spasm of excitement on May 24th, when long-time follower 'Gary' claimed the accolade of becoming The Barstool's 50,000th officially recorded visitor.

Then, in one of my trademark 'curmudges', I itemised the reasons why I have become so disenchanted over the past 18 months or so with music bar Dos Kolegas (previously one of my favourite hangouts in this city) - although I still wished them well for their 6th anniversary party at the end of the month.

June started most unhappily.... with me being forced to miss one of my favourite bands - Canada's finest, the Cowboy Junkies - performing in Beijing because I was almost dying of dehydration. That was the worst organised music festival I've ever been to (and I've been to some bad ones, especially in China).

I have discoursed further on the subject of hangovers (don't believe in 'em!). And we have seen the return of THE COIN.

On the music front, we've had a little blast of '80s nostalgia with Billy Idol, and just a couple of days ago I posted a ravishing demonstration of musical technique from the outrageously talented (and very beautiful) pipa player, Lan Weiwei.


Quite a lot to ponder on there. I particularly recommend the Lan Weiwei post - breathtaking.


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