Lucky Cat S7 Ep 9 17th Nov 2012 Podcast

For this episode I ramble on a little and play some vinyl treasures and new digital releases from the UK and China.

Do check out the new album on the hipster Hippos in Tanks label from Vietnamese/Hong Kong/British rapper Triad God aka Vinh Ngan from New Cross, South London. See: http://boomkat.com/vinyl/609720-triad-god-nxb

Playlist

• Police in Helicopter - John Holt(12" vinyl, Greensleeves label)
• Bruce Lee Funeral - Triad God, pictured here(from the album NXB)
• Four Seasons - Josephine Siao Fong Fong
• Kung Fu Battle Inna Brixton - Prince Fatty feat. Horseman(Prince Fatty vs The Drunken Gambler LP)
• Kung Fu Master - Solo Banton (Jahtari label EP Music Addict)
• 黑寡妇之爱 (Hei Gua Fu Zhi Ai) - AM444 (from the new album Rooms)
• Pok - Triad God (from the album NXB on the Hippos in Tanks label)
• Love Without End - Josephine Siao Fong Fong (from the LP The Rhythm of Fong Fong on the EMI label)
• Premier Qiu Spinning Cotton - (Tenor Solos by Li Shuangjiang, China Record Company 10" LP)
• Aint That Loving You - Alton Ellis and Hugh Roy(7" on the Treasure Isle label - B side)
• By the Rivers of Babylon - The Melodians (7" on the Beverley's label)
• All My Tears Come Rolling - Alton Ellis (7" on the Treasure Isle label - A side)
• Why Punish Me Kneel Down - Unknown Chinese singers
• I Feel Good - Roy and Shirley (7" on the Aladdin label)

Dr Anne Witchard on Lucky Cat this Saturday

This Saturday I am joined in the studio by Dr Anne Witchard of the University of Westminster. Anne is the author of Thomas Burke's Dark Chinoiserie: Limehouse Nights and the Queer Spell of Chinatown (Ashgate Publishing, 2009) and co-editor with Lawrence Phillips of London Gothic: Place, Space and the Gothic Imagination(Continuum, 2010).

I will be talking to Anne about her latest book >Lao She in London (Hong Kong University Press 2012) which details the time Chinese writer Lao She spent in london in the 1920s. The book reveals Lao She's encounter with British high modernism and literature from Dickens to Conrad to Joyce as well as his tiem spent in the notorious and much sensationalised East End Chinatown of Limehouse.

Along with her colleague Dr Diana Yeh, Anne has headed up the AHRC funded reserach prject Translating China which has hosted a number of workshops, discusssiona and events.

China in Britain #4 Aesthetics: Visual and Literary Cultures is on Saturday Dec 8th 2012 – Time 9:30:AM – 4:00PM. Entrance is free but booking is essential. For more information see: http://translatingchina.info/ This will be the last episode in Series 7 of Lucky Cat on Resonance 104.4FM.

Exclusive Chris Menist Mix on Today's Lucky Cat

Today's Lucky Cat features an exclusive mix from crate digger extraordinaire Chris Menist (pictured).

You may remember Chris came on the show last series to talk about his compilation of Vietnamese records for Dust to Digital. Chris is now, along with Maft Sai, bringing out vinyl releases of undiscovered nuggets on the labelParadise Bangkok: Zudrangma Reords.

Thank you to Chris for an astounding mix. Track listing to follow....

Nikkatsu & TOHO 1960-1967: An exhibition of Japanese film photography

There is an amazing looking exhibition of Japanese film posters of the 60's that were made in Thailand.
Nikkatsu & TOHO 1960-1967: An exhibition of Japanese film photography

The collection belongs to Tanja Malo who writes:

"the photos I have were used to design film posters & lobby cards in Bangkok in the 60's, but as the film studios were making less and less money due t o the popularity of television, the work space shown in the magazine were eventually abandoned. Until this young Thai man Noi (found or inherited it? not sure) starting selling the posters on a little soi (skinny street) in Bangkok.

I was living in Bangkok at the time (2007) always looking for old unusual stuff in street stalls & flea markets, and was a regular to this stall of 60's posters. Noi spoke very little English and I speak little Thai, so our ways of communicating were extremely limited.

The exhibition (on a whim, we decided just a couple of weeks ago to do this) will be a bit of a discovery, hopefully someone who knows more than me about the actors will come. The composition and colouring (and style!) is what attracted me to them first, that rather than a particular interest in Japanese film.

Also the whole thing with abandoned places, how a treasure like that can survive in a humid Bangkok room for 50 years. Looking at the sad effects of innovation, I wonder how many more forgotten rooms like that are in the world, and how much is thrown away. First time I asked seller Noi what the pile of photos just sitting on the asphalted sidewalk were, he just waved and meant it was "just rubbish"."

The exhibition is at at MOKA, 5 Wightman Road, N4 1RQ London, UK.

Opens tomorrow 22nd November!

See http://tanjamalo.tumblr.com/ for more details.

Thanks to Tanja Malo for the images and info.

Lucky Cat S7 Ep 8 10th Nov 2012 Podcast - Soft Film Jukebox

Taiwan girl group Mimi Tsai & The Five Petals Band As featured on the the Soft Film Jukebox: Vintage Vinyl from Hong Kong, Singapore & Taiwan (1957-73).

Please see my previous post for the full track listing. The cover of Yesterday is phenomenal!

Dave will be posting a full liner notes on his blog soon so don't forget to check on http://softfilm.blogspot.co.uk/

For more beautiful 45 covers and images of featured artists see: http://softfilm.tumblr.com

A truly wonderful mix - enjoy listening! Thanks again DD.

Soft Film Jukebox Tracklisting

Soft Film Jukebox: Vintage Vinyl from Hong Kong, Singapore & Taiwan (1957-73)

• The Queen Envoy 王昭君 by Tong Pei Pei 董佩佩 (1957)
• The Choice of A Lover 愛的抉擇 by Lui Hung 呂紅 (1964)
• 情種 [The Affectionate Type] by Fong Sam 方心 (ca. 1967)
• 鼓舞新生 [Encouraging a New Life] by Chun Long 俊郎 (ca. 1967)
• Three Flowers of the Factory 工廠三小姐 by Ting Ying 丁瑩, Lydia Shum 沈殿霞 & Lee Chan Chan 李真真 (1967)
• 賣花姑娘 [The Flower Girl] by Josephine Siao 蕭芳芳 (1966)
• Chivalrous Girl in the Air 空中女殺手 by Connie Chan 陳寶珠 (1967)
• 愛情滋味 [The Taste of Romance] by Josephine Siao & Connie Chan (1966)
• You Are the One I Love 我的愛人就是你 by Josephine Siao 蕭芳芳 & Pearl Au 歐嘉慧 (1967)
• Sixteen Candles by Ruby Wah 華怡保 (ca. 1967)
• 為甚麼我們要分手 [Why Must We Break Up?] by Chang Lye Lye 張萊萊 (1967)
• 一路順風 [Have a Pleasant Journey] by Doris Ang & The Sandboys 洪佩佩聖童樂隊伴奏 (ca. 1968)
• 咪咪貓 [Mimi the Cat] by Mimi Tsai and the Five Petals Band 蔡咪咪與五花瓣合唱團 (ca. 1968)
• 風流郎君 [The Playboy Prince] Yang Li Hua 楊麗花 (ca. 1969)
• 多少思念無從寄 [Inexpressible Longings] by Teresa Teng 鄧麗君 (ca. 1973)
• 王昭君 [Wang Zhao Jun] by Yao Su Rong 姚蘇蓉 (1971)
• 想起你可愛的笑容 [Thinking of Your Lovely Smile] by Lena Lim 林竹君 (1969)

Thank you Dave!

Soft Film Jukebox on Lucky Cat this Saturday

Soft Film Jukebox
Vintage Vinyl from Hong Kong, Singapore & Taiwan (1957-73)

This week's show features a guest mix from the vinyl collection of David Wells (aka Durian Dave). Dave is a blogger who has written extensively on Chinese cinema and has an impressive collection of movie memoribilia.

moviefanprincess.com was Dave's first web site, dedicated to Hong Kong singer, actress and 1960s teen idol Connie Chan Pao Chu.
Dave then went on to create softfilm.blogspot.co.uk: "Exploring the ephemeral past of Chinese entertainment from Hong Kong, the U.S.A., and around the world: vaudeville pioneers, flappers, aviatrices, burlesque dancers, hula hoopers, movie queens, sex bombs, jade girls, tomboys, pin-ups, sour beauties, girl jocks, swordswomen, and go-go girls." Accompanied by the tumblr: http://softfilm.tumblr.com/

His latest obsession is Taiwanese auteur and actress Pearl Chang, see: fuckyeahpearlchang.tumblr.com/

Tomorrow's mix features a marvellous selection of vintage Singaporean, Chinese & Taiwanese vinyl goodies from the vaults of a Sinophile extraordinaire. Thanks Dave! Tune in at 3.30pm GMT on Resonance 104.4FM

DJing @ Mango Landin' Fri 16th Nov

Dust off your dancing shoes for a night of pure musical niceness. Facebook Event Page

Lucky Cat S7 Ep 7 3rd Nov 2012 Podcast & Play list

Here's last Saturday's show.

Playlist:

• London is the Place for Me - Lord Kitchener (used as backing audio for the Between East and West oral extracts then played).
• Lies - AM444 from the Shanghai duo's new album Rooms
• Worried Over You - Keith and Enid
• Ten Commandments of Love - Harvey and the Moonglows
• Cow Cow Boogie - Ella Fitzgerald And The Ink Spots
• I Love Boh Boh Cha Cha - The Stylers With Johnny Teo
• How Long Do I Have To Dub For You - Sharon Jones And The Dapkings Remixed By Ticklah
• I Wanna Love Him So Bad - The Jellybeans
• Baar Baar Dekho - Mohd. Rafi
• Solider Baby - Candy And The Kisses
• Go Go Track - Josephine Siao Fong Fong
• Vietnamese track - from Hot Women Singers from the Torrid Regions Robert Crumb compilation CD)
• Song of the Fisherman 漁光曲(一) - Wang Ren-mei王人美

British East Asian Actors Group

Statement from the newly formed British East Asian Actors group:

RE: The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
The Orphan of Zhao

"For more than three weeks, we have protested to the RSC and the Arts Council England about the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of the Chinese classic The Orphan of Zhao.

Our concern is that there are only three actors of East Asian descent in a cast which consists mainly of Caucasians but no other Asians. This does not, in our opinion, represent "multi-cultural casting" as the RSC insists it is."
The statement then goes on to identify key issues.....
"It is clear to us that there is an industry-wide problem regarding the opportunities available for East Asian actors. Too often, actors from our background can only access auditions for poorly-written and stereotyped roles on television that require a heavy emphasis on being "foreign" as opposed to being integrated and three-dimensional members of British society. In the theatre, with the occasional rare exception, we are shut out completely from all but community and children's theatre, with opportunities to appear in classical and mainstream drama extremely rare.

We welcome a time when actors can play across race, gender, class or disability. However, this can only meaningfully occur on a level playing field to which we must ensure we have fair access.

As a publicly-funded company, the RSC has a responsibility to reflect the make-up of society. In order to tear down the limitation on East Asian actors, it is our heartfelt wish to see far more active outreach to our sector. When the Harry Potter film franchise was casting for an actress to play Cho Chang, applicants queued around the block, disproving the notion that people from East Asian backgrounds have no interest in the performing arts. At present, the message being sent out to young people from East Asian backgrounds is that a career on the stage is not available to them.

We welcome greatly the closing paragraph from the RSC's most recent statement on the subject:

"We acknowledge that there is always more to do and recognise our responsibility in this area. We want to explore the rich seam of Chinese drama further, and engage more often with Chinese and East Asian actors. We want to integrate them more regularly on our stages and hope that this production, and indeed this debate, will be a catalyst for that process." "

The statement then makes requests which include an apology, a public discussion forum, 
ethnic monitoring of auditionees for both race-specific and non-race-specific roles and for that data to be freely available and see a clear measurable target in terms of engaging and developing East Asians actors.  Also it is requested that there are no "professional reprisals" in light of any recent comments made by actors in response to the casting of The Orphan of Zhao.

The British East Asian Actors group comprises of:

Daniel York – Vice Chair, Equity Minority Ethnic Members’ Committee
Anna Chen
Dr. Broderick D.V. Chow - Lecturer in Theatre, Brunel University, London
Kathryn Golding
Paul Hyu – Artistic Director, Mu Lan Theatre Co; member of Equity Minority Ethnic Members’ Committee
Michelle Lee
Chowee Leow
Hi Ching – Artistic Director, River Cultures
Jennifer Lim
Lucy Miller – Associate Director, True Heart Theatre
Dr. Amanda Rogers - Lecturer in Human Geography, Swansea University

To read the full statement and keep updated please visit the British East Asian Actors Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/British-East-Asian-Actors/480464755326586?ref=hl

The RSC have now responded to this statement.  They have stated:
"Equity and the RSC have committed to working together to identify action that can be taken across the industry to bring East Asian talent to the attention of casting directors and to promote the employment of East Asian performers. The RSC lent its support to Equity’s call for an industry- wide event designed to facilitate greater understanding of the particular issues affecting the casting of East Asian performers, and how the industry can best address issues of invisibility."

To read the full statement please see the RSC Facebook Page.

On today's Lucky Cat I speak to Daniel York about the RSC controversy and the BEA actors group statement.  Tune in at 3.30pm 104.4FM or via resonancefm.com