Siao Fong Fong and Pals - Hong Kong Girl Group Tastic

Scooterworks Thai New Year Party

Here are some pics from the Songkran party at Scooterworks. Find more here: http://www.nickgwyer.com/sw/
Thanks to Nick and Karen for their happy snapping.

Five Circles Festival continues 18th April

Chinatown Arts Space present the second performance from their Five Circles Festival. (The first was the Dragon Tongue Squad, Kevin Quan and Suki Mok show). At the Royal Opera House once again:

Classic Film, Contemporary Score (UK/China)
Friday 18 April 2008, 8pm
Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House
£12 Adults, £8 Students & ROH Access List, £5 Standing

World premiere by four British Chinese composer/musicians Chi2, Jiang Li and Kimho Ip of an exciting new score for the award-winning Chinese silent movie Song of the Fishermen (1934).

Royal Opera House Box Office: 020 7304 4000
Online booking: www.roh.org.uk

Playlist Tuesday 25th March 2008

• Introduction - Welcome To Thailand - Thai Pop Spectacular 1960s-1980s
  
• Crazy 4 Hip Hop - Dragon Tongue Squad
  
• Yellow Bird - Rita & Sakura
  
• How Sentimental Can I Be - The Mellows & Lillian Leach
  
• Bye Bye Seventeen - Poon Sow Keng
  
• Lullabye of the Bells - The Deltaires
  
• Ding Dong Song - Siao Fong Fong (pictured in her role as Jet Li's Mum in Fong Sai Yuk - one of my favourite movies)
  
• Lung Dee Kee Mao (Uncle Dee is a Drunk) - P.Promdan
  
• You Better Stop - Lavern Baker
  
• What's the Use of Getting Sober - Louis Jordan
  
• Bye Bye Boogie - Amos Milburn
  
• Dusty Old Dust - Woody Guthrie
  
• Zaijian - Siao Fong Fong
  
• Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye - Pat Kelly
  
• Farewell My Darling - Eugene Paul
  
• Bye Bye Blackbird - Etta James
  

That was the last Lucky Cat of the current series. I will return to the airwaves.....in 6 months or so, to be updated on this and other Lucky Cat events join the mailing list by emailing me luckycatzoe at gmail.com

Lucky Cat Thai New Year Party @ Scooterworks

Malaysia's Elvis - Les Lee

Recent purchase. Will be played on tomorrow night's show. Nice cravat Les.

Manhua! CHINA COMICS NOW

Manhua or Chinese comics can be found on display at the London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle. See the China Now web site for more details.
The image to the left is by Chinese comic veteran Nie Chongrui.
Alex Fitch is fetauring the exhibition on his Resonance FM radio show Strip! on Thursday 13th March. Tune in on 104.4FM in London or at www.resonancefm.com anywhere.
Hey, don't forget to listen to my show, Lucky Cat, too - 10pm Tuesdays on Resonance FM.

Playlist Tuesday 4th March 2008

• Honey How you Like Your Eggs - Marseille Figs (from the latest CD The Dirty Canon available to buy now see http://www.marseillefigs.org for details)
  
• Spring in Fairyland - Unknown Chinese singer from LP of the same name
  
• Dirty Little Monkey - Marseille Figs
  
• Girly, Girly - Sophia George
  
• Police Officer - Smiley Culture
  
• Push Up U Lighter - Top Cat
  
• This Town Needs a Sheriff - Shut Up & Dance
  
• Honemade Aishite - Rita & Sakura
  
• Harbour Lights - Billy Ward & His Dominoes feat. Clyde McPhatter & Jackie Wilson
  
• Don't Fall Asleep at the Wheel - Marseille Figs
  
• Get Out My Life Woman - Lee Dorsey
  
• Monkey Spanner - Dave & Ansel Collins
  

Tonight's Dim Sum Lunch Box featured steamed rice buns filled with black sesame syrup coated with crumbled cashew nuts and coconut. Yum. These little dim sum delicacies were from Dragon Castle restaurant in Elephant & Castle, London SE17.

Playlist Tuesday 26th February 2008

• Good Ways - Sizzla
  
• Japanese title - Mizuhara Hiroshi from Seishun uta nenkan '61 BEST (1960's J-Pop)
  
• I Yi Yi Yi - Carmen Miranda
  
• Pirate Jenny - Nina Simone
  
• Fire Bun - Louie Culture
  
• Pickin' Off Peanuts - Seven Foot Dilly and his Dill Pickles
  
• Japanese title - Nagai Frank from Seishun uta nenkan '62 BEST
  
• Three of These Things - Susan from Funk Soul Sisters LP
  
• Japanese title - Ai George Seishun uta nenkan '65 BEST
  
• Shotgun Wedding - Roy C
  
• Passion Flower - The Peanuts (Japanese girl duo, pictured)
  
• Old Black Magic - Louis Prima & Keeley Smith
  
• You Can Have Him - Nina Simone
  
• Kitty, Stop Meowing - Beijing Angelic Choir (played whilst eating dim sum lunch box - Chinese peanut satay and Chinese chicken livers, recipes to follow....)
  
  

East Asian Artists Wanted

LONDON CHINATOWN - PUBLIC ART COMMISSION OPPORTUNITIES

As part of the Chinatown Arts Festival 2008: Five Circles, London based arts organisation Chinatown Arts Space (CAS), and Chinatown’s principal landowner, Shaftesbury PLC, are working in creative partnership to commission two major new pieces of exciting public art for London's Chinatown.

HORSE & DOLPHIN YARD : MURAL COMMISSION
WHO: East Asian* artists born or resident in the UK are invited to submit proposals
VALUE: £6,000
WHAT: Create a vibrant contemporary artwork suitable for external display for 2 years.

WARDOUR STREET : SCULPTURE COMMISSION
WHO: All East Asian* artists worldwide are invited to submit proposals
VALUE: £20,000
WHAT: Create a permanent eye-catching three-dimensional artwork in any medium that is
suitable to withstand the elements.

NOTE THE DEADLINE HAS NOW BEEN EXTENDED:
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: 28th MARCH 2008


Full entry details of the requirements for submission of proposals, and the specifics of each site, can be downloaded from www.chinatownartsspace.com. For more information, please contact Parker Harris on T. +44 (0)1372 462190 or E. cas@parkerharris.co.uk

*East Asia includes: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, North Korea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and their diasporas

Dragon Tongue Squad

The DTS came on last week's Lucky Cat radio show and 'mashed it up' with their freestyling! I was very impressed with their skills and later I found out that J-Fever is the freestyle champion of China. Thanks to DJ Geko for providing an excellent selection of beats for Dragon Tongue Squad. I went to see the performance at the Royal Opera House which was pretty good but I think having them on the show freestyling was a better experience, I hope you all enjoyed listening. If you missed the show I will be putting it online in an archive soon. To be notified of when this happens or to join the Lucky Cat mailing list please email me luckycatzoe@gmail.com.

Photos of Catch the Rat party

Fifi has put up some photos of the Chinese New Year party at Scooterworks, view them all here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scooterworks/sets/72157603923829315/

I think I was dancing in the pic shown so looks like there is no DJ!

The next party will be for Thai New Year (Songkran) on 12th April. Email me at luckycatzoe AT gmail.com to join the Lucky Cat mailing list for updates.

Dragon Tongue Squad on Lucky Cat tomorrow!

I am delighted to announce that I will be joined by China's premier Hip Hop crew Dragon Tongue Squad live in the studio tomorrow night! Join me for Lucky Cat Tuesday 19th February at 10pm on Reosnance FM - 104.4FM in London or online anywhere at www.resonancefm.com

The DTS are playing this Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd February at Linbury Studios, The Royal Opera House along with Kevin Quan (DJ Phat) and Suki Mok. Tickets: 020 7304 4000

Playlist Tuesday 12th February 2008

• Are You Tired of Me Already? - Thongmark Leacha (from Molam vol 2, pictured)
  
• Glad to Be Unhappy - Billie Holiday
  
• Teaching the Daughter - Thongmark Leacha
  
• All Out To Get You - The Beat
  
• Cry about the Radio - Mary Weiss
  
• Ladies, Let's Dance! - Pairin Pongpiboon
  
• Yuge, Songs of the Fishermen - Guqin Music of Liang Mingyue
  
• Asking For Her Hand in Marriage - Group Singsiri
  
• Stick By Me - John Holt
  

Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan Vol. 2 is available to buy on CD from: www.sublimefrequencies.com

Playlist Tuesday 5th February 2008

• The Dum Dum - Tajai
  
• Audio clip of DJ Phat (scratching) & Suki Mok (Spanish guitar)
  
• Flowers and Juveniles - 12 Girl Band Shanghai
  
• Talk of the Town - Rita and Sakura
  
• Youlan, Lonely Orchid - Guqin Music of Liang Mingyue
  
• Love's a Dangerous Game - Mary Weiss
  
• Do I Make Myself Clear - Etta James & Sugarpie De Santo
  

David Tse, Suki Mok and Kevin Quan on tonight's show

On tonight's Lucky Cat radio show on Resonance FM I will be joined live in the studio by David Tse of China Town Arts Space, Spanish guitarist Suki Mok and DJ/scratch artist Kevin Quan (aka DJ Phat).
Suki Mok and Keving Quan will be performing with the Beijing rappers Dragon Tongue Squad at the Royal Opera House later this month as part of the Five Circles Arts Festival.

Show starts at 10pm tonight (Tuesday) and is repeated at 2pm on Friday on 104.4FM in London or online at www.resonancefm.com

www.chinatownartsspace.com

Lap Cheong Fried Rice

Serves 4-6 people

Pack of Wing Wing Brand Chinese Sausages (Lap Cheong)
4 Eggs - scramble and set aside
1 Large onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced
2" knob of ginger - chopped finely
Handful of dried shrimp - soak in boiled water 30 mins
3 teaspoons preserved/pickled vegetables
2 dessert spoons pickled turnip
Mustard Greens - chopped
Fennel chopped
8-10 baby sweetcorn, chopped roughly
Pre cooked rice
Cider Vingar
Soya Sauce
Black Pepper

The great thing about fried rice is you can add anything you want and it's a good dish for leftovers. I used fennel as I thought it would go well with the lap cheong, I have had it with chorizo before and the aniseed flavour compliments the pork sausage. I used Cider vinegar for a change as I am always using rice wine and I thought the apple vinegar taste would also compliment the pork. I was very pleased with the results.

The most important thing is to have all your ingredients ready before hand. First fry the chopped lap cheong (chop on the diagonal) in a small amount of oil. Remove and place on paper. Add a little more oil to the wok and hea, then add the onions. Followed by garlic, preserved veg, pickled turnip, fennel, mustard greens, baby sweetcorn, rice and lap cheong. Keep stirring so it all gets really mixed in. Flavour with cider vinegar, soya sauce and black peppper.

Playlist Tuesday 29th January 2008

• Pussy Cat Bite Me - Prince Buster
  
• Rats - The Tiger
  
• Turtle's Song To The Wolf - The Mice and the Bad Angel
  
• Frightened Billows - Cantonese Mental Music LP
  
• Hey There - Sammy Davis Jnr, Rat Pack Live
  
• I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Dean Martin, Rat Pack Live
  
• Too Marvellous For Words - Frank Sinatra, Rat Pack Live
  
• Pennie From Heaven - Frank Sinatra, Rat Pack Live
  
• A Foggy Day in London Town - Frank Sinatra, Rat Pack Live
  
• I Love Cha Cha - Siao Fong Fong
  
• African Jazz Cha Cha - Ginger Folorunso Johnson
  
• Cha Cha Cha De Las Secretarias - Monchito and his Mambos Royals
  
• Cha Cha Merengue - Ed Daniels & The Seasiders
  

Playlist Tuesday 22nd January 2008

• Laziest Gal in Town - Nina Simone
  
• Jauh Jauh - Jimmy Boyle (from Malaysia in Modern Mood LP)
  
• I've Got a Feelin' - Big Maybelle
  
• Jackie Chan - The Toasters
  
• Kick Ass (No Trouble) - Jackie Chan (from the Rush Hour soundtrack)
  
• Endless Love - Jackie Chan and Kin Hee Sun (from The Myth soundtrack)
  
• Fist of Fury - Prince Jammy
  
• Karate Boogaloo - Jerry-o
  
• Flowers on the Mountain - Wong Chin
  
• A Wa Do Dem - Eek a Mouse
  
• Mulan - Jackie Chan (theme from the Disney movie)
  
• Valley of Green - Jackie Opel
  

This week's dim sum lunchbox containes a favourite cake of Jackie Chan's:
Smashed Oreo cookie cake. Go here for the recipe:
www.jackiechankids.com/files/Smash_Cake_Page.htm

Lucky Cat Night @ Scooterworks

I am throwing a party to celebrate the Year of the Rat. I will be cooking some dim sum lunch box recipes and playing my usual mix of East Asian & Western music. Expect Etta James, Anita Mui, Thai Molam, Toots and the Maytals, Betty Chung, Lee Dorsey and Rita Chao (pictured). Scooterworks is a lovely cafe/bar on Lower Marsh, SE1, just 3 mins walk from Waterloo station.