RIP Wu Yingyin (吳健秋) 1922-2009

Shanghai born singer Wu Yingyin passed away December 2009 in Los Angeles. She was one of the seven great singing stars of Shanghai in the 1940s (along with Yao Lee and others found on the Shanghai Lounge Divas compilation CD). Wu Yingyin sang in nightclubs in Shanghai and was signed to Pathe/EMI in the late 1940s. She had many hits and was still performing into her 80's. There is a clip of a Shanghai 2003 concert of her on Youtube.

I love this style of singing and music, thank you Wu Yingyin may you sing in the stars.

Tribute to Nasal Song Queen

Live Journal article

NYE Menu

Snacks:

• Wasabi Peas
  
• Green Pea Crisps
  
• Cuttlefish Crisps
  
• Mixed Salted Nuts

First Course:

• Edamame Beans
  
• Mini Veg Spring Rolls
  
• Thai Fish Cakes (Tod Mon Pla)

Second Course:

• Kimchi Dumplings
  
• Prawn Dumplings

Third Course:

• Vietnamese Sticky Spare Ribs
  
• Mini Roast Potatoes

Drinks:

• Cosmopolitans
  
• Sidecars
  
• Lots of Cava and Prosecco

Most food was purchased at the excellent large See Woo shop in Greenwich. I also found there an amazing crispy chilli prawn condiment made by Tean's Gourmet of Malaysia. I have been looking out for a chilli oil laced with crispy prawns for a while, this one is great as there is not much oil plus the added bonus of crispy anchovies, shallots and garlic.

Podcast Archive: Lucky Cat Series 3, Episode 1

Lucky Cat 6th Jan 2009

Lucky Cat

Sugarpie De Santo

Great footage of the fantastic Sugarpie! Thanks Jak.

Christmas Music

Last week I bought the LP Merry Christmas from Motown, 1969. Quite a nice set of tunes on there with an unlikely cover of Ave Maria by Stevie Wonder.
Here's a good article about other groovy Christmas tunage:
www.sirshambling.com/articles/soulful_christmas.html
This Soul Christmas compilation LP looks good, it includes Carla Thomas' Gee Whiz It's Christmas (Atco label).

DJing at Messy Xmas Sat 19th December

The legendary Camberwell club night returns for one night only! I'll be on the decks alongside original Messy DJs and siblings, real Christmassy.

Let's hear it for New York

A contemporary tune I really like! No vocoder crap, great lyrics and catchy chorus. A celebratory anthem for NYC (baby).
Thanks Jay-Z and Alicia Keys for restoring my faith in contemporary black music.

The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga

This is top of my Christmas wish list, even above the Totoro seat belt covers I've been watching on the Bay of E.
Writer Helen McCarthy, has produced this wonderful looking homage to the creator of Astro Boy and godfather of Ghibli and indeed Manga's deity.
Helen came on my Resonance FM show earlier this year to talk about the Death Note films and it was clear she is very passionate about Manga and was a lively and insightful guest. I'm guessing that her passion and dedication to detail will be here in this book, which also comes with a DVD.

Available on Amazon.com and co.uk or from good bookshops.

Lucky Cat Dunny

Cute vinyl figure from Kidrobot. I just found this whilst doing one of my regular Lucky Cat image searches. This is a
Lucky Cat from the 'Dunny' Series 4.

2nd Pan Asian Film Festival @ Asia House

27th November - 11th December 2009

Asia House presents the 2nd Pan-Asia Film Festival at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly Circus, London.

The festival opens with the new film by iconic Chinese director Zhang Yimou Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles.
Films by award-winning film-makers and emerging talent from China, Japan, Iran, Taiwan Bhutan and the Philippines will be shown. This year there will also be an evening of award-winning short films from Asia selected by Future Shorts.

For more information see the Asia House web site and download their events pdf.

Zhang Jian's Radio

Released recently to celebrate 60 years of the People's Republic of China this is not a buddha machine but a radio.
Zhang Jian from FM3 made a short-wave field recording 3 years ago in Bengal Bay and it has now been released as this small, beautiful red radio.

Check the web sites:
fm3.com.cn
subjam.org

Clive Chin Tours China

Reggae producer (Impact record label), collector and DJ Clive Chin (son of Vincent 'Randy' Chin (RIP) who was a Chinese Jamaican Reggae pioneer and Patricia Chin who is now the boss of VP Records) is heading out to China this Autumn with his killer diller Reggae selection. Clive will be in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai in November.
Check the myspace page for more info:
http://www.myspace.com/aboverockrecords

Mooncakes

I hope that everyone had a great Autumn Moon Festival. Here's a picture of some lovely mooncake packaging that I found on this Singaporean blog: http://blog.lemonshortbread.com/

Sweet and Sour Dinner

Sweet: Green bean and beansprout salad with crushed walnuts and sweet sesame dressing.
Sour: Baked haddock with fresh lime, pickled ginger, garlic and mooli.
Neutral: Rice.
Enhancer: Fish sauce.

Vinyl Pleasures - Sat 3rd October @ The Foundry

A reminder of tomorrow's gig no.2 (I'm on 9-10pm):

Saturday 3rd October - 2 DJ gigs

I have been asked to DJ for at two club nights on Saturday 3rd October:

1) Chinese Night @ The Raindance Film Festival Cafe (underneath the record shop Phonica, 51 Poland St Soho). I will be playing from 7 till 8pm, warming up for Chinese electro band New Pants (fronted by the director of The Panda Candy Peng Lei). You may remember that I played the track Golden Idol by New Pants on my Resonance FM show. Hear more New Pants: myspace.com/beijingnewpants
Peng Lei is also an artist ans toy shop owner, there's an interesting interview with him at Wallpaper magazine.

2) Vinyl Pleasures at The Foundry (86 Great Eastern Street, near Old St). I'm on 9-10pm playing a selection of vintage vinyl. It's a pub do so music finishes at 11. There will be a camera set up on the decks and screens aroudn the place so you can see the discs spinning as I play them.

Both events are FREE.

Happy 25th Birthday On The Wire

Tomorrow night (Sat 19th Sept) the ground breaking radio show On the Wire celebrates a quarter of a century on the air. The BBC Lancashire show was started by music journalist Steve Barker 25 years ago and always has a fresh and interesting playlist that includes plenty of Reggae (Steve has been the dub columnist for The Wire magazine for the past decade) and in recent years contemporary Chinese sounds, with Steve being based in Beijing. Tomorrow night the show will be extra special and extra long to fit in all the fabulous birthday celebration treats for your little ears. Here are just a few of the people providing mixes:

• Mick Sleeper from Toronto, controller of the net-based show Radio Scratch, exclusively featuring the work of the legendary Lee "Scratch" Perry both as artist and producer.

• Pete Holdsworth from the world's premier reggae revival label Pressure Sounds based in the UK and Japan.

• Alan Bishop from the Seattle based label Sublime Frequencies

• Steinski aka Steve Stein and his pal Doug DiFranco (aka Double Dee) were hip-hop producers who achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the Lessons.

• Beijing-based Yan Jun, works in the realm of sound and language manipulating feedback, drones, voice and field recordings for site-specific sound installations, improvisations and environmental sound. He founded the Sub Jam and its sub-label KwanYin Records.

So tune in online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lancashire/hi/
or if you live in Lancashire on the FM dial
Saturday 19th Spetember 10pm - 2am Sunday.
Check the OTW Blog for previous shows and info.

Raindance Indie Film Festival, London

The 17th Raindance Film Festival kicks off on 30th September and runs until 11th October. Raindance celebrates independent cinema from around the globe and there are some interesting East Asian films being show. Jasper Sharp is curating the festival, you may remember he was on my radio show when Anna Chen hosted, discussing Anna May Wong. He actually specialises in Japanese cinema and is co-editor of web site Midnight Eye and the author of the recently published Behind the Pink Curtain – The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema.

For a full list of the Japanese films showing at this year's festival take a look at Jasper's site. This year there is a special focus on women directors, Sachi Hamano will be in attendance (Japan's most prolific female director who has worked mostly in the genre of the erotic pink film). She will be presenting her 2001 non-pink title Lily Festival, a comedy drama in which the inhabitants of a residential home for elderly women find their passions rekindled when the first male resident moves in amongst them.

Other titles to look out for in the Japanese section are:

Miki Satoshi’s comedy Instant Swamp (he directed the very funny Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers).

and

Lalapipo which was written by Tetsuya Nakashima (the brilliant director of Kamikaze Girls and Memories of Matsuko) and directed by Masayuki Miyano (his first film). The story is set in the heart of Japan’s outlandish sex industry.




With regards to Chinese films showing in the festival, The Pandy Candy is showing on Saturday 3rd October. The film was banned in China (it depicts a gay relationship between two young women) and is directed by musician Peng Lei of the electro band New Pants.

As a vinyl junkie I'll also be checking out the documentary I Want That Record!, which examines why over 3,000 independent record stores have closed across the U.S. in the past decade (boo).

For more details and to book tickets (the box office is now open) visit:
www.raindance.co.uk

2009 Japan Matsuri

This Festival celebrating Japanese culture is on Saturday 17th September at Spitalfields Market in East London (10am-8pm).
Expect food stalls, art and entertainment - including a Bon dance (pictured).

For all the up to date information check the web site:

http://japanmatsuri.com

Piccadilly Revisited

This is a free performance on Saturday 12th September (as part of the Thames Festival) at the East-facing facade of Royal Festival Hall, 8.15pm - 10.00pm.
The classic E.A. Dupont silent film Piccadilly starring Anna May Wong will be screened, accompanied by a new score from composers Suki Mok and Ruth Chan. The score is based on a storyboard developed by co-writers Alice Lee and David Tse Ka-Shing.

The performance is presented by Chinatown Arts Space and you may remember Suki Mok from the project in 2008 at the Royal Opera House with Beijing rappers Dragon Tongue Squad.
Ruth Chan is a London based pianist and film composer with an interest in ethnic fusion music.

David Tse Ka-Shing is the Creative Director at Chinatown Arts Space and has done a lot of good work in both encouraging and producing British East Asian arts. He has many fiddles to his bow, being an actor, writer, theatre director and film-maker.

I recognised Alice Lee's name because last year she wrote and produced Dragon Lady: Being Anna May Wong which she performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

This is a work-in-progress and next year the cross-artform production will be completed completed next year; incorporating dance, drama and video against a backdrop of the original silent film.

I look forward to the screening and to seeing the completed work next year. Piccadilly is a wonderful film to watch and raises many questions about race and sexuality. Anna May Wong seems to be back in vogue in 2009, long may this trend continue.