UPDATE – We have bad news here. Last night while Peaches was still rocking Mao Livehouse down, we heard from Super Sophia that the show at YuYinTang was cancelled with no clear explanation for this, and that, we know what it means (if you don’t know it, read below then).

To make it worse, tonight’s show to release the new album of Pinkberry is cancelled too, and we are holding our breaths here to know how the situation evolves, because at YuYinTang, they are still not clear if the shows on the future days will be happening or not.

After having such a great night with music last night, Mao Livehouse burning with The Fever Machine, Reptile and Retard, and glorious Peaches, it’s just too bad we couldn’t enjoy the success of the show for not even an hour after the music was off, these news are just disappointing. For more details on this shameful event check what Jake Newby is saying.

The big, bad Expo is coming!

That’s right, it started up in earnest this week. Can you feel it? Are you stoked? It was a foreboding sign this week when I read this and this. Andy and Jake have done a lot of reporting and speculating that the Expo could be bad for live music in this city for the foreseeable future. You should dig through Kungfuology.com and find the many posts that they have put out on the subject. I think they’re right that the scene might change for a while and that’s not the greatest thing in the world, but then I read this interview on Neocha about a Hong Kong hairstylist who has hosted a small weekly jam session in his studio for 20 years. It got me thinking about the resilient nature of music and music scenes.

The Expo and the forces behind it do not control the music scene. That would be like saying they control music. It’s impossible. Try to control music and it will slip through your grasp like so many grains of sand. Music is an invisible thing that most everyone enjoys. It can never die.

The key, when faced with threats to a scene, is to continue in whatever way possible. If you lose venues, you find new ones that the dragons don’t know about. If you lose performers, you erase the boundaries between performer and audience. To avoid detection you use word of mouth, email chains, and text messaging. Music is something we can all create and share, no matter what else is going on around us.

Of course, these threats might force changes to the scene that we now know and love. That sucks. But the point is to not sit back and lament the changes that have occurred, but rather to invent ways around them. There are far too many incognito spaces in this city for someone to have a grasp on all of them. There are far too many talented people to silence each and every one.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this but, in case of emergency, you’re all invited to my flat for an impromptu jam session, or whatever. Bring your instruments of mass construction.

However, Haibao willing, we have a fine weekend of music ahead of us, so here come the defiant Editor’s Picks.

Thursday, April 22^nd

Tribute to the Rolling Stones, 7:30-10:30 PM

This is really the only thing on my radar tonight, but just barely. I’ll be gearing up for Friday, but maybe you should give this a whirl. Speaking of the Rolling Stones and rock, I found an article that completely outdid my rant about rockists. Check it out here.

Fanfare Studio and Bar 528

Fahuazhen Lu near Dingxi Lu

Friday, April 23^rd

There are a ton of fun gigs going down this evening. Choose wisely.

Alpine Decline, 9 PM

I have listened to exactly two songs from this band hailing from Los Angeles, but it sounds pretty nice. Drone-ish rock, from the sound of it. It looks like they set up their Myspace page about three days ago, but no one likes Myspace anymore anyways.

Alpine Decline on Myspace

696 Livehouse

Room 115, A Block Lane188, East JiangWan Road

Shanghai By Bus: China Sounds

This sounds interesting: a showcase of Chinese reggae groups. Color me intrigued. If it were any other night I would probably be there, but I have other pressing concerns. Uprooted, Meiwenti, Rude Star HiFi, Far East Lions, and Shanghai Yard highlight the lineup. JAH! King of kings, lord of lords, conquering lion of the Tribe of Judah.

Uprooted Sunshine on Myspace

The Shelter

5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Lu

Peaches, 9 PM

This is obviously the big gig of the weekend, with the price to go along with it. It should be a massive get down, featuring support from Reptile and Retard and The Fever Machine. You should probably just go, throw caution to the wind, and let the peaches fall where they may.

Peaches on Myspace

MAO Livehouse

570 Huaihai Lu near Hongqiao Lu

BADTASTIC 5: Official Peaches Afterparty, Midnight-LATE

As mentioned here, Badtastic is a cool group of creative individuals and they know how to throw a rager, so there’s not much excuse for missing this one. Unless…

DJ Wongton’s Blog

Not Me

21 Dongping Lu near Hengshan Lu

Bandit’s Party, 11:30 PM-LATE

Some alternative afterparty action is going down at LOgO. Ain’t no party like a bandit’s party ‘cuz a bandit’s party don’t stop! Unless the fuzz gets wind of it. Anyways, at least you could say you were there when the shit went down. Now that’s one for the grandkids! The lineup: The Beat Bandits, Break for Borneo, and X is Y (side project of The Fever Machine bassist Fabien.)

Break for Borneo on Myspace

LOgO

13 Xingfu Lu near Fahuazhen Lu

Saturday, April 24^th

Pinkberry CD Release Party, 9 PM

Local power poppy punk players Pinkberry go boom in the Yuyintang throne room. It’s also somewhat of a showcase for the Zhu Lu He Feng label, as Joker, Sonnet, and Manbanpai will be booming in support. And rapper Tim Wu!?! If they all get together on stage can we call them the Wu Tang Clan? Please? For me?

Pinkberry on Douban

Yuyintang

851 Kaixuan Lu

Sunday, April 25^th

Coco Zhao and the Possicobilities

Possicobly Shanghai’s most beloved performer, I think Coco is playing Sundays at JZ for a while, but maybe you should take the opportunity to see him this evening. With support from the Blue Tea Trio. What is that, some sort of funky opium brew? Count me in.

JZ Jazz Club

46 Fuxing Lu near Yongfu Lu