China Grooves

A couple weeks ago, Tertius, my girlfriend, and I went to a heavy metal concert. We all had a great time, and Tertius wrote the article I posted a here. (He wrote it, but he insists that I was involved with it as well.)

We never received any reply from the magazine. We expected to get at least
a) Your  article is crap. We're not publishing it.
b) Thanks for sending the article, but we're not going to put it in our magazine.
c) We're publishing your article.

Tertius used to be a sub-editor for a newspaper back in South Africa, so he took a bit of pride in what he had written. Last Friday, he walked into a subway, and saw the December issue of China Grooves on a stand by the wall. He was slightly annoyed that we hadn't been contacted, so he looked through to find out what HAD been put into the magazine.

There was our article. It wasn't the main article. It was just tossed in there with a bunch of others, but there it was. We're still kind of annoyed that they didn't send us any emails, or phone calls, but knowing that a bunch of people are going to be reading that makes it all worth it.

We're going to an amusement park tomorrow to write up another one. hopefullt this time we'll get a message back.

Ducks Don't Fly in China

A month or so ago in class, in an attempt to help teach the word "duck" I started making flapping motions with my arms. The Chinese English teacher started chuckling.

They won't understand that. She said.

Why not? I asked.

Because ducks can't fly. She replied matter-of-factly.

After a brief discussion of weight ratios and air speed velocities, I decided to drop it for the time and continue with my lesson.

The idea stuck with me though. I used to go to the park back in America from time to time. Usually it was just to go swimming at the pool, or to take a walk with my mom, but I definitely remember ducks being at that park. Flying ducks. Why would they think that ducks can't fly? In my next lesson with another class of the same grade, I repeated the flapping motion, which was met with the same basic results. Again I was told that ducks can't fly.

Since then I have occasionally posed the question of the flight capabilities of ducks. The best I was able to get was that, maybe they could flap their wings and just kind of jump far. Not good enough for me.

The other day my girlfriend was at my apartment, and for some reason or another I asked her if ducks could fly. I can't remember her exact response, but it sounded something like the word "no."

Being in a feisty mood, I decided to prove her wrong. With a quick Google search, I found plenty of photos of flying ducks. Since we both enjoy pointless little debates like this, she decided to defend her side of the argument.

Those aren't ducks.

What do you mean? Those pictures clearly say duck underneath them.

Those aren't ducks. She insisted.

Not to be outdone by denial, and having regained access to websites normally blocked by the firewall, I loaded up Youtube and showed her some videos of ducks. Specifically flying ducks. She continued with her "Those aren't ducks" argument up until a video of a little girl feeding some ducks with her parents. Whether it was because the people in the video actually referred to the ducks as ducks, or more specifically, because the little girl called them ducks (She has a weakness for cute things.) she finally relented, and admitted that ducks could fly.

However, she insisted that the animal "duck" translates too in Chinese, the one I have enjoyed eating in restaurants many times, could not fly. I'm sure that I was eating duck all those times. A couple places even served it with the head still attached, and I'm darn sure that was a ducks head. What was going on?

I decided that this was something I needed to get to the bottom of. Luckily, with the aid of a couple more google searches, and some info from Wikipedia, I found this article. My best guess from it all is that the Chinese language is a bit more specific about ducks than English is, so what we see as a wild duck is possibly what in Chinese is called a "wild goose" or something like that. What they refer to as ducks is a breed of duck that's been bred for food so long, that it has mostly lost the ability to fly, either because it's gotten to fat, or simply has no need to.

I've now accepted that in China, "Ducks don't fly," but that's not going to stop me from flapping my arms in class.

I went to a concert recently with Tertius and my girlfriend. Since he used to be a journalist, Tertius decided to write an article about it and send it in to a local magazine. Here it is, unedited, for your reading pleasure.

SHREDDING ALL CYNACISM WITH NARAKAM

By TJ Lazer and the ED 209 Unit.

The night is cold and merciless as a group of us gather outside the BeforeSunset Bar to see Narakam, a band that has been boldly advertised as “Chinese Thrash/Death Metal Legends”.

Albeit that watching Narakam perform live will be a wonderfully refreshing change to the meat grinder, bunny-hopping club music I’ve been forced to get accustomed to on a Saturday night out, my associate and I traverse the pay point with a small degree of cynicism.

We are, after all, foreigners and therefore highly accustomed to the intricacies that define Metal culture.

Thus far, I haven’t encountered anything that remotely constitutes as a Metal band in China and other interpretations of Western genres such has Hip-Hop, have been unfortunately rather dismal.

Inside the small, but cozy bar the atmosphere is almost surreal.

No-one in the crowd actually looks like your stereotypical metal fan. There are no dopey-looking kids with long hair, teenage moustaches and body piercings.

In fact, everybody looks like their college students straight out of an economics lecture.

Even opening band Wu Zheng’s appearance does not resemble a typical group of hell-bent, heavy-metal maniacs, but rather like the guys next door who have decided to form a band in their garage.

However, all of this is some sort of illusion.

The minute Wu Zheng opens up with an intense high-powered riff, the condescending sneer on my face is transformed into a gaping maw wrapped in awe and mild confusion.

This band (for the want a better phrase) kicks ass.

The lead singer’s lanky physique and aloof posture is deceiving – he belts out raw lyrics like a man possessed sending the so-called mild college students into a frenzy of banging heads.

The music itself is intense and fuelled with energy, not at all put on.

Soon a small mosh-pit has formed at the centre of the small stage and the game’s afoot.

By the time the next act, Ling Jie, is underway the mood is set. I would have expected some of these people to make for the door the minute the vocalist for Lin Jie shrieked over his groups overlapping and complex guitar scales, but the crowd is rooted and so am I. The music is heavy and there’s electricity in the air.

Finally, Narakam graces the stage and the energy permeating through the crowd is at a peak.

It’s obvious that Narakam are well-seasoned veterans in this genre of music. They look and act the part. In short, they are living the dream. The mosh-pit has turned into a fierce (yet friendly) battleground, enough to leave me with a damaged knee that I know will plague me for days to come.

But there is no stopping Narakam.

Every song is a shred-fest with vocalist Kui, Tan toying with the crowd like a puppeteer.

He gets them to mosh harder, to cheer harder, to drink more beer – all of this with a smile on his face as the band belts out heavy distortion riffs to the background of a pounding heavy double-bass drum kit, mastered languidly by the drummer.

This band has talent and they pull the show off with ease until the end.

As we exit the bar I find it hard to hear my own voice, or even that of my associate and the passing traffic. My knee is aching and my stomach churning with warm beer, but I’m in a beautiful world of pain.

The bands tonight have far surpassed any of my expectations and all skepticism and cynicism has come crashing down like a badly constructed sand castle in the face of a typhoon.

Band’s like this need more support instead of being marginalized in the face of commercialism, because they posses something that very few of their Pop counterparts have – actual talent and sincerity.

This is what goes a long way and it is good to see that the Metal flag has found a home in Xi’an.