After a particularly long and vexing week, I couldn't summon the energy to head across town to the first instalment of the 2 Kolegas 6th Birthday Party last night, but... an idle evening of ambling around the neighbourhood proved, I think, far more rewarding.
The 12 Square Metres 'happy hour' is always a good place to start off: two or three cheap Kronenbourgs and a tequila slammer soon had me starting to mellow out and forget about the hassles of the week gone by. Then I wandered up to El Nido for some even cheaper beers, and was happy to discover that José is indeed experimenting with hamburgers on his grill outside (although, on this occasion, it was at the expense of the hotdogs we tried a few weeks back; at present, he's just testing out the market; once he gets into the swing of things, I hope he'll be able to regularly offer a range of grilled snacks rather than an alternating 'daily special'), and they were pretty darn good (though not quite as good as his awesome dogs, I don't think). Moreover, I ran into an old mate, T-base, formerly a 12SqM regular, but keeping a low profile this last 9 months or so. And, best of all, country fiddle player Amy Spice was jamming with a guitarist friend outside, so we had a free music show.
I was loth to drag myself away from the extreme mellowness at El Nido, but I recalled my major (music) crush Marie-Claude Lebel was supposed to be playing just around the corner at VA Bar, so I swung up there to take a look. The latest evolution of son orchestre is a group of French jazz musicians who have also just started playing around town independently as Le Hot Club du Beijing, and a damn fine outfit they are too. However, since I am trying to live within a rather tight budget this month, VA's prices were severely off-putting to me, so I ducked out after a handful of songs.
After getting up before 6 that morning (and with sleep compromised by rather too much booze at a birthday celebration the night before), I was nearing the crash. But.... a few yards down the street, I happened to see a few people going into the much buzzed-about School bar, so thought I'd check that out... and, as chance would have it, my old buddy, music promoter Ed Peto, was there with a group of friends getting ready to do their monthly 'Whale' DJ night. However, 'dance music' really isn't my thing; and events of this kind are very slow to get going, not really getting lively until 2am or 3am - and I wasn't feeling like I was going to last until midnight! However, it was good to catch up with Ed again, and School may be worth further investigation: basic and unpretentious, and refreshingly reasonably priced for a venue of that kind.
Heading homewards shortly after 11pm, with every intention of being in the sack before 12... I was surprised to discover that Gulou 121, that strange rock'n'roll graveyard practically on my doorstep, actually had a gig on for once (they only seem to happen once or twice a month, which - for a would-be serious music club - is a really half-arsed effort). Indeed, it was a band of some note: veteran metalheads Chunqiu (Spring & Autumn), doing one of their (increasingly common?) acoustic sets. I stayed for a few songs, but fatique was overpowering me now. Definitely time to go home...
Except that... the International Youth Hostel just around the corner from me has in the past week or two opened up an intriguing-looking bar with a small terrace outside, which often seems to draw quite a good crowd, and... my curiosity got the better of me. But I only stayed for one. Or two...
These freestyle evenings are always the best, I find. And I don't think there's any better part of town in which to live for experiencing them; there's always something happening in these small music venues and hidden hutong bars.
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