Thursday, August 09, 2012

Recommended Posts, July-September 2011

Some of the highlights from this time last year...



Guided Tour - recommended posts from the 3rd quarter of 2011


1)  To stag, or not to stag  -  2nd July 2011
My thoughts on stag parties.


2)  The Jolly Boys  -  9th July 2011
I discover the fabulous septuagenarian Jamaican dance band The Jolly Boys, and post their irresistible cover of Amy Winehouse's Rehab.


3)  The Great Taxi Rebellion  -  12th July 2011
Observations on why it's suddenly become next-to-impossible to get a cab around Sanlitun.


4)  Yet more wisdom of the Froog  -  14th July 2011
My advice on the most economical way to get drunk in China.


5)  Innovative entrepreneurism!  -  15th July 2011
Beijing's most unusual bar???


6)  Top Five 'Pastures New'  -  20th July 2011
Some out-of-the-way bar discoveries that made my drinking life a bit more varied last summer.


7)  Nothing To My Name  -  24th July 2011
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of legendary Chinese rocker Cui Jian's breakthrough hit, Yi Wu Suo You, an anthemic 'protest' song of alienated youth that continues to resonate today.


8)  Measure for measure  -  29th July 2011
A new Beijing bar fatally pisses me off by not advertising how small its glasses are.


9)  Dreams  -  30th July 2011
I missed The Cranberries when they played in Beijing a couple of days earlier, so, in regretful tribute, I post their greatest hit in my Great Love Songs series.


10)  Bon mot for the week  -  1st August 2011
One of my own, and a goody.


11)  Less is more  -  2nd August 2011
I identify FIVE areas in which Beijing's bar owners are frequently getting it wrong.


12)  An end of pies?  -  15th August 2011
The Shanghai Pie Company ceases distributing its products in Beijing. In my local, 12 Square Metres, we are distraught.


13)  An idea for a bar  -  17th August 2011
The disfigurement of the Sanlitun Houjie bar strip by a mysteriously unused enclosure of construction fencing for much of last year prompted some irreverent creativity.


14)  Where it all began...  -  24th August 2011
Some surprising facts about the history of lager-making.


15)  The bar that isn't  -  25th August 2011
A little break in 'small town' China was nicely reinvigorating; but it was bloody difficult - impossible! - to find a bar. (I ended up drinking every night outside a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with a particularly restful view.)


16)  King of the Road  -  27th August 2011
Roger Miller's celebration of hobo-ing had a powerful impact on me in childhood. It has become my 'theme song'.


17)  Froog's 'Rules of Drinking'  -  6th September 2011
A lifetime's wisdom distilled into twelve simple epigrams.


18)  Beat The Devil's Tattoo  -  9th September 2011
In anticipation of the excellent Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's headlining appearance at the Intercity Music Festival in Beijing's Chaoyang Park that weekend, I posted their brooding, incantatory hit, one of my favourite musical discoveries of the past year.


19)  Divine coincidence  -  13th September 2011
A very funny moment in my local bar.


20)  What's your 'superpower'?  -  16th September 2011
A reader participation frippery - to mark the blog's 5th anniversary.


21)  Yugong Yishan SUCKS  -  23rd September 2011
An in-depth, scathing analysis of why "Beijing's top music bar" is such a thoroughgoing disappointment.


22)  Fizzless  -  29th September 2011
I become concerned about the recent phenomenon of soft drinks in Beijing all going flat within moments of being poured. What gives?


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