One Day in May…

If the Mayday NFL program is broadcasting anywhere at any time, I haven’t found it yet. But here are more behind the scenes videos, and here’s another article with pictures of the trip. (I think my favorite part of that video is the bit where they get the posters from the Redskins Cheerleaders. Ding Dang, if you’d like a shirtless Adrian Peterson picture, just let me know and I’ll hook you up. Fair’s fair.)

Meanwhile, the Jiangsu Satellite Television station is hosting its annual New Year’s concert… in Guangzhou. Which, you’ll recall, is not in Jiangsu Province. Nowhere near Jiangsu Province, actually. But I suppose if Hunan Satellite Television could host its Chinese New Year concert in Las Vegas, then there’s no reason for Jiangsu to host its show in Jiangsu. The rumors are flying that that event which I have least anticipated might occur at the show: F4 might reunite in concert. I generally keep an eye out for Vanness and ignore the rest of the crew, but in general I consider any event where they do not simply appear, but actually sing, as a not particularly good thing.

Ashin’s endorsements notwithstanding, do they really wear makeup?
Okay, away from the television. Someone needs to teach some of the people working for Mayday that “they haven’t put on any make-up” is not a particularly rock-n-roll excuse for refusing pictures. Unless you’re part of a glam rock outfit or KISS, which they decidedly are not. Well, usually.

They really formed a Superband just to get girls…
When asked if the fearsome foursome (Lo Ta-yu, Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau, and my beloved A-yue) ever go out to pick up women together, they all answered that of course they did. In fact, lots of female fans make them give better shows. I keeps seeing references to the idea that of the four, Jonathan Lee is the only one actually single; if that’s the case, can I just say: Mr. Lee, maybe it’s your haircut?

David Tao is taking Woodstock
With his new rock-themed album, David Tao is taking to the mainland on a tour that will include some of his rock songs and some of his favorite songs from the 60s and 70s. (If the picture accompanying that article is any indication, he’s also sporting some of the contemporary wardrobe on stage.) Tongues are waggling, however, at his choice of venue for his concert next month in Shanghai – he’s playing the Gymnastics Center, not even the Grand Stage (i.e. where sodagreen played for its first mainland voyage last year… a venue that seats only 4,000 and doesn’t normally host artists of his caliber). He says he’s going for a more intimate feel; some speculation that his star is falling is pretty much inevitable. I’d run off to Shanghai to support him, except that he’s saving me the trouble and playing Nanjing earlier in the month.

Ashin is saved from jumping in the river
Mayday is gearing up for their concert in Guangzhou this month, and ticket sales are at around 80%, saving the band from worry and Ashin from jumping into the Pearl River. “It’s the fans that saved me,” he acknowledged. (BTW, I find that headline on that article very odd. I almost mistook it for an article about a Shin concert before I started reading.) Putting pressure on sales are other big acts taking Guangzhou in the near future, such as the personified proof of the decline of civilization, Lollipop (which acknowledges that they’re not as handsome as F4 or as musical as Mayday, but they excel in being… people-friendly?) To reward fans at the Mayday concert, they’re giving out “ring lights” to some fans, and organizing a sing-a-long to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Um, see above about teaching some of Mayday’s staff about how to be a bit more rock-n-roll.

It’s not an honor to be nominated, it’s an insult not to be
The nominees for the 9th Annual Global Chinese Music Awards are out, and I’d be hard pressed to name people who weren’t nominated in one of the eight major categories. They have sixty nominees for the “top twenty songs,” and right there, I can tell you that you do not care much about the outcome of this one, because if Leehom’s Hannah Montana send-up “What’s With Rock” is one of even the top twenty songs last year, then I take back everything I said above about the decline of civilization – civilization is gone. Anarchy reigns.

Then, of course, they have a whole category dedicated to duets, which only serves to encourage people to write more soppy, mediocre his-and-her bubblegum pop or ballads. (Note: do not, under any circumstances, go listen to all of them. First of all, you’ll drown in sap. Second of all, you’ll be singing “Na, na, na” for the rest of your life. I heard five seconds of that song walking down the street on Saturday and was singing it for hours, with nothing more to go on than “na, na, na.”)

But here’s the real problem: there are 23 nominees for best male artist, 17 for best female artist, and 15 groups – so by this point, if you haven’t been nominated for *something* you probably have not appeared on the radio anywhere in the Chinese speaking world in the last year. Except if you’re a band. There are only three band nominees: Mayday, sodagreen, and Nand (与非门). Um… are you kidding? That’s all they could come up with for bands? It’s all wrong, very, very wrong. But they’ll hand out the awards anyway this week in Beijing.

…And speaking of things that are all wrong…
And speaking of duets, and speaking of Cowboy Jay (indirectly; he’s on the nominee list a few times in various categories), I had a brief reminder this week of why I so dislike certain cowboys personally no matter how good or crappy I find their music. After reading a thread on the Chinese Music Blog, I looked up news about Cowboy Jay’s duet with a new singer, the Texas-born Cindy Yen. She seems musical and apparently writes all her own music, which sounds like good news in spite of her having written a pretty dull duet to sing with her label’s boss, the Cowboy himself.

In the middle of this article promoting Cindy’s new career, Cowboy Jay mentions that, “Cindy’s piano performance is really incredible! She’s equally matched with Yuhao, but for a girl to be able to play at that speed and with such energy is really cool and surprising!”

For a girl? Can’t he even pretend not to be a sexist pig? You know, just when speaking for public consumption?

All I can say is, Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 10:46 pm and is filed under Chang Chen-yue (A-yue), Cowboy Jay, Ding Dang, Leehom Wang, Mayday, Sodagreen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.