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Shenzhen Concert Hall: A Triumph of Red Upholstery (and the Monumentally Tacky)

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  Walking into this hall feels like falling into a feverish dream where an interior designer shouts “MORE RED!” and no one has the courage to say no. The geometry appears to have been inspired by a collapsing Jenga tower. It’s less a concert hall and more a giant malfunctioning origami project dipped in red dye. The stage, meanwhile, looks less like a performance space and more like a storage unit where instruments wait to be rescued. Sightlines? Optional. Coherence? Ha ha. Elegance? Absolutely none. It’s the perfect venue if you’ve ever wondered what The Masque of the Red Death would look like as a municipal building. It’s monumentally tacky - a place so aggressively decorated it feels less like a concert venue and more like a punishment for people who’ve wronged a concertmaster. The geometry looks like someone dropped a stack of Lego instructions into a blender and said ‘perfect.’ The hall doesn’t welcome you, it ambushes you. It’s the architectural equivalent of a migraine wea...
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ROOTSHOUSE - The swankiest, ratpackyist jazz joint in Guangdong Province

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RootsHouse is the coolest and swankiest place in Shenzhen.  It hosts many jazz bands from around China. In fact, they try to bring in the best acts they can find in any number of genres of music.  Cocktails are reasonably priced. Here is an article I wrote about the place:  https://www.meer.com/en/62330-an-interview-with-moss                                                         {click to enlarge images} A Brief History of Shenzhen   They started building Shenzhen, a tier-one Chinese megacity, 41 years ago, over a fishing village across from Hong Kong. In Wu Xiaobo’s history of China’s economic development over the past 40 years,  China Emerging , Wu points out that Shenzhen’s creation as a Special Economic Zone coincided with Deng Xiao Ping’s decision to open the country up to foreign investment.  Deng followed ...
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Brown Sugar Jar - it looks and feels like an American Indy Rock Bar, but where are the bands?

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                                                        {click on images to enlarge} In the past, there used to be bands from Hong Kong and Shenzhen which used to play here. Some were excellent, like bands you might see at the Empty Bottle in Chicago or Arlene's Grocery in Manhattan. Mysteriously, the bands stopped appearing, and nobody seems to know why. If you go there on a Friday or Saturday night, you'll find a bar with many choices of inexpensive cocktails and maybe a guy with a guitar and drum machine on stage who will gladly play just about anything while you sing along. (WTF?) I say, go one night for the atmosphere. You can get the address on your Didi app. Brown Sugar Jar.
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Art at OCAT at OCT Loft - Sculptures of mercy and grace

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Here is an article I wrote on some sculpture I saw at OCAT at OCT Loft. OCT Loft has some art, not much, and a lot of coffee houses and three or four music venues (including B-10) https://www.meer.com/en/71783-sculptures-of-mercy-and-change                                                          {click on images to enlarge them} We might be tempted to think that the woman in Xiang Jing’s sculpture  The End  turns her face to the wall and hides it with her hands as a response to the mirror next to her. We might assume the mirror forces her to compare herself with, and she is turning away from, the social expectations of personal beauty which she cannot meet. Yet, it could be that the presence of the mirror is coincidental to her turning to the wall.  It, thus, replicates the image of a grieving woman, reminding us that everything...
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Images of Shenzhen: Sweet Potato Seller

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                                                                            {{click on images to see enlargement}} He parked and is ready to sell, but it is not quite lunch time... I took this photo in an industrial area of Shenzhen far from the city center. The area is called Shiyan. 
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Images from Shenzhen: The Upright Custodian

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I live in Longhua and this custodian is often at the shopping mall near my apartment. I was taken by his straight, military posture and dedication to his job.
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Images of Shenzhen - a guy between two pillars, Hong Kong is in the background (sitting on the dock of the bay)

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