Now 4 days back and I was thinking that we had little pictures of the band playing. So, from a couple of concerts & soundcheck Lamont made some great pictures.

Set DCC on June, 19th
- Trumpet solo / words: Trumpetplayer
- Left or Right
- No Regrets
- Down to Earth
- Albert!
- Mother to Son
- Flatted Fifths
- Fenderology
- Consider You / Fire!
- Democracy
- Silhouette
encore
- Variations of Hope

Soon I'll post some Mp3's and Video...

Shanghai on June 20th,

We just came back from JZ club in Shanghai. Did not play there and also came just to late to catch the band of Alec Haavik, American musician who is working in Shanghai for some years. So no real news to tell you... just that this is a very nice person to meet here.

We got there after a kind of photoshoot with the band at the BUND in the afternoon. That was a real happening! The Bund was filled with people that wanted a picture with the band and specially with Lamont (?!). Also we met a beautiful Chinese twin that reminded me of home.

Before I give you the last pictures of the gigs and all, just enjoy.
X, F

Hi,

There where some problems at Hong Kong airport, okay... We are back from our last gig @ DCC in Shanghai. This is a great city and we are at the Jing'An District. Just four metro stops (and a little walk) from the great river Huangpu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huangpu_River).

Shenzhen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen) was very cool with a welcome of the promoter Peter Lee from Hong Kong Jazz Association. Good food and even better venue and audience.

Here are the photo's from that gig,
Best, F

Ahoy!

Now's the time for some small adventures...

Yesterday, after a sleepless night in Shenzhen, we arrived at Hong Kong Airport to leave for Shanghai. As you may know or not know, Hong Kong is is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong), which means that each time you go from Hong Kong to China, you need another entry on your visum for China.

As it happened, I had only one entry on my visum. Those pinheads at the Chinese Consulate in Brussels made a tiny mistake, and I (idiot) didn't check my visum properly when I got it. Result: Rikkie stays in Hong Kong while the others could leave. (Lately, I've been prone to making small mistakes with tragic outcomes.)

And when one should think things couldn't get any worse, the other barbarians couldn't take there instruments as hand luggage. There was only one solution: unpack them
, wrap them into some kind of cloth or towel and carry them that way. One wonders why violincases ever were made. Floris e-bass could sit in the same chair as Daniels cello. Not the best solution but manageable.

Back to the visum story... I rushed to the express visa desk, where, luckily, the very sweet and also very ugly woman helped me in getting a new visum and flight. I lost some money, but I would still make it for the concert in the evening. Hoorah! So I got my visum at 2pm and left around half past 3 for Shanghai
While reading an English novel on the plane I noticed several Chinese people trying to read along. So I showed them my book, explained some English vocabulary, and before I knew ten or so Chinese were asking me questions and talking about me to each other. "aaah.. musisjan!"
When we landed they handed me my luggage and my violin: "here's your piano sir". I took a taxi and around 7h15pm I arrived at the Dutch Cultural Centre, after a crazy ride through Shanghai traffic. The concert started at 7h30pm.
In music, timing's essential.

Just arrived in Shenzhen, which reminds me of California. Calm, clean, green and a bit over-polished.

During the drive a new hit was born: Blije Kleuter.
It goes like this:

ah-well-ah-blij-blij -blij ah-blij-blij-ah-blij
ah-well-ah-blij-blij -blij ah-blij-blij-ah-blij x ad lib
ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter
ah-well-ah-blij-blij -blij ah-blij-blij-ah-blij

solo rock-a-billy guitar
with kicks: ah-well-ah-blij!!!

and once again...

ah-well-ah-blij-blij -blij ah-blij-blij-ah-blij
ah-well-ah-blij-blij -blij ah-blij-blij-ah-blij x ad lib
ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter
ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter, ah-blije-kleuter
ah-BLIJE KLEUTEEEEEEER


text: Tessa Zoutendijk and Marcel Roelofs
music: Jani Weichsel and Rik Sturtewagen

Hi,

Guangzhou rocks! Check out the pictures. Great sound engineer from NZ and made some very good recordings. Mp3's will be posted on the Shenzhen Daily by Wayne very soon.

I wonder what this band will sound like tomorrow; can it be better? Too bad we can not post any movies because the YT channel is not working here.

Set list:
- No Regrets
- Down to Earth
- Albert!!
- Silhouette
- Mother to Son
- Flattet Fifths
- Consider You
- Democracy
- Left or Right
"encore"
- Variations of Hope

Guangzhou, Tuesday June 15th

Now we are off, tomorrow our first show at Club TuTu. It's really warm and very wet! Seems we have the raining-season in South of China, but that don't bother us.

Just had a wonderful evening diner with Rik and Jani in a street that is just 'round the corner. Eating sea-food and drinking some Chinese beer. I think we will be in this kind of places more during the week.

Check out the pictures since we have start our journey.

Best,
Floris

Friday June 4th 2010

Hi all,

Welcome to the Ghost of Langston Hughes blog for the concerts in China.
One week before the final rehearsal in Utrecht. There are some new tunes that need some rehearsal still. I'm working on a score for Langston Hughes Flatted Fifths and Be-bop Boys:

Little cullud boys with beards
re-bop be-bop mop and stop.

Little cullud boys with fears,
frantic, kick their draftee years
into flatted fifths and flatter beers
that at a sudden change become
sparkling Oriental wines
rich and strange
silken bathrobes with gold twines
and Heilbroner, Crawford,
Nat-undreamed-of Lewis combines
in silver thread and diamond notes
on trade-marks inside
Howard coats.

Little cullued boys in berets
oop pop-a-da
horse a fantasy of days
ool ya koo
and dig all plays.

After the rehearsal it's off to Hong Kong next week Monday.
First concert is in Guangzhou on June 16th, capital of state of Guangdong with a population about 6 Million people.

best, F