Photos by Amyrock
TOO MOOK editor Amyrock enjoys both the old and new traditions of her adopted city Guangzhou. She shares some with Theme.
Amyrock Bio
Age: 25
Brief bio, occupation: Editor. My magazines include TOO MOOK and the webzine after17. It’s fun sharing my thoughts and opinion with readers. My interests are rock music, art, film, photography, and magazines of course.
How long you’ve lived in your city: About three years. I came to Guangzhou for work. Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, is my hometown.
Eat & Drink
Favorite high-end restaurant:
I prefer small restaurants along the streets of Xi Guang, which is the old district in Guangzhou.
The best traditional restaurant:
Lucky Fellow
5-6/F, 111 Taikang Lu
Guangzhou Restaurant. Wenchang Nan Road
Lian Xiang Lou. 67 Shipu Lu
Dong Chuan Restaurant
Dong Chuan Rd
Tao Tao Restaurant
Shipu Lu
Best deal restaurant:
Lucky Fellow
5-6/F, 111 Taikang Lu
They have excellent shrimp dumplings, phoenix talons [editor’s note: sounds gross but it’s actually really tasty chicken feet!], rice noodle rolls, cheong fun, which are wide rice noodles, and char shao bao, which is a Cantonese bun with barbequed pork.
Best street food:
Guangdong is very good at making desserts: milk papaya, shuang pinai, a dessert made out of milk with toppings, like red bean. There’s also red bean and rice ball ice, mango ice, lotus seed with rock sugar ice, stewed lotus seed and lily bulb, gui ling gao which is an herbal jelly. This jelly is made with over 20 different Chinese herbs, which are then cooked for over 30 hours. It is said that eating this jelly can minimize the effects of heat on the body.
Bai Hua Dessert, Shun Ji Ice Room, and Nan Xing are some famous small restaurants where you can try these sweets.
Favorite cafe:
Express Café
5/F, Lingnan Artworks City, 3 Zhongshan San Rd
They host good independent exhibitions.
Best bar:
Sleepy Wood
G/F, 21, Guangming St. Huaqiao Circle
They always play The Cure and have good pizza.
Zinc Bar
No.85, Ti Yu Xi Heng Jie
This bar has the best music. I also like the décor: it’s very British.
C-Union.
1st Fl, Chengshi Hui, Shuiyin Rd.
Bands are always performing here.
Read
Best place to work on laptop with free wi-fi:
RBT. It’s a chain from Hong Kong.
Best bookstore:
Librería Borges
It’s been around for more than ten years. The books are all about literature and art. The shop owner, Chen Tong, is a famous writer and artist himself.
Best magazine stand:
There are some small bookstores around Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts that sell a lot of art magazines and books. I like City Pictorial. However there is no one magazine that can represent all of Guangzhou.
Shop
Best boutique:
KJO4 Bux
102-104, 44 Tian He Nan Yi Lu
Guangzhou
They have the best vintage items and rock paraphernalia.
Sightsee
Favorite art space/gallery/museum:
Guangdong Art Museum
38 Yanyu Road, Er-sha Island
Vitamin Space
01-29hao, Hengyi Jie Chigangxi Lu, Haizhuqu
Favorite outdoor space:
Huanghuagang Commemoration Park
Yuexiu District
Best touristy thing to do:
Walk along the Pearl River, ride an old ship across the river. Take a camera when you’re walking in Xi Guang District. In Xi Guang, visit the Chen Ancestral Temple and the Xi Guang Museum to see examples of traditional architecture. Go to Yi De Lu Market to buy cheap but very interesting and fun toys.
Tips
Only local does or knows about:
Local Guangzhou people go to restaurants with their whole family to drink tea. They go in the morning, usually at 7:00 am. While they call it simply “drinking tea”; they not only drink tea, but also eat delicious food. There are three tea times: morning tea (05:00-11:00), afternoon tea (14:30-16:00), and night tea (21:00-23:30). You can sample many small dishes during teatime, such as shrimp dumplings and phoenix talons.
The must-see thing in your city:
Xi Guang District. [Look under Best Touristy Thing To Do for description.]
How would you spend a day off in your city?
I like walking around in the Xi Guang District, taking pictures of daily life in Guangzhou, and eating cheap but delicious local food.
Best website for local info:
http://www.thatsprd.com. It’s all in English.
Anything else you want to mention?
When foreigners talk about big cities in China, they always mention our capital—Beijing—or the so-called international city—Shanghai. But actually, Guangzhou is also a big city worth mentioning. It’s the ultimate marketplace to me. Here you can find the biggest toy, seafood, and clothing markets because there are tons of factories around the city. When people mentioned Guangdong in the late ’80s, the city was synonymous with money and wealth. It’s still a wealthy city, but it’s not the only one anymore. A lot of migrants from other provinces come to find work in Guangzhou because we have so many factories here.
Though I’m not from Guangzhou, I work and live here. I’m involved in Guangzhou’s traditions: from getting up early in the morning to take tea to living in Xi Guang District—despite the fact that the government is tearing down so many of the beautiful old houses here. The elder people in Guangzhou live more traditionally, but the young people don’t know the culture of their own hometown. I think it’s a shame! If you come to visit Guangzhou, feel free to email me: . I’ll show you the real Guangzhou!
Events
Best events:
In June (5/5 in the Lunar calendar), we have the Dragon Boat Festival, which has been a tradition for thousands of years. Most people will go to the Zhujiang River (the Pearl River) to see the dragon boat competition. Dragon boats have a wooden dragonhead in the front and a tail attached to the back of boat. There are dragon boat teams from many different countries, like Canada, Australia, and Poland. They all come to Guangzhou to race their dragon boats.
The Flower Street is an important traditional event for people in Guangzhou. It takes place during the Spring Festival holiday (Chinese New Year) for three days. People buy flowers and other plants for good luck for the New Year.
Issue 24 Apprentices
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JIMI HENDRIX MURDERED? “NOT IMPROBABLE” SAYS NOEL REDDING…
The name Jimi Hendrix conjures up some of the most colourful and wildest moments that the sixties produced. Hendrix arrived, he conquered and took the music world by storm, got inside your head and went onto the great gig in the sky - all by the age of 27.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience , left you in no doubt that it was exactly that – an experience.
A trio of musicians who came together from both sides of the Atlantic and found common ground, fame and for one third of the group not very much fortune.
For Noel Redding the bass player in the group the experience was not to be forgotten. Since the death of Hendrix 40 years ago, much as been documented about him and the group.
Looking back to the sixties and you could be thinking you are on another planet. Any history relating to that period is taken up with music and culture. The Jimi Hendrix Experience played it`s part.
Making a timely appearance is a DVD that is being put out by Discs International, containing a never before seen interview with Noel Redding recorded at his home in Ireland in 1988.
It makes fascinating viewing. All the years of seeing film of them in concert and photographs of Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell, you find yourself sitting in a living room not with just a legend – but an ordinary guy talking about his early days with the group. No rock star here, no pretentious name dropping, just plain talking. Listening to him you are left wondering how they made it to top.
I asked producer Will Scally who had the foresight to record this interview how it all came about.
“ I had known and been friends with Noel for many years and always found him a very upfront, straightforward guy. We often spoke about doing an interview, he wanted to speak about the band, money, drugs and the death of Hendrix and much more – even speaking about the possibility of Hendrix being murdered. He was on good form that day and wanted to record this for posterity.
Sadly Noel Redding died back in 2003 aged 57
For those interested in Hendrix, Redding and the history of sixties rock music this rare visual documentary should not be missed. The Redding Experience Release date DECEMBER 6th 2010.
Barry Levene
Jimi Hendrix – Assassinado?? “Não é improvável” Diz Noel Redding…
O nome Jimi Hendrix evoca os momentos mais alegres e selvagens que os anos 60produziram. Hendrix chegou, conquistou e levou o mundo da música ao seu auge, entrou nas nossas cabeças e deu os melhores espectáculos sobre o céu – Isto tudo aos 27 anos.
A Experiência Jimi Hendrix, deixou-nos sem dúvidas, exactamente nisso – na Experiência.
Um trio de músicos que se uniu vindo dos dois lados do Oceano Atlântico encontraram terreno comum e fama, mas não muita fortuna.
Para Noel Redding, o baixista do grupo, a experiência não é para ser esquecida. Desde a morte de Hendrix há 40 anos atrás, muito está documentado acerca dele e da banda.
Olhando para trás, para os anos 60, pensamos que estamos num mundo completamente diferente. Qualquer história relacionada com este período é dedicada á musica e á cultura. A experiência Jimi Hendrix teve a sua parte.
A marcar isso mesmo é o DVD que está a ser produzido pela Discs International, descrevendo uma entrevista nunca publicada de Noel Redding, em sua casa na Irlanda em 1988.
É fascinante, depois de tantos anos a vermos filmes e fotografias de Hendrix,Redding e Mitchell, encontramo-nos perante, não o que chamamos de lenda – mas sim uma pessoa simples a falar dos seus primeiros tempos com o grupo. Sem se tentar passar como uma das maiores estrelas de rock que o tempo já viu, tem uma conversa aberta e honesta. Ao ouvi-lo pensamos como é que eles conseguiram chegar ao topo.
Perguntei ao Productor Will Scally quem teve o cuidado de fazer esta entrevista, de como tudo aconteceu:
“Eu conheci e fui amigo do Noel por muitos anos e sempre o achei muito franco ehonesto. Nós frequentemente falavamos sobre fazer uma entrevista acerca da banda, do dinheiro, das drogas, da morte de Hendrix e muito mais – até falar da possibilidade de Hendrix ter sido assassinado. Ele estava em boa forma nesse dia e quis gravar isto simplesmente para a posterioridade”.
Foi com tristeza que Noel Redding morreu em 2003, com 57 anos.
Para todos os que estão interessados no Hendrix, Redding e na história de músicarock dos anos 60, este raro documentário visual não pode ser perdido.
O DVD estará disponível no dia 6 DE DEZEMBRO de 2010.
Ana Raquel Henriques
It’s hard to believe that Hendrix died 40years ago, what’s even more unbelievable is we weird folk from the sixties have now metamorphosed into out own grandfathers, actually lived
through it. We witnessed the three strange looking men collectively known as Jimi Hendrix Experience redefine rock music and contributed to the sixties soundtrack.
So much has been written about Jimi Hendrix and this guitar colossus without doubt overshadowed the other two members of the group; drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. If you have spent years living in a cave then you are excused from not knowing that the three of them are now playing at the great gig in the sky.
Noel Redding wrote an interesting book some years ago, outlining his time with the group, as the fame increased, so didother pressures. The money that these three young musicians accumulated must have made them rich beyond their wildest dreams. The wild man of pop with his two acolytes, the fashion, and the hair made them instantly recognizable around the globe. The book went some way to tell us the way it was.
Out now on Dvd and long overdue is an interview with Noel Redding. For many years a rumor has been around that this interview was inexistence. If like me you like to plough though the websites dealing with guitars and musicians, you would have read that this interview has finally been released.
So why is this Dvd so important? Well for a start it was recorded in 1988 and to my way of thinking, in terms of rockmusic history, it has historical and intrinsic value. The quality of the interview has an 80’s feel about it and that makes it even more authentic, No digital remastering or HD quality, just a straight forward interview. Recorded at his home in Ireland, Redding opens up on a verity of subjects. The death of Hendrix, the drugs and parties, the dynamics of the band and money - not the money he made but the money he and Mitchell didn’t make. Bitter about the lack of payment, not looking or sounding shocked at the suggestion that Hendrix could have been murdered.
I have seen some very short interviews with Noel Redding on You tube only lasting a few minutes, this interview runs for forty minutes and without doubt a lot can be said within that amount of time. I must add that I never met him, however, he comes across very honest and pleased to do this interview.
I read in the Press Release that the Producer Will Scally, had been a friend of Noel for many years, and also conducted the interview. This friendship shows through, it’s just like two old mates talking about the good ol’ days. The exception being that one is Noel Redding and his good ol’ days was playing bass with Jimi Hendrix – or perhaps not.
The “Redding Experience” is now available now on MNV Discs International (DN/MNV1) distributed via Qleap.
Ben Morganfield
Nope. Sorry. We’re deleting comments that look like press releases.
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