Riding
out along the highway to the Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou. There are generations of eye-sore
compromise buildings with faux Chinese roofs that must have been attractive
once, for a while. Green and more
southern China green helps to cover up so many architectural mishaps, that the
city and its suburbs are now stuck with.
To my right my friend is reading his complementary China
Daily newspaper. Front page and he’s
pointed out has an article suggesting that a Japanese jet tailed a Chinese jet
at extremely close range. So close
that one-second of miscalculation would result in a crash. Both planes are presumably loaded with
weaponry. China has suggested it
will release the film so that it will go viral and get the nation riled
up. The article also mentions that
this is purportedly in retaliation for China’s tailing a Japanese jet at close
range, a few weeks back. I’m
surprised they even felt it necessary to suggest there might be a justification
for Japan’s behavior here. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-06/12/content_17583880.htm
China Daily has provided a link to the clip hosted on
Sina. I have to say, as “red meat”
goes, it's a bit tepid. There is a
plane flying along, outside for about 60 seconds. If I squint I can see a small red circle that may be a
Japanese flag. Now, I’m sure in
the realm on air safety it is extremely dangerous for planes to fly that close
to each other without prior communication. But as dramatic jet flight goes, I’m fairly certain that
these sixty seconds would have been left on the cutting floor in ‘Top Gun.’ It’s funny as in my mind, when I
imagined it, the Japanese plane would have been tailing the Chinese one. The latter might have made some
maneuver to evade the prior like they do in the movies. But this clip has more of a playful, 比翼齐飞[1] feel to it. Please gents, keep it cool. No mistakes for everyone’s sake.
Last night we were out at a lakeside restaurant, having
Cantonese food that you can only really have in Guangzhou. I’m not sure what the facility looks
like under the glaring light of day, but there, at night, with little pleasure
boat dining craft and papier-mâché lantern fish leaping about it was all quite
pleasant. It was my friend’s
birthday and our host had them prepare a meringue pie with a few candles on
top. We lit them once and then
twice but the fan kept blowing them out.
Settled now in the Baiyun AirChina lounge. First I did manage to get my morning
coffee and a grapefruit juice at the nearby Xinbake. I have absolutely no faith that the
fixings in this gratis arrangement will amount to anything. The next recommendation on my Oregonian
chum’s list I’d referenced yesterday is a Brazilian Afro Beat collective called
Bixiga 70, presumably playing on Fela’s Afro 70 group name. This album “Ocupai” was, I believe,
released this year. I’ve got the
title song on now. I don’t need to
speak Portuguese to surmise what that word means.
I’d love to say I was bobbing my head and keeping
polyrhythms with my hands on the furniture but the internet speed that they
provide, squeezed out through my VPN to points overseas, somewhere in Los
Angeles is rather painfully slow.
I paused it and now its streaming out for a good 30 seconds worth of
uninterrupted flow. It is that
super porky, phat, full throated horn orchestration, complete with the low-end
basement, huggable crunch of the baritone sax, cast over an irresistible
rhythmic foundation and tasteful guitar and organ flourishes. All we need is for Fela himself to yell
“Ready? Here goes. Ho!” So far there are no vocals and, given some other
contemporary Afro Beat efforts I’ve heard, that may not be a bad thing.
I’ve actually got this streaming pretty well at this
point. I’ve made it to the next
song, which sounds more Malian than Yoruban without an interruption. Bixiga 70 are recommended.
The flight to Shanghai is being called and called
again. Pack it all up. I’ll never be able to load the photos in
time with this wimpy Internet throughput.
Catch you back by the Suzhou Creek.
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