Xin Yi Bao – The Out-takes

Good morning from South China, where the overnight din of exploding firecrackers is just now dying down as the sun rises on February 18. My neighbors aren’t taking any chances with evil spirits or bad luck this year. Their dedication to driving away the demons is killing me. The little dog has been hunkered down in bed (with her butt smack in the middle of my pillow) for five days now.

Over the next few days I’ll be posting some of the out-takes from the 24 hour marathon holiday photo shoot, beginning with more from Xin Yi Bao Nightclub, where we welcomed in the New Year. This first shot is of the acrobat I featured before. She had just taken the stage and there was just the one lone spot on her. At the time I was wishing I was on the other side of the stage but in the end was glad I wasn’t. Sometimes it’s what you can’t see that makes the shot.

Ascending

R. Quan covering Train’s “Drop’s of Jupiter”. This kid is an amazing musician. He can play seemingly every instrument (very well), sings and writes his own stuff. The natural frame of the banners and the light are kinda’ cool.

“She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo… “

Thanks to my VERY sophisticated guanxi (relationships) I had full access to go where ever I wanted inside the club, which made for some shots I wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise. That access caused a minor problem when a man in the audience began to loudly complain that he hadn’t been allowed to bring his camera in. He was mollified with a round of drinks, which I’m sure was his goal all along!  My relationships aren’t really so strong but I do know Quan and he always get’s me on the list.  Yeah, I’m one of the cool kids.

Hug It Out

R. Quan get’s his thrash on with an original tune. It was his first effort writing a song completely in English. I couldn’t understand much of it but the melody worked.

Shure

The New Year’s show at Xin Yi Bao is a little risque, especially for Liuzhou, China. When this girl planted a wet one on her (female) dancing partner, there was an audible hush from the audience as well as some nervous laughter.  The lights were dimmed just as she went in.

The Kiss

Nothing else new here really. Still a little cool and some unfortunate folks are trickling back to work. I still have a couple of weeks to go.  Oh, my microwave bit the dust. Bought a new one, which looks like it could take me to the moon. Lot’s of pretty lights. Big learning curve with the manual and buttons all in Chinese.  The girl said I could bake a cake in the thing.  Yeah, I’m gonna’ bake a cake.

~ by Expatriate Games on February 18, 2010.