Jimmy Edgar (that's him there, on the right) may be hogging column inches, but there's half a dozen other international guests in town this weekend. Here are a few in no particular order of goodness: tonight there's hip hop at the Geisha from JZ's tour DJ Neil Armstrong, Australian DJ Cherokee is at Zeal, there's techno at the Shelter with a live set from Neil Landstrumm, Alex Flatner's over from Berlin for a set at Lola and ... Read on

Based on the life of musical legend Nina Simone, Black is the Color of My Voice opened last night over at Anken Green, marking new theater troupe Play the Spotlight’s Shanghai debut.

That it’s a one-woman show, even if it is written and performed by insanely talented Apphia Campbell, had us doubting. Solo stage shows, it’s fair to say, can be at best confusing, and at worst unengaging.

Shanghai, we were wrong! Campbell transfixed, she ... Read on

Graffiti artist Futura will be at the Apple Store on Nanjing tonight. He’ll be talking about his work as one of the first artists to legitimize graffiti as a recognized art form. That’ll probably take a backseat to an obligatory spiel about the special edition headphones he designed for Beats by Dre, though, since it was Beats that organized the whole thing as part of Apple’s Artist Series.

In any case, it could still be a good (and free!) way to ... Read on

Shanghai should be getting its own leg of the Summer Sonic Festival, which takes place over two days in Tokyo and Osaka every August. Right now the details are sketchy but if the organizers pull off their plan, it will be by far the largest music festival yet to launch in China.

Organizers have their sights on Shanghai Stadium and the surrounding area as a probably location. Dates: August 17 and 18. The line-up? ... Read on

Starting today, the Shanghai Metro is offering a combination subway and superspeed Maglev pass in one handy ticket. 55rmb gets you a one-way Maglev ride, as well as unlimited use on the city's subway system for the day. Roundtrip on the Maglev plus single day Metro pass will run you 85rmb.

Pretty good deal, considering ... Read on

So yeah, activist/artist Ai Weiwei made a rock album. He just released the first single, "Dumbass," as a music video. The track is also up on AWW's soundcloud page, where it's tagged as "Heavy Metal." It's... uh... not that. I guess it could charitably be described as nü metal with subtle trip hop influences. But that's hardly the point, is it?

As with that ridiculous "Gangnam Style" parody video he did (just Google it, I don't even want to link it), AWW proves ... Read on

Back in January, The Public fled the Sinan Mansions with a promise to regroup on Xiangyang Lu. Last week, it finally happened. The craft cocktail lounge has taken up residence one floor up from Awfully Chocolate.

The space used to be a showroom for Le Passage, a classy holiday retreat in Moganshan. Much of the design work was thus already done for them. It's about a third of the size of the original location, and much warmer and cozier than its exposed brick and blue banquettes. One major drawback: no terrace. ... Read on

Stella McCartney, famous Beatle offspring slash high-end fashion designer, is currently in Shanghai. She's even going to make an appearance at her store in Reel, that mega-luxe department store near Jing'an Temple. That's happening this evening (like, now) and we're not sure how long she's going to stick around, so if you're clamoring to get a glimpse or heckle in, we'd suggest heading over asap.

According to the rumor mill, she just ... Read on

British superstar-DJ Pete Tong is back in Shanghai next month for the first time in six years. He's booked for a show on June 14, and it's at Mao Livehouse, which means it will be a straight-up rave. No tables and bottles of champagne for this man. Nope, just a room full of kids getting sweaty to big-room house and trance.

Tickets on the door are going to be 250rmb. We have 200 earlybird tickets over on SmartTicket for 150rmb, then that goes up to 200rmb. So, if you want to ... Read on