[My Weekender] with Mark Elliot

Making sure the jazz is smooth with Mark Elliot - Sep 19, 08

Mark works for JZ Productions and is responsible for booking the international artists performing at this weekend's Shanghai Jazz Festival. He's also the man behind Likealocal.cn, a blog about eating local cuisine.

For me, the weekend and the week blur into one continuous mist. This weekend will be one to remember, though, because of the Shanghai Jazz Festival. I booked and will be responsible to look after all the foreign bands for the concert.

Right now, it's 1:55pm on Friday, and I've got 15 minutes to spare to write this.

First, I'll take Laura Fygi to Jing’An Park to meet, rehearse, and sound check with JZ & the Rolf Becker All Star Big Band. After sound check I'll meet Gilles Peterson and take him for dinner. After that I'll go across to pick up Incognito and take them for dinner. As Jasmine Chen -- one of the great vocalists in Shanghai mentioned to me at Boona today, whilst I was stopping for their fresh smoked chicken sandwich (on whole wheat) -- that's two dinners I've got scheduled for one evening. "It's okay," I said, "it'll make up for the breakfast I missed."

Usually on a Friday, and this one will be no exception, I'll end up at my second home, the JZ Club, for the after party of the festival. But I know that I'll be tired and weary, so right after the festival ends I'll disappear for 90 minutes to head over to Soothing Wind Massage on Fuxing Road to get an oil massage from No.9. She's the best and a well-kept secret, until now.

Saturday, I'll be up early -- rubbing my head to clear away the debris of the night before. Then it's up and off to meet Incognito to take them to their sound check early in the morning. Hopefully Saturday I'll actually get to hang out with some friends in the park and see some of the shows. Particularly I'm looking forward to seeing The Rhythm Junks. Saturday night I think will be a huge party. Incognito are going to finish the night for us in style, and I'm sure the JZ Club after party will continue well into the small hours.

I might take this chance to get some time out and hang out with my Chinese friends. Usually I like places like The Shelter and LOgO because of the superb management by Gaz, Gary, and Taipei respectively. However, recently I've got into the habit of visiting places like Armani 3 and Party World in Fuxing Park -- places that I generally hate on principle but which I'm finding to be much more interesting because I get to hang with Chinese, talk Chinese, and just generally feel more a part of this country I live in.

I guess that means I’m not sleeping on Saturday night because if it's a big night, it's a big night. Sunday will also require my full energy though too because the festival won’t be over yet. Got to think about getting artists home safely and making sure everything runs smoothly for the last day. I'm sure it's going out with a bang!

We've been a little concerned in the office at JZ about the number of tickets sold -- a lot! I hope the jazz audience will make a great party and respect the park and keep everything fun. Sunday evening I’m back at JZ Club again. But after everything is finished I might need a break from there, and I'll probably be hungry. It'll be time to get some much needed rest and go back to the Shanghai life I loved so much during the time when I was writing www.likealocal.cn.

Hopefully next weekend I'll get the chance to write some more in my blog.

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