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[My Weekender] Abram Deyo

Just back from North Korea, local promoter Abe Deyo looks forward to a weekend of babysitting bands and herding musicians around China.
Last updated: 2015-11-09
Abe Deyo is a promoter and vagabond living in Shanghai. He puts on a variety of concerts in Shanghai and throughout China. He just got back from a trip to North Korea where DJ B.O played the first DJ set in the DPRK. Tonight he's hosting Sweet Summer Sweat Fest, at Yuyintang with five dope bands.

I am standing at the ticket counter in Tokyo, not sure if I should be laughing at the absurdity of it all or crying with grief. The lady behind the Air Macau check-in counter has a blank, compassionless expression on her face as she informs us that we will have to pay nearly 48,000rmb for 200kg of excess luggage. That is 240rmb per kilo! Granted, 200kg is a lot of weight, but 48,000rmb is more than double what we paid for seven flights. It is also five times the price we calculated when using Air Macau’s online guide. But Air Macau doesn’t care, they don’t want to help, it isn’t their problem. Pay or leave. This is when I wake up. It was all just some bizarre and horrible dream (for me, but reality for an unnamed band that had to cancel their China tour early this week because of it).

After waking up, I try and shake the undeniable loathing I have for Air Macau with a cup of coffee. My girlfriend brought me back these massive bricks of coffee from France, so I no longer have an excuse to spend my mornings at one of my favorite cafés, Boonna. While the coffee is brewing I exercise a bit (my justification for all the deserts I will eat by day’s end), check emails and do all those other early morning activities (you know, sit on the pot, fondle my half-asleep girlfriend before getting slapped, cry in the shower, etc). Besides my normal morning routine I have been busy editing photos from my trip last week to the DPRK with DJ B.O (the first real DJ party in the DPRK!). North Korea is amazing; Pyongyang was a really interesting city, extremely colorful, which surprised me. Brian (DJ B.O) and I are planning on doing a little video/photo night later in September so I do as much work on that as I can before running off to work.

I have to be in the office by 10:30am. Currently I am doing a two-month stint with AtoAto as a production assistant while they launch a new iPhone app they developed, Folo, and work on their upcoming Sarah Connor tour. I like the work. Steve Sybesma the boss, is a legend in the promoting industry and I learn a lot from him about the business. Today, I am only there for a couple of hours. I have to go meet Daniel Hart and the guys from PS I Love You for lunch. Taking them to the elusive 131 Xingfu Lu, which is no longer AT 131 Xingfu lu. They make the best fried eggplant I have had in Shanghai and I feel it is appropriate to make the bands sweat before the Sweet Summer Sweat Fest both of them will be playing tonight at Yuyintang (along with Ben Houge, Pairs and Battle Cattle).

With our stomachs protesting the insane amounts of food and spice that we’ve inhaled, we then head on a little walking tour of Shanghai. Personally, I detest most of the Shanghai tourist stops, but I have a soft spot for the Bund and start there. We wind our way (quickly) through Yu Garden and over to the old city wall. Then it’s back to the hotel to pick-up their equipment. From 4:30pm to 2:00am I will be at Yuyintang making sure the bands show up for sound check and taking care of any needs they might have (beer runs and puke cleanup). Around 6pm, I’ll take the guys next door for a quick meal of Kungfu fast food. Oh, how Bruce Lee must be doing front-kicks in his grave over the shameless use of his image. We’ll take lots of silly pictures in-front of his image, and then head back to the venue. The rest of the night I’ll run around worrying about the turnout and taking pictures. At 2am when things are wrapping up I sneak out. I need to rest and the following two days will be a blur.

Saturday morning I send Daniel off to the airport at 7am, he’ll be performing in Guiyang at the Midi Yoda Festival (yes, I know... I mention the force being with him a hundred times). While he is heading off to Guiyang I am taking PS I Love You on a five-hour train to Wuhan. I sleep most of the way and when we arrive it’s full on. Sound check, eat, do the show, drink and run to catch our overnight train to Beijing. In total we are in Wuhan for less than 10-hours and on the trains for over 16.

Sunday – While our train is pulling into Beijing, Daniel is flying in from Guiyang. We both arrive about the same time. I booked us a room near the Lama hotel so that we could be close to the Gulou area and Yugong Yishan. Waiting for us at the hotel with star-crossed eyes and a big welcome sign is a familiar face, Morgan Short (that tall, curly haired guy from Boys Climbing Ropes). He has a small crush on PS I Love You and, giggling like a schoolgirl, asks them questions about Kingston, Ontario. It’s a late lunch at some non-descript noodle joint then a walk to the Lama Temple before going back to the hotel for a little rest. We need to be at the venue for sound check around 6pm.

Beijing is an interesting city to do shows (by that I mean it usually sucks) and I hope for the best but prepare for the worst. The bands are content, and after preparing them for Beijing they won’t be too surprised if the audience is barely bigger than the tour party. Anyway, we will always have the show in Shanghai to reflect on and smile about, something that not even Beijing or Air Macau can take away.

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