Hey, this is a desperate plea for you to vote for me, Jeff Caylor, at amiestreet.com/jeffcaylor. Qualifying round of voting ends today, so your vote could help me get to NYC for a concert showcase.
Look for the “Vote to Send Me to CMJ!” button!
Popularity: 11% [?]
You do realize that not many people would travel 2 or 3 hours from Beijing to visit a wall called “The Decent Wall” or “The Largish Wall” right? America didn’t invent marketing, we just perfected it.
I’m leaving Beijing with mixed feelings this morning. It’s been an amazing trip. I’ve been able to see so much and yet, there’s so much more to explore. I’m confident I’ll be back some day.
On Saturday afternoon, we drove quite a ways to visit the Simatai section of the Great Wall of China. As my friend Rich pointed out yesterday, it’s quite odd that they took a sheer face of rock and added 10 feet to it. At least in this section, that’s how it is. The highlight was taking a zipline down from the wall across a pretty large lake. WHEE!
Popularity: 11% [?]
Beijing used to be known as Peking. In fact, some people still refer to it that way. The airport code is PEK. Last night I enjoyed some Peking Duck for the first time. It’s more of an ordeal than, say, if someone were to come to the US and have turkey.
There’s actually a correct way to eat it. First you open this thin little tortilla on your plate. You dip the duck meat into a sauce, then you add a couple veggies–looks like maybe a cucumber and something else that’s kind of in the radish family. You’d think you just wrap it up like a burrito. But then, you’d get kindly scolded in Chinese and shown how to do it the correct way. Honestly, it tastes great either way.
This morning is one of the clearest days we’ve had since I’ve been in Beijing. Last week, some local regulations were in place that only allowed car license plates ending in even numbers to be on the road certain days. The other days they allowed the odd numbers. It seems to have had a good effect on the atmosphere for a few days at least. You can see some mountains in the distance there on the horizon which, I’m told, is an unusual site.
Popularity: 11% [?]
The 798 Art Zone is an area of the Dashanzi District in Northeast Beijing. As you wander around the museums, galleries and studios, it becomes instantly clear that art is alive and well in Beijing. 798 is a thriving community of artists and thinkers and there are some very stunning pieces here.
I think my favorite part is that as you wander around this section of town and as you open doors and explore spaces of what are essentially old warehouses you find a variety of treasures. Some happen to be dank, undeveloped studios and others are amazing Fine Art galleries with an urban, Soho vibe. I’ve uploaded some images to my flickr page, but you really need to see this place to believe it.
I am trying to keep to a tight schedule this week since I’m leaving town in a few days, but I could spend hours upon hours here in 798. I’ve barely scratched the surface of Beijing, but this has got to be one of the best parts of the city, in my humble opinion.
Popularity: 11% [?]
If there’s one thing that brings people together, it’s difficult circumstances. There’s a quote by BEN PEARSON (see EDIT) about Rich Mullins. I can’t locate it right now, but it’s in the foreword of one of his books, I believe. He said, “Rich knows the secret handshake of the broken.” It’s not a good club to be in, but if you’re in it, I sort of feel like I don’t have to explain this song.
Feel like a bird tied to a tether
Not quite how it’s meant to be
I’m looking around at all these feathers
That I don’t even need
In a word, this song is about hope. About the time I wrote this song, I remember my friend Matt saying, “Hope floats.” I asked him what he meant by that. “When everything is going down, we grab onto that thing that feels like it’s keeping us up and we hold on for dear life,” he told me. All it takes is one little blink of light and you think, “Could that be the light at the end of this tunnel? Is that the sound of a rescue boat I’ve been waiting on this deserted island so long to hear?” It’s the thing that gives you courage to finally get back up and sit in the saddle again after a painful ejection.
Don’t take away this harness yet
And I think I might still need this net and
Let me know if you’ve got some hope to spare
So, to most people, almost flying probably sounds like failure. To me, it represents possibility and hope.
I’m in China right now, but I have several friends all over the world who have been working on remixes of this song. You can visit my myspace page to listen to some of my faves. There are at least 3-4 excellent versions on the REMIX ME page and one more is still in process that I really like too.
EDIT: I just wanted to make a correction here. The quote was not by Brennen, but in fact, his photographer for The Raggamuffin Gospel, Ben Pearson. Ben wrote the 2nd Foreword for this book. I knew I read it in that book, but couldn’t find it last week when I wrote this post. Anyway, I’d like to post just an excerpt here of where the quote comes from, simply because it has meant a lot to me over these last 4 years and I’ve referred to it more than a dozen times. And to Ben, my apologies and sincere thanks for the way you put this. Your art is remarkable. Thank you.
… In these two photographs, Brennen Manning and Rich Mullins are sitting outside on the steps. Outside seems to be an appropriate place for them. Outside you can breathe. It’s not that being inside is necessarily bad; it’s just that it’s easier to hide there. Society as a whole has become expert at concealment–a word that doesn’t seem to be a part of Brennen or Rich’s vocabulary. These two have a certain bond–a brotherhood of the transparent. They know, all too well, the secret handshake of the broken and so embrace that much more fully the arms of grace extended.…
Popularity: 19% [?]
I really shouldn’t lead into a series of journal entries about Beijing with “I ate scorpions.” You can’t follow it. Any story I think of will seem a little tame and normal. Whatever.
I was inspired by seeing a father sharing some of these guys with his son. And Ben had a camera, too.
I will say that scorpions are really pretty decent. Not much different than chips or french fries–probably decent with ketchup. I, following the lead of the previously mentioned father, knocked off the stinger tips, but I’m told that isn’t necessary.
Here’s the recipe for scorpions in three easy steps if you want to make some:
1) Find some scorpions and kill them. This is important since they can also kill you.
2) Put them on a skewer. (Technically, you could combine this with step 1b)
3) Fry and add salt to taste.
Head over to Ben’s web site to see what I didn’t eat and you may not be so impressed.
Popularity: 11% [?]
