Anyone that’s ever attempted to produce a music entertainment event knows that, well… it ain’t no easy thang!  As organizer and producer you are the axis connecting the venue owner, entertainers, production engineers, promoters, audience, media outlets and the moon!  While individually adjusting each channel is fairly straight forward, the logistics involved in managing the relationships, details and the sensitivities of the musicians (the same ego that makes them great at their art) requires just a touch of patience coupled with a some steady hustling. But… if you can ‘keep’a’hold them reigns’, you can be The Wizard of Oz; you can watch the seeds of your imagination grow into a uniform event.

Like I said, it ain’t no easy thang, especially in Shenzhen where you need to turn water into wine, but it’s happening now and has been happening for the past few years and well, I think it’s high time that ‘The Wizards of Shenzhen” take a bow.

1)      Leon, Hero For Hire…  When it comes to Rock and Heavy Metal live music events in Shekou, Sea World, no one has pushed it more than him.  He’s in about 3 bands, plays all around the PRD and to date, he has a laundry list of events which he’s organized, produced, managed and performed in. To name a few:

• The The Biggest LIVE MUSIC show in Shenzhen History at The Jin bar, 2009&
• The Rockshow Ultimate at Enigma Bar, 2012
• The Freakshow and the Return of the Freakshow, 2009,2010, w the help of Freakboy 

2)      Jesse Warren… Founder of FRESH Crew,  building and promoting dope underground music & events in Shenzhen since 2007. Jesse is the behind-the-scenes mayor in Shenzhen; everyone knows him and most people have had a drink or met a girl at an event he’s organized. Seriously, he makes the party happen, including his most recent event bringing Japanese superstar and major label DJ Makoto to Shenzhen. Best thing is, his events combine music and activities, like surfing, slip n’ slide, beach tours, and more and he hosts them at venues all around town (even outside of town). Now that’s FRESH! This is just a touch of what he’s done:

• Summer Warehouse Massive featuring Makoto at Brown Sugar Jar, Futian, 2012
• New Year’s Eve Beach Party, 2010
• Rock N Roll DJ Party at True Colors, 25^th Floor

3)      A Fei – The OCT Loft area (Nanfang Studio: OCT Loft) has been the beacon for Chinese musicians both in Shenzhen and around China since 2008 with the opening of Idutang. Since then, countless acts from around China and the world have made their way to the OCT area for one-off shows, a tour and most recently the Outlook Festival and The Smiling Knives at Old Heaven Bookshop.  A Fei is the man behind most of this traffic.

4)      Rue Moyer (me) – I’ve got a bit of catching up to do in building up my portfolio. These men have been at it far longer than I have, but my approach is different. I write a blog. Why? To bring continuity between online hubbub and offline shows. Offline conversations into online bio’s, ‘aboveground’ and in the open, where people can see and know about the events, all throughout Shenzhen and the PRD, getting local musicians into local venues and keeping steady live music on the regular, not just here and there. How? By doing the leg work: playing shows, connecting this musician with that venue owner, setting up sound and stage, running from this end of town to that and networking like a fiend. Weibo here, Twitter there, blog post yesterday and band review tomorrow. On second thought, maybe event production ain’t so bad!

Most of what I’m doing now is performing at and helping provide steady live music for venues like Rapscallions, Brown Sugar Jar, McCawley’s Shekou, and creating the flow of local music between Shenzhen and Guangzhou at bars like Hooley’s and The Brew.

Shenzhenlocalmusic.com big event coming up is The Delta Sessions: it’s a 3 Day Live Blues and Folk Music Festival  with nine local bands from Shenzhen and Guangzhou playing original music at Rapscallions Café Bar, July 13-15.  I think this will be the most interesting show for live music in Shenzhen in 2012. It’s not a competition, it’s not a blender mix of different genres of music thrown into one and it’s not just one night. It’s Blues baby, by local musicians and three days of it. You can check out the band line-up and the weekend activities here.

Producing shows anywhere in the world is a real challenge, but Shenzhen is akin to scaling Mount Everest. I think one of the fundamental reasons “The Wizards of Shenzhen” have had so such success producing and promoting events here is because we also perform in the shows we create. We produce the shows out of our passion for music and the enjoyment of aiding in building a community. It’s certainly not for money! Not to mention, the music community in Shenzhen has been so minimal that we operate under the motto, “as we build it, they will come.” So…keep coming!!!

Rue Moyer is the founder of popular local music site Shenzhen Local Music.  He contributes a column on the music scene in the Pearl River Delta to The Nanfang each week.