Xiao Lei took me to a speakeasy on the edge of the North Third Ring Road. It's called a speakeasy because it's underground, on the second basement floor of a tower. This place, if it is not carried by acquaintances, is difficult to find.

This tower is supposed to be a product of the early 80s, so it has left a lot of traces of Soviet-style architecture, the biggest feature is that the foundation is extremely deep, and of course, it may also be that the haze of the Tangshan earthquake has not completely dissipated at that time. Therefore, the two-story basement, especially to the second floor, has a ceiling of nearly five meters, so it does not look stuffy.

When I went downstairs, I saw the sign of the bar, just a few words, "Mei's Utopia", very small, very hidden, not even a little decoration, as if deliberately hoping that people would ignore it.

Xiao Lei whispered beside me, "Chang, this bar probably doesn't even have an industrial and commercial record, the boss's surname is Mei, it's a woman, it used to be in the rock circle, but now it's gone, and a bar has been opened, and the guests here are all brought by people in the circle, so you don't have to worry about being reported." ”

"I found a neighbor in my past, his younger brother has been mixing in the rock circle, his name is Chen Xiangdong, he is in his thirties, and he has not become famous, and he relies on his brother every day to help. Chen Xiangdong is not a musician, he doesn't know staves, he can't compose lyrics, he can't compose, and now he is a drummer in the band, but he has been in the circle for a long time and knows a lot of things, and he can see it in a while, and there is his performance today. ”

I nodded to Lei and followed him down the winding hallway into the depths of the basement.

Pushing open a heavy wooden door that only existed in the courtyard of an old Beijing bungalow, we were in the bar.

The bar was dimly lit, with only a few large spotlights on the innermost stage. There are a number of musical instruments scattered around the stage, and on both sides are several pairs of loudspeakers stacked to the height of a person.

The most special thing is that all the walls of the entire basement, including the ceiling, are wrapped with foam-like materials, and the top is painted with black paint, perhaps because of the rush of construction, the process is a little rough, and many places are not evenly painted, but instead create a special brushstroke like abstract art, showing a free and casual charm, I don't know if the original designer intentionally.

We arrived early, and the bar was empty and deserted. Xiao Lei pulled me to find a seat on the side and sat down, and I noticed that the table in this bar was also made of old door panels, which looked to be some years old, with many broken corners, and a small candlestick in the middle of the table. Under the light of the candles, the surface of the door panel reflects a faint blue light.

I touched it with my hand, and it was not as rough as the old wood, but faintly a little warmer. I realized that the door panel must have been repainted, or very thick, but this paint was clear, which seemed to deliberately highlight the texture of the original wood and express the vicissitudes of life. If you look closely, the four corners of the door panel have been carefully polished and made into an arc.

The table top is simply furnished, with only a wooden tissue tube and a few blue calico coasters made of round coasters. This kind of simplicity does not seem simple, and it can be seen that the designers of the bar still put a lot of thought into it.

We sat down for a few minutes, and came a long-haired young man dressed in a denim suit, more than 1.8 meters tall, slightly thin, with a little pale face, a metal cross around his neck, and a pair of sunglasses pinned to the neckline of his close-fitting T-shirt. I thought it was Chen Xiangdong who Xiao Lei said, so I quickly got up and stretched out my hand.

The young man was stunned for a moment, looked me up and down, looked a little surprised, reluctantly shook me twice, handed over a plastic card, and said casually: "What are you two drinking today?" I'm sorry, the freezer is broken, and the beer is all at room temperature. ”

As soon as he said this, I realized that this was a waiter at the bar. But the dress of the bar waiter, either the boss thought ahead of his time and made a big deal, or he really had no money, and he had to use his own band to help.

Xiao Lei took the card, ordered six bottles of beer, asked me for a plate of peanuts and a plate of melon seeds, and pulled me back. But as soon as he sat down, from the booth on the other side of the dimly lit side, a short bald man flashed.

This man is in his thirties, less than 1.7 meters tall, with a big face but a small nose and small eyes, and a shiny bald head, which makes people look indescribably awkward. If it weren't for a pair of drums in his hands, it would be difficult to associate him with rock and roll, more like a social person.

The bald head was not visible, he sat next to Xiao Lei with his butt, took a wine glass in his hand, poured half a glass himself, and drank it all. Seeing that we both looked at him in a daze, then said with a smile: "I'm sorry, two of you, I'm Chen Hongdong's brother, Xiang Dong, the drummer of the East Fourth Pailou Band, just finished rehearsal, thirsty, I'm welcome, this must be Officer Lei." ”

As he spoke, he reached out and shook Ray's hand, and I noticed that he was also wearing a pair of gloves with half of his fingers exposed.

Xiao Lei smiled at him: "You are Xiang Dong, why don't you look like your brother at all?

The bald head laughed: "Officer Lei, you are too underestimated, it's not me who blows, a few years ago, we were also a handsome guy in a famous alley in Dongsi, and the girl who chased him went to the sea." It's not been a few years, don't look a little fat, but the body is really empty, and it's all for rock and roll. ”

Xiao Lei introduced me to Xiangdong, but he immediately got up and poured beer on the cup in front of me. "Chang Ye, I didn't expect it to be you, Admiral Jiumen, my dad is your fan, I have a neighbor named Cheng Li, I plan to make your story into a commentary, I didn't expect to see you here today, I toast you." ”

I smiled at him, touched the cup, I was a little impressed by Cheng Li mentioned by the bald head, he was a pigeon fancier of Jiao Er who played pigeons, and he came to the courtyard with Jiao Er a few times, people are the same as Jiao Er, very honest, I heard Jiao Er say that he usually loves opera, especially storytelling, but he didn't expect to take me to create.

I beckoned the bald head to sit down, and asked him with a smile, "Xiangdong, you have been blessed in the past two years, why do you say that it is rock and roll?"

The bald head simply sat next to me and continued to pour wine into my cup, "Master Chang, you don't know our business, alas, it can't be said to be an industry, there are no opportunities to perform, not to mention, now there is no place to sell a song, and you can't make money." If you don't make money, you can be idle, rehearse every three or five times, and only two or three days a week have a bar to find a small job for a performance, what can you do the rest of the time? I only have to drink and eat and eat in the mountains, and I often eat from lunch to dinner, and I am too lazy to move, can I not get fat? In the past two years, I will not tell you that I have grown at least 30 pounds of meat, if I find a normal class, can I do this?"

"Xiang Dong, have you always been like this in the rock circle?" I looked at Xiang Dong at all, and I spoke straightforwardly, so I simply asked a few more questions.

"No, it's been like this in the past three or five years, and it used to be a beautiful time. The most popular was from '93 to '98, when rock bands performed all over the stadium, and even the Hung Hom Stadium in Hong Kong was also occupied by us. There are more than 40,000 seats in the workers' body, plus temporary seats in the infield, more than 50,000 seats, that is, our rock wrists can fill it. When Xiang Dong talked about these words, his spirit was flying, and he instantly seemed to be a different person.

"To the east, what are those rock 'n' roll wrists you're talking about?" I toasted to him.

"Master Chang, I can't see it, you are still interested in rock and roll. The godfather in this circle is Cui Jian, you should know, in the future, you have to say that it is the Tang Dynasty and the Black Panther, the Tang Dynasty is a metal, the Black Panther should be regarded as a hard shake, the performance of these two bands in the first body of the Gongti, every time the scalpers in Beijing have to go, the album is millions of sales, and now it is a fraction of the people at that time, and the cattle are broken. Xiang Dong pulled a piece of paper from the tissue tube and kept wiping the top of his head, it seems that the fat man is not resistant to heat, the bar in the basement is still a little stuffy, but he doesn't stop.

"Count further, that is Dou Wei, Zhang Chu and He Yong. Dou Wei turned out to be the lead singer of the Black Panther, and later came out to play alone, Zhang Chu is a Shaanxi buddy, his song "Sister" is popular all over the country, but I still like the disc "The Factory That Makes Aircraft", which is a bit magical, different from ordinary people, He Yong is our Beijing master, fierce enough, energetic. These brothers all signed the Magic Rock Company, so they called them the Three Masters of Magic Rock. ”

"Sanjie in the future, it will be reincarnation, overload, zero point, Baojia Street, these bands are okay, Zheng Jun, Xu Wei is more popular after that, but it sounds a little soft, in fact, there are many excellent bands in the underground, but unfortunately the current market can't sing. Our East Fourth Pai Lou is actually not bad, I will perform in a while, Chang Ye, you know a lot of people, especially in the cultural circle, the business community, there is a team of rock music interested, you give a bridge to the line. ”

Xiang Dong said, and with a smile on his face, he raised the wine glass and saluted, I smiled at him, and just about to speak, Xiao Lei's cup had already been handed over from the side, "Xiang Dong, your band is hanging on the name, Tang Dynasty, Black Panther, overload, or something, it sounds domineering, why do I sound like I came from Hou Baolin's cross talk?"

Xiang Dong didn't know if he didn't hear the banter in Xiao Lei's words, or if he listened to a lot of ridicule in this business, he had strong immunity, and he didn't seem to take it seriously at all, so he smiled and touched Xiao Lei's cup, "Leizi, you, the cultural quality needs to be improved, and the national is the world, have you heard this? What's wrong with the East Fourth Archway? This is called the background, if it weren't for the bad environment, the whole circle would go downhill, and the East Fourth Archway would have become the world's archway." ”

(If the heavens want to bring disaster to people, they must first be proud of them with small blessings, so they don't have to be happy when they come, they must see that they will receive it; if they want to bless people, they must first be punished by small disasters, so they don't have to worry about disasters, but they will be saved.) --"Caigen Tan")