On The Scene: Temple 08-12-2012

You know you’re looking for trouble when you’re lurching about Gulou in pajamas with a camera. What started as an opportunity to check out the newly revamped School bar turned into, you guessed it, another stop at Temple. The lazy option for sure, but when you\’re struggling to get out the apartment at eleven, anywhere is just fine with me. Not expecting much, I was delighted to be confronted by a bunch of drunken, some jollier than others, some comatose, some shirtless, Santa Clauses at the tail end of Santacon. Even more of a delight was finally having the chance to hear The Hot Club of Beijing, the newest jazz craze this side of Beijing. Swing much?

This is how you get into the holiday spirit folks.

Good looks, good sounds, these cats hit all the notes of what puts a gypsy jazz band beyond the rest. Some serious skills up there on stage – keeping the members down to fours sans a drummer might seem like a stretch to some, but I think it only gives purity their sound, giving all the members a clear voice. And if you’re like me, when you hear this, you immediately have to start swinging something.

Temple is definitely a fine establish for them, and I hope to catch the Hot Club sometime in the near future.