Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.35 (643 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0061993158 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-03-21 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
inner dragon said A glorious adventure from the years gone by!. This is a great read--charming, light-hearted and authenic. I have fond memories of taking two tow-headed boys to China during this time,and being stopped constantly for pictures and questions about TWO children. Paul's tale brought it all back. He captures the essential Chinese mentality, the energy and hopefulness, while remaining rooted in the culture. Too bad China has changed and moved on from that period and that energy,. This book would make an amazing movie! PT Cruiser What are the chances of a guy going to China with his wife and family to pursue her career, and ending up winning "Beijing's Best Band" award and touring to rave reviews all over China? Here's this guy who makes the sacrifice to follow his wife along with their three kids to Beijing when she is given the opportunity to be The Wall Street Journal's China bureau chief, giving up everything familiar, and he ends up fulfilling a lifetime dream of his own. He and Woodie Wu, along with two other Chinese friends and an American expat saxaphone player, end up forming the Woodie Alan blues band (How cool is that name?) after they mee. 'Big in China' is a joy to read - the serendipitous life of an unlikely Chinese music star I thoroughly enjoyed 'Big In China' - journalist Alan Paul's tale of his expatriate experiences in China with wife Rebecca Blumenstein (posted there as China bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal) and their three young children. I agree with the spotlight reviewer: Paul's book would make an excellent movie - not because of drama and angst. Far from it. Instead, such a film would capture the magic of the serendipitous life twist that comes with the trip. Namely, that Paul - a writer about musicians by vocation - forms a band that becomes big in China. As a musician, Paul's dream is to form a "blues and jam band" that plays
Paul’s three-and-a-half-year journey reinventing himself as an American expat—while raising a family and starting the revolutionary blues band Woodie Alan, voted Beijing Band of the Year in the 2008—is a must-read adventure for anyone who has lived abroad, and for everyone who dreams of rewriting the story of their own future.. Anyone who doubts that music is bigger than words needs to read this great tale." —Gregg Allman "An absolute love story. In his embrace of family, friends, music and the new culture he's discovering, Alan Paul leaves us contemplating the love in our own lives, and rethinking the concept of home." —Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor, with Randy Pausch, of The Last Lecture Alan Paul, award–winning author of the Wall Street Journal’s online column “The Expat Life,” gives his engaging, inspiring, and unforgettable memoir of blues and new beginnings in Beijing. "What a romp….Alan Paul walked the walk, preaching the blues in China
His story, however, is much more than a musical and journalistic victory dance. The search prompted his transition from writing about music to being a bona fide rock star in the band Woodie Alan, a cross-cultural blues group named after Alan and his Chinese band member, Woodie Wu, a guitarist with a Stevie Ray Vaughn tattoo. All rights reserved. After resettling their three young children from suburban New Jersey to China, Paul, a music and basketball journalist who played guitar only as a hobby, embarked on an exploration of local culture and music. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. Paul blogged about his Chinese experience and also wrote a column on it for the Wall Street Journal's Web site. . From Publishers Weekly In this entertaining memoir, Paul recounts an unanticipated life-changing experience that began when his wife accepted a three-year work assignment i