Stones Play China!



Look out, China! He's not playing!(image via bookitentertainment)

For a nation with acute population issues, inviting priapic modelizer Mick Jagger to "perform" -- how does one say this? -- may not be one of the more sagaciuous maneuvers for the Mandarins of Beijing. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) For all we know, in 9 months time, Guangdong and Yunnan provinces may have population growth spurts. And the babies will all have plush lips and hyperactive movements.

From the AP:

"The Rolling Stones opened their first-ever concert in mainland China on Saturday with 'Start Me Up,' a song with suggestive lyrics that apparently made it past the censors who banned five other songs.


"The so-called 'world's greatest rock 'n' roll band' played to a packed house at Shanghai's 8,000-seat Grand Stage indoor stadium, where the audience was overwhelmingly foreign. Demand for tickets had driven up prices on the black market to $624.

"Chinese rock pioneer Cui Jian, who was to perform a duet with Mick Jagger, said before the concert that the show was a 'milestone' for him and all rock fans in China.

"'It is a big moment. I will never forget this,' said Cui, whose songs were anthems for student protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989."

Neither will Mick Jagger's accountant.