The time has come to say hasta la vista to 2008, and let the Beijinger show you how to do it in style. The latest issue – out on streets now! – has all the details on where the baddest party people will be come time to countdown.

Chefs from around the world will show you the meaning of New Year's in this month’s Dining feature. Also in Dining this month, get the goods on the grubbage to be had at Yu Shan Tang, Igosso, Café Noir, Lord of Salt, Ginkgo, Shiro Matsu, Tavola and more.

Update: We just received word from the organizer of the show that Qbert's Beijing date has been postponed until next year. More details here.

DJ Qbert is one of the pioneers of scratch DJing and came to the forefront of the scene with his group the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. The crew also released how to guides in the form of Turntable TV and Qbert developed an all-in-one scratching tool called the QFO with Vestax, which combines a turntable with a mixer’s crossfader. When not being a philanthropic DJ he spends his time in the studio and on the road. The Beijinger was lucky enough to get some of his time before his Beijing gig at Mix tomorrow night.

Wax Tailor
RMB 110, RMB 80 (advance).
9pm. Yugong Yishan (6404 2711)

James Pants
RMB 70.
10pm. White Rabbit (133 2112 3678)

Two very different DJs were in town this past weekend, both equally eclectic, starting off with Wax Tailor at Yugong Yishan on Friday evening. Accompanying him was a cellist (which pretty much automatically guarantees him points in the “cool” factor), as well as a kick-ass flutist who worked up quite a sweat with her hootin’ and tootin’ (think Miri Ben-Ari on winds). Wax's style was somewhere in-between hip-hop and trip-hop, and his sound likened to DJ Shadow and Portishead; indeed, singer Charlotte Savary had a haunting voice that carried the same echoing quality of Beth Gibbons.

DJ Shadow
RMB 200, RMB 80 (advance).
9pm. Angel Club (6552 8888)

Friday night’s DJ Shadow show proved that when it comes down to it, standing room beats assigned seating any day of the week, even at a cramped and cornered place like Angel Club. Maybe it’s that big timers like Avril and Kanye require bountiful stage space and back up to perform; but two turntables, a mixer and a Serato-fitted laptop are all it takes for someone like Shadow to get a kick-ass party going (B-boy battles included).

Those already in the know about DJ Shadow don't need a reminder that he is a living legend in the world of instrumental hip hop/turntablism/electronica (yes, all three). Or that he was one of the seminal players in the founding of the California Bay Area hip-hop collective Quannum/Solesides Crew. Or that his musical wizardry – which will be only display this Friday night at Angel Club – landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records (2001). Or that he is amongst a very select few who’ve had their music brought to color by Wong Kar Wai - see “Six Days” music video below.

Kanye West
RMB 280-2,000.
7.30pm. Workers' Gymnasium (6501 6655 ext 5033)

So Kanye West finally got his act together and made it to Beijing this past weekend, putting on an energetic, fantasmic, hour and a half light-show of a set at Workers’ Gymnasium Saturday night. The evening started off promptly at 7.30pm, with a rap group from Taiwan opening for his Westness, and receiving adequate applause at that. From what we’ve gathered here at the Beijinger, that group was not the originally advertised Will Pan.

French duo AIR will perform two shows at Yugong Yishan over the next two nights. To get you in the mood for the electro-pop group’s show, we’ve decided to post Lisa Liang’s profile of the band that first appeared as a feature article in the September issue of the Beijinger magazine.

Sep 26-27
AIR
RMB 700, advance RMB 550.
8pm, 11pm (after party). Yugong Yishan (6404 2711)

Update: Dates for Kanye West's China concerts have been rescheduled, this time with a "100-percent certainty" from organizers China West (which means about a 50-percent certainty from us here at the Beijinger).
The new show dates will indeed be in November: Kanye will be coming to Beijing on Nov 1 and performing at the upgraded location of Wukesong Olympic Basketball Gymnasium. Kanye's Shanghai date has also been rescheduled to Nov 3. Prices are still to be determined.

If you've lived in Beijing long enough, or at least for the past year, you've come to find the uncertainty of major international acts performing in the capital endearing. Well, no. That's not true. It's still annoying as hell. Take Celine Dion, for example, whose show cancellation due to a throat infection earlier this year sunk who-knows-how-many a heart among devoted Beijing fans.

And now, the latest to fall victim to this tiresome trend is rapper/producer Kanye West. Despite a firm and resolute confirmation from organizers China West weeks prior to the show that all the kinks for Kanye to come to China had been worked out, we are now being told that both his Beijing and Shanghai performances in September will be postponed, most likely until November but possibly until December.

Lisa Liang fills in for Paul Pennay on the 31st episode of the Beijinger podcast. Hear some of the Beijinger's picks for the best events going on in town. Matt P. Jager recommends 2 Kolegas and gives warning about Bling, dining editor Jessica Wang unveils Beijing's first tapas restaurant, while managing editor Oliver Robinson gives us some tips on how to enjoy the Olympics.

Martin Connelly continues to find out what's the word on the street with the latest edition of Vox Box.

So if you're not sure what to do next weekend, plug in your headphones, sit back, and enjoy the entertaining ephemera that is ... the Beijinger Podcast!

For those who'd like to download the podcast and listen to it later, click (right-click to save in MP3 format) on the icon to the left or click
here.