If you’ve ever chatted with a boozy expat who’s been here for more than four years you’ve probably heard tales about the heyday of Park 97. So I was pretty curious to see how the Muse Group would reinvigorate the hopelessly played out spot.

Turns out they’ve foregone the expats entirely, and are aiming to steal customers from their neighbor across the park, Richy. They haven’t done much to the space besides put a shark tank in the VIP room: the downstairs is eaten up by a huge central stage and bar, and the upstairs is a bunch of private tables. But they know their clientele, and those tables were full of businessmen in dorky baseball caps.

The Thursday night opening extravaganza featured white girls giving out syringe shots, booty dancers, and talented UK hip- hop act Foreign Beggars, who performed for oblivious crowds in different Muses all weekend.

Verdict? Old dudes, your erstwhile club paradise no longer cares for your patronage; they want those Chinese kuai.

Meanwhile over at The Shelter, Karma Koma celebrated one year strong. Taiwanese electronic duo KbN played a mixed bag of tunes, all interesting but, when spliced together, a confusing sum. Actually the highlight of the night was a brief set by R3. His excitement behind the decks made me think twice about leaving the S.T.D. parties right after the band.

Friday’s Switch On Festival had a lot going for it: the organizers brought in great Swiss talent like electro pop boy band Larytta and luminary Flo Kauffman with his mad science decks. They rented the severely underused but awesome space Absolute House, and hired a caterer to pour generous cocktails at 35 kuai a pop.

But sadly, the one thing they didn’t do was promote successfully. The crowd was composed largely of artists’ friends and photographers, with a smattering of attention- seekers.

I spoke to Michael Vonplon, who organized the China side of the Sino- Swiss collab. He’s spent ten years encouraging electronic music in China, scoring European gigs for Chinese artists through his label Cheesebeat and agency Miro. Returning to China, Vonplon said he was a little disappointed the electronic music scene hasn’t developed more, and requires a true sub culture before it can move forward. Shanghai, your vapid soul trounces yet another stab at cool.

Saturday Hedgehog played Yuyintang, and although rock is outside the scope of a club column, they were so fun I thought I’d share. Actually the most fun I’ve had this month was at rock shows; people actually dance there. Or rather crash into each other, but nonetheless.

Some might notice the conspicuous absence of both DJ Babu and Harmonic 313 from this weekend’s roster. I stood outside The Shelter on Saturday at 1 AM, staring into the depths while some young Europeans helped a drunk chick to her feet and into a cab. I knew the music would be great… and then went to M2 to meet a friend and scam drinks from the open bar. I don’t know, I just couldn’t care any more. Anyone check The Shelter’s highlight shows?