Beijing has got the blues once more. CD Blues, the city's oldest existing live music house, officially reopens this Thursday on Ritan Shangjie, a pedestrian street directly across the street from the north gate of Ritan Park.

Authorities literally pulled the plug on the venue's previous home south of the National Agricultural Exhibition Center on the East Third Ring Road in May.

The new venue, called Café CD Blues, is newer, brighter and more open than the old one, and features a kitchen with American and Cajun food.

"It's amazing to see the old faces start coming back," said the venue's owner, Ling "Big John" Zhang.

Eric Yu, 23, a dropout of the mechanical engineering program at Virginia Tech in the US, packed up and moved from his hometown of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, to play blues and rock'n'roll earlier this year, and landed regular work at the old CD Blues weeks before it shut down.

"I was being a hobo and jobless, playing around trying to learn some new songs, hoping John would reopen the club," said Yu, who often wears a big silver belt buckle and cowboy boots he bought in Austin, Texas.

Almost half a year later, the doors are open again. Yu headlines Tuesdays, opens for Big John's Blues Band on Saturdays, and hosts the Thursday and Sunday night jam sessions with his band, The Strangers.

Friday nights feature Los Amigos, old-time Chinese jazz hands playing New York salsa. Monday brings the swing dancers and Wednesday is CD Blues only regular jazz night,  headlined by 19-year-old saxophonist, Li Gaoyang.

Both Chinese and foreign musicians have crowded regular jam nights, which resumed about a month ago at CD Blues's soft opening.

Zhang says the bar was always a place where Chinese players could better their musicianship.

The club, originally called CD Jazz, has now relocated four times. It has been operated by a string of musicians including Cui's saxophonist, Liu Yuan.

"We have some new faces," Zhang said, adding he was impressed to see a group of Russian musicians who live nearby join in a jam session held the week before.