Every time I hear Suicidal Tendencies sing the line, "I saw your mother and your mother's dead," a saline drop or two begin to well up in my tear ducts, and I think back upon halcyon days of my disaffected youth. No, actually I just feel like smashing stuff. That and maybe wasting myself. Damn. Being a teenager was great.
Well, Suicidal Tendencies is still out there, and in their post-adolescence apparently they've developed a bit of a social conscience. But I guess that's what post-punk is all about. The band is coming to Taipei next weekend to play in the fifth and final show of the Say Yes To Taiwan (
Organizers at the Taiwan Rock Alliance say the concerts carry a political message, though not necessarily that of Taiwan independence. The message is more a call to China to stop its military threats. Weighing in on the half-century conflict across the Strait, Suicidal Tendencies is fully with the program, say organizers, noting that the band even cancelled another event in the US that was "less interesting." As a warm-up to the Feb. 25 show, Suicidal Tendencies will play at Zeitgeist on Feb. 24.
Also on the card for both of the band's shows is Softball, a three-girl pop-punk act from Japan. The band, which is finding international popularity in its third year, is something like the Vandals meet the Go-go's. It's a perfect idea, basically. Three mondo kawaii girls from Chiba, Japan get together and thrash out the kind of absent-minded punk they can't make in the West anymore, because everyone's so jaded there. The tunes are a little catchy and very fast. Plus, Softball also cares that China keeps bullying Taiwan, say show organizers, citing statements the band made last time it was here.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
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