Organizers for the annual four-day music festival Spring Scream, now in its ninth year and one of Taiwan's largest concerts, declared that it will take place from April 3 to April 6 at the Liufu Ranch (六福山莊), the same site at which it was held last year.
Last year's Spring Scream included performances by 160 local and foreign bands -- most of them far from mainstream -- on four stages for four days of music, drawing an estimated crowd of 3,000, according to organizer Wade Davis. This year's event will see only minor changes to that format, with the number of bands possibly slightly reduced to make for less hectic scheduling, he said. Band registration deadlines have also been moved up, with the final deadline set for two days from now, Sunday, March 10. According to Davis, at least 140 bands have registered so far, with all registration taking place through the Spring Scream Web site (http://www.springscream.com). Returning foreign acts will include Mimie Chan from Japan, King Lychee from Hong Kong and 40 Minutes of Hell and Q from the US.
The biggest difference this year will probably be in the event's awareness of interest directed towards it as well as the scene that has sprung up around it. Last year, at least three large raves were held in Kenting on the same weekend, one of which received widespread negative publicity after police raided it for drugs. So far Spring Scream has only alluded to this through a FAQ on its Web site posted earlier this week. The FAQ's second entry simply reads: "Is Spring Scream a rave? No." However Davis said that the event may comment further in upcoming weeks, likely issuing its first ever press release to local Chinese media in order to clarify differences between it and the concurrently held raves.
PHOTO COURESTY OF SPRING SCREAM
In addition to bands, Spring Scream will again include a half pipe for skateboarders and events related to visual arts and film. Ticket prices have not yet been announced, but four day passes have cost NT$1,000 each year since 1999. Last year in an effort to boost advanced sales, four day passes were only sold in advance and on-site day passes cost NT$500. To make sales simpler and more accessible this year, Davis said they are considering selling tickets through a system that would involve banks' automated teller machines and the Internet.
Most heroes are remembered for the battles they fought. Taiwan’s Black Bat Squadron is remembered for flying into Chinese airspace 838 times between 1953 and 1967, and for the 148 men whose sacrifice bought the intelligence that kept Taiwan secure. Two-thirds of the squadron died carrying out missions most people wouldn’t learn about for another 40 years. The squadron lost 15 aircraft and 148 crew members over those 14 years, making it the deadliest unit in Taiwan’s military history by casualty rate. They flew at night, often at low altitudes, straight into some of the most heavily defended airspace in Asia.
Beijing’s ironic, abusive tantrums aimed at Japan since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly stated that a Taiwan contingency would be an existential crisis for Japan, have revealed for all the world to see that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) lusts after Okinawa. We all owe Takaichi a debt of thanks for getting the PRC to make that public. The PRC and its netizens, taking their cue from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are presenting Okinawa by mirroring the claims about Taiwan. Official PRC propaganda organs began to wax lyrical about Okinawa’s “unsettled status” beginning last month. A Global
Taiwan’s democracy is at risk. Be very alarmed. This is not a drill. The current constitutional crisis progressed slowly, then suddenly. Political tensions, partisan hostility and emotions are all running high right when cool heads and calm negotiation are most needed. Oxford defines brinkmanship as: “The art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, especially in politics.” It says the term comes from a quote from a 1956 Cold War interview with then-American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, when he said: ‘The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is
Like much in the world today, theater has experienced major disruptions over the six years since COVID-19. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine and social media have created a new normal of geopolitical and information uncertainty, and the performing arts are not immune to these effects. “Ten years ago people wanted to come to the theater to engage with important issues, but now the Internet allows them to engage with those issues powerfully and immediately,” said Faith Tan, programming director of the Esplanade in Singapore, speaking last week in Japan. “One reaction to unpredictability has been a renewed emphasis on
RSS