When the Smoking Cones make it in to Taipei for a gig, they often bring a good number of folks from the provinces along with them. Tonight, however, it will likely be Taipei denizens that head out of town to catch their favorite reggae funk outfit play its final gig "for a while, at least" at The Bass Club in Chungli. They'll be met on stage by Spliffabyss, Milk and The Anglers. Filling out the evening's roster into the early morning will be Kaohsiung's DJ Duckie and turntable trio, Audiofunk.
"We're basically taking a vacation for six months," said the Cones' singer Crees Thompson. "I'm going back to Africa and am going to do some sailing." But he promises to return to Taiwan later in the year. For those unable to wait that long, a Cones tour of South Africa is currently in the works for the coming spring.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SHU-ME
Tonight's gig, A Family Affair, is special not just because it's the last time the Smoking Cones will be heard in this hemisphere for months to come, but because all the proceeds from the event will go a trust fund that' s been established for Andrew McCollister.
Dross, as he's known to his many friends who'll be on stage tonight, was involved in a motorcycle accident in Tainan early in the morning on Aug. 18. He spent eight days in coma in a hospital there before being transferred to a treatment center in Alberta, Canada, where he's said to be recovering remarkably well.
The event's organizers, Underbits, hope to help McCollister's family with some of the costs they've incurred from the accident, including a C$20,000 bill to transport McCollister from Taiwan to Canada. For more information on his recovery, visit his Web site at http://www.droscity.com.
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