When singer Lwo Da-you
(羅大佑) took the stage at last Saturday's pan-blue rally to address the crowd of several hundred thousand, Pop Stop sat back and waited for the fireworks. Lwo is known for his unrestrained political commentary almost as much as he is for his sappy pop tunes, and this time even before he'd opened his mouth, several veins on his forehead were visibly bulging. Throughout the previous week he'd been all over the gossip pages ranting about how a recount in the March 20 election would "definitely" reverse the result and about how the assassination attempt on Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was a giant fraud.
So, with a captive crowd larger than any that would pay to hear his music, he bust loose with one of the day's most indignant diatribes, equating the president (in English) to a terrorist. It was an impressive display. Now the question is what effect his characteristically loud participation at the rally will have on his concerts at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall April 23 and April 24.
As if Lwo wasn't proof enough that these are dangerous times for stars to be displaying their political colors, ardent pan-blue supporters and participants in last week's rallies Little S (小S) and Darkie (黑人) have been taking constant flak in Internet chat rooms, with people vowing to boycott their shows. Then, this week, Jackie Chan (成龍) of all people, stepped on the unification-independence landmine when on Sunday he said: "The Chinese people will only be strong when they are united." This line of thought may have a lot of currency in China where he made the remark, but it went over like a lead balloon in Taiwan. As a result, chat rooms in Taiwanese Web sites have been alight this week with some fairly sharp vitriol aimed at Hong Kong's poster boy. As of press time, he was still out of contact with the media, apparently to avoid questions about the issue.
The Golden Melody Awards list of nominees was released this week and though it hasn't triggered any mass protests, the VP of Warner Music's Taiwan branch expressed his dissatisfaction to the Apple Daily (蘋果日報) that three of the label's major artists Sun Yanzi (孫燕姿), A-mei (阿妹) and Machi (麻吉弟弟) didn't even make the first cut. "I don't know what the judges are thinking," he was quoted as saying.
Aside from these three, the nominees this year are the lineup of usual suspects, with David Tao, Eason Chan (陳奕迅), Lee Hom Wang (王力宏), Sky Wu (伍思凱) and Jay Chou (周杰倫) competing for best male singer honors and Penny Tai (戴佩妮), Tanya Tsai (蔡健雅), Jasmine Leong (梁靜茹), Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) and Faye Wong (王菲) going toe-to-toe in the women's category. The best group category looks like it will be the most competitive, with Shin (信樂團), Mayday (五月天), Backquarter (四分位), Tizzy Bac and the Bobin and the Mantra (波賓樂團) up against each other. Pop Stop is putting its money on Tizzy Bac.
This Sunday everyone will get a chance to see Mayday at Ximending's Red House Theater for a rare free short concert and autograph session. The event starts at 1pm.
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