Last weekend there was no shortage of energy in Taipei as old-school legends Naughty By Nature blew off the dust and gave an electric performance at Luxy. It went wild when they played OPP and when Hip Hop Hooray was slammed down everyone put their hands up and sang along. Even tunes that weren't well known, like Feel My Flow, kept the crowd going.
Between songs Naughty By Nature hyped up the crowd and then introduced some Taiwanese rappers to the action. For the ladies, Trigger Treach ripped off his vest and you could almost smell the fish. But by the end Naughty By Nature had the crowd eating out of its palm.
So how do you stay popular and street? Treach laid it down for us:
"Maybe it's a combination of things. Consistency, when we're not doing music we stay out there. Whether it's the merchandise, the movies, we manage to stay out there and keep out there in the public's eye. And we are always coming up with good music."
Just when you thought it was safe to go out, the big news last weekend was of a police raid at 3:40am on Sunday morning at the pub DJ on Dunhua North Road. Chinese-language newspaper reports said 118 people were inside when the police tumbled in and a guy surnamed Lee (李) was arrested after he admitted selling drugs. Police said they found 74 ecstacy pills and 28 bottles of ketamine in the raid.
In the latest posting from DJ Hooker we're told that "Cut n' Blow" will be the joint to roll up at this Saturday at Eden. It sounds as though some electrolash is going down and you are invited to dress up to get into the spirit of things, with prizes for the winners.
Who's number one?
Technics and LOOP Productions aims to find out who, technically, is the best DJ in the land with the country's first-ever DMC championship, with one contestant to represent Taiwan at the DMC World DJ Championships in England in September.
"The Olympics of DJing" has launched such standout turntablists as Cash Money, Q-Bert, Kid Koala and Kentaro, to name just a few.
The competition in Taiwan will be held in three stages: first, an elimination round this Saturday for southern and central Taiwan, followeed by an elimination round next week for Taipei. The finals will be on Sept. 3. The online registration for the contest is free and is restricted to ROC passport holders. Attendance at each stage of the competition is open to the public and is free. See: www.dmc-taiwan.com or www.dmcworld.com, or call Tony on (0912) 126 409.
Yesterday was set to be the opening of midweek party "Be Free," at the city's newest club Face (since it was re-opened once again). The launch party was to have featured DJs Andrew Ford and Boyan spinning "international dance." It's free for ladies all night and for men before 12pm. The Face is at B1-1, 270 Zhongxiao E Rd, Sec 4, Taipei (台北市忠孝東路4段270號B1-1).
Upcoming: Far away from the maddening crowd in Taipei will be the 2005 Extreme Sound (music, surf, beach, beer, bikini) party Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3 and Sept. 4. Some of the youngest and freshest DJs from around the island, inlcuding Skyy, Tim, Yoning and Nick Energy will be playing. It will be at the north sea wall beach, Wushi Harbor, Toucheng, Yilan County. More info nearer the time.
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
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your