Just when you thought it was safe to take some time out, stay in and recover from two weekends of raucous vinyl mayhem, perhaps even work on those New Year's resolutions, the Stanton Warriors are swoo-ping into town and will whip it up at 18 Lover tomorrow night.
MoS pulled out all the stops for its New Year's Eve bash with DJ Hyper and Leeroy Thornhill. TV ads for the do ran through New Year's Eve and the organizer said 7,000 tickets were sold. The dance floor looked busy, the sound system was passable and the accompanying laser show added a bit of excitement.
Plenty of investment, vinyl masters and a top-notch venue all rolled out for a night that may be remembered. To be fair, it was always gonna be a difficult gig to pull off, and Hyper's beats may not have sat so well with revellers from the local scene dominated by more mainstream sensibilities.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MOS
But it broke new ground and the NT$4.6 billion Taipei Arena has now been established on the vinyl circuit and not just restricted for Mando pop concerts.
Rumors are circulating that 50 Cent will come to Taiwan in February. A few clicks of research have shed some light on the matter, or perhaps not. According to the rapper's Web site, his tour schedule does indeed include a gig at the "Chun San Soccer Stadium" on Feb. 24. Taipei, however, is listed as being part of Thailand -- not to worry, there's still plenty of time for Geography 101.
If you want to know the score, apart from reading the Vinyl Word of course, there is a new Web site up and running with news, views, rants and raves all about the local music scene. See www.taiwannights.com.
"Taiwannights aims to be `the' portal for?events/club listings in Taipei and other major cities in Taiwan, created by a community of clubbers for clubbers.? We post party galleries [photos], interviews with DJs/artists/performers, and party/dj reviews," said Susan Hu who fulfills a variety of roles for the site.
The new outfit grew out of the now closed site www.taipeinightlife.com, which had a run of about two years reporting on the capital's vinyl news.
Bernard Pol, the general manager, has lived in Taiwan for eight years and expanded the idea to cover all of the island. Taiwannights has some lively forums, interesting interviews with DJs and event listings, and its a good place to interact with the country's spinmeisters.
The crew wants to expand the enterprise, particularly the Chinese-language side and are planning an official launch party. Of particular interest to vinyl junkies are the freebies, which often include (limited) free tickets for some upcoming gigs.
In the interest of fairness a shout should also go out to www.spunite.com, which has tens of thousands of posts, and already has the lowdown on the nation's vinyl scene in Chinese.
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Divadlo feels like your warm neighborhood slice of home — even if you’ve only ever spent a few days in Prague, like myself. A projector is screening retro animations by Czech director Karel Zeman, the shelves are lined with books and vinyl, and the owner will sit with you to share stories over a glass of pear brandy. The food is also fantastic, not just a new cultural experience but filled with nostalgia, recipes from home and laden with soul-warming carbs, perfect as the weather turns chilly. A Prague native, Kaio Picha has been in Taipei for 13 years and
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