Although Taipei doesn't quite deserve the sobriquet of the city that never sleeps — first coined by Fort Wayne (Indiana) News to describe New York — many of its denizens clearly don't mind going to work on Thursday mornings with a humming hangover.
The Vinyl Word this week checked out the capital's hottest ladies' nights at Luxy and Room 18. The Onyx room has added a touch of class to Luxy — a nod to the 1970s meets Tony Montana's living room — and rather than a crowd thin on the ground, there was a wide spectrum of revelers making the most of hump day. Saucey's set in the second floor bar area was the highlight of the evening, and verged on the exotic. At Room 18 the dance floor in the main room was packed well into the wee hours. Wednesday isn't the new Friday; it's in a league of its own.
The Da An Beach Party, as detailed in last week's column, was postponed Saturday until next month. Organizers have pledged to lay on extras for partygoers. Watch this space for more details.
A relatively new joint in town, Crystal (located at B1, 3, Ln 152 Hsinyi Rd, Sec 3 (台北市信義路三段152巷3號B1); call 02 2702-7113 or visit www.crystal-taipei.com) is creating a buzz. The club is decorated in J-pop style — think eclectic opulence — and mainly caters to the hip-hop crowd, but once a month it will host a house and break party, beginning at the start of next month with Edmund, Elements and Hooker in the mix.
Tomorrow is a mini-skirt party. Ladies who don the attire that all good mothers would turn in their grave over, can gain entry for a mere NT$100. In the interests of sexual equality, the Vinyl Word wholeheartedly encourages the men to also slip on a little number and try to gain cheap entry. Please send photos to vinylword@taipeitimes.com. The party begins at 10pm. Next Saturday Crystal is throwing a Get Lei'd party, which can only be interpreted as, well, a night for horny dyslexics. The party will throb to hep hap, raggie and brakebetz.
Raunchiest flyer of this week's parties is without doubt the one for Lucid and Evil Monkey's Summer Scandal party at Champagne 3 tomorrow night. Hats off to the production crews that have managed to push the envelope and integrate ultra-soft porn with flyer design, the results of which can be viewed at www.champagnebar.com.tw. The party features Gorejuice – a name that wouldn't sound out of place in a heavy metal band – Junior and Jay-Ro spinning the “freshest hip-hop beats.”
Liquid Lifestyle is bringing Shortee to Room 18 tomorrow, and despite the hyperbole proclaiming her as the world's best female DJ — she is head professor at the Scratch Academy in LA and has racked up a roll call of accolades — she will likely raise the rafters. The party begins at 10pm and entry will set you back NT$700.
Following the resounding success of last week's pool party at the CM Swimming Club, Jr. and Megan, Elements, Schism, Jay-Ro, Gorejuice and Francis B are throwing another Sunday summertime splash bash. The pool is located at 34 Jhihshan Rd Sec 2, Shilin, Taipei (台北市至善路二段34號). Shenanigans begin at 1pm and admission is NT$250.
Urban Funk All Starz are throwing a CD release party at CU Club tomorrow. Samples from the CD can be heard at www.revevolution.net/PAGES/MUZ/PAGES/DJmix.htm.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless