It was business as usual at Luxy on Sunday and that was puzzling. Admittedly there was work for most of us on Monday, but where were the queues of people for the world's most popular DJ? Two years ago there were fights to get into his gig at the Taipei World Trade Center and 6,000 people eventually made it. This time around there were still tickets for sale outside the city center club.
Well, it's not that Paul van Dyk has got worse, but that Taipei's clubbers are satiated with big-name DJs and dance music in general. A quick look at DJmag's top 10 list confirms that nearly all the big dogs of dance music have visited these shores in the last couple of years. It just goes to show that when you've got what you want, you look for something else. And that's what's happening here.
Even so, there wasn't much room to move at Luxy when Van Dyk took to the stage around 1am. The previous DJ slipped on We Are the Champions by Queen and a few other questionable dance floor fillers before the German got into his groove. He played until 4:30am and there was more than just chemical twitching going on. The only people who didn't seem to have much of a clue how to move their bodies were the "professional" dancers on stage.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE LOOP
The overall impression was of a DJ at the top of his game, working hard. After a couple of encores he stuck around to sign CDs and body parts. For those who missed a rocking night out, catch Paul van Dyk hosting his own show on BBC radio tonight at www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/eddiehalliwell. If it's anything like the real thing it will be worth tuning in.
This week, Paulina's, known mostly for its Wednesday night house music hullabaloo Play, hosts HOPE, a fundraiser for kids in need of medical attention on the Thai-Burmese border. NT$300 at the door gets the funked up stylings of Shorty, the welcome return of Junior van den Berg, a mostly recovered Saucey, plus a chance to do something to help those in need.
With the official start of summer still a few dragon boat races away, certain songs are making their way onto iPod playlists as sidewalks start to sizzle. In an informal poll on a social networking site, legends like Bob Marley, Groove Armada, Sublime, War and Shaggy all ranked high on the summer standards list. But for me, a few certain words start a whole season. "Here it is ... a groove ... slightly transformed." In a world of flamboyant fashionistas and magniloquent miscreants, turntable luminary Jazzy Jeff and the formerly fresh prince Will Smith may not have been the most cutting edge duo to ever rock a stage, but there is no denying that their seminal hit, Summertime, brings about an air of love and of happiness.
All of the aforementioned summer jams and more will be blowing in the wind at Sunday's Breeze Pool Party at TKFarms Natural Springs Pool (96 Peitouzih Rd, Tamsui, 台北縣淡水96北投子路). Hooker, Fratzuki, Junior and Megan and GoreJuice will provide the music to make your body move. Entry is NT$300. Check www.sundaybreeze.wordpress.com for details, maps, free MP3s.
It seems that Sunday is quickly becoming the new Saturday as Genesis, Taiwan's best open mic night, returns with a graffiti art showcase. Poets, b-boys and girls, bands, and MCs have a chance to strut their stuff while stereo:types and 2Hands keep the party moving at Riverside Cafe, Taipei.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built