First up, mad props to the effort makers this year. Some incredible outfits were in the mix and with Taiwan LGBT Pride being a huge success it seems last Saturday was a pretty impressive day. Best thing heard was the mash-up clown on the mic in front of thousands telling everyone to be gay and the MC explaining that gay meant “happy.” It is a shame Red Square continues to blare out nondescript boring house from every angle and from different sound systems in a cacophony of white noise, smothering any sense cohesiveness. Get on it and triangulate please.
Well done to the many who avoided the obvious Michael Jackson tie-in and went out for something different. How could he be beaten anyway?
After dropping in on Underworld on a whim and expecting something a bit lame, it was a treat to walk into a heaving rave with the Taiwanese massive all jumping in union to one of the best sets heard in a while by, who else — Spykee. Electric screaming house had the kids going psycho, aided and abetted by a cast of superbly dressed characters including a full horse head replica from one creative drama troupe girl who head-bobbed throughout the whole thing up front and center.
With a lack of foreigners it was like a miniature The Wall. And these Taiwanese hipsters know how to move. Unfortunately the DJ following Spykee was a little out of his depth musically, as most would be, but the warm and hospitable crowd kept going and didn’t miss a beat even though he did. It was another great night at Underworld, a great spot for a hot and sweaty rave up, courtesy of Back 2 the Future (B2TF, 回到未來).
After that it was an obligatory trip to Fly at Cocky bar, and as the only after-party in town it was a massive turnout full of familiar party faces cutting loose and getting messy. A great set from Shawn Kidd at the end kept everyone on their toes and if they keep this up Fly could become a staple of the scene. The lineup for the coming month looks great.
Kay from Barcode, a long-term DJ with fabulous house is playing with Kollette this Sunday morning for an all-girl affair and some classic tracks. The word on the street is that Kay’s selection is wide, deep and top draw. One for the purists and anything-goes crews alike.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and