Legacy Taipei hosts top Taiwanese pop performers and international acts. Sunday’s spotlight is on hip-hop artist Barry. This week’s The Next Big Thing features blues/garage rock/punk band Wake Up Explosion (威愷爆炸), hip-hopsters and activists Community Service (勞動服務) and electronic duo Orientone (大聲東) on Thursday.
■ Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914), Center Five Hall (中五館), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市八德路一段1號)
■ Show starts at 7pm on Sunday and 8pm on Thursday
Photo courtesy of Legacy Taipei
■ Admission is NT$700 on Sunday and NT$200 on Thursday. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.indievox.com and at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
Kaohsiung pop-punk group Fire Ex (滅火器) takes the stage tomorrow at The Wall (這牆). Electronic rockers Flux celebrates the release of its first EP on Sunday, with hip-hop group Chiu and Love (丘與樂) and post-punk band Manic Sheep also playing. Tuesday’s show is by American singer-songwriter Washed Out. The venue hosts the newest installment of Audition Night, which aims to give visibility to new talents on Thursday. The lineup includes R&B/funk group Space Cake (史貝絲考克), post-rock act Triple Deer, H/F and Bling High.
■ B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1), tel: (02) 2930-0162. On the Net: www.thewall.com.tw
Photo courtesy of Legacy Taipei
■ Shows start at 8pm
■ Admission is NT$800 tomorrow, NT$200 on Sunday, NT$1,500 on Tuesday, NT$200 on Thursday. Tickets for all shows, with discounts on advance tickets, can be purchased online through www.thewall.com.tw and tickets.books.com.tw
Electronic outfits Dronetonics and Sonic Deadhorse (音速死馬) are among the performers tonight at Indie rock club Revolver. Tomorrow’s roster includes noise punk act Space Fly (太空蒼蠅), post punk group Pretty Freak (超級怪胎) and indie rockers The Boring Man (無聊男子). On Wednesday, indie folk group Winking Owl, Person of Interest and SLFS put on a show together, followed by heavy/trash metal group Revolting Society (背骨), trash/groove metal band Changer and FUBAR, short for Fucked Up Beyond All Repair on Thursday.
Photo courtesy of Riverside
■ 1-2, Roosevelt Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路一段1-2號), tel: (02) 3393-1678
■ Shows start at 10pm
■ Entrance is NT$300 tonight, NT$200 tomorrow and on Wednesday and Thursday
Electro-pop/post-rock band Nightcap (睡帽樂團) and Midnight Express (午夜快車) each plays a set tonight at Pipe Live Music, a main venue for indie music and parties.
■ 1 Siyuan Rd, Taipei City (台北市思源路1號), tel: (02) 2364-8198. On the Net: www.pipemusic.com.tw
■ Show starts at 7:30pm
■ Admission is NT$350. Tickets can be purchased online through www.walkieticket.com and at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks and FamilyMart (全家) FamiPort kiosks
Witch House (女巫店), an intimate coffeehouse-style venue in the National Taiwan University area, hosts Sissey Chao (趙一豪), who sounds like Jim Morrison singing in Mandarin, tonight.
■ 7, Ln 56, Xinsheng S Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段56巷7號), tel: (02) 2362-5494. On the Net: www.witchhouse.org
■ Show starts at 9:30pm. Restaurant/bar with queer/feminist bookstore and large collection of board games, open 11am to midnight Sundays through Wednesdays, 11am to 1am Thursdays through Saturdays
■ Entrance for music shows is NT$350
Pop rockers Joker celebrate their 10th anniversary tonight at Riverside Live House (河岸留言西門紅樓展演館). Pop/rock idol Bobby Chen (陳昇) and his New Treasure Island Band (新寶島康樂隊) hold a concert tomorrow. Thursday’s lineup is formed by dance/rock act Acidy Peeping Tom (微酸的偷窺狂), Fun People and three-piece girl band Micro (莫可樂團).
■ 177 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路177號), tel: (02) 2370-8805. On the Net: www.riverside.com.tw
■ Show starts at 8pm tonight and on Thursday, 8:30pm tomorrow
■ Entrance is NT$400 tonight and on Thursday, NT$800 and NT$1,500 tomorrow. Tickets can be purchased online through www.riverside.com.tw and tickets.books.com.tw
Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) welcome the arrival of spring with a troop of musicians including folk/pop duo Chen Po-chuan (陳柏全) and Tang Ning (唐寧), veteran musician and producer Yu Kuan-hua (于冠華) and guitarist Lee Ting-kuang (李庭匡). Pop singer and music show host Voter Hsu (徐哲緯) teams up with Lee Pei-wei (李沛瑋) and Hana (花漾樂團) tomorrow. Sunday’s performers are psychedelic folk rockers No.7 Cyan (七號青) and Sangkapulei (桑卡普雷). Featuring violin as the lead instrument, rock band Playground plays on Tuesday, with alternative rock outfit Dirty Laundry (骯髒著衣) also on the bill. Keelung-based rockers Rusty Rivet (鏽鉚釘樂團) and pop rocker band H/F are scheduled on Wednesday, followed by pop rocker Izumi (陳冠銓) on Thursday.
■ B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1), next to Taipower Building (台電大樓), tel: (02) 2368-7310. On the Net: www.riverside.com.tw
■ Shows start at 9pm except for tonight which begins at 9:30pm
■ NT$400 on weekends, NT$350 on Sunday and weekdays. Tickets can be purchased online through www.riverside.com.tw and tickets.books.com.tw
Malaysian songstress Anna Chong (莊啟馨) performs tonight at Kafka on the Shore (海邊的卡夫卡), a coffee house-cum-music and arts venue in the National Taiwan University area, and it is solo act Chen Chih-hui (陳智輝) tomorrow. Garage/shoegaze band Skip Skip Ben Ben appears on Sunday.
■ 2F, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號2樓). On the Net: www.kafkabythe.blogspot.tw
■ Shows start at 8pm. Cafe/bookstore opens noon to midnight Sundays through Thursdays, noon to 2am Fridays and Saturdays
■ Free admission tonight and tomorrow, NT$400 on Sunday
Pop rockers Late Man (遲到客) shares the stage with funk rock group Sixwoods (森林木樂團) tomorrow at Treellage (樹樂集), a cafe with live music.
■ 33 Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路33號), tel: (02) 2599-1599. On the net: www.treellage.com
■ Shows run from 8pm on weekends. Treellage is open noon to 9pm Mondays through Fridays, 11am to 9pm Saturdays and Sundays
■ NT$300, one drink included. Tickets can be purchased online through www.indievox.com/treellage
La Cumbia Del Sol blends reggae with Cumbia and Balkan music tonight at Sappho de Base, a late-night lounge bar that hosts mostly jazz shows.
■ B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1), tel: (02) 2700-5411. On the Net: www.sappho102.biz
■ Show starts at 9:30pm
■ Entrance is NT$200
Nanwan Sisters (南王姐妹花), a trio of singers from Taitung appears tonight at Tiehua Music Village (鐵花村), an arts village composed of a music venue, design and crafts shops and a weekend arts fair in Taitung City.
■ 26, Ln 135, Sinsheng Rd, Taitung City (台東市新生路135巷26號), tel: (089) 343-393. On the Net: www.tw.streetvoice.com/users/tiehua
■ Shows start at 8pm. Music venue and crafts shops are open 2pm to 10pm Tuesdays through Sundays. Weekend arts fair opens 6pm to 10pm every Friday, 3:30pm to 10pm every Saturday and Sunday
■ Admission is NT$300. Tickets can be purchased online through tickets.books.com.tw
The Wall (這牆) programs regular live rock shows at Kaohsiung’s Pier 2 Arts Center (高雄駁二藝術特區). Indie rockers Mary See the Future (先知瑪莉) hit the stage tomorrow. On Sunday, solo rockers Katripulr Cowboy (部落牛仔) and Mighty Rock (搖滾大酷呆) play a matinee show, followed by veteran rockers Starry Eyes (幻眼合唱團) in the evening.
■ 1 Dayong Rd, Greater Kaohsiung (高雄市大勇路1號), tel: (07) 521-5148. On the Net: www.thewall.com.tw
■ Shows start at 7:30pm tomorrow, 4pm and 8pm on Sunday
■ Admission is NT$700 tomorrow, NT$500 for the matinee show, NT$600 for the evening shows and NT$1,000 for both on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks, www.books.com.tw and www.indievox.com
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
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
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Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s