Contemporary
Legacy Taipei hosts top Taiwanese pop performers and international acts. Tonight, Japanese hip-hop artists Gagle puts on a show. There are two shows from the ongoing Voice Up Concert series tomorrow by pop rock band Mixer (麋先生) in the afternoon and veteran rockers Tolaku (脫拉庫) at night. It is the release party of indie rockers Maffine’s (瑪啡因) new album on Thursday.
■ Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914), Center Five Hall (中五館), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號)
Photo courtesy of The Chairman
■ Show starts at 8pm tonight and on Thursday, 2:30pm and 7:30pm tomorrow
■ Admission is NT$1,000 tonight, NT$800 tomorrow afternoon, NT$1,400 tomorrow night, NT$650 on Thursday. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.kham.com.tw, www.indievox.com or at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
Three French acts — electronica artist Clarens, pop electronic combo Juveniles and pop group Manceau — play at The Wall (這牆), Taipei’s most prominent venue for indie rock artists, tonight. It is rock veterans The Chairman (董事長樂團) tomorrow, followed by all-woman outfit Scandal on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of The Cosmos People
■ 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
■ Shows start at 8pm
■ Admission is NT$700 tonight, NT$600 tomorrow, NT$1,800 on Sunday. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through tickets.books.com.tw
Photo courtesy of Kuanjonxuan
Heavy metal act Stream of Memory (回憶之流) is among the performers tonight at Pipe Live Music, a main venue for indie music and parties. Scandal plays tomorrow, accompanied by Taiwan’s Thousand Kicks (千本踢樂團) and Hi Band. Later the same day, the venue hosts a party featuring German techno duo The YellowHeads.
■ 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 tonight, 5:30pm tomorrow, 10pm for the late-night party
Photo courtesy of Spot – Taipei Film House
■ Admission is NT$350 tonight, NT$150 tomorrow, NT$800 for the party. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.walkieticket.com, www.indievox.com and at 7-Eleven ibon and FamilyMart (全家) FamiPort kiosks
Power trio rock act Gold Seal and Kuanjonxuan (冠強軒) each plays a set at Bobwundaye (無問題), a small pub on Heping East Road (和平東路) in Taipei, tomorrow.
■ 77, Heping E Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市和平東路三段77號), tel: (02) 2377-1772
Photo courtesy of Spot – Taipei Film House
■ Show starts at 10pm
■ Admission is NT$300 and NT$500
Indie music venue APA (小地方展演空間) hosts post-punk rockers Macbeth (馬克白) tonight. Tomorrow’s roster includes alt-rock band Peaks, acoustic trio The Red Cliff and garage/pop/psychedelic outfit Blind Acid Date (迷幻的瞎眼約會). Indie pop group Goosander (川秋沙) appears on Sunday.
■ B1,147, Hangzhou S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市杭州南路一段147號B1), tel: (02) 2327-8658. On the Net: www.facebook.com/apamini
■ Show starts at 8pm tonight and on Sunday, 7:30pm tomorrow
■ Admission is NT$400 tonight and tomorrow, NT$350 on Sunday, available through www.indievox.com
It is a night of reggae, cumbia, Afro-Caribbean and Latin music tomorrow featuring La Cumbia Del Sol and Dread Rider at The TAV Cafe (村落餐廳), a bar and cafe located at the Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村).
■ 7 Beiping E Rd, Taipei City (台北市北平東路7號), tel: (02) 3393-7377X207. On the Net: tavcafe.com
■ Show starts at 7:30pm
■ NT$500 at the door
Acoustic folk duo Crispy (脆樂團) celebrates the release of their new EP tonight at Riverside Live House (河岸留言西門紅樓展演館), while actress and Mando-pop singer Megan Lai (賴雅妍) has a concert tomorrow.
■ 177 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路177號), tel: (02) 2370-8805. On the Net: www.riverside.com.tw
■ Show starts at 8pm tonight and 8:30pm tomorrow
■ Entrance is NT$ NT$400 tonight and NT$550 tomorrow. Tickets can be purchased online through www.ticket.com.tw
Fusion jazz ensemble Huh? (蛤樂團) plays two sets tonight at Riverside Cafe (河岸留言), while folk icon Panai (巴奈) performs tomorrow. Sunday’s lineup is formed by pop rock outfit The Slim Cigarettes (涼煙樂團) and psychedelic folk rockers No.7 Cyan (七號青), followed by progressive/metal/ambient group Emocean and BIZcashi (比茲卡西) on Tuesday. Aboriginal act Mafana plays jazz, rock and hip-hop on Wednesday, with Chase (逐樂團) also on the bill. Thursday’ show is by solo act Alice’s Voice (愛力獅) and Sllen a.N (蕭芸安).
■ 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 10pm
■ Admission is NT$400 tonight and tomorrow, NT$350 on Sunday and weekends. Tickets can be purchased online through www.indievox.com and tickets.books.com.tw
The Return of the Soul Brothers plays funky blues tonight at Sappho Live, a late-night lounge bar that hosts mostly jazz shows, while it is Blackbird Quintet tomorrow. Sunday’s spotlight is on jazz ensemble The Beat Brothers.
■ 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.sappholive.com
■ Shows start 9:30pm
■ Entrance is NT$400 tonight and tomorrow, NT$350 on Sunday
Indie act Chocolate Tiger (猛虎巧克力) tours There Cafe & Live House (那兒咖啡), a venue for indie music in Taoyuan, tomorrow.
■ B1, 454, Fusing Rd, Taoyuan (桃園市復興路454號B1), tel: (03) 339-8819. On the Net: www.therelivecafe.com
■ Show starts at 7:30pm
■ Admission is NT$600. Tickets can be purchased online through tickets.books.com.tw and www.indievox.com
All-women electronic rock band Neko Jam (妮可醬), Chemical Monkeys (化學猴子) and Retroage (復古世代) congregate at Sound Live House (迴響音樂藝文展演空間), an independent venue for music and art exhibitions in Taichung, tomorrow. Sunday’s performers include J-rock/hardcore outfit Rain & Picture and Pink Haze (平克孩子).
■ B1-1, 429, Henan Rd Sec 2, Taichung (台中市河南路二段429號B1-1), tel: (04) 2451-1989. On the Net: soundlivehouse.msmusic.com.tw
■ Shows starts at 7:30pm
■ Admission is NT$400 tomorrow and NT$350 on Sunday. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.indievox.com
Polished Brit rock group 13 (拾參樂團) and Nighteentael (十九兩樂團) are scheduled to play tonight at TCRC (前科累累俱樂部), a small venue for independent musicians and local artists in Tainan. Singer/songwriter Easy appears tomorrow.
■ B1, 314, Simen Rd Sec 2, Tainan (台南市西門路二段314號B1), tel: (06) 222 3238.
■ Show starts at 9:30pm tonight and 8:30pm tomorrow
■ Admission is NT$300 tonight and NT$400 tomorrow, available at www.indievox.com
The Mercury (水星酒館), an indie rock club in Kaohsiung, hosts 13 (拾參樂團) and Nighteentael (十九兩樂團) tomorrow.
■ 46 Liwen Rd, Kaohsiung (高雄市立文路46號), tel: (07) 550-8617. On the Net: mercurybar.blogspot.tw
■ Show starts at 7:30pm
■ Entrance is NT$300
Funk/rock group Cosmos People (宇宙人) plays a gig at In Our Time, a restaurant-cum-gallery located inside Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Arts Center (駁二藝術特區), on Sunday.
■ 99, Penglai Rd, Kaohsiung (高雄市蓬萊路99號), tel: (07) 521-0017
■ Show starts at 7pm
■ Admission is NT$600, available through www.indievox.com
Lo-fi delta rock band Mud Bros (爛泥兄弟) arrives at Goat Bar (山羊飯館), a music venue and restaurant in Pingtung, tomorrow. On Wednesday, it is Manzhou Social Club (滿州Social Club) and Mutton Pot (羊肉爐).
■ 23-2 Hengnan Rd, Hengchun Township, Pingtung County (屏東縣恆春鎮恆南路23-2號), tel: (08) 888-0183
■ Show starts at 9:30pm
■ Minimal charge is NT$200
Mando-pop crooner Hsieh Chen-ting (謝震廷) and young singer Showman (小余班) travel to 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, tonight.
■ 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
■ Show starts 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$250. Tickets can be purchased online at tickets.books.com.tw
Event
Taipei Discussion and Learning meets at Frog Free Cafe (蛙咖啡) to hear lectures and discuss topics such as philosophy, science, anthropology, globalization and alternative medicine. This week’s discussion, led by Gregg Haxton, is titled Lost an Eye, But Gained a Greater Vision in Life: The Haxstrong Story. We will be discussing ways to help make a difference in the lives of those who need it the most. All discussions and lectures are conducted in English.
■ Frog Free Cafe (蛙咖啡), 5, Alley 9, Songjiang Rd, Taipei City (台北市松江路69巷5號)
■ Tomorrow at 8pm. Admission is free. Look for Taipei Discussion and Learning on Facebook
Highlight
Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot and Isabelle Huppert are among the French movie divas who will grace the silver screen as part of “In Honor of the French Goddesses X Actrices by Kate Barry” — a mini festival featuring 11 films spanning 50 years.
Among the digitally restored works, Jacques Demy’s 1964 musical, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, feature a timeless performance from Deneuve, while Bardot, a sex symbol in the 50s and 60s, plays an aloof wife in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 Contempt.
Other starlets include Charlotte Gainsbourg in the romantic drama Persecution (2009) and Huppert, who plays a sexually charged lesbian sister in The Nun (2013), an adaptation of the 18th-century novel of the same title by Denis Diderot.
There is also a rare photo exhibition showcasing 25 portraits of French actresses by the late fashion photographer Kate Barry.
■ Screenings take place at Spot — Taipei Film House, 18 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市中山北路二段18號), from today through May 28, and at Spot — Huashan, 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號), until May 21. Tickets are NT$200 for members; NT$240 for non-members. Festival package containing six tickets are NT$1,080. The photo exhibition is free and runs until May 27 at Spot — Taipei Film House. For more information, visit www.spot.org.tw and www.spot-hs.org.tw
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The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby