Contemporary
Legacy Taipei hosts top Taiwanese pop performers and international acts. Tonight’s spotlight is on pop rockers Champion (強辯樂團). Tomorrow, punk/metal outfit Random (隨性樂團) celebrates its 10th birthday with a boisterous show, followed by The Coconuts (椰子) on Sunday. Pop and oldies diva Tiger Huang (黃小琥) takes the stage on Wednesday.
■ 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 Dolcevita Zheng
■ Show starts at 7:30pm tonight, 8pm tomorrow and on Wednesday, 7pm on Sunday
■ Admission is NT$800 tonight and tomorrow, NT$700 on Sunday, NT$1,400 on Wednesday. Tickets available through www.indievox.com and at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
Pipe Live Music, a major venue for indie music and parties, hosts an electro party tonight, with DJ Kool Klone, COSiMOZ and DJ Shorty. A psychedelic bash takes place tomorrow, featuring DJs Byeso, Deep Vibrations and Koala.
Photo courtesy of Destroyers
■ 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 9pm tonight and 11pm tomorrow
■ Admission is NT$350 tonight, NT$400 and NT$500 tomorrow. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.indievox.com and at FamilyMart (全家) FamiPort kiosks
Photo courtesy of New Sunglasses
To welcome the new year, Jack’s Studio (杰克音樂) in Ximending (西門町) will throw a four-day party that runs through Sunday. Tonight’s performers include electro-rockers Jindowin (筋斗雲), while indie rockers Hippocampus (海馬迴) and blues noise band Black Radio Party (黑色收音機派對) take the stage tomorrow. The music marathon ends with an electro party on Sunday, featuring disco/post-punk ensemble New Sunglasses (新墨鏡) and O2 Sun Shine (氧樂團).
■ B1, 76 Kunming St, Taipei City (台北市萬華區昆明街76號B1), tel: (02) 2381-0999.
■ Show starts at 7:30pm tonight and on Sunday, 7pm tomorrow
Photo courtesy of Random
■ Tickets cost NT$400 tonight and tomorrow, NT$600 on Sunday, available online through www.indievox.com
It is a night of bossa nova and samba with RioSoul on Sunday at Kafka by the Sea (海邊的卡夫卡), a coffee house-cum-music and arts venue in the National Taiwan University area.
■ 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
■ Show starts at 8pm. Cafe/bookstore opens noon to midnight Sundays through Thursdays, noon to 2am Fridays and Saturdays
■ Minimum charge is one drink
Pop artist Celeste Syn (冼佩瑾) plays tonight at Riverside Live House (河岸留言西門紅樓展演館), followed by newcomer Dean Wang (汪定中) tomorrow. National Taiwan University Jazz Big Band (台大騷動爵士大樂團) puts on a show on Tuesday.
■ 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 Tuesday, 7:30pm tomorrow
■ Entrance is NT$500 tonight and tomorrow, NT$450 on Tuesday. Tickets can be purchased online through www.indievox.com and tickets.books.com.tw
Before returning to his hometown in Japan, guitarist Shun Kikuta holds a farewell party with friends at Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) on Sunday. The Funkenstein Project performs funk and soul on Wednesday.
■ 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
■ Show starts at 9pm on Sunday and 9:30pm on Wednesday
■ Admission is NT$400, available online through www.indievox.com and tickets.books.com.tw
Acoustic guitarist Chris Liu (劉士華) plays original compositions tonight at Forro Cafe (呼嚕咖啡) in Taichung. Tomorrow’s lineup includes pop act Monmon Tsai (蔡孟臻) and female rocker Wing (俞心嵐).
■ 47, Jingcheng 3rd St, Taichung City (台中市精誠三街47號), tel: (04) 2310-1661. On the Net: forrocafe.blogspot.tw
■ Shows start at 8pm
■ Admission is NT$250 tonight and NT$400 tomorrow. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through www.indievox.com
Tiger Huang (黃小琥) visits Legacy Taichung, a spin-off of Legacy Taipei, tonight. Indie pop group Queen Suitcase (皇后皮箱) is among the performers tomorrow.
■ 117, Anhe Rd, Taichung City (台中市安和路117號), tel: (04) 2359-8780. On the Net: www.legacy.com.tw/taichung.
■ Shows starts at 8pm
■ Admission is NT$1,400 tonight and NT$700 tomorrow. Tickets available online through www.indievox.com and at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
To celebrate its second birthday and the arrival of the new year, Paramount Bar (百樂門酒館), an indie rock club in Kaohsiung, continues its marathon party from tonight to Sunday, with a number of indie bands, including garage rock favorites 88 Balaz (88顆芭樂籽), ska punk group Destroyers (擊沈女孩), alternative rockers Find the Intersection (紛亂交錯) and Bison Country (必順鄉村).
■ 70 Minzu 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市三民區民族一路70號), tel: (07) 389-0501
■ Shows start at 6pm
■ Entrance is NT$NT$800 for two-day and NT$500 for single-day tickets, available through www.indievox.com
A supergroup formed by four members of well-known indie bands, Felix Felicis (小福氣) plays with Tai-ke rockers Sunset Samurai (夕陽武士) at The Mercury (水星酒館), an indie rock club in Kaohsiung, tomorrow.
■ 46 Liwen Rd, Kaohsiung City (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$250
Tomorrow, pop act Liao Wen-chiang (廖文強) tours to Live Warehouse, a main venue for indie music located inside Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Arts Center (駁二藝術特區), with his new album.
■ 2-5 Dayi Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市大義街2-5號), tel: (07) 521-8114. On the Net: livewarehouse.tw.
■ Show starts at 7:30pm
■ Entrance is NT$500. Tickets for the venue’s concerts can be purchased online through tickets.books.com.tw
The Aboriginal Lan-hsin Band (嵐馨樂團) appears at Tiehua Music Village (鐵花村), an arts village in Taitung City, tonight, and Puyuma songstress Samingad (紀曉君) croons tomorrow.
■ 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 tonight and NT$400 tomorrow, available online at tickets.books.com.tw
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