Friends of songwriter Liu Wei-jen (劉偉仁), whose song If There’s Still Tomorrow (如果還有明天) is a Mandopop classic, announced yesterday that a fundraising concert will be held next month to raise money for the artist, who is battling cancer.
Nearly 30 people from the local music community and Liu’s church gathered at the Taipei Medical University Hospital, where Liu is being treated for liver cancer, to voice their support for him and promote the “Love Live” concert scheduled for June 19.
More than 10 singers and a group of his church friends have been invited to perform at the event, which will present Liu’s life story in five sections and feature the music he has written.
Singer Julia Peng (彭佳慧) said the rock musician is keen to get back on stage at the concert and sing with them, health permitting.
Several of Liu’s friends talked about his enthusiasm for music and the courage he has displayed in the battle against his illness.
“He performed with his heart in every show, every single one, and never got sloppy,” said Peng, who played in a pub with Liu for years.
Liu also said he planned to sing If There’s Still Tomorrow, which he wrote in 1990 for terminally ill singer Hsueh Yueh (薛岳), who died of liver cancer that year at the age of 36.
The money raised at the concert will be used to help pay Liu’s medical bills, the organizers said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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