The band Mayday (五月天) has served as Greater Kaohsiung’s ambassador in its tourism campaign for four years, so it came as no surprise when, in the aftermath of the gas explosions that rocked the municipality last week, the group was among the first to make a donation to the disaster relief account set up by the Greater Kaohsiung City Government’s Social Affairs Bureau.
The band gave NT$15 million (US$500,000) to the fund, with each of its five members pitching in NT$1 million and another NT$10 million donated from the proceeds of its “Just Love It” tour on behalf of its fans.
Mayday’s ties to Greater Kaohsiung go back a long way. Bass guitarist Tsai Shen-yen (蔡昇晏), known to fans as Masa, went to school there as a child, while lead guitarist Shi Chin-ang (石錦航), known as Stone, proposed to his wife in the city.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
The band has staged dozens of concerts in the port city and its members frequently chat about things happening in Greater Kaohsiung on social media sites.
Mayday began acting as the “global spokesperson” for the city’s tourism campaign in July 2011, appearing in promotional videos and giving the local government the right to produce calendars featuring pictures of band members.
A poster of the band inviting people from other countries to visit Taiwan can be seen in places such as New York and Mayday also took a trip to Shanghai and Beijing to promote Greater Kaohsiung-grown fruit and other agricultural products.
In July 2012, Mayday announced that it would act as the city’s ambassador for free for the rest of the year. The group said that this was its way of thanking the enthusiastic support and passion that the Greater Kaohsiung public has shown the band.
The band members renewed the contract last year.
Mayday has also headlined the city’s New Year’s Eve events for the past few years. During these concerts, the band would talk about local events and strike up conversation with fans, interactions which it says have built an enduring friendship and emotional bond with local fans and residents.
Mayday also says it has forged a special relationship with Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊). At the city’s most recent New Year’s Eve event, held at the Kaohsiung World Games Stadium, Chen visited the band backstage before its concert.
While there, Chen relayed to the band members many fans’ wishes for them to play past midnight and continue the show into the morning hours.
The band members said they worried about receiving fines, since municipal bylaws lay out restrictions on noise and concerts at late hours, to which Chen responded with a laugh: “It is OK by me. I’m the mayor. If you get fined, I will pay the bill.”
At a recent pre-concert publicity event Chen attended to show her support for the band, Masa gave her a bikini and thong slippers as a gift on behalf of the band.
“If more than 50,000 fans attend the concert, I will wear the slippers on stage. If a crowd of more than 100,000 comes, then I will consider wearing the bikini,” the mayor said to laughter from the audience.
Mayday lead vocalist Chen Hsin-hung (陳信宏), known as Ashin, has said that “I am already a half-Greater Kaohsiung native (半個高雄人)” and often writes about the city, inviting people to visit it to experience its various scenic attractions, cuisine, cultural heritage, arts and religious diversity.
Mayday members said they hope their donation will spur more people to assist in the recovery effort and give financial aid to those affected by the disaster.
“This city occupies a special place in our hearts. Now we are part of the national effort, under which Taiwanese can unite to help Greater Kaohsiung recover from this tragedy,” they said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS