At about 11:30pm last Friday, local band Tizzy Bac was toward the end of a
musical set at the Shihta Rd. pub Underworld (地下社會). That was when the
cops busted in and stopped the show, saying that from that moment on, no
one, as in neither foreign nor local groups, would be allowed to perform
there without the proper licenses or proofs of registration.
The police's basis for the action was a "performer registration" rule, which
was enacted as a stopgap measure by Taipei City when regulation of
performances was transferred from the national government to local
governments in 1999. It's called the Temporary Entertainers Act
(演藝事業演出人員暫行條例) of 2000, and states that all performances in
Taipei city by Taiwanese nationals are required to first register with the
bureau. There is no fee for registration and filling out the forms only
takes a few minutes. The major inconvenience, however, is that registration
must take place inside Taipei City Hall. According to Taipei's Cultural
Affairs Bureau, every municipal government in Taiwan has a similar rule.
They also said the rule is scheduled for revision and clarification within
the next couple years.
But as this "performers registration" rule was just sitting dead on the
books until last Friday's raid, none of Taipei's rock clubs had ever heard
of it before. Following the raid, which threatened to stop all Underworld
performances but didn't result in any fines, Underworld's management was
forced to explore its options. They contacted a member of the Taipei City
Council who, in turn, liaised with the police, arriving at a temporary
solution. Local performers will be allowed to perform at the club as before
(presumably a blind eye will be turned to registration status) as the band
Nomad (游牧) did two nights ago, but foreign bands won't be able to perform
without special licenses from the central government. So for the time being,
Taiwan's oldest and most respected rock pub is still in business, even
though enforcement issues remain as cloudy as ever.
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