There's an embarrassment of riches for party people this weekend and in the coming month, as Ministry of Sound (MoS) has finally opened, Luxy takes its show on the road, Citrus celebrates its second birthday and there's an intriguing event that involves rollerskating around a rink looking at photos.
First, MoS had its star-studded opening last night, along with canapes, a lightshow and dancing to the early hours. Project director Peter Bowden hadn't been sleeping much but said he was "real excited" by the look, the sound and the feel of the place. Tonight there's a chance to hear the resident DJs Damian Saint and DJ Buff.
Tomorrow, we have UK turntablist Jon Carter, who has been one of the leading lights on the party scene since the "Summer of Love" in 1989. Carter has remixed some of the biggest names in the business, including U2, Manic Street Preachers and Prodigy (with whom he toured). He's played all over -- including the millennium event in Australia and 3 million people at one gig in Salvador -- and should put together a fired-up house if he's in form.
PHOTO COURTESY TENSEGRITY PRODUCTIONS
Citrus Squared at Luxy tonight is guaranteed party action, with the arrival of DJ Chozie from Beijing, lining up with DJs SL and Saucey. Their previous second-year celebration earlier in the month at Eden was a good one and this should be even better, with a double CD (SL and Saucey), T-shirts and speciality drinks being given away. Speaking from Hong Kong, Chozie said he was ready to play. "I've got a bunch of new records, which I hear people may have already heard, but I'm gonna drop them anyway. And I'm gonna play a bit harder too." Saucey said all the songs on the album have got memories of Luxy and 2nd Floor. "This will wrap things up a little bit and then I'll move on, spending time making my own music."
Also tonight is JungleMania presenting Louder! at Bacchus, with DJs FunkStar, Danjah, Flanky, DJ Mykal, plus Edmund and Em with back to back sets, with MC Beemer from the UK. Further competition comes from Circuit, which last week started putting on foreign DJs -- a move so successful they're doing it again tonight with the Evil 9 Asia Tour, from 11pm to 7am, with supporting DJs Stone, Teddy and Joe.
Elsewhere, the Love Shuttle is about to leave town and tour the country, leading up to a FREE party in Kenting on the beach next Friday and Saturday. This Sunday the monster wagon set up by Sony PS2 and Pioneer will settle in Warner Village for a small event, and is in Taichung on Monday and Tainan on Wednesday. Alan Hsia of Luxy said the sound truck is the biggest of its kind in Asia, so expect some noise.
For something completely different try "Skatetown, Taipei" on Sunday, which is loosely based on the unreleased masterpiece Skatetown, USA with Patrick Swayze. MC Marcus Aurelius will be wearing four hats for the event, as the promoter, photographer (Marcus Maurice), DJ and master of ceremonies. The first 50 get a free mix CD. It works like this: you go in, put on some rollerskates, circumambulate the DJ who has set up in the middle of the rink, and view the photographs by Katherine Wang, Li Chen and Maurice, which have been hung on the pillars and walls. Visual artist Djie Zhou has also got in on the act, along with hip-hop DJ Kill and Elements with drum `n' bass.
The Vinyl Word: Get yer skates on.
There is no politician today more colorful than Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯). The recall vote against her on July 26 will test the limits of her unique style, making it one of the most fascinating to watch. Taiwan has a long history of larger-than-life, controversial and theatrical politicians. As far back as 1988, lawmaker Chu Kao-cheng (朱高正) was the first to brawl and — legend has it — was the first to use the most foul Taiwanese Hokkien curse on the floor of the legislature. Current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) has become famous
Xu Pengcheng looks over his shoulder and, after confirming the coast is clear, helps his crew of urban adventurers climb through the broken window of an abandoned building. Long popular in the West, urban exploration, or “urbex” for short, sees city-dwelling thrill-seekers explore dilapidated, closed-off buildings and areas — often skirting the law in the process. And it is growing in popularity in China, where a years-long property sector crisis has left many cities dotted with empty buildings. Xu, a 29-year-old tech worker from the eastern city of Qingdao, has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers for his photos of rundown schools and
At times, it almost seems that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is out to sabotage the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). As if on cue, with the recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers in full swing, Ma thought it would be a good time to lead a delegation of students to China and attend the 17th Straits Forum (海峽論壇) and meet with Wang Huning (王滬寧), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member entrusted by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to be his second in command on Taiwan policy and to run the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in charge of subverting enemies,
Summer is in full swing and with the Penghu Fireworks Festival underway, it is peak tourist season in Penghu right now. For anyone planning a trip this summer, you won’t want to miss out on Penghu’s ocean scenery and excellent swimming. However, with literally hundreds of kilometers of coastline and beaches seemingly at every turn, it can be overwhelming to plan your trip. Here, then, is your guide to the beaches of Penghu. This guide covers beaches with road access from Magong (馬公). They have been sorted into three types: those with nice scenery but limited or no swimming, those where