For true rock fans around Taiwan who are tired of the cheesy soft rock and pop that blare from every street corner and alley, there's relief around the corner this weekend.
On Sunday, Steve Vai, the legendary hard rock guitarist will arrive in Taiwan for his third visit to the country. He will perform at the Taipei International Convention Center at 7:30pm.
The solo recording artist has worldwide sales of more than 2.7 million and he has played with luminaries such as Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake, as well picking up two Grammy awards and a slew of other honors from around the world. His upcoming album, Real Illusions, is due out in February next year.
The musician Frank Zappa once dubbed "my little Italian virtuoso" has enjoyed popularity all over the world, and Taiwan is no exception. Fan Charlie Lee (李宥魴) describes Vai as both mysterious and noble, like a magician who can be both righteous and evil.
"I purely like his music -- his guitar can really grab your heart," said Gina, another Vai fan.
From his first solo album Flex-Able to his recent Alive in an Ultra World -- which incorporates unique sounds from numerous countries -- Vai has always aspired to produce a sound that's different from other rock gods.
One of Vai's finest moments was in July 2002, when he performed renowned Japanese composer Ichiro Nodaira's Fire Strings with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Accompanying Steve will be a handpicked lineup of outsanding musicians, including famed bass guitarist Billy Sheehan along with Tony MacAlpine on guitar and keyboards, Dave Weiner on rhythm guitar and Jeremy Colson on drums.
Steve will be rocking out on his guitar, dubbed "Evo, "with a list of mainly instrumentals, including the classic Whispering a Prayer.
Last night, Rock Empire said 2,900 out of 3,000 tickets had been sold already. The remaining tickets, priced from NT$1,000 to NT$2,200 may be purchased online at www.rockempire.com.tw or by phone at (02) 2723 2535. The doors open at 6:30pm.
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
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
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s