Though only a couple of hundred people turned up at a great venue with a swimming pool for a sparkling "Babewatch Taipei" party last weekend, it's good to note that local promoters are becoming more imaginative with their offerings.
Liquid Lifestyle's Annie Chang said the party's concept could have been a bit radical, but was unapologetic. "It was a perfect venue for a perfect summer's day. Maybe it was because people here are just not used to afternoon parties, a kind of healthier alternative. But Liquid Lifestyle is trying to change it up a bit and do something different. Everybody who went had a good time so hopefully they will spread the word."
Everyone turned up later for the Room 18 event instead, which featured the Babewatch DJs Dave Cee, Rocky Rock and the star of the show on the night, beat boxer Psylent, who did a set that whipped up a minor frenzy. "Oh-my-God! He's not human," was one comment overheard about the set.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
Another innovative promotions company, Tensegrity Productions is running "Nobody's Favorite" tonight at Luxy. The gig features five of of the newest and freshest DJ's in town -- including Elements, Riptide, Alicia Hush, Commen and Kindred.
Also tonight, "Champagne Party" at Angel Bar; and tomorrow a full-moon "Summer Aquarian" party at Baishawan with big-name DJs, for free.
The big event this weekend, however, is mega dance music duo iiO, hosted by Ministry of Sound (MoS). The New York group hit big with Rapture in 2001 and vocalist Nadia Ali e-mailed The Vinyl Word to describe how she met up with producer Markus Moser through a mutual friend when she was at Versace.
"We did Rapture completely based on experimenting with dance music. It was never meant to become what it became. We literally did the song in 30 minutes and played the demo the same night for Markus' partner Mike Bindra, who was running Twilo night club at the time."
Ali, who is an exotic 20 year old, born in Libya to Pakistani parents and raised in NYC, described her relationship with Moser as "full of creative freedom. We both have very similar tastes, which is great when you write songs together. We both feed off of each other's creative energy."
Ali said she loved touring "except for the flying part. I love to see people all over the world sing our songs. It's even more amazing when you see people who don't even speak English, but they can sing every word of your song." For the Taipei shows tonight and tomorrow Ali said, "You can expect live vocals, high energy and lots of unreleased songs that we only play for our sets, as the album has not been released yet. I'm looking forward to going to an island. Plus I have a very good girlfriend that lives in Taipei, so I'm looking forward to experiencing Taiwanese culture."
In another life, Ali said she "would want to work with children, to be a teacher or counselor because they are the future of our world."
And the lesson she has learned from life are our vinyl words: "Patience is the most important thing in life and each person is the master of their own destiny."
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