To wind up his national tour that took him to a string of tiny dives, one of them a joint in Kenting where male and female strip shows are a nightly feature, rocker Chang Chen-yue (
Joining A-yue (
Though the two play different genres, their respective roles as antidotes to the sappy strains of Mando-pop make them heroes to legions of kids who can identify easily with lines such as the one by Hotdog that goes: "Coco Lee, fuck/Jolin Tsai suck!"
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
A-yue is too nice a guy, though, to rip into other pop stars, but his attitude is more down-to-earth and self-effacing than that of most stars produced by the celebrity machine. It's not uncommon, for example, to spot him riding around town on his mountain bike, his favorite mode of transport.
His songs are sometimes filled with expletives, but just as often they're acoustic love ballads that get heavy KTV rotation. Most of all, he comes across as a pop star who's not packaged or kept on a tight leash by his label and agency.
Hotdog doesn't veer into ballads, but neither are his songs all attacks on self-important celebrities. They're usually just hilarious, filled with ironic observations of society from the perspective of one of its losers.
His latest anthem off his new album is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to homely Taiwanese girls titled I Love Taiwanese Chicks (我愛台妹). The new album is Hotdog's first since completing his military service, which truncated his budding stardom three years ago. His fans haven't forgotten him in the interim, so the show is an eagerly anticipated homecoming. And with A-yue, it should be a hard-hitting double feature.
What: Chang Chen-yue and Free 9 with MC Hotdog
When: Tonight, 9pm
Where: The Wall, B1, 200 Roosevelt Rd, Sec 4, Taipei (
Tickets: NT$500 at the door
May 26 to June 1 When the Qing Dynasty first took control over many parts of Taiwan in 1684, it roughly continued the Kingdom of Tungning’s administrative borders (see below), setting up one prefecture and three counties. The actual area of control covered today’s Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The administrative center was in Taiwan Prefecture, in today’s Tainan. But as Han settlement expanded and due to rebellions and other international incidents, the administrative units became more complex. By the time Taiwan became a province of the Qing in 1887, there were three prefectures, eleven counties, three subprefectures and one directly-administered prefecture, with
It’s an enormous dome of colorful glass, something between the Sistine Chapel and a Marc Chagall fresco. And yet, it’s just a subway station. Formosa Boulevard is the heart of Kaohsiung’s mass transit system. In metro terms, it’s modest: the only transfer station in a network with just two lines. But it’s a landmark nonetheless: a civic space that serves as much more than a point of transit. On a hot Sunday, the corridors and vast halls are filled with a market selling everything from second-hand clothes to toys and house decorations. It’s just one of the many events the station hosts,
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world
RSS