The Ministry of Sound opened with a bang in 2004 and went out with a fizzle this March. After struggling to pull in the punters with big-name acts and legal wrangles over the land on which it's built, the mega-club closed for redecoration.
When the UK-based club giant came to town over 5,000 people descended on Neihu for the opening bash and a seismic shift was predicted in the local clubbing scene, but as the anniversary of MoS' opening approaches, the question mark hovering over the club's future shows no sign of disappearing.
Speculation has been rife over the use of the MoS trademark and transfer of ownership. Three months ago the grand reopening was scheduled for May.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DARYL YANG, LUXY
But Roger Liu, marketing manager for MoS yesterday told the Vinyl Word: "We don't know what day we will reopen yet, so we haven't booked any DJs, but we are looking at some time in July."
Dubbed the Godfather of electronic dance music in Taiwan, Allen is back from China with a new vinyl offering, Electric Groove, the third installment in the Music Boutique series, for which there is a launch party at Room 18 tomorrow night.
It's back to school at Luxy tonight, the old one that is, with hip hop. Sounds from the 1990s, (to many that shouldn't seem so old), will be spun by Noodle accompanied by six MCs and a bevy of dancing beauties. Luxy puts a lot of effort into crafting shows of girls bumping n' grinding and gyrating to the beats on stage, but what about the lads?
"I definitely think they should have Luxy boys, it'd be something for the girls to look at," said Lesley Hutton, an habitue of Taipei's largest club. "But they'd probably be too cheesy."
Fromage or not, there is a case to be made for sexual equality on the dance music scene.
For a scorching night of Jamaican-style partying, tomorrow the O-Brothaz Sound System brings More Firerama to The Wall and will burn up the dance floor with reggae, dancehall, soca, hip hop and zouk. Door damage is NT$300 with one drink.
Vinyl Word will next week take a look at this year's DMC World DJ Championships.
E-Turn last year beat out Potato (Tainan), Kan (Taichung), Benny (Kaohsiung), Afro (Taipei) and Kid (Taipei). At the top of the pile, world turntablist supremacy comes with two gold Technics 1200 decks, a gold Technics EX-DJ1200 mixer, gold-plated Ortofon stylus with diamond and a check for US$10,000. Spinmeisters placed second and third will win a silver mixer and stylus, and a bronze mixer respectively.
To air your rants or raves, or if you have an event or juicy news that you think deserves coverage, send an e-mail to vinylword@taipeitimes.com.
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