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.
“China wants to unify with Taiwan at the lowest possible cost, and it currently believes that unification will become easier and less costly as time passes,” wrote Amanda Hsiao (蕭嫣然) and Bonnie Glaser in Foreign Affairs (“Why China Waits”) this month, describing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is playing the long game in its quest to seize Taiwan. This has been a favorite claim of many writers over the years, easy to argue because it is so trite. Very obviously, if the PRC isn’t attacking Taiwan, it is waiting. But for what? Hsiao and Glaser’s main point is trivial,
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) as their Taipei mayoral candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) put their stamp of approval on Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) as their candidate for Changhua County commissioner and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has begun the process to also run in Changhua, though she has not yet been formally nominated. All three news items are bizarre. The DPP has struggled with settling on a Taipei nominee. The only candidate who declared interest was Enoch Wu (吳怡農), but the party seemed determined to nominate anyone
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