Although Taipei doesn't quite deserve the sobriquet of the city that never sleeps — first coined by Fort Wayne (Indiana) News to describe New York — many of its denizens clearly don't mind going to work on Thursday mornings with a humming hangover.
The Vinyl Word this week checked out the capital's hottest ladies' nights at Luxy and Room 18. The Onyx room has added a touch of class to Luxy — a nod to the 1970s meets Tony Montana's living room — and rather than a crowd thin on the ground, there was a wide spectrum of revelers making the most of hump day. Saucey's set in the second floor bar area was the highlight of the evening, and verged on the exotic. At Room 18 the dance floor in the main room was packed well into the wee hours. Wednesday isn't the new Friday; it's in a league of its own.
The Da An Beach Party, as detailed in last week's column, was postponed Saturday until next month. Organizers have pledged to lay on extras for partygoers. Watch this space for more details.
A relatively new joint in town, Crystal (located at B1, 3, Ln 152 Hsinyi Rd, Sec 3 (台北市信義路三段152巷3號B1); call 02 2702-7113 or visit www.crystal-taipei.com) is creating a buzz. The club is decorated in J-pop style — think eclectic opulence — and mainly caters to the hip-hop crowd, but once a month it will host a house and break party, beginning at the start of next month with Edmund, Elements and Hooker in the mix.
Tomorrow is a mini-skirt party. Ladies who don the attire that all good mothers would turn in their grave over, can gain entry for a mere NT$100. In the interests of sexual equality, the Vinyl Word wholeheartedly encourages the men to also slip on a little number and try to gain cheap entry. Please send photos to vinylword@taipeitimes.com. The party begins at 10pm. Next Saturday Crystal is throwing a Get Lei'd party, which can only be interpreted as, well, a night for horny dyslexics. The party will throb to hep hap, raggie and brakebetz.
Raunchiest flyer of this week's parties is without doubt the one for Lucid and Evil Monkey's Summer Scandal party at Champagne 3 tomorrow night. Hats off to the production crews that have managed to push the envelope and integrate ultra-soft porn with flyer design, the results of which can be viewed at www.champagnebar.com.tw. The party features Gorejuice – a name that wouldn't sound out of place in a heavy metal band – Junior and Jay-Ro spinning the “freshest hip-hop beats.”
Liquid Lifestyle is bringing Shortee to Room 18 tomorrow, and despite the hyperbole proclaiming her as the world's best female DJ — she is head professor at the Scratch Academy in LA and has racked up a roll call of accolades — she will likely raise the rafters. The party begins at 10pm and entry will set you back NT$700.
Following the resounding success of last week's pool party at the CM Swimming Club, Jr. and Megan, Elements, Schism, Jay-Ro, Gorejuice and Francis B are throwing another Sunday summertime splash bash. The pool is located at 34 Jhihshan Rd Sec 2, Shilin, Taipei (台北市至善路二段34號). Shenanigans begin at 1pm and admission is NT$250.
Urban Funk All Starz are throwing a CD release party at CU Club tomorrow. Samples from the CD can be heard at www.revevolution.net/PAGES/MUZ/PAGES/DJmix.htm.
In 1990, Amy Chen (陳怡美) was beginning third grade in Calhoun County, Texas, as the youngest of six and the only one in her family of Taiwanese immigrants to be born in the US. She recalls, “my father gave me a stack of typed manuscript pages and a pen and asked me to find typos, missing punctuation, and extra spaces.” The manuscript was for an English-learning book to be sold in Taiwan. “I was copy editing as a child,” she says. Now a 42-year-old freelance writer in Santa Barbara, California, Amy Chen has only recently realized that her father, Chen Po-jung (陳伯榕), who
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Jan 13 to Jan 19 Yang Jen-huang (楊仁煌) recalls being slapped by his father when he asked about their Sakizaya heritage, telling him to never mention it otherwise they’ll be killed. “Only then did I start learning about the Karewan Incident,” he tells Mayaw Kilang in “The social culture and ethnic identification of the Sakizaya” (撒奇萊雅族的社會文化與民族認定). “Many of our elders are reluctant to call themselves Sakizaya, and are accustomed to living in Amis (Pangcah) society. Therefore, it’s up to the younger generation to push for official recognition, because there’s still a taboo with the older people.” Although the Sakizaya became Taiwan’s 13th
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