Happy International Workers’ Day, comrades. As global capitalism teeters on the brink and swine flu threatens to thin the herd by mutating into an “Armageddon” virus, this weekend is as good as any to live it large. Apocalypse or not, who needs an excuse anyway? Here are the Vinyl Word’s selections:
I.A.S. — Fluorescent Techno Party
Part of National Taiwan University’s Art Festival, this outdoor event welcomes electronic dance music fans and early-bird partygoers with the sound of minimal techno in a “UV LED forest.” DJs: BB and Databass. Today from 6pm to 10pm at National Taiwan University Building 2 (台大二號館正門口). From the main gate on the corner of Roosevelt (羅斯福) and Xinsheng South (新生南) roads, walk down the university’s palm tree-lined road and it’s the second block on the right. Admission is free and there are complimentary drinks. To join in, register at www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b92705040/NTUArtSeason/ticket.php.
Markus Schulz at Luxy
Luxy is going full-on electronica tonight with German progressive trance DJ/producer Markus Schulz in the main room and a party called ASOS in the Onyx Room. As one of the most popular DJs in the world who’s ranked eighth on DJ Mag’s top 100 DJs poll, Schulz is renowned for his weekly radio show Global DJ Broadcast and his unique brand of dark, moody, melodic trance. The lineup for the Onyx Room is Saucey, Hooker, Jimmy Chen, Burn Electric and 006. Tonight from 10pm to 4am at Luxy, 5F, 201, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路四段201號5樓). Admission is NT$800 before 11pm and NT$1,000 after.
Masago Beach Jam
Spunite kicks off the beach-party season with this hip-hop bash tomorrow in Tainan, which looks like it’ll be a biggie, weather permitting. From the usual Top 40 hip-hop music everyone is familiar with to the usual sexy gimmicks your favorite hip-hop club employs, this party has it all, including bikinis and bling. Live acts and MCs include Da Mouth, Alan Kuo, Dog G, Melody, GaWeed, Monster and Ndrew, with Jin, Rao, Woody, Ugly, Bug and Dakar on the ones and twos. Tomorrow from 4pm to 4am at the Masago Recreation Area (馬沙溝濱海遊樂區), 140 Pingsha Village, Jiangjun Township, Tainan County (台南縣將軍鄉平沙村140號). Admission is NT$700 at the door.
The Beatdown at Copa
Join this fresh party crew of pro-breakbeat DJs Mixter T and Anti Hero if you feel like shaking it to some freestyle funky rhythms. Tomorrow from 10pm to 3am at Copa, B1, 2, Ln 137, Yanji St, Taipei City (台北市延吉街137巷2號地下室). No cover charge.
Chaki from The Lowbrows at The Wall (這牆)
In the mood for something fresh from Japan? Check out Chaki, the brains behind one of the country’s most sought-after new-wave production duos, The Lowbrows. Find out what’s hot in Tokyo’s indie-eletro scene right now. Supporting DJs: F Dragon and Spykee Fat. From 11:30pm to 6am at The Wall (這牆), B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號地下室). Admission is NT$700 at the door.
The problem with Marx’s famous remark that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, the second time as farce, is that the first time is usually farce as well. This week Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) made a pilgrimage to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) “to confer, converse and otherwise hob-nob” with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. The visit was an instant international media hit, with major media reporting almost entirely shorn of context. “Taiwan’s main opposition leader landed in China Tuesday for a rare visit aimed at cross-strait ‘peace’”, crowed Agence-France Presse (AFP) from Shanghai. Rare!
What is the importance within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of the meeting between Xi Jinping (習近平), the leader Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), the leader of the KMT? Local media is an excellent guide to determine how important — or unimportant — a news event is to the public. Taiwan has a vast online media ecosystem, and if a news item is gaining traction among readers, editors shift resources in near real time to boost coverage to meet the demand and drive up traffic. Cheng’s China trip is among the top headlines, but by no means
Sunflower movement superstar Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) once quipped that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) could nominate a watermelon to run for Tainan mayor and win. Conversely, the DPP could run a living saint for mayor in Taipei and still lose. In 2022, the DPP ran with the closest thing to a living saint they could find: former Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中). During the pandemic, his polling was astronomically high, with the approval of his performance reaching as high as 91 percent in one TVBS poll. He was such a phenomenon that people printed out pop-up cartoon
Apr. 13 to Apr. 19 From 17th-century royalty and Presbyterian missionaries to White Terror victims, cultural figures and industrialists, Nanshan Public Cemetery (南山公墓) sprawls across 95 hectares, guarding four centuries of Taiwan’s history. Current estimates show more than 60,000 graves, the earliest dating to 1642. Besides individual tombs, there are also hundreds of family plots, one of which is said to contain around 1,000 remains. As the cemetery occupies valuable land in the heart of Tainan, the government in 2018 began asking families to relocate the graves to make way for development. That
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