Life on the road has never been easy. While on tour in China last week, Sodagreen (蘇打綠) became the meat in the sandwich of a dispute between the local promoter and an angry audience after an event that had been billed as a full-blown concert ended after eight songs.
Concertgoers, who had been expecting a three-hour set, were infuriated. Police were summoned, and the promoters attempted to recall the bus carrying the group to its next gig.
But Sodagreen was already well away, and though distressed that fans had been bilked of their expected entertainment, made it clear that the contract they had signed for the event specified an eight-song set.
Photo: Taipei times
In a public announcement the next day, the promoters said Sodagreen had fully met its contractual obligations. The Unitied Daily News expressed relief that the band, one of the country’s most successful pop music exports, managed to escape from the scene unscathed.
In other music industry news, the press has been keeping a close eye on “Chairman” Jay Chou’s (周杰倫) latest venture. Two weeks ago Taiwan’s king of pop launched a variety show called Mr.J Channel (Mr.J頻道), but poor ratings led to critical coverage, particularly in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper).
Despite Chou’s ability to draw on his exclusive address book and bag the likes of supermodel Lin Chi-ling (林志玲) and crooner Show Luo (羅志祥) for his show, the public has not taken to Chou’s new project. This is the first time he has taken up the role of variety show host, and his inexperience had veterans like Jacky Wu (吳宗憲), a former mentor, poking fun, as if to say, “Ain’t as easy as it looks.” What he actually said was: “He’s not one-tenth of the variety host that I am.”
Chou responded earlier this week by saying: “Just because I’m not number one in the ratings, people are saying I have met my Waterloo.”
After the Liberty Times reported the poor ratings, Chou used his cohost’s blog to vent his anger, and his company JVR Music (杰威爾音樂) threatened not to issue press releases to the newspaper. CtiTV, the channel that runs the program, is also reportedly boycotting the Liberty Times.
Chou is not the only person having a rough time in the media this week. Chinese pop idol Angelica He (何潔) is battling the fallout from yet another sex photo scandal, with pictures doing the rounds of a woman looking something like her in some very provocative poses indeed.
He’s agent has denied that the photos are of his client, and He herself made a statement denying any association with the photos. She said she was more saddened than angered by the whole incident, adding that such incidents could spell disaster for a woman.
Scandal has followed He throughout her career, which got started when she placed fourth in 2005’s Super Girl (超級女聲), a musical talent show in China. According to Now.com, the singer has been tainted by a nasty breakup with a former boyfriend, accusations — as though it were a crime — of having had plastic surgery in South Korea, and reportedly had some rather risque photos taken at an earlier stage of her career. To add insult to injury, some gossip commentators have suggested that the latest porn images have been circulated by He as part of a strategy to build her media profile as a bad girl.
While the papers have taken Chou and He to task, Vic Chou (周渝民), also known as Tzai Tzai (仔仔), has been praised for his professionalism.
Vic Chou, who is starring in a film set against the backdrop of China’s conflict with Japan during World War II, is prepared to roll with the punches in his calling. Going Home (回家), described as a Chinese version of Band of Brothers, has a number of complex and intricately choreographed battle sequences. Various media quote the production team as praising Vic Chou’s bottle in not opting to use a stunt double as an act of commendable professionalism.
Fortunately, the action sequences — after double and triple safety checks — went off without a hitch. Chou may have been comforted by the knowledge that he was insured for more than NT$100 million.
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