| Highlight | |
 Bands play all day at Compass magazine’s annual International Food and Music Festival, which takes place this year at the Art Museum Parkway in Taichung. PHOTO: COURTESY OF PATRICK BYRNE | Compass magazine’s fifth annual Taichung International Food and Music Festival (康百視雜誌第五屆國際美食音樂節) starts tomorrow at 10:30am with 11 bands scheduled to perform. The festival has moved to a new location — the Art Museum Parkway (美術綠園道) — and this year will have 50 booths. Culinary choices range from German, Italian and Greek to Taiwanese Aboriginal, Mexican, Cantonese, Argentine and French. Bands play from 10:30am to 8:50pm. The lineup is as follows, with each band playing a 50-minute set: ’Round Midnight, Three Day Bender, The Rising Hedons, Moss, Dirty Skies, Alice’s Tears, The Endless Trip (formerly Semicon), Militant Hippi, Chrome Relic, .22, and The Money Shot Horns. The festival goes until 9pm, but the party continues at 89K with Taipei bands Public Radio and High Tide, playing until 3am. Tickets for the after-party are available at the festival, and good for a free beer at 89K. ▲ Art Museum Parkway (美術綠園道), Taichung City, between Wuquan 5th and 7th streets (台中市在五權五街和五權七街之間); after-party with Public Radio and High Tide at 89K, Daguan Rd, Nantun Dist, Taichung City (台中市南屯區大觀路21號)
▲ Tomorrow from 10:30am to 9pm; after-party at 89K from 10pm to 3am
▲ Admission to the festival is free; after-party admission is NT$300 at the door; those who buy after-party tickets at the festival get a free beer |
 Thierry Bae appears at the National Experimental Theater this weekend. PHOTO: COURTESY OF NATIONAL THEATER
| French choreographer Thierry Bae brings his very personal production of Journal d’Inquietude (Diary of Worries) to the Experimental Theater this weekend, with a Taiwanese accent. The show begins with a solo by Bae and then there is a short film recounting his attempts to find both a place to show his work and someone to perform it. Bae reshot the film here to give it a local context and the third part of the show features a guest dancer (neither Bae nor National Theater staff would say who) performing Bae’s solo under his direction. Journal is an exploration of an “everyman” dancer/choreographer’s struggle to continue to work as he grows older, battling health and financial difficulties as well as other issues.
▲ National Experimental Theater (實驗劇場), Taipei City
▲ Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm; Sunday at 2:30pm
▲ Tickets are NT$500, available through NTCH ticketing
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Contemporary
Jazz Your Mind is on Friday night at Sappho de Base, the current favorite late night hangout for Taipei’s jazz musicians. Saturday features the Blues Vibrations. The band describes its sound as “funky blues, acid grooves, southern soul, honky tonk, and Taiwan taxi music.” On Tuesday night, it’s a set by the Grace Jazz Trio with an open jam afterwards. Wednesday is a farewell party for American singer and Sappho regular Kecia Jenkins. On Thursday, DJ Zulu spins what he calls “timeless and positive black sounds.”
▲ B1, 1, Ln 102, Anhe Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市安和路一段102巷1號B1). Call (02) 2700-5411 (after 9pm) or visit www.sappho102.biz
▲ Performances begin at 10:30pm
▲ No entrance fee
Italian restaurant Capone’s hosts Taipei’s most authentic funk and blues band, the Kenyatta Quintet, led by drummer Abe Nbugu Kenyatta, a New Orleans native. The group plays every Friday until June 27.
▲ 312, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路四段312號). Call (02) 2773-3782 for more information
▲ 9pm to 11pm
▲ No entrance fee, dinner seating
It’s a weekend of indie-rock at Underworld (地下社會). Tonight, experimental rockers Johnny and Eeyore (強尼屹耳) take to the stage to promote their new EP, Minor. The CD will be on sale for NT$150. Supporting that night is Freckles (雀斑). On Saturday Radiobear brings their keyboard-heavy sound, backed by Green!Eyes, which describes its music as having a “flavor of guitar pop and a bit of country.” On Wednesday, the venue presents Emo Counterattack (陰毛 (emo) 男孩的逆襲) with One Way to Die (死路一條) and Kenny from Casino (賭場肯尼).
▲ B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei City (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.upsaid.com/underworld for more information
▲ Live shows go from 9pm to 11pm. The bar is open from 8pm daily, closed Mondays
▲ Entrance tonight and tomorrow is NT$300 and includes one drink. Entrance on Wednesdays is NT$100. Before midnight on Tuesdays and Thursdays, drinks are buy-one-get-one-free
Pop singer Alan Kuo (柯有綸) hits the stage at The Wall tonight. On Saturday the venue is holding two shows: indie-singer-songwriter Deserts Chang (張懸) plays two sets, then it’s the Squeeze Reggae Party (SQUEEZE擠一擠) with Black Reign International and special guests from Japan, DJ Yahman and Big H. On Sunday, it’s speed and thrash metal with Power Overwhelming, Beyond Cure, EFTC, and Revilement. The groups are launching a new EP entitled ”Arise After Withering” — Emerging From The Cocoon.
▲ B1, 200 Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Call (02) 2930-0162 or log on at www.the-wall.com.tw for more information
▲ 8pm tonight, tomorrow; 3pm Sunday
▲ NT$400 tonight, NT$400 for first show Saturday, and NT$350 for reggae show; NT$300 Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday. Admission includes one drink
Tonight at Witch House (女巫店) is Rukai singer and guitarist Gelresai (陳世川) of Echo GS (艾可菊斯), presenting a set of acoustic music. On Saturday, ICRT DJ and longtime regular performer at the venue Timmy (踢米) introduces some new material.
▲ 7, Ln 56, Xinsheng S Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段56巷7號). Call (02) 2362-5494 or visit www.witchhouse.org
▲ Performances start at 9:30pm. Restaurant/bar with queer/feminist bookstore and large collection of board games open 11am to midnight Sunday to Wednesday; 11am to 1am Thursday to Saturday
▲ NT$300 entrance includes one drink
On stage tonight at Riverside Cafe (河岸留言) is Skyline, a four-piece playing jazz, R ’n’ B, funk and Latin music. Indie-pop artist Ciacia appears on Saturday night. On Sunday, it’s Beautiful Haiyan (美麗心民謠), a special show presented by the members of the Wild Fire Music Troupe, a collective of Aboriginal musicians.
▲ B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1), next to Tai Power Building (台電大樓). Call (02) 2368-7310, or visit www.riverside.com.tw
▲ Shows start at 9:30pm
▲ NT$400 tonight, NT$500 tomorrow with limited seating; NT$350 on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Admission includes one free drink. There is a one-drink minimum on Monday
Tonight, 89K in Taichung showcases City of Earth, which plays eclectic indie-rock on drums, bass, banjo, guitar and tabla and Dirty Skies — “post-cosmic country rock, distorted country punk, broken glass and bluegrass.” On Saturday, it’s the Compass Magazine Food Festival after party with Public Radio and High Tide playing roots, ska and reggae.
▲ 25, Daguan Rd, Taichung City (台中市大觀路25號). Call (04) 2381-8240
▲ 11pm on Friday, 9pm on Saturday
▲ NT$300; includes one drink
Every Wednesday night at the Cosmopolitan Grill is a blues open mic held by the Blues Society on Taiwan. All are welcome to bring their instruments and sit in on guitar, bass or drums.
1F, 218, Changchun Rd, Taipei City (台北市長春路218號1樓). Call 2508-0304 or visit www.cosmo.com.tw
▲ 8pm to 11pm every Wednesday
▲ Free admission
Theater
Hard-hitting social commentary tinged with moral themes is a trademark of the plays written by the late Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal. Taiwan’s Tellus Theater continues its adaptation of Arrabal’s work with Guernica Picnic on the Battlefield, which combines two of the master playwright’s works and investigates what it means to live through war. The play is in English.
▲ Lien Te Vegetarian Restaurant (蓮德品素天地), B1, 82 Ningbo W St, Taipei City (台北市寧波西街82號B1)
▲ Tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
▲ Tickets are NT$350, through NTCH ticketing
Say Goodbye, Again (再說˙
再見) by Open Theater (大開劇團) is a work eminently suited to Taiwan’s education system, whereby audiences are meant to leave the theater educated as well as edified. The play investigates metaphorically, symbolically and literally, six different ways to say goodbye — whether to a friend or a negative personal characteristic.
▲ Kaohsiung Cultural Center’s Chih Teh Hall (高雄市立文化中心至德堂), 67 Wufu 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City (高雄市五福一路67號)
▲ Tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
▲ Tickets are NT$400, through NTCH ticketing
A New Year’s party finds three lonely middle-class characters discussing their lives and aspirations in Tsai Meng-fen’s (蔡孟芬) Between (可以不存在), the first in a double bill that kicks of the Taiwan Women Theater Festival’s second week. Tsai infuses the play with the mundane details of daily life and through the dialogue reveals how fear of the unknown perpetuates the powerlessness of everyday people. On the same night, British performance artist Helen Paris satirizes the behavior of white, middle-class society in the highly anticipated Family Hold Back. Paris uses British table manners and etiquette as a pretext to air the perversities of the English dinner table where rituals are strictly observed and no one mentions politics.
▲ Guling Street Theater (牯嶺街小劇場), 2, Ln 5 Guling St, Taipei City (台北市牯嶺街5巷2號)
▲ Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
▲ Tickets are NT$500, through NTCH ticketing or by calling Betsy at 0935-546-501
The Chinese legend of Chang Er (嫦娥) and Houyi (后羿) was the inspiration for Curse of Love (吻在月球崩毀時) by Tainaner Ensemble (台南人劇團) playwright Chao Chi-yun (趙啟運). Set in contemporary Taiwan, the play follows the story of Chang Er, a female teacher who falls in love with one of her students, an introverted girl. The relationship doesn’t go far before Chang Er’s husband discovers the affair —leading to tragic consequences for all three characters.
▲ Crown Theater (皇冠藝文中心小劇場), 50, Ln 120 Dunhua N Rd, Taipei City (台北市敦化北路120巷50號)
▲ Today and Sunday at 7:30pm and tomorrow at 2:30pm
▲ Tickets are NT$450, through NTCH ticketing
Classical
NSO Masters of the Century — Meeting Penderecki (世紀大師與NSO — 潘德瑞茨基), features Krzysztof Penderecki, arguably the greatest composer since Stravinsky, who has achieved international recognition with numerous accolades including the UNESCO International Music Council Award. He has also achieved renown as a conductor, working with prominent symphony orchestras around the world. His first visit to Taiwan will see Penderecki conduct the Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring the Asian premiere of his Horn Concerto, his Sinfonietta per archi and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. The Horn Concerto will feature Radovan Vlatkovic as the soloist. [See story above.] There will be a pre-concert lecture by Wang Shi-chiang (王世強) at 7pm in the lobby of the concert hall. A second concert will be held in the Recital Hall tomorrow (see below).
▲ Today 7:30pm
▲ National Concert Hall, Taipei City
▲ Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,500 and are available from NTCH ticketing
NSO Master Chamber Concert Series 3 — Horn Virtuoso (NSO 名家室內樂系列3 — 超技法國號) will feature soloist Radovan Vlatkovic with a sextet of strings, piano and clarinet. The program will include Mozart’s Quintet for Horn, Violin, Viola and Cello, K.407, Penderecki’s Sextet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Clarinet and Horn and Brahm’s Horn Trio in E-Flat, Op. 40.
▲ Tomorrow 7:30pm
▲ National Recital Hall, Taipei City
▲ Tickets are NT$300 to NT$500, through NTCH ticketing
Richard Clayderman 2008 Taipei Concert (2008理察克萊德門鋼琴演奏會) will feature the inimitable sound of the world’s best-known easy listening music artist. Clayderman is a hugely popular artist in Taiwan and tickets are selling fast for the Taipei concert. As of press time, all seats priced under NT$2,400 were already sold out. Additional performances in Taichung on May 31 and Kaohsiung on June 1 at 7pm. Cheaper tickets for the latter two shows are also already sold out.
▲ Wednesday 8pm
▲ Taipei International Convention Center (台北國際會議中心), 1 Xinyi Rd Sec 5, Taipei City (台北市信義路五段1號)
▲ Tickets are NT$1,000 to NT$3,200, through ERA ticketing
Amy Porter Flute Recital (美國長笛女王Amy Porter長笛演奏會), will see the highly respected flautist perform a diverse program. She will be accompanied by Hsu Chia-chi (徐嘉琪) on the piano and will perform the Liebermann Sonata together with southern Taiwan’s most renowned flautist Ma Hsiao-pei (馬曉�?The program includes Eldin Burton’s Sonatine for Flute and Piano, RobertBeaser’s Variations for Flute and Piano and other works.
▲ Tomorrow 7:30pm
▲ Kaohsiung Cultural Center (高雄市立文化中心至德堂), 67 Wufu 1st Rd, Kaohsiung City, (高雄市五福一路67號)
▲ Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,500, through ERA ticketing
Event
The Chinese Ice Hockey League Finals begins tonight with the Taichung Lions squaring off against the Chiayi Sharks. The best-of-three series begins tonight at 9:15pm at Taipei Arena, with the second game tomorrow at the same time. If necessary, a third and deciding game will be played on Sunday at 7:45pm. On the Web: www.cihl.com.tw.
▲ Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋), today and tomorrow at 9:15pm. Sunday at 7:45pm if necessary
▲ Free admission
Exhibition
I Am a Bear – Eddie Kang’s Solo Exhibition (姜錫鉉 — 我是一隻熊). The series of artworks made up of acrylic, ink, and hand-made dolls show the 27-year-old South Korean artist is part of the same art movement whose members include Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama and Yoshitomo Nara. Her iconographic language evokes the Asian aesthetic of the animamix art. In the myths and adult’s fairy tales the artist creates, human solitude is revealed through comics, bright colors and stuffed cutesy animals.
▲ Metaphysical Art Gallery (形而上畫廊), 7F, 219, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段219號7樓). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 6:30pm. Call (02) 2711-0055
▲ Until June 8
Autumn Dream – Patrice Delmotte Photo Exhibition (中年獨白—戴百時攝影個展). To the French photographer who moved to Taiwan in 1970s, the human body is the most complex and sophisticated landscape one can explore. In his black-and-white photography, Delmotte plays with light to carve geometrical forms out shadows. His color series is dedicated to flashing movements and colors.
▲ Jazz Photography Gallery (爵士攝影藝廊), 2F, 433, Bade Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市八德路二段433號2樓). Open Monday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Call (02) 2741-2256
▲ Until May 29
What Do They Attach To? (牠們附在什麼裡頭). The solo exhibition by Chen Ting-chun (陳亭君) is about traces of emotions, thoughts and memory proliferating, expanding and fleeing from their roots in real time and space.
▲ Salt Peanuts, 23, Ln 60 Taishum St, Taipei (台北市泰順街60巷23號). Open Monday to Sunday from 12pm to 12am. Call (02) 2368-1019
▲ Until May 27
Paintings That Mirror the Author: Exhibition of Donated Works by Yuan Chu-sheng (畫如其人—袁樞真作品捐贈展). In memory of the late painter and educator who graduated from the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts and participated in many art exhibitions in France in the 1940s, the museum is exhibiting 58 works from among the 179 oil paintings, ink paintings, sketches and ceramics donated by the artist’s family. Yuan’s paintings are often said to reflect her candid and sincere personality and reveal the sense of innocence adored by those who knew her.
▲ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (國立台灣美術館), 2, Wuchuan W Rd Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市五權西路一段2號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm. Call (04) 2372-3552
▲ Until June 29
Masterpieces by Artists of Taiwan (台灣美術經典一百). The exhibition shows works by 87 Taiwanese artists born before World War II that were created before martial law was lifted in 1987. The exhibit is divided into four sections: Heritage and Evolution of Traditional Chinese Aesthetics, Rise and Transition of Japanese Realism and Impressionism, Introduction and Rebirth of European and American Modern Art and Formation and Presentation of Taiwanese Art.
▲ Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (高雄市立美術館), 20 Meishuguan Rd, Gushan Dist, Kaohsiung City. (高雄市鼓山區美術館路20號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm. Call (07) 555-0331
▲ Until June 22
Nov. 11 to Nov. 17 People may call Taipei a “living hell for pedestrians,” but back in the 1960s and 1970s, citizens were even discouraged from crossing major roads on foot. And there weren’t crosswalks or pedestrian signals at busy intersections. A 1978 editorial in the China Times (中國時報) reflected the government’s car-centric attitude: “Pedestrians too often risk their lives to compete with vehicles over road use instead of using an overpass. If they get hit by a car, who can they blame?” Taipei’s car traffic was growing exponentially during the 1960s, and along with it the frequency of accidents. The policy
Hourglass-shaped sex toys casually glide along a conveyor belt through an airy new store in Tokyo, the latest attempt by Japanese manufacturer Tenga to sell adult products without the shame that is often attached. At first glance it’s not even obvious that the sleek, colorful products on display are Japan’s favorite sex toys for men, but the store has drawn a stream of couples and tourists since opening this year. “Its openness surprised me,” said customer Masafumi Kawasaki, 45, “and made me a bit embarrassed that I’d had a ‘naughty’ image” of the company. I might have thought this was some kind
What first caught my eye when I entered the 921 Earthquake Museum was a yellow band running at an angle across the floor toward a pile of exposed soil. This marks the line where, in the early morning hours of Sept. 21, 1999, a massive magnitude 7.3 earthquake raised the earth over two meters along one side of the Chelungpu Fault (車籠埔斷層). The museum’s first gallery, named after this fault, takes visitors on a journey along its length, from the spot right in front of them, where the uplift is visible in the exposed soil, all the way to the farthest
The room glows vibrant pink, the floor flooded with hundreds of tiny pink marbles. As I approach the two chairs and a plush baroque sofa of matching fuchsia, what at first appears to be a scene of domestic bliss reveals itself to be anything but as gnarled metal nails and sharp spikes protrude from the cushions. An eerie cutout of a woman recoils into the armrest. This mixed-media installation captures generations of female anguish in Yun Suknam’s native South Korea, reflecting her observations and lived experience of the subjugated and serviceable housewife. The marbles are the mother’s sweat and tears,
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