Lasting two years in the highly competitive bar and club scene is a rare achievement in Taiwan. Ryan Fernandez and Graham Dart opened their live music venue, Brickyard, two years ago, and it has been going strong ever since. Tomorrow night, Brickyard celebrates its two-year anniversary.
One of the reasons for Brickyard’s longevity is growth. Towards the end of the summer, the venue expanded by opening up a beer garden, where live music permeates the air on Wednesday and Saturday nights, two blocks away from the bar.
“The expansion has been great. We have Bitburger and Taiwan beer on tap,” Fernandez said. “After spending so long in a basement, it’s really, really nice to sit in a park with a cold beer and listen to some good music.”
Photo courtesy of Danny Chu
Another way a bar stays popular is by evolving. “We had an impromptu dance circle break out during our regular Wednesday ladies’ night about six months ago,” said Fernandez. “It was so awesome we started contacting dancers and offering prize money.”
While both Dart and Fernandez have worked hard to be successful, Dart doesn’t believe that there is a strict formula.
“If there is a key to success in this city, Ryan and I would like one copy each,” Dart said. “We will then close Brickyard and sell copies of these keys all over the city.”
Two Year Anniversary at Brickyard, B1, 507 Jhongshan 2nd Rd, Cianjin Dist, Greater Kaohsiung (高雄市前金區中山二路507號B1). Admission is free before 1am. Entry is NT$150 for girls and NT$300 for guys after 1am, which includes a drink.
Feb. 17 to Feb. 23 “Japanese city is bombed,” screamed the banner in bold capital letters spanning the front page of the US daily New Castle News on Feb. 24, 1938. This was big news across the globe, as Japan had not been bombarded since Western forces attacked Shimonoseki in 1864. “Numerous Japanese citizens were killed and injured today when eight Chinese planes bombed Taihoku, capital of Formosa, and other nearby cities in the first Chinese air raid anywhere in the Japanese empire,” the subhead clarified. The target was the Matsuyama Airfield (today’s Songshan Airport in Taipei), which
On Jan. 17, Beijing announced that it would allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian Province to visit Taiwan. The two sides are still working out the details. President William Lai (賴清德) has been promoting cross-strait tourism, perhaps to soften the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attitudes, perhaps as a sop to international and local opinion leaders. Likely the latter, since many observers understand that the twin drivers of cross-strait tourism — the belief that Chinese tourists will bring money into Taiwan, and the belief that tourism will create better relations — are both false. CHINESE TOURISM PIPE DREAM Back in July
Could Taiwan’s democracy be at risk? There is a lot of apocalyptic commentary right now suggesting that this is the case, but it is always a conspiracy by the other guys — our side is firmly on the side of protecting democracy and always has been, unlike them! The situation is nowhere near that bleak — yet. The concern is that the power struggle between the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their now effectively pan-blue allies the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) intensifies to the point where democratic functions start to break down. Both
This was not supposed to be an election year. The local media is billing it as the “2025 great recall era” (2025大罷免時代) or the “2025 great recall wave” (2025大罷免潮), with many now just shortening it to “great recall.” As of this writing the number of campaigns that have submitted the requisite one percent of eligible voters signatures in legislative districts is 51 — 35 targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus lawmakers and 16 targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The pan-green side has more as they started earlier. Many recall campaigns are billing themselves as “Winter Bluebirds” after the “Bluebird Action”
RSS