Need a crash course on Taiwan’s best indie rock bands? The Megaport Music Festival (大港開唱) has got it covered this weekend.
The annual event, which takes place tomorrow and Sunday at Kaohsiung Harbor’s Pier 2 Art District (高雄駁二藝術特區), has a lineup of 46 bands that features the nation’s cream-of-the-crop indie artists, as well as several acts from Japan.
Organizers say the outdoor festival saw 15,000 visitors last year, and, with a few mainstream pop acts scheduled to appear, this edition should be no different. Sodagreen (蘇打綠) headlines the main stage tomorrow night, and celebrity model and singer Amber An (安心亞) performs a set of techno-pop tomorrow.
Photo Courtesy of The Wall
But the festival’s spread of non-mainstream artists with large followings will also attract crowds. Metal heroes Chthonic (閃靈) and beloved nakashi (那卡西) punk rock group Loh Tsui Kweh Commune (濁水溪公社, LTK) perform tomorrow, while indie-pop veterans Tizzy Bac and Aboriginal reggae rockers Matzka appear on Sunday.
Taipei live music venue The Wall (這牆) started Megaport in 2006 to encourage and develop a live music scene outside of the capital. Beloved pop-punks Fire Ex (滅火器), who play on Sunday, are a hometown favorite, and the festival offers a stage to up-and-coming bands such as the punk outfit The Locals (草地人), also from Kaohsiung, and Taichung hardcore metal band Flesh Juicer (血肉果汁機).
Megaport, which has bands playing on three outdoor stages and one indoor stage, is also putting on activities that are free to the public, including a skateboarding contest and a market selling arts and crafts and food.
Photo Courtesy of The Wall
One new addition to this year’s event is the NGO Village, a set of booths run by representatives from organizations that include Greenpeace and Amnesty International. There will also be booths manned by aid groups helping victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan last year, the first anniversary of which falls on Sunday.
A full schedule for the festival can be viewed at www.megaport.com.tw.
Megaport 2012 — performers to catch
Omnipotent Youth Society (萬能青年旅店)
Artsy folk/blues rock band from China’s Hebei Province
Tomorrow, 1:50pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Enno Cheng (鄭宜農)
Indie-folk songstress and film actress with a pristine voice
Tomorrow, 5:50pm, Kamomai Stage (卡魔麥舞台)
Lin Sheng-xiang (林生祥)
Hakka folk singer and highly admired songwriter among many Taiwanese indie musicians for his grassroots ethos
Tomorrow, 7pm, Kamomai Stage (卡魔麥舞台)
The Novembers
High-energy Japanese alt-rock band that balances heavy guitars and pop smoothness
Tomorrow, 3:10pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Pay Money to My Pain
Japanese nu-metal/alt-rock band that sings in English
Tomorrow, 6:20pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Sodagreen (蘇打綠)
Intelligent pop from college students-turned-stars
Tomorrow, 8pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Loh Tsui Kweh Commune (濁水溪公社, LTK)
Kings of irreverent, satirical rock
Tomorrow, 9:10pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
The Telephones
Electro/disco punk rockers from Japan
Sunday, 6:50pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Toe
Math rock/post-rock outfit from Japan
Sunday, 8:30pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Dog-G (大支)
Taiwan’s smoothest rapper in Hoklo [commonly known as Taiwanese]
Sunday, 6:10pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Windmill (風籟坊)
Slow-core rock a la Pavement, sung in Hoklo
Sunday, 3:30pm, Kamomai Stage (卡魔麥舞台)
Sugar Plum Ferry (甜梅號)
Post-rock heroes from Taipei
Sunday, 2:50pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Matzka
Reggae rock, Taiwan Aboriginal style
Sunday, 4:10pm, Sea Dragon King Stage (海龍王舞台)
Tizzy Bac
Enchanting piano rock
Sunday, 7:40pm, Dragon Goddess Stage (女神龍舞台)
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at