The “Mother Monster” — aka Lady Gaga — is in Taipei for a two-night run that began yesterday and ends with a sold-out show tonight at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館).
The ever-predictable frenzy got underway as soon as the pop sensation stepped off her private chartered plane at Songshan Airport in Taipei on Wednesday. Decked out in a vintage green Versace dress, Lady Gaga greeted reporters and fans at the terminal, “walking unhurriedly, waving at the cameras and blowing kisses,” as the Taipei Times’ sister paper, the Liberty Times, put it.
She then boarded a black Mercedes, protected by a motorcade of M Class Mercedes SUVs, and headed to the W Hotel, where the singer is staying. Naturally, the reporters hopped in their cars and were in hot pursuit, with one TV cameraman even pulling a Dukes of Hazard move, hanging outside the window with his camera on one shoulder.
Photo: Taipei Times
But the real shots to capture were at the W Hotel, where 100 or so “little monsters” got a few minutes of interaction with Mother Monster (albeit from behind a metal fence). Lady Gaga obliged the shrieking fans, approaching them as soon as she stepped out of the car at the hotel, shaking hands and signing autographs.
One female fan, according to Now News (今日新聞網), was lucky enough to attract Lady Gaga’s attention. The student had made a pair of rings, one of which she gave to the singer, who accepted the gift and returned the favor by kissing the matching ring on the student’s hand.
Lady Gaga fans in Taiwan, some of whom shelled out more than NT$12,000 for tickets each for yesterday and tonight’s concerts, will be seeing the singer fulfill a promise to return after giving a free mini-concert in Taichung last year.
But Lady Gaga fans in Indonesia won’t be as fortunate: the diva was denied a permit to hold a concert, which was scheduled for June 3, in Jakarta after some of the country’s Muslim hardliners accused her of, among other things, worshipping Satan.
Back in Mando-pop land, Aska Yang (楊宗緯) is smarting over his failure to get nominated for the best male Mandarin singer gong at the 23rd Golden Melody Awards (第23屆金曲獎). The ceremony takes place next month. Yang, who became a household name as a contestant on the reality show One Million Star (超級星光大道), recruited respected pop singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee (李宗盛) to produce his chart-topping album Pure (原色).
But even that apparently did not impress the Golden Melody committee judges. The China Times quoted one representative as saying that Yang “did not enter the discussion from the start.” There were few surprises for this year’s nominees for best male singer, which include Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰), Eason Chan (陳奕迅) and Jay Chou (周杰倫).
But all eyes at this year’s awards will be on Singaporean singer Tanya Chua (蔡健雅), pop-rock idols Mayday (五月天) and S.H.E singer Hebe Tien (田馥甄), who each received seven nominations. All three artists are vying for the year’s best Mandarin album and best composer awards.
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
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
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
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